Our second SF Beer Week is quickly approaching, and we have a busy calendar of events to wrap into your schedules.

First off, 21st Amendment will be hosting Can-A-Palooza on the 8th of February. Check out the great offerings of canned beer, including our Siamese Twin Ale.

Two days later we’ll be over at the SF Beer Week “Beer-in” at Cobb’s Comedy Club. There’ll be jokes and beer the night of the 10th.

We’ll be back in our home territory in Santa Cruz for a Can Beer Chicken Night and Canned Beer, where our Brewmaster, Alec, will be talking canned beer with the crowd.

Then it’s back up to San Francisco Friday evening for a night of beer from Uncommon Brewers as we’re hosted by the fine folks at The Church Key. We’ll be doing our San Francisco release of the Bacon Brown Ale, and have a few of our other offerings on tap at the bar.

We’ll finish out the week by traveling over to visit our neighbors in San Jose. The Tied House is hosting Meat the Brewers from 1-5pm. There’ll be a whole pig roasted, and we’ll be bringing our best and latest.

The expansion moves quickly along, faster than we could really expect. In the meantime we’ll be enjoying the afternoon this January 30th up in Oakland at the Winter Beers Festival being put on by the Brewing Network and hosted by Linden Street Brewing Co.

We’ll be bringing our Rubidus Red Ale, Baltic Porter, and first public tapping of our much anticipated Bacon Brown Ale.

Yes, it’s really brewed with bacon.

… and it’s delicious.

Yes, it’s true. We’re brewing beer with bacon. The means to produce our first commercial batch of Bacon Brown Ale arrived in the form of two massive slabs of pork belly in the arms of our head brewer this morning.

That fun starts tomorrow morning.

Our blog posts may be scarce, but take that as a sign of how much we’re working on the beer. Don’t trust anyone with the time to update their blog.

Except for us right now. We have video proof of us working, thanks to the guys at Tallcan TV. They tracked down our Head Brewer, Alec, at the recent Canfest in Reno, Nevada. Check out what they had to say about the beer.

We keep getting asked when the Porter and Golden are going to be released in cans. We’re asking the same questions around here. The good news is that the artwork is finished. The bad news is that we’re still working out the details on matching our ink colors on the cans.

The brewery’s expansion is also moving ahead. We’re on track to take possession of our new location on the 1st of December, with construction starting almost immediately afterwards. We’ll be installing a monster 30bbl system, which means that we’ll be able to help out all of you outside of California asking for our beers.

Please also check out the most recent issue of Celebrator. We’re proud to have been featured in an article, and can promise that the Bacon Brown Ale is just a few weeks away from its first commercial-scale batch.

In other release news, the Rubidus Red Ale is kegged and conditioning. It’ll be available for release in just a few weeks.

cheers.
uncommon brewers

Wow. Is it July already? Our last post here was in… too long ago to think about without getting somewhat embarrassed. In our defense we’re brewers, not bloggers.

We’re definitely feeling like celebrating on this Fourth of July. As of the end of June, Uncommon Brewers is operating at full capacity. One year into release we’re selling as much beer as we can make, and there’s now a wait list for new draft accounts. Plans for a major expansion are under way. If you like our beer now, just wait until we replace our piecemeal bits of used dairy tools and Navy surplus kettle with real brewing equipment.

The goal for August is to start providing a regular weekly update on what we’re doing around the brewery.

In the meantime, we’re well overdue in mentioning that our beer can now be found down in Southern California. The fine folks at Artisan Ales are now distributing Uncommon Brewers products in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties.

Closer to home, we’re excited about the upcoming release of the Golden State Ale and Baltic Porter in 16 oz. cans. Those two are expected to be joining the Siamese Twin Ale on retail shelves within the next two months.

Availability on retail shelves is growing rapidly. We’re being carried in nearly all of the Santa Cruz-based New Leaf supermarkets, as well as in many Bay Area Whole Foods locations.

Two new beers will be joining the lineup in the coming weeks.

Our Rubidus Red Ale is quickly becoming a favorite around the brewery. A deep copper red, brewed with maple sugar, and the most uncommon addition of Candy Cap mushrooms. If you don’t know what Candy Caps are, ask someone who does. The smile on their face should explain everything. This beer is a savory red ale with a bloom of maple aroma, 7.8% ABV.

It will be joined by the Sinister Twin Ale, a beast born out of a double-strength batch of the Siamese Twin Ale. The Sinister falls into that rare category of Belgian-style quadrupels. It remains eerily drinkable at 12.5% ABV.

Both of these will be available to draft accounts just as soon as the kegs are ready.

cheers,
Uncommon Brewers

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

Yes, it’s the day of our fourth batch and the pressure is off. We’ve finally had our first stuck mash.

The brewers reading this can sympathize. Everyone else should be glad that they can’t.

This is our second run of the Golden State Ale. It’s true to our original recipe this time, with a California Ale yeast instead of one of those wacky Belgian Trappist styles. More to follow.