Upstate Craft Beer Co Update

Upstate update:

Jack McDonald, l, and Chris Hardin tidy up their new sign.

As I previously posted elsewhere, I stopped by Upstate Craft Beer Co., (@UpstateBeerCo) located in the old Clausen Bakery building to see how the construction was progressing. Jack and Chris gave me a quick tour (dodging HVAC supplies all the while) and reiterated their goal of opening before year's end. Some photos of the visit:


 Basically the nano-brewery will have three main areas: seating where beer lovers can sip and enjoy, a small, but tidy kitchen area that will offer light snacks and lunch, and the brewing area which will be kept busy if Chris, Brewmaster, (who recently became a Certified Cicerone) has his way.

This facility will be a very interesting addition to the craft beer community here and I'm looking forward to the opening. Also anticipating some more Interstellar Pale Ale, a nicely hopped version of the style tha's not overly bitter.

Cheers.

Canning Time @Brewery85

Beer canning became a spectator sport last night at Brewery 85. Watched cans being filled, cans being stacked and cans being tossed! Quittin' Time Helles was the star this time. Cans were also weighed, imprinted with pithy comments and even handed out to a fortunate few ( I got one!). Based upon the huge stacks of empties awaiting their turn, I'd say that chances are good that you could drop in soon for a pint and get the same floor show. Rack'em!!

Will weighs, while Jeremy stacks

Justin burning calories.

Rack'em. Stack topped off and ready for the cooler

Meredith joins the packing crew.

Quality control means proper fill.

Beer toss to Taylor Lamm.

End of successful beer run.

Fall for Greenville Fun As Ever

Recovering from a soggy Saturday and a sunny Sunday at Fall for Greenville. As usual, great music and outstanding choices for craft beer. Our locals were well represented with lines forming (on Sunday anyway) at each. Favorite of the event, for me and friends who came with us, turned out to be Foothills' India Pale Lager, although Trifecta by Thomas Creek was a close second. Weird food of the event, tho it tasted good but deadly, was the Fried Oreos. Yep, I tried one. Nope, did not have a second. Used some Holy City's Plough Mud Stout to erase the taste. Congrats to all the organizers, breweries and volunteers who made this year's event as fun as ever. Cheers.

Saturday was wet but we stayed for Honey and the Hotrods.

Main in the rain, Sunday.

Thomas Creek and Quest were there, wet with everyone else. Sunday was sunny!

Sunny Sunday on Main. Got very crowded with food-loving folks.

Our favorite beer of the day was the India Pale Lager from our friends from Winston-Salem, NC.

Wasted Wine as a big crowd pleaser. Note the Harmonium on the table. Don't see that often.

Cheers. #nextyear

Portugal's Beer Scene

You might have noticed an absence of posts here for the past couple weeks. Got a good
excuse, Kay and I spent 15 days traveling around northern/central Portugal for out first visit there. Of course, lots of beer research was conducted too. And so begins my tale:

Truth be told, the beer scene in Portugal is not all that exciting. Mostly you see either of two beers available, Sagres and Super Bock. Both pale lagers, tho good examples of the style.






Sagres is brewed in Lisbon by the Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas, part of the Heineken family, which probably explains why it's everywhere. It's a pale lager which I found rather crisp and refreshing, expecially after walking up and down hills for a couple of hours.

















Super Bock is a pilsner style lager, a low abv of 5.6% and also very drinkable. It's part of the Carlsberg family of beers, from Denmark. I probably drank more of this beer than any other, mostly because it was it was usually the one on tap.  I did try the stout version, from a bottle only, on one of our very early excursions in Lisbon, at a cafe near the train station that serves Sintra which is one of the cities we will visit later in our trip.

The stout was full-bodied, but a milder version, very little coffee/roasted flavor but enough to make it enjoyable and a most importantly, a change of flavor.

















The cafe I mentioned with the Castle in the background on the hill. Not visible are the stairs we had to walk up to find this place. Made the Super Bock Stout that much more enjoyable.




 










I had a moment of elation when I saw the sign for this shop, but quickly turned sour when I discovered it was only a gift shop and nothing to do with beer. Drat! Clearly a serious example of false advertising.












 
However, there was good news. I did find two craft (or artesanal as they were called) beers, each with an IPA, Sovina and 8a (Oitavacolina). Tho nowhere near the hop presence I am accustomed to here, they were very good attempts and one of the them, the 8a was quite good, had it twice at the Secret Garden Café in Sintra.

While on a late afternoon walk in Porto, found a small plaza with an outdoor market/event which, surprise, had the world's best beer! Well, that's what the sign said anyway. Had to try it of course. Turns out that Primator is a Czech beer that is just being introduced into Portugal. And if you're a Cicerone you know the importance of Czech pilsners in the history of beer.








Talked with Rogério Pinho, beer rep, about Portugal's beer interest and the chances of his beer being accepted. Tasting it, I found it to be very typical of the style, well balanced and crisp with dry finish. Enough flavor to make me have it again sometime. Their slogan and the name of their Facebook page is "we love this beer." I hope they are successful in their attempts and wish Rogério the best.







There were many other fun beer-related moments, so here's a photo compilation illustrating that:

Roman ruins there in the background, Évora, Portugal.

Beer break from museum touring.

Probably wondering if the beer glass is large enough.

Well, had to try the Port, I mean, look where we were. This was our favorite.

Glad to be back home, where some thoughtful friends had left us some Citra Ass Down, double IPAs (Against the Grain Brewery) in our fridge. As I continue editing all the photos we took (over 1500) I may find more to post here, so check back often. 

Cheers!

Portland to Asheville? The Deschutes Brewing Puzzle.

Some beer blogger has said (and that's a shaky recommendation from the start) that Oregon-based Deschutes has chosen Asheville as the location for their brewery expansion. Deschutes in response says, not so fast. Who's right?  We'll know before too long but in the meanwhile, I'm eager to get some fresh Deschutes. They made their reputation early on with their Mirror Pond Pale Ale, but everything I've had of theirs (and I've been to their Portland brewpub) is very drinkable.  Time will tell, in the mean while, here's a photo of their Portland outlet.

http://ashvegas.com/word-on-the-street-deschutes-brewery-is-picking-asheville-for-its-new-brewery

Cheers.

Friday Profile: Courtney Pici, Champion of Breweries

Well, more accurately, Courtney champions breweries that she represents as Divisional Sales Manager (Southeast) for Global Brewers Guild, a position she just recently took on.

So far in this profile series, we've met both the people who brew the beer and the folks putting it in your glass, whether at a bar/taproom, growler station or a favorite dining establishment. Getting the beer between those points is what Courtney facilitates for her brewery clients, no small feat these days when you consider the competition for tap space at most beer sellers. And also for shelf space, since more and more breweries are adding cans to their bottle selections.

I've known Courtney nearly as long as I have lived here and I can say without reservation that the lady knows beer. From her start at a Taco Mac in GA, with it's 100 taps, to serving at Barleys and the Growler Station (RIP) here in Greenville, she has always been seriously interested in craft beer.

She was one of the first servers in Greenville to achieve the Cicerone Certified Server certification and has begun the examination process for the next level, Certified Cicerone. I took one of the preparatory classes with her, so I've seen first hand her determination to become a genuine beer authority.




Fortunately Courtney doesn't mind travel cause she's on the road a lot. One of her new clients, 21st Amendment Brewing in San Francisco, has just been allowed to distribute in South Carolina so to better learn about their beers (among my favorites, I should add) she hopped a plane (no pun) to join in the festivities there as 21st opened a new production facility across the Bay in San Leandro, the site of the former home of Kellogg's Pop Tart bakery. More about that later.











Back here a more typical day would see her out with a distributor representative visiting pubs, restaurants or even retail outlets, to educate people about new beer releases they might want to add to their inventory or just to massage an existing relationship. Obviously this kind of work requires someone who enjoys meeting people and talking knowledgeably about beer. That's Courtney!

Mike Okupinski gets to sample the special 21st Amendment release.

Educating craft beer enthusiasts keeps Courtney very busy.

Another way she helps her brewery clients, pouring at beer fests.

She's also likely to be seen at one of our local "bottle share" events, adding some new choices to the mix (and finding personal favorites as well). She has told me that her "go to" brews are Session IPAs and Ciders that are light, dry and crisp. No shortage of either of those these days.

She also appreciates being part of the increasing population of women working in the industry, in all of the various ways. This year she joined with some of those women as members of the Pink Boots Society to celebrate International Women's Collaboration Brew Day  to brew a special ale at Quest Brewing. And once she completes the final portion of the Cicerone Certification exam, she will join a small but very influential group of beer experts.




Oh, remember my Kellogg's Pop Tart reference? Well, as a tribute to the former tenant, 21st Amendment released this very special Red IPA (a very limited release) which Courtney graciously shared with a few of us. It will be on the shelves locally soon, thanks to her hard work, so when you see it, buy it - you'll like it.

Toaster Pastry tribute to Kelloggs. Great beer, btw.

I always learn something from her each time we chat about the craft beer scene and I think you might too, so if you cross paths with her, take a moment to say hi and chat about beer. She'll have a lot to say.

Cheers, Courtney.