Block Thee Brewing Co: A sneak peek behind the scenes

Block Thee Brewing Co: A sneak peek behind the scenes 

Nestled in the heart of Mennonite country is Ontario's latest Craft Brewery. Located in the tourist town of St. Jacobs is Block Three Brewing Co. I asked them if I could pay them a visit to see how they are getting on before opening and surprisingly they said 'Yes'.
 

The entrance to Block Three Brewing Co  

As I pulled up in the parking lot I was struck by how Mediterranean the exterior looked as most buildings in St. Jacobs have the traditional North American look. Once inside I was greeted by Bryan Maher the Brewer at Block Three.  Bryan gave me a tour of the facility, which is still some ways off being complete but coming along very nicely.  It became apparent talking to Bryan that Block Three is going to be focusing on keeping things local and as sustainable as possible. The Block Three sign was made entirely by one of the founders Father and one of the best features in the building is a skylight with Cedar slates that came from re-claimed timber, local and sustainable.

The (under construction) Interior of Block Three Brewing Co.

I asked Bryan why they decided to pick St. Jacobs to open a Brewery, his answers made a lot of sense. Firstly St. Jacobs is a tourist town so there are a lot of people visiting the area, specially during the summer. As someone that has been forced to walk around the various shops and Farmers market on a hot day, a decent place to grab a Craft beer would be an absolute god send. Secondly all of the other established brewers like Brick, Wellington & F&M are located a fair distance away so Brick Three would have the rule of the area to try to get their beers into the local Bars & Restaurants and gain a decent foothold before looking to expand.

Speaking of beer what can we expect Block Three to kick off with? Bryan tells me they are looking to start with three different brews. A Belgium Saison, A Brown Maple Syrup Ale & possibly a Kölsch. All the beers are going to be unfiltered and in keeping with local flavor as many ingredients as possible are going to be locally sourced.  In fact even the left over materials from the brewing process are going to be recycled as much as possible with spent Malts & Yeast being sent to local farms for cattle feed, there's certainly going to be some happy cows roaming about in Southern Ontario.

An August long weekend is anticipated for the grand opening but as usual with a new business this is subject to change. I asked Bryan what issues they had trying to get the place open. As side from the endless red tape of getting the correct permits from the correct city department, there were issues with getting the facility in order for brewing with some ungodly amount of lbs of concrete having to be dug out manually for the new drainage system. The most surprising for me was Bryan, a former brewer at Wellington, having to pick all the new brewing equipment himself which is no small feat for one man and a lot of responsibility.

However talking to Bryan you get a sense of a man that is really passionate about brewing and has the drive to succeed in this new adventure. I asked him what more we can expect from Block Three once they are up and running. His aim is to work up to seasonal beers and one off brews and hopefully join forces with some of the other breweries in the area for collaboration brews. Also to host brewery tours and beer evenings such as beer and cheese pairings. There's a lot to look forward to and not long to wait. I just hope Bryan invites me back for another sneak peek just before opening so I can see the transformation from my last visit and of course sample the regions newest beers.

Prost!

EyeBeerHolder

Also I want to say a big thanks to my official photographer for the day Amandah Wood, give her a follow on Twitter.

Block Three Brewing Co.
Unit 2
1430 King Street North
St. Jacobs
Ontario

Give them a like and a follow on:
Facebook & Twitter

The Dark Side of Craft Beer

The Dark Side of Craft Beer

Last Friday I undertook an exploration to Waterloo to check out the Patio at the always fantastic Beertown, The Patio looks out on to a square along the main street and looks to be one of the better ones in the twin Cities of KW. Sadly the weather decided it wasn't going to cooperate and we had to locate indoors to avoid the ghastly showers, I'll get on that Patio one day soon. Beertown usually have four seasonal beers on tap, a great feature I like to check out as there's usually at least one I've never had the privilege to try. Luckily for me this time there were two on offer I had never sampled before the first one I opted for, also the inspiration for this blog, was Granville Island Robson Island Hefeweizan.

This guy knows about the Dark Side

Using my always unreliable Blackberry I tried to check into this Hefeweizan on Untappd and for what ever reason it kept crashing out, or so I thought. I ended up with this beer checked in about 5 times on my feed quite by accident. Then something happened that got me thinking, a comment was left on one of my unfortunate check ins that was along the lines of 'Molson own's Granville and Molson-Coors make Rikard's White so they are just Craft Washing'. Now I appreciate the comment was obviously tongue in cheek but it got me to thinking about Craft Brewers who are backed by a major Brewery. 

Probably the most well known Craft Brewer that is backed in Ontario is Creemore Springs. They were bought out in 2005 by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In turn Creemore bought out Granville Island in 2009. So that's two Craft Brewers now owned by a major corporation and it has left me somewhat conflicted. On the one hand I love to support the Ontario Craft Brewers because I think it's a great idea to keep the money generated in Ontario so the breweries can survive and are encouraged to come up with new and exciting brews for us to try. Another benefit is as craft beer becomes more popular it creates more jobs for people that want to break into craft beer as a living,

Another Dark Side

Now on the other hand I can't help but feel for people that own their own brewery. Creemore happens to make some of my favorite beers, so should I just stop drinking them now they are owned by Molson? If I owned a brewery and believed I made the best beer in the world I would want as many people as possible drinking it. Sadly for the small guys the only way to do this is to get the big players involved. They can provide the financial security and resources most craft brewers can only dream of and if I owned a business financial security would be a hard deal to turn down. Granville Island is located in Vancouver and I'm 100% positive I would not have discovered their beers without me having to travel out west to sample them. Then this made me think again, is that not part of the beauty of craft beer? Finding yourself somewhere new and trying all the new local beers you've never tried, are we going to be spoiled by the major players buying up the small guys and making them accessible?

This could turn into quite a big issue if Craft Beer carries on exploding the way it is. I can understand why a brewer would accept an offer to be bought out by a major brewery but would it be taking away from the soul of craft brewing? It's a thorny subject and one I'm going to keep an eye on, hopefully on the Patio at Beertown.

Prost!

EyeBeerHolder

The Bitter Brits and how I came to Love Ontario Craft Beer

The Bitter Brits and how I came to Love Ontario Craft Beer

V

During a recent trip back to England, in-between all the long past due hello's and in the same instance good byes I found time to go to a Cask beer festival. Now it's been four or five years since I have been back in England and in that time I have had chance to sample beer cultures all over the world. Germany, Australia, New Zealand  and most recently my adopted home Canada. More specifically the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario.

When I first moved here, not knowing how beer was in Ontario, I ordered an Alexander Keith's IPA at the first bar I went to only to be met with a bog standard american lager much like a Budweiser. It was boring,  no imagination and most importantly no taste. I had to find something better, something I believed would be on par with British beer. I found it! I have become a huge supporter of the Ontario Craft Beer movement and think it's fantastic for the area and I encourage anyone to buy beer from Ontario. I instantly fell in love with Creemore Springs the first time I tried their European inspired beers. Now there are more and more craft brewers popping up all over Ontario. Block Three Brewing will be opening in St.Jacobs this summer to go with the Brick Brewery in Waterloo, Grand River Brewing in Cambridge and Wellington in Guelph and that's just in my vicinity.

The Sign of a good Bar

Now when I was back in England I used to support the CAMRA scheme, supporting micro-brews in local bars. So when I recently went back to Blighty for a few days I was looking forward to getting stuck into the new local brews on offer. The only word I can use to describe them is 'disappointing', somehow in the ether the English micro brewers have confused making beer with just making Cask Ales. Now don't get me wrong, cask ales are fantastic, cellar temperature for optimum taste and no carbonation, meaning no hangovers the morning after. The reason I felt let down was the lack of imagination. Everything was a Bitter, so every beer was a cloudy ale with a moderate hop profile. By the end of my time there I would have killed for a micro produced Wheat Beer.

Cask Pump

This got me to thinking why England's CAMRA representatives are in this state, is it because the drinkers aren't as adventurous as my Canadian Counterparts? Is it the climate, lots of cloudy rainy weather dampens the mood for summer style beers? Was it because Lagers have a longer lead time compared to Ales and the brewers don't have the time to wait? Was it a contribution of all these questions? I can't say for sure, all I know was that the Ontario Craft Brewers I've encountered are putting them to shame.

The most thrilling thing I found on the Cask list in England was a Black IPA which was a solid effort. There was an attempt at a Dusseldorf Altbier that had been watered down so much that any German worth his salt would have turned their nose up at it. Other than that it was just  Bitter, Bitter and more Bitter.  There is no more British Empire anymore so the need for these overly bitter Ales is lost on me.

I'm hoping the English can undertake a Beer revolution that has undergone here in North America. In America it is believed the numbers of breweries nationwide is close to matching what it was prior to prohibition. Around 1500, so it's taken 90 years to get back to that point. England had no prohibition so why was there a stunt in progress? It truly fascinates me, It may go back to ancient times when the English wound't put the foreign muck in their ale's the Germans were drinking in there beers. The foreign muck was of course later to be known as Hops, an essential ingredient in modern brewing. Are we just to stubborn as a nation? Are we Bitter Brits?

Hops

I love Beer as there seems to be an endless combination with what you can do with all four of the main ingredients. Yeast Strains, type of Malts, Various Hops & the Water supply. So the Ontario Craft Beers really impressed me with what they were doing. Just recently I sampled a Water Melon Wheat by Kensington Brew Company, A Black Lager by Silversmith Brewing & a Spring Maple by Lake of Bays. Such a diverse selection from such a relatively small area is impressive in the extreme.

I'll be returning to England in 6 Months and hopefully I will be able to do more of an Investigation into the state of beer profiles over there. Sandwiched in between will be a trip to Belgium, so there will be some interesting observation to make between styles. In the mean time I'm looking forward to Ontario Craft Beer Week.

Prost!

EyeBeerHolder

KW Craft Beer Bars - Part 2

KW Craft Beer Bars - Part 2

Following on from Part 1,  we will be taking a look at the best places to grab a Craft Beer in the Kitchener Waterloo area. 

The Lancaster Smokehouse

More of a Restaurant than a Bar however the selection of craft beer can't be ignored as it's pretty impressive, in their own words:

 "The Lancaster smokehouse proudly supports The award winning beers produced by ontario’s craft brewers. we only serve OCB products on Tap because we think it makes for better tasting beer. our selection is based on beers that compliment our food and allows for seasonal changes and special brews. ask your server for more details and about our seasonal selection!"

The only downside to this BBQ joint located on Lancaster Street West is that the food portions are so big you might not have room to try all the craft beers on tap. I picked up a Steam Whistle Oktoberfest Stein on the last occasion I went. Great food and beer. 

The Boathouse

Wonderfully located in the centre of Victoria Park The Boathouse is the best place to go to catch some live Music in Kitchener Waterloo. The whole bar has a very Bohemian feel to it with 3 or 4 different craft beers on tap at any time. The food is surprisingly good with the Nacho's being a personal favourite of mine. I also believe the The Boathouse to have the best Patio in the whole of KW, as you can see in the photo above, it looks out onto the water which is a refreshing change to the usual view of a parking lot. 

Huether Hotel

In fact not a Hotel at all the Heuther is the only place in Kitchener Waterloo to brew all it's beers on the premises. It comprises of a number of Bars  & Restaurants on different floors all selling their Lion Brewery beers. Located on the busy King Street North in Waterloo and the historic building stands out among newer establishments. If you find yourself in there I urge you to try their Black & Tan, which is a mix of their Lager and Ale, for something different. 

Hopefully with the rise of Craft Beer there will be more locations to add to the list soon.

PROST!  

@EyeBeerHolder

KW Craft Beer Bars - Part 1

KW Craft Beer Bars - Part 1

Craft beer is on the rise here in Ontario. In 2002 craft beer represented less than 2% of the LCBO's sales, it now stands at around 5% with a forecasted growth of 10% each year. With this has come a demand for establishments to provide craft beer on tap or at least have a wide selection of bottles.

Kitchener - Waterloo is no different, people are craving variety. There seems to be a change of mindset for the next generation of beer drinkers where locally brewed beer, specially by one of the Ontario Craft Brewers, is preferable to main stays such as Alexander Keith's or Coors. However a lot great bars are going unnoticed due to the abundance of Sports Bars in the area, below is a list of some great bars to visit for Craft Beer in Kitchener - Waterloo.

The Bent Elbow

The newest bar in Kitchener, The Bent Elbow offers nothing but craft beer (if you want a Budweiser you better go to the washroom). A constantly changing selection of beer is offered in this hidden away bar on Weber Street East. Draft and bottled beer is in great supply as well as one hand drawn Cask tap. Each patron is presented with a little black book to help you make up your mind on which beer to choose which is immensely helpful. Mondays offer is $5 on all pints of Ontario Craft Beers, which I regularly take up. 

Imbibe

This sleek and trendy bar isn't the biggest in Kitchener but provides a stylish selection of beer and live music. Located below the museum on King & Queen in the heart of Downtown Kitchener it can be easily missed but its an excellent bar for the location. My first visit consisted of discovering Silver Smith Black Lager and listening to a local blues musician, both excellent 

Beertown

By far the biggest player in the area and probably the best located. Beertown is owned and operated by the Charcoal group, owners of a variety of bars and restaurants in the area. Located in the prime location of Uptown Waterloo Square this bar is seldom quiet. Beertown boasts over 20 beers on tap as well as 4 seasonal in addition to a very well stocked bottle fridge. A tad more expensive then the other bars in the area but it's worth paying the premium for the stylish decor and range of beers. 

Thanks for reading so far Part 2 to follow later.

PROST!!

@EyeBeerHolder

Steaming into Spring

Steaming into Spring

Spring is officially here, even if the weather isn't, and with that in mind I like to change up the beers I brew to match the season. Soon the weather will be hot enough where an Ale just doesn't seem right unless it's something light like a Kölsch or an IPA. In a couple of weeks I will start making my annual batch of Strawberry Beer and this year I think I will add a Mango Wheat Beer as an additional batch (blog to follow later). In the interim I thought I would try my hand at a new style which has fascinated me, a Lager fermented at Ale temperatures, otherwise known as a Steam Beer or California Common.

The Steam Beer was born out of necessity for during the mid 1800's people flocked to California as part of the Gold Rush of the time. Used to the colder climbs where refrigeration was readily available and very much needed in the process of making Lager, brewers found themselves having to adapt to the demands of people still wanting a cool Lager the end of day. 

Gold rush fever 

The brewers being the resourceful kind decided to make a Lager fermented at Ale temperatures. Now the difference between Ale & Lager Yeast is the Former is top fermenting at higher temperature (13-24°C) and the later is bottom fermenting at cooler temperatures (9-14°C). All this has an influence on the final outcome (taste) of the beer so fermenting a Lager at a high temperature was a risk. Fortunately for the brewers it became a big hit and at one point as many as 27 different breweries were producing a Steam Beer. Sadly Prohibition wiped most of them out and only the best known survived which is made by Anchor Steam Brewing Co in San Francisco, They also trademarked the term "Steam Beer" which means any other brewers use the term "California Common". But hang on I hear you cry where did the term "Steam Beer" come from in the first place? well there a variety of different answers but I believe the simplest one to be correct. 

There is a type of German Beer called "Dampfbier" (literally "steam beer" in German) a traditional brew fermented in the same style. In my opinion it will have been a brewer of German descent or a German Immigrant who had knowledge or experience in the process of making Dampfbier and saw the circumstances were ideal in California to replicate the style. 

To the Brew

Name: Strasburg Steam

Style: Steam/California Common

About: Traditionally brewed in California with Lager yeast at Ale temperature 

Ingredients: 

WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

1 lb 80L Caramel Malt

3 lbs Light LME

3 lbs Light DME

2 oz Northern Brewer Hops (Bittering)

2 oz Northern Brewer Hops (Aroma)

Additons:

Irish Moss

Yeast Nutrient

The Process: as usual I just do partial mash as I find I don't have the time for full grain at this point in time. 

I started out by bringing around 3 gallons of spring water up to about 68°C. After Milling the Caramel malt I added the grains to the pot and made sure the temperature stayed at about the same temperature. 

 I let the grains rest for about for 30 minutes ensuring the temperature never dropped below 65. After that I let the grains drain off before washing them in steeping water and removing. I brought the pot up to the boil before removing from the heat and adding in the LME & DME. Once the everything had fully dissolved I brought the wort up to the boil once again and added the 2 oz of Northern Brewer Hops. 

I Kept the boil rolling for 45 minutes before adding the Irish Moss and Yeast Nutrient for the final 15 Minutes. Once the boil was done I removed it from the heat added the additional Hops and let it stand for 15 minutes. I cooled it for 30 minutes with a wort chiller before adding the wort to the Primary Fermenter. I took the OG reading as 1.048 which was around what I was hoping to achieve .

As Always the final part was to add the yeast, I had made a yeast starter the night before so added the slurry in the mix and decided it would be best to keep the fermenter in the basement to keep a cooler temperature.

I left the Beer in the primary for 6 days before deciding to move in into a secondary as the bubbling seemed to have slowed to a sufficient amount. 

Once the Secondary was filled the was a lot darker than I was expecting. Although this could be down to the lighting in the Basement. I looking to leave the brew in the secondary for around 2 weeks after which I will Keg it.

. If you've made it this far then thanks for reading and please add any comments or contact me at @EyeBeerHolder.

PROST!!

Grodzinski is a GO!

Grodzinski is a GO!

There is no finer feeling then sampling a brew you've made for the first time, well for me anyway. After a 1.5 Weeks of leaving my Grodzinski to carbonate it was ready to drink and I'm very happy with the result.

Glorious Grodzinski!

As I was kegging the beer I took a gravity reading and the ABV worked out to around 4.5% which I was happy with as Home Brewing for me isn't about making the most Alcoholic drink you can, it's about experimenting with different styles and flavors that aren't readily available from the LCBO and Liquor stores . 

Smoked Polish Beer is something I have never encountered before, in fact the only place I could find on untappd to make it was Iron Hill Brewery who won a Bronze Medal for theirs in 2012. 

On pouring the beer I was delighted with the colour, the Carared© Malt giving the beer an amber glow, and a slight cloudiness from the Wheat DME. Cloudy Beers always remind me of the wonderful brews from Quebec who seem to have a fondness for Wheat and gives the region a unique style. 

Tasting the Grodzinski I was taken aback by how smooth it was, it gently glides down the throat which is always a dangerous profile on a Beer. The smoked malt gives the brew that wonderful smell that conjures up memories of the Fire pits from the Summer past and with Spring breaking on to the horizon it seemed quite fitting to be ready as the snows start to melt. It also gives the brew that little subtle something extra that keeps you interested in savoring every mouthful, which is beneficial with how smooth it tastes.

My only criticism is that maybe the smoked malt is a little too subtle and if I were to make this style again I would look to double the grain bill to see what the outcome would be. Perhaps though the smoked malt would be overpowering where as now it has a little air of mystery where the drinker can try to detect that little flavor over many smooth mouthfuls. 


 If you've made it this far then thanks for reading and please add any comments or contact me at @EyeBeerHolder.

PROST!!