Minnesota Harvest Orchard

 

Recently, the fine folks at Minnesota Harvest Orchard in Jordan, MN invited Jack of All Brews homebrew club out to do a cider pressing demo.  This is the second year we have done so and we were excited to go back!  Several years ago our club invested in an old fashioned 1800's looking wooden cider press and have made good use of it over the years.  This old-school technology still works and looks great out at the orchard, taking one back in time to early American settler days in Minnesota. 

We arrived around 11 AM on a Sunday, swollen orange fall sun shedding rich light on the orchard grounds.  Already the place was bustling with people, but soon would be filled to bursting with families looking for autumn fun.

Over the morning and into the afternoon JAB members and their families trickled in and took part in the apple pressing process.  We soon got things into a pretty efficient pattern.  A few people would rinse the apples in buckets of water, then toss the apples into the grinder at the top of the press.  A few years ago one of our members added on a motor to this, making it much more efficient than hand cranking it!  Once the hopper was full, we would put the lid on it and hand crank the press, resulting in fresh apple juice cascading into our waiting bucket.  We found about 100 apples would give us just over 1 gallon of juice. 

Ready to ferment!

The orchard itself is massive, with a huge main building holding a gift shop, food counter, and now a bar.  Outside were another portable bar, a food truck serving amazing pizza, and more!  Add in the world's shortest sunflower maze, hay rides, ponies, (evil) petting zoo, and apple catapult, and you have a ton of entertainment! 

This year, Tim Roets and his sons Dylan and PJ are presiding over Minnesota Harvest's new farm winery.  Tim is currently working on his own brewery in Jordan as well, but hit a big snag when this spring's monsoon rainfall caused a mudslide into the old Jordan Brewery building where he was setting up shop.  He still hopes to be brewing by this winter.  In the mean time, he is making apple ales, hard ciders, and meads for the orchard.  I got to try a few of his concoctions and was impressed as always with his ingenuity.

A jovial Tim Roets showing off the new tasting bar!

Overall this was a really fun way to spend a fall day!  Thanks to the Minnesota Harvest folks for having us out and providing apples, and to Tim and his sons as well. 

Byggvir's Big Beer Cup Award Ceremony 2013

On Wednesday the 28th of August a plethora of local homebrewers from several different clubs converged upon an unsuspecting Town Hall Brewery for the 7th Annual Byggvir's Big Beer Cup Award Ceremony!  OK, I guess Town Hall expected us since the back room was roped off for us, but that intro sounded way cooler...  In my previous post I spent quite a bit of space describing the competition itself, and here is a shorter description of the award ceremony. 

Right after work on Wednesday, Sj, Steven and I rocketed out of Waconia on our way to Chaska to pick up Matt and Anna.  From there mistress leadfoot (Sj) got us heading up I35W in great time...until some sort of accident farther up-stream caused a huge car log-jam leaving us in stop and go traffic for the next 35 minutes.  Luckily Jerry and Mike L. had saved us a large table and even had drinks waiting for us upon our tardy arrival.  Thanks guys, that is a wonderful welcome! 

The place was hopping, with most of the back dining room filled with eager homebrewers.  At least 10 JABbers were present, as well as some folks from MHBA, Primary Fermenters, and some of the other smaller clubs that I need to get better acquainted with.  Gera Exire Latour and Tim Roets had organized a few tables into first, second and third place prize piles before we arrived and set up a small microphone.  They were kind enough to wait until our carload of JAB arrived before starting the ceremony, but a lot of the folks had been there since about 5PM.  We promptly ordered food and got to work on our drinks.  I was pleased that there was plenty of Thunderstorm (a Belgian with lemongrass and orange blossom honey) to go around, though some of my less discerning friends (Mike and Jerry) who I won't name here are not fans.  They are incorrect!  The AC either wasn't working or couldn't keep up with the crowd and the 95 degree weather outside, so the place got pretty toasty as the evening went on.  That just reminded me of our Extreme Beer Judging at the Fest grounds, but minus the dust and turkey legs. 

Gera began the official proceedings with some background on the competition and about the special Historic beer category before launching into the winner list.  She would read off several categories and then take a break for Tim to read off some raffle winners (everyone present got a ticket.)  This was as nice way to extend the event a bit, giving us time to talk to winners, drink great Town Hall beers and eat our dinners!  Tim also came by a few times over the night with Beer Trivia for each table so we could win bottle openers and other cool prizes.  Tim and Gera did a great job on getting sponsors and swag this year so there was plenty to go around!  The Renfest medals had not arrived in time for the ceremony, but they had given us enough mugs that each first place winner received a large and colorful 2013 commemorative mug.  I was lucky enough to get several of my beers into the winner's circle and ended up with a large pile of prizes.  This more than paid back the cost of my entry fees to the competition.  A lot of my friends won medals as well including Jeff Malek, Kyle Sisco, Brett Glenna, Joe Lushine, Mark Glennon , Wayne Doucette, and more! 

Once all the categories had been announced, Mike Hoops came up to talk about Tim's Kolsch (the winner from last year's BOS round and currently on tap at the brewery,) and about the potential difficulty in getting into the GABF in the next few years.  He and Gera then announced the Best of Show winner that will be brewed at Town Hall for the coming year: Ben Adair's Colonial Ale!  This is the first time one of the historic beers has made it to BOS and I'm very excited that the beer will be brewed commercially.  I would have preferred if my stout or apricot beer had won, but hey maybe I have another shot next year!  Interestingly myself and Jeff both won medals in that category as well, but were apparently beat out by a pretty amazing beer.  I brewed a Gose beer with French grey sea salt and coriander specifically for this competition (mainly so I wouldn't have to judge the category for the fourth year straight!) and was pretty pleased with the result.  A perfect refreshing and tart beer for a crazy hot end of summer.

My rockin' swag!

Overall I had a great time at the award ceremony.  I loved hanging out at one of my favorite breweries with a bunch of my fellow homebrewers, and the event was a great excuse to get down there during the week.  Let's have a big "Huzzah!" for the 2013 Renaissance Festival and Byggvir!  Thanks to Town Hall, Mike Hoops, the MN Renfest and all of our other sponsors.

The official winner's list can be found HERE!

Limited Release Episode 7: Dark Lord Redux

Episode 7 of Limited Release is now out on the interwebs and I wanted to encourage my friends to watch it!  Rob and Ron did an episode on Dark Lord Day in 2012 that was quite fun to watch, so if you haven't seen that episode yet--watch it first!  This is the Redux episode where their fans overwhelmingly suggested that they go back to Dark Lord Day for a second try.  On the way they stopped at Solemn Oath Brewery in Illinois and include a nice interview with the head brewer, John Barley (seriously I can't make this up!) 

Rob brought over a growler of Solemn Oath IPA for us to sample for the cameras. Tim Roets (currently working on re-opening the historic Jordan Brewery) and myself are in the episode giving our impressions of the beer and adding local color!  And no Mickie's was harmed in the making of this episode...

Watch it HERE!  I couldn't embed it properly in this blog....

So check out the episode (and the old ones if you haven't seen them yet) to get a feel for how these limited release parties really go down.  Share the episode on social media and like the guys on Facebook and Twitter to be up to date on the series and involved in promotions and giveaways.  The next episode is based on the Firestone Walker Invitational and should have some great footage and brewer interviews so stay tuned...

Tim Roets To Open Jordan Brewery!

This past year I broke the news of Enki brewing on this blog and have continued to follow their progress over time.  Now I have a second bit of big news for my readers!  Jack of All Brews member and award winning homebrewer Tim Roets is going Pro! Tim is in the process of opening a nanobrewery inside the 150 year old sandstone walls of the Historic Jordan Brewery in Jordan, MN!  He was kind enough to give me first dibs on scooping the story, so here goes:

Seriously, did they even have cameras back then?

The Jordan Brewery is on the Historic Registry and has a long and storied past--a perfect place to put in a new working brewery!  From Doug Hoverson's Land of Amber Waters (the definitive history book of brewing in Minnesota,) I was able to dig up a bit of information on the brewery.  The larger of two breweries in the city of Jordan, the brewery itself was opened in 1866 by Frank Nicolin and Sebastian Gehring, soon becoming the largest brewery between the Twin Cities and New Ulm.  There were several ownership changes over time resulting in upgraded facilities like a bottling line and creation of an extensive network of caves carved into the stone bluff behind the brewery.  In 1902 Peter Hilgers took over the brewery, adding electricity and further expanding the distribution of the beer.  He was known to visit his local accounts to make sure that the quality was to his taste, often using a horse-drawn beer sleigh during his travels.

Modern day!

During Prohibition the brewery was converted to a chicken hatchery, but returned as a brewery in 1934.  Distribution reached across Minnesota and seven other states at this time!  There were several more ownership changes with the brewery eventually being purchased by Mankato Brewing Company to expand their production, but was closed shortly after.  Jordan beers continued to be produced in Mankato for a while and even bottled in Chicago for a short period.  After closing down the building returned to a chicken hatchery until damaged by fire.  In the 1990's the building was renovated by Gail Andersen into apartments and retail space.  Which brings us up to our current time-line!

Let me give a bit of background on Tim Roets.  I met Tim only two years ago when he won Best Of Show at Byggvir's Big Beer Cup (I was running the Renaissance Festival homebrew competition that year.)  I had Tim out to my basement bar to claim his prizes and immediately felt that I had discovered an old friend.  I am still shocked that we have only known each other for such a short period since it feels like I've known him for a decade or more!  Tim has been brewing since the early 1980's--in fact he has shown me a newspaper article he wrote on homebrewing back then.

A celebratory toast to Tim's new venture!

He has had many careers in his life so far, ranging from newspaper reporter/critic,  furniture/design pro, retail consultant, stay-at-home dad, and soon, professional brewer.  Throughout it all he has continued to return to his hobby of homebrewing, continually experimenting with new techniques and flavors.  He has made lagers, ales, sour beers, ciders, and even meads.  He started putting his concoctions into competitions a few years ago in order to get feedback from beer judges, and quickly discovered that he was raking in the medals for doing so.  He has won multiple medals at the Upper Mississippi Mash Out (one of the biggest competitions in the nation) including the taking home the coveted Eis-Anything trophy for two years running.  He's won two Minnesota State Fair blue ribbons (among others), and recently had a whopping five beers make it to the second round of the National Homebrewer's Competition in Philadelphia (the biggest homebrew competition in the world.)  

He is a bit melancholy that this is the last year he will be able to compete, but he can always play with the big boys and try to win some GABF medals...and ironically, the GABF Pro-Am will be his last homebrew contest.  A catalyst for his going pro, Tim's prize for his repeat Byggvir BOS in 2012 gave him a chance to scale up his homebrewed Kolsch at Town Hall Brewery with Mike Hoops, then travel with him as they enter it in the big show in Denver this October!  As Tim always says...great reason to enter homebrew contests!  That beer will be on tap soon, likely for the Byggvir awards at the end of August. (Check HERE for details on the brew day.)

How to describe Tim?  In a word: Intensity!  But that alone doesn't do him justice.  He is a man who has been in sales much of his life and knows how to talk to people.  His excitement about a subject is infectious and nearly palpable.  He does nothing by half-degrees.  When he grills, he doesn't throw a couple burgers on, he spends all day smoking a huge pork shoulder on Jamaican pimento wood and serving up jerked pork and chicken for 30 people.  When he makes a mead he isn't content to take what he gets--he tinkers with it, blending, fruiting, spicing to get a plethora of unique one-off beverages.  This intensity and single-mindedness will serve him well in his future career.  Tim is gregarious and inclusive--one of the most giving and people I know!  When he jumped in and took over as Secretary of Jack Of All Brews he promptly injected some of his energy into our group and pushed us to try some new things.  Infectious I tell you! 

Only two days ago Tim dropped this bomb on me.  He has been quietly working on this plan over the past month, not wanting to publicise it until he was sure things would work out... and if you know Tim, quiet isn't easy for him!  In fact I was thinking that something was wrong since he had been so under the radar over the past month or so!  Last night he invited Sj and myself out to the brewery for a tour.  He cracked open a bottle of Steel Toe Lunker to commemorate the visit, as the idea was hatched--Jason had no idea--in Steel Toe's taproom just weeks prior with fellow Jabber and Jordanian Jeff Malek.  A fine Minnesota brew to sip while wandering about the prestigious old place.

At this point in the game, Tim will occupy the first floor of the building and has been working on cleaning up the brew space.  The property has been well cared for by the current owner and isn't requiring as much infrastructure investment as I thought it would.  Nearly the entire place has 30 inch thick sandstone brick walls hewn from the excavation of the caves.with some smaller clay brick dressing around doorways and fireplace.  A huge old chimney starts on the ground floor and towers over the building itself.Tim is currently sourcing tile for the brewhouse floor and getting ready to install drainage.  He'll be working with the city and the landlord in the next few weeks with a goal of beginning the application process by the end of August--an outside chance there could be beer brewing in '13!  He has been working with lighting and color palattes as well, in order to furnish the space and accentuate the incredible architectural details of the building.

He literally shines when discussing his ideas for renovating the old building and restoring it to its proper glory.  He hopes to upgrade the doors and install stained glass windows, as well as put in a bar for the tasting room side of things.  He feels that this opportunity to work with such a piece of history is his primary calling, and making beer here again after more than 60 years is simply a bonus!  He showed us the entry to cave system, filled with a waist deep crystal clear water that remains a steady 42-48 degrees year round.  While pumping the caves dry would be a losing battle, there is talk of building a deck above and lighting to display the cave system...perhaps even putting it to its original use: lagering beer!

Let us talk beer, you and I.  As mentioned before, Tim is a fantastic brewer.  His initial brewing goals are modest.  He wants to start with a small 2-4 barrel system he is designing with the help of perennial JAB award winner Wayne Doucette, with the aim of making a constantly rotating small batch line-up of beers.  For his style and personality I think this the right tack.  Having to produce a huge quantity of a flagship beer would quickly take a lot of the joy from the brewing process for him.  He has room to expand in the future if needed, especially if he can make use of those lagering caves.  I'm hoping he will eventually branch out and make ciders and meads, since they are one of his personal strengths--but walk before you run!  While brewing on the property before licencing goes through is not an option, Tim has taken some of the local water back home to Chaska and brewed a few batches with it already to familiarize himself with its properties.  He had me sample a classic German Alt that is young but already bursting with noble hop and melanoidin flavors.  While he leads the renovation at the brewery, Tim also plans to refine his recipes with the Jordan water and experiment with small conical fermenters/yeast culturing offsite in Jeff Malek's basement brewhouse down the road.

The new Jordan Brewery will be a small family business, aimed at supplying the locals with fresh locally made beer.  Tim has opened well over 50 retail businesses in his career, and his wife Steff Sanders brings her financial and legal experience to the table.  Together, they bring considerable business acumen to the venture.  Tim's sons Dylan and P.J. will be lending their young backs and experience in food/beverage service, and stepchildren Jack and Izzy will be soda tasters--truly a family affair.

Tim is currently putting his beloved BMW 3-series up for a quick--it screams to over 150 mph and is priced well below Blue Book to move, he'll tell you!--to help fund the process.  (He'll want to buy it back from you after he sells his first 500 barrels!) A Kickstarter campaign to help fund the taproom and furnishings will take place in the coming month or so.  I'll provide details and links when the Kickstarter is live, and plan on supporting him there as well.

I'm still a bit shocked that my friend is taking this plunge, but I think it will be a great venture for him and his family over the next few years.  This process will bring renewal and business to the city of Jordan and I'm excited about the move back to pre-prohibition days of most small towns having their own brewery (Victoria, Shakopee, Minnetonka, etc.) I can't wait to see how all this pans out! 

UPDATE!  Since I still get a lot of folks checking out this now historical page, I thought I would add a link to Tim's brewery website so people can follow his progress.  Check it out HERE.

Guest Blog: Tim Roets Brews With Mike Hoops!

This installment is a Guest Blog by one of the winningest homebrewers I know: Tim Roets.  As grand prize for the 2012 Byggvir's Big Beer Cup,  he won a special brewday with Mike Hoops of Town Hall Brewery!  This is Tim's account of how the day went and should serve as inspiration for folks to enter the upcoming 2013 contest which features another chance to win this amazing opportunity!

--Eric

Town Hall at 6:30 AM

 With temps expected in the 90s on brewday, Mike Hoops had no problem convincing me to get to Town Hall early and get right to brewing our version of my 2012 RennFest BOS Kolsch that will be entered in the Pro-Am competition at the Great American Beer festival in Denver this October.

First thing for those who haven’t met him – Mike is an incredible guy who truly understood how much this brew meant to a homebrewer like myself, and made sure that it was an experience. With the opening of their new Town Hall Lanes this week, he had been running hard for weeks doing setup and said he was relieved to be able to spend a day at the brewery just brewing with me.

Town Hall brews on a 10-BBL system that is visible from the back dining room, and has several 10 and 20-BBL fermenters in that space – 20-BBL batches are brewed in a double brew. Downstairs are more fermenters and brite tanks, barrels, grain/hop storage, a cooler and a small lab, where Mike keeps the meticulous records needed to be a commercial brewer.

Tim gives us a gun show!

 Keeping track of each step of the process on a clipboard, we worked steadily in the small but surprisingly spacious brew area. He let me work at every step – wielding the mash paddle, loading grain in the auger, adding the chemicals and the hops, scrubbing down the fermenter and removing 8 garbage cans of spent grain from the mash tun with a well-used garden hoe on the way to being Grade A pig slop.

The dirty work!  And a sweet shirt...

 We even toyed with the recipe and added a bit more of the nice, mild Hersbrucker hops he had on hand at the end. During the breaks in the action, we chatted over coffee, discussed water chemistry and surprising details (The Germans say Kolsch should have a pH of 5.6-5.8!)

Tim hopped up on brewing

 Cool stuff in the barrels, too, a “Manhattan” (up-North cherry-juice style, we both agreed) Cherry Grand Cru aged in Bourbon barrels and a dark one with Kumquats and chocolate! He was also excited about the challenge brewing a American-Style Lager for the bowling alley to replace the PBR, and had some sweet old-school logoed bowling-alley pilsner glasses arrive as we were speaking.

Hoops doing something scientific in the lab!

 We had some lunch over a nice season Calypso Pale Ale, finished up, then hung out in the bar sampling and hanging out with the staff until almost 5pm! It was an incredible opportunity, and one of the best reasons to enter homebrew contests. Thanks to Mike Hoops, Gera and Eric (for pulling off the amazing prize!) and all the friends and JABers who attended the Byggvir awards ceremony last year, and I hope to see all of you at Town Hall when we tap it in about 6 weeks!

Then on to Denver….

--Tim Roets