Brew Masters on Discovery w/ Sam Calagione

[Randar]

Is it just me?? I soo wanted to enjoy this show but the owner of Dogfish Brewery just pisses me off.. They make everything look so easy and sexy... I've been brewing for 15 plus years and nothing ever goes right even when it does... It must be brewers' envy or something... I just can't stand him or his perfect brewery..LOL

First of all, commercial and home brewing processes are totally different. Secondly, they have shown things going wrong. Thirdly, once you have a hard-wired, hard-plumbed system, and stop tinkering with it between every batch (like I and many other homebrewers do), it becomes a lot more reliable.

 

[FullDraw]

I'm a fan of the show. My wife, who is very good at rolling her eyes every time I mention anything beer related, is now a fan of the show. It's inspiring enough to get me thinking about recipes more and pulling out the "brew rig". Anything that does that is good. I'd recommend the show to anyone interested in the nuances of the brewing process. Especially my free-loading friends that ask dumb questions about the process. Heaven forbid they actually learn something.

 

[jbrookeiv]

The negativity that some of you have shown in reaction to the show boggles my mind.

Sam seems like a down-to-earth, quirky dude who loves what he does. He makes beers that he likes, and they seem to be doing very well. I LOVE most of his beers, and think they are consistent and high quality brews.

Also, having a show on national television about brewing is a dream come true. The show provides an in depth look at the work that goes into running a brewery, which I think is a dream for a lot of us. I know the show inspires me to work even harder after seeing where Sam came from.

So quit your complaining already! If you don't like it, don't watch it. I know I look forward to it every week, and every time I watch the show, it makes me want to brew. I think that is a very good thing.

*steps down from soap box*

 

[Frodo]

If you find a Festina Peche clone, let me know. I love that beer.

Have you seen this thread? Sounds like it'd be a starting point anyway.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=&t=15829

 

[jgln]

The negativity that some of you have shown in reaction to the show boggles my mind.

Sam seems like a down-to-earth, quirky dude who loves what he does. He makes beers that he likes, and they seem to be doing very well. I LOVE most of his beers, and think they are consistent and high quality brews.

Also, having a show on national television about brewing is a dream come true. The show provides an in depth look at the work that goes into running a brewery, which I think is a dream for a lot of us. I know the show inspires me to work even harder after seeing where Sam came from.

So quit your complaining already! If you don't like it, don't watch it. I know I look forward to it every week, and every time I watch the show, it makes me want to brew. I think that is a very good thing.

*steps down from soap box*

I see it as a discussion between internet friends about a topic, no big deal about people who don't care for it as much as others, it happens all the time. I guarantee you if I come to work and during lunch I bring up any new show on TV or some movie there are going to be some that don't like it as much as I do or not at all. I wouldn't want them to leave the room or get out of the discussion because of that.

 

[jbrookeiv]

I see it as a discussion between internet friends about a topic, no big deal about people who don't care for it as much as others, it happens all the time. I guarantee you if I come to work and during lunch I bring up any new show on TV or some movie there are going to be some that don't like it as much as I do or not at all. I wouldn't want them to leave the room or get out of the discussion because of that.

I feel like a lot of it is beyond just discussion, and well into the "bashing" realm.

 

[jtlawlor]

.... and I dare any homebrewer to sit thru an hour long show and NOT run to the fridge to grab one of your own and think about ways to make it better while watching the show.

It is a brew show... I like it.

 

[Frodo]

.

 

[NuclearRich]

I really would like to try some of the styles given all the hype; maybe some clone brews are in order.

I really liked their barleywine, Olde School. I bought a 4-pack for some outrageous pricetag somewhere in the $12-$15 range IIRC. I couldn't find ANYthing about trying to clone that.

I haven't tried too many of their offerings, as they are pricey. 60minute is pretty tasty. I just bought Punkin and will try that soon. I really want to try the ******* Brew and the Tamarillo (although the latter won't be available unil early next year apparently).

I will gladly be trying anything I get my hands on, and since this show highlights DFH, I will be sampling more of theirs. Marketing at its finest lol.

I, too, hope that subsequent seasons grab new breweries.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

About episode #3, "Punkin & Portamarillo":

I don't think I've ever had tamarillo, but according to the Wikipedia the inside of the fruit is sweet, while the outside is very bitter and usually tossed out (sort of like the passion fruit). No wonder the beer turned up too bitter, I bet you that's because they used the whole fruit and didn't adjust for the bitterness of the fruit.

Anyways, love the show

 

[JJL]

I watched the first couple of episodes of the show, and I have to say I don't really care for it. It's not that I have an issue with Sam C or his brewery, or any of his beers for that matters. Congrats to him for being a successful businessman. I just don't like the format of the show. Brewing beer is just a poor topic to do an hour long weekly show about. That's why the show focuses mostly on Sam and very little on brewing. Sam C just happens to own a brewery, and I just don't find Sam that interesting. It's just like the American Chopper show doesn't really focus on bike building. Sure there's a bike and they tinker around with it, but the show is about the people and their "adventures."

The reason the show focuses on Sam is because brewing is a really simple process. I know it is hard to make a good beer, but the process itself isn't complicated, and doesn't vary that much from beer to beer. For an average TV viewer it's a really boring topic. Sure, they may find it interesting once, but talking about the same thing every week would get old fast. For those married folks out there, just think about how your spouse rolls their eyes every time you start talking about homebrewing.

 

[passedpawn]

I watched the first couple of episodes of the show, and I have to say I don't really care for it. It's not that I have an issue with Sam C or his brewery, or any of his beers for that matters. Congrats to him for being a successful businessman. I just don't like the format of the show. Brewing beer is just a poor topic to do an hour long weekly show about. That's why the show focuses mostly on Sam and very little on brewing. Sam C just happens to own a brewery, and I just don't find Sam that interesting. It's just like the American Chopper show doesn't really focus on bike building. Sure there's a bike and they tinker around with it, but the show is about the people and their "adventures."

The reason the show focuses on Sam is because brewing is a really simple process. I know it is hard to make a good beer, but the process itself isn't complicated, and doesn't vary that much from beer to beer. For an average TV viewer it's a really boring topic. Sure, they may find it interesting once, but talking about the same thing every week would get old fast. For those married folks out there, just think about how your spouse rolls their eyes every time you start talking about homebrewing.

I'll bet you haven't listened to every Basic Brewing Radio, Brew Strong, Jamil Show podcast either. Not that I have....

I wish I could pull my head out of this obsession... I keep thinking it will pass ...

 

[jbrookeiv]

I'll bet you haven't listened to every Basic Brewing Radio, Brew Strong, Jamil Show podcast either. Not that I have....

I wish I could pull my head out of this obsession... I keep thinking it will pass ...

Man, I've been listening to Basic Brewing for 1.5 hrs a day (my commute, round trip), 5 days a week since Labor Day weekend when I started brewing. That podcast is AMAZING. I started with Episode 1 and have worked my way through to the September 6, 2007 episode.

 

[Screw991le]

They need to go into more detail on the show, it is to fast paced for people who don't know jack about brewing. This is what the wife and all my non-brewing friends are saying.

 

[Frodo]

They need to go into more detail on the show, it is to fast paced for people who don't know jack about brewing. This is what the wife and all my non-brewing friends are saying.

I can see that. I imagine that's a fine line to walk - enough detail to explain the process but not so much as to be boring to the masses. I feel the same way when I watch Discovery shows about the solar system/comets/the big bang theory, and I realize they ARE trying to go really slow so people can understand, but I'm just not getting it.

 

[RIT_Warrior]

Regarding the deadline thing: I have to agree with RIT_Warrior that none of it seemed out of the ordinary. You had four deadlines in the past 3 shows: ******* Brew in connection with the anniversary, Chicha which was the only arbitrary deadline, Portamarillo in connection with the NZ beer festival, and Punkin. The Punkin was the only unspecified deadline, but they did mention that every single bottle of Punkin was already sold. So, companies have already laid out the money for the shipment. You have to get those companies their shipment in a timely manner. That's just good business. The other non-arbitrary deadlines ranged from 3-5 weeks. Sam can't just put off the beer indefinitely without pissing off his distributors or collaborators. To say, "Well it's his brewery he can do what he wants," is a bit short sighted. People would stop buying his beer or breweries would stop working with him.

So 1 out of 4 deadlines was actually made up. And, if I remember correctly, there wasn't much drama associated with that particular made up deadline. I think that was basically Sam just giving a deadline to motivate his employees. I have to do that at my job - unless I put an arbitrary deadline on some things everyone just procrastinates and does nothing. It's stupid, but there it is.

Now, they might start pulling the same crap they do with American Chopper and such, but I haven't seen it yet.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought this! If this were at my job, they would be filming a miscommunication with a hardware installer that meant I had to scrap and re-write an entire module from the ground up in 1 night (the original took 3 weeks to code and polish). So even with the so-called "made up" timelines, they are skipping down cake street compared to some of the timelines I have. And I don't have any cameras at my work...

And I'm not entirely sure the one where they didn't have a definite deadline for was necessarily a "made up" deadline. This is a commercial brewery, not a bunch of guys screwing around like us. They probably sell those beers in advance and make them for a specific time. So if a 60 minute IPA takes 2 weeks to make, and they need to ship out a large number in 7 weeks, by my math that gives a 5 week timeline for spitbeer to take up a fermenter. Any longer and they are interfering with their core products.

And its not like they can keep a few fermenters open for experimentation; every day a fermenter goes empty costs them lots of money, because it isn't making them any money and they are still paying for it. Likewise, a beer that takes 10 weeks to ferment out would also cost them lots of money, because they could not use that fermenter for their core products.

If I were Sam, I would set hard deadlines even if there were not specific trade shows/anniversaries to meet, and I wouldn't consider them arbitrary at all.

 

[billvon]

Is it just me?? I soo wanted to enjoy this show but the owner of Dogfish Brewery just pisses me off.. They make everything look so easy and sexy...

Hmm. So far they've shown:

-almost losing an entire batch to a broken bottler
-having to dump a lot of beer due to having the wrong bottles at bottling time
-having a glue spill that takes hours to clean up
-minor mistakes with recipes that required later adjustment

Sounds like one of my brew days . . .

 

[BraveSirRobin]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought this! If this were at my job, they would be filming a miscommunication with a hardware installer that meant I had to scrap and re-write an entire module from the ground up in 1 night (the original took 3 weeks to code and polish). So even with the so-called "made up" timelines, they are skipping down cake street compared to some of the timelines I have. And I don't have any cameras at my work...

And I'm not entirely sure the one where they didn't have a definite deadline for was necessarily a "made up" deadline. This is a commercial brewery, not a bunch of guys screwing around like us. They probably sell those beers in advance and make them for a specific time. So if a 60 minute IPA takes 2 weeks to make, and they need to ship out a large number in 7 weeks, by my math that gives a 5 week timeline for spitbeer to take up a fermenter. Any longer and they are interfering with their core products.

And its not like they can keep a few fermenters open for experimentation; every day a fermenter goes empty costs them lots of money, because it isn't making them any money and they are still paying for it. Likewise, a beer that takes 10 weeks to ferment out would also cost them lots of money, because they could not use that fermenter for their core products.

If I were Sam, I would set hard deadlines even if there were not specific trade shows/anniversaries to meet, and I wouldn't consider them arbitrary at all.

They didn't brew the Chicha on the same equipment that they brew for the shelves. They brewed the Chicha on their test equipment at their brewpub if I remember correctly.

 

[TheYoshi]

I want to like the show more than I do, I've about memorized the canned explanation they use for every show about the mash (you know the one with the picture of 3 soup cans that are supposed to represent mash tuns).

I was really hoping for some more "normal" episodes, this sometimes feels more like a travel show than a brewing show.

An example of an episode I'd love to see would be an episode dedicated to the DFH IPA series 60 minute, 90 minute, 120 minute. Go through the differences in how they are made and why, etc. That would actually teach some people about brewing.

I enjoy the show, it's just not as great as I was hoping it would be.

 

[Pappers_]

An example of an episode I'd love to see would be an episode dedicated to the DFH IPA series 60 minute, 90 minute, 120 minute. Go through the differences in how they are made and why, etc. That would actually teach some people about brewing.

Yoshi, I'm afraid this episode would be accompanied by the sound of thousands of clickers changing the channel to the latest NCIS rerun.

 

[King MF Midas]

A pic from my trip to their tiny brewery. i was kinda let down when i saw what kind of pumpkin they where using but i guess its about consistency right? that brown sugar is far from cheap btw. As far as drama goes i want to hear about that batch of 120 they had to dump. I over heard sam tell someone it cost him half a million.

 

[TheYoshi]

Yoshi, I'm afraid this episode would be accompanied by the sound of thousands of clickers changing the channel to the latest NCIS rerun.

I think their target audience wants to actually learn some things.. Good Eats is an example of a show that's quite successful and digs into the nitty gritty at times....

 

[McKBrew]

A few months ago I mailed Dogfish. I wanted them to brew a batch of their Palo Santo Marron but add pumpkin to it. I received an e-mail back (from Sam, or someone pretending to be him) saying it sounded like a good idea, but it would jack up production.

If a "big shot" like Sam can take the time out of his day to respond to me, then he earns bonus points in my book.

 

[passedpawn]

A few months ago I mailed Dogfish. I wanted them to brew a batch of their Palo Santo Marron but add pumpkin to it. I received an e-mail back (from Sam, or someone pretending to be him) saying it sounded like a good idea, but it would jack up production.

If a "big shot" like Sam can take the time out of his day to respond to me, then he earns bonus points in my book.

I bet it was him. I just got a personal email from Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River. These guys are the pioneers of the craftbrew movement in this country. I admire the hell out of every one of them.

 

[TowsonTiger22]

I've really enjoyed the show so far. Lots of info, and lots of insight into the company itself. I wanna work somewhere where I get a case of beer every payday....

 

[bob1852]

Hmm. So far they've shown:

-almost losing an entire batch to a broken bottler
-having to dump a lot of beer due to having the wrong bottles at bottling time
-having a glue spill that takes hours to clean up
-minor mistakes with recipes that required later adjustment

Sounds like one of my brew days . . .

Nah, I haven't seem them transfer sparge water to the HLT with the valve open and have them spill 190*F water on their bare feet.

 

[King MF Midas]

A few months ago I mailed Dogfish. I wanted them to brew a batch of their Palo Santo Marron but add pumpkin to it. I received an e-mail back (from Sam, or someone pretending to be him) saying it sounded like a good idea, but it would jack up production.

If a "big shot" like Sam can take the time out of his day to respond to me, then he earns bonus points in my book.

that sounds good!

 

[jbrookeiv]

A few months ago I mailed Dogfish. I wanted them to brew a batch of their Palo Santo Marron but add pumpkin to it. I received an e-mail back (from Sam, or someone pretending to be him) saying it sounded like a good idea, but it would jack up production.

If a "big shot" like Sam can take the time out of his day to respond to me, then he earns bonus points in my book.

Along those same lines, I emailed DFH through their [email protected] email address and wanted to see if they'd be interested in trading cigars for beer, since I work for a cigar company. To my surprise, Sam emailed me back and was totally stoked on trading. He sent me 2 bottles of '05 World Wide Stout and 1 bottle of '05 120min in exhange for some of our super premium cigars and an ashtray. I was blown away, and loved the '05 WWS. That beer tastes like port with that kind of age.

 

[DakotaRules]

Go DFH! If you don't like someone for making beer he likes and making a living at it, then you can ditch your HOBBY and suck it. He does what he likes, makes his employees happy, and PAYS HIS BILLS AND EMPLOYEES.

Seriously, all these jealous "Sam bashing" remarks, "I don't like him," "He sound like Keanue," what ever, this is so annoying and has got to stop. Make a thread that says "I have sand in my DFH!"

Do you like your boss, sometimes no, but he pays you to do your job. Do you want to work at DFH or a brewery? I do and I would love to get a free case of beer with every check.

I know that my beer doesn't cost $20 per 5 gallons, but I have taste buds and dignity and I like the better things in life, that's why i brew my own beer!

So in my internet rant and after a few beers (that I made) I like my efforts and anyone else's efforts in making beer, standing up for what they believe in, and doing what they like.

I like beer and the the progress that others have made for ME/US to do what I/US like as a hobby.

 

[DakotaRules]

Along those same lines, I emailed DFH through their [email protected] email address and wanted to see if they'd be interested in trading cigars for beer, since I work for a cigar company. To my surprise, Sam emailed me back and was totally stoked on trading. He sent me 2 bottles of '05 World Wide Stout and 1 bottle of '05 120min in exhange for some of our super premium cigars and an ashtray. I was blown away, and loved the '05 WWS. That beer tastes like port with that kind of age.

I would love that trade! :rockin: