A New Hope (or “The streets will run red with the juice of our grapes”)
They say it takes a lot of good beer to make great wine. After two years of research and development, I can honestly say that the opposite holds just as true. Right in the middle of the two is a beautiful Venn diagram of deliciousness. Odell Brewing Company is very fortunate to have been founded in a progressive agricultural haven. We have access to a wide array of farm and ranch products within the state itself. Below is the movement of some very special Colorado grown free run grape juice into a wine press, and the subsequent pressing of said juice. Expect more updates as things progress into the realm of amazingness.
– A Quality Guy
Kansas, Kickball, and Odell Brewing
One night, over beers with our distributor (O’Malley Beverage) in Lawrence KS, we started talking UnBottled fun…specifically kickball. O’Malley’s craft brand manager, Matt Shaddid, mentioned that he was in a kickball league in town. He also mentioned what a great following the league had. For years, Lawrence has been one of our best markets in the state of Kansas, and the first city in Kansas where we saw Odell IPA really take off at bars like Dempsey’s, Quinton’s, The Burger Stand and Harbour Lights.
We think that’s because we have some kindred spirits in Lawrence, a city that is very similar to our hometown Fort Collins with very similar people drinking great beer! We thought we should get the Wildman Attack Force (Kaw Valley 2012 Kickball Champs) to Fort Collins for a game and an opportunity to raise some money for their favorite local charity…if they won.
So, Team Wildman made the trek to Fort Collins last week where we met up for beers and introductions at a local Fort Collins craft beer bar, Tap and Handle. We did our best to keep Team Wildman out past their bedtimes in the hopes of gaining some type of advantage. The next morning we met up and quickly found out why Team Wildman was Kaw Valley Champs. We were defeated by a score of 22-4. A good time was had by all, and Team Wildman returned home to Lawrence with their winnings for the Lymphoma Foundation.
Cheers,
– JRC
John Campbell is the Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri Sales Rep for Odell Brewing
Woodcut No. 6 has the hops!
This week we will release our sixth Woodcut brew, an oak-aged American ale featuring Mosaic hops. It’s the first dry hopped offering we’ve ever done in the series, and is the result of over a year of collaboration between the Mosaic hop farmers and our team.
It all started back in 2010. We shared some Woodcut 4 with Jason Perrault (a 4th generation Yakima Valley hop farmer), and he loved it. He and Brad Carpenter (his family began growing hops in the valley in 1868) then shared some experimental hops with us, and we loved them!
We began experimenting with the hops, known only as “HBC 369” at the time. They offered a very unique flavor and aroma…much more fruity, sweet, and tropical as compared to the traditional piney, spicy, earthy aromatic hops used in most IPA’s. We decided to invite Jason and Brad out to the brewery to brew Woodcut No. 6 with us. At that point, they had decided on “Mosaic” as the name of this remarkable new hop.
Our brewers included both Mosaic and another yet-to-be-named experimental variety in the kettle and Hopback, but the beer was dry hopped with 100% Mosaic hops. As with all of our Woodcut offerings, we aged the beer in virgin American oak barrels for several months.
The final blend combines the intricate and delicate tropical fruit sweetness of the Mosaic hop with the traditional vanilla and toasted oak flavors from the barrels.
We’ll celebrate the release of Woodcut No. 6 this Saturday in the Tap Room and will be pouring it at The Great American Beer Festival, October 11th – 13th.
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Cordle is the Barrel Aging/Pilot System Manager for Odell Brewing
