Tag Archives: Mother’s Brewing Company

Brown Derby American Craft Beer Fest

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I mentioned this last week on my tap hunter section, Brown Derby will be hosting its 4th annual American Craft Beer Fest from 1:30 to 4:30 on Saturday, May 5 (VIP tickets are already sold out, sorry) in the Brown Derby International Wine Center parking lot. While this event is no where near as big as other beer related events going on in the country this weekend such as the Craft Brewers Conference or World Beer Cup Week related events, nor will it put Springfield, Missouri on the “beer map” just yet. It is a huge step in the right direction! This years event is not only larger than previous years, but will have several limited or rare taps. According to the most recent list I have seen, there will be 115 different American craft beers and 11 different kegs! The keg list (as of yesterday) includes Mother’s Hole Mole, Mother’s Imperial Three Blind Mice with Raspberries, Boulevard Saison Noir, 2nd Shift El Gato Grande, 2nd Shift Hibiscus Wheat, Grand Teton 5 O’ Clock Shadow, Piney River Brewing Black Walnut Wheat, Springfield Brewing Company Barrister’s IPA, Springfield Brewing Company Del Fuego, Sam Adams Norse Legend Sahti and Sam Adams Tasman Red IPA! Once again, cost is $15 at the door, proceeds will benefit the Doula Foundation of Mid-America. Like always, this Brown Derby hosted event will be a ton of fun, so be there and be safe!

P.S. If you are still on your feet after the Craft Beer Fest and whatever other Cinco De Mayo festivities you partake in, Downtown is having a pub crawl on Saturday night as well. This Saturday is also National Home Brew Day, so brew, drink and be merry!

News And Links

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Lagunitas has announced plans for a new production brewery in Chicago via Twitter.
http://www.beerpulse.com/2012/04/lagunitas-brewing-to-open-new-brewery-in-chicago/

Mother’s Brewing Company is expanding distribution to Kansas City. I believe this is long overdue!
http://kcbeerblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/mothers-brewing-company-coming-to-kc.html

According to a new historical work “Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance” by Robert Unger, the Dutch funded their war of independence from Spain with taxes on beer.
http://news.yahoo.com/comes-war-beer-beats-silver-gold-180535886.html

I noticed this trend when I saw a Dogfish Head Midas Touch bottle proudly displayed alongside some of Belgium’s finest beers at De Halve Maan Brewery in Brugges. Here are some figures to back that assertion up!
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/10/world-gaining-taste-us-craft-beer/

Springfield Beer Action

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Tonight is a big night concerning beer for me. First off, I am bottling my Vanilla Bean Imperial Stout that I mentioned a few months ago (I will post pictures and descriptions once it is completely done). I am also going to attempt the Zymurgy Magazine’s Two Hearted Clone (They published the recipe several years ago and while it is fairly notorious, it is difficult to find, I found a picture of the article on Google Image Search. It is supposed to be really, really close). Furthermore, there are two beer related events in Springfield worth noting. First off Skinny Slims will be tapping a cask Imperial Hatter from New Holland Brewing Company, I hope to make it to that as I want to encourage them to bring in uncommon and rare beers more often. Also, since it is first Friday, Mother’s Brewing Company will be tapping a firkin of Chocolate, Vanilla Bean and Coffee Stout  in their tasting room at 6pm. So, check it out, tonight should be a good time all around!

List of Missouri Breweries/Brewpubs

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Spring is a great time for beer related travel. Whether live in Missouri and are looking for short trip or find yourself in Missouri and want some good local beers, I hope this list helps. I am sure I have missed some important breweries or brewpubs, therefore, please feel free to inform me of anything I left out and I will update this list accordingly. Feel free to mention your favorite Missouri Breweries/Brew Pubs as well.

Kansas City Area

-75th Street Brewery

- Boulevard Brewing *This is the largest craft brewery in Missouri and the 12th best selling craft brewery in the United States

- McCoy’s Public House

- Weston Brewing Company (Note: Flying Monkey Brewery also operates out of the Weston Brewing Company)

- Granite City Food & Brewery (Note, there are two in the Kansas City area, one is on the Kansas City in Olathe the other is in the Zona Rosa Shopping Center in the Northland)

- Gordon Biersch

- Doodle Brewing Company

Saint Louis Area

- Morgan Street Brewery

- Saint Louis Brewery (better known as Schlafly) *This is one of the largest craft breweries in the state, also owns a great restaurant called Schlafly Bottleworks.

- O’Fallon Brewery

- Anheuser-Busch Inc. *The largest brewer in the world.

- Perennial Artisan Ales

- Urban Chestnut Brewing Company

- Square One Brewery

- Kirkwood Station Brewing Company

- The Civil Life Brewing Company

- Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Co.

- Trailhead Brewing Company

- Six Row Brewing Company

- 4 Hands Brewing Company

- Amalgamated Brewing Co.: The Stable (The website does not currently work.)

- Cathedral Square Brewery

- Buffalo Brewing Company

- Ferguson Brewing Co.

- Granite City Food & Brewery

Springfield Area

- Springfield Brewing Company

- Mother’s Brewing Company

- Little Yeoman Brewery (in Cabool)

- Charlie’s Steak, Ribs & Ale

Southeast Missouri

- Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling Co. (Ste. Genevieve)

- Buckner Brewing (Cape Girardeau)

- Charleville Winery and Microbrewery (Ste. Genevieve)

Central and Other Parts of Missouri

- Piney River Brewing Company (Piney River Area)

- Tin Mill Brewery (Hermann)

- Horseshoe Bend Brewing Company (Ozarks)

- 5th Street Brewpub (Sedalia)

- Native Stone Winery & Bull Rock Brewery (Jefferson City)

- Prison Brews (Jefferson City)

- Flat Branch Pub and Brewing (Columbia)

- Broadway Brewery & Restaurant (Columbia)

- Augusta Brewing Co. (Augusta)

 

Musings On Incorporating Wine Into Beer

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I am not going to go as far as saying that combining wine and beer is a trend nor is it a terribly new idea. But, I have noticed in 2011 that such combinations have become more common and often with impressive results. Of course, the manner in which they are combined is extremely important. I have seen beers that directly used grapes in their recipe. More often, I have noticed brewers aging beers in wine barrels. The purposeful of specific use of wine yeasts in beers has also been done by many brewers to great effect. I have also noticed that beers brewed with grapes or aged in wine barrels tend to come from really high end brewers like Cantillon, Anchorage Brewing Company or Mikkeller. I believe this is due to several reasons such as the skill of the brewer, the brewery’s emphasis on innovation and experimentation as well as the price tag (I am sure used wine barrels are not cheap, plus the time and resources it takes to age such beers must add up quickly). Here are a few examples of the incorporation of wine in brewing that I noticed. I am sure I have missed many excellent examples and am genuinely curious, please feel free to and add your thoughts and experiences!

Cantillon St. Lamvinus- The St. Lamvinus was brewed with merlot and cabernet-franc grapes that were soaked in Bourdoux barrels that contained 2-3 year old lambics. I have one of these babies sitting in my cellar, but have not yet tried it. Considering Cantillon’s steller reputation and the uniqueness of this beer, I am extremely excited for the moment that I decide to open it.

He’Brew Rejewvenator (Year Of The Grape) 2010- This beer was brewed with concord grapes. I have not tried it but I regret that I missed my opportunity. Schmaltz has yet to let me down with their innovative and impressive beers.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch- Midas Touch was based on residue found in drinking vessels from King Midas’s tomb which included muscat grapes. Proving, this idea is by no means “new”.

Allagash Victoria Ale- According to their website, Allagash used over 200lbs of chardonnay grapes in brewing this beer/wine fusion.

Paeleman Brewery Druivenbier- I will be honest, I am not familiar with this beer but a quick Google search leads to a page from HomeBrewTalk about grape beers. This Belgian beer was apparently one of the first modern beer/wine fusions in 2005.

Saint Somewhere Cynthiana- This month’s Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club selection, Saint Somewhere Cynthiana is a Belgian style ale brewed with Cynthiana grapes. This is even more interesting because Cynthiana grapes tend to come from the less prestigeous wine producing states such as Missouri, Illinois, Florida and so on. So more power to Saint Somewhere for utilizing a unique member of the Vitis aestivalis (compared to Vitis vinifera or Vitis lambruska).

Samuel Adams even included a grape pale ale in its 2007 long shot six pack.

Probably the most common incarnation of beers that are combined with wine are those aged in used wine barrels. A few notorious examples of this are Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Brut which was aged in sauvignon blanc barrels and used Champagne Yeast (amongst other yeasts). Stone Brewing Company’s 2007 Old Guardian barley wine was aged in red wine barrels. Anchorage Brewing Company’s Bitter Monk and Love Buzz were both aged in wine barrels. Mikkeller included a red wine barrel aged beer and a white wine barrel aged beer in his Black Hole series. Russian River Brewing Company aged their Temptation and Supplication in chardonnay and pinot noir barrels respectively. Even Springfield’s new brewery Mother’s Brewing Company aged a batch of Foggy Notion barley wine in sherry barrels. The list goes on and on. While these beers are not super common and do not have their own category in the ranking systems, they are interesting and worth trying out!

Springfield, Missouri 2011 State of Beer Review

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2011 has been an excellent year for beer in Springfield. I could make this article very long and still fail to mention many important Ozark beer developments. Do not worry, I have no interest in boring anyone with such things. I am merely gonna mention some of the largest beer related events of 2011 in the region.

By far the largest and most exciting development in the area was the introduction of Mother’s Brewing Company. Mother’s started out last spring and has, so far impressed me tremendously. They have a beautiful facility in downtown Springfield. On top of the aesthetics, they are making some great beer and charging very reasonable prices. I expect a lot of great things from them in 2012. Another brewery that deserves mention is Horseshoe Bend Brewing Company near the Lake of the Ozarks. Horseshoe bend has just completed a “croudsourcing” fundraising campaign in order to facilitate more production. I have not had their beer and do not suspect it will make it to Springfield in the near future, but am very glad to see their enthusiasm and desire to create good beer for the Ozarks. I wish them the best of luck in the future. I can not fail to mention that the Springfield Brewing Company recently changed ownership. Their brew master is now the owner and I see great things coming out of this. I was recently given a bottle of the Full Nelson, which is a Nelson Sauvin wheat wine and I was very impressed.

This year has also been a good year for both on and off premise beer consumption in Springfield. In 2011, Missouri saw the introduction of Green Flash Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Company which are both excellent breweries from San Diego. Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Nectar Ales, (which is one of my favorite breweries) from Paso Robles California, entered the Missouri market last spring as well. Very recently an excellent new brewery out of St. Louis, Perennial Artisan Ales, arrived on Springfield shelves. While those are certainly not all of the beers new to Missouri, in 2011, they some of the most acclaimed. With the introduction of those five breweries, Missouri’s already strong portfolio of available beers improved dramatically. Deschutes Brewery is supposed to come to Missouri early in 2012 and can not wait to see what else!

The selection on store shelves has greatly improved in 2011. I have also noticed a drastically improved tap selection at many bars. The Brown Derby Craft Beer Fest and Oktoberfest both went on and expanded in 2011. The Springfield Food and Wine Celebration added beer in 2011. Beer dinners and sit down tastings have been on the rise. The beer community in general is growing. Overall 2011 has been an excellent year for beer in Springfield and 2012 looks to be even better. Keep up the great work Springfield!

Mother’s Mango Infused Barleywine at Coffee Ethic (Event) + Random Beer News

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I have mentioned Mother’s Brewing Company on this blog before. Mother’s is a new brewery in Springfield, that is making all the right moves. They have a tasty and continually improving product, slick packaging and an excellent facility. Tomorrow night, Mother’s Brewing Company will be serving their never before seen mango infused barleywine at the Coffee Ethic in Springfield, Missouri.

In other news, the Westvleteren gift sets which I mentioned in an earlier post have been released in Belgium have shown up on EBAY for $250. http://www.beernews.org/2011/11/westvleteren-xii-gift-boxes-going-for-250-on-ebay/ I find this to be ridiculous. While Westvleteren VI, VIII and XII are fantastic beers and the gift sets, plus special bottles look awesome, the XII is not the best beer in the world, nor is it worth that much money. I am very interested in seeing exactly how these beers are distributed in the United States, what the retail price is and the availability, but believe I will pass on utilizing the “gray market” of beer to acquire a set. Concerning the aforementioned “gray market” I have mixed feelings. On one hand I believe it is an outlet for people who are really interested in a particular rare beer but for whatever reason failed to procure one on the day it was released. On the other hand, I find it offensive that the people selling those rare beers are making such an absurd profit off of it, especially when the proceeds go to such causes as charity and restoration of the abbey (as is the case of the Westvleteren). I know that most brewers are not happy with the EBAY situation as well.

Does anyone know where this beer can be purchased? I need it just for the bottle! http://failblog.org/2011/11/22/epic-fail-after-12-just-like-the-girl-at-the-bar-you-bought-it-for/

Mother’s Brewing Company Winter Grind and Bell’s Java Stout (Review)

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Yes, I know it is 9:30 am, but it is one of my few days off, and I am very excited about these two beers. They are coffee stouts after all (a.k.a. breakfast beers, speaking of which, had I been thinking, I would have picked up a Founder’s Breakfast Stout to compare here aw well….next time…).


Anyway, Mother’s is Springfield, Missouri’s own microbrewery. They began operations in the old Butternut Bread bakery downtown this past spring. So far they have been pretty impressive, producing solid craft beers. I expect good things from them in the future. I am excited about this particular beer (The Winter Grind) because they are using a coffee blend from locally owned Mud House Coffee. Bell’s is one of my favorite producers and has yet to even come close to let me down. The only exception to that may be “Hell Hath No Fury” or the “Anniversary Ale”, both of which were good, just not the transcendent experience I was expecting…

As to the actual beers being tasted, both are, obviously a very very dark brown in color, with a little bit of head. The Mother’s has a tiny bit more than Bell’s. Naturally, both smell like coffee (being as I am not a an expert that is about as complex as my analysis on the aroma will get), the Mother’s has a much stronger coffee flavor and I think I smelled a hint of chocolate on the Bell’s. The Bell’s is nice, bitter, lots of coffee and a little burnt chocolate, but still pretty mellow and subdued. The Mother’s is much more simple, there is a lot of tasty coffee in here. It is a bit rough when paired side by side with Bell’s (but then again, most beers are). It is still very good and essentially, lightly carbonated coffee. The Bell’s is far more complex and balanced so I will have to give it the edge, Mother’s is considerably cheaper and both are a pretty good way to wake up! Both are good in their own right, the Mother’s is cheaper ($6-8 a six pack), stronger and more refreshing, as it is much heavier on the coffee. The Bell’s is more complex, better balanced and comes with a heftier price tag (around $15 a six pack). So, try them both if you can, unfortunately, Mother’s does not distribute outside of Springfield, yet.

Some other coffee beers you will definitely want to try are Founder’s Breakfast Stout is a staple as well as Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Brasserie Du Ciel Peche Mortel (which ages very nicely) and the upcoming Schlafly Coffee Stout. I would also consider the Southern Tier Java, this beer is a beast at 10.4%, for the really hard days at work….