FRESH!

We've wanted to collaborate on a project with our neighbor, Theo Chocolate, for some time now, but we were always a little shy about approaching such a highly-esteemed chocolatier. As it turns out, they came to us and we've joined forces to promote "FRESH," an award-winning documentary celebrating the farmers, business people, and visionaries from accross the country whose commitment to local, sustainable food is helping to revolutionize our food system.

At an event here on Sunday, April 25 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm, Theo will launch two brand new chocolates made with our winter and summer seasonals. We've sampled a couple iterations and they are melt-in-your-mouth divine. That's chocolatier Joanna Lepore, in the middle, one of Theo's marketing people, Audrey, on the left, and me on the right tasting the first batch in Theo's test kitchen.

Here's Joanna's description: "The Abominable hits with a malty bitterness that recalls the fermentation process of making both chocolate and beer. The Saison is more subtle, finishing with a grassy bite that stands out against the sweetness of the ganache. Decorated with hops and malted barley, each confection ends with a powerful beer-y crunch that lends depth to this decadent treat!"

Thinking a party with just beer and chocolate might be a tad decadent, we've teamed up with Mt. Townsend Creamery to provide a smattering of their hand-crafted cheeses. Tickets for the event cost $25 and include a voucher to "FRESH," running at Seattle Central Cinema from April 30 - May 6th.

Special guests will include Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, champion of sustainability and instigator of Seattle's Local Food Action Initiative and Ana Sofia Joanes, Director of "Fresh". Capacity is limited to 200 so get your tickets now!

The new normal

The two new unitanks have been hooked up, rinsed and put to use. Yesterday we brewed a double-batch of Universale and today will be a double of Interurban IPA. By day’s end tomorrow, we’ll have 120 barrels of beer on the floor (“…120 barrels of beer. You take one down…”) in varying states of readiness. Feels good not having to ration product all the time to meet accounts.

If you missed out on sampling our delicious winter Abominable Ale during the holidays, don’t fret. It is still available in growlers and at the Urban Beer Garden so drink up – we’re offering 12 oz. goblets for 3 bucks while supply lasts. And if you want a really, really decadent treat, we’ve got a bit of our bourbon barrel-aged Abominable left on tap this week too. Redolent of whiskey, rich but not cloying, and about 8% alcohol, this is a rare treat (not sold by growler due to limited quantity).

Taps and Bags

I should’ve known that my pledge to blog every Monday would result in failure. My New Year’s resolution every year is to floss and drink more water and I usually bail on that by early February. Sorry if I let you down last week but I’m really trying.

So, major progress on the retail front! Matt has secured about 25 accounts at bars/taverns/restaurants around town, mostly in the north end. Find a source near you here.

If you were to stroll along 34^th and turn north onto Woodland Park Ave, N., you’d instantly notice the striking blue (not navy, sky or royal blue but handsome “Honorable Blue”) building with a sleek, stainless steel-lined doorway on your left. The first thing you’d see upon entering is a handsome, antique (1936) wooden cooler. Matt bought that cooler at ReStore and, unbeknownst to him at the time, it was already connected to our family. Its previous home was Pies and Pints on 65^th near Roosevelt (serving meat pies and cold beverages), which was owned by Vince Gallapega until he died suddenly in 2007. Vince was my very first boyfriend and my very first kiss (March 16, 1979, Arden Junior High, Sacramento, CA). He was a charismatic lover of food and beer and showcasing this old treasure is a perfect homage to his memory.

That cooler will contain growlers and (future) six-packs as soon as Mad Mike has finished refurbishing it once he has fully recovered from his crash returning from the motorcycle gathering in Hollister, CA last month.

By now you’ve received your mail-in ballot if you’re a registered voter. My guy, Richard Conlin, is not on the ballot because he has only one opponent so you won’t get a chance to vote for him until the general election on November 3^rd. While I have a lot of strong opinions about the candidates on the ballot for the August 18^th primary, I’ll spare you my thoughts on all but one very crucial ballot measure, Referendum 1. This is the Green Bag Fee and I urge you to VOTE YES. Because this is a beer blog and I already take considerable advantage of this soap-box for issues unrelated directly to our product (like domestic and civic politics), I direct you to my Facebook note to learn more about why.

Getting There

Hello Beer lovers! We're getting close!! Carbonix. which sells C02, nitrogen and helium (no N02, in case you were wondering) has been here all day hooking up the carbon dioxide and oxygen tanks. I wonder if I should ask him to comp me some helium for my son's birthday party balloons (he turns 5 tomorrow, 4/16). Earlier this week, the two liquor tanks, reused from Georgetwon Brewing, arrived. It was fun to watch Matt, Devin and Kemp unload those two 450-gallon tanks with the tiny forklift and some really fat straps. Keith, our ass-kicking plumber (and stainless steel welder) has been here all week attaching copper pipes to the wall and running the glycol lines. Matt got a new/used stereo to keep the place rocking all day. Our friend Dan is throwing his 40th birthday party here so Matt's brewing a test batch of beer on the old "husband land" system. That's what I called Matt's original set-up that was first in our garage and then in the outside shed (the boys are very happy to have that newly empty space for a fort to sneak their Easter candy). Practice makes perfect, you know.

And the checks keep rolling in -- which is what I predicted (see my Feb. 6 post below). In this down economy, people want somewhere to invest their money that's not gonna disappear before their retirement. And rather than buy gold bars (which I hear is the all-time safest investment), they want something cooler, colder, tastier -- like gold beer.

So the place is looking like a real brewery, with all this stuff around. Very little room for scootering which was fun in the big empty space of yore. It's anticipated that Matt will run the first batch in two weeks. First, he and our oldest son are going to the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston (and to hang with his brother and see his new niece). When he gets back, they will run the test batch and beer will follow shortly. Yummy. I'm going to keep my text brief and fill up this space with some exciting visuals for you. But first, if you're jonesing from the action of the last campaign season and looking for a worthy cause to get involved in, consider supporting the reelection campaign of my old boss, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin. He's an effective leader with politics that any sustainable beer fan could get behind. Check out http://www.richardconlin.com/

That's all, folks.

Montana Dreaming

  It happened! He's back (see photo) and the brewhouse is on the way home. Tuesday is the big day! Thanks to the guys and gals at Red Lodge Brewing for helping and sharing a large amount of their tasty IPA, the Broken Nail.

Win, Win.

Sorry construction junkies, it’s Sara again so no detailed info on the construction progress except that concrete was poured into the drainage trenches yesterday, the cold room was delivered today – my birthday, btw.

Did anyone catch that guy on NPR a couple days ago talking about the recession-proofness of beer?  What did I tell you? There seems to be a lot of talk about that these days.  I wonder if the American Beer and Brewers Association (ABBA – if there isn’t such an organization, there oughta be. (That was a joke but my editor didn’t get it and told me to say the “Brewers Association” so it sounds like I know something.)) has launched some big public education campaign or something.  But I digress.  My point is simply to point out that I wasn’t just making that up in my last post.

Another thing I’m not making up is that, supposedly, the most robust recession-proof sector is green technology.  Fremont Brewing Company is hopping on that band-wagon for sure – but for all the right reasons (not just to get federal/state stimulus money or small-business tax breaks or low-interest loans – not that we would turn those down or anything if offered…).  I’ve already mentioned FBC’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and also use organic ingredients and you can read more about that stuff in the real sections of this website.  The back story is that we’ve been like this since the 80’s and finally the circle has caught up to our way of thinking. But there’s a whole other aspect of green that I don’t think Matt has mentioned.

FBC is located in an 8,000 sq. ft warehouse in Fremont.  Not needing that much space, Matt has sublet half of that space to Blue Marble Energy, a start-up that produces food flavorings out of algae and other biological matter and the by-product of the manufacturing process is gas (methane I think).

Blue Marble Energy is going to use Matt’s spent grain to make their product and power their and FBC’s operations with the gas. How cool is that?  Once Blue Marble ramps up, they’ll sell extra energy back to the grid (I’m not really sure how that works). Matt could have sublet to a kite manufacturer or a juggler or whatever but he found this company by talking to everyone who would listen about this dream to zero out carbon emissions in a microbrewery and the connection was made.

This symbiotic relationship reduces carbon emissions because the spent grain (very heavy) will not be transported somewhere for disposal or composting.  And Blue Marble’s production costs will be lower because part of their raw material is free (and right next door).  And the “waste” will be used for energy, obviously better than funneling it into the atmosphere.  Additionally, while we’re fortunate in the Northwest to have fairly clean hydropower thanks to the rivers running off our mountains, the electricity that we don’t use isn’t just sitting around.  City Light sells it on the grid to other places that might have access only to coal-generated power – bad, bad, bad.  So the energy that Seattleites don’t use because of conservation or the above-mentioned re-use of waste helps minimize the consumption of dirty electricity by freeing up more of the clean stuff for use in flat places without big rivers and lots of gravity.

What Recession?

Hello. This is Matt's wife, Sara, blogging today (he's busy). Like you, I've been reading the blow-by-blow of the brewery construction: electricians, plumbers, trenches, drains, and next week - concrete pouring! Not that this isn't fascinating, but I thought you might be interested in something else. Hey, did you hear the economy shed almost 600,000 jobs in January. Good thing I didn't have one to lose. And by the way, don't you think the word "shedding" has a rather positive connotation, as in "shedding pounds"? Maybe they're trying to soften the blow; whatever happened to the old stand-by "lost"? 

Just kidding. I know this isn't supposed to be about politics-it's about BEER and a sweet new brewery. But as a political junkie, I can tie anything to politics, broadly speaking, and the Fremont Brewing Company in particular provides lots of fodder for someone like me. So if you'll indulge me a minute, I'll give you some good news of political relevance-about beer:

1. Beer is recession proof, according to people who get to speak on NPR. It's not that Fremont's beer will convert Miller drinkers, but folks feeling the pinch will choose a frothy pint of Fremont's UniversAle over a $40 bottle of wine for a dinner gathering.

2. Once FBC ramps up, we will be hiring people, contributing to the economic upswing (that is sure to occur before I cave in and cash out all my nose-diving assets).

3. And speaking of assets, Fremont is a great place to park some cash if you're looking for something to invest in, since you're not going to buy that investment condo any time soon. You'll think it's cool to tell folks you sent your kids to college on beer money.

4. Fremont is going to contribute to less global warming than it could because of all the carbon-neutral processes and local, organic ingredient sourcing that Matt has put in place (see www.fremontbrewing.com). This makes for less guilty consumption.

5. In hard times, or any times, community-hanging out with friends, meeting new people, being part of something beyond your daily grind-makes life more fun. And nothing created community better that a local microbrewery. Fremont Brewing wants to lubricate Seattle's social life. In the end, all you need is love...and good, local beer.

I'll stop now. Don't worry, next time you'll get the construction updates you came here for-that is, if Matt isn't overwhelmed by requests for more of yours truly (see picture here because there are no pics of me yet on this blog. Hmm....).

Trench Drains

As we inch closer to actually making beer, some construction projects are more exciting than others. Setting the trench drains gets our blood boiling down here at Fremont Brewing. Yes, it doesn't take much. This week, we'll set finish in the rough in of plumbing, receive our cold room (hopefully) and spend the weekend setting the trench drains. Next week, we'll set up the cold room and pour the concrete for the trench drains. Stay tuned...in the first picture, you can get a glimpse of the future tasting room in our mezzanine. From the windows, you can sip a cold beer (special Brewer's Series available only at the brewery), look at Mt. Rainier over Lake Union or turn around and watch us make beer. Good times.

Trench Drains

As we inch closer to actually making beer, some construction projects are more exciting than others. Setting the trench drains gets our blood boiling down here at Fremont Brewing. Yes, it doesn't take much. This week, we'll set 

Trench digging

Will we ever make beer again? Yes. And we will have wonderful trench drains to help keep the brewery clean. Cutting over 300 feet of 6 inch concrete and digging into the hard, winter dirt of Seattle proves to be a very big job. And, what does every big job need? Bigger tools. We enjoyed the excavators and took 4 days to dig out the trenches. Now, we're ready to set the drains and prepare for the concrete to be poured back in.....closer to beer now.

Standing up the fermentation tanks

After they arrived, the job of unloading the tanks consumes our full attention. Since the tanks were already damaged in transit, we were focused on making sure no more came to our new babies. Luckily, the unloading and standing up of the tanks went relatively smoothly. Note the newly painted walls....We look forward to putting our first batch of beer in the tanks soon.

Fermentation Tanks arrive!

The two 3o BBL fermentation tanks are finally in the brewery. We got the tanks from the fine folks at Georgetown Brewing (darn tasty beer) and these pics show the loading and unloading process. Unfortunately, the tanks were damaged in transit. We are in the process of determining exactly how bad the damage is. 

And so we paint...

At this point in time, starting a brewery is beginning to seem more like a very large construction project than the art of making quality beer and the skill of running a business. Still, fun is had and in these photos we are painting the enormous wall we built and the ugly cement walls. Notice the first shipment of kegs arrived; now it begins to feel like the brewery!