Well, not that lazy. In fact, the folks at Lazy Magnolia Brewing are busy little bees. With their beers available in Mississippi, Alabama, South Louisiana, Tennessee and most of Florida, the little brewery in Kiln, Mississippi is cranking out cases and kegs a fast as the physics of quality brewing will allow.
Leslie and Mark Henderson own and operate the brewery which is located in a warehouse adjacent to Stennis Airport. Like many small brewers, the Henderson’s were first bitten by the home brewing bug. Leslie got Mark a home brew kit one Christmas. According to the story on their web site, he got to brew one batch before Leslie took over and electrical engineering Mark was tasked with designing tools and gadgets to help make the brewing process smoother. The couple brewed often, usually twice a week and had a ready test market of friends to whom they gave most of their  beers. Friends and family were so impressed with the tasty concoctions the Henderson’s brewed up, they convinced the couple to go pro. And that’s how Lazy Magnolia got its start.
Of course, like all start-ups, there were headaches. After working in the corporate world for a few years, they figured they had enough cash to get started. Leslie quit her chemical engineering job and dove head first into the project. Mark kept his day job.
The local community was very supportive of the idea of a brewery in the area. Seems there are people from all over the US living in this part of Mississippi.  There are a number of military installations, the Stennis Space Center, ship building, tourism and shrimping/fishing industries. Many have lived in or visitied places all over the country and the world and have had the opportunity to enjoy good craft beers. They aren’t interested in bland, yellow fizzy beers. They are seeking flavorful variety and Lazy Magnolia is happy to oblige.
One big headache came on August 29, 2005 when a storm named Katrina came calling. We all know the devastation this hurricane left in her wake. From the Gulf Coast of Central Florida to Texas, her winds and storm surge wiped out entire communities, took lives, and did untold property damage. The brewery itself was not damaged badly, but Mark and Leslie’s home was destroyed.

GulfPort, MS Katrina Aftermath

I asked Leslie what they thought when they realized Kiln was going to take a hit from the storm. She said, “Hurricanes are a price we pay to live in paradise.  We were aware of that long before we started Lazy Magnolia and spent a lot of time (and money) to be prepared.  That provided some comfort, knowing that we had planned as well as possible.  The storm happened so early in the life of the brewery that there really was no “before” picture to look at.  A Post-Katrina coast was our reality nearly from the beginning.  We could have walked away from the business at that point and no one would have faulted us for it.  But I thought it would be such a grand adventure to make Lazy Magnolia actually work after such a disaster.  It has been a blast.”

Pascagoula, MS No Mo' Condo

USABT: Did you evacuate, and if so, how soon before the storm hit? Where did you go? How long was it before you could get back and check on things afterward?
LH: We evacuated the day before the storm to Starkville and stayed with my parents for one week before coming back to the coast.  I couldn’t stand to be away one day longer than that.  This place is home, wrecked or not.
USABT: Did you have time to prepare your home and the business before you left?
LH: That’s the great thing about Hurricanes.  You have the better part of a week to prepare!
USABT: Describe what you saw when you returned and where that put you mentally. You and your employees were now homeless. Did you consider leaving the area?
LH: It was surreal, kind of like walking around on a movie set.  We don’t have kids, and I didn’t lose anything that was terribly precious to me, so I felt more inconvenienced than traumatized.  I still had my brewery, so I had a purpose to my messy life, and all was well.  Being “homeless” was an adventure, but I was amazed at how we never had to spend a single night without a roof over our heads, thanks to the kindness of friends and family.  We never seriously considered leaving the area.  You can’t outrun mother nature!

"It basically just looks like the house vomited all over itself." Leslie Henderson

USABT: You said the brewery was occupied by the Marines for a while. Were you compensated for that? How long did they stay and what was their mission?
LH: The brewery is located next to a runway where supplies and people were entering at a fast rate.   The Marines and National Guard personnel were simply occupying any building that had an intact roof.  Their mission was to search for survivors, maintain law and order, distribute supplies, and basically help people survive the first couple of months.  They were in our building for a couple of weeks.    As soon as our power was turned back on they cleaned up and vacated.  However, their continued presence in the area provided excellent security for the next several months.  That was all the compensation I wanted!
USABT: Your customer base was, for the most part, gone – many having suffered the loss of their homes and businesses just like you. What was your first priority upon returning?
LH: First priority was to find out how all of my friends, co-workers, customers, and suppliers were doing and to let them know that I was okay.  Second priority was to make sure that our employees had a place to work and figure out how we would stay in business.  Our third priority was to assess the damage and get in line with our insurance companies.

The Henderson's stuff. Pile it up and start over.

USABT: With the customer base gone, how did you make sales?
LH: We expanded our territory and signed on with new distributors outside of the Katrina destruction zone.  We also maintained close contact with our Gulf Coast contacts and did whatever we could to help them get back up and running.
USABT: How long was it before your were able to brew again?
LH: It was about six weeks.
USABT: In your mind, has the brewery recovered and are you on track for production and sales?
LH: It’s hard to say.  There were a lot of positive impacts from Katrina as well as negative.  I believe we’ve made an outstanding recovery from the hurricane.  The stock market crash of Oct 2008 was a bigger problem for us than the hurricane!  Although we don’t recommend a natural disaster 8 months into your business plan, the Great Recession absolutely doesn’t belong at the three year mark.
USABT: Describe the character and attitude of the folks who decided to stay and rebuild.
LH: Tough, passionate, and trustworthy to the core.
USABT: How did the whole experience change you guys – compare the pre-Katrina Hendersons and Lazy Magnolia with the post-Katrina versions.
LH: Honestly, I can’t say that it changed me a great deal.  I’ve certainly learned some important and interesting skills as a result, but it does not define my life in any way.  Like I said, It was more of an inconvenience than a tragedy for me.  I didn’t lose anything that was truly precious to me.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  However, I don’t like to go camping now, and can’t imagine that I will ever do so on purpose again.

Lazy Magnolia Brewhouse

How about the beers?

Southern Pecan, a recipe that was hatched in Leslie’s kitchen, accounts for 70% of Lazy Magnolia’s sales. From their web site – “Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale is the first beer in the world, to our knowledge, made with whole roasted pecans. The pecans are used just like grain and provide a nutty characteristic and a delightful depth to the flavor profile. This beer is very lightly hopped to allow the malty, caramel, and nutty flavors shine through. The color is dark mahogany. Southern Pecan won a Bronze Medal in the 2006 World Beer Cup in the Specialty Beer category. Mark is the crazy, creative force behind Lazy Magnolia. He comes up with ideas that often seem to have no chance of succeeding. One of those ideas was to make a beer with pecans. Many attempts at nut-beers have resulted in failure due to the high oil content. Mark was determined, so Leslie designed the recipe to work around the problem of nut oil. Even so, she had very little faith in the creation until they poured the first perfect pint. Southern Pecan has been a big hit ever since.

Southern Pecan on the bottling line.

Southern Gold is Lazy Magnolia’s Golden Honey Ale. Brewed with locally produced honey, this light-bodied brew was designed specifically for the City of Hattiesburg, MS., the home of the University of Southern Mississippi. This refreshing beer is noted by its smooth character and gentle, sweet honey finish.

Southern Gold was the creation of Lazy Magnolia Brewster Leslie Henderson. In keeping with Lazy Magnolia’s effort to craft beer suited for the Southern Palate, Southern Gold utilizes locally grown honey from nearby Ellisville, MS., which is provided by Mark Henderson’s own bee-keeping Uncle Milton.

Leslie felt the lighter profile of the Southern Gold was well suited for the warm climate of Southern Mississippi, and the recipe has been a big success since its release in July of 2007.

Kold kegs. Mmmm, beer. My tour guide, Julia.

Reb Ale is Lazy Magnolia’s American Style Pale Ale, a crisp and clean beer with the perfect balance of hops and malt. Its body and clean finish are ideally suited for all seasons, and the brew is dry-hopped for a great aroma and impressive finish. Reb Ale is often referred to as our “Deep South Pale Ale.”

Reb Ale was Lazy Magnolia’s first recipe designed to accommodate one, specific location. It was brewed in recognition of the overwhelming support of the Oxford, Mississippi market, home to the University of Mississippi. Oxford is a special place, deeply rooted in history and a vibrant center for the arts and Southern culture. This special recipe was a way to thank the initial and continued support of Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company by the good folks in Oxford, as well as the throngs of Ole Miss Alumni who make annual trips to their alma mater.

Jefferson Stout, Lazy Magnolia’s original Sweet Potato Cream Stout, is Lazy Magnolia’s version of the ideal Southern-Style Stout. Jefferson Stout is brewed with sweet potatoes and lactose (milk sugar). The sweet potatoes provide the background to an impressive taste with added notes of roasted chocolate, coffee and caramel flavors.

The story of the Jefferson Stout recipe highlights Lazy Magnolia’s focus on the company motto (“We don’t tell people what to like, we give them great choices.”), as well as the practice of listening to our customers. Specifically, the idea for this recipe came from a good friend of Lazy Magnolia, Chef Steve D’Angelo. As the former Owner /Chef at Bay City Grill in Bay St. Louis and early supporter of Lazy Magnolia, Chef Steve is credited with this creative recipe. We don’t tell people what to like, we just give them great choices!

Indian Summer is a light profile American-style wheat ale spiced with Orange Peel and Coriander. Our recipe uses a mix of wheat and pale barley. This beer is very lightly hopped to allow the spices to shine through. Clean fermenting yeast produce a very dry, crisp base to further accentuate the spices. The aroma has a distinct citrus note without being overly fruity.

Indian Summer was first introduced as a seasonal offering. Due to its popularity and brisk sales in available markets, the Lazy Magnolia team decided to make this recipe year-round. It has quickly gained a loyal following and serves as a great introductory beer to the world of craft brewing. We don’t tell people what to like, we just give them great choices!

Gulf Porter is the first beer of the year in our Brewer\’s Choice Series. Carefully brewed with select malts, oats, and hops. We rely on the yeast to provide the spicy note and the rich character of the beer. With warm notes of toffee, coffee, and a little chocolate this porter is a beautiful beer. Sure to spark a lively discussion on the finer points of Southern living.

This English style beer has a mouthful of hops right up front. The authentic stuff. This dark beer is smooth and strong, dark and deep, with more character than the alphabet.”

I asked Leslie for her definition of a craft beer. Her reply, “Craft beer is in the taste buds of the consumer.”  It’s not about size, it’s more about creating flavorful beers that people like to drink. As for who gets the treat of being able to buy the beers of Lazy Magnolia, they want to make sure they are servicing their current markets to the best of their abilities and then they’ll think about further expansion. Maybe select markets in Georgia are next, and somewhere down the line, Texas.

Leslie, Brandi, Sarah and Mark at Lazy Magnolia

The crew that works at the brewery are young and laid-back. Everyone had a smile and a good word. The brewery offers tours on Saturdays. No reservations needed. Stop on by and say “Hey” next time you’re in the area. They’ll be happy to direct you to a local establishment serving their beers. Unfortunately, Mississippi law says no beer sampling at the brewery.

For now, they are busy little beer bees. And that’s a good thing.

Cheers!

Your Faithful USABeerTrends Beer Truth Seekers

P.S. We have some video of our Lazy Magnolia visit. We’ll get it posted just as soon as we find some extra time to edit. Cheers!

Dollar growth up 12% in first six months of 2010; U.S. brewery count climbs by 100 in last year

Boulder, CO • August 2, 2010 – The Brewers Association, the trade association representing the majority of U.S. brewing companies, today released strong mid-year numbers for America’s small and independent craft brewers¹. Dollar sales were up 12 percent in the first half of 2010, compared to 9 percent growth during the same period in 2009. Volume of craft brewed beer sold grew 9 percent for the first six months in 2010, compared to 5 percent growth in the first half of 2009.

Craft breweries continue to grow despite many challenges, and currently provide an estimated 100,000 jobs and contribute significantly to the U.S. economy.  Barrels sold by craft brewers for the first half of the year are an estimated 4.6 million, compared to 4.2 million barrels sold in the first half of 2009.

“While craft brewer sales volume climbed 9 percent in the first half of 2010, overall U.S. beer industry volume sales are down 2.7 percent so far,” noted Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. “There is a movement by beer lovers to the innovative and flavorful beers created by America’s small and independent craft brewers. More people are starting to think of craft-brewed beer first when they buy in restaurants, bars and stores.”

The U.S. now boasts 1,625 breweries—an increase of 100 additional breweries since July of 2009—and the highest number in 100 years. A century ago in 1910, consolidation and the run-up to Prohibition had reduced the number of breweries to 1,498.

“Entrepreneurs across the land are creating jobs by opening new microbreweries and brewpubs, and we are also seeing many homebrewing hobbyists going pro by starting what have been referred to as nanobreweries,” Gatza added. “Super tiny microbreweries or brew pubs, that make beer for a very localized network of taverns and stores, are starting to become a trend, primarily in the states that allow self-distribution as a means of getting beer to market.”

Recently, the USABeerTrends.com crew traveled to Covington, Louisiana for a long weekend. We were fortunate in that Covington made a great jumping off point to visit some of the breweries in the region.  Covington is located on the “North Shore” of Lake Ponchatrain, about 30 miles from New Orleans. There are a number of very cool communities on this side of the lake, including Mandeville, Abita Springs among others. This area, while not totally protected, did not suffer the full fury and extensive flooding from Hurricane Katrina as New Orleans and other areas closer to the Gulf.

Now, the area is plowing through another disaster. The BP oil spill in the Gulf is causing problems along the coast. The future of entire industries and those who make a living from them are up in the air. Offshore workers are concerned about their jobs because of the threat of an offshore drilling moratorium, fishing fleets, mostly family businesses are idle, oyster beds are in danger, tourism is off and the local economies are suffering.

Through it all, I notice a certain resiliency in the people of the Gulf Coast, especially those in the Delta region. These folks have grown up in an area that is constantly threatened by Mother Nature and man-made dangers, yet, they endeavor to persevere (thanks for the line, Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) from “The Outlaw Josie Wales”).

As the beer crew cruised in to Covington, we couldn’t help but notice the dearth of commercial construction going on. And traffic! Wow. Restaurants, grocery stores, boutiques – all seemed very busy.

This busy business was in stark contrast to the traffic on I-10. We’ve traveled this major east-west artery for years – back and forth from Texas to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. On holiday weekends during the summer, it’s a traffic-fest – sometimes coming to a complete halt.  This year was different. Smooth sailing all the way to New Orleans. And later, open highway over to Kiln and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Turns out oil on the beaches (or the prospect of such) is an effective tourist repellent. BP, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.

So, it’s with these things in mind, and a substantial thirst for beer ( and knowledge) we set out to understand the stories of three very different breweries located within 100 miles of each other here in the deep south.

Part one of Delta Brews, coming soon.

Cheers, y’all.
Your Mudbug Slurpin’ USABeerTrends Traveling Freaks

I visit Durango, Colorado a number of times each year. “Business or pleasure” is the question I always get at the airport rent-a-car desk. My answer, “Yes”.

Besides being the home to our best customer, Durango has tons to offer visitors. During the winter, there are three powdery fun ski mountains just a conversation away. And they range from  fluffy, family fun, to laid-back, to extreme in their offerings.

Morning at the bar in Carvers

Summer is the real tourist time in the Four Corners. Rafting or kayaking  the Animas River, checking out the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, camping in the mountains, cycling, fishing, golf gliding and on and on. The days are warm and the nights are cool. Wonderland, indeed.

Of course, the USABeerTrends crew is partial to the plethora of brewers in the area. Durango Brewing, Steamworks, Ska Brewing, Pagosa Brewing and Carvers.

Now, Carvers is on my list for more than their beer. I make it a point to get breakfast there whenever I can. This week for example, it’s the perfect place to recharge and watch the Tour de

Carver's Beers

France on one screen and the British Open on the other – all while the friendly folks of Durango filter in and out. Tourists get the same treatment and great service as the locals. The person behind the bar always has a friendly word and everyone is eager to make sure you have a great experience. Don’t get me wrong, when the place is cranking, you may have to wait a minute or two for a coffee refill, but the place just seems to hum right along.

We’ll try to get together with Carver brewers and learn more about their beers while we are here. For now, though, I’ve got a plate full of awesome breakfast food to eat, the peloton in catching the chase group and setting up for a crazy sprint stage finish, and Jon Daly is actually in the hunt at St. Andrews.

Cheers!

Your soon-to-be-very-full traveling USABeerTrends Breakfast Patrol.

Thirsty Planet Grand Opening
Host: Brian and Tammy Smittle
Location:
Thirsty Planet Brewing Company
11160 Circle Drive
Austin, TX 78736 US
When: Saturday, July 10, 6:00PM

Join us in celebrating the Grand Opening of Thirsty Planet Brewing Company! We will have live music from Champagne and Friends, free food, and of course, TASTY FREE BEER!!! Everyone is welcome, so grab a friend and we will see you July 10th!

Well, OK then. We’re in!
Cheers!
USABT

The USABeerTrends.com crew stopped in for an impromptu visit with Brian Smittle at Thirsty Planet Brewing in Austin, Texas last Friday. It had been a few weeks since we stopped in to help brew a batch of IPA with Brian, so we were curious how far from selling his beer he was.

As we pulled into the brewery, workers were busy putting a coat of paint on the fence and gate to the parking lot. The patio area looked complete with a nice new layer of decomposed granite waiting on its tables. Inside, the guys from the fire sprinkler company were installing the fire suppression system bringing the brewery up to code. Also hard at work  were welders, busy running some stainless pipe for the brewery’s hot water reclamation system.

The cold room was, well, cold and nearly complete and had kegs of Brian’s Thirsty Goat Amber and Yellow Armadillo Wheat, soon to be joined by the experimental IPA (not sure if this is the Buckethead IPA or not) still in the tank. A cartage permit making it legal to transport the magical elixir in the Thirsty Planet beer rover was “in the mail”. The tasting room is nearly finished, lacking only a swag display cabinet and some stools.

Thirsty Planet Thirsty Goat Amber chillin'.

So, with just a few things left to tidy up and tweak around the brewery, Thirsty Planet is just about ready to hit the pubs and restaurants in the Austin area.

Here are a few pics.

Brian's hand-built bar in the Thirsty Planet stasting room

Thirsty Planet cold room

Coming to a pub near you (in Austin)

Cheers!

Your Dazed USABeerTrends Brewery Invaders

Oskar Blues invites you to join the EVOLUTION of craft beer with the initial all Canned Beer Ragbag at its roots, Lyons, CO.  Under the backdrop of Rocky Mountain National Park, Burning Can offers up the future prospect of craft beer civilization by pulling all the plugs on beer traditions.  Craft Beer from a number of local Canning Pioneers, Live Music by Nashville’s Bonepony www.bonepony.com, Can Art, Beer Can Chicken & other beer-infused dishes collide to create an inaugural event sure to shake the status quo the way canned beer was meant to.

Participating breweries include Breckenridge Brewery, Boulder Beer, Lefthand, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Pug Ryans, Pumphouse, Silverton, Ska, Steamworks & Upslope.

When & Where: Oskar Blues Brewery @ Sandstone Park, Lyons, CO – June 26th, 2010 1pm to 4pm
Why: To Celebrate Craft Beer in a Can & benefit The Colorado Brewers Guild

BUY FESTIVAL TICKETS HERE via the Oskar Blues Online Store.  Must be 21 Years of Age.  Photo ID Required.
- Kids are invited as well for $5
- Designated Driver Tickets are available as well for $15
- Please No Pets

This free spirited poke has its soul in the right spot….All proceeds from this event will go directly to the Colorado Brewers Guild  www.coloradobeer.org  & its continued fight to keep Colorado beer culture alive!

Walk away from this celebration with a rattled hominid cranium full of how far craft beer in a can has come, a soul full of roots music & full belly of beer can chicken.  You also walk with Inaugural BURNING CAN collectors swag knowing the entire shindig helps keep Colorado beer culture kicking. The party continues beyond the BURNING CAN Ragbag as Lyons celebrates the 34th annual Good Old Days Celebration all weekend.  Check www.townoflyons.com for Good Old Days details of Live Music, Food, Beer Garden, Games, Rides, Street Dance and activities for all ages.  Oskar Blues & Bonepony will continue the evolution of Good Old Days by playing a smoking live set of roots music in the downstairs Oskar Blues venue from 9pm to 12:30am.

Big thanks to all of the participating sponsors who have made this great event a reality – Colorado Brewers Guild, Ball Corporation www.ball.com, Boulder Business Products http://coprint.mydistributorwebsite.com, Cask Brewing Systems www.cask.com, Eco-Cycle www.ecocycle.org, Go West www.justgowest.com, Brewers Supply Group www.brewerssupplygroup.com, Eldorado Springs Water www.eldoradosprings.com, and the Love Hope Strength Foundation www.lovehopestrength.org.

Cheers!

USABT

I saw lots of folks writing about what events they were putting on for or events they were going to for ACBW. There were special tastings, parties, pub crawls and lot s of general good will beer drinking going on – all to support our beloved American Craft Brewers!  Hooray. I can dig it!

So, since USABeerTrends is mostly about the things revolving around the craft beer scene, I decided I needed to get out and show some love. What follows is brief chronicle of my journey of Craft Beer appreciation.

Monday, May 17. Stop #1 in the burp parade: Mangia Pizza in Austin.

Those of you who know about Mangia know that they make awesome deep dish, stuffed “Chicago style” pizza. Jeff Sayers, the founder, and his crew have been cranking ‘em out since the 80s. They’re in the neighborhood, so it makes things easy for me. In addition to the pies, they have a full menu including burgers, salads, catfish, lasagna, sandwiches and more. My neighborhood store sports five or six taps, too. This night I found Saison and Stash IPA from Independence, Firemans #4 from Real Ale, Big Bark from Live Oak to be the Texas brews on tap. I started with a nod to Chip at Live Oak and had a Big Bark Amber Lager while waiting on the food. Next was the Saison from Independence – light and wheaty tasting. Finished off with Indy’s Stash IPA – hoppy and sassy. All excellent choices for a warm Texas evening. Talking with Jeff after dinner, he said he always tries to have a good selection of local brews available. Said that recently, the local crafts have proven more popular than the macros – so that’s why he gives them more handles.

Thanks, Jeff!

Tuesday, May 18. Stop #2 on my intrepid trek: Draught House with Twitter beerers, @BeerTownAustin, @joshsprad and @sidora.

Thursday evening found the USABeerTrends crew meeting up with some fellow beer freaks at the Draught House in Austin.  If it has to do with beer in Central Texas, @BeerTownAustin and @joshsprad (their Twitter handles) know the details.  We chose one of the outside picnic tables this night.  So, we’ve pretty much had our two weeks of spring here in Texas. Summer is here full on. Thursday night was a warm one. Lucky for us, Tom Allen from North Coast was in the house with some of his Scrimshaw Pilsner. Just the glass of suds to cool off with and get the evening rolling.  Moving around some, I next landed on the Widmer Black IPA. As Troutman would say, “Tasty”. Finished the evening’s beering with a Draught House house brew, Amber Waves. One of my faves.

Lots of beer talk with this bunch. It’s always good to see these guys because they are really up on what’s brewing (sorry) in the Central Texas market. We talked about Hops & Grain, and Jester King and Thirsty Planet - all new breweries at various stages of completion – from raising cash, to laying foundations, to beers in the tanks. And we also talked some about the Great Austin Beer Festival taking place later this month in the Austin Music Hall. We are all very hopeful for its success. Austin needs a big-time beer festival and this may be the beginnings.

Saturday, May 22. Stop #3 in the wayward wanderings for all things beer. Real Ale Ride with the Beef & Pie Cruiser Team in Blanco, Texas.

Mmmm, Lycra, bikes & beers. Photo: McIntosh

A few weeks ago I was invited to join the Beef & Pie Productions Cruiser Team for the 2010 Real Ale Ride held in and around Blanco, Texas – the home of Real Ale Brewing. Quite an honor, as all members of the team had the same goal in mind: Finish the ride as quickly as possible so we can get to the beer drinkin’.

Problem. Of the bikes I do own, the only cruiser is a relic from large item trash pick-up day. I found it in a pile of car tires and oven doors and three-legged chairs by the curb in my neighborhood. The previous owner seemed a little confused on the issue of bike maintenance as this bike had been “maintained” by spray paint. The rims, spokes, seat springs, handlebars – basically anything that had been plain metal or chrome – had been spray painted silver. The tires and seat were spray painted black, and the frame looks like it was painted with a brush. Needless to say, I adopted the hulk hoping to make a project out of it. It has sat in my storage shed ever since. So, with a couple of weeks to remodel the cruiser, I figured, no cruiser. However,  my mountain bike would be close enough for this crew. Fat , knobby tires and all. The idea, after all, was to finish quickly and get on with the beer.

So, we did the shortest route, a 15 miler that rolled out from Yett Memorial Park in Blanco, through the south end of town and out to some mild rolling hills and along the banks of the Blanco River. The few hills there were did a decent job of splitting up our bunch. Our Cruiser team were riding everything from a single speed pulling a kid in a trailer, to new, multi-gear city cruisers with smooth shifting internal hubs, to balloon tire beach bikes. While some folks hardly broke a sweat, others were beyond VO2 max. Thank goodness for the post-ride refreshments!

Beef & Pie Cruiser Team hang out at the Burro

Oh well, I was committed to seeing the goal through. So I hauled ass. To get to the beer.  Fun times. The rest of the crew came in sporadically, some in better shape than others. All, ready for the Real Ale.

Post-ride refreshments provided by the fine folks at Real Ale Brewing included Firemans #4 Blonde Ale, Full Moon Rye Pale Ale, Brewhouse Brown Ale and their ESB. Sadly, I didn’t see any Devil’s Backbone Trippel. There was a shuttle taking interested folks over to the brewery for a tour. I did not partake, this time.

MADHouseLarry, Capt. Beefheart with Pieman Yates lurking behind.

The Real Ale Ride benefited Ronald MacDonald House. Not sure how many riders there were, but there were plenty.

Beef & Pie is an Austin-based film and video production company. They work on everything from the U.S. Air Force to local commercials. Great, fun folks.  There is a B&P racing team of serious cyclists, and then there is the Cruiser team – motto being Cruise. Brews. Snooze.

Saturday, May 22. Stop# 4:  Brewing with Brian Smittle of Thristy Planet Brewing, Oak Hill, TX

On the way back home from Blanco, I stopped in to check the progress of the new Thirsty Planet  Brewing construction. Did an interview with Brian a few weeks ago and wanted to see how close he is to getting things going. When I opened the door to the car, I detected the unmistakable aroma of wort on the boil. Turns out, Brian’s been a busy bee. He has a wheat and an amber in the tanks already. I got there just as he was getting ready to add hops to an IPA experiment. A 10 barrel batch loaded up with a number of different kinds of hops in pellet form and then circulated through a full leaf Columbus and Amarillo hop bath (as opposed to a hop back) on it’s way to the fermenter. The brew clock was ticking and he needed some help getting the full leaf hops into the hop bath. Different from an air tight hop back, this is a cool stainless steel tub he had built with a screen and drain outlet in the bottom and an inlet over the top for the hot wort. It is still a design prototype that needs a little work, but we went for it anyway. First issue was making sure he had enough hose to get from the hop bath to the fermenter. Second issue was to figure out how to keep the hops down in the wort as it circulated through the tub. Those issues aside, everything went pretty smoothly. The aromatics were tremendous! Can’t wait to taste it.
He figures he’s still 3 weeks or so from getting beer into the market, starting with draft accounts in the Austin area. According to his newsletter, bottling will follow once he get past piece five of the 1,000 piece puzzle that is his bottling line. For now, he’s glad to be brewing a little to break up the finish out of the brewery. He’s hoping to start tours on Saturdays towards the beginning of July.
Again with the keeping it local and supporting the small American Craft brewer.

I know there are probably many more wonderful and exciting stories out there and I invite you to share them with the USABeerTrends reader. Just comment, below.

Now, raise your glass (or bottle, or can). Here’s to the American Craft Brewer. Pioneers producing truly American dreams.

Cheers!

Your hoppy USABeerTrends Beer Lovin’ Fools

http://www.americancraftbeerweek.org/

Cheers!!