Hello all, I havent posted here much, more of a lurker while I am learning the art of homebrewing. Anyway, I wanted to share with you an expirence I had with Founders recently. Maybe one of you can help me understand...or tell me Im over-reacting...
Some background: Simply put, I love Founders. I travel great distances to get there beers, go to all of their release parties, etc, etc, etc.
I reached out to them to ask a few questions about their process. I am brewing a nut brown ale for SWMBO in the next few weeks and I wanted to add some Cashews to it, similar to Founders Cashew Mountain Brown. I emailed them asking two simple questions.
Question 1: Where in the process do you introduce the Cashew? Mash, Boil, Secondary? And is there anything special you do to them first? Crush, Roast, etc?
Question 2: What type of yeast do you use? Is it a locally available homebrew yeast or a proprietary strain that was designed for you? If it is proprietary, would I be able to harvest it from a bottle?
Now I know I probably could have just harvested the yeast without even asking, but that is besides the point. I wanted to hear from the souce. Breweries like Rogue and Bells are more than willing to share yeast info. I have also always had great expiriences getting my questions answered when at the actual Founders Taproom. Apparently their email process is a little different...
Here is the response I recieved...
Due to proprietorship, we cannot divulge any process of recipe information concerning our beers. These recipes took years to perfect and they are proprietor to Founders Brewing Company. Thank you in advance for your understanding and we with you the best of luck in your brewing adventures. Cheers!
Are they serious? They didnt even acknowledge my questions. Was I out of line in asking those simple things? The info I asked for seems hardly proprietary. This "canned response" they fired back really makes me a little fired up considering I spend hundreds of dollars a year on their beers. Needless to say, I fired back a rant of my own due to the fact that I was not very happy...maybe I will get somewhere with the second try.
What do you guys think? Am I over thinking this? Is that the response you would have expected?
Some background: Simply put, I love Founders. I travel great distances to get there beers, go to all of their release parties, etc, etc, etc.
I reached out to them to ask a few questions about their process. I am brewing a nut brown ale for SWMBO in the next few weeks and I wanted to add some Cashews to it, similar to Founders Cashew Mountain Brown. I emailed them asking two simple questions.
Question 1: Where in the process do you introduce the Cashew? Mash, Boil, Secondary? And is there anything special you do to them first? Crush, Roast, etc?
Question 2: What type of yeast do you use? Is it a locally available homebrew yeast or a proprietary strain that was designed for you? If it is proprietary, would I be able to harvest it from a bottle?
Now I know I probably could have just harvested the yeast without even asking, but that is besides the point. I wanted to hear from the souce. Breweries like Rogue and Bells are more than willing to share yeast info. I have also always had great expiriences getting my questions answered when at the actual Founders Taproom. Apparently their email process is a little different...
Here is the response I recieved...
Due to proprietorship, we cannot divulge any process of recipe information concerning our beers. These recipes took years to perfect and they are proprietor to Founders Brewing Company. Thank you in advance for your understanding and we with you the best of luck in your brewing adventures. Cheers!
Are they serious? They didnt even acknowledge my questions. Was I out of line in asking those simple things? The info I asked for seems hardly proprietary. This "canned response" they fired back really makes me a little fired up considering I spend hundreds of dollars a year on their beers. Needless to say, I fired back a rant of my own due to the fact that I was not very happy...maybe I will get somewhere with the second try.
What do you guys think? Am I over thinking this? Is that the response you would have expected?