Week 3 under wraps....Firecracker Imperial Red in the fermenter.

     The past week was not incredibly busy at the brewery as we only needed to brew once. Although this was the case it still felt like an incredibly busy week as many events are scheduled in the coming weeks. We were able to knock out a few more projects in the brewery and schedule some annual maintenance. This is rather rare in China as preventive maintenance is usually something nobody ever considers. I guess this is part my Western approach and something I take some pride in. It also means the brewery runs smooth!

     After knocking out these projects we were able to transfer the last batch of Southpaw Winter Warmer to the bright beer tank. The Winter Seasonal Selection should continue to pour through late February or early March. The Spring Seasonal will be Brawlin' Belgian Witbier so I'll have to coordinate the new yeast shipment during the last weeks of February. The beer transfer meant we had an open fermenter to brew into so we brewed a Boxers Choice beer that has been popular around Chinese New Year. Firecracker Imperial Red is a hoppy red ale that I loosely define as a Pacific Northwest Red Ale. The malt profile includes some light additions of caramel malts as well as a touch of chocolate malt. This malt provides a nice color hue to the finished beer as well as a slight chocolate note. The hops are the major component of Firecracker Imperial Red as we use Centennial hops for late additions as well as dry hopping. If all goes as planned it will pour around Chinese New Year at both locations. The brew day also included a visit from Carl at Great Leap Brewing in Beijing. We were able to taste Yunnan Amber from the bright beer tank and coordinate the shipment of some kegs to Beijing. We're both very happy with Yunnan Amber and think the light tweaks we made to the recipe made it taste even better. The beer has some additional richness while still allowing the black tea notes to come through. I expect Yunnan Amber to pour in the coming week or so.

     The other bright beer tanks have some TKO IPA and King Louie Imperial Stout so our beer lineup will see TKO IPA returning to the taps. TKO IPA is our second best selling beer and a beer that we normally have pouring at each location. The fury of collab brews and some special one-off beers meant this brand took a temporary hiatus....but it's back and tasting nice and hoppy. It's also the top rated beer on Untappd and RateBeer for China! Take a look......

     King Louie Imperial Stout is tasting wonderful as it's very thick and luscious with light notes of smoke upfront followed by coffee and chocolate. The 8% ABV is buried very well in this beer. I'm excited to keg this beer tomorrow and send it directly to our Sinan Mansions location for a VIP beer release party. It should be a fun event with some happy faces at the end of the evening.

     The remaining free time of the week was spent discussing our Brewmasters Dinner on January 29th and planning our Super Bowl Party for February 4th (China time). We've done the Super Bowl party the last several years and it's a fun time watching the game although kickoff is at 7:30 am on a Monday morning. This years party should be good with a breakfast buffet and free flow beers starting at 7am until 11:30am. The price for food and drinks is 200 rmb and if you only want the breakfast buffet the price is 100 rmb. During halftime we're going to have a wing eating contest so I'm hoping some wing lovers show up and provide some additional entertainment. 

     

     Another project I have undertaken is organizing the second annual Shanghai Beer Week. My friend John helps out tremendously as we bounce ideas back and forth as he builds the website. We're excited for this years events and think we'll have twice the number of participants and events in 2013. Currently we're targeting mid to late May for Shanghai Beer Week but are waiting confirmation on a few items. We plan to extend the events over 8-9 days and continue to have the Sinan Mansions Beer Festival during the last weekend of Shanghai Beer Week (SHBW). Stay tuned for additional information or feel free to check out the website as we publish information (http://shanghaibeerweek.com/).The website is still in beta testing so check back from time to time. In general this project is a labor of love for us as we believe it really helps legitimize the emerging beer scene in Shanghai. We literally pour our free time into this annual event to make the beer community stronger and wake people up to flavorful beer. In the end SHBW is a free promotion to anybody participating in the beer business in Shanghai. Shanghai Beer Week is done with clear intentions to assist in establishing a beer culture in the city we call home. This philosophy is opposite the "zero-sum economy" often seen in China where businesses fight for their "own" in fear that if they don't get "theirs" then "somebody" else will. Often the thought of working together to establish "something" is incomprehensible which leads to all the hardware shops or furniture shops being on the same street. In the end this is a deep conversation regarding East vs. West so I'll step down from the soap box. I just feel lucky that we have some supporters of SHBW that really get this community principle....it turns out there are people that understand this vision and they don't think we're totally crazy!

Until next time....may your glass be full of flavorful and locally produced beer!