Internal Brewsletter - August 16th, 2023
General
Employee Provision:
We’re looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
UPCOMING PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - cans
RELEASING Friday 8/18
Flicker // Inspired by Autumn's warm days and crisp nights, Flicker was designed to spark conversation and community while delivering an engaging hop profile with notes of Lychee, Stonefruit, and Pine. // 6.80% ABV
Takeaways: Autumnal in theme, this perennial IPA will be around for the fall as we transition between Fresh Flow and Fresh Pow. A touch more malt and a hop profile that balances classic west-coast with a contemporary kick.
Tasting Notes: Grapefruit Peel. Blueberry. Autumnal.
Series: Perennial
TopWire IPA Block No. 03 // The third incarnation of our Crosby TopWire series features Idaho 7 CGX, Azacca CGX, and, as always, estate-grown Comet. Pine and tropical; we just want to keep chasing that New-Age West Coast vibe. // 7.00% ABV
Takeaways: A rotating west-coast IPA brewed for Crosby's Topwire hop project, and featuring select Crosby CGX hops. Only available here and there.
Tasting Notes: Sitka Spruce. Mango. Patio Season.
Series: Emerging
Upcoming PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - Bottles
Turbulent Consequences Peche // Turbulent Consequence is our turbid mashed, extended boiled, lambic-style ale spontaneously fermented and matured in our underground wild cellars. Peche is made up of select 18-month-old barrels that are blended onto 1000 pounds of Elberta peaches and aged an additional 8 months. // 6.00% ABV
Takeaways: Lambic-style ale aged on one of the traditional five belgian brewing fruits, peaches. This years 1000 pounds of golden fleshed, free stone Elberta peaches came from Detering Orchards in Harrisburg, Oregon. Picked and added to barrels at the peak of ripeness, this beer showcases delicious local fruit, premium Oregon wine barrels, and the native house yeast culture living on the walls of our cellar's coolship.
Tasting Notes: Firm peach, oaky vanilla, midsummer
Series: Cellar
COMING UP ON DRAFT
RELEASING Friday 8/18
TopWire IPA Block No. 03 // India Pale Ale
TC Peche // Lambic-style ale aged on Elberta peaches
Flicker // West Coast IPA
CROWLER/PACKAGE SALE
Crowler Sale: Consortium
UPCOMING / IN PROCESS BEERS
*This list is subject to change based on the brewing schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Bloktoberfest // Märzen Lager
Bill Breathes // Imperial Hazy IPA
Sticky Hands: High 5 // Imperial IPA
Fresh Hop Gloria! // Pilsner
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: West-Coast IPA
Written by Ted O’Hanlan, Head Brewer
The craft beer explosion of the 1990s into the 2000s saw a dramatic transformation of what an IPA was as the style rapidly adopted sub-style monikers such as American IPA, West-Coast IPA, Northwest IPA, and New England IPA IPA. Northwest and West-Coast IPAs share a similar emphasis on traditional bitterness and big aromatics, and can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between, especially when you consider how these sub-styles continue to change and evolve with time; constantly being driven by the innovation of brewers.
West Coast IPA came out of the mid-90s with the creation of the double IPA. Breweries like Russian River and Stone Brewing pushed dry hopping rates up and made bigger and bigger IPAs with lots of bitterness, but often still had relatively large amounts of crystal malt in their grain bills that made these beers dark and malty compared to what they look like today. A big shift happened in and around San Diego in the first decade of the 2000s, breweries like Pizza Port, Ballast Point, and Green Flash continued to push dry hopping rates. It’s not clear exactly when the term West Coast IPA came to exist, but Green Flash filed a trademark on it in 2011.
It was largely the influence of hazy IPA and the surge of its popularity nationwide that reset some of the features of west coast IPA. Hazy IPA reset palates with its emphasis on juicy, fruit-forward hop profiles, and restrained, or even non-existent bitterness, which made them exceptionally easy to drink. The West Coast IPAs that emerged after the big hazy wave had a fraction of the bitterness of earlier beers, mostly dropped crystal malts and lightened the malt bill, while blending increasingly juicy new hop varieties with many of the tried and true varieties that defined the style previously. The style was already moving in this direction before Hazy stormed the industry, but after it’s actually hard to find those old-school big malt IPAs anymore, at least as a West Coast IPA.
Block 15 makes a wide range of IPAs, and being innovative within this style is one of our most endearing qualities as a brewery. Many of those IPAs we describe as West Coast, which, as we make them, can have a large range of malt and hop profiles, even featuring hops from outside the Pacific Northwest, as far away as Australia or New Zealand. This week we are releasing Flicker, one of our Perennial IPAs, Flicker always releases in the fall and caries through that season before we transition to Fresh Pow! Flicker features a lighter, but still noticeable malt profile that finishes dry with a touch of malt sweetness, the hop profile is juicy, piney, and slightly dank. It really exemplifies what this sub-style has come to be known for.
Further Reading:
PUB UPDATES
There will be table tents going into rotation at the Pub that will have information on the Caves Beer Dinner and Bloktoberfest
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Levi is now a part-time manager at the Taproom! Give him a big high five next time you see him.
Gabi is now a Lead Server at the Taproom! Give her a big high five next time you see her!
Nick and I (mostly Nick) added some misters outside by the bus station to help cool folks off outside. Please make sure those are getting turned off every night! There is a little turn valve by the side kitchen door/bbq area where the hose is attached that just needs to be turned off.
We are out of labeled crowlers and now have labeled stickers that you fill out and put on the blank ones. Fill it out before you put it on (much easier to write on) and include the date filled, beer name, and ABV!
We tweaked a couple of the happy hour menu items.
Spring onion dip got replaced by a smaller clam dip still with chips and veggies
Block Tart got replaced by Chicken Wings with carrots and celery (each order has 5 wings)
When we run out of what is already batched of Wishful Thinking it will be 86ed and replaced with something else
We are switching up our seasonal lemonade flavor to white peach guava this Friday! We will run through what we have of passionfruit and passionfruit Marg alongside if needed.
Make sure we are rinsing out the smix pitchers before washing them as the seeds like to stick around.
With warm weather on the horizon for a while make sure we are watering the plants twice a day! Don’t forget about the little table succulents too (water them twice a week)
If you see anything break, need fixing, seems off, etc. write it in the maintenance log and let Madie know so it gets addressed ASAP!
Caves UPDATES
Lots of new items coming out of the kitchen in the weeks to come!
Events
Corvallis Beer Week
We have joined the fun as Corvallis Beer Week has returned. Block 15 and Caves will be involved in 3 different events… See below!
Pre-March Gather Hour at Caves - August 24th at 4 pm
About: The Kick-off for Corvallis Beer Week at Caves with 3 unique small bites paired with 3 beers chosen from our cellar. This will be followed by the traditional Beer Week march around Downtown Corvallis
Taste and Tour at Block 15 Taproom (Southtown) - August 28th at 6pm
About: Guided tour of the Southtown Brewery, complete with a walkthrough of the brewing process and examples of the grains and hops used to make our beers!
Folks will stick around after the tour for a $10 tasting flight special (4, 4oz beers). We'll also have a food special that day, more details to come… Sign-ups are online (now full!)
Caves Beer Dinner - August 29th at 6 pm **Ticketed***
Favorites from the past are making a resurgence alongside fresh new dishes at our next Caves Beer Dinner. We'll have six courses of unique offerings paired with hard-to-find cellared bottles and curated draught beer selections.
Link for tickets: CAVES BEER DINNER
Bloktoberfest!
Oct 6th and 7th! More details to come…
HIGH FIVE SECTION
Zach Griffiths - Zach was super helpful to everybody on a busy Friday night and was a great total team player!
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If you have kudos or kind words you want to share anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
STAFF SECTION!
Welcome the following folks to the team!
Trent Gasparitsch (BOH)
Congrats to Gabi for becoming a Lead Server at the Taproom!
SAFETY TIPS
Oregon’s heat waves have been getting worse in recent years. It's important that regardless of your level of activity, drink plenty of fluids, even if you are not thirsty, but especially when working outside.
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
Dine Out! Elakha Alliance - September 12th
On September 12th, a portion of sales from both Block 15 locations will be donated to help support Elakha Alliance.
About: Sea otters are a keystone species whose predation and behavior have a profound effect on the mix of species around it. In their absence, Oregon’s marine ecosystem has suffered, becoming ecologically less robust.
The Elakha Alliance was formed in 2018 by tribal, nonprofit, and conservation leaders with a shared belief in a powerful vision: an Oregon coast 50 years from now where our children and grandchildren co-exist along with a thriving sea otter population and a robust and resilient marine ecosystem.
Their mission: To restore a healthy population of sea otters to the Oregon coast and to thereby make Oregon’s marine and coastal ecosystem more robust and resilient.
Elakha (ee-LAK-uh) is a Chinook trading language word for sea otter, which were once plentiful in Oregon’s coastal waters.
Representatives from Alakha Alliance - Oregon will be on-site at our Southtown Tap Room from 5-7 pm, providing more information about our organization. Stop by and say hello!
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!