Yes “in” Mars not “on” Mars. Mars being French for the month of March of course! Way back in December all the brewers threw some money in a pot for our shared Christmas. We then convinced our good friend Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing to make some surprise selections of Belgian beers for us from www.belgianshop.com As the sensory analyst and keeper of the foudres at NBB, Lauren was our obvious go-to gal! So three months later a large box from Belgium arrives here at the brewery and the fun begins! We had to play rounds of poker to determine who would select our next beer for tasting, who would receive which piece of Belgian glassware and who would take home which treasured bottle for later. It was a crazy, enjoyable night with the Lambics showing strong and the Abbeys lagging just a bit behind. Pink Killer grapefruit beer and the Fantome were uniquely favored and flavored.

I guess it really got FNG Dan going because he has concocted his own Biere de Mars, uniquely spiced and fermenting away even as you read this… This is Dan’s first signature series at SRB Way to go Danimal!

Rudy’s now got two signature series beers in as many months. He just brewed a Czech Pils following close on the heels of his newly popular Schwarzbier. (AKA Borrego Modelo) While we have had a german pils in the past this will be SRB’s first crack at a bohemian beer! With a generous lagering time this refreshing beer should be out in time for slushy spring skiing and the “racoon eyes” season. The town of Pilzn, Czech Republic is where the style originated and of course where the name comes from. Czechs consume more beer per capita than anyone else on earth, even the Germans, WOW!

We have a beer called AK Session (a mild ale) and I  just got back from my own AK session. I was up in Anchorage to take part in www.susitna100.com a crazy bike/ski/foot race on parts of the Iditarod trail. Ground blizzards and whiteouts made it every bit the adventure I was seeking! Only got 81 miles in so I guess I’m destined to go back…

The Anchorage beer scene is alive and well I’m pleased to report. My personal fave: Midnight Sun Brewery. These guys are doing all the crazy stuff-lots of Belgian inspired beers including a couple sour ones. A brilliant series of the “seven deadly sins”. These guys are doing it right! http://www.midnightsunbrewing.com/

The Moose’s Tooth pub and companion movie theatre the Beartooth were also great! I don’t care if you laugh or not, my favorite beer of theirs was an apple ale, neither cider nor straight beer it was an intriguing blend of both. Kudos for something unique. http://www.moosestooth.net/

Also had some lunch at the Glacier brewhouse. A bit more upscale and very clean, well-made brews. http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/

That’s all I made it to. I know there’s more. I get the impression that Alaskans must enjoy a pretty high per capita rate of breweries. Well in town anyways. I’m guessing there’s lots of homebrewing out in the bush…

Tonight I’m stuck at the brewery as my road home to Victor, Idaho (teton pass) is closed due to avalanches and blizzard conditions.

I was able to ski this morning in some of the lightest fluff of a very fluffy season before the big winds kicked in.

Yesterday morning was eventful as Rudy came into brew and discovered the boiler had shut itself down and was leaking water out the bottom. I was convinced we were looking at a whole boiler replacements but the techs from Rocky Mountain Boiler replaced the four bottom heat exchanger tubes and had us up and brewing exactly 24 hours later. WOW!

Last night we were before the Jackson Planning Commission seeking permission to build a 2400 square foot addition so we can expand our kitchen, build new bathrooms and create a small room for private groups. I’m happy to report our application was approved unanimously by the panel. WOO-HOO!

Fall ‘08 will be the start of this project. We are Psyched!

Beer has only four ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops and Yeast.

Last night Billy left a message on my phone that we’d be having a brewers’ meeting on top of Teton Pass at 8:30 am. So five of us hiked up Mount Glory and snowboarded down about 2000 vertical feet in nice, carvable pow with a bit of sunshine thrown in. (and no one got turtled!) This winter has been one of the snowiest in recent memory. On a day like today the bottling line doesn’t start up until after noon! Billy’s got the pm brew and that should turn out to be a real nice batch ’cause everybody’s in a good mood today!

Chris E.

Rudy is working on a new recipe for a Schwarzbier. If your German’s a little rusty that’s a Black Beer! All the brewers have their own Signature Series beers. It was never our idea to hog all the creativity for just one person. Everybody gets to express themselves. Fortunately we have the pub in which to do that. I think it would be a tough grind to work just in a brewery cranking the sames beers day in and day out. Man do I feel lucky, or what?

Of course most of these are only available at the pub. So make the trek over here and try  a fresh pint of something you’re not likely to get anywhere else. And ask a brewer what his signature beer is, but only if you’ve got like half an hour to listen to the proud papa describe his loving creation!

CE 

Well we’re sitting here kind of wondering who wants to read what a bunch of brewers are up to…and who’s going to write it. And then we thought well maybe you and maybe us.

In case you’re wondering, brewing is one of those jobs that really is as good as it sounds! If you meet a brewer who’s not happy something’s wrong there and I bet it shows in the beer.

Well, stay tuned to this spot and we’ll keep you updated on what the SRB brewing staff is up to.

Welcome to The Snake River Brewing’s Brewer’s Blog.  This is going to be a work in progress and we hope to make it a great online community for beer lover’s around the world.  Please feel free to register so you can keep up to date and informed.