Red, White, and Blueberry

The Fourth of July is upon us once again, and the island is filled with beach-goers galore. I even got my first - and hopefully only - sunburn of the season this past weekend.

We're gearing up production back in the brewery in preparation for the masses to stop in and have a beer, which means quicker turnovers of our Fruitie Patootie and IPA varieties.

To complement the banners and flags that will be waving this weekend, Fruitie Patootie blueberry will be tapped on Thursday, July 1st. The following evening, we'll have our imperial IPA Kitty Cats & Fireworks on tap, just in time for you to stop in and have a glass before the fireworks!

If IPAs or fruited blonde ales aren't your thing, we have Shorezy - a crisp, clean, refreshing summer ale sitting at a quaffable 4.9%. It's quickly becoming a seasonal favorite, so make sure you have one before it's gone.

I know I'll be sipping on one after a long day of brewing!

Cheers,

Liz (Assistant Brewer)

A Day In The Life: Brew Days

I haven't actually written much lately about what I'm DOING in the brewery, so I figured that needs to be rectified with a Day In The Life entry.

This will be a series of entries, starting with a brew day!

Most days, I get to work at 10AM (unless I'm cleaning tap lines, then I usually pop in no later than 9:30). By this time, Tony's either just beginning to mash in, or about to finish that process.

I usually begin with rinsing any gear that's been soaking overnight in detergent. Once that's done, and the gear not specifically needed to rebuild one of the fermentation vessels (FV) has been put away, I move over to sanitizing the FV we'll be knocking out into.

Sanitizing an FV takes approximately 18 minutes, not including the time it takes to attach equipment. When that process is started, I hop over to the mill room to vacuum it thoroughly. We don't want any leftover grain enticing anything to come in for dinner!

With that finished, I hop back over to the FV and crack open valves to sanitize the blow-off hose and racking arm. After that, I remind myself to crack open the door during the last 2 minutes of the cycle to ensure that gets nicely sanitized (sometimes I forget, stop the pump, and then turn it right back on and crack the door).

We then pump that sanitizer into several buckets (blow off buckets, extras, and at least one Lexan if we need to harvest yeast) for later.

If we harvest yeast to use in that day's brew, this is when that typically happens. We simply use yeast from a previous brew (that's finished fermenting, of course), and pitch it into the sanitized FV for the wort being made.

There's not much to do when the wort gets pumped into the brew kettle except keep an eye on things and flip a couple switches at the appropriate times - until it's Mash Out time! If I'm not doing something else, like a rack, I'll step in and pull the spent grain out of the lauter tun into our 400lb steel dumper. It's a team effort most times, with Tony hosing down the rakes and plow when the grain gets low while I scrape as much out as possible.

The dumper then gets fork-lifted into the parking lot where it waits for the farmer to come take it. The lauter tun is thoroughly hosed down, and the loose grain removed, before it's rinsed with the remaining hot liquor (really hot water, but not boiling hot). I'm still learning the precise process of opening and closing valves at the appropriate times to rinse the lauter tun (there's, like, a dozen of them and they all go different places, so it's important to remember which does what).

The rest of the brew is spent adding the needed hops at the right times, keeping the wort at a consistent boil, and then knocking out (transferring oxygenated wort into the FV where we pitched the yeast in order for it to ferment and turn into beer).

After knock-out is complete, it's time to clean the brewhouse equipment! It's a mostly automated process that takes about 30 minutes. If there's nothing else going on that day, this is when I usually spray down the emptied dumper, then hose down the floors. When we're done, if we have beers from other breweries that people have brought us, we'll crack open one or two and share our thoughts on it. Or we'll taste our own brews, just to see how they're coming along.

And then it's about time to head home! Brew days usually last 6-7 hours (again, if nothing else is going on simultaneously), so it's a good days' work making beer for all of you to enjoy.

Forgetting to Write Blogs

Okay, so it's not that I'm forgetting, per se, rather there's so much going on that the blogging kinda takes a backseat to everything else. I've been returning things, coming up with weekly Beer Chats for ongoing beer education in-house, ordering items for packaging to go beers (did you know there's a national shortage on growler lids?!), and so on. Not to mention we did three racks this week. THREE. And, as I type this, Tony is just about to knock out the first half Kitty Cats & Fireworks - coming to MudHen Fourth of July weekend.

On top of a marathon canning run last week and everything else going on, I worked the first beerfest of 2021 up in Morristown, NJ with our marketing coordinator. The Beer, BBQ, Bacon festival started at noon on Saturday. So, I was up at 6am to get to the brewery by 7:30am to load out by 8am. Thankfully, no highway shenanigans were had, although we did show up and get placed, unloaded, half-way set up, and then... promptly asked to move to another location on the field.

A lot of things happened in Morristown that made me wonder if it's because two women were representing MudHen or if it was just happenstance. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty certain the dude who stopped at our tent and asked if we were "the brewers or just the cute faces" wasn't asking Three 3's or Spellbound reps that question.

Another guy asked if we were sisters... pretty sure he wasn't asking the dudes if they were all brothers.

And still another asked if I was married. Not sure if he meant to one another or to someone else, but it was still a really weird, random question I've only ever gotten working a beerfest with another woman. Things that make you go hmmm.

And things that make you go mmmmm!: This weekend we're debuting 2021's third iteration (already?!) of Fruitie Patootie. It's mango and pink guava flavored. A little sweet, a little tart, and perfectly balanced to quench your thirst on what will be a warm, beautiful weekend down here at the shore. Also back on tap this weekend is the Düneslager - it's been lagered since late March, patiently awaiting its return to service. Stop in, stock up on cans, or grab a Crowler or Growler of your favorite, and celebrate that Summer is nearly here!

Full Taps

Well, it's only March and here we are with full taps ready for the throngs of weekend shore-goers as South Jersey slowly warms up and we transition into Spring.

Freshest on our line-up is the Ryesing Tides IPA (formerly known as Y Not Rye). A personal favorite - and one I've missed over the past year - you can catch me enjoying it on tap and in cans (for sale in the brewpub and around South Jersey).

And if you've been craving something wildly different from the usual IPA line-up, why not try the Wee Heavy Wilson? A Scotch Ale with a significantly peaty and earthy aroma imparts a shockingly smooth malt sweetness on your palette. I will go ahead and say I hate Scotch whisky. Like, it's up there with Jaegermeister for me - undrinkable. But this Scotch Ale is perfectly drinkable.

We also have the bourbon barrel aged version of it on tap for a very limited time and for in-house consumption only. The bourbon infusion masks a good bit of the earthy aroma, and it developed that malty sweetness into a borderline whiskey flavor. It barely tastes like drinking a beer, so if bourbon whiskey is more your style but you really want a beer, ask for the Barrel Aged Wilson. It's around 10%, so if you plan on having more than one, pair it with a smoky barbecue platter or a Peanut Butter Explosion dessert (or both, really). You won't be sorry!

Lastly, for all of you looking for something sweeter that isn't as strong as a Belgian Tripel, don't worry. We'll have the Fruitie Patootie back on tap in time to enjoy some Springtime sunshine before the real summer crowds flock down here.

An Introduction

Hi! Welcome to the brew blog.

This is the story - and reflections - of my journey into the world of beer brewing. And it starts, unofficially, long before the pandemic of 2020.

In 2014, I moved away from my home in Atlanta, GA; away from everything I ever knew and started living with my partner in Norfolk, VA. The Hampton Roads area was burgeoning with craft beer and a couple breweries had made themselves household names. Excited at the prospect of doing something new, something other than bartending or food industry work, I enthusiastically applied to the closest one - and I never heard back. My partner was supportive nonetheless and we even tossed around the idea of home brewing.

(It would be four more years before we started home brewing.)

Two years later, we were living in rural North Carolina. We had big box stores and a few bars with a decent craft beer selection, but no breweries for hundreds of miles. And the wineries left something to be desired in terms of variety. We began growing our own grapes with ideas of being home vintners someday. My partner began doing all the reading and researching, but it would be years before we could produce anything viable from our own grapes.

And two years after that, we moved to southern Jersey. Land of breweries and the newest (officially recognized) wine region in the country. I became fixated on trying to get my foot into the door of one of those breweries. Or, at the very least, a winery. It took several months and a government shutdown, but by sheer luck and terrific timing, I got hired as a bartender at MudHen Brewing Company in 2019, just before their 1st anniversary.

It was the newest brewpub in Cape May County and it’s the only brewery in Wildwood as of time of publication. MudHen is in a league of its own - a huge food menu, craft seasonal cocktails, and 10-11 beers of their own on tap with no outside beers sold on premises. When MudHen hires new people, they are destined to attend beer school with the head - and only - brewer, Tony Cunha. It took a little over a month before I was able to attend my first beer school, but I was eager to learn about the product made on-site.

I was thrilled to attend my first beer school. Tony gave us a thorough run-down of the process, from milling the grain to the serving tanks in the cold box. It was a lot of information, but all we needed was the bare bones of what went on in our brewery. We did a tasting afterwards and I think I mentioned one of his beers tasting like PBR, which I love, to which he said, “Thank you.” And I think he meant it, so I thought I was off to a pretty good start. I tried our IPAs and - never having found an IPA I wanted more than one of - I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved our Baker’s Double IPA. I expected bitter beyond belief and was instead met with hints of citrus, a balanced, slightly-bitter IPA that sat at a hefty 91 BUs. Even better? We had it on nitro and if you’ve never had an IPA or DIPA or even TIPA on nitro? You’re missing out.

I digress. I was fairly intimidated by all the knowledge that Tony bestowed upon us that day, but a lot of it stuck. I wanted to serve our product - his creations - to as many people as possible. I knew that if I could change my mind about IPAs, I could change someone else’s mind about them, too. “Hoppy” was no longer a deterrent for me to try a beer and it shouldn’t be anybody’s deterrent, honestly. We’ll get to an entry on hops some other time. I wanted our guests to love our beer as much as they loved the idea of being in a brewpub, so maybe I felt a little heavier weight on me to serve the product to the best of my ability. Every time Tony was on the other side of that big glass window, watching me pour, I would sweat. Was there too much head on this beer? Not enough? Did I rinse the glass, first? Is everything I’ve ever learned about beer service wrong?

Some of it was.

And I guess he saw me learning or saw my passion for beer because he completely took me by surprise when he invited me out to Denver last year. I went from being the New Kid to part of what felt like an elite team to represent our brewery and introduce our beer to the West and what an adventure it was! That, too, is a whole other blog post.

On the way to Denver, I rode with Tony to the Philadelphia airport. We talked shop and eventually he mentioned he was looking for an assistant brewer. I thought, surely there must be someone with experience he can find for that position - ESPECIALLY someone local. Someone who wouldn’t need to learn every single little thing about the equipment or who could already hoist 55lb bags of grain above their head. But the weeks moved forward and nobody filled the position. Season was coming to an end, bar hours were getting shorter, and I took a leap and inquired about the assistant brewer position, despite having JUST begun home brewing with my partner. Tony was more supportive and welcoming than I’d ever imagined taking on someone with basically no experience, but I’m forever grateful for it.

In late 2019, I began working festivals all over the state, as well, while waiting for official word when I’d start my journey as assistant brewer. Then, one day this past February, Tony gave me news that I’d be official on March 1st with my first day as his assistant March 3rd. We bottled for the World Beer Cup and began prep for Atlantic City Beer Fest - the next biggest festival we’d be going to with a team. But Covid-19 began spreading stateside and large events were getting canceled one-by-one. Still, I felt like our little bubble down here might provide some solace from the pandemic. But on March 16th, I got a text from Tony - no work until further notice. I was broken-hearted, unsure of anything at that point. I got the same text from my bar manager, which meant I was out of work for an undetermined amount of time and I was devastated.

I filled my time with home brewing. My partner and I had brewed an Altbier in February, just before our fifth anniversary, and so we bottled that and brewed a Dunkelweizen. In April, I visited Tony and we had the extra bottles of beer we’d sent off to WBC, which got turned into hand sanitizer, wondering where we would’ve placed in competition. And then, in late April, Tony gave me the second-best news of 2020 - I’d be resuming my position as assistant brewer.

So, here we are. Amidst a global pandemic, I’ve begun my journey. And I have so much more to share about how I got here and where I’m going.

Til next time,

Cheers!