Internal Brewsletter - February 5th, 2025
General
Bourbon Month 2025
Happy first full week of Bourbon Month! How are y’all feeling?! Tuesday kicked off the first event post-release weekend with some Trivia led by our very own, COO! Next up we have the 4 Spirits Dine-Out on the 11th all day at both Block 15 locations, with the special tasting happening exclusively from 6-8pm at the Pub. We will have some fun cocktails paired with their highlighted selection on that Tuesday (more info on that in the “Pub” section). I hope you all are having a great start to the month! Thank you for getting out there and building the excitement for our guests that love bourbon and bourbon barrel aged beers! Reach out to me (Goody) if you have any questions!
Special Monday Bourbons - February 10th
Pub - Blood Oath Flight (Pacts 3, 4, and 5), 98.6 Proof
This will be a flight of .5oz pours of Pact 3 (2017), Pact 4 (2018) and Pact 5 (2019). Each year, Blood Oath Bourbon releases a new “Pact” that will never be produced again, so each release is incredibly unique and rare. These bottles are going for pretty crazy numbers out on the market, and for a bourbon fan, the chance to try these three side by side will likely never happen again. While the price point is higher than we would typically see, this is a really exciting and unique opportunity for folks to try some well-crafted bourbons. I for one am really excited about this offering!
Pact 3 Notes:
“A masterful union of well-bred bourbons”: A sharp and floral rye, finished in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. This, coupled with a well-seasoned, rye bourbon, rich with fragrant vanilla, toasted caramel, oranges and oak.
Nose: Caramel, Stone Fruit, Cocoa
Palate: Toasted Oak, Spice, Bramble Fruits
Finish: Balanced, Smooth
Pact 4 Notes:
“A masterful union of three well-bred bourbons”: The first, an extra-aged 12-year-old bourbon, provides a mellow, smooth finish with deep oak undertones. The second, a rich 10-year-old bourbon, provides warm caramel and honey flavors. The third, a 9-year-old bourbon finished in toasted bourbon barrels, adds deep chocolate, vanilla with extra spice.
Nose: Rich Vanilla, Chocolate, Oak
Palate: Honey, Cocoa, Brûléed Sugar
Finish: Robust, Smooth, Caramel
Pact 5 Notes:
“A masterful union of three well-bred bourbons”: A 13-year mahogany bourbon, peppery with shavings of dark chocolate. Two, an 11-year silky, wheated bourbon rich with vanilla and honey. And three, an 8-year find, finished in Caribbean rum barrels to impart orange, brown sugar and warm island spice. Every sip, an uncharted, sensory adventure.
Nose: Brown Sugar, Dark Rum, Pepper
Palate: Dark Fruit, Molasses, Vanilla
Finish: Long, Brown Sugar, Raisin
Tap Room - Prichard’s Double Barreled, 90 Proof
Nose: Woodsy, Butterscotch, Maple
Palate: Vanilla, Gingerbread, Tea
Finish: Oaky, Gentle
“Our bourbon is created using a unique, labor intensive and yes, expensive process. Bourbon is generally barreled at a relatively high 125 proof. However, the final bottle proof may be as low as 80. The question then is "How does the bourbon get from 125 proof to 80 proof?" The answer is that the whiskey has been watered down before you screw off the cork and water dilutes flavor. Our bourbon is taken from 120 proof to 95 proof and re-barreled in new charred oak barrels to reinforce the barrel notes that bourbon is so famous for. To our knowledge there is no other distillery that utilizes this process.”
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 Rachel! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for a Chopped Cheese!
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
This Week’s Releases
Releasing Friday, February 7th
Zero Lux // 6.90%
Description: A modern IPA featuring Erebus hops, which, in Greek mythology, is the primordial god of darkness and shadows. Shining with the characteristics of citrus oils, passion fruit, and rose. Step into the darkness to taste the light.
Key Takeaway: Brewed originally as Paradise Inferno, this beer showcases Erebus hops and pours a bright gold pint. Fruity with a touch of jasmine, this hop is fast becoming one of our favorites.
Tasting Notes: Jasmine • Passion Fruit • Lucent
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Orbital
Beer Style: West Coast IPA
An IPA Sub-style that originated 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!
Rocky Shores // American IPA
Series: Emerging
Releases: February 14th
Format: Draft & Cans
Description: As rugged and unique as the rocky shorelands of the Oregon Coast, this bright and flavorful IPA showcases both southern hemisphere and PNW hops with a blend of citrus, stonefruit, and herbaceous notes.
Charmed Life // Irish Red Ale
Series: Perennial
Releases: February 14th
Format: Draft & Cans
Description: Fortune favors the bold - and this lucky Irish Red Ale proves it. With a deep ruby hue and velvety malt backbone, Charmed Life delivers a taste of Irish brewing tradition in every blessed drop.
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: The Incredible
Exclusion: All Super Nebula and Kriek 2025 release bottles will be excluded from 20% Sunday Discount sale for the first 2 weeks. Discount availability will begin for SN & Kriek 2025 bottles on February 17th.
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
The next Happy Hour is this Thursday, 2/6!
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 - Preparing for Next Year’s Bourbon Month
Written by Head Brewer Garrison Schmidt
It’s Bourbon Month at Block 15. While most of our staff is busy every day with Bourbon Month customers and events, our brew staff actually finished our contribution to Bourbon Month weeks ago. Super Nebula, its variants, and Kriek have been bottled, labeled, and ready to release for some time, but right now, we are preparing for next year. Freshly emptied bourbon barrels have landed at our South Corvallis production brewery and are currently being sanitized with our steam generator.
This incredibly powerful machine functions by creating steam under pressure, which allows it to superheat past the level of vaporization at atmospheric pressure. Basically, it allows us to make steam that’s hotter than normal steam, which penetrates deep into the barrel’s wood grain and kills any microbial infection that might be found. Once the barrel is steamed, we seal it for a few minutes to allow a vacuum to be pulled from inside the barrel, drawing microbes out that might be dwelling deeper in the wood. Once we know the barrel is clean and sanitized, we purge it with CO2 to keep the beer from being over-oxidized during its conditioning.
The barrel is then filled with beer, stacked, and placed to rest in our temperature-controlled barrel room. Temperature is a constant 65F to keep the wood making up the barrel from expanding and shrinking with temperature fluctuations. Last year, Super Nebula barrels were taken North to our pub and stored in the wild cellar until summer, when cherries ripen, and we brew Kriek into them. It’s a complicated puzzle with a lot of moving parts, but it keeps us busy, and it’s a favorite time of year for us. If you haven’t yet, taste the fruits of our labor and try all of the Bourbon Month beers, and as always, let me know what you think!
From the Executive Chef
Check back next week!
Pub Updates
Just a reminder for safety throughout the restaurant–when you are moving through tables and sections (whether you are FOH or BOH) we should not be running/sprinting or moving so quickly that you could potentially hurt yourself or a customer (we’ve seen some close calls/uncomfortable looking guests). This also goes for when you are using a handheld. Please find a spot to stop and put in an order rather than doing so while walking with your head down. Lately we’ve been seeing/hearing corner calls being yelled out of the kitchen–yelling corner does not excuse moving so quickly that someone could get hurt. Please project your voice, but keep in mind that yelling can be disruptive.
Tap Room Updates
Happy Bourbon Month Y’all!
Stamp Books, Stamps and ink pad will be kept to the right of the bar register.
There's 1 bottle of each batched cocktail base (just the liquor mixed together so they are shelf stable and okay to not be refrigerated) in the crate to the right on the bar well down by where crowler cans are kept. Managers will be responsible for batching these, but we will most likely not need to make more. If we are flying through one of the specialty cocktails, let your manager on duty know or write a note for the manager at open.
Please make sure to check off preorders as they are passed off. These are located in the barrel room, with the check list on top of the stack in the left corner. They will live here for the rest of the week then pulled to the office and contacted for pickup.
All bottles that are available for normal sale are INSIDE the cooler for easy restocking.
When serving at any Block 15 location, customer service should always be the first priority. Let’s slow down and really prioritize this month what is most important when providing excellent service at the Taproom. Because we are a counter service restaurant, each interaction with customers goes a long way! Please immediately end all personal conversations with coworkers when taking an order (or a guest is approaching the counter for service), we should not be socializing with each other when guests are tasting or discussing their order as they may have questions for you. There has been feedback provided that some regulars often feel they are "interrupting us”. While I know these very well may be work related conversations, we should always make guests feel a warm welcome and be attentive to the way you segue into conversation with them. Sometimes all it takes is a short tone or an awkward segue to dampen someone's experience, so let’s be aware of our behavior while on the floor, keep it professional. We are all human, we can gently remind each other of this expectation if we see it slipping. If you feel you are already doing this, HIGH FIVE! This is just a reminder then :)
On that note, find connection points with guests. Create conversation by offering upgrades like our tasty Garlic Parmesan fries, offering up suggestions of your own favorite upgrades to menu items to really elevate their experience or samples of beer if they are bouncing back and forth between two options. Take that time to leave a lasting impression with each and every guest!
Some of the patio closing responsibilities are often getting missed at night.
Closers please make sure and do a thorough sanitation of all outdoor tables at close! Also check and throw away large debris.
If your preclose does most of the outdoor responsibilities, it is still your job to do the final walk through, verify that all heaters are all OFF, the large handle is switched to the OFF position (Down) with the padlock through the hole and locked.
The gas to the fireplace should be turned OFF, not just switched off at night.
Please note: Missing these responsibilities can lead to an immediate write up due to safety (leaving heating elements on)
Caves Updates
Bourbon Dinner - February 18th
As part of our Bourbon Month events, we’re hosting a Bourbon-themed pairing dinner at Caves on February 18th at 6 pm. The six-course menu was crafted by Sarah and Aidan. Check it out at the link below!
Ticket Sales: https://www.cavescorvallis.com/experiences/bourbon-dinner
Valentine’s Day at Caves
This year, we’ll be running a couple of specials from Thursday, February 13th, through Saturday, February 15th. Reservations are encouraged but not required.
Dinner Special
Winter Black Truffle & Parsnip Risotto, Boudin Blanc, Shaved Apple & Herb Salad
Dessert Special
Brown Butter Brownie, Marionberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Events
Bourbon Month
A big thank you to everyone who helped get Bourbon Month launched! The first weekend had a lot of smiling faces, and our events ran smoothly.
Each Tuesday, we have an event this month. Make sure you’re familiar and encourage guests to attend as appropriate. You can find the calendar on our website.
Super Bowl at the Tap Room - February 9th
Come watch Super Bowl LIX at our Southtown Tap Room! We’ll have the game on inside on our big screen projector with the sound on. Game kicks off at 3:30 pm.
We’ll be serving up our classic Chicken Wings, as well as Bourbon Smoked Chicken Wings from our February specials.
High Fives
Uncle Danny - Just an all-around good guy and the best burderer (birderer?) we know.
If you have kudos or kind words to share anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
Human Resources
Staff Section
Check back next week.
The People’s Pint / Cheers for Charity / Dine Out
Dine Out for 4 Spirits Foundation - February 11th
As part of Bourbon Month, we’ll be hosting representatives from 4 Spirits Distillery for a special bourbon tasting at the Pub from 6 - 8 pm. Two cocktail specials using their bourbon and barrel-aged gin will be on the menu. In addition, a portion of the day's food sales from both of our locations will be donated to the 4 Spirits Foundation.
