Pumpkin Ale

August 24, 2010

Having neglected this blog for over a month now (honestly-due to the busy summer months), I thought it ripe time to give everyone a status report. Everything is great! See you all soon. no really, IRA has been flying off the shelves (so fast indeed, we ran out a few weeks back - good news for consumers because that means everything is ultra fresh). We are taking a break from the red for a couple weeks to brew our Stingy Jack Pumpkin Ale, which the first batch is completely pre-sold out. We're wrangling with the Fed's to approve our bad ass labels. Apparently pumpkin and spices are unusual ingredients which require mounds and mounds of paperwork. Third submission is the charm. We harvested almost 20 # of fresh hops from my Dad's hop plantation of Sunday (not bad for a first year crop. These will be used to hop the batches of Stingy Jack. We've also partnered with port Farm's to again use their local pumpkins in our beer. Kelly told me due the weather, the pumpkins will be ready laste August. plan is to brew this Sunday and release this stellar beer on Sept 18, halfway to St. Paddy's Day. I don't know where you all will be, but we'll beat the Brewerie celebrating. The hunt continues for money. I thinking pushing back our planned opening from Fall 2010 to Spring 2011 is a wise quesstimate. Until then, feel free to hit us up on facebook, or email me with any questions or concerns. PS, I do apologize for the really carbonated bottles. We are fixing that :) Patience is a virtue my friends
Jason Lavery
jason@laverybrewing.com
www.laverybrewing.com

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Artisan Beer

July 20, 2010

I think an uphill battle a lot of us small-scale craft breweries have had to face is getting the idea that brewing is a mix of art and science. I’ve actually had people ask me “what kind of machine turns water into beer?”. No beer machines..yet. A lot of breweries focus on either one aspect or the other; science or art. I tend to view myself as an artist with a good grasp of the science. For me, brewing isn’t about making the exact same beer over and over again, it’s about letting my mood, the ingredients I could get that month and/or even the time of year affect how I brew. For instance, I decided to add Centennial hops to the latest batch of IRA…why, because I like them and I think you will to. Maybe if I like them a lot, I will keep adding them, maybe not. The beer stays the same, so you know that when you buy a bottle or a pint, the quality will be excellent and the flavor will be 95% the same but there also may be a little surprise in that glass for you as well. This goes against everything the the macro-breweries have shoved down consumers throats…beer should be bland, watery and consistent. Beer is a similar food product as bread. Both products are affected by things like yeast, grains, water, herbs and the brewers/bakers finesse in putting them all together. I buy the best ingredients I can afford, and use them regardless of expense (for instance..how many hops I dry hop the IRA with). Cost is more of a side thought but quality and creativity are always on the forefront. So, if you buy a bottle or pint of IRA and find it not exactly to your liking, send me an email and tell me why you did or did not absolutely love my beer. Also, please be adventurous and buy a bottle from time to time, I’ll try to keep you on your toes. Slainte
Jason Lavery
jason@laverybrewing.com
www.laverybrewing.com

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Bottles

June 25, 2010

Bottles are finally available. After dealing with the Fed's, they are finally happy with our labels. So are we. The images are very eye catching and there is lots of good info, including the story behind the Red Hand. Also, by the way, we hand bottle, hand cap, hand label and hand pack these bottles. Rest assured I touched each and every single bottle that we sell. Don't know if that's much incentive to purchase a Lavery bomber, but I hope it is. Another batch of IRA is conditioning after being dry hopped on Wednesday. Planning to bottle and keg this batch next week sometime. Helpers are always appreciated. Slainte

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A Perfect brew Day

May 17, 2010

Well after last weeks disaster, I had a great day yesterday. I was never able to cask condition the last batch of kegs but am confident the next batch will be. Yesterday, I had a few helpers with me at the brewery. Chapin, Mike, Christie and Steve all volunteered to help mash, clean and stir with me at the brewery. We brewed IRA #6 and the day went perfect; no missed mash temps, no clogged pumps, no boil overs, etc. I'm going to the brewery tonight to check on the fermentation progress. Thanks guys, again, for all your help. Slainte

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My mother told me there'd be days like this

May 10, 2010

Friday was one of those days where you curse everyone out cause nothing went right. Maybe you kick the dog for good measure as well. Everyone knows I'm learning my way in this big craft brewing world. No professional experiecne..just passion. A lot of techniques must be reinvented when I want to apply them. Stuff other brewers probably learn about in classes like "Carbonating 101'. Up til now, we've pumped our fermented beer over to the 'brite tank' and injected co2 into the side and thats how our beer was carbonated. We decided to switch to a traditional form of carbonating used by the British called 'priming'. Basically the same thing as a bottle conditioned beer - you add priming sugar into the flat beer, seal up the keg or bottle, the yeast eat the sugar you introduced and produce co2 into the sealed vessel. Well on Friday at around 9pm, I decided to give this method a try. I had already bought a special tap that could allow sugar, water, gas, etc to enter the keg via the gas in port. I found a small funnel that fit into the gas in port. I meticulously measured out my sugar, vented the co2 out of the empty keg and poured my sugar into the funnel. Well apparently I didn't vent all the gas cause the keg 'burped' throwing sugar all over my face and eyes. Ok, lesson learned. Once the keg was completely vented, I found the dry sugar was not going down the funnel smoothly. I had to mix the sugar with water. Problem was, I didn't have sanitary water to mix my sugar with. So, I grab my 1000 mL flask and headed to the Brewerie's kitchen. Boiled up 1000 mL's of water and waited for it to cool. Measured the sugar...again. When I went to add the cooled boiled water to the sugar, I find the vessel I measured the sugar in wasn't big enough to hold the sugar and the water and clearly 1000 mL was not going to be enough to mix enough sugar for 6 bbls of beer. So I promptly said "f%^k It' and called it a day. I canceled the brew day that was supposed to happen in about 8 hours and left the brewery defeated. Over the course of 2 sleepless nights, I figured it out (Seriously, I dream about this shit every night). At first I was going to give up and transfer the beer to the brite tank and let carbon dioxide win this fight but then i said to myself 'Jason, are you a brewer or are you a man?'. I didn't know how to answer that question but figured it out anyway. I would pre-boil enough water to mix all the sugar for the entire batch and re-package the water into sanitized water jugs. I pre-measured all the sugar into sanitary ziplock bags. I figured out a way to insert sugar and also let the keg burp as needed without spewing. We'll see on tuesday evening if my plan works. If not, I'm transferring to the brite tank. I guess the question is why go through this trouble? Any time you transfer, you pick up oxygen, which is really bad for finished beer. You also run the risk of contaminating the finished product. Also, it's just super cool. This is pseudo cask conditioned ale, which in my opinion tastes better and has finer bubbles of co2. I like the idea of using as little technologyu as possible to make beer. humans have been doing this for 9,000 years without co2 tanks. Why can't I? Also, it's better for the earth; no metal o2 canister to transport. You guys be the judge. Batch #5 IRA should hopefully hit the bars next weekend (May 21) if all goes well :) Slainte

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HAZARD Homebrewing

May 6, 2010

Last Saturday was the first meeting of the newly formed Erie based homebrew club, HAZARD Homebrewing. HAZARD stands for 'homebrewers and zymurgists alcohol research division', a name I came up a year ago when trying to get a group started. This group finally came to be thanks to Don Maier and Facebook! We have around 27 members so far and are planning monthly meetings. Our first meeting was at my house and it was great. IO enjoyed myself a little too much to actually count the numbers of attendees but I think it approached 15 or 20. Not a bad beer in the bunch. Seriously, these beers (and ciders) were amazing.I look forward to attending every meeting and finally having some other people to geek out on beer with. Slainte

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Erie MicroBrew Fest

April 26, 2010

We had a great time pouring beer and talking to all the beer lovers at this years microbrew fest. We even had a small chance to sample some other brews (good job Voodoo on that amazing 'Cowbell' stout). Lavery Brewing Co. placed 2nd as peoples choice for favorite brewery and our IRA placed 2nd as well for favorite beer. Thanks all for the kind words and the votes! Slainte

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The Brewing Network

April 12, 2010

Last night, Nikki and I appeared on The Brewing Network's 'Sunday Session'. The BN is the only live beer radio show in the world and does an incredible job of putting out excellent entertainment and information for the brewing world. A lot of what i know about yeast biology, processes and ingredients come the BN. I am a Corporal in the BN Army as well. You can download free podcasts of the shows on iTunes Music store. Also check out www.thebrewingnetwork.com. Slainte

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St. Sidonius Saison

April 7, 2010

The St. Sidonius Saison is beginning to hit the streets of Erie. So far, it's on tap at Jack's Place in North East and the Brewerie at Union Station. This is our spring seasonal, brewed on the first day of spring. We are probably only going to do one batch of this beer this year so get it while you can. What to expect; a pale, yellow ale fermented with White Labs '568 Belgian Saison Blend' yeast strain, hopped to 38 IBU's with East Kent Goldings. Grain bill is simple; 220 # 2 Row, 110 # malted wheat and 50# simple sugar to dry it out. It's clocking in at 7.2% ABV and finishes brutally dry (1.007). Let me know what you think. Slainte

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Kegging

March 24, 2010

Kegged the second batch of IRA last night. Some slight changes; I combined the 15 minute and 10 minute hop additions (I don't think I was getting much more flavor by splitting them up) and I added another pound of roasted barley to get a nice red color. Let me know what you think of IRA #2. I brewed our "St. Sidonius Saison" on Saturday (incidently-the first day of Spring). This beer is fermenting away and will be released April 17-at the Micro Brew Fest. Next Brewday is tentatively April 2, another batch of IRA. Until then, Slainte.

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Saturday night was Alright

March 16, 2010

Well if beer consumption is any indication (which it is) we did alright at our launch party last Saturday. We kicked 4 kegs and made some progress on 2 more. A moment of panic arose at 9:30 when we released after 2.5 hours of partying, that our beers were gone. Penn Beer rose to the challenge and performed an industrial sized beer run. The festivities continued. We met so many awesome people who seem,ed to appreciate the labor of love that our brewery is. Many old friends came out as well to show us some support. New Irish band Paddy Whacked rocked the nearly overflow crowd for almost 3 hours.To sum it up, a perfect way to begin the long journey of business ownership. Thank you and slainte to all!

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St. Patrick's Day Parade

March 5, 2010

I'm more giddy than a school girl with a new Bratz doll. A Lavery family tradition has been to watch the St. Paddy's Day parade every year and wave our big Irish flag. They say everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's day but to actually be Irish-American is a truly amazing thing. Well this year, we're going to be IN the parade. That's right, we'll be marching in the parade, throwing candy out the window, waving our logo flag and the Irish flag and blasting the Pogues 'Rum Sodomy and the Lash'. My kids are so ecstatic. We're in the third division and we hope to see you all there.

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Brewer's Cup 2010

February 28, 2010

I had a great time yesterday afternoon judging the 26 brews at Brewerie's 3rd Annual Brewer's Cup. The quality of the beers continue to amaze me as well as the creativity. Here are some of the most memorable beers I judged; Greg Wigam's American Stout, Jake V's ESB & Dave M's Ordiary Bitter. Dave won Judges Choice Award for his Brown Porter and the People Choice Winner was a Belgian Golden Ale. There was also a Pale Ale brewed with concord grapes that reminded me of champagne. Good stuff all around. Ton's of fun to get together and geek out on beer.

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Tasting at U-Pick Six

February 20, 2010

Our first Lavery tasting will be at U-Pick Six on March 3 (Wednesday) from 7-9pm. We'll be tasting both our Belfast Black and our imperial Red Ale. A third special beer will also be available. Stay tuned to Facebook for more frequent updates. We truly hope to see you all there.

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First Day of Sales

February 18, 2010

Jason went out with Scott Saber from Penn Beer today to begin pounding the payment and selling some beer. We sold 6 accounts, which was the goal going in. Great news, indeed! A couple unexpected accounts bought some beer (Alto Cucina and Calmari's)and we also got the taps we wanted (and needed)- Oscar's, U _Pick Six, 6 Pack Shop and Brewerie. We're going to hit up Fox n Hound, Molly Brannigans, Nelsons, Plymouth, Joe Roots and a few others asap. First Lavery delivery will be this weekend or early next week!

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A New Brewery

February 13, 2010

A new Brewery has just descended the birth canal!I see the crown….oh my..it’s a handsome son of a gun, isn’t it?! My beautiful baby has finally been delivered. I got word from the Fed’s at 12:28pm on February 5 that we are in business. The PLCB called me at 10:25am on February 11 to let me know the license is in the mail. We wasted no time making arrangements with Scott (Penn Beer-our wholesaler) to start selling next Thursday. Fortuitously, we have 2 beers to offer right now..our Belfast Black smoked porter and our Imperial Red Ale (IRA). I’m transferring the IRA to carbonate today and the wife and I are kegging it this Sunday. The Belfast black is rich, medium bodied and moderately hoped with East Kent Goldings. It has a faint smokiness (which has-sadly- faded since it’s been in the keg 2 months) reminiscent of bacon. The IRA is aggressively hopped with Amarillo and Cascade. It starts life @1.075 and finished dry (thanks to good old cane sugar). It has burnt orange reddish color that is absolutely stunning. I spoke with amazing homebrewer Kevin Harbusky on Thursday about a collaboration brew. Plans are in the works for Kevin to help us with our Spring Seasonal- Saison de Jason-( i really hope i come up with a better name by the time this beer drops :) . The next step is getting our labels approved..another Federal process. until then, we are draft only. look out for our awesome handmade tap handles custom made by Erie legend Bob Jensen. Some ideas we’re planning.. a chocolate and beer festival for this Fall. A community brew day..come down and clean up after me…I mean help me brew. A collaboration brew with a celebrity..guess which one? Until we see you again…
slainte
Jason

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Fully Licensed!

February 11, 2010

Lavery Brewing Company is fully licensed and will begin selling beer next thursday! Get ready Erie!

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New Website Launched!

January 6, 2010

Our site is ...... alive !!! Check it out www.laverybrewing.com. More pictures/videos and better words to come :)

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