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Brew Q & A: Piña Agria

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We caught up with Brewhouse manager, Bill Beymer, to discuss our latest Cellar Series release Piña Agria. Here’s what we learned:

Q: What was the inspiration behind Piña Agria?

A:  Our Resident Engineer, Matt Bailey, dreamed this one up more than two years ago.  He had a feeling the pineapple fruit would work well with the sour brewing process so he put together a recipe.  He first brewed this beer on his home brew system and he realized how well the flavors complement one another.  He then scaled the recipe up and brewed it on our 5 Barrel Pilot System and voila! A new Cellar Series beer was born.

Pina Agria 1

Q:  What are some key flavors you taste in this beer?

A: Pineapple is the first thing you smell when you bring it up to your nose and it mingles harmoniously with the sour lactobacillus and the earthy brettanomyces in the beer.  As your tongue first touches the beer you receive a pleasantly acidic shock to your tastebuds and immediately after you will begin to feel a warming sensation working its way through your entire body.  The pineapple and lactobacillus continue to dance pirouettes on your taste buds as you experience other tropical flavors like guava and passion fruit.  You may also taste the subtle sweet breadiness of the malt as it vies for your attention amidst the pineapple tartness.

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Q: How was the brewing process for this different from the typical brewing process?

A:  The sour brewing process is not always an easy one to execute, and it can take a long time.  There are always a lot of variables that can make it extremely difficult and it is critical that we keep the entire process isolated and controlled.  The base beer is brewed and initially fermented just like most of our other brews in our brew house.  Once primary fermentation is complete, we introduce a “cocktail” of lactobacillus and pineapple juice and the souring process begins.  This cocktail or sour stock is made up separately from the base beer and we make sure that the acidity and flavor of it is exactly the way we want it.  The sour stock will sometimes be a mix of samples from other barrels that we have aging in our Woodside facility.  In the case of the Pina Agria, it began with a small sample from just one barrel.  While tasting Friek barrels last year, Matt identified one barrel that would be perfect for his original pineapple sour so he collected a small portion of it to use with his homebrew.  Once you have developed your ideal blend, you can add unfermented wort to it and grow it to the volume necessary to sour the entire large batch.  All along the way, you have to maintain proper temperatures to enable the lactobacillus to stay healthy and you have to be vigilant with cleanliness in and around the vessel it is residing in.  Ultimately, the process can take many months and sometimes years to complete but sour beer fans will all agree, it is well worth the wait.

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Check our beer finder to find Piña Agria near you!

Bottle cap wreath ornament tutorial

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Step 4As one may guess, we have lots of extra bottle caps hanging around the brewery. We’re always looking for ways to upcycle our used materials so they don’t reach the landfill, so we decided to make wreath ornaments with some scraps and caps we found. Perhaps you have enough caps to make one too!

Materials:

  • 21 red and green bottle caps (you can get them from Isolation Ale, 5 Barrel, and Gramps)
  • 4×4-inch scrap of cardboard (we used the inside of a 4-pack)
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun
  • Ribbon
  • String or yarn (we used the handle of an old paper gift bag)

Supplies

Beer

 

Instructions:

  • Step 1: Cut a 4×4-inch piece of cardboard into a circle and cut a hole in the center to create your wreath base.

Step 1

  • Step 2: Using a hot glue gun, add two layers of bottle caps to the wreath (the red caps go on the bottom). Don’t worry about filling the whole cap with glue; a little on each side goes a long way. Add one final red cap to the bottom center. Pull off any excess glue once it cools.

Step 2

  • Step 3: Use ribbon to tie a bow and glue it to the top of your wreath.
  • Step 3Step 4: Cut a piece of yarn, string, or other material for a loop at the top of your wreath and glue it to the back.

Final Product

Guest Brewer: Gayle Goschie of Goschie Farms

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Our five-barrel pilot system has become more than a staple at Odell Brewing Company; it has become a way for us to extend a warm welcome to friends near and far. In turn, the brews they create are shared in our tap room and at other select events; sometimes, the brew becomes more popular than we could ever imagine (does 5 Barrel Pale Ale ring a bell?).

Earlier this summer, we welcomed Gayle Goschie of Goschie Farms and her nephew Dallas to brew an ale for their anniversary celebration in August. And after 110 years of growing hops in the Willamette Valley, they thought it only natural to brew with their own.

Aptly called 110% Goschie Farms Ale, the Goschie Cascade bitter additions and whole leaf Goschie Fuggle in the whirlpool and hopback will create an interesting and session-able brew for this special event.

Gayle and Dallas brewed with Odell Brewing’s Scott Dorsch, who helped them through each step of the process. “[They] had a wonderful experience brewing their Farms Ale with us on the pilot system,” he said. “They were also excited to find out that 100 percent of the whole leaf hops currently used in 5 Barrel originate from Goschie Farms!”

Goschie Farms grows more than 500 acres of organic hops (the majority of which are sold to Deschutes Brewery), as well as 600+ acres of other crops like wheat and wine grapes. The farm, which is located in Oregon, is a front-runner in the effort to “improve the health of Oregon hops and expand the amount of information available to other growers and beer producers,” according to its website.

110% Goschie Farms Ale will be available in the tap room this August and at the farm’s 110-year celebration Aug. 4.

Want to know more about our guest brewers? Send us an e-mail!

Independence Day Montage

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This year we’re celebrating our independence the best way we know how: sitting around a table with our closest friends, eating barbecue and drinking some of our favorite Odell brews. Yep, it’s time for our annual July 4th Beer Dinner.

In traditional fashion, we decided to create a menu with our Summer Montage Variety Pack – three courses prepared or paired with 90 Shilling, IPA, St. Lupulin and Perle White. We hope your taste buds thank you while you sit back and thank your country. Here’s to our independence!

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July 4th Summer Montage Beer Dinner

Serves 4

Appetizer: Spicy shrimp and St. Lupulin ceviche

This “delicate” beer (as described by tap room manager Kailey Schumacher) goes well with equally delicate seafood, spicy foods, and heartier grilled meats, making it the perfect pairing for our meal. Use a quarter of the beer in the ceviche and save the rest to pair with the main course!

Ceviche Recipe Card

Entree: IPA barbecue pork ribs

Pairing: The leftover St. Lupulin

These grilled barbecue ribs are bold and spicy – the perfect combination with an IPA. The sweetness of the sauce pairs well with the bitter hops, and adds a punch of flavor when the ribs are slow-cooked through the afternoon.

IPA ribs recipe card

Dessert: 90 Shilling Orange Cardamom Caramel Sauce

Pairing: Perle White

To continue our theme, we chose the Perle White IPA paired with a bold, sweet caramel dessert. An herbal and fruit-like hop character in the Perle White mingles with the delicate wheat for a clean crisp finish, and the 90 Shilling amber ale creates an irresistibly smooth and delicious caramel sauce – perfect for dipping.

90 Shilling caramel sauce recipe card

A Jaunt in Time

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Back in 2012, we threw the most recent rendition of our Small Batch Festival here at Odell. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Small Batch, it was more or less a big ole’ party at the brewery. Akin to your typical backyard afternoon social, but with an extended invitation to the whole neighborhood. As brewers, we supply the brew, and with the goal of offering things that we had squirrelled away a few kegs of here and there. One such brew was “Totes McGoats”, a project that I had the good fortune to work on. It was, to my knowledge, the brewery’s first foray into wine hybrid brewing. We used Riesling grapes from the Western Slope of Colorado, and a blend of staves suspended in a tote added to a wheat based beer. This was the genesis of what would later become Amuste, and returns full circle to you today as Jaunt. The only difference is, we didn’t use a tote, but a stainless fermentor with the staves suspended in it. That, and we played a little with the malt, and stave combination. So it’s not exactly the same, but hey, we are craft brewers after all and as such, are never satisfied. Riesling grape adds a distinct light tree fruit note, as well as a delicate aroma of perfumed honeysuckle and touch of acidity to the finish. The oak staves provide a background balance in the form of light vanilla, almond, and Dr. Pepper-esque characters, with a lingering tannin structure. Sadly we’re not able to bring back Small Batch this year. Hopefully, those of you who were able to attend in 2012 (and those who were not), will get a small taste of what Small Batch was.

Jaunt Label TTB

– A Quality Guy

Eli 59er“01001001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110010 01100100 00101110. It’s binary code for, ‘If you can read this, you are my kind of nerd.”  (Eli Kolodny is the QA/QC manager for Odell Brewing). 

They Say Our Footprint Grew Three Sizes That Day

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The craft brewing industry is a popular place to be these days. Breweries are opening left and right all across the country. Some with the aspiration to be a national brand, some are content with the brewpub life. In between exist breweries like Odell, known as Regional Craft Breweries. We don’t have a desire to be in every state, but we can get restless at home and have a tendency to wander. As such, opening a new state to bring our beer to is a very big deal. So big in fact, we decided to commemorate it by digging back into the recipe book. What we reached for first, was Footprint.

Originally released in 2012, this 9.6% ABV ale has an ingredient added from each state in our distribution network, aka footprint. Internally, we had been talking about opening another state for years, specifically Texas. Since we completed our brewhouse expansion, allowing us to subsequently launch distribution into Texas, we decided what better way to welcome a new family member than with a beer. It’s kinda our thing. The recipe remains largely unchanged, but with a kiss of grapefruit from our new Southern cousin. Not to mention prickly pear, green chiles, wheat, oak, and a slew of other constituent complexities. Join our wanderlust, and search it out starting April 19th.

Footprint 2014

– A Quality Guy

Eli 59er“01001001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110010 01100100 00101110. It’s binary code for, ‘If you can read this, you are my kind of nerd.”  (Eli Kolodny is the QA/QC manager for Odell Brewing). 

Thanksgiving Montage

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This season, you can find a beer-ful Thanksgiving inside one box! The Fall-Winter Montage offers up the quintessential variety for your holiday cooking and pairing needs!

Cook!

90 Shilling-Brined Roasted Turkey90 Shilling turkey

1 8-12 lb. turkey
1 ½ tablespoons black peppercorns
8 cups of water
6 bay leaves
1 ½ cups Kosher or sea salt
2 onions (quartered or wedged)
½ cup allspice berries
1 cup brown sugar
3 bottles of 90 Shilling
2 cups of ice
1 ½ cups chicken broth

 

In a large pot, add the water, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves, and one onion. Bring to just barely boiling and remove from heat. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved, then cool completely.

Add the ice and 90 Shilling and stir. Make sure the liquid is cooled to room temperatures so as not to cook the turkey.

Add the turkey to the brine (breast side down), and cover to keep it submerged. Refrigerate overnight (16-24 hours).

Preheat the oven to 350° and place oven rack on the bottom shelf. Lift the turkey out of the brine and pick off any remaining peppercorns, allspice berries and bay leaves and pat dry.

Transfer the turkey to a large roasting pan (breast side up). Scatter the remaining onion pieces in the pan and add the broth (you can stuff the bird how you like…onions, lemons, celery,  etc.).

Roast the turkey for about 3 hours or until the meat thermometer reads 165°. Transfer the turkey to a platter/board and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.

IPA mashed potatoesIPA Garlic Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs. potatos (Russet or Yukon Gold) peeled and cubed (1″ pieces)
1 head of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bottle (12oz.) of Odell IPA (room temp)
1/3 cup of heavy cream
4 tablespoons of butter

Put potatoes in a pot of cold water with 1/2 bottle of IPA and add salt. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15-20 minutes until fork tender. Drain and return to the pot.

Sauté  the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden. Add cream, butter and remaining IPA and cook until warm.

Mash in potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pair!

Savory – Slightly hoppier than the classic Saison, Wellspring Dry-Hopped Saison is crisp with notes of lemon pepper, subtle banana and clove with an earthy and slightly spicy hop finish. This Roots Relese brew pairs well with savory holiday dishes like roasted turkey and herbed stuffing.

Sweet – Isolation Ale is a sweet caramel malty ale that is balanced by a subtle crisp hop finish. The cake-like & caramel malt flavour compliment traditional fall desserts like spice cake or pumpkin pie.

Thankful Pairings

 Click here to find the Fall-Winter Montage, and have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

The Farmer and Odell

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If you’ve been to the brewery, chances are you’ve seen the old beat-up Chevy that hauls away our spent grain. That truck belongs to our friend and farmer, Lugene. Ever wonder what happens to that spent grain once it leaves? Well our co-worker, Emily followed Lugene one day after he picked up a load…

SPENT GRAINS = LOCAL MILK

SPENT GRAINS = LOCAL MILK

Ever wonder what we do with all those grains and hops after it is used to make delicious beer? We load it into a truck and pass it on....

Ever wonder what we do with all those grains and hops after it is used to make delicious beer? We load it into a truck and pass it on….

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Ever since 1994, Lugene Sas, owner of Taft Hill Dairy, has been feeding his "girls" our leftovers.

Ever since 1994, Lugene Sas, owner of Taft Hill Dairy, has been feeding his “girls” our leftovers.

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Lugene comes to the brewery twice a day and hauls away our spent grains and hops to his small local dairy just a few miles north of the brewery.

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Once back at the farm, the grain and hop mixture is dumped from the truck into a pit, picked up with a tractor and then a measured amount is dumped into a large feed truck.

 

 

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There, the grains and hops are mixed with organic alfalfa hay, organic grass hay and silage to form a complete feed.

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Holy happy cows! A mix of Jersey, Guernsey, Holstein and Brown Swiss, these momma cows are hungry and happy to have their feed.

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As I shot photos, Lugene walked along greeting them gently and telling me their names (yes, the ladies all have names, not just numbers).

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After feeding the matrons, we took some warm milk to the younger cows and watched them enjoy.

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As it dripped from their happy faces, I couldn’t help but get milk-thirsty.

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And if you are a milk drinker and you’ve never had raw milk, you’ve got to get your hands on a mason jar of this rare delicious nectar.

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Taft Hill Dairy produces only raw milk so patrons of the dairy must participate in a milk-share program in order to enjoy. In a milk-share program, consumers purchase a share of a cow, thus establishing partial ownership of the animal and the right to drink its milk. (Google “raw milk Colorado” if this sounds confusing).

Spending a few hours at Taft Hill Dairy gave me an even greater appreciation for the impact our business has on the lives around us.

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While repurposing our grains may not save the world, it matters. Every decision we make at OBC is with a conscience, a purpose and a desire to better ourselves, our environment and our community.

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Lugene could not be more grateful and gracious about his role in our circle of beer. He LOVES our beer – 90 Shilling is his go-to favorite, but he also gets pretty excited about our seasonal and pilot brews. And he can usually be seen sporting an Odell shirt or hat, or both. Even though Lugene does not work at the brewery, he is definitely a part of the OBC family.

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Cheers,

Emily

EmilyEmily has been with Odell Brewing Company since 2009 and loves serving beer, tasting beer, talking about beer and occasionally even brewing beer. She also enjoys expensive cheeses, laughing until she cries, and capturing the beauty of this life through the lens of her camera.

 

 

A New Hope (or “The streets will run red with the juice of our grapes”)

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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

    

 

   

Mountain Standard – a Contradiction in a Glass

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Fall is a time of great balance. It’s cool enough to ride to work in pants, but not so cold you need a down jacket. The afternoons are warm and inviting, but not so hot you seek refuge indoors. It’s great time to be out and about in Colorado. It’s that balance of the season that we consistently strive to bring into our brewhouse. Never is that more apparent than in Mountain Standard, our Double Black IPA. With such an aggressive style by nature, it is a challenge to maintain a level of harmony within the beer. Colorado grown whole flower hops lend a unique spicy roundness to the aroma. The beer radiates a deep copper reminiscent of first light, with cherry and chocolate in the nose. A creamy mouthfeel yields to an assertive bitterness that folds back into roasted chocolate. Like fall it’s only around for a short time, so get out there and enjoy it!

– A Quality Guy
MST

 

Melding the Meddler

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Seen as a just another arrow in the cure all quiver for bad brewing practices, blending has gotten a bad rap. This is most unfortunate, as blending was oft the saving grace for many a small brewer and vintner alike. There is a roundness to beer, a balance that we as brewers and beer drinkers alike yearn for. Some beers can achieve this right out of the fermentor, but certain styles demand a softer touch. After over a year of barrel aging, we finally have hammered out the kinks in our attempt at a traditional Oud Bruin. Burgundy hued, with sweet caramel up front that fades to clean tartness. Hints of dark fruits linger well after the initial sip, supported by the cinnamon and coconut tannic structure. It’s like a trip to the Flemish region of Belgium, without the hassle from the TSA.

– A Quality Guy

FernetPorter Label 1

Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches in beer…

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Harvest season doesn’t officially get into full gear in Colorado, until the peaches arrive. What could be better than biting into a fresh Colorado grown peach? Why, drinking a beer made with one, of course. One is never good enough so we added over 1800 lbs of peaches to this 7.4% ABV pilsner malt based brew. That’s a full peach in every growler, and it shows. The aroma is one of the fall orchard, and you can almost taste the skin with every sip. Join us by celebrating the peach harvest, one pint at a time.

– A Quality Guy

 

Brewed with 1800 pounds of Palisade peaches including Red Haven and JH Hale varieties, Haven and Hale Peach Ale is a crisp brew with a light golden color and a heavenly fresh peach aroma. Each sip offers a subtle peach flavor that lingers on the palate just long enough then slowly fades for a wickedly delicious finish. Slightly sweet, but also tart, Haven and Hale delights both sinners and saints.

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Shenanigans baby – yeah!

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Trial and error = #EpicWIN

We like to have fun experimenting on our Pilot Brewing playground… Like, a lot. So much so that we consider play one of our secret ingredients. Enter Shenanigans, a beer that was never meant to be. We were working on a Woodcut project, and a few barrels weren’t exactly what we were looking for. They were still awfully yummy, so we inoculated them with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It was about that time when things went deliciously wrong. Pineapple juice married with spicy phenols emerge first from the glass. Followed by the full malt body of a 9.1% crimson ale, and rounding out the tail end the oak tannins battle for supremacy with the tart finish provided by just a dash of lactobacillus. Try a bottle for yourself and savor the complexity and subtle nuances of our brewery shenanigans. (Join us Saturday, March 24th for the Tap Room Release Party!)

– A Quality Guy

We Love Beer & Food (our recent co-worker beer dinner)

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A couple of weeks ago, our tap room co-worker Ryan, a culinary mastermind, graciously offered to cook for us. Over two nights, we gathered to dine on the locally sourced cuisine paired with a variety of Odell Brewing beers. Denver Off The Wagon beer writer extraordinaire, Jess Hunter, joined us the first evening, and described the night beautifully. Check out her full story.

Ryan was also kind enough to share his recipes. Enjoy!

Seared scallop with orange mango butter sauce paired with Hiverrano New American Wild Ale:Scallop

Juice 2/3 mango to 1/3 orange, blend, and strain using a sifter.

Add about a half cup of white wine

Add 1/4 cup of water

Salt to taste

Warm liquid on stove top

When warm add 1 to 1 and a half TBS of flower whisking it in until sauce is thick.

Remove from heat

Add softened butter slowly while whisking constantly until sauce taste rich yet still tart and fruitful.

Sear scallop

Top with sauce and fine chopped chives.

MoucoHoney glazed apple bruschetta paired with Myrcenary Double IPA:

Cut Golden delicious apples into thin slices

Cut baguette into small diagonal half inch thick slices

Zest one orange

Mix honey with just a little orange juice

Cut MouCo Camembert cheese or brie into 1/4 inch thick slices

Spread apples on bake tray and brush them with honey mixture

Set oven at 350 put apples in for about 3-4 minutes

Put bread in oven about 3 minutes

Place apples on top of bread and cheese on top of apples bake until cheese is soft and just a little melted

Top with small pinch of orange zest

Colorado rack of lamb, wild rice, with Cutthroat porter Demi-glace sauce, shiitake mushrooms and a fresh vegetable medley paired with Bourbon Barrel Stout:Lamb

Demi-Glace:

Roast about seven beef bones, two cut in half onions and three carrots on a greased pan in the oven at 350 for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours

Remove from oven and put ingredients in a stock pot

Put Bake try on stove top burner and de-glace with Cutthroat porter

Let simmer on pan for 5 minutes while scraping the bottom of pan to get all the nice gristle to rise

Pour into stock pan

Add Cutthroat porter to stock pan until vegetables are covered simmer for 3 – 4 hours stirring every so often. If liquid drops past vegetables just add more beer or some beef stock

Pour through strainer into another stock pot let simmer and reduce for 2 – 3 hours or until slightly thick

Cool in fridge

After cooled remove fat that rose to the top with ladle

Rack of lamb:

Finley dice fresh rosemary

Spread fresh rosemary, pepper, and sea salt on both sides of lamb

Sear to about 100 and cool

Wild rice:

Saute about two scallions

Mix scallions with water before adding rice

Salt to taste

Cook covered until soft

Put racks in oven until they temp at 140 let rest 5 minutes

Warm butter untill just nutty, add brown sugar. Saute onion, yellow squash and green squash until soft

Saute diced mushrooms

Reduce demi glace in saute pan until thick

Cut rack place on top of rice, spoon sauce on lamb, place diced shiitake on lamb, and place vegetables on side of dish

Intermezzo:

1/4 Gallon Easy Street Wheat

1/8 Gallon water

1/4 cup sugar

3 lemons

Put Easy Street and water into a pot and bring to a slight roll. Add three lemons worth of zest and one and a half juiced lemons. Let this cook until carbonation is gone. When carbonation is gone add sugar to taste. Strain liquid into baking tray and put in freezer combing with a fork about every two hours to form crystals.

FriekDessertSheep Ricotta cheesecake with hazelnut crust and a pomegranate raspberry tart sauce with Friek:

Good luck finding sheep ricotta, so any cheesecake you make will do

4 Pomegranates

1/2 bag organic raspberry’s

1/8 cup sugar

Put all pomegranate seeds and juice into a blender with raspberry’s and blend them smooth. Strain juice through sifter into a pot. Warm sauce and add sugar whisking constantly until sugar is melted. Cool sauce.