The closer that Nate and I get to opening a brewery (it’s still a ways off), the more questions we find ourselves asking.  It seems like a natural enough progression, but various forks in the road could drastically shape the outcome.  Specific questions that we have asked along the way relate to styles and flagship brews, etc.  However, one question that I have really been considering with some depth is “How big should the brewery be?”  Like so many other questions in life, the answer is “It depends.” Long ago, I came to the conclusion that happiness is not about money.  For most of us, this is aphoristic…at least on theoretical grounds.  In fact, I take the “mo money, mo problems” ideological framework to ground most of my activity.  Without expatiating too much, I’ll just come out and say that I simply want to make a living brewing beer.  Yet, there is quite a bit more to it than that. Granted, it takes money to make money (i.e., opening a brewery is not cheap by any means).  But once a profit starts posting and your brewery gains more popularity, you have to decide what level of growth and profit you are targeting.  ...

Located about 2 hours away from Indianapolis, Three Floyd's Brewery is a very reasonable weekend day trip.  To not visit such a highly acclaimed brewery within one's arm reach would be a criminal's act indeed.  Many people make their way to Three Floyds for Dark Lord Day; in fact, there was an estimated 8,000-10,000 people there for the festivities this year.  It is truly a beehive of wonderful activity to behold. A Brewpub Saturday is not nearly as hectic as a Dark Lord Day, but do not let the reader misunderstand and think it isn't a busy time.  After arriving at 11:30 am, we realized we forgot to take Central Time into account (central Indiana is on Eastern Time and Munster, where Three Floyds is located, is on Central.  No matter, we waited half an hour and got right in the door.  However, there were about 15 other people already there right at noon, which is when the brewery opens on a Saturday.  We looked at the beer and food menus and made our selections.  There are plenty of beer selections.  Three Floyds had around 10 of their beers on tap and several guest beers on tap as well as a ...

Having children is hard work; but hard work is not bad, and usually is quite rewarding.  My wife and I have five children.  We also have forsaken sleeping in, alone time, date nights, and frivolous spending of money.  In the same breath we have gained so much more...pride, love, friendship, and countless nights enjoying our kids being kids.  Hands down, the trade off is worth it. There are certain moments when we, as parents, realize that our kids "get us."  In those moments we see that they don't see us as old geezers, that they enjoy us, trust us, and hold a hell of a lot of respect for us.  The feeling is mutual. How does beer fit into all of this...into child rearing? This past Sunday after spending the afternoon with my dad (yes, I bought him beer for father's day) we headed home, tired and ready to relax.  My son Malachi (seven years old)  asked if he could get out the crayons and paper.  Upon obliging his desired activity, he said, "whatever you do, dad, DON'T LOOK AT WHAT I'M DRAWING."  I knew he was making me a Father's Day card, and was touched that he took the initiative.  I was ...

Unlike ever before, the internet is proliferated with reviews of beer.  As if Beer Advocate and Rate Beer had not provided the interwebs with enough paradoxical opinions and love stories for that hopmonster of an ale you hold in your hand, there has sprung up a glut of beer blogs that are dying to tell you that they tasted roasted pine nuts and grapefruit in said beer. Before you dismiss this as a jaded libel loaded rant, keep in mind that the site authoring this article fits into the aforementioned category; blog that occasionally reviews beer.  Yes, we will occasionally pour a brew into a goofy looking glass, swish the sweet brew around, dig our nose into the aroma, savor the flavor in our mouths, and then tell you what we think about it.  One thing we try to avoid is the pitfall of esoteric-ism; a subtle trap that lies in any niche, whether it be beer, artisan cheeses, or wine. With wine in mind, a recent article was pointed out by a fellow beer blogger that served as the springboard for this piece of faux journalism you now read.  The article titled A Hint of Hype, A Tasted of Illusion, in ...

While interviewing for a job possibility the other day, I was looking at a Travel and Leisure magazine.  Normally, I'm not that interested in what they have to say...unless I'm traveling soon.  However, there wasn't much else to look at so I went ahead and started flipping through and saw an interesting article about the revival of real Stilton Blue Cheese. Basically, there was a food poisoning outbreak in 1983 that had one thing in common: Stilton Cheese.  It was later found that the cheese wasn't actually responsible for the outbreak, but not before the damage was done.  The response of the government was to ban the raw version (most of Europe followed suit).  Afterward, raw Stilton didn't exist.  But in the early 2000s, bans were being lifted and real Stilton was being made again (we, the people of the U.S., still can't get many raw cheeses). Obviously, this was enthusiastically greeted.  The new pasteurized version was said to be a dry, crumbly, and poor vestige of the past. The rediscovered cheese was gloriously buttery, soft, and utterly (no pun intended) delicious.  My mind began to turn to Americans who are rediscovering craft beer and leaving behind the hollow and insipid macro ...

This is our fourth attempt to do the uncouth: intentionally stereotype, our first attempt was a tad fun as was the last (and my favorite, "Partying Dudes"). You see, in a past post we discussed stereotypes a bit in a nonjudgmental and humorous attitude. It occurred to those who participated in the discussion that it might be fun to take to higher, beer level, since for the most part, the posts on this blog lean toward the rote information. So occasionally, we will post a picture of an individual(s) and as our readers to do that which are politically-correct-obsessed society detests...stereotype the face(s) associated with the post. What do they drink? Why do they drink it? Where do they drink it? Where do they buy their clothes?...the sky is the limit. Just try to be nice. We here at Thank Heaven For Beer don't mean to offend...in fact, our own mugshots have faced the ridicule of Stereotype Me. We applaud diversity (as long is it walks, talks, looks, and smells like us) just as we do sarcastic humor. With out further ado...stereotype this tower of baldness:

Sitting, waiting, wishing is not an easy state of affairs.  Considerable time goes into make some styles and types of beer.  Specifically, Lambic is the style that is rolling around in my head.  My Lambic is now about two and a half months old in the fermenter.  I'm seeing the beginnings of pellicle formation, the scum of accumulating bacterial growth.  In this case, Bretts are the scum in question.  Now I have only 10 months of waiting left and then 6 more of bottle conditioning.  Plenty of patience is going into this one. Meanwhile, industry and culture are moving at breakneck speeds.  The high demand for oil and consequent lack of BP accountability in the speedy production of the black stuff has combined for disastrous results.  We're moving quickly.  We're always looking for a faster, more efficient, easy way to produce.  Genetic engineering of plants to produce 4 to 5 times the yield, hormone filled meats and milks, and instant dinners all have one thing in common...lack of waiting time.  Perhaps we feel as though we simply can't wait or don't have the time.  In the case of plants specifically, maybe we really can't wait.  After all, the growing population seems ...

Craft beer has always prided itself in offering one thing that the big macro lager producers fail to:  Flavor.  But in that past several years or so, the craft scene seems to have taken that offering and grown it exponentially.  Beers are being brewed with obscene hop levels, bombastic malt backing, and at times, seemingly absurd levels of alcohol...and the craft culture seems to be dripping for more. Those new to craft beer may not notice this phenomenon to the extent of those whose journey began perhaps five to ten, even twenty.  The fact that session beers and lower alcohol beers get much lower ratings on beer rating sites seems to indicate that the public regards session and low alcohol beers as inferior in quality, which is nonsense.  A beer that does not fit one's preferences does not equate to a beer that does not fit quality standards; but this is a post for another day. This quest and crave for bigger, bolder, sweeter, bitterer, etc., is not isolated to the craft beer scene.  In fact, a very interesting article in the May 26th edition of the Wall Street Journal highlights the trend in food (all realms, but primarily shelf bought as ...

No matter how much beer seems to be growing, it still seems to remain wine's ugly cousin.  Many, many, many presumptions keep beer's status well below what it ought to be.  I've often seen complaints from people about the cost of a four or six pack, yet those same people don't have an issue paying $15-20 for a bottle for wine.  Why is that? A minor epiphany occurred to me while I was at the chiropractor yesterday.  I picked-up a Food & Wine magazine.  Please note the name of the magazine and its conspicuous non-use of beer.  At any rate, I read this article about some people who have, through online arrangements, made it a point to come together and try wines.  Often the people will pay a few hundred dollars just for the privilege of getting into the drastically limited available positions.  Not only this, they will pay for food (as these are mostly held at great restaurants), more wine, and the expense of the very nice bottle/bottles they bring.  In fact, not to bring a nice wine is to almost guarantee that you will never be welcome back. Still more shocking is the fact that some people will literally take ...

It's been a while since we've revisited the topic of how to mash brew, so I thought it was high time to complete the task.  I know that some of you are on the edge of your seats.  Now that you know how to perform various mashing methods, it's time to get all those sugars for which you worked so hard.  Sparging: what is it? Well, during the process of starch to sugar conversion, water penetrates the grain.  That water converts the starches into sugar while also increasing the viscosity.  Problem is that you want those sugars for a complete wort and beer.  But you want to be careful because too high of temperatures don't simply extract entrenched sugar, they pull out the tannins/huskiness/astringency of the grain husks.  With few exceptions, 168-170ºF is about as hot that your sparging water should be. There are various levels and ways of sparging that can be done.  For instance, barley-wines can often have little or no sparging at all.  Normally, however, brewers tend to run their sparged sugars to about 2º on the Plato scale.  Obviously, style dependence and objectives for the beer play a role.  I often reach my target volumes before the aforementioned Plato ...