Brewer's Brain Blog

300 Batches

This past week we brewed batch #300! What blows my mind is not how many batches brewed to date, but how many different styles we have brewed. Way back in the planning stages we knew that Block 15 would be different than every other Brewpub out there. Our plan was to brew flavorful beer, keeping a regular line up of what I call NW brewpub classics; our Red, IPA, Golden, Stout, & Pale Ale. The rest of the taps would be filled with seasonal & inventive ales, some designed to push the boundaries and challenge my local’s palates. Our business plan mission statement included the sentence; “In line with Block 15’s philosophy of fresh, true ales, the company will strive to educate consumers on all aspects of brewing and beer styles in order to increase appreciation and enjoyment of this wonderful beverage”. For us, opening Block 15 was not just about starting a business and making money, it was equally about spreading the knowledge and appreciation about a craft we love so much.

On opening day we featured a Belgian style Dubbel, Fat Monk. Now, if you are reading this from some big beer metropolis you are probably thinking that brewing a Belgian is not that special. However, in my town the vast majority of folks were completely unfamiliar with this style, taste, and aroma. It was my hope that we would pour enough Belgian style beer to brew a 7bbl (14 kegs) batch four times a year. The reception of Fat Monk overwhelmingly exceeded my expectations. We ran out in less than four weeks, and have been struggling ever since to keep a Belgian inspired beer on tap.

With the success of Fat Monk as my ammunition, we began to explore even more foreign styles and ingredients. In 300 batches we have utilized many different types of yeast, bacteria, hops, malts, fruits, vegetables, barrels, hemp seeds, minerals, and techniques.

Three hundred batches later, we are still exploring, creating, and loving every minute of it. We have used these batches to form the base of our knowledge in the brewery. With world class beer in mind we are excited about the future. As we revisit old recipes, we will use our experience and notes to make each batch even better. We have spent the 300 batches growing quality, not quantity. We are still young, but our maturity is beginning to show. With major investments in equipment, cellars, barrels, and staff, our taps are poised to reach well beyond the status quo of brewpub beer. This spring and late summer, we will unleash our wild ale series, a style never brewed in this area, and only brewed at a handful of breweries, and even fewer brewpubs around the world. These amazing ales are cellared over a year in barrels with wild yeast and bacteria, developing wonderful and challenging aromas and flavors. I have decided to staff the brewery excessively, to insure that we are not rushed and can focus each and every batch. Steve van Rossem anchors our team as a seasoned Brew master with over 15 years of experience. Matt Williams, Yeast breeder and keg wrangler, brings a strong back and OSU fermentation science degree to our team. Jason Hogan and Erik Salmi insure our kegs are sparkling clean, sanitized, and provide additional palates and feedback when discussing our brews. And for myself, I bring the huge imagination, a sickening love for craft beer and my team, and a brewing ability formed by studying under Steve and my thirst for brewing history and knowledge. These first 300 batches were fun, educational, and pretty damn good, but I promise they pale in comparison to the quality and uniqueness we are about to unleash in our next 300.

Here is a list, roughly categorized of beer brewed to date. Many of these fall into one or more categories. An * denotes beer yet to be released.

Belgian Inspired
Fat Monk, Trubbled Monk, Ferme De la Ville 15 (saison), *Ferme De la Ville “Provision” (young & old barrel aged Saison blend with Brett), Belgian Blonde, Cherry Quad, *The Demon’s Farm (Three barrel type black Saison blend), Belgian Brown, *Imagine (Belgian Imperial bourbon barrel stout), Wit, *Illusions (Wild & sour Black Ale), *Mysticgold (Lambic inspired), *Sour Gold base, *Wonka’s Wit (sour Wit), Dominus 100, Trippel Crown

German Inspired
Duke IV (Hefe-Weissbier), Dunkel-Weissbier, Blocktoberfest (Marzen),
Weizenbock, Alt bier, Summer Knights (Kolsch), Doppelbock

Hop Focused
One Hop Wonder Series (6 different), Super Fly Rye, Block Head, Six Hop Wonder, 12 Hops of Christmas, Hoppy New Year!, Benton Brigade(Cascadian Dark Ale), Earth Pale Ale, Alpha IPA, Print Master’s Pale, Ridgeback Red, Aboriginale, Super Aboriginale

British Inspired
Billy’s Best Bitter, Extra Special Bitter, Dock 15 (English IPA), Reporter, Fireside Brown

Malt Focused
Chocolate Porter, Hemp Nut Brown, Throw down brown (Imperial Brown), The Alchemist (smoked Imperial Porter), Scottish, 70 & 80 shilling, Nebula Naked Oat Stout

Fruits
Marion Berry, Oregon Strawberry, Black Raspberry, Love Potion #9, Boysenberry, Stone Fruit Wheat (peach & apricot), blueberry, Jack Straw (pumpkin ale), Mango Song (IPA)

Bourbon Barrel
Pappy’s Dark, Super Nebula, Hypnosis, *Imagine

Other
Old St. Nick, Oaked St. Nick, King Caspian (royalty red), Glo Golden Ale, Spring Wheat, Gateway Wheat, Wedding Bells, King’s Gold (Pinot Barrel Aged), #300

That’s 75 different styles by my count!

Cheers,
Nick & The Block 15 Brewing Team

Two Years

Block 15 Second Anniversary Poster
Saturday February 27th marks the two year anniversary of Block 15. As I brew batch #298 today, a Scottish 80 shilling, and hang Anniversary posters, I begin to reflect on our journey.

It is crazy to think about the beginning of our adventure, which actually begun about eight years ago, as an idea to be entrepreneurs. Fast forward to three years ago, when we signed a lease on our location and began the scramble to assemble Corvallis’ first community brewpub. We did things unconventionally; we signed a lease without the money to build our dream. Crazy, yes, but we knew we had the passion, hard work, experience, and dedication to make the dream realized. Through this hard work we secured a SBA loan with OSU Federal Credit Union, a daunting process that lasted over six months. It took almost a full year to clean up, remodel, install a brewery, and create Block 15. We opened the doors without press releases, or blown up marketing blitzes; hell, we didn’t even have a sign due to the cost. We simply unlocked the door and hoped for the best. The people came, and came. We ran out of IPA within the first week, with other beers quickly following suit. We brewed as fast as we could with the six tanks we had. Our staff worked hard, scrambling around doing the best they could to take care of our customers. We were far from perfect, but our energy and passion was there.

For two years we have been working hard to create the ultimate brewpub. Our menu has evolved, and the quality has been heightened. We don’t believe that “pub food”, or “brewpub food” should be synonymous with average, or passing, quality. We also don’t think you should empty out your wallet for local & regionally sourced natural food. We have established relationships with more artisans within our community to build your meals.

With a “belt strap” budget (I made that up, it is more than a shoe string, but much less than you hoped for), we didn’t have a lot to spare on decorations, or fancy seating. With time, we have reinvested in the comfort and atmosphere to create the Unique Block 15 brewpub feel.

Our brewery has cranked out almost 300 batches, over 30 different styles, utilizing 16 yeast strains, 40 malt verities, 15 hop varieties, wine barrels, bourbon barrels, Oregon oak barrels, local fruits, hemp seeds, cocoa nibs, and more. We have favored quality over quantity by keeping the bulk of our beer in house, politely declining request to distribute, in order to focus on creating world class beer.

We have been so graciously supported by our community that we have in turn given back to it. We have sponsored softball, basketball, volleyball, OSU, Corvallis Knights, and Hurling teams; donated money, food, time, and beer to the local Food bank, local Schools, clubs, environmental organizations and more. We also aim to be community leaders in sustainability by supporting Blue Sky energy, Carbon offsets, recycling, pre & post consumer composting, limiting water use, using biodegradable compostable containers, and much more.

Reflecting back on two years is amazing, but what gets me most excited is looking to our future. I have always thought that in year three Block 15’s true potential will be met. I believe that the strides we have made in the last two years will be outpaced by the strides to come this year. Everything learned and accomplished thus far has laid the foundation of which Block 15’s future will stand.

From our kitchen, we are working on some very special programs; getting back to the roots of food and creating meals from scratch working with even more local and regional producers. Next month I will launch a “Kitchen Notes” journal, detailing our journey in bringing back the old school Pub quality tradition.

Our brewery is about to hit full stride. The nearly 300 batches to date along with our thirst to learn and create will fuel our world class beer journey this year. New tanks arriving in March and April will provide even more conditioning room for expanded tap lists, lagers, and special bottle conditioned ales. This summer, the beginning of our wild ale series will come to fruition, bringing Corvallis a unique style of beer never brewed here before. Most importantly, we will continue to be humble brewers, students of our trade, dreaming, creating, and enjoying every minute of it.

From my wife Kristen, myself, and our 50 employees, a HUGE thank you to you and the Corvallis community for your support, feedback, conversations, inspiration, and love you have given Block 15. We hope you will join us on Saturday the 27th, as we raise a glass of Anniversary Ale toasting our first two years, and the many to come as Corvallis’ Community Brewpub.

Cheers!
Nick

Imagine This

An American brewpub invites Russian & Belgian brewers and a master Bourbon distiller from Kentucky. The Russian brewer brings his recipe of an Imperial Stout; the Belgian brewer contributes a yeast strain from the Ardennes Mountains and beet candi sugar; the Distiller offers some fresh emptied bourbon barrels. The American brewer supplies NW grown hops and his small craft brewpub to concoct this ground breaking ale. Into the mash tun goes the largest amount of grain used to date: over 700 pounds of Belgian Pilsner malts, 2-row, Chocolate malt, Roasted Barely, and caramel malt. The hot mash warms the brewery, almost overflowing from the tun. Gently, the coal black wort is drawn from the mash tun, filling the kettle with an amazingly intense & sweet liquid. As the wort boils, additions of Dark and Clear Candi sugars are added, intensifying the sweetness and adding even more complexities to the wort. A decent helping of Northwest hops balance the massive wort, brining the brew into equilibrium. After the boil, the cooled wort transfers down to a fermenter where a large pitch of Ardennes yeast anxiously awaits this huge meal. Over the next two weeks this yeast converts the large amounts of sugar to alcohol, transforming the sweetness into an amazing ale. The unique yeast strain also lends great character to the beer: aromas of plum & fig with a touch of clove. After fermentation the beer is transferred to the bourbon barrels. Over the next 5-6 months the barrel staves breathe in and out the wonderful beer; transferring the characters of bourbon & oak along with it. And now, we must practice patience, as this beer only is fully developed after another year of aging. The story is fiction, though the beer is very real. “Imagine” a 15% Bourbon Barrel aged Belgian Imperial Stout…close your eyes and imagine that. Brewed 1/22/2010, Release Date 11/11/11

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