$31.03 for the 5 liter Heineken mini keg

• non-recyclable
• needs at least 10 hours to cool before opening
• it's Heineken. nuff' said.

$45.31 for the 11.3 liter Phil's Pils freshKEG

• recyclable
• cold when you buy it
• available in other tasty flavours
• doesn't taste like fizzy corn water

So, using Molson's Math 101, we should be charging $70 plus for an 11.3 liter keg of our Phil's Pils.

Ha ha, what a bunch of maroons...

Labels: Ramblings

Hey all,
This past weekend, I spent Sunday and Monday sampling out our beer to the folks who came to Centrex. We had a portion of a booth sponsored by the Manitoba Food Processors Association. It was neat to see all of the different locally produced foods we can get, and surprising to see how many of those we already use.

Nicole and I were having a discussion this morning over bagels and coffee about the brewery, the 100 mile diet, organics and our carbon footprint.

Now, I'll be the first to say, I'm not terribly educated when it comes to some of the issues. I do know we get requests from time to time regarding organic beer. But, the discussion this morning lead me to wonder about the carbon footprint of breweries using organic malt.

See, there's really only two options open to me as a Canadian brewer. Gambrinus Malting Company of Armstrong, BC makes an organic 2 row barley. Some of you have heard me lament of my past dealings with Gambrinus (service is not their strong point, nor is sending the right colour of malt). The guys at Nelson Brewery in BC seem to be happy - they switched a while back to all of their beers being brewed organically - and I think they're getting a good percentage of their grain from Gambrinus.

Our other option would be to use the Biomalt (it's organic) from Weyermann Malting in Bamberg, Germany. Great malt, steep price, European grown.

So, if we were to switch to using these guys for the sake of organics alone, then we'd be cancelling out any good with the diesel fuel it takes to get malt from Germany or BC, rather than simply using the locally made 2 row we currently use.

Here also we're presented with the problem of the local malt being grown across western Canada, then being blended for consistency's sake. So, the 100 mile dieters get thrust out into the cold, too. I have a feeling some people out there think that malting your own grain is pretty simple (technically it can be), but when you're talking about the volumes of grain we go through, hooking up with a local organic farmer to grow grain for us just isn't feasible.

So, where does that leave us?

I figure a few of you out there may have some ideas. The idea here is to open the discussion and maybe find a way to make it work. The hop situation (or lack thereof) isn't going to work itself anytime soon, much less allow me to be picky and demand organics, but I think if we start leaning on our suppliers and come up with some homegrown ideas, we might be able to make it happen.

Thoughts?

Labels: 100 Mile Diet, Organic Brewing, Ramblings

It's been a while since my last update, though we've not been idle. You'd think that since today is St. Patrick's Day, I'd be out getting likker'd. Nope, sorry to disappoint you, not really my scene.

I really like the King's Head's stance regarding NO GREEN BEER. When the Free Press was reporting on all the fun stuff to do tonight, they made a point of mentioning the anti-green stance at the Head. For god's sake, who in the world thought this travesty would make you Irish for the night? Now, St. Brigid, there's a saint I can get behind. But, you never hear mention of the lady's fine deeds - turning bathwater into an endless supply of beer - I'd vote for that!

Last year, we released the Weizenbock on this day. This year, we've got the Weizenbock already out there in our snazzy new 341 ml. bottles. Apart from a few minor guffaws at the start of the week, we've got the bottling line pushing out the beer well, and tomorrow we'll give it the first full day of running, and see what it can really do.

We're down to about 12 cases of empty 660ml. bottles right now, and that means that by the end of this week, we'll be clean out of the beer in that format. For those of you (MIKE!) who will lament the passing of the large bottles... feel free to open two small ones, I won't judge you. The rest of you know that these small bottles will mean you'll be able to have a Half Pint at your favourite local watering hole, restaurant, etc. - thanks for understanding.

When the prices for every raw ingredient in beer have gone up, we could have passed along a price increase and kept bottling in the large bottles. Instead, we decided to become more efficient, and slightly more nimble on our toes, so to say. All the other breweries have been passing along increases, and for us, it just seemed to make more sense to intelligently work with what we have, and trim the area that represented the most frustrating part of our days - hand bottling.

So, how do we celebrate this vast leap forward in technology? We brew a new beer, of course.

In the tanks right now, we have a malty mouthful so black and so devastatingly delicious, it could only have been brewed in Winnipeg. The soft, roasty sweet liquid unexpectedly pulls you down into layer upon layer of flavour.

On April 1st, 2008 prepare yourself for a total front end alignment of your senses.

Labels: Ramblings, The Beers

... I told you so. That's really the last time I'll say it.

Shortly after last years Burly Wine sold out, there was a rumbling amongst Half Pints fans that we had given beer lovers in Winnipeg something to be proud of. "Please hold onto a bottle or two for next year," we urged. Some beer lovers listened, and others still itched to crack open the tasty goodness.

And then, over the next year, we slowly saw the bottles with the tan beeswax caps come back home to the brewery through the vendors, or even the people who returned the bottles to the brewery wondering "do you have any more of this?" More recently, they've slowed to a trickle so that when we do get one, we immediately want to know what you thought of it.

In its youth, the Burly Wine exhibited a raw, biting hop flavor with a peppery alcohol burn down the middle. And now, those of you with patience have been rewarded as the 2006 vintage takes on the rum-raisin flavours and the slightly sweet caramel backing of a classic English Style Barleywine. How many of you can keep it up for another year to see if it starts to show its wisdom?

Labels: Burly Wine, Ramblings

This seems to be the overly-concerned look from some customers lately regarding the state of affairs at Half Pints. Answer: We've been busy! That's a good thing. Our Phil's Pils is rated as one of the top Pilsners in the world by ratebeer.com users. And, our Burly Wine recently made the list of the top 10 English style Barleywines in the world over at beeradvocate.com. Yep, we brew world class beer, thanks for noticing.

The boys have had a bit of a struggle to keep up with the bottling for the busy summer season. After all, we are still bottling one at a time by hand, and hand labeling each one. This has lead to the odd day at the most popular Liquor Marts here in Winnipeg where there may be a few scant bottles of our beer left on the shelf until the van shows up and loads in the beer. Note: we've always got beer at the brewery, AND you get the bonus of seeing our smiling faces. Why don't you come here and introduce yourselves?

Possibly some of the concerns come from people who are slightly confused as to the future of Half Pints. We've heard rumours about us being bought out by Fort Garry - which is totally incomprehensible from our point of view. In case you haven't heard, it's Fort Garry being bought out (amalgamated, if you will) by Russell Brewing Company. You can read about it here. Basically, the guys from Russell recently got the contract to supply the beer to BC Place Stadium. Congrats to them for working the deal, but they didn't have enough capacity in their draught only brewery to supply the deal, so they were looking in Canada for a brewery with excess capacity. Low and behold, here sits Fort Garry with tons of extra space, a fancy bottling line, and a new canning line to boot. As long as their shareholders accept the deal, we'll soon see Russell beers in Manitoba, and Fort Garry in BC. Back to the salt mines, boys.

Speaking of Russell, Half Pints was at the Great Canadian Beer Festival recently and we were tent mates with Heads Up, Dead Frog and Russell. All great guys and we had a fun time serving the thirsty throngs on what someone told me was the nicest weekend Victoria had seen all summer long. I didn't really get to taste much beer, as I was working in the booth for the whole weekend, but what I did have at Phillip's Brewing on the Friday night, was a chocolaty dry Longboat Porter, and the ever-tasty ESB. I even got to see some old friends - Dave Neilly, who's now the top beer dog at Wild Rose in Calgary.

My Saturday night was less adventurous, but I did end up at Canoe Brewpub by the harbour for a perfectly done steak and many glasses of ice tea to ward off the heat stroke from my newly acquired sunburn. Note to self: when in Victoria, prepare for everything - cold rain or burning heat. A simple note to brewpub owners in general. Canoe has it right, we could all learn a thing or two. Efficient, friendly, clean, reasonably priced, & a fantastic location. You can see why people rave about this place. It instantly felt like home.

While I was playing Canadian traveler Chris, Zach, and Nicole were serving many small glasses of brew to the crowds at the Flatlander's Beer Festival here in Winnipeg. Supposedly, the Vanilla Stout was a hit and we'll continue to offer up these specialty casks of real ale to keep our fans intrigued. It kind of makes the ticket worth while if you're guaranteed at least a few new beers to wet your whistle.

The Humulus Ludicrous has some of you puckering up with a hoppy face. We like it like that. In case you didn't know, it now holds the record as our fastest selling beer. We moved through the first tank in less than a four days. That's a heck of a lot of bottling for an 8% a/v beer with a ludicrous amount of hops. We're sold out at the brewery now for 660ml. bottles, but still have a few 2 liters here. Perhaps the naysayers will think twice next time they say that Manitobans aren't fans of beer with balls. If you fall into the latter camp, I'd suggest you look what Canada's premier beer writer had to say.

So to summarize: we're as passionate as ever about making world class beer in Winnipeg.

That's how we're REALLY doing.

Labels: Ramblings

Brewer Dave Gives The More Hops = Better Beer Speach.

Labels: Ramblings, The Story

Well, well, well. I think we touched a bit of a nerve with our April T-Shirt Trade In. The response was cool - some of you just giggled at the idea, and others took us up on it. Either way, we had some fun (even if it was at the expense of the big guys).

The first thing I noticed is the percentage of Molson t's. We got two shirts from them that hadn't even been unwrapped from the plastic they originally came in and two that had clearly never been worn before.

Thanks go out to all of you who wear their favorite local beer-T with pride. Spread the word!

Labels: Ramblings

Remember a few weeks ago when I ranted on about beer choices in some of Winnipeg's high end restaurants? Well, I think now I must eat crow and let you know that there's more than a few who have listened! If you look closely at this list, it really does read like the who's who in Winnipeg's "foodie" scene. I applaud these Chef's (and others) for choosing real craft beer with flavour over marketing hoopla.

Most of you know that we've had a few different beers (Oktoberfest, Bulldog, Sweet Nikki Brown to name a few) available at the Winnipeg Winter Club due to the incredible passion of Chef Craig Geunther from The Market 520. I really do love Chef Craig's willingness to try new things, and to constantly challenge himself to be creating. In the coming weeks, we'll be partnering with the Winter Club again to pair some of our beer with a special dinner they've been working on. I'll keep you posted on that one!

On Thursday morning, I dropped off the first shipment of Bulldog Amber Ale to Mise, just south of Osbourne Village. Sue & Terry Gereta own this little slice of heaven that my Mom and Dad have been talking about ever since they went for their anniversary. They've got the beer on tap, so when you're out with your sweeties, you can enjoy the fruits of their/our labour.

We've had a very excited call from the people at In Ferno's Bistro, too. Seems that Chef/Owner Fern Kirouac understands and appreciates our willingness to offer seasonal fare as well. They've been stocking bottles of our brew and the selection has been rotating with our various seasonal beers.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a nice couple come into the brewery from St. Paul, Minnesota. They had been at Bistro 7 1/4, where they were introduced to our Stir Stick Stout by Chef Alexander Svenne. I'm told he's very knowledgeable about the beer, but I've not yet had the chance to get there to eat - the couple said the food was amazing, though.

Over the last few month's, owner Scot McTaggart at Fusion Grill has been serving our beers from the bottle. Try the Paella with our Little Scrapper IPA.

And finally, near & dear to my heart - Gasthaus Gutenberger has previously stocked our various German offerings such as the Oktoberfest Lager. I can safely say that when I do brew certain German styles, I specifically pair that beer with food readily available from the Gasthaus. Bayriche Grillhaxe (Bavarian Pork Hock) is a fantastic example of this. Slow roasted and falling off the bone. Another great example is the Hazelnut Torte I suggest you try with our Weizenbock. To die for... tell Chef Kurt Wagner I sent you!

Labels: On Tap, Ramblings

Yep, it official - people actually do talk about us when we're not around. Follow the links below for further reading about the hilarious misadventures of our fans.

RobCML details the pain and agony of forgetting the Holy Spirit at work... again. Seems he enjoyed the Holy Trinity in general - thanks Rob - maybe a little too much. No, that's impossible. Rob's the first person I've heard of to actually tackle the entire trinity in one night in the right order. Now if Rob and the illustrious Mr. Ian (from Chazwood MLCC) were to get together for a beer tasting - I'd pay to see it.

Greg Clow waxes poetic about beer in general. My favourite quote regards our Bulldog Amber Ale: "if the LCBO carried this (hint hint)" Ha ha, funny guy. No soup for you. We're too busy proving where the real center of Canada is, Greg. ;P

The local weekly paper came by to do this story. Funny how life comes full circle. My first job was delivering this very weekly back when you had to go door to door begging for donations for the "free paper". Suffice to say, at 8 years old I was highly unsuccessful. I eventually made it to the "big time" though, delivering both the Sun & the Press.

Some goofball is trying to sell our coasters on e-bay. Psst! You get 'em for nothing at the brewery. For those collectors reading, these coasters were from our first run. The new ones are nicer and they have our address on them.

The Great Tastes of Manitoba show has been using our brews to pair or cook with. Check out one of the recipes here. I'm just waiting to see Jim I

Rory Burnett enjoys a Stir Stick Stout. Hey Rory, next time try it a-la-mode.

Ben McPhee-Sigurdson chills with a glass of vino from time to time, but we won't hold it against him. Plus, he's a new dad, so we'll cut him some slack given he probably hasn't got much sleep recently. He was kind enough to recognize us as "Rookie of the Year for 2006" in his year end wrap up article for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Labels: Ramblings

We’ve always known that the best “sales team” a brewer can have is a hoard of happy customers lined up at the bar. This is something the big brewers lost sight of years ago. It’s the idea that someone may just be persistent enough to not accept the same five beers that every other bar has on tap, and order an iced tea instead.

Life’s too short to drink bad beer!

The veritable sameness of big box stores and associated establishments that spring up on their lots means that some accountant in T.O. or Vancouver is choosing what brew you should drink based on how many patio umbrellas they can score from a brewery. Does this make sense to anyone but the type of person that thinks Rotten Ronnie’s is a gourmet burger joint?

Then, there’s the seemingly endless number of high end restaurants who spend thousands of dollars developing a wine list second to none, yet decide that the best they can muster regarding the world’s most popular beverage is a skunked bottle of Euro-Pils. If they really looked at numbers they’d understand that real craft brewed beer is considered to be an affordable luxury.

If you had a chance to order a properly cellared bottle of Burly Wine with four beer clean glasses for less than $15, would you? If the chef offered it paired with a gorgeous Traditional English Plum Pudding, would that get your mojo running? I don’t know about you, but in that case, I may ask the manager if I could go into the kitchen and group hug the staff.

Your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to ask for Half Pints at your favorite pub or restaurant. If they don’t have us on tap ask why! You deserve better than pseudo IPA and stale dated “premium imports”.

Labels: Introductions, Ramblings