SNAKE RIVER BREWING - brewer's blog

Welcome back to the Blog

SRB — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:50:53 +0000

Thanks to my buddy Chris Hansen of “Twist of Lime” and ”Market Greener” http://www.twistoflime.biz/news.html we are back up with the blog and able to take comments and everything! So stay tuned for more from the brewers at SRB. There has been a lot of stuff going on you should know about.

Idaho Falls, beer city USA

SRB — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:59:51 +0000

Right in our own backyard is the Beer Fest that I consider to be the country’s number two event right behind the Great American Beer fest http://www.northamericanbrewers.org/

We had a tradition of riding our bicycles there in the past(about 75 miles from my house). We were the crazy biking brewers and even got some publicty from the I.F. Post-Register last year. But this year our group never gelled. Hey it was 32 degrees and windy that morning and everyone was spread out all over the landscape.

This year the jduges saw fit to award us with three medals: Gold for Lander’s Rockchuck Rye. Jackson picked up a Bronze for the Pale Ale and another Bronze for Pheasant Tail Red.

Incredibly, the organizers get all kinds of (mostly western) breweries to attend. Alaskan sent guys down from Juneau and I saw Bob Brewer from Anchor there as well.

Once again we are really lucky with our geographical proximity to this great event. Hats off to the hard work and dedication of the organizers and volunteers who host us every year and allow us to get our products in front of the guzzling public.

Beer Drinker of the Year (BDOY) 2008

SRB — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:15:29 +0000

We have our first ever female Beer Drinker of the Year!! Jessica Rutzick, prominent Jackson Hole Lawyer has clinched the fourth annual M.U.G. Club BDOY title with a hilarious, detailed, legal brief supporting her application. When she dropped it off at the pub lo these many weeks ago I was absolutely positve that I was being served papers and would be going directly to jail!

Jay Powell was selected as runner-up this year, another first. Every year we’ve hinted that bribes could easily influence the outcome but Jay was the first one to deliver, dropping off a grocery bag full of Halloween candy for the brewers though somehow Bob F. got most of it. GRRR.

Many of the past BDOYs were in attendance at the awards evening and highligts were read aloud including limericks by Scott Cole, Dave Saurman (BDOY 05) and other funny stuff by Shoobie-doo, Brian Lenz and others.

Jessica now has 365 free beers to look forward to and Jay will be enjoying one free beer per week until June 2009.

Congrats to all!!

Vegan Beer?

SRB — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:50:20 +0000

Got this question on the email about vegan beer from Jeff:

Hi, My wife and I have been in to your place and really enjoy it. We were wondering if your beers are vegan and if so are all your beers vegan? Could you also tell me if the beer brewed in Lander is vegan? Thanks so much and keep making great products. Jeff

Jeff, our beers are made using only water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Lander too. Yeast is a single cell living organism.

In Jackson we make a certified organic beer called OB-1 (organic beer #1). Our normal process already qualifies as organic so we just need to use the certified ingredients in the OB-1 but all our beers are produced the same way. We do make mineral salt adjustments to the brewing water by adding either calcium chloride or gypsum.

Lots of US micro brewers use Irish moss (seaweed) as a clarifying agent in the brewkettle. We do not.

In the UK, many cask ales are produced using the swim bladders of sturgeon fish as a clarifier in the finished beer as an alternative to filtering. This is called isinglass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isinglass The Brits like their traditional cask-conditioned ale to be brilliantly clear. In the States we are more tolerant of cloudy beer.

I know I’d rather have a little protein haze than have fish guts in my beer!

Good luck, thanks for your question

– So unless you’re worried about the living conditions of industrial yeast then I’m going to say: Yes, beer CAN be vegan but not all beer IS vegan.

B & B (bikes and beer)

SRB — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:21:26 +0000

Looks like two-wheeled, human-powered vehicles were the transpo mode of choice for our M.U.G. clubbers at their spring party last Saturday. I guess our customers like to combine a big malt footprint with a small carbon one. Right on you guys!

Springtime in the Rockies

SRB — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:21:46 +0000

Well it’s officially “spring” that time of year you wake up and don’t know whether you’ll be riding bikes or skiing. Spring is also the time for the “transitional” beers to make an appearance. Our spring stand-by is the Discombobulator Maibock. It is a locals’ cult favorite. The first year we made it the unofficial name was “Hospital Bock” because on the first night of its release a wobbly patron crashed his bike before getting out of the parking lot whilst another tippler was disengaged from his barstool before realizing what was happening. Many in town have been pleased to hear that we brewed 2 batches of Bock this year to meet the burgeoning demand. Twice as much Bock? OMG, what “nickname” will it earn this year???

They don’t know it yet but at this Saturday’s M.U.G. club party we are going to launch “St Marty’s Holy Water” on the clubbers. This is a new Scotch ale that packs just the right amount of punch to get through the blustery Spring days ahead. If you don’t know who St Marty is then I suggest you come in the Pub at Happy Hour and ask anyone sitting at the bar to fill you in. There is hardly a person in town who was not touched in a positive way by Marty Price…

World Beer Cup runneth over!

SRB — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:38:28 +0000

WOW! After winning four medals at this year’s world beer cup we are elated, humbled and proud all at once. http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/ Paul Granthem, our brewer at our Lander brewpub won Gold for his Rock Chuck Rye and Silver for On Belay IPA, especially remarkable because the English IPA is a large and competitive category. Of course the Gold for Zonker and Gold for Pale are sitting pretty well with the Jackson Brew crew also!! We always reflect on what we did (whether we win or not) and it really boils down to watching so many little details in the process that it is hard to pin it on any one thing.

And we have always remained true to our competition motto: “Win or Lose We Hit the Booze!!” I can assure you this year will be no different!

New Hood River Brewpub

SRB — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:49:41 +0000

On the road in Oregon visiting friends and family, an old buddy took us to the year-old brewpub, Double Mountain in Hood River. These guys are right around the corner from the venerable Full Sail Brewing Co. and they are putting out some impressive brews. Who’d a thunk new breweries are still being built in OR? We had the sampler which included a Kolsch, a dark Rye, nitro Stout(in full cascade at the table) and a barrel-aged Irish Red. Not a bad beer on the tray. If you are in the “hood” check them out.

http://www.doublemountainbrewery.com/index.html

Brewers at the PPP

SRB — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:37:39 +0000

For the umpteenth time, the SRB brewers have taken a third place finish in the annual Jackson Hole Ski Club Pole, Pedal, Paddle. For race details go here: http://www.polepedalpaddle.com/ Yes there was a grudge match between Fitgerald’s bicycles and the brewers, I won’t go into the details here. Let’s just say three out of four ain’t bad, right Scott?? Oh yeah, and where are you taking Stinky out for lunch?

ST. PADDY’S of course!

SRB — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:49:03 +0000

Our next door neighbor Scott Fitzgerald of Fitgerald’s bicycles arranged for our local Irish band Slip and the Jigs to cruise back and forth between our two establishments. While it was easy to tell the Brewpub had not become a bike shop it sorta seemed like the bike shop had become a brewpub there for a while. The party floated back and forth and eventually the Pub was packed to the rafters with revelers. Sorry no green beer here but a few folks were looking green around the gills by the time it all ended.