Internal Brewsletter - December 13th, 2023
General
Fresh Pow party - This Friday 12/15 at the Tap Room
Fresh Pow Party THIS Friday 12/15! Tell all your friends, family, tables you serve ,etc! Trivia hosted by Ian 5:30-7, food/drink specials all day, winter crafts, lots of Fresh Pow to drink!
Brisket Chili & Cornbread - Smoked brisket chili with Tillamook cheddar, sour cream, green onions, and a house-baked corn muffin. Cup $6 Bowl $9
Spiked Hot Cocoa - Spiced cocoa mix, Tequila, Chila cinnamon cream, topped with whipped cream and dash of cinnamon $10 (Non-alcoholic version available, regular cocoa with whipped cream and festive sprinkles $4)
Employee Provision
This week’s Employee Provision will be brought to you by Niko! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for Fried Fish Tacos, made with slaw, fried rockfish, and a drizzle of chipotle crema.
If that inspires you, we’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
UPCOMING PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - cans
RELEASING Friday 12/15
Keen As! // Heaps of juicy, and intense New Zealand Superdelic and Nelson Sauvin hops pair with pungent NW-grown Simcoe and Cashmere. Crisp, refreshing, and guaranteed to lighten your mood... if you're keen! // 6.60% ABV
Takeaways: New Zealand-sourced Superdelic is one of the hottest new hop varieties, demonstrating flavors of red fruit, candy sugar, citrus, and tropical fruit. All this packed into a balanced and fun progressive West Coast IPA.
Tasting Notes: Ripe Papaya. Creamsicle. Jandal Season.
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.
Carpathians // Inspired by the dark classic lager styles from Bohemia and crafted with Northwest pilsner and European dark specialty malts. Medium-bodied and smooth with notes of dates, toffee, and roast. // 5.20% ABV
Takeaways: Now lagered by the sun, we used PNW sourced pilsner and munich malts as well as Saaz hops grown in the PNW to make this a local as possible. Dark, but easy drinking.
Tasting Notes: Espresso. Molasses. Quaffable.
Series: Perennial
Beer Style: Czech Dark Lager
Simply referred to as Tmavé Pivo or dark beer in Czech, these beers generally range from 3.5% to 6%. They are more similar to Munich Dunkel than Schwarzbier in that they are dark but not overly rich and do not strongly feature roasted malt character. It is difficult to find authentic Czech versions of these in the U.S. market, but craft brewers have embraced the style with a strong emphasis on authenticity. U Fleků, in Prague, brews the most famous version of this beer. The malt flavor leans to caramel and dark fruit, achieved either with caramel malts or multiple decoctions (a process where grain is removed from the mash tun and boiled to create melanoidins). Hops are always Czech in origin with the characteristic black-pepper spice notes and an assertive but balanced bitterness, like all Czech-style lagers.
The Prophecies // Inspired by a favorite Abbey quad enjoyed on a visit to Belgium. Blending specialty malts, dark Belgian candi sugar, & Abbey yeast with hints of dark fruit and Dutch cocoa with a rich yet delightful finish. // 10.30% ABV
Takeaways: Naturally conditioned in tank prior to canning, we have adapted the bottle conditioning technique we used to use to accommodate moving the packaging format. This increases the time it resides in the brewery. It is a commitment to quality, not efficiency.
Tasting Notes: Ginger Bread. Burnt Sugar. Rustic.
Series: Orbital
Beer Style: Belgian Quad
An abbey beer sometimes referred to as “Belgian Strong Dark Ale,” the name Quad follows the convention of Dubbel and Tripel, each rising in strength. These beers are usually between 8% and 14% abv and feature a rich malt flavor, including plummy or figgy fruit notes, chocolate, caramel, and molasses. The characteristic Belgian yeast aromatics of baking spice and pear lean more to black pepper. These are rich but well-attenuated beers that are often highly carbonated, almost always attained with re-fermentation, or natural conditioning, where carbon dioxide from a second fermentation is captured to create the necessary balance and mouthfeel.
Upcoming Packaged Cider - Bottles
RELEASING Friday 12/15
Poire // An artistic blend of five pear and six apple varieties from the 2022 harvest at EZ orchards here in the valley. Fresh pressed juice was left to rest in our coolship and then spontaneously fermented and matured in neutral French oak casks, creating a wonderfully complex, semi-dry, tart cider. // 7.50% ABV
Takeaways: We spontaneously inoculated in our brewery's coolship before fermentation and conditioning in neutral oak barrels.
Tasting Notes: Gentle Acidity, Subtle Funk, Orchard
Series: Cellars
COMING UP ON DRAFT
RELEASING Friday 12/15
Keen As! // West Coast IPA
Carpathians // Czech Dark Lager
The Prophecies // Belgian Quad
Poire // Spontaneously Fermented Pear & Apple Cider
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!
Continuous Darkness // Imperial Stout
Vital Vibe // West Coast IPA
Chalet Rouge // Red Blend
Scientifical // IPA
Frequency Illusion // West Coast IPA (collab with Baerlic Brewing)
BEER EDUCATION
Weekly Tastings of new releases and some classics:
Tap Room
Tuesdays at 2 pm
Pub
First and third Tuesdays at 11 am
Second and Fourth Thursdays at 11 am
Beer 101: New Zealand Hops
Written by Ted O’Hanlan, Head Brewer
This week marks the re-release of Keen As!, one of our most popular IPAs of 2023, we often build our IPAs around a central hop that we can construct a unique flavor profile from, but exists as a pillar to the recipe. Keen As! is built around Superdelic, a brand-new New Zealand variety released just this year (2023). This is an exciting time for hop breeding, many seasoned breeders are creating new and unique varieties every year, and we’re keen to try out any interesting new variety. The new varieties out of New Zealand are especially exciting.
Being in Oregon, we talk a lot about the hop industry in the PNW. Over the years, we’ve built many important relationships that have given us a chance to try new products early in development, but there is something about the terroir of New Zealand’s growing region that produces exceptionally unique and irreplaceable flavors different from hops of the PNW.
Hop cultivation in New Zealand began in the 1840s and had little acreage until the 1960s. The first craft or “boutique” brewery boom hit New Zealand in the early 1980s, giving way to an interest in unique varieties from that region. In 1947 the New Zealand government established a hop research station in Riwaka and began developing new hop varieties. The first notable new variety developed in terms of the craft beer movement was Riwaka, originally released in 1996. It featured huge citrus, tropical, and pine notes supported by an earthy, herbaceous note that would become something of a trademark for emerging varieties from this region. Motueka followed in 1998, Nelson Sauvin in 2000, and Rakau in 2007. All of these hops made a reputation for their unique fruit-forward flavors, often balancing tropical, citrus, and wine-grape notes, especially Sauvignon Blanc. There just aren’t any other hops in the market that taste like this, or as intense as this, since all of these varieties are, or were, characterized by significantly higher than average oil content, one of the primary factors in hop flavor.
There are now dozens of varieties regularly used in craft beer, Keen As! alone has three (Superdelic, Nelson Sauvin, and Waimea). As IPA grew to prominence in the US and later spread throughout the world, New Zealand established itself as one of the two most important hop-growing regions in the world for producing the hop varieties essential to these beers.
Further Reading:
PUB UPDATES
With lots of folks traveling from out of town and big groups coming in, now is the perfect time to focus on upselling appetizers and desserts to your tables! Pick a specific one (or two) that you’re excited about, sells well, or one that is just fun to talk about, and offer it/them to your tables. This is one of the easiest ways to boost the overall check and watch those tips go up. This is already one of our key steps to great hospitality, and with some extra focus on upselling, I know we can crush this! As we see great participation in this, we will continue weekly or daily sales competitions with fun prizes or incentives attached to them!
This week we are replacing the Raspberry + Meyer Lemon SeekOut with Blackberry + Kiwi
Sprig & Seed will be replacing the Harvest Spritz this Friday featuring: Rosemary Infused Crater Lake Gin, Pomegranate Simple, Pomegranate Juice, Harlequin Orange Liqueur, and Lime.
Next week we will also bring back the Season of Mists while we have Marionberry Lemonade to add a sparkling wine cocktail to the menu. Below is the info and build on this one!
Season of Mists (this is a reference to a Neil Gaiman Sandman graphic novel title...I just like Neil Gaiman and it sounded fitting)
Fill a Coupe glass with ice to chill.
In a shaker tin, combine:
+ 1.5oz Marionberry Lemonade
+ 1oz Lillet Blanc (bottle should be in fridge and should always be chilled)
+ Very small splash of lemon juice and honey water (like less that a ¼ oz…very tiny splash)
Shake and double strain (using the fine mesh strainer) into the chilled Coupe (dump the ice first). This is a very important step—it helps the Prosecco have more spritz to it, and doesn’t leave a pulpy seedy mess at the end.
Top with 3oz of Prosecco
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Please keep the Barrel Room tidy and do not dump random items in there or use it as a storage space. It is already a tight space and it needs to stay looking clean for all our large party reservations.
Let’s make sure we are “upselling” and offering items to customers as much as we can. Offer another round of drinks, togo beer, dessert, merch, etc. but make sure it comes off natural and not forced.
A stack of pak techs will now live on the little table next to the front cooler for folks to be able to mix & match
When looking for a backup keg when needing to switch one out, please look in the entire walk-in before 86ing a beer. Sometimes they are not exactly right next to the tap. Have someone else check as well to be sure if needed and then if you do change it out please make sure the empty keg gets put in the dirty keg zone.
Caves UPDATES
SANTA’S COMING! On Saturday, December 16th, we are going to host Santa’s Folly! This is a Caves tradition where we offer pictures with Santa, and fresh baked cookies during the day, then at night, Bad Santa comes to hangout with some fun holiday bingo and holiday themed snacks and cocktails from 8-10pm. If folks are looking for something to do on a Saturday night, tell them to come play bingo with us and win some silly prizes!
Events
Fresh Pow Party
December 15th all day at the Tap Room
Fresh Pow Merch
Get a free Fresh Pow Koozie with any 4-pack purchase! Check out our Fresh Pow hats while you're here too.
Holiday Crafts
Decorate and make paper snowflakes and snowmen all day.
Winter-Themed Trivia
Trivia runs 5:30 - 7 pm and will be hosted by our very own Ian! (teams up to 6 people, with prizes for winners)
On the Specials Board
Chili & Cornbread available all day $6 cup $9 bowl
Spiked Hot Chocolate $10 and regular Hot Chocolate $4 available all day
Santa’s Folly
December 16th at Caves
Santa Stops by Brunch - For the Kids
Between 9 am and 12 pm bring the kids to Brunch to visit with Santa and enjoy free, specially decorated sugar cookies. For Saturday only, we'll feature Christmas Morning Strata on the menu.
Bad Santa Stops by Late Night - For the Adults
From 8 pm to 10 pm, Bad Santa will drop in to help us enjoy a few of our new winter cocktails like Egg Nog and Hot Buttered Rum. He'll also help run Holiday Bingo.
While there, enjoy a late-night special of French Onion Mushrooms, made with Breaded and Fried Mushroom Caps, Carmelized Onions, Thyme, Demi, and Torched Chimay Classique.
Holiday Toy Drive for Cameron Merrill’s Legacy
December 4th - December 22nd
Cameron Merrill passed away from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2013, at the young age of 2 years and 4 months old. In response to this devastating loss, his family established Cameron Merrill's Legacy to support children with serious illnesses and their families. By gathering toys for these children, they hope to bring joy during very difficult times, while showing their families community support.
Block 15 is collecting new, unwrapped toys for kids of all ages between December 4th and 22nd. These gifts will be delivered to Doernbecher and Randall Children’s Hospital’s pediatric ICU in time for the holidays! Toys can be dropped off at either the Block 15 Downtown Pub or Southtown Tap Room locations during business hours.
HIGH FIVE SECTION
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STAFF SECTION!
Check back next week
SAFETY TIPS
Don’t fall for a false sense of security. During the holidays, with the end of the year approaching and a host of other things on our minds, we tend to relax on some of the safety procedures we’ve been trained to follow all year long. Don’t get into bad habits, no matter what time of year it is.
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
We wrapped up our Donations for the year in November! Our donations will resume in February, starting with a tasting event for 4 Spirits celebrating Bourbon Month. For those of you who get asked about these programs, please send them to this page where they can apply for gift bag/card donations, beer donations, or People’s Pint/Din Out events. We will be taking submissions until 12/31 for the event-based donations (Dine Out, People’s Pint Tap, and Cheers for Charity)!
This year, we were able to donate $32,466 from fundraising at Dine Out/People’s Pin Tap/Cheers for Charity events, beers brewed for organizations (like Board Shorts, Native Land, and Liberty & Justice for All), merch, and gift cards donated, and beer donation to non-profits and organizations in the community and beyond!
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!