Rolling in 2013- Week 1

     I have taken a couple weeks off from writing as I travelled for Christmas to the Philippines. It was a nice warm vacation but lacked any flavorful beer as I primarily had San Miguel or Red Horse as the only available options. Hopefully the next trip to the Philippines I can visit the Global Beer Exchange in Manila as they're supposed to have a good selection and some craft beer from America.

     The brewery has been steadily cranking out beer since week 49 with 2 batches of Right Hook Helles and single batches of TKO IPA, Southpaw Winter Warmer plus a batch of King Louie Imperial Stout. This will allow us to keep up with the 4 core brands and keep the Winter Seasonal beer flowing until late February or early March. I'm excited about King Louie Imperial Stout as we brew this once a year. This beer has gained a loyal following amongst stout lovers in Shanghai so it's a joy to brew this beer and of course sip during the cold winter months. We'll look at releasing this beer towards the end of January and will keep people posted via social media circles.

     Just prior to New Year's Eve a massive bottle tasting was held in Pudong with some fellow craft beer lovers. We accumulated 42 different bottles of beer to taste! The selection was very diverse as most of the beers were muled to Shanghai from all over the world. The tasting was sensational and we "only" made it through 36 bottles. Here's a lineup of the bottle aftermath.....Lots of stuff from NZ and AU.

     One particular gem of the evening was a bottle of Sanctification 006 from Russian River Brewing in California. This beer is 100% fermented with Brettanomyces and has amazing complexity and depth. The style of beer is described as a Sour Blonde with the nose of the beer having typical horse blanket aroma from the wild ale fermentation. The layers of flavor were amazing with different fruit notes and some acidity to scrub the mouth. We set this beer aside for awhile to let it develop while also using it as a refreshing palate cleanser to recalibrate our tastes. It worked very well and it's a 2012 beer highlight for me. We also tasted a bottle of Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise later in the evening and this beer was equally impressive. These 2 bottles of wonderful beer inspired me to get the Brettanomyces bruxellensis I've been sitting on in my refrigerator at home. I acquired these during my last trip to America and I've decided to use these 2 vials (pictured below) to inoculate 2 wine barrels I've used over the past 2 years.

     The red wine barrels have seen 3 different "beer turns" and essentially become "barrel neutral" as they're only providing light oak notes to the finished beer. The beer destined for these barrels is our Contender Extra Pale Ale (formerly called Mosaic Ale). This beer is a light golden ale with some tropical fruit notes from mosaic hops. I think the resulting beer will be very interesting and I'm eagerly awaiting the process of this beer developing over the next several months. The resulting beer will be one of the first sour beers (intentionally might I add) in China.

     The month of January is an exciting month for Boxing Cat Brewery as we're renovating the entire first floor space at our Yong Fu Lu location. The bar is going to be completely redone and will no longer be double sided. This will allow for more space behind the bar as well as improving the seating at the bar. The garden section of the old bar will also allow for more seats. The kitchen will get an overhaul and some new equipment for our ace executive chef and his new menu launch later this Winter. If all goes according to plan the Yong Fu location will re-open on January 14th. The Yong Fu location will have a fresh face as we have a new manager at this location and what I consider to be a top notch beer guy amongst Shanghai beer circles. Some of you may now him as Nick previously managed a Belgian beer bar called De Refter. In addition we hired a marketing person and Liz is doing a great job so far (follow her on twitter @boxingcatbeer. You'll see Liz and her warm Aussie personality around BCB so it's only a matter of time before our regulars get to know Liz & Nick. I'm very excited about the new team we have in place at BCB as we continue to push beer culture forward in Shanghai. To wrap up the month we'll have our Brewmaster Dinner on January 29th at Sinan Mansions. We're currently locking down the menu and beer pairings so I'll have to write about that in the near future. All in all 2013 is shaping up to be a great year for Boxing Cat Brewery!

Until next time....may your glass be full of delicious craft beer!