Blackberry Oro, Blueberry Oro, Nectarine Oro & Yellow Peach George

Here's what we have available starting today at 5pm:

Blueberry Oro! This lovely little beer is crisp, tart and dry. It was aged in French oak barrels previously used for red wine with blueberries. It is on tap in the tasting room today, and available on Friday to go in 750mL bottles. Limit 6. 300 bottles.

Yellow Peach George! We love the way stone fruit compliments the funkier characteristics of Oro. 750mL bottles of George are available in the tasting room tonight, 5pm. Limit 6. 304 bottles.

Blackberry Oro! The color of the sour and jammy farmhouse ale will surprise you - it's deep magenta, reminiscent of the red wine stains on the French oak barrels we used to combine the wild Southern California blackberries and the base beer. We are releasing 750mL bottles on Friday in the tasting room. It's on tap now! Limit 6. 306 bottles.

Nectarine Oro! The rare and elusive nectarine (seriously find a beer with nectarines!) works really well with our base Oro. Fruity, funky, sour and effervescent. Available tonight at 5pm in 750mL bottles. Limit 3. 144 bottles. 

Because these bottles are very effervescent, we recommend refrigerating these bottles overnight. 

Blackberry Oro, Apricot Oro, White Peach George and Dinosour

Here are the details on our upcoming bottle release:

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Dinosour: Using our Tart Oro as a base, we packaged a few barrels that were aged in wine barrels with raspberries with our friends on the other end of Fourth Street. The Dinosour anniversary sour marks the first of many sour beers to come. Dinosour is 4.2% abv and packaged in 750mL bottles, available for sale in the tasting room. Bottle count: 300. Limit 6 bottles per person in the tasting room.

White Peach George: Again, Tart Oro, our fruity and tart farmhouse ale, serves as the base. This variation is aged in wine barrels with fresh white peaches harvested by our friends at the DTSA Farmers Market, Sunnycal Farms. This version of George clocks in at 4.1% abv and is available in 750mL bottles. The bottles and draft will see limited distribution. Bottle count: 300. Limit 6 bottles per person in the tasting room.

Apricot Oro: As the name suggests, this is our Tart Oro aged in red wine barrels with apricots. The resulting blend is bright and funky, bringing out the best characteristics of apricots. The apricots were harvested by Sunnycal Farms - you can find them at the DTSA Farmers Market. Apricot Oro is 4.1% abv, packaged in 750mL bottles. 5 cases will be sent out to our longstanding retail accounts. A few bars and restaurants will get kegs of Apricot. Bottle count: 156. Limit 4 bottles per person in the tasting room.

Blackberry Oro: Your favorite tart and fruity farmhouse ale, Tart Oro, aged in red wine barrels with an unreal amount of blackberries. This beer is bright with fruit and sure to bring a smile to your face. Harvested by my brother in Julian, California, these wild blackberries are incredible. No distribution. Bottle count: 72. Limit 2 bottles per person in the tasting room.

Three New Bottles

Building upon the success of our first bottles, the dry hopped Bravo variations, we have bottled three additional beers. As with the Bravo release, these beers are conditioned in the bottle. Because we referment in the bottle, the release date is currently unknown - the best I can do is "April."

In April we plan to release three new bottled beers. Here's the story on the upcoming releases:

Saison Viejo was the first beer we brewed in our new brewery. It's an amber farmhouse ale that is based on a recipe I had homebrewed many times in the years leading up to our opening. This beer was aged in used red wine barrels with wild yeast and bacteria. This bone dry saison has a subtle acidity up front and finishes with rich malt. We had it on tap in the tasting room and it was well received. We have a few more barrels of this beer that are still evolving - we'll release them as they finish up. For now, we have about 150 bottles (750mL) of Viejo.

It's no secret that we like the flavor and aromas that Brettanomyces creates in a pure culture fermentation. Our house blend of Brett throws off a lot of peach, strawberry and melon esters. Saison Vivo is an all-Brett farmhouse ale that we aged in wine barrels for about three months. The resulting beer is dry, crisp and refreshing. We have about 220 bottles (750mL) of Vivo.

This was a recipe that we developed with homebrewer Charles Rapadas, a saison with spelt malt fermented in oak barrels. Charles propagated the yeast for this batch, with each barrel receiving a unique culture, and this barrel's microbes stood out. This beer has far less barrel character than the aforementioned Viejo and Vivo, thanks to the barrel fermentation, but it is no less crisp and dry. There's a nice funk factor and this beer has a subtle tartness to it. We have about 180 bottles of Roble 34.


Follow us on the interwebs. We'll publish availability online.

A year in review: 2014

Welcome to the year two thousand and fifteen!

It will be a big year for Good Beer. We are already starting to expand our distribution and bottled barrel aged beers are not far off. But the purpose of this blog post is not to talk about what's coming up, even though the future is incredibly exciting. The purpose is to look back to all that was accomplished in 2014.

In early 2014, we received the final approvals on our architectural and engineering plans, and pulled the permits to start construction. A project that seemed simple on paper took about 6 months to build out. The construction crew that helped build the brewery cannot be thanked enough. Jon is a great friend and spectacular contractor - he has the ability to think through the most complex of construction projects and build out simple and elegant designs with top-of-the-line materials. Wilson is a beast - he put all of his energy into this project, whether he was hauling 100-pound concrete blocks or working on delicate finishes. My brother Bryce is an absolute animal - he helped me build the glycol plumbing without any prior experience, install the kettle vents through the roof, and everything in between. I dropped a piece of conduit on my dad's face - it was one of the few moments that blood was shed during the project. He endured, and was a driving force behind putting together the glycol plumbing system. And everyone else that helped out along the way - Jill, Robyn, David, Crandall's Plumbing crew, and Skelly Electric, could not be thanked enough for making the dream come to life.

David, my brother and I started making beer in August, with our first batch, a recipe that I had brewed many times as a homebrewer. Saison Primero was borne on a commercial scale. A few years ago, David showed up at my house with a used wine barrel. We filled the barrel up with a sessionable saison that was a simple two row and wheat malt bill with a dash of Special B malt. That beer aged for months, receiving doses of wild yeast and bacteria from time to time. By the time the next So Cal Homebrew fest came around, we had pulled off a bit of aged beer and successfully blended it with other saisons and brett-beers. At my wedding in 2013 I had several versions of the house saison, featuring tertiary treatments with blackberries, raspberries, peaches, and dry hops. And that's just a taste of things to come.

Since then we've brewed up a huge variety of beers: three saisons, two all-brett beers, two pale Belgian-style beers, three india pale ales, two flavorful session beers, and a breakfast stout. Those batches served as the bases for numerous variations, too: DTSA Citra, Citra Wheat and Stout de Olla being a few of the most popular. We put a lot of beer away in wine barrels for aging, secondary and tertiary treatments, and yeast and bacteria additions. Those beers will likely be the highlights of 2015.

I cannot forget our loyal and local fan base. We thank you for following our story, and for supporting this mission - to craft world class beer for a good cause. We want to make a difference, and you're the reason we will be able to do just that. Those of you that have joined us in the tasting room know that we are dedicated to providing a craft beer experience. Our brewery and tasting room is more than a space where you can buy beer - it's a place where you can gather with friends and family to share experiences. We have a beautiful building with history and charm. Throughout every aspect of our business, we want you to know that we are committed to quality and community.

And then there's the folks that have provided support from within the industry. We've had the pleasure to meet Orange County's greatest brewers. Whether we're picking brains, sharing ingredients, or just plain sharing a beer - the craft brewers in this County are unreal. Our buds over at Bottle Logic threw us a bag of rice hulls when we planned and ordered ingredients for our Rye IPA. Our Class of 2014 brethren over at Barley Forge helped us out when a yeast pitch would not take off. Our buddy and world class homebrewer Charles Rapadas grew up some yeast for a special barrel project we are working on. Those are just a few of the stories behind how tight-knit this community is.

And our accounts - State law prohibits me from mentioning the folks that buy our beer. Cross promoting is seen as providing something of value to our accounts and that's a no-no. So I'll just say that we love Jarred, Jon, Jeff, Ryan, Casey and Ron. Thanks for helping us grow!

The fermenters are full. The barrels are full. The tasting room is full. And Good Beer is full-steam-ahead into 2015.