Russian River Brewing expansion update

Vinnie CilurzoOne unusual day last fall, Vinnie Cilurzo – owner, brewer and sometimes forklift operator at Russian River Brewing Co. – wasn’t brewing.

He climbed on his forklift when a truck driver showed up with much-needed growlers, took phone calls, planned out the next week of brewing and bottling, and set out tasks for his assistants. All before lunch, so that in the afternoon he could work on a business plan for separate production brewery.

At one point he grabbed a 6-gallon carboy in his left hand hand and a hose in the other, quickly rinsing the glass container and dumping out the water. He swirled his right hand about the brewery, his index finger extended.

“I don’t want to give this up,” he said. “This is the thing I can contribute the most to this company.

“I don’t think I’ll ever give up brewing,” he said. “I’ve had other brewers and brewery owners tell me that eventually I’ll have to.”

He shook his head.

No.

He’s about to find out how easy it will be to run and brew at a production brewery.

He expects the brewery, also located in Santa Rosa, Calif., to be up and running in January. He talked about progress last month after making a presentation at the National Homebrewers Conference in Denver.

He and his wife and co-owner, Natalie, struck a deal in April to buy a 50-barrel brewhouse from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware. They’ve acquired property not far from the brewpub and financing, and now are working their way through permitting and construction.

Not surprisingly for those who know the Cilurzos – “We’re conservative,” Vinnie said – they have a well thought out plan. A few of the basics:

Production – The goal is 6,000 barrels in 2008 and 7,000-8,000 in the next few years. “The max would be 12-to- 15,0000 barrels,” Cilurzo said. “I don’t want to get any bigger.”

The hoppy beers – Pliny the Elder (an Imperial/Double IPA) and Blind Pig IPA will be bottled for the first time. “But I don’t know how much Elder we’ll ship in bottles.”

Pliny the Younger (a triple IPA) will be brewed once a year and in 2008 will be draft only.

Cilurzo hasn’t settled on a bottle size for Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder, but is determined not to sell his beers in six packs. He prefers a 750ml-capped bottle or a 16-ounce bottle for those beers.

The non-barrel ‘-tion’ beers – Redemption (a monks’ strength beer at 4.8% abv), Perdition (a Belgian-inspired pale ale) and Salvation (dark and strong) should all be nearly as easy to find as the flagship Damnation (strong and golden). Cilurzo particularly wants to promote Redemption. “It’s everything I believe in, that we need more lower alcohol Belgian-style beers,” he said. “It is something we do at the pub.”

The brewery will us increase production of Santification, a beer 100 percent fermented with Brettanomyces.

All of those are sold in corked and caged 750ml bottles.

The barrel beers (also ‘-tion’) – The barrel room will have the a capacity to produce 560-plus beer barrels (31 gallons each) per year. Cilurzo recently picked up additional used Pinot Noir barrels (for Supplication) and 100 used Cabernet Sauvignon barrels (American oak). He hasn’t decided what fruit he will blend with a base beer (and of course wild yeast) in those barrels. Affordable used Chardonnay barrels are getting harder to find, so there may be less Temptation in the future.

(Just to be clear, when brewers refer to barrels they mean a measure of 31 gallons. Most wine barrels hold 225 liters, a little less than 60 gallons.)

Then there’s Beatification. Once barrels give up their wine character they’ll be used to age Beatification, which is spontaneously fermented using native yeast from within the brewery. Instead of calling it a Lambic, Cilurzo has dubbed it a Sonamic. A single batch may take two years to produce, and multiple batches may be blended for a bottling.

The standard size for the barrel beers is 375ml (again corked).

Distribution – Currently, Russian River sells beer only in California and Pennsylvania. Virginia and the District of Columbia will soon receive beer along with Pennsylvania (Masschusetts would likely be the next state added in the East). In the West, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington will be the first markets.

One final quick prediction: None will get as much Russian River beer as they want.

The Miller Chill Challenge

Corona MicheladaOK, I have a plan.

I’ve written several times that I think I should try Miller Chill. I’ve been seeing advertisements for six months (New Mexico was a test market) and sales are rockin’. And today I received a press release from an agency that represents Corona with recipes for Michelada, Michelada Roja and Chelada. (Miller Chill is based on the “cheleda” – with lime and salt already included.)

So I see an organized blind tasting in the near future. Since we are headed East it might be a few weeks – or perhaps I’ll rope friends and relatives in Massachusetts into taking the test.

If you check out Rate Beer, Beer Advocate or founding brother Jason Alström’s rant this isn’t going to seem like such a good idea. Guess we’ll find out.

The press release is another sign that Mexican breweries are feeling the impact of Miller Chill.

The Michelada, and variations such as the Michelada Roja and the Chelada, are classic Mexican beer cocktails typically made with an authentic Mexican beer, such as Corona, Pacifico or Negra Modelo, and varying combinations of lime, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and salt, served over ice. The lime and spices complement each other and provide a spicy, flavorful kick to the traditional Mexican beer. Recipes vary throughout Mexico and the origins of the michelada are not widely known, although most agree the name came from “mi chela helada,” slang for “my cold beer.”

Corona recommends the following recipes:

Michelada
Recipe courtesy Adobo Grill in Chicago (and pictured above)
– Chile Piquin
– Salt
– Juice of ½ large fresh lime
– 1 oz. Sangrita**
– 12 oz. bottle Corona
– Garnish: fresh lime wedge

Salt the rim of a large, frosted glass with the coarse salt and chile piquin. Fill the glass halfway with ice and then add the lime juice. Add sangrita and top with beer. Garnish with a lime wedge.

** Sangrita is a tomato-based drink with hints of orange and lime juices, chiles and peppers. It can be purchased at Mexican specialty stores.

Michelada Roja
– Coarse salt
– Juice of 1 large fresh lime
– Dash to taste of Worcestershire, hot sauce, soy sauce
– 2 ounces tomato juice or Clamato juice
– 12 oz. bottle Corona or Pacifico
– Garnish: red and yellow cherry tomatoes on a pick

Salt the rim of a large tall glass with the coarse salt. Fill the glass with ice and then add lime juice and Worcestershire, hot sauce and soy as desired, and then add the tomato juice. Top with beer – serve any extra beer on the side. Garnish with tomatoes on a pick.

Chelada
– Coarse salt
– Juice of 1 large fresh lime
– 12 oz. bottle Negra Modelo or Corona
– Garnish: fresh lime wedge

Salt the rim of a large tall glass with the coarse salt. Fill the glass with ice and then add the lime juice. Top with beer – serve any extra beer on the side. Garnish with a lime wedge.

While you are waiting for the results you might want to check out some of the experiments Donavan Hall conducted earlier this year.

Getting your glasses ‘beer clean’

Boston Lager glassThe specially designed Samuel Adams beer glass is back in the news – because Boston Beer has shipped thousands free to subscribers of Beer Advocate and All About Beer magazines as well as American Homebrewers Association members

So that gives me a chance to add something missing from the first review: The new glass is hard to get “beer clean.” It might make you think those complaining about the unusual shape have a point.

And yes, “beer clean” is an actual term in the bar and restaurant industry vocabulary. (Something I wrote about in Real Beer’s Beer Break newsletter back in the day.)

If you haven’t already noticed the difference a clean glass makes, try this. Drink a glass of milk from a glass you don’t intend to use to serve beer. Wash it out a few minutes with hot water (no soap). Pour a beer. Is that the head you are used to seeing? The Belgian lace?

Now wash the glass with soap. Pour another beer. Same problem? Soap film can be just as nasty a villain as other residue. Now wash the glass with baking soda. Pour another beer. This one probably looks better.

Detergents may contain various fats or glycerin, which is why you are better off using baking soda. Another choice is dishwasher detergent (and then maybe baking soda).

This is easier if you designate glasses only for beer – beside milk looks a little strange in the Trappist goblet. After washing them let the glasses air dry in a dish rack. If water droplets cling to a glass or if spots show while drying, then the glass is not clean. Wash it again.

Beer by the numbers: Bad idea

Cheers to Don Russell, who this week asks why we need a score to choose a beer. The headline: 100-point scale for beer ratings a rank idea.

Specifically, he writes about Pislner Urquell hanging an advertisement on its bottle necks declaring it the world’s “highest-rated pilsner.” That according to the Beverage Tasting Institute, the same guys who sparked the Anheuser-Busch vs. Capital Brewery silliness.)

Russell doesn’t like ratings based on a 100-point scale taken from wine, because:

– They’re unneeded.
– They’re inflationary.
– They’re anti-beer.

On the last count he writes:

The mere process of rating wine, in which a few experts – whose standards do not reflect the masses – influence the marketplace, is elitist and autocratic.

Beer is democratic by nature and should reject any high-handed incursion by taste-makers who insist they know better.

Russell gives Jerald O’Kennard, who runs the Beverage Tasting Institute, a chance to speak up for using the 100-point scale. And I know first hand that consumers like the ratings. They are one of the most popular features in All About Beer magazine, which I write for regularly.

No arguing that people like numbers and use them. So they good or bad for small breweries?

This is an area where we can look to wine, because the 100-point scale has been debated far longer. And since I’m biased I suggest you check out an essay by W.R. Tish: Ten Reasons We All Lose When Numbers Dominate the Marketplace.

Most of the time you could just plug in beer when he writes wine and the sentences make perfect sense.

Try it with his final point: “We are living in the Golden Age of wine; quality and selection of bottlings available in the US are both unprecedented. If we all stop slinging numbers around so frequently, more people would be able to enjoy this Golden Age.”

Miller promotes ‘The Craft’

Miller beer musicMiller Genuine Draft is partnering with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to sponsor music artist interviews and performances. The series is called “The Craft,” which should get the attention of small breweries, and particularly their fans, who figure the word craft belongs to them.

“The Craft” series of interviews, developed in conjunction with promotional agency Arc and executed by GMR Worldwide and digital agency Digitas, aims to explore the experiences that shaped the songs written by popular musicians. (The Craft refers both to songwriting and brewing beer.)

“People got the connection between making music and making beer,” said Jonathan Sickinger, associate manager for sports and entertainment marketing at Miller. “And they wanted to know more about both.”

For years we’ve appreciated that Miller supports live music. I’ve got a poster of Terence Simeon from an MGD-sponsored tour above where I store grain for homebrewing.

But I also know when you ask “What is craft beer?” you get passionate responses. Witness the 67 comments at Seen Through a Glass or a shorter discussion here. No need to revisit that topic.

Instead a short story from Tony Simmons of Pagosa Springs Brewing that I used in the little essay about if your brewer is an artist.

Simmons was once in a class at Siebel Institute with a woman who worked at Miller Brewing. Out of curiosity, not intent, he asked her what it would take for him to get a job brewing at Miller.

“You couldn’t,” she told him. “We hire engineers and train them to brew our way.”

So you think that is the way a great guitar player interviews drummers?