Oktober BEER ROUND TABLE LIST!

Hello all, it's the third sunday of the month, which brings about my favorite night of the month: the round table.

For those of you who don't know, the round table is a night that was set up between myself and two other avid beer lovers. The whole premise is, everyone brings one bomber of an interesting beer and side beers to sip on during the tasting. Over the course of the night, everyone gets a taste of every single bomber that is brought to the event (should they want it).

So, without further adieu, here is the Oktober Round Table beer list. Mind you, my simple beer rating scale is from 1-10, and is simply relative to my knowledge of the style crossed with initial and extended impression through the beer's tasting. (1 = horrid/pour out, 10 = absolute perfection of the style)

1. Seirra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale - 9
2. Big Dog Dogma - 8
3, Mikeller USA Live (Belgian Mild) - 6 [carb issues]
4. 08' North Coast Old Stock Ale - 10
5. 09' North Coast Old Stock Ale - 8
6. 10' North Coast Old Stock Ale - 9
7. 11' North Coast Old Stock Ale - 9
8. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #5 - California Common - 8
9. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #37 - Weizenbock - 9
10. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #16 - Juniper Black Ale - 6
11. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #29 - Double IPA - 8
12. Sierra Nevada COLLAB w/ Dogfish Head Brewery - Life & Limb - 9
13. Upland Brewing Co. Raspberry Lambic - 9.5
14. Great Divide Grand Cru - 10
15. Southern Teir Chokolat - 10
16. Stone Brewing Co 15th Aniv. Imperial Black IPA 9.5
17. Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Single Hopped with East Kent Goldings - 9
18. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Ale - 9

FOUNDERS Co-President Mike Stevens Addresses CBS Release Worries

GRAND RAPIDS — Concerns about the cost and availability of Founders Brewing Co.'s Canadian Breakfast Stout, which was released Oct. 3, caused company president and CEO Mike Stevens to issue the following statement:

Folks,

We feel that it’s necessary to address a few of the concerns surrounding the release of our Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS). We understand the frustrations stemming from the lack of availability of this beer and are looking forward to the day when we can produce much more of our specialty brands. As some of you are aware, we have been undergoing constant expansion for the past few years and have been working toward a master plan that will increase our annual brewing capacity by four times our current level. We are happy as hell to share that our new brewhouse is now on line and that we just recently started brewing into the new system. We plan to use this new system in 2012 to increase production of our specialty items to better service the demand for them. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the next couple of 750ml (Backstage Series) releases as well as the 2012 KBS release will still be scarce, because these beers were brewed on the old (smaller) system. But after that we should be off and running toward much greater availability.

On another note, there seems to be some concern or confusion on how are beers are allocated per state. We are proud to be a Michigan-based brewery and all specialty releases take this into consideration. We at Founders will never forget our home state market. In terms of CBS, the state of Michigan received an allocation of 21% of the entire batch of CBS. No other state saw more than 12% of the total availability. That being said, no state is treated more fairly than another (including MI). Distributor allocations are simply based on a representation of total number of accounts they represent for Founders. Should rumors of this exist to the contrary, know that they are just that: rumors.

Lastly, we’ve noticed that retail price gouging is also being discussed. I can only give you the brewery’s position on this, but please know that, legally, once we sell our products to our wholesaler, they in turn sell it to retailers throughout our states of distribution. We have no control over what this retailer will charge for the beer. We do establish our suggested retail pricing, but we cannot enforce this whatsoever. When we hear of retail price gouging, it annoys us as much as it annoys you. Our recommendation to our wholesalers in dealing with retailers that are gouging is to communicate that, if the retailer does not stop overcharging, they will jeopardize their ability to receive Founders specialty items in the future.

In short, we just want to set the record straight on these few items floating around on the blogs and make everyone aware that we are working day and night to fix the capacity concerns with our specialty products. We make this beer because we are extremely passionate about creating the best liquid we know how to produce. We started this business as home brewers and still look at ourselves as such. We know that some of you might never get your chance at a CBS bottle, but we feel it would be a greater disappointment to have never shared this product at all.

Cheers,

Mike Stevens | President & CEO

Right Brain Brewing Co. takes a second slice at "Whole Pie" series!

RIGHT BRAINED TAP HANDLES DEBUT FOR THE SPECIAL TAPPING OF THE CHERRY PIE WHOLE BEER

Brewed with fifty whole Cherry Crumb pies from Grand Traverse Pie Company

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Right Brain Brewery plans to debut their new right brained tap handles for a special tapping of the Cherry Pie Whole beer.  The Cherry Pie Whole beer was recently brewed using fifty whole Cherry Crumb pies from the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  The new tap handles will debut at the special tapping on Friday, July 1^st at 6 p.m., just in time for the National Cherry Festival kick-off.  New at this year’s National Cherry Festival beer tent, being served out of their new tap handles, will be Right Brain Brewery’s Will Power Pale Ale!          

Right Brain Brewery (RBB) has been working on creating their new tap handles since the fall of 2010 after Russell Springsteen, owner and operator of RBB, was asked to speak at a U of M entrepreneurial conference.  Other guest speakers representing Northern Michigan companies were, Mike and Denise Busley, co-founders of the Grand Traverse Pie Company, and Mike Steele, founder of the Tape Wrangler.  During a lunch brainstorming conversation the idea of new tap handles and brewing a beer using whole pies from the Grand Traverse Pie Company (GTPC) sprouted. 

It was this brainstorming conversation that led to the experimental brewing this past February of the original Pie Whole, which used seventy-five Carmel Apple pies from the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  When asked, why another pie beer, Springsteen stated, “Why not?  It makes sense and it was really fun the first time.  Plus, Grand Traverse Pie Company has such a fantastic variety of flavors!”  RBB chose to experiment with the Cherry Crumb pie for obvious regional and seasonal reasons; it’s the season for cherries, the influx of visitor to our region, and of course, the National Cherry Festival.

On Thursday, June 16^th, Corey Wentworth, head brewer at RBB, brewed the Cherry Pie Whole using fifty whole GTPC Cherry Crumb pies.  The Cherry Pie Whole will be a lighter ale than the original Pie Whole and has a lighter malt profile to highlight the natural cherry flavors. 

When asked what’s next, Wentworth replied, “The Cherry Pie Whole is another right brained adventure in the world of pie beer; next stop Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, I don’t know what’s next, but watch out Little Debbie Zebra Cakes!”

The Cherry Pie Whole beer will be released at a special tapping on Friday, July 1^st at 6 p.m. at Right Brain Brewery (221 Garland St., Traverse City). It will be served as a premium beer in a 12 oz. glass for $6.50.  Along with the special tapping RBB will be debuting their new tap handles. 

RBB’s new tap handles have been a nine-month design process.  Springsteen first started to investigate options with Mike Steele, founder of the Tape Wrangler, a local Traverse City company, in hopes that RBB could keep this project within the local economy.  They soon discovered that the tap handle design was extremely unique and unfortunately with the company’s lack of tap handle production, experience, and technique Springsteen would need to use a company that specializes in tap handle production.  Taphandles Incorporated, a tap handle company based in Seattle, Washington, decided to take on the challenging and unique design.  Nielson Design Group, based in Traverse City, designed the overall look and feel of the new tap handle.

The new tap handles are clear acrylic with many random objects, including but not limited to RBB sayings, safety pins, glitter, random beads, seashells, space shuttles, and more randomness floating in the handle.  The new handles are adorned with a cube on the top that contains Right Brain’s branding.  This is the first tap handle of this design and took approximately three months to design and six months to get the prototype correct. 

“Overall it has been a fun experience.  One of the most challenging aspects of this design project was finding the objects that appear to be floating in the tap handle.  These objects needed to be certain sizes, couldn’t melt when put into the hot acrylic, and also needed to be whimsical, playful, and random.” stated Springsteen. 

RBB will retire the original tap handles and officially change them to the new design during the special tapping of the Cherry Pie Whole beer on Friday, July 1^st at 6 p.m.

Expect to see additional RBB tap handles in the seven counties that Right Brain currently distributes to, as RBB expands their distribution through Wicksall Distributors based in Traverse City.  Springsteen plans to sell the limited edition original Right Brain taps for $75 each.  Interested parties should contact Right Brain directly.  There are less than fifty original taps available.

Right Brain Brewery, featuring rotating artwork and beer menu, is committed to brewing its handcrafted microbrews with the best available local ingredients.  Right Brain Brewery is located in Traverse City’s Warehouse District and is open seven days a week.  Right Brain Brewery is also proud to support our community by being involved in countless community events.

- Dayna A. H. Valpey, Right Brain Brewery