http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog en will@cambridgebrewingcompany.com Copyright 2013 2013-04-01T18:55:08+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/what-does-20-mean/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/what-does-20-mean/#When:18:55:08Z Wherein our Brewmaster waxes philosophically about 20 years of tenure here at CBC.What does 20 mean? It’s April Fool’s Day 2013. I thought about posting an outrageously funny press release about how CBC had been sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, or how we’d begun canning a fizzy, yellow fruit malternative beer for the masses, or some other silliness. But despite the spirit of the day I typically find myself feeling reflective every April 1, as it was on this day in 1993 that I was hired as a brewer here at CBC, by my buddy Phil Bannatyne. Apart from the usual clichés – breathing, being my parents’ son, etc. – there is nothing that I’ve done longer in my entire lifetime than to brew beer at CBC. In the cowboy days of the early 1990’s I’d begun homebrewing and then achieved the goal of getting paid to make beer as a professional. Young, earnest, tie-dyed and ponytailed, I thought cleaning kegs and tanks, and scrubbing floors, was a dream job. This is pre-Google era, so while we did endeavor to produce world-class beer we enjoyed only limited access to ingredients and even more limited information regarding the production methods of brewing international classic beer styles. It was not easy going, and we largely made it up as we went along, reverse-engineering the beers we wanted to brew since there was no one else making them. Darryl, Phil, and I cranked out some amazing beer for the day but it was backbreaking work. The reward was the sense of a job well done, the beer and camaraderie, the belief that we were joyously “sticking it to the man” by bucking the mainstream and showing people that there was more to life than Bud/Miller/CoorsLite. It’s been an amazing 20-year journey, and I guess it’s true when they say that with age comes perspective. I’m feeling pretty full of perspective lately, as I watch the craft beer industry engage in its second big boom. Over 400 new breweries opened up in the U.S. in 2012 bringing our total number to now over 2,403, and there are reportedly well over another 1,000 in planning stages. I’m both excited and concerned by the number of new breweries and nano-breweries – excited by the energy and enthusiasm of new brewers who are willing to do the work themselves, to grow a new young business and hopefully succeed by the merits of their craft and abilities, but also concerned by a lack of education and experience among many of these brewers and the effect of potentially poor-quality beer on the market. This would affect the industry and our reputation as a whole, and those of us who have invested decades of their lives into craft beer would hate to see that happen. Additionally, this explosion of new breweries will put a strain on the supply side. Is there enough malt, hops, glass, etc. to go around? And will distributors, bar and shop owners, and restaurateurs continue to support and keep up with the “old school” and well as the new? Am I just feeling protectionist in my old age? We’ve done this to ourselves. By making Craft Beer welcoming to all by design, we’ve made it a desirable industry in which people want to play a part. This includes the inevitable number of beer marketing companies, aka contract brewers (a few of whom call themselves “gypsy brewers”), who either feel that there’s money to be made in this fad or who genuinely love craft beer but don’t want to invest the capital in their own brick and mortar breweries. This lack of skin in the game shows me that they value short term gains over long term personal investment and hard work. And I truly believe that there is no such thing as a gypsy brewer. In fact I know of only one couple, our friends at Pretty Things, who “reside” at another brewery but who actively create every drop of their own beer, each and every brewday. There’s a big difference between having that level of commitment and integrity, and claiming to be a “gypsy” because you occasionally show up at a brewery on days your beer is being made for you. If you’re not there, every time, doing it entirely yourself and if there are other people physically making your beer for you (sometimes in your absence), you’re simply not a brewer in my book. It’s more than just cutting open some bags of grain or making a ceremonious addition of hops or cacao nibs or some other exotic ingredient and Tweeting about it. I’m sorry if that offends some folks, but this is something that our industry – producers, retailers, consumers, everybody - will need to struggle with as time goes on. The Brewers Association made a valiant effort over the past year with their Craft Vs. Crafty campaign, exposing to the general public the lengths to which the international macro-industrial brewers are going to obfuscate the origins behind “fake craft” beers like Shock Top, Blue Moon, etc. Unfortunately we are always reticent to take a look at the fingers pointing back upon ourselves, so we fail to give the consumer the opportunity to understand the differences among us – those who make beer, and those who just place orders for “their” beer, and the inevitable grey-ish line of separation. For our part, it is always vitally important to me that we give credit to the fine crew at Mercury Brewing Company who assist in the production of our Bottling Project beers. Those guys not only work incredibly hard, but they accommodate the CBC way of doing things, of extended tank time for maturation, of my perhaps overzealous need for redundancy in monitoring, cleaning, etc. It’s not easy taking care of another brewer when they’re in your house constantly. And while I’m there for every brewday start to finish, after a year and a half there’s still no way that I could run that whole place by myself. It’s crazy up there! I rely on them to communicate with me, to help with taking specific gravities multiple times daily during fermentation, to run the bottling line when it’s time to put our beer in the bottle and send it out towards its destiny. So three cheers to Dan and Rob and their gang for helping us succeed! Another benefit of brewing at CBC for 20 years has been the opportunity to train and grow other brewers, and to witness the small but mighty CBC diaspora take place. Watching Ben Roesch found Wormtown Brewing in Worcester and Ben Howe found Enlightenment Ales in Lowell has been very rewarding. And of course everyone in Washington, D.C. is holding their breath in anticipation of the forthcoming Bluejacket Brewery under the brewing direction of CBC’s former Lead Brewer Megan Parisi. Knowing that the knowledge I’ve gained over the years from luminaries and peers (like Phil and Darryl and also Tod Mott, Paul Saylor, Peter Bouckaert, Dick Cantwell, Ken Grossman, and many more) has been shared with Ben and Ben and Megan makes me confident in their future success. On a daily basis we still receive emails from new homebrewers wanting advice on getting into brewing, requesting internships or looking for other volunteer opportunities, so the enthusiasm for the industry is in no way waning. I certainly hope that our beer educators like the American Brewers Guild, U.C. Davis, and Seibel Institute are up to the challenge of making sure that the people who make craft beer have the necessary skill set to do it properly, with integrity and quality and an unwillingness to compromise. There’s significant pride (yeah, I know it’s a sin) in knowing that CBC has become a well-respected brewery internationally, and certainly pride in seeing our little brewery grow into our Bottling Project, where our very special beer can meet a wider audience. Hopefully this will lead us to the construction of our own brick and mortar brewery in the future, with an expanded barrel cellar, corked-and-caged sours, and more sexy stuff. Dare we dream? There are many people to thank, only some of them mentioned above, for the success of CBC. Mostly, I’d like to thank CBC’s customers for their endless commitment to open-mindedness, their willingness to try new things, and their support for their local creative community. Hard to believe that CBC is itself turning 24 this year – but that’s another blog post! And thanks to Phil Bannatyne, for giving that earnest young homebrewing hippy kid a chance. Cheers! Peace, Will “All art is either plagiarism or revolution.” -Gauguin               2013-04-01T18:55:08+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/2012-great-pumpkin-festival-a-recap-in-numbers/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/2012-great-pumpkin-festival-a-recap-in-numbers/#When:16:46:26Z Over a week has passed since the Great Pumpkin Festival 2012 and we’ve just about recovered.  I’ve gotten the cobwebs out of my hair and the hay is picked up off the floor.  Chef Dave’s fingers are back to their normal color.  (Who knew peeling and chopping that many pumpkins could tint your hands orange?)  And Will? Well, I hear he’s no longer talking about pumpkins in his sleep. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to share in the pumpkin-y goodness that is the Great Pumpkin Festival!  It was a long wait for many, but I’ve been told that people were able to make the best of it and it was all worth it in the end. I mean these guys look pretty happy, right? Last week’s Great Pumpkin Fest was the biggest and best to date.  In fact, I’ve gathered some numbers together to show you what really goes into making the Great Pumpkin Festival “great.” 21,581 beer and grill tickets 12 hours 150 hand carved jack-o-lanterns 49 beers 350 yards of caution tape 14 jockey boxes 1 binder of women 600 bratwurst sausages 3 gallons of mustard 2 Where’s Waldos 60 kegs 1 300 pound pumpkin 50 pounds of dry ice 0 snow (!) 354 days till the next one ~Laura (all photos courtesy Michael Johnson of FestPics) 2012-11-08T16:46:26+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/its-so-effin-hot-out-...lets-make-some-soup/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/its-so-effin-hot-out-...lets-make-some-soup/#When:14:25:40Z This time of year cold soups like gazpacho, or in this case melon soup, are great little refreshers.  They showcase the best of the season’s produce without having to turn on an oven. Last week we had about 5 or 6 really great heirloom melons come in from the farm, which we kept snacking on, but never got around to serving.  Along comes Sunday brunch, yet another hotter than hell afternoon, and my newest Sous Chef, Graham Honig, whips together this really great Chilled Melon and Hefe Weizen Soup.  It was so good; I had him jot down the recipe so I could share.  Nice work new guy! Enjoy! Melon Soup with CBC Hefe Weizen 2 farm fresh melons 1½ cup Fennel fronds 1 cup Balsamic vinegar 1 pint Greek yogurt CBC Hefe Weizen ¼ cup Lime juice ½ cup Orange juice Salt To start, pour 1 cup of balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pot. Heat on high and reduce by half while you are preparing the rest of the soup. Next, procure two gorgeous, orange-fleshed summer melons. (Preferably from one of your happy local farmers.) Peel, seed and rough chop. Buy fennel. (Lots of it. Use it when you cook.) In this case, you only need the fronds - the wispy looking top ends. Pick about a cup and a half of the fronds, taking care to use only the soft stemmed part. Rough chop your fronds. Buy beer from CBC. (Again- I recommend lots of it! Drink it while you cook.) For this recipe, you’ll need 2½ cups of Hefe Weizen. Measure and set aside. In your preferred puréeing device, add the melon and fennel fronds and purée thoroughly. Transfer liquid to a mixing bowl and add the pint of Greek yogurt, 2 T of the balsamic reduction (save the rest for garnish or some other decadence), ¼ cup (preferably) fresh lime juice, ½ cup (absolutely!) fresh orange juice and Hefe Weizen. Whisk to mix. Add salt to taste. 1½ T would make me happy. Strain the soup through a chinois or cheesecloth and set aside to chill. Serve cold and enjoy. Garnish with fresh mint if you like. 2012-08-10T14:25:40+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/collaboration-international/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/collaboration-international/#When:19:39:58Z Most people familiar with the craft beer world have heard of breweries collaborating with one another. Perhaps unique to our industry, these collaborations have their roots in the earliest beginnings of American craft beer. Our Brewmaster, Will Meyers, offers a glimpse into the inception of collaborative ideas and the efforts involved in bringing them to fruition.Most people familiar with the craft beer world have heard of breweries collaborating with one another. Perhaps unique to our industry, these collaborations have their roots in the earliest beginnings of American craft beer. Information on practical brewing science and techniques was virtually nil, quality ingredients were scarce, interesting and reliable yeast strains non-existent unless you were able to culture up your own. Educational centers like U.C. Davis and others at the time primarily focused (and were endowed by) large breweries and which taught techniques for cereal cooking, sterile filtration and pasteurization, and massive bulk blending – all skills I swore I would never use. Brewers starting out in the ‘80s and ‘90s would write or call one another to ask questions and share information, which is strange behavior for a capitalist endeavor. However, we all knew we were small potatoes in the much bigger battle against “the man,” also known as Bud/Miller/Coors and the dominant but crappy (to our standards) “industrial light lager.” We needed to help one another in order to survive, and this fostered a sense of fraternity amongst craft brewers which was not to be found in the U.S., nor in Europe with its history of brewers guilds and brewing secrets. This fraternity has flourished and is largely responsible for making the U.S. the world capital for craft beer. Information is freely offered, ingredients loaned, and many beers shared and enjoyed by men and women who could rightfully be considered competitors. True collaborations began when we moved from “hey, how do you use this ingredient,” “what’s your fermentation profile when using this yeast strain” or “can I borrow eleven pounds of Cascades” to “hey, we should get together and make a beer!” An oft-told story is that Avery Brewing in Colorado and Russian River in California found that they both made a beer called Salvation. Rather than bring suit and fight it out over the rights to the name, they together created Collaboration Not Litigation, a blend of the two beers and a supreme show of neighborly love and respect. CBC is one of dozens of breweries who have also brewed across the country and around the world with other brewers, sharing our mutual love of brewing and enjoying great beer. In our own “collaboration not litigation” experience, we met our brothers from Magnolia Brewery (CA) at the Great American Beer Festival back in the late ‘90s or early ‘00s. It seems that, fans of the Dead and Phish as was I, both of our breweries had inexplicably produced an unhopped herbal beer called Weekapaug Gruit. Instead of laying claim to the naming rights, we gleefully agreed to each continue brewing this beer. Years later in 2011 we finally got together at their brewpub in San Francisco and brewed a beer together, and in the spirit of sharing in the gruit named it Collaborative Groove. We’ve also brewed in San Diego at Stone Brewing Company, in a three-way collaboration with Stone and Scottish brewers Brewdog, yielding an “imperial black pilsner” called Juxtaposition. This extraordinary beer, Stone’s first lager beer and most expensive beer they had ever produced, had the tickers in fits! At trip to Denmark to brew with Anders Kissmeyer at Copenhagen’s Nørrebro Bryghus produced an amazing trip to the island of Fanø to pick fresh heather flowers, which went in to a Danish version of CBC’s Heather Ale. Anders has since returned the favor several times, visiting CBC to brew with us – Imperial Skipsøl and Citra Tripel. Upcoming in September will be a trip to the U.K., to the village of Devizes where I’ll have the distinct honor of brewing at the Wadworth Brewery. This classic English brewery, founded in 1875, will be collaborating on a brew to be served exclusively throughout the pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon for their annual cask ale festival. Cool! This past May we invited four new Boston-area breweries to join us in making a beer in honor of Boston Beer Week. CBC’s Lead Brewer Jay Sullivan wrote a great little blog post about the experience, which led to a very tasty little beer called Mass Appeal. And we also repeated our collaboration with our friend Todd Bellomy, sake master and founder of BostonSake.com, brewing our infamous Banryu Ichi a second time and nailing it! Most recently we had the extraordinary opportunity to brew with some incredible guest brewers from Norway, Belgium, Quebec, and Colorado. As 12% Imports and Shelton Brothers planned an amazing beer festival in Worcester, drawing brewers from around the world, we took the opportunity to invite a few of them to join us at CBC and see what we could do together. Kjetil Jikiun and Tore Nybø of Grimstad, Norway’s famous Nøgne Ø collaborated on a beer, just released as I type this, which we dubbed Higgs Boson Brown Ale after the timely discovery of the Higgs boson particle by physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. After our initial discussion (in San Diego at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference) of collaboration we wrote many emails discussing what beer we would like to brew, then hammered out our recipe. All of the ingredients were procured before their arrival so on brewday we just went at it. The sight of Kjetil, a massive Viking of a man, perched atop our platform mashing in was quite impressive! Originally, this smoked brown ale was planned to undergo several months of oak barrel aging before release. However, as we tasted this beer during fermentation and maturation the Brew Crew (Jay, Sean, and Adrian) and I felt that the subtle complexities of this big, malty imperial brown ale were at risk of being covered up by charred oak and bourbon spirit in the barrel. We wrote to Kjetil and Tore and expressed our desire to not only serve this beer straight from the stainless steel serving tanks here, but to also brew a second batch of the same beer and send that one to the Barrel Cellar. They were excited by the prospect of one recipe yielding two different expressions of the same beer, so even after they had flown home to the Land of the Midnight Sun, the decisions affecting the care and presentation of the beer were shared. Next, we need to travel to Grimstad in order to reproduce this beer at their brewery! Just four days after the Nøgne Ø collaboration and two days after The Festival (which, should you have missed it, was amazing and you can now commence kicking yourself) we had an even bigger group of brewers in the house (in number if not physical stature as compared to Kjetil and Tore). Yvan de Baets of Brasserie De la Senne in Brussles, Belgium, has been one of my heroes of brewing for some time. He’s a true beer historian and crafts some of the most complex yet simple and enjoyable beers in the world. At a post-conference visit to CBC I broached the subject of brewing together and was beyond pleased when he accepted. An interest in brewing together had also been voiced by my friend Chad Yakobson, who would also be in town for The Festival, so it became a threesome. Chad is a brilliant young brewer who came to my attention while he was still homebrewing and pursuing his advanced degree in microbiology. His dissertation became The Brettanomyces Project, which I considered a fascinating and valuable online resource for my investigations into fermentation with Brett. Once again, innovation and brilliance was not secreted away but instead posted to the online world and shared freely. Amazing! Chad’s Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project is one of the country’s newest breweries but also one of the most unique and fascinating, focusing almost exclusively on “wild” fermentation with mixed microorganisms in oak barrels. And then, Bim. Luc “Bim” LaFontaine, that is. Head Brewer at Dieu du Ciel! brewpub in Montreal, my all time favorite place in Quebec, Canada. Mutual friends with Yvan and I, Bim also shares with me a love of sake and Japanese culture. In fact, he is moving to Japan with his girlfriend in just a few weeks and will be opening a craft brewery outside Tokyo in the coming year or two. We had already been discussing a brew together in Montreal at DdC but had so far failed to get it on the calendar. Luckily, it was not hard to convince him to drive down and join us for this brew, making it officially a foursome (though I doubt our foursome would have been anything more than a disaster on the golf course!). Despite some initial concerns about too many brewers in one brewhouse, we pretty quickly came to an agreement to brew a sort of “old school” saison, using whatever cool local grains we could get our hands on plus a secondary fermentation with a few strains of Brett. Despite the fact that Brett was never intentionally used in saison production, many of these “farmhouse” beers would show Brett character after aging for several months. Farmer/brewers producing saison were making beer to slake the thirst of the farmhands, so low abv was the norm as was the use of local grains and plenty of hops. We’re blessed to have Andrea and Christian of Valley Malt so close to us, and it just so happened that they had been malting a small batch of organic spelt – wheat’s rustic elder cousin. None of us had brewed with it before, so we agreed that it would be a focal point in our grist. Yvan wanted to push the historical boundaries of hopping with 60IBUs in a targeted 3.5%abv beer, but luckily we talked him off of that ledge. We got him back, though, by handing him armloads of spices - coriander, grains of paradise, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. - to add to the kettle. This made Yvan sad. (Not to worry, no spices were harmed in the making of this beer.) The brewday went very well, and each brewer chipped in more than their share of physical labor - mashing in, emptying the mash tun, breaking up bales of hops, cleaning along the way – all the while swapping stories of past beers, techniques, and experiences. A particularly fun moment came when putting the mash tun back together: I have a tradition of challenging any new brewstaff or guest brewer to put the heavy steel plates back into the tun, not an easy task even with experience. Each of the three plates needs to be inserted in a very particular way or they’ll come crashing off of the frame which holds them in place. If they get it right on the first try, though, they make twenty bucks out of my own pocket! I have never lost any money. Luc took up the challenge first, and as the plates came loudly crashing off the rim, Chad gave it his best effort to no avail. Yvan, however, showed us all up and promptly got all three plates properly in place, forcing me to hand over the dough. I still say he only succeeded after watching Luc and Chad, but a bet is a bet! The brew was in, the yeast was pitched, and we now had four or more weeks to wait until it would be served. But what to call it? Naming a beer is something we brewers approach with more than a touch of humor. I had been jokingly referring to De la Senne as the De La Soul Brewery over the months, and since we planned on brewing a 3.5%abv beer I thought it would be a kick to call this beer 3% and Rising. Get it? No? Well, I was one-bettered by Jay and Sean who said we should call it Me, My Spelt, and Rye. Having the circumstances to spend a day or more in the company of our comrades is a rare thing. Even at conferences and festivals, there is too much going on to manage any real quality time. So collaborations present a great opportunity to learn from one another and to create a beer that is more than the sum of its ingredients, greater than the individual participants, and often something completely unique which would never have been conceived by one brewer alone. More than a couple beers are shared throughout the day but attention is always focused on the brew. I have taken a lot away from these experiences, and they will continue to inform CBC and its history of amazing beer. Thanks for joining on us each of these journeys! Cheers, Will 2012-07-12T19:39:58+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/mass-appeal-boston-brewers-collaborate/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/mass-appeal-boston-brewers-collaborate/#When:11:28:48Z As Boston Beer Week winds down this weekend, we give you a post from CBC Lead Brewer, Jay Sullivan, on his experience being a New England brewer and working with four other breweries for the Mass Appeal collaboration. “When I was just beginning my career as a brewer, I had the good fortune of attending a beer dinner in a beautiful spot in the woods in Maine by the side of a lake.  It was a fairly lavish affair and many of the brewers whose beers were pouring at dinner were also in attendance.  Later in the evening, I was introduced by a mutual friend to Tod Mott, a long time New England brewer who is now Head Brewer at Portsmouth Brewery.  When he learned I had been hired by CBC, a big grin came across his face as he said, “Welcome!”  With that, he shook my hand and I felt truly lucky to be part of the New England brewing community. It is with that same spirit of welcoming that CBC invited brewers from four newer local breweries to collaborate with us on a beer for Boston Beer Week—Enlightenment Ales, Idle Hands, Mystic Brewery, and Night Shift Brewing. Enlightenment Ales is a new brewery focusing on beers produced via the time consuming and traditional ‘methode champenoise.’  The first batches of this beer are premiering around town this week. Idle Hands produces innovative Belgain-inspired ales in Everett, MA . Right next door in Everett, the three brewers brewers from Night Shift Brewing make beers in a wide range of styles.  In Chelsea, the team at Mystic Brewery are working with a variety of techniques including barrel aging and the use of native yeast strains to create distinctive beers. The beer that was produced as a result of this collaboration, Mass Appeal, is truly a reflection of all these breweries and their respective styles: a strong golden ale with fresh citrus zest and juice, Nelson Sauvin, Citra and Styrian Aurora hops. Its is fermented with yeast from each brewery and is beautifully balanced, but still bold. Now we welcome you to try the fruits of our labor! Stop by CBC and have a glass on draft while it lasts. And also be sure to stop by the booths of all the collaborating brewers at ACBF this weekend at the seaport World Trade Center.” 2012-06-01T11:28:48+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/sake-beer.-banryu-ichi-2012/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/sake-beer.-banryu-ichi-2012/#When:19:53:30Z Our guest collaborator Todd Bellomy of Boston Sake holds forth on this year's expression of Banryu Ichi.This What’s Brewing blog post is by our good friend and co-conspirator Todd Bellomy, sake expert, sake brewer, founder of www.BostonSake.com, and all-around awesome guy. Cheers! I try to be a constant evangelist for the enjoyment of Sake. It is an easy job given that Sake is a very delicious beverage; however, working in the craft beer industry I tend to communicate Sake flavors and attributes through a beer-colored lens. Sake is in essence a beer: it is made from grain; it undergoes starch conversion to sugar; and it contains no sulfites or additives common in wine. In this country however, because of its larger bottle and high ABV%, Sake has historically been lumped in with wine and distributed through wine wholesalers. In the last 20 years, this fact increasingly does not hold true. The craft beer industry commonly has beers above 15% ABV and beer now comes in a wide variety of bottle types and sizes. Craft beers have even branched out to encompass a broad spectrum of flavors incorporating spices, barrel aging, fruits, herbs and vegetables. Even with this explosion of innovation and increasing market share for craft beers, Sake remains hidden and underdeveloped in the purview of wine merchants. I think that it is time for craft beer drinkers to bring this lost brother of brewing back into the fold. Starting several years ago, Will Meyers (Brewmaster at Cambridge Brewing Company) and I began playing with the idea of blending the traditions of beer and Sake. As a beer guy Will found that he liked the flavors that he was discovering in the Sake that I shared with him; they were also flavors that had been unexplored in the increasingly complex craft beer world. We tried several different methods to achieve a hybrid beer:       -combining beer wort (unfermented beer) with a Sake starter made from rice, koji and Sake yeast       -brewing a high rice content beer and fermenting with Sake yeast only       -blending finished beer with finished Sake In the end we decided on using the first method, which not only organically combined both beer and Sake brewing, but also allowed us to do something that no other beer brewpub had done – make a full batch of Sake. This year’s batch is our second, and we not only improved on the process, but were able (with help) to make more Sake. Adding this additional Sake pushed the beer’s flavors further into the Sake realm. Firing up several 20 gallon home-brew kettles we proceeded to use a long weekend to steam almost 300 lbs of Sake brewing rice. Thankfully the mild winter this year kept us from freezing too badly (unlike last year!). Positioned on the sunny patio of the CBC, it was quite pleasant at times. What an interesting sight we must have been for the patrons of the CBC that weekend: five guys working outside all day, steaming rice, taking photos, tackling endless cleaning chores, and drinking a bit of Sake along the way. The resulting moromi (Sake mash) almost filled our little 500 liter tank that lives in a corner of the brewery – there was some worry on the last day that it wouldn’t all fit! Also luckily for us, the brewery is largely uninsulated and maintains the colder temperatures need for Sake fermentation allowing us to make some pretty tasty Sake. After several weeks our batch was at the height of fermentation with yeast health high and alcohol levels around 16% ABV. At this time we took the whole mash containing Sake, rice, koji, and plenty of yeast and pumped it over into a beer tank. To this tank we added 225 gallons of an unusual beer wort made with malted barley, rice, and brown rice syrup. This to me is the magic of our Sake/beer hybrid – the Sake yeast is strong in the Sake mash, but starting to succumb to the high levels of alcohol and getting tired. Adding the beer wort drops the alcohol levels down significantly and the yeast is re-invigorated to ferment the entire tank. The resulting hybrid is a true combination of Sake and beer brewing traditions. This unique drinking experience is only possible with the gracious help and patience of friends and family who support this crazy experiment. If you happen to be in Boston this spring, head over to the Cambridge Brewing Company to try a glass of Banryu Ichi 2012 and judge for yourself if Sake can sit side by side with beer and leave wine on the shelf. If you are a beer brewer going to the Craft Brewer’s Conference in San Diego this year, you can also try this unique beverage along with 2 other beers and some Sake. We are presenting our experiences in a lecture about Sake/Beer Hybridization on Friday at the conference. Cheers to sake, beer, and innovation! ~Todd Bellomy Boston Sake (all except last photo courtesy of our friend Mike Johnson at www.festpics.com) 2012-04-27T19:53:30+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/what-a-long-strange-trip-its-been/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/what-a-long-strange-trip-its-been/#When:19:17:10Z A few days ago I left my post at CBC. In case you don’t know me I’m Chris. I’ve been GM at CBC since 2004.  It was a bitter sweet breakup to be sure. I actually began as a ponytailed Berklee kid working the door way back in 2000. Being in the right place at the right time I ‘accidentally’ had an 8 year career as a restaurant manager. Even though my only management experience at that point was trying to get a few stoned jazz musicians to all show up at the same place at approx. the same time for a rehearsal. Against his better judgment, CBC Founder Phil Bannatyne saw ‘something’ in me and gave me shot. The opportunity came up rather suddenly to say the least. And after I took the gig, the old bar manager Huey looked at me and said “Are you ready for the train that’s about to run you over?” That next year I got my ass kicked around and handed to me seven ways from Sunday. But, boy did I learn. Trial by fire. Quite a detour from my original plans in music to say the least. Thankfully, my musical dreams never died. In fact I’ve been trying to get back to music for about 7 years. I’ve attempted to escape CBC several times. And just when I think I’m out…they pull me back in. In fact the first time I quit back in 2001 the GM at the time said to me “You’ll be back. They All Come Back.” And damn was she right! I tried again in 2008. And then Boom…I’m back in the driver’s seat within 10 months. Third time’s a charm. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade my time at CBC for anything. Anything. I feel like I grew up at CBC. (Questionable Statement, I know…) I cut my ponytail off while at CBC. (Big deal for a Berklee Nerd) And I got my first grey hairs shortly after taking the gig (and then proceeded to lose a lot them!) I had many, many late nights that I’ll never ever remember and plenty of great ones that I always will…bar stool rodeo anyone? I cut my teeth as a manager and quickly realized how complicated and sensitive people really are. Geeze, I thought jazz musicians were tough. Try working with Chefs and Brewmasters… And I realized what a pain in the ass customers can be. I can say that now right? JK. JK. The pains in the ass are the exception. The rest of you are awesome. If you’re a CBC regular you know what I’m talking about. You’re part of the family. You ‘get’ CBC. You’re part of the cause. You dig the one of kind vibe. There can only be one CBC. Man, there are so many amazing things about CBC. I’m getting choked up just thinking about the memories. But most importantly of all…I met my beautiful fiancé Betsy at CBC. (You can visit her at the Bar on Thursday nights to find out when my next gig is;-) I also met one of my all time best friends at CBC. In fact, he’ll be officiating our wedding in December. I had my (life changing) theatre debut because of CBC and because of said best friend. I formed two bands from gigs at CBC. I’ve met and worked with a truly outstanding and original staff. You may not know this, but CBC has probably the most talented staff around. I’m not necessarily talking just hospitality talent either. Over the years we’ve had no less than 2 lawyers, 2 architects, a gazillion musicians of ALL styles and abilities. Painters, graphic designers, writers, actors, performers, hair stylists, dentists and doctors. We’ve had theatre directors, psychologists, programmers, electricians, special needs teachers, grade school teachers, even a principal. There have been 2 acupuncturists, multiple entrepreneurs, plenty of home brewers, a handful of restaurant lifers, plenty of democrats, not too many republicans and at least one crazy libertarian (ahem). And everything else you can imagine. I am proud and truly honored to have been part of CBC and hopefully to have left an indelible mark on the company…forever! Phil Bannatyne: From the bottom of my heart – Thank You! Thank you for taking a chance on me (twice). Thank you for your incredible generosity. Thank You for your patience and support. And thank you for letting me use the word sucks and other mild profanity in my promotional CBC emails and blog posts (against Cara’s better judgment). I love You, Man! And thank you CBC! For all the memories and all the experience. For the family, the crew, the regulars, the fun times and the restaurant drama too. For the local, natural, creative and delicious grub. For the cause. For the world class and wonderfully buzz inducing brews (I just drink for the taste though of course). For the hard knocks lessons, for the opportunities, the friends, the hangovers, the crazy ‘in the weeds’ nights and all that you are CBC. Thank You! What a strange trip indeed… ~CP P.S I couldn’t finish my final blog post without welcoming the lovely Ms. Laura Peters to the job. CBC is in good hands with you Laura. Thanks for always having my back as AGM and being infinitely more on top of shit than I am. Good Luck (But you don’t really need it.) P.P.S. And of course, goodbye to my comrades on the management team – Chef Dave and Brewmaster Will. I’ll miss the meetings, the LOL Cats, the random conversations. I’ll miss the events, the brainstorming, the cause, and even the day to day B.S. I’ll miss the arguments, stepping on each other’s toes and the egos banging into each other. But mostly I’ll miss the free food and beer;-) Good Luck Guys! 2012-04-11T19:17:10+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/i-have-a-pickle-mentor/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/i-have-a-pickle-mentor/#When:20:04:08Z A few years back, “Stew the Pickle Guy” and I dined on the patio of Charlies Kitchen.  We were talking cucumbers, of course, and the beer was flowing.  I won’t soon forget the day, a Monday- clear, sunny and beautiful.  Stew ate twin lobster rolls (what a deal!).  I had the hot dog (duh!).  My son sat silently soaking in the spectacle before him.  Perhaps he was in awe, held speechless in the presence of the great pickle lord, Stew Golomb, aka Mr. MoonBrine himself, or perhaps he was just really quiet because he was like 4-5 months old…I don’t know, hard to say.  I do know however, that this was the moment Stew and I struck up a friendship.  We formed a bond.  We realized were not weird for loving pickles.  We were ready to share the fruits of our vegetables with the world.  We would brew pickles at a brewery and then we would drink beer! What’s the big deal with a fermented cucumber?  That’s tough to say.  Some people like pickles and then there are those that love them.  I just know this, if you like pickles, even mildly, you need to try a MoonBrine Pickle.  People just don’t do what MoonBrine does these days.  These pickles take time to craft, and for most that’s just too much time. Stew makes all natural, 100% fermented pickles.  He uses nothing more than water, salt, spices and garlic, a touch of vinegar and time.  After a couple weeks they are ready.  Stew then hand packs them (he never cans them) and throws them in the fridge, they have a lab certified shelf life of 6 months.  He used to brew them here at CBC coming over from JP in the wee hours of the morning, all the while teaching me the craft.  He has since moved to Portland, Oregon with his family and set up shop.  The west coast has been good for Stew’s spirit and he is fermenting away like a mad man.  I just got 200 pounds of hot pickles from him and we are frying them up here for our new Spring menu.  You can always find him online at http://www.moonbrine.com.  He is starting to get a bunch of cool press and, of course, in a great food town like Portland he will soon be taking over the world.  Here at CBC, we still serve a half sour pickle with our burgers.  We make them here at the restaurant- about 50 pounds a week.  Stew taught me how to make the half sour.  I think they’re pretty good.  I admit they lack that certain “MoonBrine magic” and are perhaps a bit upstaged on this menu with their older, more developed relatives in the fryer, but it’s cool.  Stew’s a pretty awesome guy so I don’t mind.  Good luck Vlasic and Claussen….dorks. 2012-03-25T20:04:08+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/the-advantages-of-low-mileage-beer/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/the-advantages-of-low-mileage-beer/#When:18:47:29Z Much has been said these days about the advantages of eating local.  Supporting local farms, enrolling in a CSA, seeking out local fisherman and sourcing local meats are all the rage.  The reasons for doing so are numerous.  Chief among them are the increased freshness of local foodstuffs due to shorter transit time, the decrease in CO2 emissions from transportation and the increase in the financial viability of farming closer to population centers.  Couldn’t and shouldn’t the same be said for beer? The fact is, beer is heavy!  Beer weighs about 8 lbs per gallon and roughly 92% of that is water. Now I know many breweries will go on and on about the specialness of their water and to a degree that may be true.  The fact is, almost all brewers can adjust their water to have the mineral content most advantageous to a particular style of beer.  So that raises the question, should we really be drinking so many beers from faraway places? Roughly 10% of beer consumed in the US is imported.  That amounts to about 20 Million barrels of beer (one barrel = 31 US gallons) annually.  If we assume that the average distance travelled by this beer is about as far away as Europe a few quick calculations can give us a sense of the environmental impact of transporting this beer.  Another point to consider is that with packaged beer, that is beer in bottles packed in four six packs per case, about half the weight of that beer is in the packaging.  Pretty much all beer imported from overseas is transported on cargo ships.  Cargo ships burn an extremely dirty type of fuel called bunker oil.  You can fit about 1200 cases of packaged beer into one 40 foot container.  Twenty million barrels of beer would then take up about 225,000 containers.  Each transoceanic freighter can carry about 10,000 containers so that amount of beer would take 22.5 ships to transport.  If each ship uses about 255,000 gallons of high sulfur and particulate bunker oil per trip, that is 5.8 million gallons of fuel burned.  At 26 pounds of CO2 per gallon that amounts to an extraordinary 150 million pounds of CO2 released into the atmosphere to import the beer. That’s the environmental price of imported beer.  What about the impact of beer produce domestically but moved great distances across this country?  What if we only consider the craft beer segment?  Craft beer accounts for about 5% of the beer consumed in the US, or 10 million barrels.  For simplicity‘s sake, let’s assume that 20% of that is produced on the West Coast and consumed on the East Coast.  Beer is typically transported long distances by truck. Using the same space and weight estimates from above it would require 22,500 truck trips averaging 6 miles per gallon of diesel fuel.  At approximately 3000 miles coast to coast that would be about 11.2 million gallons of diesel which converts to 248 million pounds of CO2, an amount comparatively 10 times worse than the container ships.  Simply stated, that 12 ounce bottle of West Coast I.P.A. took about 3 ounces of diesel to get to you on the East Coast.  And that was simply the 20% coming this way, the other 80% is traveling as well! Unlike when the craft beer movement started, today’s brewers have at their disposal the technology to brew any style of beer they choose.  The wealth of brewing information that has been generated over the last 25 years is unprecedented and accessible to our brewers, and is generously shared among them.  There really is no reason a particular beer or style can’t be brewed by a local brewery.  And, according to the Brewers Association, the average American lives within 10 miles of a brewery. So, the next time you are at your local liquor store or favorite bar or restaurant, consider the “beer miles” in your glass.  We all like to try the next best thing and I’m not curmudgeonly enough to suggest you shouldn’t.  But when it comes to regular purchases I think the environment and the detrimental effect of transport time should be an integral part of your decision.  That way your beer is fresh, your local brewery is prosperous, your dollars stay more with your neighbors and yet another supply chain is shortened. Here’s to local, fresh, craft beer! Phil Bannatyne, Owner, Cambridge Brewing Company Thanks and a tip of the hat to brewer, friend and beer writer Horst Dornbusch for the majority of the research used for the figures above! 2012-02-27T18:47:29+00:00 http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/2012-barleywine-festival/ http://cambridgebrewing.com/blog/details/2012-barleywine-festival/#When:22:02:21Z Barleywine Fest is coming up in just 2 weeks! January 26th 2012, 5PM Here it is in a nutshell: Brewmaster Will Meyers has gone deep into the CBC barrel cellar to put together a killer list of Barleywines – a whole bunch of different vintages and expressions of our Blunderbuss Barleywine, Arquebus Barleywine - plus we’ve got a tapas menu by CBC Chef David Drew to pair with ‘em. Will and Dave are still putting together the final touches on the menus. I’ll post the full beer list and tapas menu as soon as I’ve got it. Tables for the evening will be available on a first come, first serve basis – we will not be taking any reservations. So come early and stake out your space. There is NO cover for this event NO tickets needed. The full CBC dinner menu will be available and all of the tapas items will be available a la carte. CBC Annual Barleywine Festival Thursday, January 26th 2012 Taps open at 5PM Cheers, Chris CBC: Fresh Beer, Local Food, Proudly Independent 2012-01-12T22:02:21+00:00