Internal Brewsletter - May 31st, 2023
General
Company BBQ is Sunday, August 13th. More info to come, save the date!
Employee Provision: We’re looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
This week’s special is brought to you by Kolleen! Stop by the Pub this Thursday to try Bibim Mandu, a Korean potsticker salad.
UPCOMING PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - cans
RELEASING Friday 6/2
Tropicolor // Capturing the freshest, juiciest hop character from a trifecta of Idaho 7, Sabro and Bru-1 varietals. With a soft, lush body, Tropicolor is a highly drinkable IPA with a tropical twist. // 7.50% ABV
Takeaways: Pushing tropical mango, pineapple and coconut, this is a very Tiki-inspired Hazy (no fruit added, all hops). El Dorado hop oil is in the ferment for biotransformation. Really pushing big and juicy.
Tasting Notes: Pineapple. Coconut. Beach Day.
COMING UP ON DRAFT
RELEASING Friday 6/2
Tropicolor // Hazy IPA
CROWLER/PACKAGE SALE
Crowler Sale: Fluffhead
UPCOMING / IN PROCESS BEERS
*This list is subject to change based on the brewing schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Queen of Spices // Tropical Export Stout w/ Cardamom
Tipping Point // India Pale Ale w/ Spruce Tips
Blue Truck // American Premium Lager
TopWire IPA No. 02 // West Coast IPA
Cassidy // Wild Ale with Honey, Hibiscus and Rose Petals
Alumni Club // Dry-hopped Kölsch
Liberty & Justice for All // India Pale Ale
BEER EDUCATION
Weekly Tastings of new releases and some classics is continuing:
Tuesdays at 2pm at the Taproom
Thursdays at 11am at the Pub
Beer 101: Brewery Upgrades
You all may have noticed some changes around the brewery of late so we wanted to take a moment and explain the upgrades and why we did them.
Second Grain Silo
The most obvious upgrade is the addition of a second grain silo out front. You can see it emblazoned with a 100% Pacific Northwest Malt logo. This silo will be filled with Pure Idaho Pilsner malt from Great Western Malting. This pilsner malt is grown and malted in Northern Idaho and will serve as our standard pilsner malt in all recipes requiring it. We chose this malt after many trials in-house looking for a PNW-grown pilsner malt to serve as the backbone of all our recipes utilizing it. The silo addition increases our efficiency by reducing the amount of physical grain handling we have to do daily, reducing the amount of malt we have to store inside our facility, and giving us significant cost savings by purchasing in bulk, 50,000 pounds at a time. With the addition of a second silo, we also upgraded our grain handling system to accommodate it, allowing us to pull accurate, specific amounts of malt individually from each silo as needed.
Whirlpool
We also upgraded our brewhouse quite recently. This was a major retrofit, as we added a third vessel to our brewing system, a whirlpool. This was custom-built to our specs and installed by North Coast Metal Design. This is a vessel specifically designed to spin the wort at the end of the boil process in order to condense the solid matter and particulate into the center of the vessel. This allows us to extract our wort from the edges of the vessel more efficiently, increasing our yield. Adding a third vessel to the brewhouse has the added benefit of increasing our throughput on the brewhouse, shortening our brewing days significantly. While we were doing the retrofit we also added a tube-and-shell heat exchanger inline between the boil kettle and the whirlpool. This allows us to step the temperature down while transferring to the whirlpool, creating a more optimal temperature for hop additions late in the process.
Floors
Under the brewhouse you can see we had some of our floors epoxied. After 7 yrs of brewing our concrete floors were getting a bit tired, so we brought in Cascade Floors to put down a hard epoxy protective layer on our floors. This is only the first stage of the process, as we plan on getting the whole brewery epoxied to match. This creates a more sanitary environment that is easier for us to clean and looks good while doing it.
Pipe Bridge
During the brewhouse expansion, we also had North Coast install a pipe bridge to our second building where we do our canning. For those of you that handle transferring materials, you may notice there is no longer a pesky transfer hose across the breezeway that has been a staple of our brewing days. This is thanks to the hard piping North Coast built. This is a continuous, sanitary length of stainless steel pipe that starts in our cellar, climbs up the ceiling, and then passes through the wall of the first building, crosses the breezeway overhead, and punches into the second building, before dropping back to a working level where it can be connected to the canner. Not only does this remove the hose that so many of us have battled over time, but it creates a more sanitary transfer of our product, is much less prone to wear and tear, and saves the brewers the time and trouble of rolling out our old hoses.
Second Keg Washer
The final upgrade, which is the least obvious to most people, is we added a second keg washer. This unit is of a similar design to our previous washer and operates on a similar timeframe, so we are able to run these units out of sync to drastically increase our throughput on the keg washer. This translates into cleaning the kegs we need, in less time, once again improving our efficiency.
If anyone has any further questions or interests in any of these systems, feel free to reach out to Matt, Ted, or Garrison for more details!
PUB UPDATES
New Menu Item! Next Wednesday 6/7 we will be replacing the eggplant parmesan sandwich with an asparagus provolone melt!
Roasted asparagus, melted provolone, harissa mayo and fresh tomatoes on house-baked ciabatta. $16.99
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Our new specials board is up! The letters are in containers behind the bar. Please be diligent about keeping this updated as we run out or add new items. Also, let’s take extra care to keep the letters organized. They are set up for success!
We have 4 umbrellas for the 30’s that can be put out on hot days. These should go on tables 31,32, 37, and 38. Please remember to take them down at the end of the night and store them in the bbq area. We also have to make sure that we keep an eye on the wind. If it gets super breezy out there, pull them down as fast as you can to avoid them breaking or flying into the 4 spirits parking lot!
Just a reminder that we have 2 outside tables that can be turned into ADA accessible tables. With the weather getting nicer, we will see more and more people wanting to utilize these out there so make sure you know the procedure! I think most of you are familiar, but if you are new to the Tap Room or are in need of a refresher, please ask a manager and we will show you the ropes!
New Menu Item! This Friday our clam dip will be making it’s return to replace the rosemary feta dip.
Cool & creamy clam dip made with NW clams, shallots and parsley. Served with house-made sea salt and black pepper potato chips. $10.99
MARKETING
Beach Clean-up & Beer Collaboration for World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day is on the horizon (June 8th, to be exact), and to celebrate this day, we are teaming up with Sunriver Brewing and Buoy Beer Co to host a beach clean-up and a collaboration brew! This project came together when Buoy Beer contacted us about our connections with Ocean Blue Project. The inspiration behind this project is that “All rivers lead to the sea”, with all three breweries located by a major river and Buoy by both river and sea.
Our collab Beach clean up will be in Newport on June 24th from 1-4pm with a Tap Takeover at NyeCreek Taphouse from 5 - 8pm, so mark your calendars if you want to get involved! This is a volunteer opportunity, so please join us if you have time in your schedule! It will be fun!
Reach out to kelsea@block15.com if you have any questions!
Please fill out this form if you are going:
EVENTS
Portland Beer Week - June 16th-25th
Where: Various locations around PDX
We’ll be participating in a few events this year, as well as hosting our own. We’re still finalizing the details, but here are some dates to put on your calendar!
Block 15 Cellar-bration
Saturday, June 17th, 1-5pm @ Tiny Bubble Room
Lots of Block 15 cellar goodies all in one place. This is an event hosted by Block 15, come say hi!
Mussels from Brussels
Tuesday, June 20th @ Wayfinder Beer
A competition for best mussels sauce and pairing between last year’s winner Upright Brewing, and Block 15, Little Beast Brewing, Monkless Belgian Ales, and Wayfinder Beer.
This is a ticketed event: https://www.pdxbeerweek.com/calendar/musselsfrombrussels2023
Portland Beer & Cheese Festival
Sunday, June 25th @ Living Haus Beer
Master cheesemonger Steve Jones and Portland Beer Week have teamed to select 10 beers from 10 different breweries, each expertly paired with a corresponding cheese in a carefully guided tour of flavor.
This is a ticketed event: https://www.pdxbeerweek.com/beerandcheesefest
Beach Clean Up & Collab Beer Release Party - June 24th
Clean Up: 1-4pm @ Nye Beach in Newport
Release Party: 5-8pm @ The Taphouse at Nye Creek
Come help us clean up the beach for World Oceans Day from 1-4pm! We’re partnering with Buoy Beer Co, Sunriver Brewing, and Ocean Blue for a collaborative clean-up effort with a beer release party at the Taphouse at Nye Creek afterward from 5-8pm. More info in the Marketing section above.
Block 15 Softball Team - May-August
Stop by and cheer on the team! Game dates are subject to change, but as of right now:
6/6 7:30pm @ Rene Moye West, 6/13 7:30pm @ Pioneer Park, 6/20 6:10pm @ Rene Moye West, 6/27 7:30pm @ Rene Moye West, 7/11 7:30pm @ Rene Moye West, 7/18 8:45pm @ Pioneer Park, 7/25 7:30pm @ Rene Moye West, 8/1 6:10pm @ Rene Moye West.
HIGH FIVE SECTION
Wyatt Dabbs - Utilizes down time to restock stations and plates. Never wastes a second.
Taylor Stine - Always a blast to work with and gets the job done with efficiency! Great job Taylor.
STAFF SECTION!
Welcome to the team to the following folks!
Nico Belesiotis (FOH)
Kenny Stryker (FOH)
Ian Harrington (FOH)
Alyssa Lindsay (BOH)
Congrats to Garrison and Goody on 10 years at Block 15!
SAFETY TIPS
Be conscious as to what others are doing around you, and do your best to ensure you don’t pose a hazard to them (and vice versa).
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
The People’s Pint - The Month of June
Gloria! is our People’s Pint Tap during the month of June! Each pint or can purchased at our locations helps support the Ocean Blue Project and its initiatives to rehabilitate and conserve the world’s oceans, beaches, and rivers through clean-ups, solutions to keep pollutants from entering ecosystems, community-driven service learning, and youth education.
Clean Up the Beach
On June 24th from 1-4pm, we're joining up with Sunriver Brewing and Buoy Beer Co. to clean the beach on behalf of World Oceans Day with Ocean Blue Project. Come by and volunteer with us! We're meeting at Nye Beach in Newport.
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!