Internal Brewsletter - October 29th, 2025
General
Employee Provision - Submissions Needed!
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 Tivey! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for Jalapeno Kettle Chip Nachos!
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
Imagine // 14.15%
Description: A blend of Belgian-inspired Imperial Stouts matured for one and two years in freshly emptied Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. Deep, dark, and decadent, our strongest offering blended once a year.
Key Takeaway: Belgian-style stout that is matured each year in a different bourbon distillery barrel. Made with a Trappist yeast that has high attenuating power, this allows us to really push the starting gravity and make this one big-big-big beer.
Tasting Notes: Chocolate • Coffee • Roasty
Format: Draft & Bottles
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: Belgian Imperial Stout Matured in Bourbon Barrels
Not a traditional Belgian style, stout was developed in the British Isles. What is a Belgian tradition, however, are barrels, Belgian yeast, and Candi Syrup. Quadrupel ales use dark candi syrup to add body, color, and fermentable sugars to wort. We use the same technique on our Belgian Stouts to the same effect. We age them in bourbon barrels, a technique based on Belgian barrel aging perfected over hundreds of years. We also use Belgian yeast to ferment, which gives them a distinct, spicy phenolic character found in many great Belgian ales. So, while not a traditional style, these beers are influenced by and designed to honor the long and proud history of Belgian Brewing.
Imagine: Speculoos // 14.15%
Description: A limited blend of Belgian Imperial Stouts aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels and conditioned on speculoos cookies from our bakery, adding decadent notes of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom.
Key Takeaway: Speculoos are a gently spiced Belgian cookie often enjoyed with coffee. We used heaps of them to give this Imagine Variant a special character we have never experienced before.
Tasting Notes: Cinnamon • Ginger • Festive
Format: Draft & Bottles
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: Belgian Imperial Stout, Matured in Bourbon Barrels and Conditioned on Speculoos Cookies
Figgy Pudding // 13.20%
Description: Our yearly holiday offering is brewed with specialty malts, figs, cloves, and nutmeg, and matured in freshly emptied brandy barrels—the perfect beer to share with friends and family around a cozy fireplace.
Key Takeaway: One of our oldest barrel-aged offerings, Figgy Pudding is a unique Barleywine offering, gently spiced with just enough brandy character to balance its complex malt sweetness.
Tasting Notes: Spice • Molasses • Warm
Format: Draft & Bottles
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: English Barleywine ale matured in Brandy Barrels with Spice
Barleywine is a historically strong British beer that originated as a farmhouse beer, made from the first runnings of wort in a process called parti-gyle, where multiple beers are made from the same mash, each beer being lower in strength as the sugar is depleted. Modern Barleywines are made as a single product. They are usually at least 10% ABV with a rich malt sweetness and flavor that often expresses as toffee, prune or raisin, and can also be very nutty. They have an aggressive bitterness that balances the sweetness. There are classic British Barleywines and modern American Barleywines, the difference being if the hops are British or American.
Willa // 8.25%
Description: Blended each year in celebration of our founding brewers' daughters' birth. A solera-style blending of red wine barrel-matured farmhouse ales, each year, contains a portion of prior vintages dating back to 2017. Lively, bright, and complex, this beer is almost as unique as Willa herself.
Key Takeaway: Unique red farmhouse made using the solera method. Perfect for sharing with friends or loved ones on a cool fall evening, this beer receives special care throughout its life due to its status, celebrating the Arzner's youngest daughter.
Tasting Notes: Tart • Oak • Bright
Format: Draft & Bottles
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: Red Farmhouse Ale Matured in Red Wine Barrels
Sticky Hands: [CLASSIFIED] // 8.10%
Description: From our hidden archives, [CLASSIFIED] boasts two mystery agents. Your mission: Identify the secret hops. Look out for anyone with pineapple candy or resinous qualities—a hint: both hail from Down Under.
Key Takeaway: "TOP SECRET DOCUMENT - CLEARANCE LEVEL: [15]
HOP VARIETIES: ████, ███, ████
MISSION: Encourage your team to make accusations against suspected hops via our social media outlets.
STATUS: [HIGHLY DRINKABLE]"
Tasting Notes: Hawaiian Punch • POG Juice • Mysterious
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Sticky Hands
Beer Style: Imperial IPAs (often called Double IPAs) feature a more robust profile of malts and hops. Significant factors that set Imperial IPAs apart from regular IPAs are their alcohol content and bitterness levels. An Imperial IPA can range from 7.5%-10% ABV. Due to the increased malt load it takes to create the additional alcohol, more hops are required to balance out the beer and keep the malt in check. An Imperial IPA should be intensely hoppy, medium-light to medium-bodied, and have balanced hop characteristics. There can be Imperial versions of virtually any IPA style or sub-style.
Upcoming Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule. Please keep that in mind!
Highland Hymn // Scottish Ale
Series: Perennial
Releases: November 7th
Format: Draft & Cans
Description: Inspired by the majestic sights and sounds of Scotland, Highland Hymn is a malt-forward crescendo of caramelized sugar and toffee notes accompanied by a robust, and complex finish.
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 beers are:
Pub: Flight Risk
Tap Room: Loyal to the Block
Beer Education
NEW: Barrel Room Roundtable - Thursdays 4 pm
This weeks barrel room round table: Thursday 4PM - TBD
Beer 101:
By Garrison Schmidt, Head Brewer
We use many types of barrels for aging beer at Block 15. This week, we are releasing four beers from that program. All four of these beers were aged in ex-Bourbon Barrels. We also use wine barrels extensively, as well as Sherry, Cognac, Gin, and more. Each barrel has its own attributes, taking on the flavor from the liquid that was in the barrel before.
Spirit barrels provide a wide array of flavors that contribute to making these beers unique. During manufacturing, barrels are toasted with fire before being sealed; the heat breaks the wood down into natural sugars that contribute caramel notes, color, and aroma as well as coconut-like notes. Tannins are made less astringent, and fiber in the oak breaks down into flavor molecules that produce clove and vanilla notes.
We nearly always buy barrels that have already been used in alcohol production, and those products also leave flavor behind that we can access while aging. This year’s Imagines were aged in Willet and Heaven Hill barrels. Even when the barrels are emptied, there is still alcohol soaked into the barrel staves that interacts with the beer once we have filled the barrels. Liquid moves in and out of the barrel staves naturally during the aging process
Another factor in flavor development is oxidation. Typically, we go to great lengths to prevent oxidation in the brewing process. Oxygen is a major spoilage factor, leading to beer staling. Barrel aging is the exception; oak staves are microporous and allow slow oxidation over time. This develops complex sherry-like notes that add a richness to aged beers.
Time is another factor in barrel aging. Typically, we age beers for one year at a minimum. With time, bitterness softens and malt becomes more pronounced. With slow oxidation, the beer also evaporates, concentrating the alcohol and increasing the viscosity. Temperature also plays a major role; we keep our barrel room at a constant temperature, and the cellar at the pub stays at a consistent temperature and humidity.
Once the beer has reached the maturity we’re looking for, we rack it out of barrels in a process called blending. From there, we treat it like a normal beer, keep oxidation down, and condition before packaging.
This month we release Imagine, Imagine; Speculoos, Figgy Pudding, and Willa. All four were aged in barrels, the Imagines in bourbon, Figgy in brandy, and Willa in red wine. Give them a shot and let me know what you think.
Marketing Updates
By Holly Amlin, Marketing & Creative Manager
Events
Late Fall Bottle Release - November 1st
General Bottle Release
Bottles will be available for sale at both locations during regular business hours starting November 1st. Limits will be in effect, and bottles will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. These bottles are excluded from our 20% off packaged beer deal on Sundays, until you hear otherwise.
Guided Pairings with Bottle Pre-Order Opportunity
November 1st, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm • Southtown Tap Room
Brewer's Dinner
November 1st, 6 - 8 pm • Downtown Pub *SOLD OUT*
Veteran’s Day Special - November 11th
At the Pub only this year, Veterans receive their first drink and entree free as a thank you for their service.
From the Executive Chef
By Sarah Farey, Executive Chef
Pub November Monthly Specials are coming out next Wednesday, 11/5!
Seafood Arancini - Breaded and fried parmesan risotto, filled with gulf shrimp and pacific cod. Served with spiced pumpkin mole sauce $11.99
These are not GF.
Arancini are Sicilian deep fried rice balls often made from yesterday's risotto!
The pumpkin mole sauce is GF and Vegan. It does contain pumpkin seeds.
Mole is a Mexican sauce made from an array of ingredients, typically including chilis, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate. Ours is made from pumpkin puree & seeds, warming spices, ancho chiles and tomato.
The Gobbler - Our juicy turkey burger topped with cornbread-sage stuffing & turkey gravy, with orange-cranberry relish on a toasted brioche bun. $18.99
Cornbread stuffing does contain flour, so it is not GF. It also contains dairy and eggs.
Turkey Gravy is not GF
Cran Relish is GF and vegan
Autumn Harvest Salad-Fresh greens, Tillamook smoked cheddar, Peoria Road Farm Market apples, toasted pumpkin seeds, crisp bacon and maple-Dijon vinaigrette. $13.99
Salad dressing is GF and Vegan.
Smoked chicken or tempeh make fantastic add-on/upsells!
Smoked Beet Reuben-Pastrami style cured and lightly smoked beets, sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese and house Reuben sauce on our house baked toasted pumpernickel. $16.99
Reuben sauce is GF. It does contain dairy and eggs.
Pumpernickel is Vegan!
Bacon is a great add-on for non-vegetarians!
Bakery
Notes from Lindsey Henriksen, Bakery Manager
Last week for pumpkin cheesecake cookies at the tappy, we’ll have a new flavor next week.
Pub Updates
By Kira Sciarrotta, General Manager
The Dark and Stormy will be added to the menu this Friday! This is a dark rum cocktail with Marionberry, lime juice, simple syrup, topped with Ginger Beer. It will get a cinnamon-sugar rim to add to its holiday spirit!
Tap Room Updates
Caves Updates
By Aidan Welch, General Manager
High Fives
Paige - Paige is always so willing to help out and absolutely killed it slinging brews at bloktoberfest, along with tearing it down at the end of the night. Go Paige!
Maggie - I always hear Maggie laughing with her tables, I don’t know what it’s about, but they always leave with a huge smile & make sure to say goodbye to her.
Sophia - Sophia did an amazing job letting people know at the door that our grill broke down. She did a great job of telling people what we could offer and still had a smile on her face when people denied politely
Maggie - Always does a great job and is fun to work with!
Maggie Speed - I always see Maggie interacting with tables thoroughly, greeting them timely, and always have a smile on her face. I can tell that she’s witty and quick, but also quite efficient. I admire her swiftness without letting pressure get to her. U go Queen!
Riley - Killin it and always has good energy!
Paulie - He’s always willing to take one for the team for the sake of having each others backs and being the ultimate team player. Paulie MVP !!
Holly Amlin - Great job promoting, marketing and prepping stuff for Bfest, I really appreciate your dedication to pulling off a well run festival! We had so much fun stuff this year like the fedoras, merch and t shirts. Great work!
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Staff Section
Please welcome the following folks to the team:
Abrahm Knight - BOH
Other staff news:
If you call out sick, remember to submit a request to use your sick time. You accrue it as you work, so use it when you can!