Internal Brewsletter - February 25th
General
Employee Provision - Submissions Needed!
A weekly special served at the Pub, with ideas sourced from Block 15 employees.
This week’s Employee Provision will be brought to you by Garrison ! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for a Roast Beef & Cheddar Sandwich with Curly Fries (The Arby’s Special)!
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas! Remember, if your provision gets selected, you can order one for free!
-This Week’s Releases-
Ocean Man // Baltic Porter // 8.00%
Originating from the lands surrounding the Baltic Sea, this bold, rich, and highly drinkable lager pairs notes of coffee, dried plums, and dark chocolate with a clean, but decadent finish.
What are some highlights or changes for this beer?
Your new obsession - Baltic Porter delivers massive dark chocolate and dried fruit flavors with an impossibly clean, lager-crisp finish that'll have you wondering where this beer has been all your life.
Tasting Notes:
Toffee • Bakers Chocolate • From the Depths
Availability:
On draft and cans to-go + Distributed to our network in Oregon & SW Washington
Series: Orbital
Orbital: Limited release. Brewed periodically. Available for a month or less.
What is a Baltic Porter?
Originally inspired by strong English stout porters that Russia imported in the 18th century, breweries in the nations around the Baltic Sea began producing their own versions of these beers early in the 19th century. Very dark to black in color, it is hard to judge the clarity of these beers. They typically range from 6% to 9% abv with flavor coming mostly from the malt, which expresses a slight roasted character, reminiscent of black coffee, also usually expressing dark fruit, toffee, molasses, and nutty notes. They have a medium bitterness that balances their sweetness and gives them a slightly dry finish on the palate. They are exceedingly smooth for their abv.
Amplified Diesel // West Coast IPA // 6.78%
Put the hammer down on dank with Amplified Diesel, a WC IPA nitro-boosted with CTZ Cryo pellets and CTZ Salvo, Strata, Simcoe, and a special water adjustment designed to charge hard into our favorite hop characteristics --- Canni-Resin + Diesel.
What are some highlights or changes for this beer?
Designed to showcase some favorite but less common hop character, CTZ is showcased and creates a unique IPA experience.
Tasting Notes:
Dank • Earth • High Octane
Availability:
On draft only + Distributed to our network in Oregon & SW Washington
Series:
Emerging: Exploratory and experimental. Available for a month or less.
What is a West Coast IPA?
An IPA sub-style originating in California. It has evolved over the years to showcase a balance of bright fruit, resinous pine, and dank (cannabis-forward) hop flavors and aromas, with a moderate to light malt presence and a dry finish with an assertive bitterness. West Coast is still a rapidly evolving style. The Variations of IPAs have become America’s primary contribution to the pantheon of world beer styles.
Upcoming Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Selection Series // Four Single-Hop West Coast IPAs
Series: Orbital
Releases: 3/6/26
Availability: On draft and cans to-go + Distributed to our network in Oregon & SW Washington
Block Pearl // Oyster Stout
Series: Publife/Synergy
Releases: 3/13/26
Availability: On draft only + Distributed in limited capacity to our network in Oregon & SW Washington
Crowler/Package Sale for Sippin’ Sunday
20% off all packaged beer to-go, $5 Crowlers, and $10 Growler fills all-day Sunday of a specific beer.
This week’s beer(s) is/are:
Pub: Rocky Shores
TR: Love Potion #9
Beer Education
Barrel Room Roundtable - Thursdays at 4 pm
This week’s topic: Ingredient Deep Dive - Malted Barley
BEER 101
By Garrison Schmidt, Head Brewer
Baltic Porter
The history of Baltic porter starts with the Russian court of Catherine the Great, who was a lover of imported British Stout Porter. Stout at that point referred to a stronger version of any beer. Eventually, the stronger Stout Porter just became known as Stout as Porter beer fell out of popularity.
Supply chain disruptions throughout the region, as a result of the Napoleonic wars, gave brewers of the region a reason to make their own versions of these beers. Initially, they made dark ales just as the British Stout Porters were, but slowly shifted to using lager yeast and cold fermentation throughout the 19th century as lager beer was rapidly becoming the most popular beer production method in the world. Originally over 10%, these beers eventually came down to the 6%-9% range we see today, and are largely produced in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
This week, we are re-releasing Ocean Man, our take on this classic style. Aligned with our Lagered by the Sun program, Pure Idaho Pilsner malt, Munich, and Vienna from Great Western are all grown and malted in the North West. There are inevitably some specialty malts that cannot be sourced from regional sources. In some cases, there are domestic malts that can fill in from other parts of the US, but in other cases, we bring in very small amounts of specialty malts from Europe. We always keep these products to an absolute minimum.
Marketing Updates
By Holly Amlin, Marketing & Creative Manager
Selection Series 2026
To aid in service, I’ve made you all a handout to share with anyone who orders a Selection Series flight. This includes all the information about the program, including the farms where the hops came from. On the right is the tasting order of the flights, arranged to mimic our taster trays.
Kira is going to laminate some of these and keep some non-laminated behind the bar so that people can take them home if they want to.
This is a super unique thing that we do that no one else in the beer industry does! It always gets people talking about hops and encourages them to seek out beers with those hops in them.
Please encourage people to vote! The link is on the handout, on our table tents, and on our website:
Events
Bourbon Month
As we close out Bourbon Month, please encourage folks to drop off their stamp books at the Pub by the end of the day Saturday. We’ve advertised that the completer’s party will be on April 8th for those Neat Freaks who get all their stamps. This is a fun party where we deliver their prize, eat small appetizers, and raffle off some fun Bourbon-themed trinkets.
Events List:
Check back in next Week!
From the Executive Chef
By Sarah Farey, Executive Chef
Pub monthly specials will launch on Wednesday 3.4!
Japanese Pork Katsu & Rice
Panko breaded and fried pork cutlet served over a bed of steamed coconut basmati rice with our Japanese curry sauce, shredded napa cabbage, and quick citrus pickled cucumbers. 17.99
Dairy Free. Tempeh can be subbed BUT the curry sauce DOES contain chicken stock!!!
Honey-Chili Shrimp Po Boy
Sweet & spicy grilled wild Gulf shrimp, shredded lettuce, sweet onion, fresh tomato & chipotle-lime remoulade on a house baked sesame baguette. 16.99
Dairy free
Sweet Potato & Romesco Dip
Creamy sweet potatoes, romesco, almonds & cream cheese dip served chilled with veggies and toasted bread. 11.99
Vegetarian. Dip is gluten free, and DOES contain almonds!
Romesco is a rich, smoky sauce originating from Catalonia, Spain. It consists of roasted red peppers, smoked paprika, tomatoes, almonds, garlic and olive oil.
Grilled Turkey Cheddar Sandwich
Roasted turkey breast, grilled onions, Tillamook Cheddar cheese and house-made honey mustard on toasted artisan bread. $15.99
Can be dairy free if cheese is held.
This is a throwback to a Block 15 original!
Bakery
Notes from Lindsey Henriksen, Bakery Manager
Check back next week !
Pub Updates
By Kira Sciarrotta, General Manager
From Bre, our resident Cocktail Gal:
New cocktail coming out Friday: Dirty Chai Cold Brew! Siberian Spice is still available to be ordered but will not be on menus. Please push the Coconut Cold Brew and Tiger Shark!
Dirty Chai Cold Brew
In a Collins glass, combine:
+ 1 Scoop of Ice
+ 3oz Chai-Lua
+ 3oz Cold Brew
+ Couple dashes Xocolatl Mole bitters
Stir to combine, top with water if needed. Add a splash of regular cold foam. Garnish with nutmeg and cinnamon sprinkles.
We’ll now be adding a “Restaurant Vocab” section to the Brewsletter every week! If you ever have a vocab word you would like to see in the Brewsletter, please let Kira know 🙂
This week’s Vocab Word is brought to you by Lily! “All Day - We’ve got 6 Enchilidas All Day.” This means we have 6 enchiladas for the rest of the shift and then we will be out until more are made.
Beer prices (both draft and cans) will be making their annual up-tick in price this week, beginning officially on March 1st. This will be a roughly $0.25 increase on pints in the 1 and 2 price tier (meaning it essentially only impacts our perpetuals and some perennial beers). There will also be a roughly $0.40 increase on can prices.
There’s been some confusion on the Silverware Soaking procedure, as it has recently changed, so I went ahead and made a laminated document with the instructions and posted it next to the 86 Board in the Kitchen for your reference! PLEASE LET A MANAGER KNOW IF THERE IS STILL CONFUSION ABOUT THIS TASK.
Similarly, I wanted to remind everyone that it is the food runners job to ensure that we do not run out of silverware. When we are down to about 15 forks/knives, it is the responsibility of the food runner to let the dishwasher know to run another load soon. DON’T WAIT UNTIL WE ARE COMPLETELY OUT TO SAY SOMETHING.
Tap Room Updates
The Taproom will be closed for the month of March so that we can refresh it! We will have some cleaning, organizing and installing hours available to anyone in the company who is interested. Please reach out to Bre or Sarah to get scheduled for a shift!
Even though we will be closed, please make sure that any internal feelings about this are not reflected to the customers. Emphasize that it’s an exciting change, and that there are many cool things to come. Try to stay in high spirits, and finish out the week strong!
Dock Sales (keg orders) during Taproom closure will be by appointment only. If anyone asks about them them, they can email Andy at andy@block15.com
FOH daily chores/tasks have been modified this week to reflect the upcoming closure. Make sure you’re giving this a look over!
Caves Updates
By Aidan Welch, General Manager
Check back next week!
High Fives
Tivey - She makes my job a lot easier every day.
Alissa Ballard - Welcome back! It’s like you never missed a beat
Caitlin N. - she’s always busting her butt making sure customers are happy and taken care of, and that the restaurant is in tip top shape.
The Entire Taproom - thank you all for working so hard, being so flexible with the upcoming closure and uncertainties that come with it, and being so great to work with. You all make the Taproom what it is, and I’ll miss you all over the break.
Bre- Her sense of humor is unmatched, and no matter how stressed she may be, she always puts others first—making sure everyone is okay and never letting her own pressure spill over onto those around her.
Megan & Tilly- My entire day is made when I work with these two girls ! They know how to get their work done and still have a fun time!
Staff Section
Check back next week !
Charitable Programs
Check back next week !