Brew Area

Chico, CA (08/12/09) – This fall independent craft brewers Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head, will release two collaborative beers.  Limb & Life – a draft-only beer – will debut in October; with Life & Limb 24oz bottles and limited draft to follow in November.

The beers – Life & Limb, and Limb & Life – are dedicated to the family of beer drinkers and enthusiasts worldwide who continue to support the little guys, iconoclasts, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who risk life and limb to  shape the vibrant craft-brewing community. Over the years, the two brewers Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione have become friends in the industry. They quickly realized how many similarities they share.  Grossman’s history as a craft-brewing pioneer and his radical approach to brewing are echoed some fifteen years later by Calagione through his boundary-pushing innovation and tireless promotion for the cause of craft beer.

Both men started out as home brewers obsessed with beer-making. Both share deep values of sustainability and responsibility.  Both share the desire to pass their breweries on to the next generation, and both started out small from humble beginnings and built vibrant, creative, beer-centered and fiercely independent breweries, despite the long odds.

Their mutual respect, admiration, and none-too-few shared glasses of beer led to the collaborative idea.

“I have gotten to know Ken through our years on The Brewers Association Board and at numerous beer events throughout the country.  As a brewer myself, it is inspiring to see a person like Ken drive a beer-centric (as opposed to a biz-centric) brewery so far and so wide while sticking to his original ideals and integrating his family into the company.  I have enjoyed talking (and drinking) beer with his children, especially Sierra and Brian who currently work alongside Ken at Sierra Nevada. The iterative process of conceptualizing and brewing this beer with Ken and all the folks at Sierra has been a joy. We have designed this beer to intertwine signature aspects of both of our breweries’ creative approaches—from sustainability to exotic sugars, from bottle conditioning to cellarability.  I hope Mariah, our amazing co-workers, and I can keep Dogfish on track with our beer-centric ideals for many years to come.  I will know how successful we’ve been at this task if my children, Sammy and Grier, are able to share a bottle of 2009 Life & Limb with Sierra and Brian at a beer dinner or festival 15 years or so from now.  I am hopeful that, as they toast each other, they can hold their heads up high knowing our two breweries were among many fine breweries that breathed LIFE into the colorful, diverse, and beautiful LIMBS of the American craft-brewing family tree.” – Sam Calagione, President and Founder, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

“Sam and I have spent many evenings laughing, arguing, and toasting glasses, talking about where we are in the business and where we’re going. As Sierra Nevada approaches our 30th anniversary, it’s inspiring to step back and see how far American craft beer has come.  People like Sam and Dogfish help to push the boundaries of beer, and it has been fun working with him and the Dogfish crew.  This is our first time working with maple syrup in beer on this kind of scale, and the first time we know of anyone using birch syrup. It has been an interesting and inspiring experience and will hopefully lead to big things. As a beer, Life & Limb has so much meaning for me personally, and for the brewery. As our first collaborative release, we couldn’t have had a better partner. Our families are coming together in this beer, both literally and figuratively by using ingredients from our family “farms”—estate hops and barley from us; maple and birch syrup and exotic sugars from Sam—and by having the Dogfish family come to Chico to brew. As the bottled beer ages and changes over time, it will be great to see our families share this beer over anniversaries of their own.” – Ken Grossman, Founder, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong beer that defies style characteristics—brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico. The beer is alive with yeast—a blend of both breweries’ house strains—bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska; it is the first beer we know of ever to use birch syrup in the brew. If stored under good conditions, this rich, full-bodied beer should age well for years.  Life & Limb will be available in 24-oz. bottles and limited draft starting this November.

Limb & Life is a companion to the big beer—an acorn off the larger tree. It is a 5% ABV small beer—a low-gravity beer made using the residual sugar as “second runnings” from the first larger brew, fortified with American hops.  This is a session beer. Its big brother is a sipper. Limb & Life will be a limited draft-only product, a prelude to the bigger beer, available in select bars and restaurants this October.

The two beers will be bottled at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., in Chico, CA and released through the Sierra Nevada distribution network. ###

Brandon Meves beer news, craft beer Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada

Craft breweries around the states are packaging beer in a way that allows them to ship more, save the planet and still keep the same taste you would find with a bottle. The newest craze is bringing microbrew to the ‘ol aluminum can.

Research shows beer consumers are more likely to recycle cans over bottles. Also, aluminum cans are 100% recycleable. But what about at the front end? Another benefit is shipping in which you can load approximently 35% more beer on a truck that is canned versus in bottles because of the weight of the glass according to a recent article by Fast Company.

Perhaps the biggest point is that beer tastes the same whether in a bottle or can, and may even be in better condition in a can than if you received the same beer in a bottle. How? First of all, there is less headspace at the top which leads to less oxidation. However, proper bottling with CO2 usually will remedy this problem. The biggest advantage is that a can does not allow light to get through to the beer, preventing damage to the brew and off-tastes. And with the special epoxy that lines cans of today, your beer and the aluminum never even meet.

The only issue now is if peoples perceptions of the can, which are easily associated with big breweries such as MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch will change to accept a more “premium” craft brew inside aluminum cans. I’ll admit – as green as I am, I still love cracking open a nice bottle myself.

Brandon Meves craft beer green

And yet ANOTHER awesome brew, this time reflecting back on our German heritage with this awesome Hefeweizen.

Brandon Meves homebrew homebrew, video

You read the title right folks – the online juggernaut of brew equipment and supplies is opening its newest shop in Milwaukee, WI, Beer Capitol of the world! And I couldn’t be happier.

When I lived in Green Bay, I was spoiled by the House of Homebrew which has grown through the years and carries lots of excellent products. The problem though is now I live in Milwaukee, and although the current shops here have got me through enough, I still haven’t been impressed with the selection (but no offense, and I will still frequent your stores!). Because of this, I was forced to shop online at Northern Brewer’s website. This worked except for three reasons: 1) shipping costs 2) had to wait and 3) I couldn’t physically see and hold equipment that I was ready to drop hundreds of dollars on. This new location will solve all of these problems.

Apparently, the new location will be a 11,000-square foot space which will include a custom kitchen-sized “nano-brewery” for product demonstrations and classes. Can you say “Awesome?!?”

To learn more, see their press release. Who else is excited??

Brandon Meves homebrew Milwaukee

Check out a video of the latest brew by the Meves brothers.

Brandon Meves homebrew homebrew, video

Welcome to the first post of my brew blog, and likely the most intriguing and necessary post this blog may ever have. I want to tell you a story.

About a week ago, I began brainstorming microbrewary names with the aid of one of those online random name generators. (For those of you that know me, my ultimate life goal is to own my own microbrewery.) Anyways, I came up with my favorite name of the night, but likely far from what I would ever plan on using. The name? Green Moose. I’m a green type of a guy, and my favorite animal is the mighty moose, so what’s it to you.

This was all fine until this morning. I pulled out of my garage to start heading to a meeting before work. I rolled about 10 feet down the ally. I was passing our garbage bins on the left, all was normal until I saw it. Upon one of the lids of the bins, almost as it was on perfect display was a black cap with an embroidered green moose!

I laughed to myself as I approached the end of the ally near the road thinking, “wow, that’s funny, what a wierd coincidence from my night of name brainstorming only a week ago!” Then without warning I hit the brakes and threw ‘er in reverse. “Whoa what?!?” I could hardly believe my eyes. I took a picture and decided to take the cap into my possession.

I can’t idenity the company it’s for (UPDATE – Some Canadian brewery actually), and no it’s not for Abercrombie. Even weirder was the cardboard was still inside the cap to keep its shape – it was a brand new cap!

I’m not a religious man, but is this a sign from some greater force? How could so many very randomized things happen in such harmony? Random name generator + my own thoughts, random cap sitting on garbage bin for first time ever, and of course it’s a green moose. I suppose it’s not unlikely that we all have at least one experience in life like this, but I’d like to think this is telling me to follow my dream. And that I will do.

What do you think?

Brandon Meves microbrewery supernatural