?I am making new friends up here, but still find my-self feeling a little lost- I?am a little short on drinking buddies.
???? One of the things I am really digging is the good food and good drink up here. The imported beers are turned over much quicker than they are in the south sound. German lagers taste much fresher than the?stale bier?that gets distributed in Oly-WA. There is a grocery store chain called whole foods.?Shopping there is easy.?There is no low quality food in the store. Nothing contains high fructose corn syrup. The meat isle is a special treat.?The sausages are nice and plump!
???? I have found a nice little bier garten behind a place called The Malt and Vine. It is on black top with a little corral around it. They are what we call a bottle shop. It is a place filled with coolers containing an outstanding variety of bier, beer, birra, biere, cervasa, pivo and some gross shit called wine. They have ~18 taps. You can by a pint at the counter and then head out back to the biergarten to drink it. I had a nice wiessbier there one night with a very sweet girl.
???? The other night I got home from work and felt like going for a walk. Soon I found myself walking into a place called the Pub 85. I found the pub 85 to be a little un-savory. I am sure I will be back soon. There where 2 fellas down the way in Fedora Hats, a 40 year old "Bar-Fly", a "Ghetto Bastard" and a couple of low-lifes. I saw what looked like a 12 pack of taps. I asked the bar-keep, "what do you have on draught?" He replied, "What are you looking for?" He had no Pilz (though he may have had pills) so, I settled on a Lucille from George Town brewing. I sat at an empty stool and no one chose to engage me in conversation. I guess there where intimidated.... Hoofing it back to my house I spotted a sign that read, "Body and Foot Massage". I looked at the place and it had dark tinted windows with a neon "Open" sign in the window. I looked at my phone. It was 8:15pm. I thought who the hell gets a massage at 8:15pm? If I ever decide I want to experience VD I will check it out.....
???? On the 20th after the construction workers had gone home we rallied the troops to do some painting in the brewery. We had to get the bathrooms and?kitchen?primmered and painted. In the morning the "swinging-dick" contractors would be back at the brewery. (apparently that is what one calls a contractor, I picked up the term from buddy Dave when we were building a draught system for a Rock restaurant). On the 21st the swinging-dick contractors would be hanging a product called FRP on the walls of the shitter and kitchen. Ole John had predicted that?this project would go quickly.?We would "just bang it out". Two hours passed and Ole Sco-Han and?I were still wiping dry wall dust off of walls. About this time Saint Angie showed up with a couple of pizzas. After some pizza I got back to work on the walls. Soon we had that banged out. John taught the team a technique called the W. With some critique, soon we where all applying paint to the walls. I am not sure if Mr. Hansen ever figured out how to paint right, but some how he got the stuff spread across the walls. I often refer to Mr. Hansen as "mom" and Ole John as Dad- It is a very special relationship for sure. Matt Sherman perfected the cup O' beer in one hand, roller in the other technique. Aaron Gibbs showed us why his father never let him paint as a child. I can tell he is still a little scarred...? Brother Ben spread the paint with conviction, though I think his W may still need some work as well. I know he gave 110%. David the assistant, assistant brewer took instruction well and worked diligently. I did my best to pretend to be a leader, though I was confused as to just where the hell we were to be painting. I used my "Dave Vitt impersonating Bob Powell voice to shout direction, belittle and call people "Cock Sucker". I know the team was inspired.... I upped my level of leadership by utilizing the tip (just the tip) of the roller to paint a "caulk" and balls on the wall. :-(it later got covered in more paint of the same color) I have truly?come a long ways since my bakery days of making anatomically correct ginger bread men....
???? As the night came to a close the Shermanator's lady Ayla showed up.?She had?finished a shift at her place of employment. She jumped in?and helped us paint the kitchen. I spent this time documenting the efforts with a digital camera. (If John posts the pics to the facebook I will put them here) We fell a little short of "just banging it out" We started the project at 5:00pm We all went home at 1:00am. Alot of hard work was blended with alot of giggling durring those hours.
???? We are about 2 weeks away from brewing beer.
In Other Drama:
???? My former place of employment: I know it is unprofessional to trash talk them. Now that I am on the outside looking?it is funny as hell. When I was living it, it was, well, hell.?I know how the ownership hates transparency and anything that resembles the truth. I feel an obligation to out lying dirt-bags, besides, integrity is one of there guiding principles, maybe I can inspire folks to start living right....
???? I was at "the pub" the other night I was told a story by one of my former co-workers: He had over heard the bean counter, 2 smelly fat men, and a fuck-up talking. It seems the southern German style Pilsner called "Premium Lager" is to expensive to make. It apparently it?costs the same as the much neglected and botched Hodgy IPA. If this is true?then they are brewing Hodgy with very cheep ingredients these days. (Hodg should cost a hella-of-a-lot more than $35/bbl)?When I heard this news it upset me...?It upset me alot?more than it should have. I just hate to see my hard work destroyed. I traveled the world to know how that beer is supposed to taste. The bean counter was quoted as saying, "Maybe I should not have trusted Tony with the costing." What a peice of shit! I played no tricks. I re-costed that beer that night when I got home. It now costs $35.33/bbl. I think it was about $33/bbl when I costed it back in the day.?The POS bean counter?doughts if he?should have "trusted Tony"??I design a recipe around a volume. I?list the cost per pound of all ingredients on the recipe. I?sent that to the bean counter.?The bean counter also?approves all purchases of?ingredients and knows what they cost.?There was no failure do to "trust".
???? I think the real issue is this; leading up to the production of the "Premium Lager" upper management no idea of what they wanted. They wanted a beer that cost less than $25/bbl to brew, and they?wanted to?print the words "Premium Lager" on the label. (I found this so fucked up, I printed the email and saved it in my note book) I told those fuckers I could brew an "American Premium Lager" in 21 days and for about $18/bbl. Ole Randle was totally on board with that! Next, Marketing took over,?they decided we needed to taste everything with the words "premium lager" on the label (no, I don't make this shit up). We tasted every blonde lager on the market. Everything: Henry's Private Resurve, Red Stripe, Trumer Pils, Hofbrau Origanal, Spaten, Lowenbrau, Grolsch,?Pilsner Urquell,(I am drinking a Stiegle Pils as I type this. The label reads World Classic Beer, It is to bad those fuckers don't want to brew "World Classic Bier") Stella, ect.?Hell, we may have even tasted PBR. The southern German style beers were the favorites of the informal panel. (marketing?fags, and the drunks from production. All sitting around a round table?cracking bottles.) I am not sure how many of the experts at the table realized that we were tasting at least 7 differents styles of beer. The words "Premium Lager" state fuck-all.
???? "We" decided that the new?"Premium Lager" would taste like Trumer Pils (here is to you Lars Larsen!) I formulated a recipe for the beer and emailed the costing to the bean counter Randle. He replied wondering if a "Premium Lager" needed to be brewed with German Pils malz. I sent him a long winded reply trying to explain all the reasons why. Remember, ole Randle wanted to brew a beer for $18/bbl (a bbl is 31 gallons)?that had a retail price of $8.00/six-pack.?Doing some simple math. Ole Randle wanted a beer that cost $0.26/sixer. Instead he has a beer that costs $0.51/sixer to make.
???? I did my job very well. I brewed a beer that tasted like a southern German Pils (to do that you need German ingredients)?and reported the price. On the first batch?we made it to third base. It was spot on, but had a little DMS (an off flavor) All that needed to be done to fix that?was boil it for 30 min longer. The next one should have been epic. I left the company before the next "up to bat". The second batch?has diacytle in it. An off flavor that was the result of a neglected fermentation.?(when folks are under staffed things get neglected) Bummer, my hard work on this beer (and the hard work of the brew crew) will never reach it's potential. Instead it will be another failing brand in a failing brewery.
???? Now that they no longer have the burden of a Head Brewer (they can't find a head brewer that will work for them.)?They?can have the accountant, Randle?design?the beer...
???? I was surfing the Facebook the other night. I saw that my buddy Rob had posted something trying to get folks to vote the Phish Tale Brew Pub for KING 5's best of Western Washington. Phish was ranked at #5. I was feeling Powell-ish so, I found the Phish website where he posted the same thing?(that is what he does, he is a marketing guy) I posted a snide comment. Something like, "Really? last time I was in the place the staff's meral was in the toilette and the only 2 regulars in the place where pissed off. (all true)?That was a Friday night. On Monday I got a text from one of my former co-worker buddies. I had really stirred up the pot?O' shit. Apparently I got banned from the Phish Tale Brew Pub Facebook page. I was driving my pick-up to work when I got the message. I laughed out loud and spent the rest of the day with a "shit eating grin" on my face!
???? Hops? We don't need no stinking hops!!: I got a text the other day from one of my former co-workers (read dear friend). This person was wondering about Organic Hops.?Phish has no Organic Centennial hops?on contract for the O.IPA. The closest substitution?they could get was O. Bravo. The bad memories are are fuzzy now. If I remember correctly it was like pulling teeth to get?O. Bravo?contracted (hell,?maybe I contracted O. Centennial? I have a very fuzzy memory of being able to source O. Centennial at a time when conventional hops of the same variety where not available."We" may have never signed?that contract).
???? In the good ole days Organic beer could be brewed with hops grown conventionally. Then the laws where changed. By Jan. 1 2013 all Organic beer is to be brewed with organic hops. O. hops are a limited acreage item. If you want to be in the O. beer business you had better have O. hops on contract. It is not clear, but this is what I gather. The Phish brewers don't have the hops they want to brew with. I don't think the O. Bravos are up to there liking, and they can't get anything ells. What I do know is that I did the best I could in that situation choices where limited?and it was all under a close eye from?upper management. I may have even received a contract that never got signed... They hated?committing to?hops.
???? ?Apparently the?brewery's production manager is speaking very poorly?of me because Phish does not have the hops they want. I am ass hole of the year in his eyes. Once again I am a giggly knowing this is not my problem. I did my part. The only thing the management of that company can manage to do is screw up a good thing. Over and over.... I am so happy to longer have to deal with that pit of negativity. I have alot more laughter in my life now. Being out of "the pit" and watching them even adds to the laughter...
Prost! Thanks for reading and don't forget to support my friends at http://www.ezfoodsolympia.com/
Source: http://oly-brewer.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-big-city-building-brewery-and.html
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