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:

1. The lineup started at 7 am, proving the brewery motto "you snooze, you lose".


2. 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!


3. 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.


4. 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!


5. 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.


6. 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

...it seems to be a bit of a sport amongst beer knurds to point the finger and call a brewery a sellout for making beer that sells.

"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

Nicole called me yesterday to not-so-subtly remind me that it's been too long since my last update. We've been busy with all things beer and today is no exception.

A few weeks ago we realized that we were going to run out of St. James boxes a lot sooner than we originally thought. It's been a popular beer over the last few weeks and with the hot weather, even more so. We were out of boxes for two weeks-ish and have now re-stocked the stores with their supply.

On the positive front, we've signed up for the Great Canadian Beer Festival in Victoria, as well as the Flatlander's Beer Festival here in Winnipeg. You'll be seeing the brewery at both in some form or other. It turns out Ethan's first day of Kindergarten coincides with the GCBF's first day so, Nicole and I will be staying home that weekend. Seems kinda odd that you'd have your first day of school ever on a Friday, but I'm not the one who runs the show there.

Tonight is the Zoo's Bear Social and we've donated a schnazzy stainless BBQ for the event that will help raise money for the Winnipeg Zoo. We've specifically kept our logo off it because we figure the last thing the winner will want is a "Half Pint's" BBQ. Well, that and the fact that we're not in the BBQ business. With all the talk recently in the papers about Zoo funding and such, we're happy to be supporting them as:

1. They need it. Seriously.
2. Our kids love it. And what Winnipeg 30 somethin' doesn't remember the time they almost slipped into the pond at Fanny's Farm while trying to avoid a friend during a game of tag.
   
3. It could be world class again if we all pitch in. This is just one way we pitch in.

Next week, we're the proud sponsor of the VIP Tent during Canada Day Festivities at The Forks. You'll see members of the Half Pints crew on site, making sure the beer flows and the stock is full. It's great to be a part of this event as the WSO is playing, and we know what fans they are of Half Pints.

On the brewery front:
We've brewed the Humulus Ludicrous again for a mid-August release. There will be a limited supply because other provinces (BC & AB for example) have asked for it, too. Keep your eyes peeled for the date and we'll try to make our hophead customers happy. FYI, we had a few of these stored away since the last time we brewed it, and have been slowly doling it out as critics, reviewers, and photographers have asked. We had a couple in from Pennsylvania the other day and during our quick walk around the brewery, we cracked open the second last bottle. For a beer that's two years old, it's held up quite nicely.

We've also been brewing up something new that you may be able to pry out of Chris, but not me. Suffice to say, it's gonna be a good one.

Labels: Festivals, Humulus Ludicrous, St. James Pale

Check out the schnazzy new van decals. That's right, it's a giant St. James logo on the back.

We can now deliver in style.

Stay tuned to our facebook fan page next week and we'll run a "find the van, win the schwag" contest.

Labels: St. James Pale, The Van

Holy smokes, it's been a crazy month. Nicole and Tom have set up a boat load of events to beat the Winter Blah's. One thing I can say for sure is I'm not feeling them this year as badly as I have in the past. We've got windows in the brewery, and now that the sun's up a little earlier, I find I can come in, throw on a batch of beer, and by the time I'm done my breakfast, the brewery is bright enough to not need these terrible orange gym class lights.


Chris was kind enough to forward on his photos from our weekend in Regina so I can post them up. We drove out to Regina on Thursday morning (Feb. 5th). Thanks to all the Manitoba highway workers for finally twinning their little stretch of the number one. Special thanks to the Saskatchewan workers who pretty much did 4 times as far in the same time span. It really does make the drive pleasant, regardless of which ex-mountain dweller/new Manitoban you speak with.



On Thursday night, we had the pleasure of being the "show" at Beer Bros. Bakery & Cuisine, located in the Scarth Street mall dead center of downtown Regina. You've really got to know that you're in the right venue for beer when this is the attitude of the owners (see photo at left).

Being a high end, yet comfortably casual place has done the folks at Beer Bros. proud. We had a fantastic Brewer's Dinner that should make anyone jealous.


The event was held in their private room for 30 people total - no small feat when the restaurant was really hopping (pun intended).



First course up was an Amuse Bouche of Little Scrapper IPA Beer Battered Pickerel Cheeks served with Belgian Pommes Frites. Let it be known that there is something to be said for knowing what the hell to do when you're making proper frites. They were so crispy and tasty, I could've just sipped IPA and munched on those alone.


Second course was their cheeky version of Chicken Pot Pie. The mood was set by the Chef coming around and placing a Half Pints coaster at each place setting while explaining what earthly delights we were about to partake in. Classy.


These Caramelized Chicken Pint Pies were a blast to eat, and as you can see Brenda Falkenstein and I were loving the presentation. We had these served with Bulldog Amber Ale and the pairing was perfect.

Third course consisted of a Coriander Candied Seared Salmon on a bed of smashed potatoes and spinach puree. We had brought our new St. James Pale Ale as the pairing for this course and the chef came up with this all at the last minute after he tried the beer. I can hear him now "must drink beer to perfect recipe". Not a bad mantra if I do say so myself.

Fourth course was a fantastic Stir Stick Stout Braised Short Rib with a chocolate and stout sauce over a roasted beet hash. This by far was one of the highlights of the night. Served with the Stir Stick on the side, the ribs were fork tender and perfectly done.


Finally, the piece de resistance was the fifth course dessert of a Goat's Cheese and Caramelized Onion Cheesecake. A rich, caramelly, savoury delight if there ever was one and served with the Sweet Nikki Brown as a foil to the goodness of the caramel notes throughout.


All in all, as I said to Darren and the crew: for $50 plus taxes and gratuities, you'd never find a better way to spend the night. I swear that the meal in Winnipeg would've set you back $100 BEFORE drinks were added to the bill. Special thanks to the staff and all the attendees at this event. We're already making plans to do another one when I'm back in mid-April for the A.L.E.S. Club National Homebrew Competition.





Friday night, we kicked into high gear for the Festiv-Ale, Regina's annual beer festival put on in support of the Legion.



Here you see Gary Falkenstein and I pouring brews for the locals. Thanks for the help, too - Gary, as it made it a little easier to get out from behind the booth to try a couple of beers I'd been looking forward to.



Of specific note were the Mill Street Wit (possibly past it's prime but the spice flavours were there), the Dogfish Head 60 Minute (others I spoke with said this had a dodgy/spotty character depending on what bottle you had - the one I tried was excellent), and the Phillips Amnesiac (supposedly a Double IPA but quite soft for the style - maybe a little older too?). Regardless, finding beers of this caliber at the Festiv Ale is common and thankfully not the exception to the rule.



The beauty of this festival also lies in the fact that it's not all about beer, so everyone feels welcome. The food booths (non-existent at our own local Flatlander's Beer Festival) seem to go out of their way to offer something tasty. We were located beside the Nature's Own Sausage guys who gladly trade mixed skewers of sausages for beer. Hey, the taps are busy so you need sustenance.



Saturday afternoon, Gary, Chris and I headed over to the Bulk Cheese Warehouse for some tasty nibbles. I picked up a Truckles with Malt Whisky that is just wonderfully creamy and peaty to boot. I also got some Sticky Toffee Cheese (a fine little number Gary introduced us to) and they helped us find a washed rind soft cheese I can't for the life of me remember the name of, other than the fact that we wolfed it down Saturday night at Gary's with some wicked beers. The fellows at the Warehouse were also keen to make sure I tried their smoked steak and Bleu Cheese Butter sauce that evening at the fest. Worth it in Spades. We made my obligatory stop in to see Tony at the India Spice House. I got my Lalah's Curry Powder, some tandoori spice blend and a jerk chicken sauce I've yet to try. The Lalah's I've already made a Mulligatawny Soup with and plan on doing some more curries with for quick lunches at the brewery. Yummy!



Anyhoo, while we were gone, we heard that Jack at the Lo Pub straddled the Firkin of dryhopped St. James Pale Ale on top of his bar a-la Dr. Strangelove while Jarrod hammered the tap home. Pictures to follow...

All this and the month isn't even close to being done yet. We'll see our Alberta fans next week at Bottlescrew Bills 15Th Annual Beer Fest, and we'll be stopping in at a few accounts on a whirlwind tour of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Hope to see you all at the next events, as it always makes it more fun.



Cheers,
Brewmaster Dave

Labels: Festivals, Regina, St. James Pale

For some time now, we've been working on a new beer for draught only distribution. Obsessing over recipe design is a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

We've had a bunch of new accounts sign up recently that really want two of our beers on tap to support the only remaining locally owned brewery (US!) but their customers find our Scrapper or Stout a little much for their palettes. Who can blame them, as we've always brewed ballsy beers and made no apology for them. They're lovin' the Bulldog - hey, who doesn't? - and they'd really like something along those lines with a touch less caramel character. So, for a brewery that doesn't brew "lite beer" what's the solution?

1. Listen to our customers, but don't brew a lite beer. That would just be nasty.
   
2. Be the inventive little brewery we've always been.
3. Make something that tastes distinctly like Half Pints, and drinkable to a fault.
   

Enter the St. James Pale Ale; the newest member of the Half Pints family of beers.

This brew is gold in colour with a tight white head. The aroma is of sweet grain, while the body has a toasted honey character from the melanoidin malt we add. There's an herbal hoppy nose from the Mount Hood hop (a Hallertau variety grown in the NW United States) and a fruity finish from a cool ale fermentation.

Stylistically speaking, this beer straddles the guidelines between a German Helles (a soft, grainy lager) and Kolsch (a lagered ale). It is an ale, but with a refined, almost lager-like finish from the cool fermentation.

Last night we carbonated a bottle to share amongst the brewery staff. We were kicking ourselves for not making up more than one bottle. It's nice to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, but we really want to see reactions in a crowd. So, we're bringing the St. James Pale Ale with us when we rock the crowds at the Festiv Ale in Regina again this year. If you find yourself in Regina on Febrewary 6th and 7th, stop by the booth, you won't be disappointed.


EDIT:
We got the St. James Pale Ale into the final carbonated form the night before our regular Saturday tour. By all accounts it tastes like a winner! The guys at Luxalune will have it on tap in the next few days. Stop by and try a pint, order the buffalo spring rolls and shoot some pool. Tell them we sent you!

Brewmaster Dave ;)

Labels: St. James Pale