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As I mentioned last week, relationships help small businesses grow. Well, our good friends from Seattle (originally from the true Best Coast – the East Coast), run a small business out of their home. It’s always been close to our heart because it involves dogs. It’s called Juniper Leaves. It’s a Dog Mom + Me accessories site but as a dog Dad I feel I can enjoy pampering my dog too!

Don’t tell my wife but my favorite son is our dog, not the silly cat she’s had since we first met. The cat’s a jerk – the dog’s great. So, to help pamper my buddy we try to get him new toys when he goes to the groomers and new bandannas when the mood strikes. That’s where Juniper Leaves comes in. Stout, our pup, is a big fan of her stuff. He seems to love wearing her materials and cuts and they always seem to fit perfect. We have 2 beer bandannas and a Penn State bandanna from here.

Juniper Leaves and I are working on a collaboration beer and some Warzy Brewing gear. Keep your eyes open so you can shower your pet in gear and help small businesses along the way.

If you have any ideas of doggo, mom, or dad accessories you’d like to see in the Warzy Brewing swag catalog please let us know and we’ll work to develop something for you and your fur babies!

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Building Relationships

One of the most important parts of success is building relationships. Relationships are about give and take. They’re about helping each other out and going above and beyond. Without relationships, small businesses don’t work.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to spotlight some of the relationships we’ve built while developing Warzy Brewing. If you’re interested in getting involved with our brand or collaborating on something for the future please let us know. We can grow together.

Keep your eye open for the relationship spotlight next week. I think this one is a paw-fest one to start with. This one isn’t a ruff relationship at all… More to come next week – stay tuned!

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Fruited Beverage Combos

My uncle always says “you don’t fruit the beer” or “I never put fruit in beer”. We get that sentiment from a ton of old school beer drinkers – the responders typically like super hoppy west coast IPAs or light American lagers. I don’t mind that opinion – I myself rock Miller Lite at tailgates or a nice Bells Two Hearted when the mood strikes. However, lately I’ve been enjoying adding fruit and/or spices to beer styles and they’ve been turning out great. Below are some combos I’ve used and the beer style I went with:

– Blueberry and Cinnamon – Milkshake IPA

– Cherry and Cinnamon – Hard Apple Cider

– Cucumber and Honeydew Melon – Gose

– Blackberry and Mint – Kettle Sour

– Mango – Hard Seltzer

– Ginger and Lime – Hard Seltzer

What are some flavor combos you’ve used lately? Anything I should try? I’m curious to see the bounds of adding fruit and spices to beer, cider, and Seltzer styles!

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3 Rules for Homebrewers

Homebrewing is a fun hobby. You can make some incredible beer that you get to share with friends. Lately, I’ve been asked what “rules” homebrewers have and I jotted down my 3 most important.

1. I can’t sell you my product. I wish I could. I have had folks at beerfests ask “okay… so how do you make money?!” Simply put, I don’t. I brew as a hobby and a stress reliever. I enjoy getting feeding and seeing others try my beer. Thus, my slogan #BrewingBeerForFriends .

2. Homebrewers can add almost anything to a beer. Professional breweries have limitations on what they can add or when they can add it. Homebrewers don’t. Lately, I’ve been in a fruit, tea, and spice mood, so my products have any had one of the above in them! It’s fun!

3. Newbies that want to try brewing for the first time ask: “what’s the most important tip?” My answer: sanitation. If your process is sanitary and you keep everything clean and the bottles/kegs/fermenters sanitary that the wort is going into, you’ll make beer.

Do you have any other must-follow rules for home brewing? I’d love to see the questions you get!

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Centennial Blonde Ale

Lately I’ve been digging blonde ales and more malty beer styles. My taste buds have seemed to reach hop and flavor overload. I don’t seem to gravitate towards the NE IPAs, Milkshake IPAs, or the fruited sours. I still have one every few weeks but not in the daily doses that I had when they first hit the brewery scene.

I’ve brewed this blonde ale recipe that’s been in magazines and internet forums for years. I’ve made it many times and it’s always delicious and a hit at parties, beer festivals, and for every day drinking. It’s especially true now when all the brewers I talk to are at flavor overload like myself.

When you get a moment to reflect and see how your taste buds really feel, do yourself a favor and give this a shot:

****5 Gallon Batch****

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)

Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.

Credit: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall.42841/

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Too Early for Oktoberfest?

I LOVE Oktoberfest style beers – I always look forward to Märzen, Oktoberfest, and Festbier season.

Over the last 3-5 years I’ve been noticing the Oktoberfest styles slowly creep from September into August and even July for their release. I keep asking myself: Is this too early?

Because I love the style, it’s not too early for me, but having a Märzen on July 4th seems odd. Should pumpkin spice, lagered Oktoberfests, and pullover sweaters be kept for later in the year?

As with anything else, marketing and market drive the early production and sales of these items. If people buy them earlier and earlier, why wouldn’t breweries release them? Supply and demand.

We kegged our Märzen today and I’m hoping to let it lager a bit before crushing it. However, it was tasting good!

Give me your comments and thoughts. I’m still on the fence if it’s PSL and Fest SZN.

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Evolution: #RecipeThursday to #BlogThursday

Evolution is an fascinating thing. Warzy Brewing is a group of folks that are all “Millenials” so a Google search tells us that Evolution means: “the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth” or “the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form”. I’d like to think that the evolution of #RecipeThursday to #BlogThursday is a development of something simple to more complex.

In our previous Instagram #RecipeThursday we posted images of recipes in hopes that viewers would enjoy the idea and brew with us or use our recipes in their future work. While images are great, they are inherently difficult for recipes. A single image often lacks the ability to discuss, copy+paste, or add notes and specific techniques. Warzy Brewing received multiple requests to try something new that would allow brewers and interested readers the ability to learn and grow with us.

#BlogThursday will build on the foundation of #RecipeThursday and try to not only provide recipes, tips, and tricks, but also provide links related to the discussion and items that we find helpful while brewing or enjoying craft beer.

As we grow, #BlogThursday may evolve into as much or as little as seems needed. But, that’s the impressive part about evolution – it isn’t always growing larger.

Stay tuned for future #BlogThursday that will discuss items in the Homebrewing, Brewing, and Craft Beer industries.