Internal Brewsletter - November 20th, 2024
General
Holiday Hours
Thanksgiving
All locations closed
Christmas Eve
Pub Open 11 am - 4 pm
Tap Room and Caves Closed
Christmas Day
All locations closed
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 Matt W.! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for a Fettucinni Wrapped Hot Dog!
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
THIS WEEK’S RELEASES
Releasing Friday, 11/22
Fresh Pow //
Description: Amplified for the winter season, we have piled on the pow, doubling one of our favorite NZ hops. Slide into a resinous, citrusy, and tropical hop avalanche with a pillowy, soft body. Powabunga! // 7.00%
Key Takeaway: Brewed with a complex hop bill to amplify tropical and citrus fruit characters, Fresh Pow pairs a soft body and higher ABV for a perfect cold weather crusher.
Tasting Notes: Mango • Diesel • Powabunga
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Perennial
Beer Style: Hazy IPA
An IPA sub-style originating in New England, it originally evolved from American IPA to have a lighter malt bill, that had a soft finish from adjuncts containing higher protein levels and water naturally high in Chloride. Early versions retained an assertive bitterness, but that mostly softened over time giving way to a soft, juicy beer with a big, sweet body that mostly featured fruit notes (citrus, tropical, stonefruit, red fruit, etc..). Some versions can contain pine or dank notes as well. Bitterness ranges from light to moderate, and body ranges from moderate to heavy. Hazy is still a rapidly evolving style. The Variations of IPAs have become America’s primary contribution to the pantheon of world beer styles.
Marketing - Fresh Pow
We’re excited to release our Winter Seasonal, Fresh Pow Hazy IPA this Friday. The brewery makes this beer fresh through January, so it’s always tasting killer. This year, the beer was made with MORE POW - but what does that mean?
Garrison describes it best: “We modernized the hops for this year’s release of Fresh Pow, making it more fruity and less pine-forward than previous iterations. For fans of the New Zealand variety Nelson Sauvin, we doubled it, removed Chinook from the dry hop, and added Comet Salvo for a more prominent hop presence without adding bitterness to the final product.”
Window Decor
Our locations are getting the winter treatment with Fresh Pow scenes placed on a few of the windows. Keep an eye out for these scenes as they get installed this week by yours truly.
Merch
We’ve brought in some new merch items for the release this year: Blankets and Specialty Stickers. We also have new Fresh Pow Coasters. Returning merch from last year: Hats and koozies.
To learn all the details about this beer, I’ve created a landing page on our website that has all the things you need to know. Feel free to share it with customers, too!
Cheers,
Holly
UPCOMING Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Hop Pen Pals // New Zealand IPA
Series: Synergy, collaboration with Behemoth Brewing in New Zealand
Releases: November 29th
Format: Draft & Cans
Description: Dear Behemoth, Thank you for designing this lighter-bodied NZ IPA that bursts with peeled pineapple and mandarin oranges from your Southern Hemisphere hops. Enclosed is a WC recipe for your brewing enjoyment. - Your friends, The Block 15 Brewers
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: Highland Hymn
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
This is on pause because of Thanksgiving - The next meet up will be December 5th!
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, and 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.
Beer 101: What gets dry-hopped?
Written by Garrison Schmidt, Head Brewer
We talk a lot about dry hopping beer. It’s in a bunch of our beer descriptions, one sheets, write-ups, etc., but I realize that it has been a minute since we talked about what that process looks like and why we do it. If you’re new to the crew or just need a refresher, this one’s for you.
Hops are added to beer at different times during the brewing process for various purposes. Generally speaking, the earlier in the process you add the hops, the more bitterness they impart, and the later that you add them, the more aroma. This is because heat and the duration of exposure are the deciding factors for a process called isomerization. During isomerization, hop oils convert to compounds that contribute to bitterness, flavor, or aroma. The flavor and aroma compounds evaporate above 170 degrees, and all that is left are the bittering compounds. Most beers get some hops added throughout the boil stage of the brew, a little at the beginning for bitterness and more toward the end for aroma. Sometimes, we add some to the whirlpool after the boil to really get another boost of aroma.
For the beers that we want to really burst with the smell of hops, we add dry hops to them. That simply means that we add another shot of hops after the beer is done fermenting. At the production facility, we use the hop rocket, a small steel tank on wheels that is filled with hop pellets, pressurized, and shot up the arm over the top of the beer in a tank.
All of our IPAs get dry-hopped, but a lot of other beers do, too. For example, Ridgeback Red, Joy Pale, and Fresca Pils all get dry-hopped. These are all beers whose style doesn’t necessarily require a dry hop. That’s to say that there are plenty of red ales on the market that don’t have a dry hop, think Charmed Life, but we want Ridgeback to really pop with hop aroma, so we add a dry-hop.
Dry hops are a way to amplify hop aroma across the board but are also a really great way to set a beer apart from the crowd completely. For instance, when we made Sticky Hands and Deep Seek Beer Pageant, the only thing we changed was amping up the dry-hop to increase their aroma. Soon, we’ll be releasing Hop Pen Pals, a collaboration brew we did with Behemoth Brewing in New Zealand that was dry-hopped with Nectaron, Riwaka, and Superdelic hops, all from New Zealand. It’s unlike any IPA I’ve ever tried. Give it a shot, and as always, let me know what you think. I also want to reiterate that I am always happy to answer any questions about our beer and would love to chat about it with any and all of you. Hit me up at garrison@block15.com any time.
From the Executive Chef
Tap Room Updates
This Friday we will be replacing The Z.A.T and The Tempeh BLT at the Tap Room!
Curry Cauliflower Grilled Cheese (Replaces ZAT)
Roasted local cauliflower with lemon & yellow curry, Zante currants, crushed cashews, fresh cilantro and citrus aioli on toasted house artisan bread with melted provolone. $14.99
Maple & Mustard Tempeh Sandwich (Replaces Tempeh BLT)
Crispy tempeh tossed in our maple & stone ground mustard sauce, fresh spinach & apples and caramelized onions on house baked ciabatta bread. $15.99
Since the tap room has 2 new menu items launching Friday, we will not run a game day special, so the kitchen can focus on getting familiar with the new menu items!
Game Day Menu at The Pub this weekend
Game Day menu at the pub is a go! We will have the same limitations as the previous menu and run a vegetarian red lentil chili as our special!
Pullman Washington is the home of the Cougars, who the beavers play this weekend, and is also home to the National Lentil Festival! GO Beavs!
December Monthly Specials!
TAP ROOM
Coconut Curry Chicken & Rice
Tender coconut curry chicken breast, spicy serrano cucumbers & shallots, peanut ginger sauce & cilantro over a bed of coconut rice. $13.99
French Dip Sandwich
Tender roast bottom round, tangy horseradish cream, melted provolone cheese on a toasted house baked baguette. Served with a side of warm jus. $18.99
PUB
Tahini Baba Ganoush
Roasted Eggplant, garlic and tahini dip with fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots and house baked flatbread. $11.99
Mushroom & Beef Stroganoff
Stout braised Oregon beef chuck with The Mushroomery chanterelle, shitake & porcini mushrooms and sweet onions in a savory sour cream sauce, with radiatore pasta & fried parsley. $19.99
Grilled Mortadella Sandwich
Thinly sliced & grilled mortadella, arugula-hazelnut pesto, melted provolone cheese, banana peppers and mayo on a toasted brioche bun. $16.99
PUB UPDATES
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Caves Updates
Events
Pups on the Patio at the Tap Room - December 7th
Belgian Beer Dinner at Caves - December 10th
Santa’s Folly at Caves - December 14th
HIGH FIVEs
Maggie Speed - Maggie was an incredible trainer, always showing patience and giving thoughtful critiques. She never fails to bring such positive energy to every shift!!
Lily Smalling - Lily is such a joy to have on shift and anytime I’m working with her I have a great day. You’re amazing!
If you have kudos or kind words to share anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
Human resources
STAFF SECTION
Congrats to Chris M. for accepting a tap room kitchen lead position!
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
The People’s Pint - All November
This November, we’re partnering with Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit by donating a portion of sales of Gloria!
Each pint or can purchased helps them offer assistance, without charge, for search and rescue (SAR) in difficult areas and high-angle terrain. Skilled CMRU volunteers with mountaineering experience, trained in the many facets of technical alpine search and rescue, are available around the clock.
