Week 48- Another collaboration beer!

     The past week turned into another busy week as 2 new beers were released and some out of town visitors were at the brewery. We released a small portion of Bare Knuckle Barleywine to each shop and the response has been terrific so far. I think people are surprised it's served in a wine glass but once they hear that it's 10.2% ABV the smaller serving starts to make sense. The tasting notes from fellow beer lovers include complex flavors of chocolate, raisin, caramel and light coffee. The hop notes are present but over-shadowed by the sticky flavors of the beer. I'm setting a couple barelywine kegs aside to let them age a bit more in our keg cooler. I think the beer will change a bit in the next 2 months. Overall the drinkability of this beer is impressive and has already "kicked" a few people sidewards! I'm super pumped for the barleywine aging away in the used Jim Beam bourbon barrels.

     The first brew of the week was our popular collaboration brew; Yunnan Amber. Carl from Great Leap Brewing came down Tuesday night so we could talk shop and of course drink some beer. I tapped Bare Knuckle Barleywine for him and Leon and of course Leon was rather late to our "meeting". Anyway....Carl and I brewed Yunnan Amber on Wednesday and the brew day was silky smooth. Later that evening we met with a freelance reporter doing an article for Shanghai Daily. We're excited to see the article she presents and get craft beer additional media exposure! I expect the article will run in the next 10 days or so. The beer won't pour until just before Christmas if the schedule unfolds as I expect. If you're not familiar with Yunnan Amber you can read a bit out the beer here: (Yunnan Amber- City Weekend Shanghai) Hopefully the new Great Leap brewpub project opens early in the 2013 and I'll make the trip to Beijing to brew a new collaboration beer with Carl. More fun collaboration brews ahead!

      The remainder of the week we needed to keg some beer including the stout I brewed with Jesse from Harmon Brewing. We kegged Split Decision Stout on Thursday and sent it to the bar on Friday so we would pour the beer for his going away party. In addition we kegged some TKO IPA as our inventory was getting a bit low. This beer is one of our best selling core products and something the expat community often thanks me for. They need their hoppy beers in China! Of course I'm also a fan of hops and often drink this beer. I'm also pleased with our new company logo and all the brand logos. The look is more universal across all beer brands and incorporates some Chinese so it can appeal to a greater audience. A sample of the new TKO label in case you hadn't seen it yet.

     The party for Jesse on Friday night was incredible. It makes me realize how many people know Jesse in this massive city. He will be greatly missed by many friends! The response to Split Decision Stout was great and it was fun to let people know that we brewed the beer together. Essentially it was Jesse's idea and I just put the puzzle pieces together to execute the beer. The overwhelming crowd arrived thirsty Friday night as we ran low on Palisade Lager and the staff decided to tap a keg of Barleywine in its place. Needless to say the party really kicked into high gear!

     On Saturday night another friend from Australia was in town for a beer tasting. Dave is a commercial airline pilot and a fellow craft beer fanatic. He always arrives with luggage full of wonderful beer to share with us. We of course try to reciprocate the offer but our choices are rather limited in Shanghai for bottled beer. The selection was excellent and included great beers like Russian River Redemption and Brewdog Dog A. We didn't crack into all the bottles so his next visit we'll have a massive tasting! Hopefully I can find some good beers over Christmas vacation and contribute! In the meantime I hand bottled some Bruce ChiLee IPA so he could take some back to Sydney and share with his beer mates. It's rather rewarding to spread the craft beer love and I look forward to some Aussies checking this beer into their Untappd (https://untappd.com/) database!

Until next week.....may your glass be full of great craft beer!