Internal Brewsletter - February 21st, 2024
General
Clothing Donations for Vina Moses Center
Winter clothing donation for the Vina Moses Center has begun at the Taproom. Bring new or gently used clothing to the Taproom now until Sun Feb. 25th. Spread the word to customers! Help cap off the donation period at the Winter Warmup Fri 2/23- Sat 2/24!
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 Ranessa! Swing by the Pub this Thursday for Thai Coconut Steamed Mussels, with Block 15 Cider as the recommended pairing.
We’re always looking for more submissions, so send in those ideas!
Bourbon Month 2024
Last Bourbon Month Event This weekend
Winter Warmup - February 23rd-24th @ the Southtown Tap Room
Activities
Join us for Trivia on Saturday, 2/24, at 5 pm. Block 15's own Ian will be hosting Bourbon History-themed trivia.
Food Specials
Hearty soups with bread bowls and Bourbon s'mores cheesecake are available on both days.
Drink Specials
Stick Season: Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey, Harlequin Orange Liqueur, Cinnamon infused maple syrup, Thai chili tincture, and hot apple cider garnished with a cinnamon stick.
Fireside Cocoa: Buffalo Trace, Chila Cinnamon Cream, Spiced cocoa blend, topped with mini marshmallows.
Clothing Donation
As part of the event, we’re partnering with Vina Moses Center. Drop off gently used or new winter clothing from now until February 25th to donate to those going through hardship in our community.
UPCOMING PACKAGED BEER RELEASES - cans
RELEASING Friday 2/23
Flannel Fakeout // Made exclusively with PNW malt and hops, this crisp and balanced dry-hopped pilsner features notes of lemon peel, stonefruit, and pine, with a dry and refreshing finish. Is flannel season over? // 5.20% ABV
Takeaways: Hoppy enough for hopheads, malty enough for the season. This is a new dry-hopped pilsner that represents the classic flavors of the PNW.
Tasting Notes: Honeysuckle. Lemon Zest. Coniferous.
Series: Emerging
Beer Style: Northwest Pilsner
These are emerging styles, still in active development across the craft brewing world, and certain to change dramatically over the next few years. While the malt and fermentation profiles resemble classic continental pilsners, these beers feature aggressive hop aromatics and flavor from newer North American and Southern Hemisphere hop varieties typically used in IPAs. Light, sessionable, snappy, and dry, these beers offer a lighter alternative to the heavier or stronger IPAs that usually feature these flavors.
Charmed Life // Low on bitterness, but big on flavor, this medium-bodied red ale offers a pleasant, malty nose with a subtle caramel flavor that balances with a clean finish. What a charmed life, indeed! // 5.00% ABV
Takeaways: Part of our annual St. Patrick's Day releases, Charmed Life is a classic Irish Red Ale with gentle bitterness and a rich malty backbone.
Tasting Notes: Bread Crust. Burnt Sugar. Jig Inducing.
Series: Perennial
Beer Style: Irish Red Ale
This classic style of amber ale has its roots in Ireland, though not under the name Irish Red Ale. That name originates from Coors and their iconic brand, Killian’s Irish Red, which is, in fact, a lager, not an ale. The tradition of making amber ales in Ireland goes back many centuries, always featuring a caramel and toffee-like malt flavor with a mild bitterness and very little hop flavor.
Favorable Fortune // Fortune favors this bold, yet balanced dry Irish stout. Notes of espresso and hop bitterness enhance the dryness, while flaked barley adds a smooth creaminess. Light, yet rich at the same time. // 4.60% ABV
Takeaways: Part of our annual St. Patrick's Day releases, Favorable Fortune is a classic Dry Irish stout. Light and sessionable, it's great for festive gatherings.
Tasting Notes: Espresso. Dark Chocolate. Oh, Danny Boy...
Series: Perennial
Beer Style: Dry Irish Stout
This style references a low ABV stout made famous by Irish breweries, especially Guinness. The name stout comes from “stout porter,” a stronger porter. The style changed drastically in Dublin in the mid-19th century with the development of black patent malt. This new dark malt allowed brewers to make stout cheaper by using only pale malt and a small percentage of black patent. The results, which removed the dextrinous brown, amber, and Munich malts needed to make dark beer previously, were drier on the palate. The style continued to develop with several sub-styles such as export-stout and foreign export-stout. These beers are typically between 4% and 5% abv with low bitterness and a light body despite a roasty, coffee-like malt profile.
COMING UP ON DRAFT
RELEASING Friday 2/23
Flannel Fakeout // Northwest Pilsner
Charmed Life // Irish Red Ale
Favorable Fortune // Dry Irish Stout
CROWLER/PACKAGE SALE
Deep Seek
Love Potion (Depends on inventory available at each location)
UPCOMING Releases
*This list is subject to change based on the production schedule, so please keep that in mind!
Group Ride // IPA
Ridgeback Red // Red Ale
Headhaze // Imperial Hazy IPA - Collab with Moonraker Brewing
Selection Series // Four Single Hop IPAs
Alpine Ibex // Maibock
Illuminated // Belgian Tripel
Rocky Shores IPA // American IPA
DAB Lab: Hop Sauce // West Coast IPA
BEER EDUCATION
Weekly Tastings of new releases and some classics:
Tap Room
Tuesdays at 2 pm
Beer 101: Northwest Pilsner
Written by Ted O’Hanlan, Head Brewer
This is a special Beer 101, as it will be my last and on a subject I am particularly passionate about. Pilsner, especially Bohemian Pilsner, is my favorite style of beer, and I love the unique directions that American craft brewers have taken this style in recent years. If asked, I would always answer that Pilsner Urquell is my all-time desert island favorite beer.
Pilsner beer originated in Pilsen, Bohemia, in the mid 19th Century. After a series of sub-standard batches were destroyed in the city, the citizens of Pilsen pooled their resources and built a new state-of-the-art brewery, the Bürger Brauerei (Citizens’ Brewery), and sought a brewmaster to come make beer there. Josef Groll, a brewer from Bavaria, moved to Pilsen to recreate Bavrian-style lager but ended up making something entirely new. That product, golden with a thick white head and strong hop aroma, was named Pilsner and, within years, was one of the most requested beers in Europe. That brewery failed to file a trademark for several years; by then, there were several other breweries making Pilsner-style beer. They settled with trademarking “the original pilsner” and renamed their brewery to Pilsner Urquell, where they still make that beer and ship it worldwide.
Pilsner-style beer swept over Europe and eventually the world. The style became very popular in the United States, with several breweries opening in the late 19th century to make it. Most famously was Budweiser, which eventually turned to litigation about the trademark for their name since there was already a Budweiser in Bohemia. That brewery, known as Budweiser Budvar, still operates and is another famous institution for the style in Czechia.
Like all other styles, Pilsner saw many adaptations by craft brewers over the years. The palate for craft beer has consistently leaned toward heavier and heavier hopping, and Pilsner has been no exception. Brewers have been making hybrid Pilsner and IPA beers under various names for years. The name changes are mostly the result of consumers losing interest in them as innovations in brewing and marketing have constantly created new variations on the same concept. Most recently, we’ve seen IPL decline and be replaced by Cold IPA, a nearly identical product. West Coast Pilsner has grown in popularity in recent years, embracing the dry, snappy finish of a sessionable drinking pilsner paired with the juicy but resinous hop character of modern West Coast IPAs. Block 15 released Stoke Coast last year as an introduction to this emerging style with some fanfare.
In discussing the future of this program and what makes sense for us in establishing our own voice and direction with these beers, we decided to use the term “Northwest Pilsner” for our next hoppy pilsner. We’ve been honing our techniques for making these beers for several years and want to use this style to express our own regional take on a hop-forward pilsner. We crafted this new beer, Flannel Fakeout, to have a more perceivable malt flavor and body, focusing on clean but sharp bitterness and expressing a balance of pine resin and bright citrus that pops with every sip.
As I stated above, this is the last time I’ll be writing the Beer 101 topic, as this is my last week at Block 15. It has been a pleasure to draft these silly little documents for you; it is truly one of my favorite weekly tasks. Sometimes, I’ve tried to be clinical and dry, and other times, I’ve wanted to express some of my genuine passion for these products and this industry. We are, after all, collectively working in a fun and unique industry. There is a deep and rich history to beer making that goes back at least 10,000 years, but there is also the modern craft era providing a dynamic and shifting market that deserves or even requires our attention to successfully navigate. While I am moving on, Garrison Schmidt will continue these Beer 101’s. He has a deep knowledge of beer and its cultural significance and has already provided many wonderful entries to this section. I hope you continue to enjoy these write-ups as he takes over and provides his own unique voice in crafting your shared education in this industry.
Further Reading:
PUB UPDATES
As you saw with the recent Sling announcement, we are focusing on a few key objectives to really elevate our guests' experience here at the Pub. These objectives will be posted for all to see, and we are convening as a management team to determine how to best support each other in meeting these goals! If you have questions or feedback, please feel free to direct those points to Goody or Sarah!
There will be a cheat sheet of where mats should live on the server clipboard later this week. If you lay out all mats and realize we have an extra, or are missing one, please let a manager know so we can connect with Alsco.
We are nearing the end of Bourbon Month! A HUGE THANK YOU to every single one of you for working hard, getting excited, and helping to create a wonderful month for our Bourbon loving guests! This is around the time that we slowly start to run out of bourbon, so if you have folks looking for a specific selection, please give the Tap Room a quick call to see if they still have it, and direct the guest to get some stamps out there. Once someone completes their stamp book, please snag it and store it behind the bar in the black plastic holder. All cards need to be in by February 29th at the end of the day to be counted. Folks will be notified within a week of the end of the month that we have received their card and marked them as completed.
As noted on our Focus Points for the week–strive to get food feedback this week and write down at least 1-2 pieces per shift. If something is wrong with the item (i.e seasoning is off or it was prepared incorrectly) please let a Lead in the kitchen know ASAP so that we can make adjustments if needed.
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Winter Warm-Up this weekend! Please make sure we are spreading the word, hyping it up, and telling folks about the clothing drive for The Vina Moses Center!
We will be featuring bread bowls with 2 different soup options - Stout Seafood Chowder and Spicy Sesame Carrot & Red Lentil (vegan), as well as Bourbon S’mores Cheesecake! Since this is a torched option, we will 86’ creme brulee for the weekend, until the cheesecake runs out!
As you saw from Kristen’s sling announcement, there are 3 main objectives the Taproom will be working on and executing throughout the year. Keep these on the forefront of your mind and keep your eyes open for information and feedback we will be asking! They are posted by the R&S in the kitchen if you ever need a refresher!
We really need to step up our food/drink feedback game! Please try to write down 2 different feedback items this week. Feedback really helps us to improve and gauge item performance so it is really important to provide both good and bad feedback!
As we near the end of Bourbon Month, really push those beers and bourbons with guests and with the pub running out of bourbons we may see an increase in folks coming out here to get their passports full! If someone finishes theirs, they can turn it in to any location (please make sure it has their information filled out on the front). We will be keeping them in the passport/stamp box.
Caves UPDATES
HIGH FIVE SECTION
Rachel Zmolek - She is a ray of sunshine, and we're lucky to have her around.
Sarah Farey - Sarah has crushed the menus for our special events this month. Plus, she's the primary person working the events. She's an absolute rock star; we're lucky to have her!
If you have kudos or kind words to share anonymously in the Brewsletter, use the button below!
STAFF SECTION!
Please welcome the following folks to the team:
Autumn Bolton (BOH)
SAFETY TIPS
Safety Log: When should you be writing in it?
Any time there is an incident or injury it is important to record it in the Safety Log at the location the incident happened. If professional medical attention is required it is also mandatory to fill out the SAIF 801 form, any manager can get you this form or you can request it from HR. The form needs to be filled out and sent to HR within 24 hrs of the incident.
THE PEOPLE’S PINT / CHEERS FOR CHARITY / DINE OUT
Check back next week
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!