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

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

Brewing up a Grodzinski

Brewing up a Grodzinski

So here it goes my first Blog on my Beer adventures. I started Home Brewing about 2 years ago after visiting Creemore Springs to sample all their quality brews. It got me into thinking how may different types of beer there were to try and how here in Ontario in can be quite difficult to get decent beer from Micro Brewery's, although I am a big fan of Ontario Craft Brewers and I hope to bring you some blogs on their Beers in the future.

To the Brew

Name: Grodzinski

Style: Smoked Polish Wheat

About: This is the traditional smoked wheat beer of Poland. It has fallen by the wayside in recent years but Home Brewers are helping it to make a comeback. 

Ingredients: 

WLP011 European Ale Yeast

1 lb Briess Smoked Malt

1 lb Carared© Malt

6 lbs Wheat DME

1 oz Spalt Hops

Additons:

Irish Moss

Yeast Nutrient

Ingredients

The Process: I generally 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 68OC. After Milling the Smoked Malt & Carared© I added them to the pot and made sure the temperature stayed at about the same temperature. 

Start of the Grain Tea

I let the grains rest for about steep 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 Wheat DME. Once the DME had fully dissolved I brought the wort up to the boil once again and added the Spalt Hops. 

Once all the Foam had cleared

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 and cooled it for 30 minutes with a wort chiller before adding the wort to the Primary Fermenter. I took the OG reading as 1.052 a little below the .56 I was shooting for, but I did use  a little less DME then the recipe I was following so it makes sense.

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 better to use a blow off hose as opposed to an Airlock, it proved to be the right decision as within 24 hours the blow off was bubbling away.

Fermenting

I left the Beer in the primary for 5 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 Beer was looking a good cloudy colour I would expect from a Wheat Beer and also had a slight smoky smell. I managed to save some of the Yeast to hopefully re-pitch in another brew. 

Beer!!!

So there it is. It still has another couple of days in the Secondary before I move to kegging it. If you've made it this far then thanks for reading and please add any comments or contact me at @EyeBeerHolder.

PROST!!