We barely have time to sample our own product these days, but somehow the organizers of SF Beer Week talked us into hosting a dinner to open up the festivities.

It will be taking place at the Red Restaurant and Lounge just a block from downtown Santa Cruz on Friday the 6th of February at 6:30pm.

We’re really excited about the event. It will be four courses pared with our beers, prepared by Chef Tod Williamson of Nepenthe in Big Sur.

First:
Gulf shrimp with a salsa verde cruda and Tobasco-butter sauce
paired with Golden State Ale

Second:
Braised pork belly in Cola, star anise, and tamarind with coriander apple chutney
paired with Siamese Twin Ale

Main:
Short ribs in Baltic Porter and apple juice with parsnip puree and a gratin of endive and prosciutto
paired with Baltic Porter

Afters:
Pickled red flame grapes under shaved chocolate with blood orange syrup
paired with an unreleased Sinister Twin Ale

At this time we haven’t planned for a vegetarian option, though it is being considered.

Seating is limited to 12 tables. The price will be $65 per plate.

Reservations may be made by emailing info (at) uncommonbrewers (dot) com, or by calling the brewery at (831)621-6270.

Also look for our beers appearing during SF Beer Week at The Monk’s Kettle, Millennium Restaurant (where there certainly will be a vegetarian option), and during the cheese tasting at the Rogue Ales Public House on the 11th.

Our Baltic Porter is headed out the door. It’s already been pouring up in San Francisco at the Monks Kettle, will be tapped at City Beer within the next few days, and scheduled for a Friday delivery at the Red Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Santa Cruz.

The Baltic Porter (7.8% ABV) is brewed with Star Anise and Black Licorice.

All of our beers are certified CCOF organic.

There’s a lot of talk, as we prepare for the new year, about how rough things are in the economy.

Rough? We didn’t know any better. The country has been in recession for a year, and Uncommon Brewers only started sales in June, so it’s been all uphill as far as we’ve been concerned.

On that note, keep an eye on this space (blog?), for news about a retail deal. One of our beers, the Siamese Twin Ale, may be a lot easier to find starting in 2009.

And as the new year starts, we’ve sent one of our brewers, Matt, to Sacramento. We’re barely out of the starting gate and our team is already being poached. He is, of course, brewing on a beautiful system several decades more advanced than ours, and we hope that he remembers what it was like to live in fear of our chiller.

The outlook for the coming year is good. We’re going to be brewing like mad, and bringing some really fun beers to market. Bacon, anyone?

-Uncommon Brewers

Every week or two we get someone who says, “What’s up with your website? It hasn’t been updated in months!”

Guilty as charged.

We’ve been busy, winning awards and undergoing a minor expansion.

What awards? Well back in October we took first place in the National Organic Brewing Challenge, sponsored by Seven Bridges Cooperative with our Siamese Twin Ale.

Not about to rest on our laurels, or druthers, or much of anything else, we’re just about to push a new beer out the door. The Baltic Porter is styled after a traditional British export porter, but brewed in the uncommon manner with an addition of star anise and black licorice. It will be available on draft just as soon as our keg rings arrive.

We’ve expanded our fermentation capacity with four brand new 15bbl conicals from Stromberg Tanks.

And we also now know how to rebuild a plate chiller. After two weeks of work the new chiller was up and running flawlessly in time for last week’s batch of the Golden State Ale.

Distribution remains pretty damn limited, although we’re working on that. We have a sales representative joining the team and expect to be expanding beyond our footholds in Santa Cruz and San Francisco as the new year dawns.

As always, if you want to see Uncommon Brewers in your neighborhood, or in your business, drop us a tip through this website.

Cheers,
Uncommon Brewers

Another 11-hour day wore us down, but the beer flows on.

We packaged up another two batches into cans and kegs beginning in the early hours of Thursday morning. The two batches were blended, as typical for the Siamese Twin Ale and true to the Belgian styles. This was our most aggressive blend to date, featuring one batch that was left to age and develop since October of 2007, and one produced earlier this month.

Below: Reed checks lid seams while Matt and Joel inspect.

Check out Head Brewer Alec’s appearance on West Coast Live with host Sedge Thomson early Saturday morning on the 13th of September. The live show begins at 10am.

It’s been a busy few weeks around the brewery, but we’ve made the time to get our beer into a few more locations.

The Golden State Ale is on tap at Mondo in Sonoma, the 515 Kitchen, and their sister The Red Lounge.

We haven’t checked in with them in a few weeks, but The Bistro in Hayward also has a keg of the Golden, which may be tapped at any time.

Our Siamese Twin Ale is on tap at the Wine Exchange of Sonoma, the The Red Lounge in Santa Cruz, Mission Pizza in Fremont, and we’ve recently added The Crepe Place to our growing list.

We’re currently sitting on the “Past Beer” list at The Trappist, but hope to be back into their impressive rotation in the coming months.

Our retail presence remains limited, but cans of the Twin can be found at the River St. Cafe & Cheese Shop, and the New Leaf Market in nearby Felton. We’re going to be expanding that retail presence in the coming weeks.

Many thanks to all of the bars and restaurants that have welcomed us in the last week as we’ve begun offering samples and initial distribution.

We’ll add to the list as it grows, but for now our beer is available at the following locations.

The 515 Kitchen, and the River St. Cafe & Cheese Shop in Santa Cruz.

We have word that the Golden State Ale can currently be found at The Red Lounge on their weekend side bar taps.

The Bistro in Hayward.

Mondo in Sonoma

More to follow as the orders come in.

Update:

We’re happy to add The Trappist to our list. Brothers Chuck and Aaron have a few kegs of our Siamese Twin Ale that’ll be going on tap in the coming days.

Cheers.

Looking back through the posts on the site, there were many points where we believed that we’d be sending beer out the door at any minute. We were wrong often enough that it’s a little too painful to count them all.

Fortunately that’s in the past. We are officially open for business. If you’re a bar or restaurant owner interested in buying our beers, or want to arrange for a taste, there’s a new contact page conveniently placed on the sidebar over in that direction —->.

Direct sales to consumers will begin in the next few weeks. For reasons of sanity and sanitation our facility is not open to the general public.

With that out of the way we have two beers ready for market.

Our Golden State Ale is a Belgian-style golden ale, brewed in homage to our home state with toasted poppy seeds. It’s our quaffable summer beer, light on the palate with a crisp poppy zing to finish. 6.4% ABV

A little heavier on the palate is our Siamese Twin Ale. This is a Belgian-style double brewed with a traditional coriander, and an uncommon addition of kaffir lime and lemongrass. An amber body, rich, flavorful, absolutely delicious, and entirely too drinkable for a beer that’s 8.5% ABV.

Despite our best efforts, we’ve actually managed to sell our first keg of beer.

A single keg of the Golden State Ale will be on tap down at the Red, just a block from Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, starting sometime in the next few days.

Look for the bamboo tap handle with our signature pith helmet tacked to the side, or ask for Uncommon Brewers by name.

cheers,
Skot and Alec
Uncommon Brewers