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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
$old Out! January 16th $ellout $tout Wrap-up.
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Well, wasn't that a bit of a crazy morning?
We're calling the $ellout $tout a complete success given that we were sold out by 10:30 am. Thanks to everyone who came out early and got their bottles.
Vanessa snapped off this shot early in the morning. If I could figure out photoshop, I'd give Ed (black hat in the background) the caption: "beer & wood, my two favourite things!" Thankfully, Ed has a good sense of humour.
A few things to note:- The lineup started at 7 am, proving the brewery motto "you snooze, you lose".
- As some have pointed out, the doors were unfortunately opened at 8:45 am by brewery staff taking pity on cold beer lovers. This won't happen again, as we need more time in the morning to prepare for these special releases. Bring your toque next time!
- We hadn't planned on putting a limit on the number of bottles you could purchase, but did so after we realized we'd have a lot more angry customers if we didn't.
- The beer sold out so quickly, I didn't even have time to pull out the birthday cake that Vanessa so kindly picked up for me. D'oh! More cake for us!
- Both CBC Radio and Global TV (click on the January 15Th newscast and ffw to the last minute of the program) came down and did interviews with us even though we didn't do a press release. I think this made the day even more successful and I thank them for keeping their ears to the ground and spreading the word for good local beer in Manitoba.
- Our long distance award goes to Kyle from Andrew Hilton Wines in Lethbridge. He drove 13 or 14 hours from Lethbridge to check out the $ellout and trade some wonderful beers, too. Thanks Kyle for your dedication to good beer, not just Half Pints.
For those of you who didn't get any and were hoping, ask your friends and relatives, as it's possible they beat you to it and have a bottle they could trade you for something good.
Hopefully Winnipeg's beer lovers trust their favourite brewer's instincts. As we've noted on facebook and other social sites like BeerAdvocate or Ratebeer, we're proud to brew a beer like the St. James Pale Ale. It may not be every one's cup of tea, but that doesn't mean it's not a valid style in its own right and it's fans are just as valued to us as any of our beers' fans. This one beer alone brings so many new people into the Half Pints fold and they eventually try our other beers and spend time educating their palettes to good beer in general, not just ours. It's a total win-win situation, because educated customers are dangerous consumers when it comes to big brewery beer. They refuse to accept it anymore, much like I learned not to accept it years ago when my palette was expanded by beers that were considered weird or exotic.
Like I've always said, we're not here to make beer that absolutely everyone loves. In fact, we're going to make beer from time to time that certain people hate. I'm OK with that simply because: if our goal was to make beer for the masses 100% of the time, then all our beers would suck and we could sell out to a larger multi-national brewery and spend our time on a beach sipping mojito's.
For those of you who ask "What's next?" you could smell Chris' brew here on $ellout day. It's a Rye P.A. he's designed all by himself and it's fermenting away as you read this. It'll be transferred into the barrels that previously held the $ellout and will mellow for 4-6 months before we repeat this whole debacle again.
He's currently thinking about names for it and we'll gladly take suggestions from anyone willing to post them in the comments section. Keep it clean folks!
Cheers,
Brewmaster Dave
Labels: Sellout Stout, St. James Pale
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
I've always wondered what it was like to be a $ellout...
"Gasp! Your brewery makes beer that the average beer drinker likes... that's so terrible!"
Yeah, right! Can you believe there's people that think like this? It is a craft brewer's responsibility to introduce people to a whole world of beer outside of their normal fizzy yellow industrial plonk. We take that reponsibility very seriously here at Half Pints which is why we took so long to design and brew our most drinkable beer ever.
Soon after we came out with our St. James Pale Ale - currently our best selling beer and the reason we can afford to do such ridiculous things like barrel aging beers for 6 months plus - there were some rumblings from them that we'd gone south like so many dodgy breweries and venture capital groups before us. I suppose if I'd never run a business or brewed for a living, I could point fingers, too.
Not so says I, and when we finally got the time this past summer we whipped out our stack of recipes and layed down multiple brews that the beer geeks (and we) love that we're so well known for. Humulus Ludicrous, Phil's Pils, Oktoberfest, Punk N' Fest, Sweet Nikki Brown, Bourbon Burlywine, and the 09 Burly, to boot. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! And in that time, the St. James blew past our Stir Stick Stout in the number of total batches brewed so that by the year's end we will have brewed over 100 batches of it.
So the $ellout $tout has been a nose thumbing good time for us to brew which all started as a toungue in cheek joke I made back in late spring with Anthony.
Anthony - "Hey Dave, what will you do if the St. James becomes our bestselling beer and the knurds call you a sellout?"
Dave - "We'll brew a stupidly tasty stout and call it "The $ellout".
Then we got the call which became the seed:
rrrring, riinnng.
"Hello, Half Pints."
"Barrels. Address. Go. Now"
"Ok?!?"
..... click.
The next day, we zipped over to Dino's Grocery and picked up a couple of giant Jaggery bells for adding to the $ellout $tout during fermentation, brewed the ridiculously malty brew, and about two weeks later, we moved the bulk of the fermented goodness into those barrels for aging.From there on in, it's all over but the patience. The barrels leaked a bit, so we topped them up with the leftover $tout we'd reserved in kegs. The stuff from the kegs tasted yummy, so the barrels can only add more yumminess to the brew.
We thought that a beer this special needed a special label. I remember Darren Merinuk from my days at the Pyramid Cabaret. His show posters are always so cool. I thought it'd be funny to have a punk themed label with an obviously sold out punk kid floating down a river of stout holding a fistfull of grain in one hand a fistfull of cash in the other. After some minor tweaks, Darren nailed it. The $ellout was complete.
In the next couple of weeks, we'll pull the $ellout from its whisky barrel slumber, blending it into a tank with the leftovers from the kegs, and fill the barrels up with another new beer that Chris is creating. It will be his first 100% Chris Young designed beer. I'm quite looking forward to tasting it.
January 16th, 2010 - you can come celebrate my 35th birthday with me in style at the brewery. You can see from the label that as a nod to our brewery's history, we'll be hand bottling this one in 660 ml bottles. Therefore, we will not be selling any of this beer at the liquor stores or vendors. As always, be here or be square.
So, I guess in a way we are $ellouts. Just not the kind the beer knurds expected. Not now, not ever.
Labels: Beer Release, Sellout Stout, St. James Pale
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Burlywine Day is Here!
Labels: Bourbon Burlywine, Burly Wine, Open House, Sellout Stout
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Back In Black... Fishnets, that is!
Labels: Bourbon Burlywine, Leg Lamp, Sweet Nikki Brown
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Burlywine Day is on the horizon...
Another year gone - like sands through the hourglass and all that soap opera jazz.
Burlywine Day is coming up on December 5Th, 2009. For those of you unfamiliar with the craziness that takes the form of our annual open house, I'll make these suggestions:
- Dress warm. Who knows if the current trend of having no snow will last? Hearty Half Pints lovers have been known to make coffee on camp stoves before the brewery opens.
- Burlywine has been recognized by the folks at Ratebeer.com, Beeradvocate.com, featured in "World's Best Beers" by Ben McFarland, reviewed on Vimeo by Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson, etc., etc. Essentially, it's good beer. We'd suggest you pick up a few, because invariably, people phone us looking for more when they've used up their stash.
- If you drank all your 2008 Burlywine (the one with the green wax cap), you may choose to line up early and get your hand on some of that vintage along with the new 09 vintage. One bottle will be included with the 24's we have for sale at the brewery. If so, refer to suggestion #1.
- We decided to have some fun and age some of last year's brew on Bourbon soaked French oak chips. The Bourbon Burlywine will be limited to two bottles per person and will only be included with the case (24) for those who buy directly from the brewery. Just like our Punk N' Fest release, if you snooze, you lose, as there's only so many bottles to go around. Once again, refer to suggestion #1.
- Bring a tin for the bin in support of Winnipeg Harvest. Tin bringers can enter to win a fantastic Half Pints prize pack. In all seriousness, we're drinking 10.5% a/v beer when there's people in Winnipeg that don't even have enough food to eat. Bring the tin or whatever the people at Harvest need. You can check their website here.
- We'll be giving tours all day, but be prepared to hang out for a while between tours. We'll try not to be as long winded as we usually are (Dave!), but it is an open house, and we will answer everyone's questions. See suggestion #7.
- We will be offering small samples (no more than 2 oz. as per our license) if you do get stuck having to wait. We've also got a cool Foosball table to challenge your friends. You can't sit around and drink pints here. We don't even get to do that. And pints of Burlywine would just be silly.
- Rejoice that Manitoba's only locally owned and operated brewery makes something that people across Canada want! That said, there's only so much to go around. We've currently got orders from four other provinces. If you want Burlywine, come grace us with your presence. We can't guarantee that every single Liquor Mart, vendor, etc. will get enough to satisfy the demand but, we can guarantee that without beer lovers such as yourself, Half Pints wouldn't be quite as cool as it is, and for that, we thank you.
- We'll have lots of parking in the lot directly south of our building, with vehicle entrances/exits on the East and West sides this year. Remember, the brewery is on Roseberry Street now, don't go lining up at the old Keewatin Street address!
- Did we mention to dress warm?
Other News:
A few of the Bombers were down to take a tour of the plant for the Fabulous Blue Bomber Show on Shaw.ca Our portion starts around the 6:00 minute mark. The guys had some fun, tried some beers and made a mess, which Chris got stuck cleaning up. Fun times!
Sweet Nikki Brown is running through the brewery as we speak. It will be available for sale on November 26Th. We'll be running 5 batches total through the brewery, so it should last us until the end of December or the middle of January, or some time in there.
Some of you have pressed the secret beer we mentioned a few posts ago from Chris, and some of you have just figured it out on your own. Regardless, it's coming out sometime in the middle of January, so you won't have to wait that long.
The Angry Dragons rock the brewery.More fun stuff is coming down the pipe and we'll keep updating as needed here. Hope to see you all on Burlywine Day.
Cheers!
Labels: Bourbon Burlywine, Burly Wine, Sweet Nikki Brown