Internal Brewsletter - June 19th, 2024
General
Corvallis Knights Meet the Team! Sunday, June 30th
Stop by the Pub on June 30th at 7 pm to meet the Knights Team! We will be hanging out in the Corral and your first beer will be on us (beer for staff only).
Beach Clean Up 6/30
Join us on June 30th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for our annual beach clean-up in Newport (Nye Beach) in celebration of World Ocean Month with our chosen People’s Pint Program nonprofit, Ocean Blue Project! This is a fun way to hang out with co-workers and the community while doing our part in cleaning the beach… and it’s just fun in general :)
We will be at the Historic Nye Beach "Turn Around" parking lot on NW Beach Drive with the Block 15 Tent. For directions, head HERE. Please come prepared for the elements (we've had sun the past few years, but you never know with Oregon!) and please carpool! Invite your friends and family, everyone is welcome.
Please bring:
Water bottle + Water
Jacket/raincoat
Snacks (we will provide a few)
gardening gloves or gloves to pick up trash with
anything to help pick up trash (magnets, sand sifter, etc.)
RSVP to let us (Kelsea & Shelby) know you’re coming!
Fresh Flow Hangout - July 1st
Come cool off by the river on July 1st! The marketing team needs some Fresh Flow content and would love staff support and hang-out time. We want this to be a fun time and create enthusiasm around Fresh Flow, too!
Timing-wise, this will be around 12 - 3 pm to hit a nice light on our side of the Willamette. This will probably be around Willamette Park, so it's close for folks to attend. We will contact you via Sling or phone before the hangout.
Employee Provision
A weekly special served at the Pub, the idea of which comes primarily from Block 15 employees.
This week’s Employee Provision will be brought to you by Alex S.! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for Chicken Bacon Ranch Tacos.
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
UPCOMING PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - Cans
Releasing Friday 6/21
Caves Saison No. 003 //
Description: Created for our sister restaurant, Caves Saison uses a solera method starting in our oak foeder. A fraction of volume is removed when peak character is reached, then new beer is added and allowed to mature, repeating again, gradually increasing complexity with age. Batch 003 spent eleven months in the foeder molding it into a lovely, fruit-forward young mixed-culture saison. // 7.20%
Key Takeaway: Brewed for Caves in a historic solera manner, using a portion of the original brew as a mother to be split in two, one portion to be blended with fresh beer for next year, one portion to be packaged for this year.
Tasting Notes: Stone Fruit • Rose Hips • Evolve
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: Farmhouse Ale / Saison
Historically, saison was a beer of necessity. French for “season,” it is a style rooted in rural farmhouse breweries in Wallonia, a French-speaking region of Belgium. These ales were brewed to offer farmers a safe, low-alcohol beverage to be enjoyed during the warm summer months when brewing was difficult to control, and their labors were called elsewhere on the farm. Typically low in alcohol, light, refreshing, and high in carbonation, this style offers modern brewers a lot of creative license. Modern brewers feel free to push up the ABV and allow much more expression from wild yeast, hopping regimens, and more complex malt bills than our ancestors did.
COMING UP ON DRAFT
Releasing Friday 6/21
Caves Saison No. 003 // Farmhouse Ale
R&D 2156 //
Description: This Research and Development batch focuses on a new hop product made from New Zealand Rakau hops. Let us know what you think! // 6.90%
Key Takeaway: Brewing with a new hop product, SubZero Hop Kief, from Freestyle Hops in NZ. The number in the name of this beer refers to the batch count of beers produced on our Pub brew system since we started brewing in 2008.
Tasting Notes: Cantaloupe • Pine • Red Currant
Format: Draft Only
Series: Pub Life
Beer Style: American IPA
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 is: Fresh Flow
UPCOMING Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Tipping Point // West Coast IPA Spruce Tips
Series: Orbital
Releases: June 28th
Format: Draft & Cans
Description: Freshly foraged, these sticky spruce tips pair with layers of cryogenic, super-critical hop extracts. This West Coast IPA collides dank and fruity notes layered with a lingering, resinous finish.
BEER EDUCATION
2:30 pm Tuesdays @ the Tap Room
Join us at the Tap Room every week for an educational session where you can taste and learn about the week’s releases. All are welcome!
4:00 Pm Every other Thursday @ the Pub
Join us every other Thursday in the Game Room at the Pub to taste through beers, discuss our beers, brewing, or any other related topics you have questions about. This is a casual session anyone is welcome to attend. If you have an interesting bottle of beer you would like to taste/share with the group, bring it in. Your first beer is on us if you attend. The next tasting is this Thursday, June 27th at 4 pm!
Beer 101: Caves Saison and a refresher on the Solera Method
Written by Garrison Schmidt, Head Brewer
This week, we’re releasing Caves Saison No. 003 in cans and on draught at our locations.
Caves Saison, first brewed in August of 2011, was originally brewed as a house table-style beer for our sister restaurant, then called Les Caves Bier and Kitchen. It was a mildly funky, easy-drinking Saison that was brewed in the solera method. As a reminder, the solera method is a type of conditioning in which a portion of the current batch of a beer is held back in order to be added to the next batch, with ever-increasing depth, complexity, and personality. If you are familiar with sourdough mothers, this is the same idea.
In the summer of 2022, we decided to breathe some new life into the program and started from scratch at our production facility. We began that summer with 40 Barrels of Caves saison #1, which was a “clean” batch, meaning it had no wild microorganisms at play. We packaged 10 Barrels of it into cans as it was, and put the remaining 30 Barrels into our large format casks at production, which are rife with microbial life. In the summer of 2023, we pulled 15 barrels out of the cask, canned it, and brewed another 15 barrels to replace it with. This will be the third evolution, and it is proving to get better every time. It’s light, refreshing, complex, and highly drinkable. Lots of fruity wild character, perfect for enjoying as the heat ramps up. I hope you try it and enjoy, even if you haven’t liked the saisons that you’ve tried in the past, I think that this one is really approachable.
From the Executive Chef
Menu Changes 6/19
Shrimp & Curry Noodle Bowl-Replaces Kimchi Rice Bowl
Warm coconut-red curry noodles with snap peas, red bell pepper, sweet onion & summer squash. Topped with grilled wild gulf shrimp, cilantro & crushed peanuts. $17.99
Pimento BLT (Replaces Meatloaf)
Smoky bacon, crisp lettuce, fresh tomato, mayo and house sharp cheddar pimento cheese, served on fresh-baked & toasted artisan bread. $14.99
PUB UPDATES
There’s been a little bit of confusion on how to pre-authorize tabs, so here is a little reminder on how this should be happening:
1) Take the order on an open ticket (through quick order), not a seat. If we are on a long wait, and someone is looking to also order an appetizer, we can move them to a seat and let the kitchen know.
2) Pre-authorize the card so the tab name displays the cards/guests name and inform the guest to let the server know the name on their card to transfer to the table.
3) The host seats the guest and the server should see the drinks the guest has and ask if they have an open tab at the bar to be transferred to their seat then search for it to transfer themselves. It’s not the expectation that the bartender or bar back transfers the tab to the table.
Pub Focus Points
ALL: BIG Shout Out to ALL of YOU!! Everyone did an amazing job during this wild Graduation Weekend and we want to thank you all for your hard work, great communication, stellar attitudes, and flexibility as we navigated the bonkers weekend we all just powered through! We came out of that crazy weekend with great online reviews so we just want to say thank you & nice work to everyone!
FOH: Accurately Completing Lists Awareness! When filling out Shift Change/ Opening/ Closing Lists only sign your initials AFTER completing the task. It is easy to forget to circle back to finishing the task if it is already marked off and the restaurant gets busy. This allows others to follow up and help finish up tasks if necessary! If you do not know how to do something, ask a manager or a Lead and we will show you how.
BOH: Thanks for your excellent teamwork!! Line & Prep: Thank you for picking up shifts, staying late to help out, and keeping things running smoothly. Thanks to our line helpers also!
Pub Company Direction Objectives
Consistently promote and encourage teamwork and strengthen the ties within our team–we are our most successful when we work together and support/understand each other.
Promote ongoing education on all things Block 15 through monthly "Deep Dives" on items from the kitchen, and from the brewery/bar. Each month (roughly) Sarah and myself will send out our information on respective Deep Dives on menu items. Food & Beverage Discovery 5/15/24
Demonstrate to every guest that we are happy they have joined us. Make connections and show genuine interest and excitement!
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Thank you to everyone who worked and helped out over the crazy weekend! Everyone absolutely crushed it, thank you for working so hard and going with the flow!
When doing a lap, take a sani rag with you to be able to wipe off tables for folks if they snagged a dirty one and to keep up on open tables staying clean
Tenders will be by weight now instead of each due to some size discrepancy we are seeing. With that, we are replacing the lil porky slider on the HH menu and kids menu with a kids size tender and fries.
FOH closers: Please make sure we are doing the full kitchen walk-thru for BOH before clocking out and locking up to ensure everything is properly turned off, closed, locked, etc. for food and building safety.
Tap Room Focus Points
ALL: keep up the great communication and teamwork! It is awesome to see everyone working together and helping out wherever they can, it is much appreciated and everything goes much smoother when we all are in it together.
FOH: Desserts! Let’s really push and hype up our desserts to customers and talk about how awesome our bakery is. When checking in with tables that is an easy time to offer dessert or mention the bakery if they got a pretzel, ciabatta, etc.
Upcoming Events
Beer School Thursday, June 27th 5-7pm
Join us for our Beer Education Class hosted every other month by our Brewery Team at our South Town Production Facility and Taproom! Each class will explore a beer style’s history, our brewing techniques to create a Block 15 beer and finish with a tasting flight. In this educational experience, we will cover a staple style to any PNW brewery, the India Pale Ale. Come with questions and a note book, and get ready for beer school!
Tickets available on our website! Limited to 16 people
Tunes n Brews!
First 4 Wednesdays of July! Live music and bomb.com BBQ specials! First one is Wednesday July 3rd
2024 Objectives
Elevate engagement through impactful community-centered opportunities and events
Enhance the visibility of the Block 15 Bakery and unique Taproom menu items
Amplify the customer convenience factor
Bakery Highlight: Bier Bread Pretzel
The bier pretzel recipe comes to us from our fearless leader Nick Arzner! He researched pretzel recipes and made test batches at home before handing it off to our fledgling little bakery back in the early days. Blocktoberfest 2009 spurred the idea, and the resulting product was kept on the menu at Caves when she originally opened in 2011. To quote the recipe, in regards to shaping the dough, "Every pretzel should have a smile".
Pretzels have a rich history in the beer world, originating in south Germany in the 6th or 7th century. Here is a good article about the history of the beer pretzel!
When the taproom opened in 2015, since we moved our bakery operations from the pub to the new space, we thought the pretzel would be a wonderful addition to the menu as a quick fire taproom item and as a way to really highlight the bakery! And then it quickly hopped onto the menu at the pub!
Pretzel is a fantastic vegetarian option, but it does contain butter so it is not a vegan offering.
Interesting Facts & Tidbits About our Pretzel from Lindsey!
In a world where soft pretzels aren't hard to find on pub menus, I think ours stand out as exceptional amongst a sea of bland, dry, bready offerings. What sets our pretzels apart from less tasty counterparts out there? It could be the fact that we use 100% Gloria! pilsner in place of any water (literally putting the "bier" in bier pretzel)! It's also thanks to the addition of a little whole wheat flour (from our friends at Camas Country Mill). And it's most certainly helped by all the butter in the dough, not to mention the melted butter that's brushed on top at time of service. Once everything is mixed into a smooth dough, it gets a slow rise in the fridge overnight.
Perhaps the most impactful step in our pretzel-making process is the two-stage cooking method. Akin to bagels, our shaped pretzels get dipped in a boiling baking soda solution prior to going in the oven. This chemical reaction results in a beautiful dark brown color, a slightly chewy crust, and more pronounced flavor in the end.
These days we make pretzels for all 3 locations and they are in production most bake days. They require following a lot of steps, but it's a labor of love. At this point we could all make pretzels in our sleep. If we had to. Don't actually take me up on that!
Try to highlight and/or suggest this item to 3 different customers per shift you work!
Caves Updates
2024 Caves Direction Objectives:
Deliver elevated consistency through the Caves experience
Hit our service and food standards every single time! Show our guests why we should be their regular spot and what sets us apart with our elevated experience.
Keep eyes up and out and move through the restaurant rather than just behind the bar when making loops. Offer to grab another beverage, refill waters, or pre-bus tables, even if they aren’t yours.
Amplify education and enthusiasm within our food and beverage programs
Through elevated and thorough education on new menu items and revisiting tried and true classics, or beverages with more history and information.
HIGH FIVE SECTION
Autumn and Nic in the bakery! - Your help on Sunday at the TR was extremely helpful! Going above and beyond regular baking duties to help us with dishes, plating food, running for items, etc. definitely helped everything run smoothly, thank you!
Tyler Lenz - Truly one of the best humans out there! Thank you so much for everything you do to help the TR on a daily basis, and especially during the crazy weekend we had!
If you have kudos or kind words to share anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
Human resources
STAFF SECTION
Please welcome the following folks to the team:
Kyli-Natacha J. Hobbs (Pub BOH)
Xavier Warfield (TR BOH)
Lucas Morton (Pub BOH)
SAFETY TIPS
Fire Safety Emergency Planning: where is your evacuation meeting spot? If you have to evacuate the building for any reason, such as a fire, the Pub and Caves’ meeting location is the Jefferson Place parking lot on the corner of 4th and Jefferson. The Tap Room’s meeting spot is the sidewalk just to the south of the parking lot entrance.
Office Hours
Monday: Tap Room 10 am - 1 pm, Pub 2 - 5 pm
Thursday: Tap Room 1-4 pm
Friday: Pub 1-4 pm
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
The People’s Pint - Month of June
For the month of June, we will be hosting a People’s Pint Tap! What is a People’s Pint Tap you ask? For the whole month, we dedicate a portion of proceeds from a beer (or tap space) that goes directly toward an organization! This includes packaged and draft sales from the beer of choice.
People’s Pint Tap beer: Gloria!
Organization: Ocean Blue Project
A grassroots 501c3 nonprofit organization with a compelling mission – to rehabilitate and conserve the world’s oceans, beaches, and rivers. We work to keep pollutants from entering ecosystems through the recovery of plastics from ocean, beach, and river clean-ups, solutions, collaborative community-driven service learning projects, and youth education. Our commitment to a cleaner, healthier ecosystem drives our work, and we empower individuals and communities to join us in this vital mission.
Beach Clean-Up!
Join us on June 30th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for our annual beach clean-up in Newport (Nye Beach) in celebration of World Ocean Month with our chosen People’s Pint Program nonprofit, Ocean Blue Project! This is a fun way to hang out with co-workers and the community while doing our part in cleaning the beach… and it’s just fun in general :)
We will be at the Historic Nye Beach "Turn Around" parking lot on NW Beach Drive with the Block 15 Tent. For directions, head HERE. Please come prepared for the elements (we've had sun the past few years, but you never know with Oregon!) and please carpool! Invite your friends and family, everyone is welcome.
Please bring:
Water bottle + Water
Jacket/raincoat
Snacks (we will provide a few)
gardening gloves or gloves to pick up trash with
anything to help pick up trash (magnets, sand sifter, etc.)
WHAT’S UP ON INSTA??
FEEDBACK
Hey friends! If you find yourself sitting at home, or out and about and something pops into your mind that you would like to pass along to the team, feel free to use this form! Please be mindful of keeping feedback or suggestions constructive and positively worded!