January 3rd, 2011
We’re super stoked about having the first ever Westbrook beer dinner at the Mellow Mushroom in Mt. Pleasant this Wednesday, Jan. 5th! In addition to the first three beers we released recently (Batch 1 Amarillo Pale Ale, White Thai, Belgian Pale Ale) we’ll be bringing 2 new beers. The first, the Belgian IPA, is based on our regular IPA (which hasn’t been released yet). In fact, we actually intended to brew the regular IPA, but the yeast had other plans. Halfway through the brew, we discovered that the English yeast we used in the previous batch of IPA was saturated with hops from dry hopping in the fermentor and therefore unusable. So, we grabbed some of our Belgian yeast from a batch of White Thai and finished the brew as normal. Well, not quite. Somehow the setting on our grain mill had been changed so that the grain was crushed much more finely than normal, which resulted in what is called a “stuck bed.” This means that the liquid (or wort) in the mash tun won’t drain out through the bottom of the vessel like it’s supposed to, resulting in very messy mess when you try to empty out the mash tun:
Exhibit ‘A’
So we decided to punish the beer by dry hopping it with massive quantities of Cascade, Chinook, and Citra. Twice. Our Belgian yeast ate up a greater percentage of the barley sugars than the English yeast normally does, resulting in a higher ABV of 7.7% and a much crisper, drier beer, which along with the fruity/spicy flavors from the yeast really accentuates the hop flavors. It’s no exaggeration to say that the aroma of this beer literally jumps out of the glass. We think you’ll like it.
The second beer doesn’t have nearly as good of a story to go along with it, but what it does have going for it is that we only made 1 single keg and you’ll have to come to the beer dinner on Wednesday to have some!
Posted in Events |
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December 7th, 2010
It’s time to announce the official launch events. Here they are:
• Monday, Dec. 20th, 4-6pm @Charleston Beer Exchange, 14 Exchange St., Charleston
• Monday, Dec. 20th, 6-10pm @ Chai’s Lounge and Tapas, 462 King St., Charleston
• Tuesday, Dec. 21st, 6-10pm @ Barley’s Taproom and Pizzaria, 25 W. Washington St., Greenville
• Wednesday, Dec. 22nd, 4:30-6:30pm @ Green’s Beverage, 4012-B Fernandia Rd., Columbia
• Wednesday, Dec. 22nd, 7-10pm @ Flying Saucer, 931 Senate St., Columbia
• Thursday, Dec 23rd, 6-10pm @ Closed for Business, 453 King St., Charleston
Hope to see you there!
Posted in Awesomeness, Beer, Events |
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October 12th, 2010
Well so much for the September update. According to my calendar it is currently October 12th, which means that (excuse me one sec while I look at the construction schedule)…… the building is complete and we are ready to brew!!!!
Hahaha just kidding. Of course the brewery isn’t done yet. We’re still trapped in the “construction time warp” where tasks take 5x as long as they should. Nevertheless, we are making progress and I think we are almost at the home stretch. The process plumbing should be finished by this weekend, the boiler should be ready to start up, and hopefully we’ll be able to get the temporary power connected to the brewing equipment shortly so we can start cleaning and testing everything. We’re also working on getting the “Beers” page up so you all can check out the beers we’ll be launching with. Hopefully the next update will have some photos from our first brew day!
Posted in Construction, News |
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August 6th, 2010
Wow it’s August already! Time flies when you’re starting a brewery, but unfortunately this doesn’t seem to apply to construction work. Despite a few delays we are still on track to have beer ready to drink by the end of October (hopefully a little earlier). A couple key things have happened in the past few weeks:
- The urethane floor coating was applied to the brewing/fermentation area. This protects the concrete underneath from eroding due to all the liquids that will be dumped on it (beer is somewhat acidic). Over time, an unprotected concrete floor can be compromised to the point where it can no longer support the very heavy fermenters sitting on it, which is really not a good thing, to say the least.
- The concrete deck for the mezzanine/office level and the roof of the boiler/grain rooms were poured.
- Our steam boiler and the first fermenter (a smaller 30 bbl tank for small batches and experimental beers) were delivered.
The rest of our brewing equipment (minus the brewhouse, which will be about a week behind) is scheduled to arrive in Charleston on Monday 8/9, and will probably show up at the brewery on Tuesday. Assuming that happens, we should have the tanks set in place by Wednesday. The floor coating crew will then return to apply the coating for the packaging and cold storage areas, and the plumbers will get to work piping everything together. By the end of next week, 510 Ridge should finally start looking like a brewery!
Check out our About page for the latest construction photos.
Posted in 510 Ridge, Construction |
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July 8th, 2010
The time has come to find an awesome brewer to join our team! Please note that we are only hiring for the head brewer position at this time. Read on for the “official” job description.
Job Description
The head brewer will be directly responsible for all brewing operations. He/she will work closely with the owner to finalize the launch beer recipes, commission the 30 bbl brewing system and packaging equipment, and hire additional brewing staff. The ability to work independently and take the initiative is critical to success at our company. The head brewer must also possess a strong enthusiasm for experimentation and be willing to work with wild yeasts and souring bacteria.
Qualifications
- Minimum of 2 years professional brewing experience in a packaging brewery. Formal brewing education is a plus but not required.
- Thorough understanding of all aspects of beer production, especially yeast management, filtration, and QA/QC. Bottle conditioning and barrel aging experience are a plus.
- Thorough understanding of CIP operations, preventative maintenance, and safety procedures.
- Must be able to lift at least 60 pounds and move at least 165 pounds.
To apply, send cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to jobs@westbrookbrewing.com. Please put the position you are applying for (i.e. “head brewer”) as the subject line of your email. No phone calls please.
Posted in Jobs |
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June 18th, 2010
Things are rolling right along here at Westbrook Brewing. Since I last posted some cool stuff has happened:
- The governor signed the beer tasting bill into law! This was a big relief for us since we’ve been working really hard for several months on designing a very cool tasting room for the brewery. It would have been pretty lame if we weren’t allowed to use it! We don’t expect the tasting room and tour hours to start until sometime in October, but if you live in Charleston and you just can’t wait that long to go buy beer from a brewery, check out COAST’s blog for info on their tour/tasting hours.
- Our brewing tanks are just about ready to ship from the factory. With this equipment, we’ll be able to brew about 30 barrels (equal to 930 gallons, 60 kegs, or 413 cases) of beer per brew session and ferment up to 300 barrels at once. We’re also on the lookout for a few smaller used fermentation/aging tanks, in the 10-30 bbl range. Our plan is to use these for yeast propagation and small batch/experimental beers. Unfortunately, the supply of used tanks in this size range seems to be just about dried up. For example, I tried to buy some 15bbl fermenters yesterday but was apparently 20-30 minutes too late, since they were gone within 2 hours of being put up for sale. Frustrating. If anyone has any leads please let us know!
- All of the concrete on the interior of the brewery has been poured, the cinderblock walls are going up, and the steel crew is almost finished with the roof. So far we are still on schedule for a mid-September completion and “first brew” date.
That’s about it for now. Cheers!
Posted in Beer Legislation, News |
3 Comments »
May 26th, 2010
Just a few minutes ago the House, by a vote of 79-1, approved the Senate’s amendments on H. 4572 , which means that SC will finally (once the governor signs the bill) have legal beer tasting in retail stores, at breweries, and direct sales of 1 case (or 4 growlers) per day from breweries.
The vote
Cheers to Jaime and David from Coast Brewing for all their hard work getting this bill through the Statehouse!
Oh, in other news – our street address is no longer 301 Ridge Road. The correct address is 510 Ridge Road.
Posted in Beer Legislation, News |
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May 3rd, 2010
Things have been pretty busy here at Westbrook Brewing since I last posted. In 1 month, the brewery site has been transformed from a patch of pine trees into a cleared, graded, formed, plumbed, and rebar-ed brewery-to-be. Provided that the weather cooperates, the first 2 pours of concrete for the slab should happen later this week, and then next week the steel beams for the building structure (which were delivered this morning) will start going up. A few pics below, but you’ll have to go to our Facebook page to check out the full album.
View from Ridge Road
The building pad
Steel!
Unloading truck 1 of 4
In other news, this past Friday was the public (sort of) debut of some Westbrook Brewing test batches! Morgan and I served up 6 different beers at an event on Daniel Island, and the response was fantastic. As I expected, the ginger/lemongrass Belgian white was the most popular, but our double dry-hopped West coast style IPA was also a big hit. The coolest part of the night was seeing people who told us “I’m not a beer drinker” or some variation of that statement try a taste and then come back a few minutes later for a full glass.
Morgan and I bracing for the onslaught of thirsty people
(sorry for the blurry pic)
Last but definitely not least, the SC Microbrewery Tasting bill, H. 3693, has passed the House with a unanimous “yea” vote and is now scheduled for a Senate subcommittee hearing this Thursday, May 6. All the SC brewers will be there to testify, but we need your support! Read this Support Your Local Brewery action alert to find out how to help. There is exactly one month remaining in the 2010 legislative session and there is a real danger that the bill may not pass simply due to running out of time!! That’s why we need you to contact the senators listed at the link above before Thursday and urge them to get behind this bill and move it quickly through the Senate. We’re so close!
Posted in 510 Ridge, Beer Legislation, Construction, Events |
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April 1st, 2010
I’ve been waiting a long time to type this post.
Finally, after a very long and unnecessarily difficult process fraught with numerous and myriad delays and setbacks, I’m very happy to announce that Westbrook Brewing Company at about 11:30 am today officially closed on the site where we will construct our brewery! The location is at 301 Ridge Road in Mt. Pleasant, which is right next to the Velocity Sports Performance building on Wando Park Blvd and backs up to I-526.
View Larger Map
Although we had a long delay closing on the property, we were able to use that extra time to get our building designed, approved, and ready to go, which means that on Monday our contractor will start clearing and grading the site!
301 Ridge, now
301 Ridge, in 6 months
The brewery is going to be approximately 15k square feet, and will house our 30 barrel brewing system and 60 barrel fermenting tanks, a cold room, a separate “cool” room for storing oak barrels, a quality control lab, and (hopefully) a tasting room where we’ll feature our standard beer lineup as well as some small batch, experimental brews.
As construction progresses I’ll be posting some photos on here periodically, but keep an eye on our Facebook page for the full construction photo album.
We can’t wait to start brewing beer for all you thirsty people out there! Buckle up, South Carolina!
Posted in 510 Ridge, Construction, News |
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March 5th, 2010
From a post by Coast Brewing on Beeradvocate:
Our bill, H. 3693 is up for Full Judiciary on March 9 (please note the amendment was approved last meeting but I still don’t see the new language on the statehouse site)- so now we need your support on this committee- Phone Calls work the best but we’ll take your emails as well.
Statehouse site: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/html-pages/housecommlst.html#jud (look for Judiciary Committee) we need to contact each member on that Committee (all 25 of em)
Again- we so appreciate the support from each one of you!
Posted in Beer Legislation |
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