Give Me Liberty

Having survived the dueling festivities of the Fremont Solstice Parade/Fremont Fair and the Washington Brewers Fest a couple weeks ago, we are now prepping for extended 4th of July Urban Beer Garden hours. We'll be open on Sunday from noon to 9:00 p.m. to serve party-goers en route to the Gasworks Park fireworks show.*

And in a special display of patriotism, we'll be serving "Liberty Lager," a small-batch collaboration between our head brewer Matt Lincoln and Elliot Ryan from the Latona Pub, first mentioned in this video (scroll to bottom). If the temperature gets above 65 that day, it will be the perfect, thirst-quenching treat -- light, yet complex. I should know because I just sampled it from the bright tank in the walk-in. The sample valve on that tank being rather touchy, I also gave the floor a gushing taste. That'll teach me from sneaking drinks in the walk-in! But I digress. We'll also be serving a cask-conditioned IPA (discussed by Matt Lincecum here in addition to our regular line-up.

You might have noticed we're trying to amplify our "online presence" via tweets (@fremontbrewing), our new Facebook page (become a fan and post on our wall!), and our video-enhanced homepage. Thanks for your patience while this 44-year old with Luddite tendencies attempts to master the world of social media.

I'm sad to inform you that one of our brewers, Aaron Golston, will be leaving us next week to begin a graduate program at UC Davis so he can be a rich and famous brewer on his own some day. Aaron came to us by way of Charlie from Pike Place Brewing and he's been of invaluable service from the get-go: building the brewery, designing recipes, hauling kegs all over town, teaching us about beer chemistry, and scaring my sons into submission when they get wild. He's super-smart, conscientious, and funny but you probably don't know that because we try to keep him away from customers (his attitude is an acquired taste). He will be missed, particularly bybar managers who've grown used to the pleasure of his sunny disposition. Pictured above, painting kegs -- he just loves repetitive, mind-numbing tasks!

Yesterday I went to Whole Foods (@wholefoodsrsq) to get stuff for a dinner party and I saw myself on their FBC growler display -- it was weird. But better than seeing myself on a poster in the post office. So here's a little reminder that you can buy our beer in all five Seattle, Redmond, and Bellevue stores. And to answer questions about how long they keep, we shoot them full of C02 before filling them so that the beer stays fresher longer -- it can last weeks in the fridge before opening and for up to 3 or 4 days after opening, so I'm told. Speaking of Whole Foods, we'll be doing a tasting at the Interbay store (@interbaywfm) this Saturday, July 3rd from 4:00 to 6:00.

Finally, I'm excited to announce the launch of the Seattle Good Business Network, a network of local, independently-owned businesses that are committed to sustainability as an operating principle, either in their operations or products. I've been on the advisory team and I look forward to taking advantage of the business-to-business benefits as well as the business-to-consumer promotion opportunities. It's not just another business network and my description won't do it justice so just go here to find out more. It takes a village.

*Our regular Sunday hours are from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Happy Anniversary!!

We're approaching the anniversary of a MAJOR MILESTONE in our history. The Fremont 5k & Briefcase Relay is next Friday, June 11 and we’re serving the beer. That event, ONE YEAR AGO, was the first time we ever served our beer to the public. I think we called it “Test Batch, Universale” or something like that because we hadn’t worked out all the kinks of our production process (remember that, Kemp?). And if you were there as a runner or just a partier, you’ll remember we hadn’t worked any of the kinks out of our serving system. We didn’t bring a cash box for change (and I was slow on the ol’ subtraction – change for 2 beers from a twenty is um, wait a minute…), we hadn’t decided who would pour, serve, and take money, etc. The lines got long but it was sunny, the beer tasted OK, and people were happy enough that we were invited back this year.

I get a little misty-eyed thinking about that day a year ago – how totally psyched we were to make our debut and how much has transpired in our business since then. We owe much to the enthusiastic and forgiving Fremont community for our continued success and all the fun we’ve had. So cheers to the fact that we’re still here together and promise: the beer garden at the run will be run by true pros who’ve got beer-making and counting down pat.

Enjoy these photos from the vault. They include current server/investor Kemp Hiatt, Matt Lincecum, and yours truly, Sara Nelson.

Seattle Beer Week Events

Here's a not-necessarily-comprehensive list of events we're participating in for Seattle Beer Week. Please refer to the event list for more details.

Today, Tuesday, 5/18:

• Beer Cruise, 2:00 – 6:00, riders start at the Big Time and arrive at FBC about 3:00.

Wednesday, 5/19

• Firkin-Firkin WA vs OR @ Elysian Capitol Hill, 3:00 – 11:00 serving Totonac BBomb
• Beer & Brats at the Ballpark, Safeco Field, 5:00 – 7:00
• Brewers Night at Alligator Soul, Everett, 6:00 – 10:00

Thursday, 5/20:

• Urban Beer Garden, 4:00 – 8:00, as usual
• Ray’s Boathouse Copper River Extravaganza, 6:00 – 8:00, sold out.

Friday, 5/21:

• Urban Beer Garden, 4:00 – 8:00, as usual
• Brewers 9 Ball Tournament, Taphouse Grill, 6-10:00

Sunday, 5/22:

• Closing Ceremony at Hales noon- 5:00

Fresh Fills!

Seattle Beer Week is here!!! It’s scary thinking of all that great beer, all those fun events, and all those calories. We’re participating in several events over the next 2 weeks; tonight we’ll be serving at the Park Pub’s New Brewers Night and at West Seattle’s Beverage Place Cask Fest (serving a dry-hopped cask IPA with blood orange zest). Check SBW's calendar for more info.

Tomorrow, Friday, the 3 Seattle Whole Foods stores will launch their brand-new “Fresh Fills” growler offering with our beer!!! It was a bit of a scramble filling 72 growlers of IPA and 48 growlers each of Universale and Solstice during the ramp up for SBW but, hey, we’re scrappy and highly motivated (that's Matt filling in the pic above)! It’s been fun working with WF Corporate on this project and we look forward to more in the future.

To be honest, we had a fleeting concern that we’d lose business if people can buy our growlers at WF. But let’s face it, it’s a pain to get here during our business or UBG hours and the customer service isn’t always exemplary. So we figured the kind of person stopping by for a growler in the middle of the day (i.e. a determined, yet slacker, fan) is not the same kind of person who’s picking up some of our beer while shopping for delicious, healthy groceries at WF (basically, everyone else). Like I said, fleeting.

I look at this partnership with WF as a great opportunity to spread the goodness – and also, it might be the closest I get to being famous, with Matt’s and my photo on the displays ("end-caps") all over town (promo shot, above).

Hey, don’t forget we’re on Twitter: @fremontbrewing ! And you might have noticed the video snippets I’ve added to the homepage – fancy!

Can Can

The used caning line Matt scored for us arrived yesterday! It's a manual system capable of canning 20 cases an hour. Now we

just have to buy

some cans (minimum order: 85,000) and soon you'll see us in grocery stores -- and elsewhere...

Also yesterday, we put Universale into two cab barrels where they'll live for a year, turning into a subtle, oak & cabernet-inflected sour. Sours are the new thing, you know, and our head brewer, Matt Lincoln, produced some of the classiest sours when he worked at Goose Island in Chicago.

You might've noticed that we've been pouring cask beers at the Urban Beer Garden lately. Last week was a cask IPA and this weekend it's going to be a Porter. They haven't tapped it yet

though so I don't know how to describe its loveliness. Come on down and try it, why dontcha?

Last week's FRESH event with Theo Chocolate, Mt. Townsend Creamery and Whole Foods was a big hit among folks into sustainably-produced local food and beer (which pretty much covers half of Seattle, right?). Fun to party with our neighbors from Theo, who -- contrary to my Willy Wonka Oompa-Loompa associations -- are quite hip and hot.

(I'm pretty lame at formatting these posts and getting the photos where I want them. Above: Matt with canning line, barrels of Universale, the Theo team, Council President Richard Conlin speaking to the FRESH crowd, and Graham Day from Mt. Townsend Creamery -- the last 3 photos taken by Amy Benson.)

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!

Call for Artists, Cask Festival, Twestival

We're now participants in the Fremont First Friday Art Walk. This month we featured bike screen prints by Dan Stuckey. Now we need more material to show, most pressingly for Friday, April 2. And we're building up a list of folks to show throughout the year. So if you are -- or know -- an artist looking for exposure and sales, please contact me by email: sara@fremontbrewing.com.

Today, we tapped the first firkin of our brand new cask program! It's an IPA, dry-hopped with Chinook and Amarillo hops. It's delicious and ON TAP tonight at UBG. Tapping it was a rehearsal (it sort of erupted) for the casks we're contributing to the not-to-be-missed Cask Festival this Saturday at Seattle Center Fischer Pavilion:

• Totonac Bbomb: slow-roasted winter ale aged in 15-year old bourbon barrels from Kentucky with organic vanilla bean pods. It's basically an elaboration of our Bourbon Abominable (B-Bomb) which, sadly, is no longer available at UBG.
• Wee Little Woody: Universale Pale aged on American white oak and spiced with zest of organic blood orange.
• Mystere de Mars: As in March. It's a secret -- 3rd in the Mystery Series.

Matt's on his way right now to Emerald City Trapeze to donate the beer for Twestival Seattle. It's a 24-hour-long, world-wide fundraiser for World Concern. Tweeters and other social media geeks will schmooze, party, tweet, and swing (on trapezes) for this non-profit that's raising money for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile. TONIGHT from 7-10:30.

Hey cyclists: SDOT finally installed a bike rack in front of the brewery! I was getting impatient as folks were locking their bikes up to anything that doesn't move -- the gas meter, garbage cans, trees. Rack space is limited so get here early.

All Night Long

You gotta know about this: There’s a proposal circulating among Seattle electeds, bar/club owners, and opinion leaders to extend alcohol service hours in Seattle. The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association has been promoting two versions of the idea – the first to stagger closing times (2:00, 3:00, 3:30 or whatever) of venues based on size and other criteria and, more recently, to allow 24-hour service hours and “let the market decide.” Both have received initial support from Mayor McGinn, City Attorney Pete Homes, and several Councilmembers. Many news outlets have run stories, including Publicola, King 5 News, The Stranger, and KUOW here and here (CMs Richard Conlin and Sally Clark applaud the issue about half-way into Weekday).

To name a few of the proposal’s many benefits:

• Times are tough and this would give a boost to SMALL BUSINESS. Bar, restaurant, and club owners would generate more sales, which would result in increased City revenues.
• Having more night spots open in the wee hours would invigorate Seattle’s nightlife scene and would result in more “eyes on the street”, making people feel safer than they otherwise would while carousing or returning home from the late shift.
• Perhaps counter-intuitively, proponents argue that public safety would increase, partly because of the above reason and also because police could better allocate their patrol officers. If they don’t have to be everywhere at 2:00 am when all bars close and patrons flood the streets en masse (after slamming as many drinks as possible come “last call”), they can more strategically deploy cops according to the varying closing times.

Of course, for either version of this proposal to work, the City would have to enact several measures to ensure that venues take responsibility for over-drinking patrons and comply with more stringent safety regulations.

Personally, I love the idea and not primarily for crass business self-interest. Yes, Fremont Brewing could benefit from increased late-night sales of our product – but so would everyone on tap. Rather, I find increasing City revenues and boosting Seattle’s nightlife scene the most compelling reasons to go forward. And I agree that extending alcohol service hours would decrease many of the problems associated with the binge drinking caused by mandatory 2:00 closing times.

All-night/extended drinking is nothing new in many GROWN-UP cities in the US and beyond (see above news sources for examples). But Seattle’s sad legacy of over-the-top blue laws might contribute to resistance to this effort. Leading with the indisputable economic benefits might be the best approach: Seattle needs more sales and B&O tax-generated revenues to fund services we demand, like parks, libraries, and cops & firefighters. Equally important, instead of inhibiting nightlife, Seattle should take full advantage of the rich cultural resources this city has been famous for (namely the performing arts and its resident, thirsty hipsters) and give folks more options for public, communal recreation.

My last word on this is that we’re lucky to have such an engaged, politically savvy group of bar/club owners to guide policy makers on this (esp. The Red Door's Pete Hanning and The 5 Point Cafe's David Meinert). They’re putting in a lot of time and energy to provide the political cover our electeds need to persuade the WA Liquor Control Board to change existing regulations. It’s easy to kvetch about how hard it is to make a buck but the SNMA has a plan that all bar/club/restaurant owners stand to gain from.

Art & Politics

At last Friday's Urban Beer Garden, our landlord, Suzie Burke, brought her beer-loving, home-brewing, off-duty buddies from SPD's North Precinct to enjoy some pints.

In case you missed my last post, we’re now on Twitter (@fremontbrewing) so you can follow new developments in recipe experimentation, upcoming events, and plain old daily life around here.

At this Thursday’s (March 4^th) Urban Beer Garden, we’re hosting a big event for Seattle Politicos, a Facebook group I’m involved in. It’s the kick-off event for this year’s campaign season and a good opportunity for new candidates running for state office to meet Seattle’s political cogniscenti (and check-books); for incumbents to shore up support among their base; and for political hacks to play their favorite sport. I mention this because everyone’s welcome as usual but space will be tight – not the best UBG night to bring your PEPS group. Fortunately for those who wearied of my frequent soap-boxing last year, I don’t have a dog in this season’s race so I won’t be blogging as much about politics unless encouraged.

We are now participants in Fremont’s First Friday Art Walk, starting this Friday! We’ll be showcasing Dan Stuckey’s bike screen-prints (the ones that have been up all along, coincidentally). Dan designed our gorgeous logo. He was our next-door neighbor for years before he abandoned us for California because his wife got a sweet job developing gear for Fox Racing. I tell ya, this guy’s gonna be famous someday so you might as well start accumulating his signed, limited-run prints while we’re selling them for a dirt-cheap twenty bucks.

Tweet tweet

Kicking and screaming, we've submitted to our fans' demands and we are now “Twitterific”! (Is it just me or does that just sound so babyish?) Follow @fremontbrewing and you’ll get at least one tweet a day about life at ye ol’ brewery. I’m just learning the intricacies of this whole social media thing (thanks to help from my beer- and social media-geek hand-holder, Michael Foley @foleymo) and your patience is appreciated while I work out the kinks. If you’re wondering why I’m following Georgetown University, it’s because I thought I’d found Georgetown Brewing (@gtownbeer) and I don’t know how to un-follow yet.

And speaking of modernization, we're planning a major website redo that will reduce the boring text and feature rotating short videos of our goings-on among other things. Stay tuned...

Also new: we’re on the brink of signing with a distributor so you’ll have many more places at which to enjoy our beer – even some places south of the ship canal!

Our Urban Beer Garden is thriving and we’ve now got 6 beers on tap instead of four. This week: Universale, Interurban IPA, Abominable (our winter dark), Bourbon Abominable (my absolute favorite – Aboninable aged in bourbon barrels for months), Nitro Universale (creamy), and Little Woody (an old favorite, revived: our oaked Universale). That's Aaron prepping a tea-bag thingy of Chinook and Cascade hops for the next Woody.

Thanks to Green Frog Acoustic Tavern in Bellingham for hosting our Brewers Night last night. Matt Lincoln and Aaron had a great time – Aaron mostly at the expense of the red-head wine-drinker.

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).

In with the new!

The Urban Beer Garden is OPEN tonight and tomorrow night, DECEMBER 31st and JANUARY 1st, 4:00 to around 8:30 p.m. -- the perfect place to launch your New Year's Eve carousing and nurse your post-party hangover. On tap this week:

1. Oak-Aged Abominable Ale: A blend of our winter ale, aged in heavy-toasted French oak barrels and medium-toasted American oak barrels.

2. Universale: the intergalactically, world-famously tasty ale that begat the Empire of Fremont Brewing Co.

3. Interurban IPA: Perfectly balanced -- hoppy but not too hoppy.

4. Abominable Ale: roasty, chocolatey, malt flavors balanced by subtle hoppy spice. Warm up to it. Don't be scared to be Abominable.

Double the fun!

We’ve doubled our capacity! Yesterday, Jim Uer of Interior Stainless delivered two brand-new 30-barrel unitanks that he made in his shop in Summerland, BC. We bought our first two used from Georgetown Brewery, also supplied by Interior Stainless. So now we have four identical, gorgeous, stainless steel tanks, all lined up and ready for action. Jim, his wife, and two daughters drove them down on a long flat-bed trailer attached to their family pick-up. These things weigh 2,000 lbs each and took some fancy fork-lifting to get into place. Jim’s a calm, tall craftsman whose primary clientele is small breweries -- which seems to be a lucrative and fun market niche (compared to, say, dairies or bio-deisel or any other industry needing stainless steel tanks).

Why is this major purchase such a big deal? First, some Brewing 101: beer starts by boiling grain, hops, and magic in water to make wort. Once the wort is ready, it’s pumped from the brew house into a unitank where it ferments for a week or so. After the fermentation stage, the beer is transferred to another unitank for finishing: the suspended yeast falls to the bottom, carbon dioxide is added and the beer’s ready to be put into kegs. They’re called “unitanks” because they do everything: ferment, cool, refine, carbonate.

We have a 15-barrel brew house and until now, we could only accommodate two batches of beer at any one time – one batch in the fermenter, one finishing in the other tank. Even if we brewed double batches, we’d still only have two brews (or 60 barrels max) in the pipeline at any one time. With two additional tanks, we can do more experimenting with recipes, produce more one-off specialty beers, and make more mistakes without worrying about having enough beer for our wholesale accounts and retail sales. So this is a major milestone in our evolution. Now we need to get our hands on about 300 more kegs and we can sit tight while the cash comes rolling in – until we shell out the big, big bucks for a canning line.

Reminder: we’re offering the Interurban IPA at cheap, holiday prices through December 31^st: $3.00 pints at the Urban Beer Garden, $13.00 growlers (glass and fill), $6.00 growler refills, and two free FBC pint glasses if you buy a keg. Please check our holiday schedule to ensure someone’s here to take your money and check out our swanky new merchandise while you’re at it.

HOLIDAY IPA SPECIAL and NEW MERCHANDISE

Holiday shopping got you stressed? We can help. We’ve got a whole new shipment of merchandise including hoodies, women’s, men’s and kid-sized long & short-sleeve T-shirts in a dizzying (but not overwhelming) array of colors and styles. Many items feature an image of one of our fermenters on the front, launching our “artsy” line of brewery apparel. We also have baseball caps embroidered with our logo. And then of course, there’s always BEER which makes an ideal gift and sure takes the shopping edge off! Scroll down for pricing or go to the “Schwag” section of our website for photos of selected items modeled by real beer drinkers (and taken by iPhone – classy!).

And speaking of beer, sidle on down to the Urban Beer Garden for SPECIAL HOLIDAY PRICES on our new Interurban IPA! Pints: $3.00, new growlers: $13, growler refills: $6. Or buy a keg of IPA for that Boxing Day party and get two free commemorative pint glasses! And, just a reminder, the UBG is open Thursday, Friday, and now Saturday evenings from 4:00 to 8:30-ish. We’re open for retail Monday through Friday during regular working hours and now Saturdays from noon until last call. The IPA special will last through this month but if I were you, I’d take advantage of our very limited quantity of bourbon barrel-aged Abominable Winter Ale – truly extraordinary (if you’re a whisky fan).

PRICING:

Hoodies: $35

Unisex and Women’s long-sleeve T-shirts: $20

Kid-sized long-sleeve T-shirts: $15

Unisex and Women’s short-sleeve T-shirts: $15

Baseball caps: $20

Growlers (excluding IPA which is cheaper): glass + fill $15, refills $8

Bourbon-Beer and IPA

In case you’re wondering what to give those folks in your life who “have it all” (I don’t know anybody like that but I hear they exist), I wanted to let you know that we’ve got a huge new shipment of clothes for sale. Long and short-sleeve, men’s and cute-cut women’s, kids’ long sleeve shirts, hoodies, and soon baseball caps when Destee-Nation Shirt Co., our producer, gets them to us today or tomorrow. In addition to our logo, we have a new graphic of one of our big fermenters on the front of some of our items for the artsy-inclined on your holiday list.

Last night we threw a party (see photo) for our investors to thank them for making possible what was only last year a mere twinkle in Matt’s eye. We’re completely equity-financed (until some bank does what TARP intended and start LENDING MONEY with all that cash taxpayers fronted them) and a long time ago I said that I would extend a special thanks to them.

THANK YOU SO MUCH (in no meaningful order), Kemp, Matt, Eric, Shawn, Rob, Jerry, Michael, David, Colter, Ryan, Walt, and your spouses/SO’s for your generosity!!! You saw our vision and had faith in our ability to realize it. I believe the folks who drink our beer around town and enjoy the scene at the Urban Beer Garden appreciate your support as well. Cheers to you!

This morning I sampled some of our bourbon barrel-aged Abominable Ale Winter Warmer. Wow. Dark beer heavily infused with whisky -- yum. That's a picture of Matt Lincoln tapping a barrel for samples. Also, in case you haven't heard, we're serving (and selling) our Interurban IPA, FINALLY! As you know, I'm not a hop person but even I like this stuff. It's hoppy enough to be an IPA but you don't need a chainsaw to get through a glass. Check it out at the Urban Beer Garden this week (and buy a shirt while you're at it).

CO2 -- bad, Organic hops -- good!

An Urban Beer Garden regular recently admonished me for not blogging since Oct. 29 – my, how time flies!* But during my silence, a lot of interesting stuff has been going on around here. First, I’m working with Ross Freeman who is the Sustainability Director for Stevens Pass to finally calculate our carbon footprint using the Seattle Climate Partnership calculator. Our hope is to calculate our footprint per pint of beer produced and then, over the next few months, make serious efforts to reduce that footprint so that we can eventually get to a zero carbon footprint -- a lofty goal but there’s nothing like a challenge to motivate!

Part of reducing our footprint will entail funneling our CO2 into greenhouses that we’re in the exploratory phase of building on our roof. We’ll grow hops horizontally and probably lots of edible greens. I’ve long been distressed that the fermentation process of beer produces a bunch of CO2 that drifts into the atmosphere and changes the climate – bad, bad, bad. Adding insult to injury, we actually buy a big tank of CO2 and inject it into the beer at the last stage – expensive! The ideal solution would be to purchase a CO2 recapture system that stores our yeast-produced CO2 in a pressurized tank and converts it into a form we need in the finishing process. Big, commercial breweries do this because it’s cost-effective and they can afford the big bucks these systems cost (plus, they get carbon credits). But a system to fit our scale of operation would cost about $700,000 which is way, way, way out of our range. (If there are any rogue engineers who’d like to design us a system for less, get in touch!)

So the next best thing would be carbon sequestration -- in this case, putting that CO2 to good use by growing plants. Remember kids: plants breathe in CO2 and produce oxygen and food.

Another exciting thing is that yesterday the owners of Carpenter Ranches in Yakima paid us a visit to discuss the possibility of establishing a long-term relationship to purchase their organic hops (in this photo from left to right: FBC owner Matt Lincecum, Carpenter Ranches owner Craig Carpenter, his son, Colt, his brother, Brad, Ron Britt, Entomologist -- pest control czar, and our Head Brewer, Matt Lincoln). The Carpenter family is the oldest hop-growing family in Washington. Seven generations have been growing hops on their land since 1868. They supply several big beer producers with conventionally-grown Cascade, Columbus, Simca and other hop varieties but they’ve been devoting increasing acerage to grow hops organically. They already have several certified organic acres of land and several more in transition. But growing anything organically is more risky and costly – requiring high-maintenance integrated pest management methods (primarily developing fungus-resistant strains and using aphid and mite predators), higher labor costs, higher-tech watering systems etc. So the Carpenter family approached us to see if we’d like to become regular customers.

You might think there’d be enough organically-oriented breweries to provide a fairly steady revenue stream but, as I learned, a beer only has to have 95% organic ingredients to be certified organic and hops only contisitute about 3% of the total ingredient load. Therefore, if the grain’s organic, they don’t have to fuss with organic hops. Given the volatility of the hop market as a whole and organic hops in particular, many beer producers are reluctant to build recipes around an ingredient they can’t be sure they can get every year. And without a stable customer base, hop growers are reluctant to invest in the higher costs of organic production. But the Carpenter family is one of a handful of hop growers who are starting a non-profit organic hop association in order to share the resources needed to develop a diverse line-up of pest-resistant organic hop varieties – spreading the risk and increasing supply. Again, the beauty of the Collective!

More on all of this later. BTW, check us out at the Winter Beer Fest at Hales this weekend and we're providing the beer for a Seattle Climate Partnership event tomorrow, hosted by Unico. And we're also providing the beer for Councilmember-elect Mike O'Brien's campaign debt-relief part on monday, Dec. 6, ditto for Mayor-elect Mike McGinn on December 14th. google these events and drink up!

* By way of excuse, first there was the last push of the campaign (Richard won by almost 80% and received more votes than any Seattle candidate ever, including mayoral and unopposed candidates.). Then, on the Monday following the election, I reported for jury duty and was, despite my best efforts to get rejected, empanelled on a jury for a civil case that was to last about 3 weeks (Matt was not pleased). I served 2 days (fascinating!) but when I went to the doctor to deal with a cough I’d had for 2 weeks and the fever and muscle aches that I’d been experiencing for a couple days, I was diagnosed with swine flu and dismissed to convalesce (after likely infecting everyone in the jury box). Then there was Thanksgiving break, etc.

Last Call!

Just a quick reminder that Universale is the Red Door's Beer of the Month and you should take advantage of the discounted pint and pitcher prices before this month ends. Pints: $3.75, pitchers: $13.50.

On tap today and tomorrow at Urban Beer Garden are: 1) From Pumpkin to Carriage Stout (a rich stout subtly flavored with real pumpkin but without the allspice, cardamom, cinnamon spicing of many pumpkin beers), 2) Little Woody Oaked and Dry-hopped Pale, 3) Universale, and 4) Nitro Universale.

Also, we're finally on tap at the Nickerson Street Saloon and we're breaking into classy joints like the Hunt Club at the Sorrento Hotel and the Grand Hyatt -- but don't let that dissuade you.

Community

Our Urban Beer Garden continues to draw a fun, eclectic crowd.* My favorite offering tonight is the Gilded Marmot Belgian Golden Ale, superbly crafted by Matt Lincoln. It’s light (in taste and color, not alcohol) yet complex and refreshingly un-hoppy (but then, I’m one of those IPA-hating philistines). Don’t take my word for it, c’mon down!

Despite the craziness of the campaign trail (Election Day’s Nov. 3 – don’t forget to vote!), I finally managed to add content to the “community” section of our sustainability page and I added another: Community Involvement. It’s important to remind ourselves that one of the things that gives us so much satisfaction is being part of a thriving community, meeting new people, making connections, becoming part of the fabric of the social life of Fremont and beyond. Easy for me to say since I don’t actually make our beer and thus derive satisfaction only from drinking it.

But really, when Matt considered the perils of opening a small business amid a recession, one of the things that drove him into beer-making in Fremont was the desire to contribute something of value to the Greater Good. Whether or not beer, however sustainably-produced, is the right something is admittedly a matter of debate (insert long digression on the dangers of alcohol abuse). But providing a place to get together with friends, meet new people, cruise for dates, or just sit alone in the company of others is important. (Cafes serve this purpose too but -- and maybe I'm just going to the wrong ones -- nowadays it's sort of creepy how everyone's hidden behind their laptops.) Because places where one can re-create oneself and connect with others sustain community and provide refuge from the alienation and anonymity of these hyper-speedy, teched-out, economically-precarious, weird times. End of sermon.

Cheers, Sara

*Last Friday, a local PEPS group rendez-voused here – not to scare the child-averse among you. The typical flow of folks is as follows: 4-5:30, parents returning from picking up their kids from school, thirsty Bikram Yoga studs, and various drinkers convinced it’s beer o’clock somewhere (like Montana maybe). From 5-6:30 it’s the after-work crowd, from Fremont’s many large (i.e. Adobe, Getty Images) and small businesses (i.e. Bjarko/Serra Architects). These folks come to meet up with friends or have a bite before their main gig of the night. Then from 7-8:00ish it’s people like me who consider going out for a beer the big event of the night.

Beer of the month!

Universale is the Beer of the Month at Fremont’s Red Door, starting tonight! Not only is this great promo for Fremont Brewing, patrons get to drink our beer for cheap: $3.75 a pint or $13.50 for a pitcher.

Our Universale Pale and the Organic Berry Pale Ale (“Mystere de la Passion”) received top rankings at the Fremont Oktoberfest a couple weeks ago. Both were rated 4 out of 5 on the special iPhone app created for the event. No beer got 5 out of 5, making me question the ratings criteria. But whatever. Let’s just say the discriminating sophisticates who went to Oktoberfest thought we were pretty good.

Meanwhile, back at the brewery, the Urban Beer Garden is going strong. The Red Door’s old swanky furniture provides intimate little niches in an otherwise pretty industrial space. I brought in more toys to entertain the little ones accompanying the pick-up-from-daycare crowd so that’s good. On tap today: Nitro Portage Bay Porter (new), All Salmon IPA (new), Little Woody Oak-Aged Pale, and Universale. Reminder: the Urban Beer Garden will be closed next Thursday, Oct. 8 for a previously scheduled event (see below) but will re-open on Friday, Oct. 9.

Drinking Liberally

If you haven’t had a chance to check out our Urban Beer Garden, I encourage you to do so. It's on Thursday and Friday, 4-8:00 pm.* Matt and his crew serve three or four beers, including Universale, Nitro Universale and a couple small-batch mystery beers they invent just for fun – last Friday featured Firelight IPA and Matt’s Creamy Steamy Porter. Patrons get to enjoy the fruit of our brewers' creative genius and we get the benefit of the community’s feedback for future recipe refinement. Pints are four or five bucks and seven buys you an FBC pint glass and a fill.

For most people, the attraction of the UBG is simply to have a place to hang out with friends on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 4-8:00 – to unwind after work or get loose before the weekend’s prime-time events. Since beginning three weeks ago, the news has spread among locals and folks who work in and around Fremont that it’s a relaxed, unpretentious (yet hip in its own way) scene where you can meet up with other friends, have a bite, or just hang with our crew.

We have one long family-style table made from wide-plank fir bleacher board and several swanky red leather circular booths and funky art glass tables inherited from the old Red Door that we set up for the occasion. We have menus from several local restaurants from which you can order delivery or take-out (if you’re not sated by the pretzels Aaron so generously shares). Kids of all ages are welcome – there’s chalk, a sturdy spring ridey-thing and other stuff to entertain them (with your supervision, of course).

Last Friday, there was a steady stream of people sampling the crazy brews, rendez-vousing with buddies, and enjoying local grub. Many stopped by just to pick up a growler and ended up staying until close. It’s that cool. Try it!

*Please note: on Thursday, October 8 the Fremont Brewing Company will host a party for Councilmember Richard Conlin to raise money for his reelection campaign (which I’m managing). So the Urban Beer Garden will resume the next day, on Friday, Oct. 9.

But please consider attending this shindig for Richard! It’s an open event aimed at people who aren’t your typical political junkies but who appreciate Richard’s work on behalf of neighborhoods, the environment, sustainable local food, skateboarding, the music scene, transit (pretty much the gamut of good causes) – or want to know more about what he’s done for them lately and what he plans to do in his next term if reelected. Basically, we’re expanding our base by appealing to beer lovers. In fact, YOU are very likely my target audience so come on down, drink some beer, eat some food (I’m looking for donations in this department), meet your councilmember, and get to know more about your city.

The facts: October 8, 6-9:00 pm. $25 suggested donation. RSVPs would be nice: sara@richardconlin.com.