Jesse Friedman @ Almanac Beer Co.

[beerandnosh1]

So so cool, thanks Jesse. The Beer Talks you hosted for SF Beer Week were one of my favorite events. Plans for another?

YES

 

[CharlieMurphy1]

I'm of course aware of the "non-sours from Almanac suck" perception of our earlier attempts (I have internet at the brewery), but first impressions are tough to shake. I'm incredibly proud think our fresh beer lineup right now and would encourage you (and anyone else reading this) to give them another shot.

My last note to critical feedback would to just be mindful that there are people on the other side. Of course not everyone is going to like everything. We're constantly trying new things here, creating brew processes and experimenting to create new flavors. If everything we make is a slam dunk with everyone, we're not trying hard enough. We're making a LOT of different beers - didn't like this one? No problem, try this! Here's another! For every person that HATES any single beer we've made, there is someone else who declares it the best thing they've ever tasted (looking at you Sourdough Wild Ale and Bourbon Sour Porter)

Once of my favorite things about craft beer is that it isn't a zero sum game: for us to succeed doesn't mean another brewery has to fail - in fact, we're probably both doing great. The same goes for the beer - the inclination to compare and rate beers and order them doesn't do anyone a service. We're specifically NOT trying to match any other breweries beers (Hi Vinnie!) and would only ask that our beers are judged on their own merits, as opposed to simply ranked against others. The craft community is so incredibly welcoming - I think it's possible to review with that same feeling of community throughout.

I will forever mourn Biere de Chocolat. God damn you for putting that chocolatier on the map and pricing yourself out of making the beer that put it on the damn map! RIP Biere de Chocolat.


Totally agree with everything else you said. Many of your beers took some revisiting to grow on me and appreciate for what they were. It's good to detach from the populace now and again to really focus on the merit of something objectively.

 

[Sage1]

Going on a completely different tangent here beerandnosh – I saw that John Siracusa RT’d you the other day. You a Hypercritical/ATP listener?

 

[ElkSherpa1]

beerandnosh - We received a bottle of 2012 Biere de Mars here at the brewery a while back. That was a really outstanding beer and I really admire the foundation behind it as well. It's inspiring to see real relationships between beer and agriculture so keep up the great work.

Also, since I'm supposed to ask a question or whatever, wanna come hang out with the Jester King crew in Texas sometime?

 

[beerandnosh1]

Going on a completely different tangent here beerandnosh – I saw that John Siracusa RT’d you the other day. You a Hypercritical/ATP listener?

Yep, my previous life was as in Mac focused tech support, including a (failed) stand at AL Gore's tv station Current. Happily I don't have to do too much of that these days, although I found myself setting up a server this week, and relishing instituting best practices for it's config. Happily using Overcast to listen to Gruber now.

 

[beerandnosh1]

beerandnosh - We received a bottle of 2012 Biere de Mars here at the brewery a while back. That was a really outstanding beer and I really admire the foundation behind it as well. It's inspiring to see real relationships between beer and agriculture so keep up the great work.

Also, since I'm supposed to ask a question or whatever, wanna come hang out with the Jester King crew in Texas sometime?

YES... Speaking of breweries we'd love to collaborate with...

 

[beerandnosh1]

I'm declaring this thread officially dead! Thank you to everyone for asking great questions and listening to me ramble. You can reach me on twitter at beerandnosh, as well as through the official @almanacbeer account too. And a huuuuge thank you for the love support and feedback (good and bad) that has allowed me to be a part of such an awesome community.

Shameless plug: Almanac's 3rd anniversary party at Toronado on August 13th. We're pouring a keg of everything.
http://www.almanacbeer.com/events/

 

[CharlieMurphy1]

*****, I wanted to ask you about loquats - how you heard about them, what made you realize these were a pivotal ingredient in emulating a beer like Fou Foune, and where you sourced them from?

 

[shelf_turd_ferguson]

AMAs on Talkbeer don't die, they just suffer from some near-autoerotic asphyxiation and eventually get torqued gain steam again.

 

[regularjohn]

is there a possibility of you guys distributing to new york sometime in the near future?

 

[Rau711]

is there a possibility of you guys distributing to Paso Robles,CA sometime in the near future?

FTFY

 

[Os]

Happy to hear you are coming to the NY market.. any events planned to kick it off?

 

[gregkoko]

Yeah would love to meet you guys if you're coming into town and have a beer or two!

 

[Der Fuchs]

beerandnosh - We received a bottle of 2012 Biere de Mars here at the brewery a while back. That was a really outstanding beer and I really admire the foundation behind it as well. It's inspiring to see real relationships between beer and agriculture so keep up the great work.

Also, since I'm supposed to ask a question or whatever, wanna come hang out with the Jester King crew in Texas sometime?

if you keep making these connections here we are gonna have to start charging you guys ya know...

 

[axeman91821]

if you keep making these connections here we are gonna have to start charging you guys ya know...

Fortunately we accept payment in the form of bottle of collaboration beers.

 

[gregkoko]

if you keep making these connections here we are gonna have to start charging you guys ya know...

Treating this site like it's okcupid for brewers

 

[cosmicevan]

hoping this isn't fully dead since you guys JUST came to NY (thanks for that!!!)

was lucky enough to try some of your beers in the past due to amazing trading partners. now that you are in NY, curious if any sour beers get brewed more than once. i've missed out on some of them and would love to try them (i know things vary from batch to batch, but still would love to try them) beerandnosh

 

[CharlieMurphy1]

AMAs on Talkbeer don't die, they just suffer from some near-autoerotic asphyxiation and eventually get torqued gain steam again.

*****, I wanted to ask you about loquats - how you heard about them, what made you realize these were a pivotal ingredient in emulating a beer like Fou Foune, and where you sourced them from?

YO! Where's the loquats? beerandnosh

 

[joe1]

Was it released already? Need a get some of that juice!

 

[matedog]

YO! Where's the loquats? beerandnosh

I don't know what the hell loquats are, but I'm certainly missing the cherries in this batch. Batch 1 was great, Batch 2 was good.

 

[beerandnosh1]

matedog CharlieMurphy Since it's brewed with 100% foraged fruit, we have to work with what's coming in the from the gleaning effort. Given the incredibly small amount of loquats and cherries included in last year's batch, we agreed that we were better off focusing on the main fruit addition, apricots. The romance on the label isn't quite as fun, but I think it's a much better beer than last years batch.

 

[matedog]

matedog CharlieMurphy Since it's brewed with 100% foraged fruit, we have to work with what's coming in the from the gleaning effort. Given the incredibly small amount of loquats and cherries included in last year's batch, we agreed that we were better off focusing on the main fruit addition, apricots. The romance on the label isn't quite as fun, but I think it's a much better beer than last years batch.

Thanks for the insight. Memory can be a tricky thing. I still have one bottle of batch 1 left, so perhaps I'll blind taste test it with the lady some day.

 

[matedog]

beerandnosh I'm guessing no Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine this year? Also, how does the Pumpkin Sour differ from the Dark Pumpkin Sour from last year?

Lastly, those new hoppy sours are bangin'.

 

[beerandnosh1]

matedog Entirely new base recipe, aged in woodford reserve barrels and a much better approach to spicing. No Heirloom pumpkin this year (or next year, for that matter.) We love that beer and hope to bring it back someday, but it's impossible to guarantee that it won't get infected with our current barrel program setup, thus has been shelved for the time being.

 

[nodamagedone]

Hey beerandnosh, I saw some Almanac appear on tap in Milwaukee. Is this a sign of you distributing here soon? Would be awesome - save me from having to drive down to Chicago.

 

[beerandnosh1]

Hey beerandnosh, I saw some Almanac appear on tap in Milwaukee. Is this a sign of you distributing here soon? Would be awesome - save me from having to drive down to Chicago.

Correct! We were trying to sneak it in before the end of the year, but some additional paperwork has slowed the broad shipment. Expect draft and bottles to soft launch early in the new year. But promises were made to BJ, so I had to uphold them! (Fun fact: I grew up in Milwaukee till I was 15, worked as a busboy at Benji's in Shorewood.)

 

[matedog]

beerandnosh Did a 2014, 2015, and 2016 tasting of Valley of the Heart's Delight the other night. 2016 had huge apricot flavor relative to the others. Was this intentional or a product of the foraged nature of this particular beer? Are there likely similar variations in other beers you have made on multiple occasions?

 

[beerandnosh1]

beerandnosh Did a 2014, 2015, and 2016 tasting of Valley of the Heart's Delight the other night. 2016 had huge apricot flavor relative to the others. Was this intentional or a product of the foraged nature of this particular beer? Are there likely similar variations in other beers you have made on multiple occasions?

We've upped fruit in most of our beers by 2-3x over the last year, on the higher end of the scale for Valley. This is true for all of our fruited sours, but especially newer releases that revisit previous ones like Blackberry, Blueberry, and this month's FR Pluot.

It was intentional.

 

[Sheets3x]

Nice - looking forward to that Pluot release.

Also - when can I haz Galaxy hoppy sour release?

 

[ABSTRACTlegend]

We've upped fruit in most of our beers by 2-3x over the last year, on the higher end of the scale for Valley. This is true for all of our fruited sours, but especially newer releases that revisit previous ones like Blackberry, Blueberry, and this month's FR Pluot.

It was intentional.

need more of that blackberry in my life!