The Great American Beer Festival 2009

The Great American Beer Festival is held every year in Colorado. It is what some would consider the Olympics or the Oscars of the beer industry.

This year there were 495 breweries entered into the competition, with a total of 3,308 entries. 49,000 people attended the festival and perused the 2,100 different beers available in the festival hall.
Silver City Brewery entered 10 beers this year for judging. We came away with two Gold medals; one for Ridgetop Red in the Irish Red Ale category, and one for Old Scrooge '98 for the Old Ale or Strong Ale category. We also came away with a Bronze medal for our Gold Mt. Pilsner in the International Pilsener category.

Three medals for ten entries is incredible. Once again I am proud to be a part of this team.Cheers,
Greg


**What I did today at the brewery:
Brewed Imperial Stout

Makin' That Paper

When I decided to become a brewer and pursue a career that would fill my soul rather than drain it, I understood that I might take a serious pay-cut.

Given that I had been laid off and we reduced our monthly expenses considerably by moving in with my wife's parents, it was the perfect time to start a career from the bottom up.

Even though I took a near 50% reduction in pay compared to my marketing career, my first paycheck from Silver City was worth a lot more than the amount printed on the paper.

I think you can see it in my face.



Cheers,
Greg

Bumps and Bruises

This job is physical.
A full keg weighs about 170 pounds. A bag of malt weighs 50-55 pounds. The combination of heavy objects that need moving, a growing brewery with no space to spare, and a brand new brewer who is often not awake at 6:40 a.m., bumps and bruises will happen.
On my right hand, I have had 5 cuts. On my left hand, I have had a crushed ring finger that is still bruised after a couple weeks.
I stood up into a metal box on the wall in the cellar that made my head bleed.
A stainless mash paddle fell towards me as I was gazing into the mash tun. It struck me just behind the left ear and cut and bruised the area. That one hurt.
I have rammed my knee into the sharp pieces of a serving tank, ran into a gas-in nipple on a uni-tank, and nearly slipped off the brew deck.
Even with the pain, blood, and immediate cursing, this job is really growing on me. I've having fun and am proud to be a part of the Silver City team!

Cheers!
Greg

Going full-time

I heard the news Friday that I will be going full time starting on Wednesday, July 1st. The other good news is that it will be Monday through Friday, no weekends! The head brewer pushed hard for me to go full-time because he wanted me to be his cellarman; racking, cleaning, prepping, and transferring beer so that he can focus on brewing.

Looking back on the only 10 or so days I have been working there, it's incredible how many tasks I can perform on my own. I still don't feel as confident as I'd like with everything, but I have to remember that I've only been working part time for one month. Then I think, "I guess I'm doing pretty well!"

As my schedule heats up, Sara and I are very confident that we will be moving over to the Kitsap peninsula sometime soon so that I don't have to commute on the ferry every day for 1.5 hours. It may be tough to leave the cool scene that is the Seattle area, but it may be nice to have a bit of a new beginning, post grad-school and post crappy marketing job. After all, it would only be a ferry ride away to go downtown or to a quirky pub in Fremont.

Now is a huge transition period for us, but good things are happening and the future is bright.

Brighter than the Belgian Golden Strong that I am currently sipping.

Cheers everyone, and thanks for the support. More to come on this journey!

Greg

Starting to get it....

I've learned so many processes since I've started. Today I racked out a serving tank to kegs, cleaned out the pub lines (not an easy process), milled grain for the IPA, and filled a couple more kegs. I learned how to clean a serving tank and how to harvest yeast from a fermenter.
Pretty cool stuff. Plus I am getting free lunch every day!
Some advice to those who want to go pro:
Learn as much about tri-clover fittings, cleaning and sanitation, draft systems, and Sanke kegs. Those things are the primary skills I am using right now, supporting the brewery and pub.
Of course, as much information and education about all aspects of brewing and serving would be beneficial.

I hope that you have an opportunity to try some of Silver City's beers in the near future. They are really fantastic.

We just found out today that we won four awards at the North American Beer Awards. A Gold, two Silvers, and a Bronze.

Looks like I got in at the right time at the right place. ;)

First Day

I arrived at the brewery at 6:40am yesterday and met up with head brewer Gary. We went through the opening rounds, checking the cellar to make sure there was enough beer to serve for the day.

Gary and I then man-handled a pallet of 50 lb grain sacks up a ladder to the milling room above the brewery. The mill room was a good 90°+ and I sweated like a pig.

Next, I learned to fill up a keg the right way and then we prepped for bottling day.

The portable bottling machine arrived at 9 am and once it was set up, all hell broke loose (in a fast-paced, productive kind of way). Until 3pm, there we 3-6 people on the bottling line pushing cases and cases of bottles into the truck. We labeled, bottled, packaged and stamped for hours.

It was the inaugural bottling of Silver City's Deluxe Malt Liquor. Sooo tasty and smooth. At a moderate 6.2% alcohol, it's a nice balance of session and sip, and extremely refreshing.

We then bottled Whoop Pass Double IPA (epically hoppy and incredibly delicious; one of the best double IPA’s available) and Indianola Pale Ale. Overall we bottled a few hundred cases. It was pretty epic to see how many cases we actually put together and to know that those will sell.

At the end of the day after cleaning up, my old Timberland leather shoes were completely soaked and so were my feet. My shoes and socks were saturated with beer and with water.

I was sore as I drove home from my thighs to my toes. My shoes were incredibly inadequate for standing and hauling all day and even a day later my feet are hurting.

Even with all the hard work and the pain, it's still great to be part of a team that wants to help me learn and develop. I'm confident that I'll catch on pretty quickly and feel a bit more autonomous in my position.

Today, Sara and I went looking for work boots. I finally got a pair that’ll keep my feet dry and comfortable. Now I feel even a little more like a real brewer!

I think I’m still in shock. I’m actually living my dream!

Cheers!

Greg

SUCCESS!

Today around 12 noon, I accepted an offer from Brewmaster Don Spencer at Silver City Brewery and Restaurant in Silverdale for a part-time position in the brewery! After I got off the phone, I was in a state of shock. Sara, my wife, said, "you did it! You're a brewer!" That's when I lost it.

The plan is to get me trained in 30 days or less then move me to full time. I am confident that it will be fewer than 30 days before I am a full-time employee. I seem to absorb information like a sponge when I am loving what I am doing. And honestly, I can't think of something that I would rather be doing to earn my living.

I start June 1st at (gasp!) 6am. I will be cleaning the serving lines in the restaurant first, then learning the bottling line for the rest of the day. Two very valuable skills to have in a brewery and pub! I'll be there Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Once I move to full-time, I'll be working through the weekend. In a few months, whenever you see a Silver City beer in a bottle, you'll know it was me who put it there.

This is such a relief and honestly a lot faster than I had expected things to move. This is just the beginning of my career, but a great step in the direction I wanted to go. I will be doing what I am passionate about for a living. That is what I have always wanted.

Now I have to find comfortable galoshes....

Cheers!
Greg

The Beginning of the Journey

Things are moving in my attempt to become a professional brewer. It is soon going to be a reality and I am going to share my journey and experiences here.

I started as a beer lover. The process of brewing beer has fascinated me since the time that I could first comprehend what beer was. My first real taste of beer was from my Dad. It was an Apricot Hefeweizen by Pyramid Brewing. I still remember thinking, "I had no idea that beer could taste good!"

The first brewing experience I had was at Gallagher's Where You Brew in Edmonds, WA. I remember thinking during the 60 minute hop addition, "This is what I want to do for a living."
I started homebrewing soon after that with a Mr.Beer kit from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

The kit made less than stellar beer. But it was a good introduction to the process. Only a few batches in the Mr. Beer later (and only one that was mildly drinkable), I went all the way and got a fermenter and the equipment necessary for 5 gallon batches from Bob's Homebrew Supply. (206 527-9283) After a few extract batches, I made my own mash/lauter tun (shown below) and went all-grain.


The first beer was of my own creation. A pale ale called Taboo Dew shown in the picture below. It turned out quite good. I learned the process through the book, "How To Brew" by John Palmer. That was in May of 2008. Since then I have brewed over 25 different ale and lager styles, won a handful of awards, gained a lot of brewing knowledge, and cultivated my passion for brewing.

I joined the North Seattle Homebrew club where I met tons of great brewers, and local brewery owner and brew master Seth Gilligan. He started Gilligan's Brewing Company in Fremont, WA about two years ago; a nano-brewery at 2 bbls (4 standard kegs) per batch. I decided to take a risk and donate my time and knowledge to the brewery that had a cult-like following from bikers and runners that passed by on the Burke-Gilman trail. Seth was kind enough to let me lend a hand and even formulate some recipes. The first time I helped in the brewery, everything went wrong with the brew day. Stuck mash, overshot gravity, trouble with the pumps, then the port on the brew kettle got so hot that the wort inside burnt into a solid piece of charcoal. The beer was transferred over to the fermenter using 5 gallon buckets. It ended up infected.

Things went a little more smoothly for Gilligan's after that.

Then there came a blessing in disguise. A corporate-wide layoff from my employer. There I enjoyed a modest yet helpful salary to support myself and my wife who was in graduate school. She was working so hard with school and internship that there was no time for even part time work. Once we lost our only source of income, we decided that this was the perfect time for me to pursue my dream of becoming a brewer.

I started getting a hold of local breweries and seeing what connections I could make in the industry. By chance, I happened upon an ad on CraigsList of all places, for a position at a (somewhat) local restaurant and brewery. They had won numerous awards at the North American Beer Awards, the Great American Beer Festival, and the World Beer Cup. I jumped on the opportunity and called the company. Minutes later I got a call from the brew master himself and I set up a time to meet, brought my resume, and that is where I sit now.

Let's just say I have a really good idea that this will work out.....



Cheers,
Greg