Internal Brewsletter - March 26th, 2025
General
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 actually be the Pasta a la Vodka Gochuchang, brought to you by Ryan L.! Swing by the Pub this Thursday!
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
This Week’s Releases
Releasing Friday, March 28th
Demo Tape - Side A // 7.00%
Description: Sometimes, a side of a tape is so good you've got to play it again. Rewound and cranked up, Side A features the dynamic duo of Talus and Krush hops, blasting notes of citrus and tropical fruits dripping in hop resin. Smash that play button.
Key Takeaway: Our favorite of the two-sided mixtape we recorded last year, we decided to bring back the West Coast version. HBC-586 hops received a name, Krush, and shows off piney, dank herb and spice notes that balance with tropical fruit and citrus. Talus is there in support.
Tasting Notes: Mango • Grapefruit • On Repeat
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Emerging
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.
Sol Fresco // 5.25%
Description: Brewed for warm days in the sun and packaged fresh for your enjoyment. This golden-hued lager balances gentle corn sweetness, light hop bitterness, and aroma with a crisp, clean finish.
Key Takeaway: Our take on mexican lager, this falls neatly between the two extremes of the styles spectrum. From Negra to Clara, Sol Fresco pours a medium amber and showcases the very best of both worlds. Brewed with 100% domestic malt and 100% PNW hops.
Tasting Notes: Crisp • Add a Lime • Crusher
Format: Draft & Cans
Series: Perennial
Beer Style: Mexican Lager
Established by Austrian and German immigrants to Texas and Mexico, these beers were originally Vienna-style lagers brewed with Maize. The style is controversial, though, as it can refer to a lot of different beers. Generally, the name is given to a low IBU lager with a clean fermentation profile and extremely high clarity. Macro breweries use corn in their mash to achieve a highly crisp drinking experience at low cost, but craft brewers sometimes prefer to use flaked maize in its place as it has had proteins, oils, and other components removed and is generally a higher-quality ingredient.
Prickle // 6.00%
Description: A complex Oud Bruin aged for 5 years in white oak barrels and conditioned on blackberries and raspberries. Tart yet balanced, with notes of dark fruit, vanilla, and wild funk. The extended aging creates extraordinary depth and a refreshingly dry finish. A celebration of brewing patience rewarded.
Key Takeaway: Extraordinarily aged Oud Bruin made from 3 select white oak barrels, stored at least five years in our subterranean wild cellar in Downtown Corvallis.
Tasting Notes: Summer Berries • Oak • Longevity
Format: Draft Only
Series: Cellars
Beer Style: Oud Bruin
Upcoming Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Check back next week!
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.
We’re running this weekend’s sale Friday-Sunday!
This week’s beers are:
TR: Selection Series, Centennial & Citra
Pub: Selection Series, Simcoe & Strata
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 Thursday, 4/3.
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.
Marketing Updates
By Holly Amlin, Marketing & Creative Manager
April is Deep Seek Month!
During April, we’re focusing on Deep Seek company-wide. I shared this information about the beer last week, but I’m keeping it in this week so it’s easily found.
About the Beer (Study this!)
Deep Seek is our 6.50% year-round West Coast IPA brewed with mountains of pungent, resinous hops. It captures depths of dank pine and bright citrus to complement your next adventure.
Tasting Notes: Pine resin, tangerine, mango, pineapple, fruit candy, iris, spruce, lemon rind
Take a Deep Dive 🤿
We explored the modern West Coast IPA recipe with Deep Seek, continually developing it over time to drive intense, punchy hop flavor and aroma that complement a crisp, lighter-bodied beer with balanced bitterness.
As we evolved Deep Seek over the last year, we introduced a new hop product, HyperBoost, a concentrated hop oil extract intended to amplify hop aromatics and increase yield. We really like how the Simcoe variety added brightness and intense aroma without affecting the body or bitterness of the beer.
We made Deep Seek West Coast IPA with primarily West Coast ingredients. Our focus on NW-grown malts, in particular, provides balance and body to this beer without it feeling heavy or overwhelming. Deep Seek has classic West Coast hop characteristics of pine, tangerine, and lemon rind, which come from a recipe of NW hops, Simcoe HyperBoost, and the New Zealand variety Nectaron. It’s bitter but not astringent, hoppy but not palate-wrecking.
Drinkability is key, and Deep Seek has become a hallmark of the Pacific Northwest beer landscape. It delivers an iconic West Coast IPA experience that pairs with many occasions.
At Our Locations
We’d like to offer folks a small taste of Deep Seek. Please suggest this beer as an option to those you’ve verified at 21+ at either the table (Pub) or counter (TR). There’s a ton of good information above for you to use when talking to our guests about Deep Seek.
Deep Seek stickers will be handed out for free to the first 100 people who order beer at The Pub and Tap Room.
Ian (COO) has a little diver helmet he’s lent us for a fun scavenger hunt at the Tap Room. (see below) We’ll be moving this guy around periodically throughout the month, and the kids who spot it get a prize (candy).
If you have a chance, help us name it! Check the Sling newsfeed under Marketing Updates to submit a name or vote by Friday!
From the Executive Chef
By Sarah Farey, Executive Chef
April Monthly Specials Preview!!!
PUB
Pina-Pepper Burger-Caramelized pineapple, pepper jack cheese, gochujang mayo & jalapeno chimichurri $17.99
Potato & Green Chili Flautas-Creamy, spicy potato and green chili wrapped in flour tortillas and fried crispy. Served with salsa borracha, sour cream, queso fresco & fresh radishes $12.99
Chickpea & Avocado Salad-Tender greens & romaine blend, julienned watermelon radish, crispy chickpeas, fresh avocado, and mint-chevre vinaigrette $12.99
TAP ROOM
Toasted Italian Eggplant Sandwich Breaded and fried eggplant, melted fresh mozzarella, sweet & hot peppers and basil mayo on house baked ??? (still testing which bread to use) $15.99
Pimento Cheese Fritters w/ apricot pepper jelly $11.99
Bakery
Notes from Lindsey Henricksen, Bakery Manager
Springtime brings us new desserts starting Friday, April 4th! Peanut butter pie will be replacing the cheesecake at both locations. Peanut butter mousse topped with our dark chocolate ganache and a sprinkle of peanuts around the edge. This is a fan fave, it’s basically a no-bake cheesecake that resembles a giant Reese’s!
Pub only: Carrot cake is on for April! Our same recipe in a new format (no more bells). Lightly spiced carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of candied walnuts.
TR only: We will be starting a rotation of cookie flavors in addition to the chocolate chip. First up is a delightfully springy Lavender Lemon cookie.
Pub Updates
By Kira Sciarrotta, General Manager
We have made our switch from the Weihenstephaner NA to Fieldwork’s NA Hazy! If you have any feedback on this product from guests, please pass it along to Kira. Fieldwork has a few other NA offerings that we may explore if we have positive feedback on this product.
Be on the lookout for a new GF offering as we phase out of Mutantis - we loved working with this company, but unfortunately their storefront is closing which means we’re on the hunt for a new product!
Rose will also be getting an update! As soon as we run through our current stock of Anne Amie, we will be shifting into Dunham Cellars’ Rose Wine from Walla Walla Valley! This is a 100% Cabernet Franc Rose with a subtle sweetness that provides an extremely approachable flavor.
Tap Room Updates
By Elise Pietromonaco, General Manager
Grad Student Appreciation! Like we did a few weeks ago for the Honors College, April 7th- 13th we will be providing the same discount for a free beverage up to an $8 value with a purchase on a food item $5 or more, students just have to show their ID for the discount! Make sure to provide them with their stand too :)
Our new Nitro tap has been working great! It does have a delicate system where you pour for 10-15 seconds at a 45 degree angle with the glass, turn off, let settle for 10 seconds so the system can reprime and pour for another 15 second increment. Continue this process until you have a beer with about ¾ inch head on it. Please reach out to management if you need help practicing!
We are temporarily out of Block Water until we can make space for it again with the addition of the nitro tap.
It's the return on the Read and Sign! We will be starting back up the Read and sign document published once a week where managers deliver specific feedback and content on focuses or improvements to be made week to week. Just like the Brewsletter it is required to stay up to date on and is jam packed with everything you need to know to help you be successful as an employee of Block 15 :)
Caves Updates
By Aidan Welch, General Manager
High Fives
James B - You are such an incredible kitchen manager! Thank you for always being 5 steps ahead and often seeing things that might be missed otherwise. For fixing all the problems we face without complaint (like 2 pieces of equipment dying on us in the same week!) And juggling so much in our little taproom kitchen. This place would not be the same without you. Thanks for all the hard work you put in, each and every damn day.
Holly Amlin - You are so incredible at what you do! Your content creation is amazing and we are so lucky to have you managing the success of marketing Block 15, along with Caves. It's a big job, but in the hands of yourself and now Ryan, who is also killing it, we know we will continue to be successful in the online and print world which is important to the success for our restaurants as a whole.
Rachel Z- For killing scheduling even with all the requests you constantly receive, juggling last minute coverage and always having your gameface on behind the bar too!
Myles - Dude, keep being the ray of sunshine that you are. Thank you for always being so fun and positive to work with, even on the long days!
Spencer G - The team would not be the same without you, thank you for always seeing what you can help with, and providing well thought through, positively delivered feedback to continuously improve all of our jobs. You are exceptionally great at following policies and setting a great example for others in a way to complete each task to the fullest and not leaving it for the next. You ALWAYS go the extra mile and it does not go unnoticed. The amount of kindness you show others day to day in every interaction is unmatched. Keep being a bad ass!
If you have kudos or kind words you want to share about your co-worker anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
Human Resources
Staff Section
Check back next week!
Charitable Programs
People’s Pint Tap in April with Deep Seek
We’ll be supporting Grace Center for Adult Day Services this April by donating a portion of every pint and can purchased of Deep Seek to them. Please let people know about this during the month, so there’s awareness for who we’re supporting!
About Grace Center
They provide day services that optimize the cognitive and physical abilities of older adults and adults with a disability so they can remain as independent as possible and in their homes. The center specializes in both memory care and post-rehabilitation, serving adults with dementia, those recovering from strokes or brain injuries, and others. Grace Center’s services also provide vital respite to caregivers.
What is The People's Pint?
We strive to make a positive impact on the community by supporting local non-profit groups focusing on issues such as health and wellness, education, and environmental sustainability. The People's Pint program allows us to contribute to the overall well-being of our community.