Category: Craft Beer Industry

Happy Birthday to Gem State Brewing

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Hard to believe its been a year already.  After years in the planning stage, Eagle, Idaho’s only brewery opened its doors last January and has quickly become a popular downtown beer spot for locals.  With its 5$ pints and new beers nearly every Friday, It has managed to make it on my shortlist, that’s for sure.

Last week was the anniversary celebration and it was a packed house. Even the outside patio was mostly filled.  The recent mild winter weather has helped with that I’m sure.  Sear + Savor food truck was there as well and the burger I tried to order I’m sure would have been terrific…but they were sold out of everything by 5pm.

New Beers

Chris had a new beer on to celebrate the occasion, “Piece of Cake” cream ale.  The taster I had confirmed that it lived up to its name…and my suspicion. Light and sweet and I could have sworn I detected some vanilla frosting in there somewhere.  I like the fact it paired well with the cupcakes that were offered as snacks for the occasion.

There were a few other new beers pouring since the last time I had visited. A hazy IPA made with an American wheat yeast.  Reminded me of a Belgian or “white” IPA, a style popular some years ago.  I found the new “Stout and About” to be a simple smooth, slightly sweet American Stout.

At an event like this I typically expect to catch a few folks I know and love to share a beer with.  This time I crossed paths with several I got to share my table with.  Jeremy and Danyele Garrison and Bert and Brenda Ellis joined me at my table for a bit, and Bob and Nelda Hubler (not pictured, but not forgotten) stopped by later.  These things are always better with friends.

By the way, you can catch Bob’s quarterly blog at BoiseBeerCulture where he tracks the openings and closings of independent craft breweries in Idaho.  I check it regularly and feel like it’s sort of the state of the State for Idaho beer.  The softening of the industry in general will likely reflect some discouraging numbers on his next addition. Times have been rough for everyone in the industry lately.

A year in the books

In it’s 52 weeks of dispensing beverages for fans of great beer, there have been nearly 60 unique offerings gracing their menu.  I’m doing my best to try each one as they come out.  Typically, every Friday is “new beer” day there.  Gem State is a great spot that Eagle has needed for quite a while  It has been popular from its opening day and Chris and Kristl have gained a substantial following.

 

Loose Screw Beer Co. – Meridian Expansion

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Modest Beginnings

The Loose Screw journey started late 2014 in Garden City at 4340 W Chinden as “Haff Brewing”. A location now occupied by craft brew newcomer Ruckus Brewing.  Not coincidentally the subject of a recent article posted a few weeks back right here by yours truly.  The modest 7 barrel system at this original site has produced beers for Haff Brewing from December 2014 until early 2016, which at that time sold and became Bella Brewing.  During the “Bella era” Marcos Moss came on as brewer and owners Bethany and Chris Hughes rebranded Bella as “Loose Screw Beer Company” in early 2020.

From their Bella beginning, the Hughes’ had plans brewing to expand in to Meridian. In February 2021 the time was right and their new location opened in North Meridian at 1511 W. McMillen.  A big new space, more taps, more seating capacity, a large outdoor shared patio , even pizza and ice cream.   Production was a bit of a challenge for a while as there was no equipment at this new location.   Still, they managed to have plenty of their own taps available as well as a few guests.

New Owners and Continued Growth

About a year later, in the spring of 2022 Mike and Pam Garcia purchased Loose Screw as the popular beer spot continued to gain a West Boise/Meridian following.  The latest expansion was announced in the spring of 2023, set to take over a former funeral home.  I’m thinking there’s got to be some clever beer names in the works soon calling back to the former tenants. The “Loose Screw Coming Soon” sign had been on the building for quite a while, and in mid November, construction/remodeling was finally finished.  Loose Screw joins Heritage Hophaus a few blocks south and other Meridian newcomer Voodoo Brewing out of Pennsylvania. The area is becoming a real hot spot for evening beers and snacks.

Family Friendly

Head Brewer, Marcos is still here, now joined by Jake McCann and we toured production facility the other day. I was impressed with how compact the brewing space is while allowing for the increased capacity.  Premiere Stainless Systems was brought in for the design and construction of the custom set-up based on Marcos’ Mike’s vision. Some very nice equipment affords the team plenty of flexibility and style options. A couple of horizontal fermentation tanks are included in the system to better simulate traditional lagering.

The dining area has an assortment of seating options. The main bar with cushy personalized seats. (Presumably named for early donors/partners), classic heavy picnic tables, long high-top tables and ever a few 4-tops with tall chairs.  Perfect for keeping those elbows at 90* for those of us hammering away at a new blog post. The place is dog and kid friendly with non-alcohol beverages and water bowls, not necessarily respectively….   Local food truck outfit  “Big Beantz Taco Co.” has a permanent association with Loose Screw and is part of scene on-site.

Loose Screw has been growing into a major player in the area’s craft beer scene and their new location right near down town Meridian looks to be a fixture for a long time.  It’s already one of my favorite spots.

-Cheers

 

 

Boise’s Hoptober “Freshtival” 2024

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This past weekend was, in my opinion the best of the annual beer festivals in the Treasure Valley.   There are many “Beer Fests” in the area each year.  The Mountain Brewers Beer Fest is bigger, but it is in Idaho Falls, a little over 4 hours drive for us Boise residents. McCall’s “Destination Beer” in  (put on by Idaho Brewers United )is another good one, but its a 2 hour drive up Highway 55 in the dead of winter.  There is also the “Beer and Bacon” fest in June at the fairgrounds in Boise  (featuring two of my favorite things).  “Zoo Brew” is another, usually in August in Boise at…well…the Zoo.

“Hop Man”

In Early October though, just after the peak of hop harvest season, Boise Brewing on Broad street hosts the best of all of them.  This time of year many brewers will make special beers incorporating fresh local hops that in some cases were harvested barely 48hrs before.  A “Fresh Hop ” beer generally means that the hops used during the brew day are in their freshly picked “wet” state.  Typically hops are dried after harvest and then also, they are pulverized and compressed into small pellets.  As fresh hops are approximately 80% water, by weight, this drying and processing is convenient and is standard practice.

This past Oct 12th was the 2024 edition of the Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival.  I of course could not let the opportunity pass me by.  Both of my readers demand such high levels of due diligence on my part.  Showing up just after the opening 12:00pm bell, I quickly made the rounds.  Local brewers bringing  “Fresh Hop” beers this year included Alliteration, Mad Swede, White Dog, Clairvoyant and Payette.  Some of these offerings were unique recipes for this event, and others were fresh hop versions of existing beers many of us would have recognized in the past.

Snake River Brewers

This Fresh Hop addition to a beer tends to give a floral, earthy component and sometimes a little grassy character to a hoppy beer, but you really get the sense of a beer made with ingredients JUST harvested.  That is the lightning in a bottle these beer makers are trying to capture, that “fresh off the vine” experience.  The first few weeks of September, after the kids are all back in school is the window when this all happens.

Others present were Snake River Brewers, the local homebrew club, chatting with festival attendees and taking questions on all things regarding the best hobby in the world.   Boise Beer Buddies, a member based community connecting craft beverage enthusiasts with local businesses was also there.  You want to be a Beer Buddy,  membership has its privileges, you can find out more here.

In other happenings in the Boise craft beer world, it is no secret Ruckus Brewing is about to open its doors.  Their grand opening is set for October 19th and BoiseBrewBlog will have a post about that, next week.   We hope to welcome the new kid on the block with a taproom full of craft beer lovers that day.

Tuesday BeerDay – Mid-week draft beer specials in Boise.

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If you are a beer nerd like me, or just enjoy a good pint, then you know that any day of the week is a good beer day.

On the retail side, however, the day matters.  Fridays and Saturdays are typically pretty busy at most of our favorite Brewpubs and tap houses of course. I won’t deny, I contribute to kicking off the weekend in this way. Other days, however, maybe not so much.

These outlets often work to boost traffic on quieter days with events like trivia, bingo etc.  Also too there often “beer-bargains” to be had. Many places have a “happy hour” deal usually in the late afternoon. Mondays and Tuesdays are usually when you can find some additional specials and good deals at your favorite beer spot.

This past Tuesday after work, I made the rounds a bit in the downtown area.  I visited a couple locations that would, let’s just say maximize my pints/dollar. Particularly if you are a BoiseBeerBuddies member.

Cold Pint at Leku Ona

In the Basque district roughly in the center of downtown Boise proper is a little restaurant/cafe called Leku Ona.  Offering a diverse menu of pork, fish and lamb dishes, many of the items I don’t dare attempt to pronounce. A tap list of several regional beers, that I usually recognize is always available.   Tuesdays at Leku Ona, as of this writing, is half-off pints and an appetizer item called “croquetas“.  These are kind of tater-tot or hush-puppy, but made of seasoned soft doughy béchamel white sauce , breaded and deep fried. Crispy on the outside, creamy smooth on the inside.  A set of these and a cold pint is a lovely combination.

On Capital, a couple blocks North is Boise Fry Co.  A sort of “boutique” burger joint offering “Buy one-Get One” on their draft beers.  Boise Fry has several locations around town and this deal is valid at each.  I don’t find it uncommon to need another beer after the first one was employed washing down a tasty classic Bison Burger and sweet potato fries.

Boise Brewing BeerBuddies special

Five or six blocks South on Broad St, is Boise Brewing, and on Tuesdays, for BoiseBeerBuddies members it is Buy One-Get One here as well. Well, get two actually since you are already buying the first one and it is the second one that’s free.  You know what I mean.  “BOGO” just has a better ring to it than “BYGTOOF” I suppose.   What I like best  about this deal is that if you “forgot” to bring a friend, well then it is just up to you to find something to do with that free pint.  This second one always seems to tase even better anyway. Boise Brewing expanded into a full sit-down restaurant several months ago as well.

There are other deals to be had around town as businesses work to generate a bit more action during the slow early/mid weeks days.  These are just a few that coincide with your BoiseBeerBuddies card if you are a member.  And if you are not one, you need to become one.

Cheers

 

How clean is your beer glass ?

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When we order a pint of our favorite beer we like it to come in a clean glass. A good barkeep will even take a second and hold it up to the light, looking for any specks or dishwater marks before he/she fills it. There is another part to this, however. While we want the inside of the glass clean… the out seid e of it is important as well.

Sometimes an aggressive pour will cause a bit of a “foam-over” and sometimes this is OK. That’s what coasters are for. Other times we want this cleaned off so we don’t get beer on our hands. The question is HOW do they clean the beer off of the glass after a bit of a “cup-runneth-over” event.

Wipers and Squirters

In my experience and observations, there are two main methods. The squirter, and the wiper.

The former, usually involves a plastic squeeze bottle with a fine tip. They will hose down the outside of the glass with a little (presumably clean) water after the pour. When the glass is delivered, is still wet, but at least it is only water. Sometimes it is a little kitchen-sink style push button sprayer. I suppose the advantage with this is that there is no bottle to refill every 20 min on a busy night.

The latter, simply is that after pouring the beer, the server will pick up a dish rag, sometimes called a “bar mop” and wipe down the glass. I have a couple problems with this.

One is that unless, and there is very little chance of this, that is the FIRST use of this towel, the beer is just more evenly spread out all over the glass. Thus there are no remaining dry spots left on it. Secondly, I likely did not actually witness that towel being deployed to this service. I then have no way of knowing how long its been since they swapped it out. Who knows what may be growing on that beer damp towel. It likely smells like a medley of stale beer and the colonies of bacteria that have been feeding on it.

Maybe the place is a bit more conscientious and they have the towel is in some sanitizer solution. Slightly less obnoxious, maybe. But now my pale ale just smells like clorox every time I take a drink.

I have a preference here, obviously. Perhaps the best way to illustrate my point, when I see a wiper, is to ask the server it they are willing to lick that towel.

-Cheers

My Favorite Boise Beer Spots #002 – Mother Earth Brewing

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Mother Earth Brewing, has been a southern California company for about 13 years. They moved to Idaho August 2016 as part of an expansion, with the construction of a production site in Nampa. A small tasting room is inside as well, where you can try a couple of their beers right where they are made. This all whilst sitting amongst towering pallets of empty aluminum cans, just waiting to be filled. This facility helped make ME the largest brewer in the state, muscling past indigenous Idaho outfits like Sockeye and Payette.

Several years later, Mother Earth opened their taproom in downtown Boise proper, on 3rd just a couple blocks down Broad st from Boise Brewing. This was back in December 2021, when we were all just extricating ourselves from the Covid fiasco, and frankly needed an outlet like this. I was there opening week and their full lineup of beers was on line. The place was an immediate hit. Part of the site includes a large outdoor/patio seating area, which didn’t really see much action until it warmed up a few months later. Nevertheless, the outdoor area provides a great view of the currently active and changing downtown Boise skyline.

Great Beer

Mostly I love their hoppy beers. Particularly Boo-Koo, Heavy Cloud, and the Project-X series. Other main line offerings like Sin-Tax, Cali-Creamin and Milk-Truck are great also. Their premium line “Four Seasons” is…well… seasonal, and the heavy hitter Triple IPA has recently made a return. Called “Big Mother” this is a beast of a bear, you have been warned. Since its very beginning, ME has seen terrific growth with a line-up like this.

I read just this past week, the Boise taproom announced that “half pints” would also be available. Perhaps not of their high-octane selections that already are in a smaller serving size, but still the option of a “shorty” is great. A big part of my beer hobby is being able to try many different beers. Having to put down a full pint at a time can drag you down a bit.

Right in the heart of downtown, it is yet another nice craft beer destination, and is one of my regulars.

-Cheers

My Favorite Boise Beerspots #001 – Woodland Empire

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As I’ve mentioned before, Boise is a pretty good beer town. There are a few dozen breweries, taprooms, growler stations and dedicated beer-bars in the Treasure Valley and I’l be featuring one every so often. Not so much a review per se’ just my thoughts and observations on whichever location I find myself at that day.  Some key characteristics, my likes and maybe not lo likes and some details that make it unique. Every spot has a niche, or rather the good ones usually do and Ill focus a bit on that for each.

Today I’m at Woodland Empire. A Brew-On-Premise site that opened nearly 10 years ago in early 2014. I posted about that at that time, and you can read it here. It was a great time interviewing owner/brewers Keely and Rob Landerman.

Since the beginning, WE has had a sort of an irreverent, Bohemian, “Portlandia”, laid back vibe that I imagine would fit in well somewhere in Greenwich Village, maybe across from the record store between the body art shop and the funky coffee joint.

Coming up on a year ago now, Woodland was sold to Boise area group with local restaurateur Dave Krick and a few others including Lost Grove Brewing owner Jacob Black. You can read that story here, on BoiseDev. I’ve been in several times since that change-over and I can tell you the place still feels the same and the promised intent of staying loyal to what the Landerman’s had envisioned, seems to hold true. While my gut doesn’t necessarily love, fewer people owning more craft beer spots, the deal, as mentioned in the article on BoiseDev just seemed to make sense. The right thing at the right time for both parties involved.

Woodland, not long ago, sacrificed some of their parking (not that there was much to begin with) for a patio seating area. While hearing the rushing of home-bound commuters flooring it to catch that last light before the connector is not ideal, it is still a nice option.

There are barley 12 taps here, including a couple guest taps: ciders and Kombucha. There are always a few odd balls that are fun to try and typically few regulars that everyone knows. Namely the Big Sticky, and City of Trees, a couple of IPAs that were here from day one. If you can find a bottle of their Ada County Stout, it is a must have. A real local gem. A couple of coolers are here as well for some of their packaged offerings to go. While you are having a beer, there are even a few old-school machines here if you fancy yourself a bit of a pin-ball wizard. Check it out.

Woodland Empire is a good Beer-Spot

-Cheers

Oskar Blues returns to Boise

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Its been a couple years since Lyons Colorado’s Oskar Blues’ distinctive cans have been seen on the shelves of craft beer sellers here in the Treasure Valley.

Back in the Summer of 2010, citing production and capacity limits, the decision was made to pull out of the Idaho market after 4 or 5 years, much to the dismay and depression of craft beer lovers in the area.  Apparently they felt they couldn’t adequately supply their larger markets while being stretched all the way to Idaho. What made it seem even worse was that OB was currently leading a really cool movement of canning good beer.  I recently wrote about that HERE.

Now, they are coming back.  Evidently production and capacity are no longer such a limit (aprox 120,000 barrels last year) they they can (re)expand to our market.   Their recently opened 2nd brewery in North Carolina was undoubtedly behind this.  That’s good for us.  Regulars like Dale’s Pale Ale, Mama’s LIttle Yellow Pils, Old Chub, and Deviant Dale’s IPA has already started showing up around here. Other states being added to their turf are Minnesota, Delaware, Kansas and Nevada

As a gauge of how important this is, there were no less than 3 separate occasions/celebrations in town this past week.  Local bottle-shops and gastro-pubs hosting events were Brewforia’s “Welcan Back” party, as well as “Welcome Back Oskar Blues”, a three day launching event at Whole Foods, and yet another at BierThirty

It was nearly to the point of people lining the streets waiving hops and barley sheaves shouting ‘Hail, Hail the return of the King”.  Well maybe not that far….but it’s big.    It’s great to see another quality brewer represented (again) here in the Boise area.

Craft Beer – Not just for Bottles

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It is generally accepted that the best freshest beer is when it is right out of the keg.  On draft or on tap.  After that, the packaging that is used can affect the condition of the beer after a little time.  Bottles and cans are mainly what breweries use for portable, “single serving” vessels.

For a long time, there was a stigma about cans in that it was somehow considered cheep, lower class or somehow less desirable.  I suppose mainly because of most of the beer that was in them was of the American Macro Swill variety.

Over the last ten years or so, this has changed as craft brewers have started adopting cans as their choice for packaging and distribution.  One of the first to do this was Oskar Blues Brewing as far back as 2002.  “They said we was daft to put good beer in cans, but we did it all the same…” Their Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub were pioneers in the canned craft beer shift.   You can even get their beer in 32oz “Crowlers” now.  Other brewers have since picked this up and now more and more good beer is showing up in supermarkets and “bottle” shops in cans.

Cans are a better container for beer for a few important reasons. One is that they do not transmit light and light can damage beer and sometimes give it that skunky flavor,  which is why most bottles are dark brown.  Keep that in mind when you see those sixers of Heineken and Corona in the cooler.

Another is that they are more environmentally friendly and are recyclable.  Emptys are light weight and compact-able.  Taking a few cans with you in your back pack is a lot easier than bottles.   Especially when you consider packing the empties out.  Which you always do..right?

While glass is a good insulator and the thin aluminum can is not, the latter can be cooled down quickly plus you can use one of those cool little foam can “cozies” if you want.  www.craftcans.com  is a site dedicated to craft beer in cans with beer reviews, a canned beer database and an interactive map showing craft brewers that can.

There will probably always be bottles but seeing good bee…in a can is no longer remarkable.