First, I have to again state that this place is in a crazy state of growth. Aaron took us through about two hours after we met there, and he was running around that place the entire time. I felt bad, and told my friend that we could do it again another night. He talked to Aaron and he told us that he WOULD be with us, he wanted to take us (three of us) through. He had distributors there, computer problems in the pub, and domestic (his son) things going on. The guy really impressed me. It was 6:00 at night and I smelled boiling wort outside. I sucked it up
and worked pints of the freshest crooked tree IPA I've ever had until he finished up.
First off, I incorrectly stated that Aaron is the brewer here. He's stepped back in this growing brewery and mainly runs the business(brewery, brewpub, general store, etc.) now. But, from my take he's not far removed from any of it.
They work a 7/10 bbl. system, doing 4 batches a day. By my count they had five fermenters/aging tanks, and one bright tank. Three of the tanks held three batches, which they obviously brew back to back. They seem to move stuff through pretty quickly! Currently he's having some distributors wait 3-4 days on shipments! They are planning on adding a 25 bbl. system soon. I also spotted several oak barrels stacked neatly on one wall
.
On the hop shortage: They have contracts, but they are feeling the pinch. He said that 6$/lb. hops are now 20$. No suprise there, but they are struggling to get some varieties. He named cascade/centennial and went to detroit to get some this week from a fellow michigan micro.
What really suprised me was when I asked about a house yeast strain. Maybe I was pushing, but he didn't act like it was a problem and openly told me that they used Nottingham for a number of their beers, and he told me what they used for the rest. I really don't remember what they were specifically
but I do remember that there were all dry yeasts available to homebrewers.
All in all I thought that the whole experinece (my first) was really fun. I understood everything that he talked about, and felt kind of amazed at how simple it was. I would recommend seeing this place to anyone that is in the area. Some of the employees were wandering through the pub while we were waiting. My friend knew some of them and they all offered to show us the brewery. Our SWMBOs and kids came for pizza (which is excellent) as well. They have a large beer garden and even a sandbox for the little ones.
Touring Dark Horse Brewery Tomorrow: update after
Seriously a 2 day soak in a strong oxyclean solution won't budge those labels.
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