St. Bretta is our 100% Brettanomyces Whitebier that was just released this week! Not only is St. Bretta an evolution of Wild Wild Brett Orange, but also it will be ever-changing depending on the fresh citrus available that season. For our spring release we decided to brew St. Bretta with fresh Minneola Tangelo. Each seasonal release of St. Bretta will have a diverse range of citrus fruit added to keep the beer fresh and exciting (the summer release was brewed with blood oranges)!

In February we brewed up three batches of St. Bretta on River North Brewery’s 15bbl system. We then loaded up the fresh wort from River North Brewery, and trucked it back to the Barrel Cellar before filling up one of our new upright foeders. Once the foeder was full, we pitched our Brettanomyces yeast strain with a steady fermentation lasting almost two weeks. St. Bretta spent a total of six weeks in the foeder before packaging into bottles and kegs.

In celebration of Colorado Craft Beer Week, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project will be releasing our first batch of Origins bottles on March 22^nd in the Barrel Cellar taproom. Origins is our hommage to the history of barrel-aging and those who have influenced us along the way. This Burgundy Sour Ale is made up of two blends, the first sitting in French Oak barrels for two years, and the second for one and a half years. For our release, we will begin selling bottles at 5:00pm and there will be a THREE BOTTLE LIMIT per person. We look forward to seeing everyone doing Colorado Craft Beer Week!

New 60hl Upright Foeders

What an exciting start to 2013! In January we received four more oak foeders that are each roughly 60 hectoliters, bringing our total number of foeders to eight! We realize that many people are unfamiliar with the term “foeder”, so we wanted to provide a simple background on these beauties for you to better understand a critical element in Crooked Stave’s fermentation and blending process.

For hundreds of years coopers have crafted foeders for wineries and breweries. Since wineries limit their usage of these large oak fermentation vessels, breweries will scoop them up to use for wild beers. Since the 17^th century foeders have been an important part of the Belgian beer culture and have helped evolve the iconic Flanders, Saison, and Lambic styles that are so prevalent in society today. The benefits of aging beer in large foeders compared to wine barrels are numerous. Brewers love the larger oak vessels because they breathe life into the wild yeast and mixed bacterial cultures present, but have a much lower level of oxygen ingression due to a decrease in overall surface area. Additionally, foeders make it easier to blend young and older beers together because of their larger capacity compared to individual barrels. The process of blending into foeders adds a level of complexity, sometimes gained from the smaller wine barrels, as well as palatable nuances that cannot be achieved by fermenting beer on its own in a stainless steel fermenter.

Furthermore, we have received a lot of inquiries as to what we are going to be doing with these four foeders. The first foeder will be designated to a beer called St. Bretta, a continuation of our Wild Wild Brett Orange, and it will have different citrus fruits added depending on the season and availability. Our second foeder will house a beer by the name of HopSavant, a continuation of our Wild Wild Brett Green, and we will use different hops in each batch depending on what we think would compliment the beer best…starting to see a pattern??? The last two foeders will be used for the base blend of Vieille Artisanal Saison and Surette Provision Saison. Ultimately, with the addition of these four foeders we are able to increase our production significantly and get a Crooked Stave beer in your glass (or cellar) more often!

To stay up to date with Crooked Stave’s progress and updates please subscribe to the Crooked Stave Artisan Beer List in the upper right corner. And for those of you who live in Denver or will be passing through, we hope to see you in the Barrel Cellar taproom!

Cheers,

Crooked Stave

It’s that time of the year again! We have officially started selling our Cellar Reserve membership for the 2013 year. Like last year, the membership will include 10 different Barrel-aged Sour beers (each bottle release includes (2) 375 ml bottles per release, with additional purchases available if the yield permits) a few pieces of exclusive Crooked Stave members gear/items including stemmed glassware, first opportunity at all additional beers coming out of our Barrel Cellar and a member discount when visiting our taproom. The membership runs from Jan 1st through Dec 31st, 2013. Now in our second year we are again very excited about the beers we have aging in oak and some of the small offerings we’ll be making available. We are again keeping the membership small to a total of 400 members so we can keep the offerings unique. Many of last years members have already re-signed up and all Cellar Reserve members have first right of refusal for following years memberships, securing their place in the Cellar Reserve. For more information visit our Cellar Reserve Membership page.

Cheers!

The following is the tapping schedule for the week of October 8th thru October 13th. Opening hours: 10am to ~9pm..

Monday:
Cuvaison – Rustic 5 Grain Saison blended with various sour barrels.
W.W.B.I – 100% Brettanomyces fermented with Blueberries aged in oak.
Surette Reserva blended with Grape Kombucha – Rustic 5 Grain Saison with Grape Kombucha.
Tapping:
Sentience Bourbon Barrel aged Wild Quadruple
Batch #1 – 100% Brettanomyces, 100% barrel fermented

Tuesday Tapping:
Surette Reserva Chardonnay Barrel-aged (Batch 1 of Surette Aged 12 months in Chardonnay Barrels)

Wednessday Tapping:
Oculus – Belgian-style Golden ale fermented with Colorado Biodynamic grapes and aged for 12 months in White wine barrels with our house sour culture.

Thursday Tapping:
Sentience Cognac Barrel aged Wild Quadruple

Friday Tapping:
Nightmare on Brett Bourbon Barrel-aged – 100% Brettanomyces Baltic(ish) Porter, Aged in Heaven Hill Barrels!

Saturday Tapping:
Blackberry Petite Sour – Classic!

On top of all the specialty tappings we’ll also have bottles for sale including Batch#1, Oculus, Sentience Bourbon Barrel and maybe we’ll pull some rare oldies out of the cellar to pour as well!

We’ll see you soon!

It’s an exciting time here at Crooked Stave, please stop by and join us starting this Wednesday, September 5th from 12pm to 7pm in the Barrel Cellar taproom. We’ll have an assortment of Crooked Stave beers on tap including the fist tapping of L’Brett d’Or aged in Leopold Bros Peach Whisky Barrels which previously held New Belgium Love! As well, some Wild Wild Brett’s will be on tap, and other goodies from the cellar. We’ll also have a small array of bottles e’ve been holding on to and merchandise available for purchase as well.

The Barrel Cellar is located at:
1441 W. 46th Ave. Unit 19
Denver, CO. 80211

Regular hours of operation will be Weds. and Thurs. 12pm to 7pm and Fri. and Sat. 12pm to 8pm. We look forward to seeing all the friendly faces and meeting many new friends!
Cheers,
Chad

With the details in place and the website infrastructure hopefully taken care of, we are pleased to announce the inaugural formation of Crooked Stave’s Cellar Reserve Membership. We mentioned previously that we had been working on the details to our annual membership and after putting a lot of time and thought into the structure, we are very excited with the beers that will be available to this years members as well as all the exclusive extras.

As we have mentioned briefly before, we are currently working on plans that would locate us in Denver, Colorado. We never imagined we’d be making the move from Fort Collins so soon, but it‘s time we built our brewery! As we are working on the plans for our future and taking on investment, we thought the best way to get our friends and fans involved was to create a Cellar Reserve Membership and offer up beer from our barrel cellar along with other exclusive merchandise. The proceeds from the purchased memberships will be going directly to our Denver expansion project and be the first big push needed to lay the groundwork for the rest of the project and our future brewery.

2012 Cellar Reserve Memberships will be $300.00 each through membership.crookedstave.com and go on sale at 10am MST on December 17th, 2011. Given the low production for most of the beers on the list (some only being a single barrel) space is limited to 400 members for 2012.

One detail that was difficult for us to make a decision on was whether to open up membership to people outside of Colorado through direct shipping. As difficult as it was, we could not come up with a solution on how to logistically ship beer to interested customers without the possibility of legal action being taken against us, as well as up holding a high standard of customer service and satisfaction. We are however allowing the designation of a trustee or “mule” that resides in Colorado and can be made responsible to pick up the beers for you upon release. We anticipate pick-up will be in Denver, Colorado at our future brewing facilities so someone local to Denver not Fort Collins may be ideal.

Cheers,
Crooked Stave

Below are the details for the 2012 Cellar Reserve Membership which will be available through membership.crookedstave.com starting at 10am MST on December 17, 2011. We look forward to seeing you at future Cellar Reserve Member events!

Crooked Stave Cellar Reserve Membership 2012:
- 2012 Membership Card
- 2 Cellar Reserve stemware glasses
- Exclusive members only T-Shirt
- Neoprene Dual Bottle Beer Tote
(1 bottle) Blackberry Petite Sour (upon release, estimated Feb 2012)
(2 bottle) Batch #1 (100% Brett, 100% barrel fermented) (upon release, estimated March 2012)
(1 bottle) *Surette Reserva Chardonnay barrel-aged (upon release, estimated April 2012)
(1 bottle) L’Brett d’Or – 100% Brett Golden Sour (upon release, estimated May 2012)
(1 bottle) *Persica – Sour Peach (upon release, estimated July 2012)
(1 bottle) *Nightmare on Brett Street (Cognac barrel) (upon release, estimated Aug 2012)
(1 bottle) *Nightmare on Brett Street (Brandy barrel) (upon release, estimated Aug 2012)
(1 bottle) *Sour Quad (Cognac barrel) (upon release, estimated Nov 2012)
(1 bottle) *Cellar Reserve Blend (upon release in 2012)
*Denotes beer is a Cellar Reserve exclusive.
- Access to purchase specialty bottle releases at 20% discount (subject to allocation limits)
- First right of refusal for 2013 membership
- Future discounts to be added once our taproom is open.
- Future planned Cellar Reserve Member events (additional charges apply)

As well as receiving the above listed beers and merchandise, the following beers are planned for release from our Barrel Cellar in 2012 and available to Cellar Reserve Members.
- Blackberry Petite Sour
- Batch #1 (100% Brett, 100% barrel fermented)
- L’Brett d’Or – 100% Brett Golden Sour
- Burgandy Sour (not yet named)
- Oculus – Sour Belgian Golden Ale with Vignole grapes
- Barrel Aged 2012 Petite Sour (w/soon to be added fruit)
- Dark Sour (not yet named)
- Sour Quad (Bourbon barrel) (not yet named)
- First Anniversary Blend

**Please note that a few of these beers will likely be available to the public for purchase. As a Cellar Reserve Member you are guaranteed the first opportunity to purchase these beers, to some limitation, before they go on sale to the public.

DISCLAIMER: Crooked Stave Cellar Reserve Memberships are open to USA residents over the age of 21 only. If you reside outside of Colorado and decide to purchase a Cellar Reserve Membership make sure to designate a Colorado Trustee or you are responsible for picking up your allocation which will be held at the brewery until March 21st, 2013. We are unable to ship beer as FedEx, UPS, and USPS does not allow us to ship beer direct to customers. No refunds will be given after placing an order.

For more information about listing a Colorado Trustee and any other questions you may have, visit the FAQ page.

W.W.B.R.
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Specialty Beer
The concept of Crooked Stave’s Wild Wild Brett Series—100-percent Brettanomyces beers brewed to match all seven colors of the rainbow—truly takes a masterful touch to do right. W.W.B.R (aka Wild Wild Brett Rouge) incorporates Hawthorn berries, rose hips and hibiscus for a reddish brew with an exquisitely delicate blend of floral, fruity notes and a gentle acidic bite.

Great description and a nice teaser for the rest of the the Wild Wild Brett Series beers. The entire article can be found in the November/December issue of DRAFT Magazine which is out now and on-line at DRAFTMag.com. A big conrgrats to all the other breweries listed this year as well!

baroque beer: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of artistic expression that is marked generally by use of complex forms, bold ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement, and tension: characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance.

So what’s in a name? Well for starters, Petite Sour is our line of seasonally inspired tart Wheat beers or Wit beer as it is more our take on an old rustic belgian-style wit or farmhouse wit as I prefer to call it. Petite in both the level of tartness and alcohol, this version weighs in at 4.5% abv. Sessionable and sour… interesting concept..

Pure Guava is the first of the Petite Sours to be released and gets it’s name from the intense Guava character that the spontaneously soured and 100% Brettanomyces fermented beer had before it was blended into the spiced farmhouse wit. There isn’t actually any Guava fruit in this beer, in fact there is no fruit at all. All the aroma and flavor comes from the Brettanomyces yeast. To make this beer we combined Berliner Weisse or Gose brewing techniques with a farmhouse attitude to brewing. Part of the blend is spontaneously soured and then my favorite Brettanomyces strain added to finish out fermentation on the sour wort. The base beer was spiced with coriander and sumac and fermented entirely in our oak foeder with one of my favorite Belgian yeast strains (actually I hear it’s from France). Combine all this and we get our baroque beer.. Petite Sour. This beer was brewed on April 27th and May 3rd respectively and bottled May 23rd. By the time of it’s release it will have been bottle conditioning for about 2 and a half months. Already on draft at a few locations in Fort Collins and Denver, the bottle release party will be announced in days. I leave you with the long description.

Deviating from conventional brewing methods and inspired by historic brewing techniques, we created our Pure Guava Petite Sour. Blending farmhouse brewing traditions with an old world souring technique this rustic wheat beer is brewed with the addition of oats and spiced with coriander and sumac. Fermented entirely in our distinct oak foeder, Pure Guava is an unfiltered, golden wild ale with tropical fruit aromas and bright citrus flavors created by a proprietary Brettanomyces strain. This beer is bottled with the natural yeast, if cellared in a cool dark place it will develop more complex Brett characteristics and evolve for years to come. Drink as you would a wheat beer, cloudy with the yeast in suspension. Please enjoy this unique offering in your favorite stemmed glassware and allow the beer to breathe and open up as you swirl it in your glass.

Thoroughly chill and open carefully, slowly degassing the excess CO2 built up from the active yeast.

From here on out I plan to be better about posting updates. So much has happened over the past three months since I last posted making it hard to back track and who wants to read about old news anyways? I plan to write a few posts covering what we have been up to..if you follow us on facebook/CrookedStave then you’ve followed most of what has been happening already. Also, it’s about time we get this site turned into an actual company website with information about the beers we are brewing, special batch release details, who we are, locations which serve or sell Crooked Stave beers and other goodies. Yeah that’s right..we have already started releasing beer on draft to a few select craft beer bars and are about to roll out with bottles.

Cheers, and thanks for checking back in with us! We’ll be better from here on out…

DENVER, CO… On Tuesday, May 3rd at 4:00 p.m., Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen will be tapping “Good Glory,” a proprietary beer and the first commercial beer from Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project a Fort Collins brewery specializing in “sour” beers. Good Glory is a collaboration between the Euclid Hall beer experts and Crooked Stave.

Brewer Chad Yakobson will be on hand to tap the keg and discuss the Crooked Stave approach to beer making and Good Glory in particular.

Yakobson describes Good Glory as a spring inspired Belgian-style beer. The use of rich Vienna and Munich malts gives the beer a dark copper appearance with a light malt character, suggesting that winter is almost gone and summer is right around the corner. A special Belgian yeast creates plum and dried fruits on the nose with a subtle hint of spice complimented by a touch of hops and a delicate lavender aroma.

Later in the year, Good Glory Suckerpunch, an aged version of the Good Glory spring beer will be tapped in honor of the Euclid Hall first anniversary celebration and the Great American Beer Festival.

Yakobson says of Good Glory Suckerpunch, “When the employees of Euclid Hall collaborated on an exclusive spring inspired Belgian-style beer they agreed that holding on to some of the beer and aging it in red and white wine barrels for the one year anniversary of Euclid Hall would make for a fun twist. This American Wild Ale was inoculated with five unique strains of Brettanomyces adding complex citrus and tropical fruit aromas mixed with a funky earthy appeal and a tart acidic finish.”

Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen opened in early August, 2010 at 1317 14th Street in Denver’s Historic Larimer Square, the third restaurant from the team of Jennifer Jasinski and Beth Gruitch, owners of the award winning Rioja and Bistro Vendôme. Located in Euclid Hall, an 1883 building that once housed the venerable Soapy Smith’s bar, this American tavern is focused on high quality and innovative pub food from around the world including housemade sausages, po’ boys, poutine and schnitzels. An extensive beer selection and creative cocktails drive the beverage program. Call 303.595.4255 or visit euclidhall.com for more details.

I spent the majority of Tuesday trying to position the foeder in just the right place so visitors to Funkwerks brewery will have a great first glance through the glass windows which look into the brewery space. Not far from the rest of Crooked Staves barrels which rest peacefully in the Barrel Cellar, our foeder should feel at home with others of her kind. The rest of Tuesday was spent on the phone getting parts arranged and ordered. If everything works right all parts should be in on Friday, at which time I’ll get the foeder online with the glycol system and temperature controllers and then check for leaks by filling her up and swelling all the staves. If all that goes through.. It will be time to fill her.. Batch #4 will hopefully be brewed this coming Saturday and we’ll be commissioning our new foeder with a 15 bbl batch of a Belgian specialty beer brewed exclusively for Euclid Hall.

I’d love to spill all the details on this specialty brew which looks like it will be our first commercial release, but I’ll hold off till all the pieces are in place and the brew is in the fermenter. Until.. enjoy some photos of our new foeder.

Don’t feel like waiting that long? Just announced, we’ll be pouring Wild Wild Brett Golden at Mile High Wine and Spirits Beer Tasting March 8th from 6:30-8:30PM. It is our good friend Brad’s last tasting he will be putting on as the Beer Guru at Mile High Wine and Spirits. To say thanks we’ve pulled off a little of the Golden base beer from L’Brett d’Or which is primary fermented with 5 strains of Brettanomyces to pour at the event. We have a very limited amount to pour but are very excited to be a part of Brad’s last tasting. We’ll miss you buddy!

The idea spur for the name of this beer came from a 1930′s Surrealist film L’Age d’Or by Luis Buñuel and written by himself and Salvador Dali. In the opening scenes footage of scorpions are shown from a short science film. During this are captions in French talking about 5 prismatic articulations which finally culminate in a stinger.. For this reason we chose to use 5 prismatic strains of Brettanomyces for our surreal golden sour and name the beer L’Brett d’Or “The Golden Brett“.

Given the importance of the oak barrels in shaping the beer into the final product it’s important that barrels be well taken care of and the barrel staves on the inside be in good condition. Before filling each barrel we have been removing the heads through loosening the stave hoops and reconditioning the insides of the barrels. Since our oak barrels are used wine barrels there is often times lots of work to be done. Depending on the age of the barrel and how many times it was refilled with wine, there can be a thick layer of Potassium Bitartrate or wine crystals that have accumulated throughout the entire barrel. These wine crystals are scraped away with the use of a wood working knife as well as going over the entire insides with a steel wire brush. All this allows the pores of the wood to open back up and gives some character back to the barrel. The other important reason for taking the barrels apart is to remove blisters on the inner staves formed during the barrel making. Removing these limits the oxidation that could occur as well as giving acetic acid producing bacteria a place to hide as it’s not possible to clean/rinse with hot water behind the blisters. Once this is done the barrel heads are put back on, the hoops driven into place and the barrels rinsed multiple times with hot water and soaked before being tested to see if they hold pressure. After, they are left with the bung facing down to dry over night and beer transferred into to them the following day. It’s quite a process, but it’s worth knowing that the barrels are in the best condition they can possibly be and the beer will be aging in a good home!