Its getting warmer!

Lemme tell you how I really feel about winter:





Ok on to the good stuff - Todd has been brewing like mad! First batch of Woody's Wheat ale was brewed along with a delicious batch of Oscar's Oatmeal Stout. Gotta love Oscar! Do you know Oscar? Events coming up this weekend are the Hops and Props at the EAA in Oshkosh - this event will be tended to by Woody Burns and his darling bride along with my big brudder Scott and his wife Jan. Stop by - say hello and try some of the beers they brought along. Our man Mark will be also in the Fox Valley and will be doing double duty by pouring beer at the Kohler Suds and Tubs as well as the Fond Du Lac Ag show. Please stop by and help support your local brewery wherever you are!

PS: Dopplebock has shipped to the fox valley, Milwaukee - Madison area and around the home turf. Pick up a 4 pack of the Oleator and let us know what you think. Tis a sure sign of spring!

Nuff for now! oh hey! If you have any comments please leave them! I know folks are reading my thoughts but comments are always welcome!

Winter time in wisconsin - ok who is tired of this now?

Well it is another snowy Monday - got nailed again over the weekend and by the time we get done counting today it will probably be another 4-5" of the white stuff. When is spring showing up?

It has been a series of brewing days for Todd. Over the last three days (not counting the weekend) a total of 260 bbls of beer will have been brewed by end of the day on Tuesday the 18th. Thats a lot of beer folks approximately 3600 cases worth. Good to have full tanks of beer this time of year. It is a good portent for the spring.

Had a great weekend which was kicked off by our Friday "Stammtisch" . Stammtisch by the way is a German term for regular's table or loosely translated regular get together! We do open the doors at 3pm for tours on Friday - maybe you should come on up and join us by becoming a regular at our Stammtisch! Saturday - Todd took off to handle the Manitowoc Beer Festival. Great event and our product was well received. More events coming up soon - just check out the calendar on the main Sand Creek website. Some of the talk around the beer fest between brewers was about hops.

If you are not aware - the price of hops has gone up a boggling 547% in the past 6 months. This has been mainly due to the poor European and Australian crops, a high demand in craft brewing market (thats us!) and the switch from the hop farmers from low Alpha aroma hops to super high alpha bittering hops. Many breweries are unable to procure them and the price for any of them is quite high. The increase translates from $4-$5 a pound to an average now of around $16 a pound with some as high as $45!!
Luckily for us here - I was able to procure our supply from two sources - one of which is direct from Germany. To also help our fellow Wisconsin breweries, I contacted several of fellow brewers and they also have the opportunity to purchase hops on the same order. More than ever its important to support your local brewery! This crazy market will be this way for at least another year or so before pricing settles down.

Events coming up this weekend on the 23rd are The Bid 'n Brew in Fond Du lac and the Chamber Beer Fest in New London. Oh yeah - it is also the weekend for the local Scout troops Pinewood derby!

One last thing - the Oleator Dopplebock will be shipping out this week! Look for it in our Special Reserve 4 packs!

Thats it for now!

Sláinte!

Dopplebock Is coming out soon

Well its been a long winter. The good news is that we are definitely on the back side of this particular season. The better news is we will be releasing the second in a series of "Special Reserve" beers. This time around it is the Oleator Dopplebock (yeah i know it can also be spelled Doppelbock too!). Todd did an amazing job with this beer - big bold taste with great body. It runs about 9% ABV. We will probably start shipping it out by the end of next week. I think it will be a great follow-up in the Special Reserve Series to the Imperial Porter.

Speaking of the Special Reserve - there are rumors in the Tap Room on last Friday night that the next release may be a Scotch Ale.

Let see whats currently on tap:

Griesedieck Golden Pilsener
Sand Creek Golden Ale
Groovy Brew
Woody's Wheat
Cranberry Special Ale
Wild Ride Special Ale
Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Hard Lemonade
Frostop
....oh yeah and a special cask conditioned Imperial Stout on tap #1

Dan, Todd, and Kevin have been working hard at getting our home-made depalletizer designed-built and run. Should be pretty cool and help bottling day when we are all up and running. I may post some pictures when its all said and done.

Continue to work the Hop market to get supplied - they are expensive and scarce! Luckily we have procured enough to get us through.

Mark will be down at the Food and Froth at the Milwaukee Public Museum on Saturday. He will also be at the Milwaukee Ale House on Sunday (and I imagine home recovering on Monday ha!). Our friend Ted from Madison is representing us at the MHTG event on Sunday as well. Might try to slide on down to visit with our friends in Madison.

All for now

Sláinte!