Friday, February 22, 2013
Upcoming: Zoning Administrator Public Hearing
It's finally official: The Good Beer Company Conditional Use Permit will be considered at the Public Hearing before the Santa Ana Zoning Administrator. The hearing will take place on March 6, 2013 at 10:30 am and will be open to the public. Please attend in support of Good Beer!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Conditional Use Permit Application Submitted
Because The Good Beer Company is a use that will produce, distribute and sell an alcoholic beverage, we're required to submit a Conditional Use Permit Application("CUP"). The CUP is reviewed by the Zoning Administrator and the Planning Commission to determine whether the activities are acceptable in the location proposed and is of general benefit to the City, compatible with all surrounding uses, and consistent with the City's General Plan (that's text straight from the CUP form).
Well, the application, fee, and mailing information for all property owners and tenants within 500 feet of the proposed site were submitted to the City today. Now, we sit back and wait for the Administrator and Commission reviews - which will take place in February.
Well, the application, fee, and mailing information for all property owners and tenants within 500 feet of the proposed site were submitted to the City today. Now, we sit back and wait for the Administrator and Commission reviews - which will take place in February.
Monday, December 31, 2012
"The Art of Beer" Trailer
Last Fall, I met Joshua Lang at a little get together at the Food Beast headquarters in Downtown Santa Ana. Robyn, Jen and I showed up with a couple kegs of beer and were immediately pouring pints. Joshua was shooting a video of the impressive musical performance at the party. Robyn started talking to him and it turned out that he was in the process of shooting a documentary about craft beer with director Oscar Ussery!
Anyways, we exchanged contact cards and got in touch shortly thereafter to shoot some footage of a homebrew day and an interview about the Good Beer Company. Here's the trailer and here's the full 15 minute film shown at the premier:
Check out their Facebook page for more information: The Art of Beer
Anyways, we exchanged contact cards and got in touch shortly thereafter to shoot some footage of a homebrew day and an interview about the Good Beer Company. Here's the trailer and here's the full 15 minute film shown at the premier:
Check out their Facebook page for more information: The Art of Beer
The Art of Beer is "a documentary about the cultural impact of craft beer in Southern California. Dir. by Oscar Ussery and Produced by Joshua Lang"
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Julian Brewing Company Brew Day
My brother Bryce was offered the assistant brewer position a few months ago and has brewed several batches on the Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewing system in Julian, California. Bryce calls me all the time to talk about what he's doing and I've stopped in several times to sample the house ales - and they never disappoint. Bryce brews under the tutelage of Mike Gabbard of Pizza Port.
Bryce and I collaborated on the recipe over the last couple weeks of November and Bryce, Mike and I spent the day brewing a batch of Double IPA on December 1st. Pale malt with a pinch of munich, caramalt, and white sugar made up the fermentables in this big beer that should have a light malt background with crisp dryness. Warrior hops were used for bittering and Citra and Chinook hops were used in ample quantities for flavor and aroma addition. I snapped a photo after our final hop addition - check out the green hop slime that coated the top of the boil kettle!
Photo: Bryce crushes the grain with the malt mill
Photo: Sparge arm distributes hot water on top of the grain bed.
Bryce and I collaborated on the recipe over the last couple weeks of November and Bryce, Mike and I spent the day brewing a batch of Double IPA on December 1st. Pale malt with a pinch of munich, caramalt, and white sugar made up the fermentables in this big beer that should have a light malt background with crisp dryness. Warrior hops were used for bittering and Citra and Chinook hops were used in ample quantities for flavor and aroma addition. I snapped a photo after our final hop addition - check out the green hop slime that coated the top of the boil kettle!
Photo: Bryce gets sacks of grain ready for the mill while I weigh out the munich and caramalt.
Photo: Bryce crushes the grain with the malt mill
Photo: I'm mashing in (we used masks to avoid inhaling grain dust).
Photo: Bryce checks the temperature of the mash. We nailed it.
Photo: That's me monitoring the sparge.
Photo: Sparge arm distributes hot water on top of the grain bed.
Photo: I let Bryce do the hard work, like shoveling grain from the mash tun
Photo: Late in the boil, after adding four pounds of hops, the kettle looked like we were brewing green slime...
Photo: Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewery
Friday, November 30, 2012
City "Approval"
Well, we received "approval" from the City's Design Review Committee. Plans will be stamped on Monday! It should be a time for celebration, but it doesn't feel appropriate. There's a long road ahead, including additional plan reviews, public hearings and administrative review, before Good Beer can even think about breaking ground.
I also received a letter from the County Health Department. They provided a list of changes to the plan set in order to make it compliant with their codes. Nothing earth shattering, so it shouldn't be a problem to comply with.
Anyways, we're moving forward with the permitting!
On another note, I'll be up in Julian tomorrow to brew a batch of beer with my brother Bryce at the Julian Brewing Company! Details forthcoming...
I also received a letter from the County Health Department. They provided a list of changes to the plan set in order to make it compliant with their codes. Nothing earth shattering, so it shouldn't be a problem to comply with.
Anyways, we're moving forward with the permitting!
On another note, I'll be up in Julian tomorrow to brew a batch of beer with my brother Bryce at the Julian Brewing Company! Details forthcoming...
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
City Plan Review and County Health Department
I have neglected the blog for too long. Fear not, I have not neglected spending all my free time moving Good Beer forward.
In the past week, I have moved two necessary processes forward. I resubmitted a revised plan set to the City of Santa Ana and submitted the initial plan review package to the County of Orange Health Care Agency's Wholesale Food Program. So we're moving forward through the heaps of licensing, permitting and regulation.
I received comments from the City, revised the plan set, with the help of my talented cousin and recent Architecture graduate, Jen Manckia, and resubmitted the revised plan for a second review. It's my understanding that some of the staff at the City are getting excited about having Good Beer as a member of the downtown business community.
I had lunch with Vicky from Downtown Inc. back in June. Downtown Inc is a non-profit serving as Santa Ana's Downtown Business Improvement District (BID). Downtown Inc receives funding from an assessment on Downtown property owners and the BID's purpose is to market and promote downtown to the world. Downtown Inc's mission is to facilitate the enhancement of Downtown Santa Ana as a vibrant shopping, entertainment, business and cultural destination for all. I imagine Good Beer will be working closely with Downtown Inc in the coming years as we share a mission to enhance Downtown Santa Ana.
As for the County review, I met with County staff a couple times over the summer and even had one inspector visit my building for a pre-submittal screening. We came to some great solutions and I expect the plan set to move through the County permitting process rather quickly.
Can you believe it!
In the past week, I have moved two necessary processes forward. I resubmitted a revised plan set to the City of Santa Ana and submitted the initial plan review package to the County of Orange Health Care Agency's Wholesale Food Program. So we're moving forward through the heaps of licensing, permitting and regulation.
I received comments from the City, revised the plan set, with the help of my talented cousin and recent Architecture graduate, Jen Manckia, and resubmitted the revised plan for a second review. It's my understanding that some of the staff at the City are getting excited about having Good Beer as a member of the downtown business community.
As for the County review, I met with County staff a couple times over the summer and even had one inspector visit my building for a pre-submittal screening. We came to some great solutions and I expect the plan set to move through the County permitting process rather quickly.
Can you believe it!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Beer Experiments
Between brewing pilot batches and moving Good Beer forward, August has been a busy month!
This past month, the home pilot brewery crafted some really cool beer concepts. I have several beers I'm extremely excited about, even though I haven't even tried them yet. Between late July and this past weekend, I brewed a Farmhouse Strong, an Imperial Stout, a Sour Session ale, a Wild Pale Ale, and enough beer to fill a used oak barrel - literally.
The Farmhouse Strong was bottled almost two weeks ago. The Farmhouse Strong is a dark, strong, American-hopped beer with Belgian yeast flavors. It was fermented with a delicious Belgian Saison yeast blend which I've been using for a couple years with great success. It is definitely my go-to Belgian yeast. I added some dark malts (Special B and Chocolate) to try and achieve a chocolatey raisin flavor. And, in the spirit of Southern California, I added copious amounts of Cascade, Columbus, and Chinook hops. It clocked in at 8.0% alcohol by volume. Like I said, I bottled it a couple weeks ago, and have yet to taste it, but it tasted great along the way. I'll surely open a couple this weekend (Labor Day) while relaxing by the pool.
The Imperial Stout was inspired by the Haven Brewing Breakfast Stout brewed by my good friend Dave Larsen. He used a lot of chocolate malt to create a viscous and decadent Breakfast Stout. I had the pleasure of trying it from the fermenter a few months back, and had the barrel aged version on Monday night at the Haven 3rd Anniversary Party in Orange. Anyways, I used a bunch of chocolate malt and as many malts as I could to create a thick, viscous mouthfeel. This beer is sitting in fermenters right now, and I've been toying with the idea of racking it on some oak or vanilla beans before bottling it up.
The Sour Session ale was quite an experience. I decided to try my hand at a pseudo-sour mash. I've done a lot of research in sour mashing, recently, and it finally inspired me to try it out. Boy, was that scary. I mashed and sparged a grain bill for a pilot batch of pseudo-Berliner Weiss, then drained the wort to a 5 gallon corny keg. In the corny keg, I let Lactobaccilus and a host of other microorganisms free. For four days, the keg sat at about 104 degrees to promote the souring. By day two, the keg was carbonated. By day three, it was getting scary and I had thoughts of sour beer explosions in the garage. By day four, I decided I could not just sit back while a time bomb sat in my garage. I attached a beer serving line to the keg's "outlet" and put the other end in the kettle. To my surprise, the keg was so carbonated that it pushed all the beer out and in to the kettle. I boiled the beer (to stop the souring process), added hops, and I am fermenting it with an ale yeast. It's an interesting experiment.
I'm very much looking forward to the Wild Pale Ale. It's a style that is just now becoming popular in the craft beer world, but wild ales have been brewed for ever. My Wild Pale Ale is hopped up with citrusy American hops and fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis, bruxellensis 'Trois' and lambicus. I have never used this yeast, and many brewers fear letting it loose in their brewery, but I can't let that stop me. From what I've been able to ascertain from internet research, B. bruxellensis 'Trois' is producing magnificent tropical fruit flavors - think pineapple, mango, papaya. The B. bruxellensis and lambicus were added to the other fermenter to experiment with yeast blending and to compare the different strains. Based on this, I thought a hoppy Pale Ale was the way to go. I'll return with results in the future.
Finally, in a collaborative effort with Dave Larsen and Mike Roberts, we brewed enough beer to fill a used oak barrel. In. One. Day. I'm not kidding. In a single day, the three of us combined for over 50 gallons of beer. We brewed a simple, low-gravity Saison, knowing fully well that it would be aged in a french oak barrel that had previously been used for wine, and most recently used by a local brewery for a soured Imperial Saison. The simple beer we put in the barrel is going to sit there for a while, developing additional flavors, absorbing the oak, and taking on the essence of what had previously filled the barrel. I also plan on releasing some additional souring strains of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Brettanomyces, to add complexity. It's going to come out of the barrel a completely different beer. I'll report back with results in several months.
This past month, the home pilot brewery crafted some really cool beer concepts. I have several beers I'm extremely excited about, even though I haven't even tried them yet. Between late July and this past weekend, I brewed a Farmhouse Strong, an Imperial Stout, a Sour Session ale, a Wild Pale Ale, and enough beer to fill a used oak barrel - literally.
The Imperial Stout was inspired by the Haven Brewing Breakfast Stout brewed by my good friend Dave Larsen. He used a lot of chocolate malt to create a viscous and decadent Breakfast Stout. I had the pleasure of trying it from the fermenter a few months back, and had the barrel aged version on Monday night at the Haven 3rd Anniversary Party in Orange. Anyways, I used a bunch of chocolate malt and as many malts as I could to create a thick, viscous mouthfeel. This beer is sitting in fermenters right now, and I've been toying with the idea of racking it on some oak or vanilla beans before bottling it up.
The Sour Session ale was quite an experience. I decided to try my hand at a pseudo-sour mash. I've done a lot of research in sour mashing, recently, and it finally inspired me to try it out. Boy, was that scary. I mashed and sparged a grain bill for a pilot batch of pseudo-Berliner Weiss, then drained the wort to a 5 gallon corny keg. In the corny keg, I let Lactobaccilus and a host of other microorganisms free. For four days, the keg sat at about 104 degrees to promote the souring. By day two, the keg was carbonated. By day three, it was getting scary and I had thoughts of sour beer explosions in the garage. By day four, I decided I could not just sit back while a time bomb sat in my garage. I attached a beer serving line to the keg's "outlet" and put the other end in the kettle. To my surprise, the keg was so carbonated that it pushed all the beer out and in to the kettle. I boiled the beer (to stop the souring process), added hops, and I am fermenting it with an ale yeast. It's an interesting experiment.
Photo: pH measurement of the soured session wort
I'm very much looking forward to the Wild Pale Ale. It's a style that is just now becoming popular in the craft beer world, but wild ales have been brewed for ever. My Wild Pale Ale is hopped up with citrusy American hops and fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis, bruxellensis 'Trois' and lambicus. I have never used this yeast, and many brewers fear letting it loose in their brewery, but I can't let that stop me. From what I've been able to ascertain from internet research, B. bruxellensis 'Trois' is producing magnificent tropical fruit flavors - think pineapple, mango, papaya. The B. bruxellensis and lambicus were added to the other fermenter to experiment with yeast blending and to compare the different strains. Based on this, I thought a hoppy Pale Ale was the way to go. I'll return with results in the future.
Photo: Brettanomyces yeast strains
Photo: Brettanomyces yeast starters
Photo: Wild Pale Ale fermenting away (Saison in the background)
Finally, in a collaborative effort with Dave Larsen and Mike Roberts, we brewed enough beer to fill a used oak barrel. In. One. Day. I'm not kidding. In a single day, the three of us combined for over 50 gallons of beer. We brewed a simple, low-gravity Saison, knowing fully well that it would be aged in a french oak barrel that had previously been used for wine, and most recently used by a local brewery for a soured Imperial Saison. The simple beer we put in the barrel is going to sit there for a while, developing additional flavors, absorbing the oak, and taking on the essence of what had previously filled the barrel. I also plan on releasing some additional souring strains of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Brettanomyces, to add complexity. It's going to come out of the barrel a completely different beer. I'll report back with results in several months.
Photo: I guess you could say we're starting a barrel program.
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