Did you know we cranked out over 75 different brews on our five barrel Pilot Brewing System this year? To honor our hard-working steed, an Ode to our Pilot Brew System (and check out the cool word cloud featuring some of these brews)…
An Ode to our Pilot Brew System
Part kitchen, part lab, part playground it’s true
Our Pilot Brew System is where all can come brew
We use it to craft our new recipe creations
We use it to brew experimental libations
We use it for teaching and tour narrations
We use it quite often for collaborations
Yes our Pilot Brew System is our heart and our soul
Crafting Five Barrel Batches of love is the goal
So won’t you please join us for a pint glass or two
Of a deliciously hand crafted unique Pilot Brew
On October 29th, the Colorado State University Brewing Science and Technology class along with Professor Jack Avens joined Doug Odell in brewing this semester’s class beer. The class, part of the university’s department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, is now in its seventh year. This is the fifth year the students (all over 21) have brewed with Odell Brewing. “Three Sheets,” a Belgian Tripel, will be tapped on Thursday, November 17th. The brewery will host a celebration for the class on November 17th from 4-6pm. Guests can try the class brew and enjoy live acoustic funk music by Futaba.
The Small Batch Revival is nearly upon us, so we’ve put together some helpful info regarding the event.
When: Saturday, May 28th from 3-7pm
Where: Odell Brewing Company
800 E. Lincoln Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Directions and Parking: Please ride your BIKE. We will have ample BIKE parking.
There will be limited vehicle parking in the lot north of the brewery. Enter off Lincoln or Buckingham. NO TRAFFIC on 1st-3rd Streets, and NO PARKING along Lincoln Ave (you will be towed).
This past weekend, in preparation for our upcoming release of Mountain Standard Reserve ’10, A Double Black IPA, we filled a couple Subarus with brewers, beer and camping gear, and set off on a little trip through the hop growing regions of Palisade, Montrose, and Paonia Colorado. With these small artisan farmers growing high quality Organic Hops right here in Colorado, we could not pass up the opportunity to meet the growers, visit their fields, and enjoy some beers with the fine folks who work to produce the ingredients we use to craft our beer. We stopped by a farm we have selected hops from before; Glenn Fuller’s Rising Sun Organic Farms, www.coloradoorganichops.com to see his mature Cascades. We made our way to Montrose to meet with Randy at San Juan Hop Farms, www.sanjuanhopfarms.com, and were very impressed by his beautiful Chinooks. Lastly, we visited the new kid on the block… or rather a new school teacher on the block… Hippie Chicks Organic Hop Farm in Palisade. Julie, with the help of her volunteer Hippie Chicks, is in her first year and is already off to a beautiful start. We were so impressed with her operation that we decided to set up our sleeping bags right in her field and wake up amidst the hops to Palisade’s “Million Dollar Breeze.” We are really looking forward to working with Julie and the Hippie Chicks’ hops in our beers. Check out their story and photos of their “girls” (read: hops) at:
http://hippiechicksorganichops.tumblr.com
And… If you ever find yourself in Palisade, make sure to check out the delicious offerings at Palisade Brewing Co. and Peach Street Distillers… Those Palisade Peaches aren’t bad either. So, after spending the weekend walking through Glenn, Randy, and Julie’s fields of high quality, mature hops we selected beautiful Chinook and Cascade varieties that we contracted from each grower for this and next year. We will be using these hops in our upcoming Mountain Standard Reserve ’10, Double Black IPA. Our motivation with our Mountain Standard Reserve offering is to brew an inspiring beer that uses ingredients from Colorado craft farmers, whenever supplies and quality permit, as well as to support these local craft farmers and ensure the sustainability of hop farms throughout Colorado’s western slope. We had a lot of fun picking these hops and having a beer with these growers, we hop(e) you enjoy our upcoming Double Black IPA which will use these special hops!
We love hops here at Odell Brewing Co. We also love experimenting with how we can add these beautiful little green flowers to our beers to achieve new and previously unobtainable hop flavors and aromas. We have been using whole leaf hops in our hop-back for years. As most people know the hop-back is a traditional English brewing vessel originally used to aid in the clarification of wort by running the post-boil hot wort through a bed of hops on the way to the heat exchange. We re-appropriated the traditional hop-back to serve as a means for adding more finishing hops for our IPA, 5 Barrel Pale Ale, St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale and other special hop-forward releases. So, what are we experimenting with now on our pilot system? How can we fit more hops into our beers through new and unique additions? How about whole flower hops in the mash tun! Our most recent pilot brew, a Double IPA, provides a totally new hop schedule possibility for us, not only with the hop additions in our mash tun, but also with each addition thereafter. If you want to experience a progression in hop flavor and aroma, be sure to stop in the tap room when this beer is tapped. We will announce the tapping of this beer to our fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter, so hop on!