MankerBeer.com

Another day in paradise and another set of beers being announced for Copenhagen Beer Celebration. In two weeks time I’ll be sitting in Copenhagen drinking beer, longing for CBC to start and to wake up to a day of witnessing some world class brewing (more on that later). So I thought it might be about time to announce some more beers? Except for Denmark the only Nordic country (however, Xbeeriment do have a collaboration with Swedish brewery Brekeriet, Bretty Boop) participating at CBC is Norway. Norway is sending one of their best breweries, Lervig and their friendly brewmaster Mike Murphy. We had a chat with Mike last year and some of what he said is probably still as interesting and will give you an idea of what Lervig is about. If you prefer the full interview you can find it here. At the bottom you find what Lervig is sending to Copenhagen – Bam!

MankerBeer (MB): You have lived in Europe for over a decade, brewing beers in Italy, Denmark and Norway so it seems as if you have experienced the European craft beer revolution first hand. How has the European beer scene changed while you have been here?

Mike Murphy (MM): I feel like I am riding the craftbeer wave as I have been in 3 countries and been there about the same time these countries have undergone a transformation from mundane pilsner to interest in craft beers. Italy was interstingly a non beer country when I was there in 99, about the only thing you could find other than pils was Guiniess or kilkenny, if you go to Italy today you can see for yourself what has happened, Italy is special as they have been doing it their way and you can see and taste it. Denmark and little after Sweden become huge markets for craft beer, perhaps the good economies and the pre exsitiing love of beer made the scandinavian beer scene one of the most interesting beer scenes in the world. the craft beer market is also on the rise here in Norway, I can see by our sales that new and different products are selling much better than lame boring macro pils.

The scene in scandinavia has changed and matured over the last 8 years starting with some influence from the US brewing scene, giving inspiration to many brewers in the area to produce simular beers and perhaps take it a bit further in some cases. Yet there is always those cult brewers who appeal to the more traditional drinker in scandinavia and you just dont see that anywhere else really. The scandinavian beer scene is the area is realitively small and yet so interesting that is never boring always changing and full of great people that you can meet out there in many festivals and tastings.

 

MB: What were you doing before you moved to Europe and started brewing beers?

MM: I was always a home brewer, but I was starting a buisness which deals with customizing swimming pools with stone walls, waterfalls & landscaping around the pools, I had this goal to make peoples mouth drop in awe when they come to the backyard of the customers who could afford these types of luxuries. I have an education in Landscape Architecture so I was heading that way when Europe called on me to be a brewer. I think things would be very different for me today if I had stayed on that path, I cant say I would have regreted anything and I probably would have been happy doing the previous line of work as well. I am however very happy to have spent my late 20?s and all my 30?s in Europe, i think it has fundementaly changed me and perhaps made me a better and open minded person.

 

MB: For those of us that follow your blog we read your take on canning beers. What are the biggest prejudices against canned beers here in Norden?

MM: Like most places people assimulate can beer with cheap beer, like a screw cap on wine, basically because most craft brewers can not afford a proper bottling line much less a canning line, therefore it must be a mass produced lame beer in there… I just tell people it’s not any differnet than a small keg, it may look and feel less special in the can but when you need to carry the dead bottles from your home to the recycle center you can feel the differnece as well. I like that the can has more printing options, better on the environment as far as trasnsport, and it actually stores the beer better than a glass bottle… It’s nice to have a choice and I really believe that cans are the future even for craft beer.

 

MB: Norway is starting to establish itself as a beer country just like Sweden and Denmark and I spoke to Kjetil from Nøgne Ø on how many small Norwegian breweries try to perfect their beers and production before “they go big”. What upcoming breweries are their to keep your yes on?

MM: I think it’s going to take some more time before you see many new breweries except for some brew pubs here in Norway, I think Kinn is an interesting brewery that is well distributed here in Norway and getting a lot of respect from the craft beer scene, It would only be better for all of us if we have more and more interest and choice. there is another local brewery near us which has always made more traditional beers, now they have launched a IPA as well… Just shows that they see it too.

You can find the descriptions of the below beers together with all the other beers at CBC in our complete CBC beer list – updated daily and found here. Just to clarify, changes in the beer lists may occur and not all beers are served at all sessions.

Lervig CBC Beer List:

• Brewers Reserve Rye IPA
• Brewers Reserve Konrads Stout
• Farmhouse Stout
• Bourbon B.A Barley Wine
• BPA
• Flemish Brown Ale
• Oat IPA
• Galaxy Hopped IPA Super Passion Fruit
• Imperial Amber Ale

Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2013 showcase one of the craziest line-ups of breweries I’ve seen with breweries from unexpected places such as Brazil, Japan, New Zeeland – and China. You seldomly see craft beers from the closed and isolated China, The Boxing Cat Brewery tap takeover at Mikkeller Bar in Copenhagen a welcomed exception. Together with US born brewmaster Michael Jordan the CBC team have managed to get ahold of 9 different beers that will be poured during CBC. It will be wicked fun to try some proper beers from China and to be able to get an idea of where the Chinese beer culture is developing. We knew we had to get ahold of Michael to check whats happening on the other side of the wall and to hear how an American citizen makes the decision to become a brewer in China. Lets start rocking!

MankerBeer (MB): A brewery, in China, with an American brewer? For those unfamiliar
Michael Jordan (MJ): The brewery was founded in April 2008 by 3 people from diverse backgrounds. Kelley Lee had been in Shanghai for awhile and had opened a few restaurants prior to opening Boxing Cat Brewery. She is an American Born Chinese that grew up in Los Angeles. She got here degree at USC before attending culinary school in France. The other parter is Lee Tseng who originally hails from Toronto but was born in Taiwan. He had also been in Shanghai for awhile and dabbled in real estate and opening the first Illy cafe in China. The last founding partner was Gary Heyne who originally hails from Houston, Texas. Gary had been in Shanghai for about 2 years and had opened a brewery prior to Boxing Cat Brewery but the management terms were unacceptable so he wanted to open his own brewpub. The 3 of them met and decided it was a great idea to open an American themed brewpub in Shanghai focusing on Southern cuisine and craft beer modeled after North American standards. The influence of North American brewing standards is evident in our beer menu as we like US craft beers and brew many different styles that are popular in the US. We also like to experiment and use some local ingredients such as Sichuan Peppercorns and Fresh Ginger in a Belgian Tripel we do. We take pride in our innovation and pushing beer boundaries while educating people about craft beer in China. The beer culture in China is much different in that they often shotgun 5 oz beers (ganbei) while eating and it’s a “face” thing to show how much beer you can drink in dining occasions. This beer is extremely light in flavor and alcohol so they can do this easily. It’s not easy to do with Boxing Cat Beers as our beer has flavor and of course much higher alcohol.

I’m an American craft brewer that has been brewing professionally since 1995. Most of my time has been spent working in the Portland, Oregon area. I have seen many different breweries including the following in chronological order; Nor’Wester Brewing Co., Saxer Brewing Co., Henry Weinhards, Grand Teton Brewing, Couer d’Alene Brewing Co and Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. My last position in Portland was a great 5 years where I was eventually promoted to Lead Brewer for Swing Shift operations. I left Widmer in 2008 to move to Denmark and work for Bryggeriet S.C. Fuglsang in Haderslev. I was Brewmaster for Fuglsang and had some responsibilities on the QC side in the malting plant in Haderslev. I enjoyed my time in DK but needed more creative freedom and found an awesome opportunity in China of all places. I have been with Boxing Cat Brewery since October 2010.

Education wise: I studied Life Sciences in University so lots of Biology and Chemistry. My original goal was to join the medical field after University. I began homebrewing in 1993 and fell in love with the hobby. I witnessed (and participated) in the first big wave of craft brewing and thought it would be a fun industry to join with the idea that I could open my own brewery someday. Along the way I have taken some brewing courses at Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago and some online courses from Heriot Watt in Scotland. I used this education to pass the rigorous Diploma Brewer Exams from the IBD in London.

In general I like to experiment with beer and have 100% freedom with my current job. It has allowed me a great creative outlet while producing some wonderful beers that our customers get to enjoy. It’s a great situation for me personally and to also participate in the pioneer movement of craft beer in China.

MB: You have worked at places such as Widmer Brothers and Danish Bryggeriet S.C Fuglsang – what are the ups and downs with suddenly starting to brew beer in China?
MJ: The ups and downs of brewing in China primarily revolve around the infancy of the industry. It’s challenging to educate customers but I feel that we do that well and put our best foot forward when brewing International styles. I refuse to dilute an American IPA because the locals might find it too bitter. We have expats that crave a true American IPA or Imperial Stout so we do it properly and realize the locals will either not like it or take awhile to warm up to. In the end if anybody can enjoy 2 or 3 of our beers that we offer I’m a happy brewer and the business is happy. So far we’re doing well so we haven’t departed from that equation.

One big issue is sourcing quality ingredients. Over time I’ve gotten us to use 100% imported raw materials because our focus is on the quality and having the best craft beer in China. I’ve used my contacts to source American hops and am proud of what we’re able to accomplish using these hops. Of course they’re not cheap but it’s about the quality for us and passing some of the extra price onto the customers that appreciate a quality product. The imported malts available in China are great but limited to 2 different vendors. I work with these vendors to provide me with malt but it’s difficult to forecast malt needs 3-4 months in advance and make sure they arrive in time. So we have to take on a buffer of storage as the importer will not stock much malt in country. The pricing is also elevated a bit more than I deem necessary so hopefully over time more competition will drive down the price. Paying 3X the amount from my days in DK or USA can be hard to swallow at times…..Liquid yeast is also difficult to obtain so we go through extra measures to bring it into the country or propagate in the brewery. We can easily buy dry yeast but the varieties are too limiting for what I want to do. I’ve always used liquid yeast and feel it’s a better product so we go through the difficult measures to make the beer top notch.

The last challenge is probably the biggest. We can only produce our beer on a brewpub scale right now due to the regulations and restrictions put in place by the government. Operating as a brewpub is easy and basically falls under restaurant licensing. If we want to build a microbrewery and distribute our kegs outside our own locations then it falls under a different classification that is extremely hard to overcome. They want to treat us like a huge brewery so we have to adhere to the same guidelines as the big breweries. From an operational aspect this is easy as I’m sure we operate much better from an environmental aspect. The taxation policies and what’s required to obtain the production license are the real hurdles. We’re still trying to do this and hope to overcome these challenges in the coming years as our end game is to distribute throughout China with both kegs and bottles.

The upside for craft beer is tremendous in China even though their are many challenges. People are very interested in diversity of products and can appreciate a flavorful beer. The disposable income of Chinese is growing so “luxury goods” are becoming more and more appealing. It’s fun to be on the pioneer side of this movement as Boxing Cat and myself are really able to help shape the future of craft beer. We take a role in educating customers but also working with other craft breweries in China to promote craft beer. We do this by organizing craft beer festival or starting something like Shanghai Beer Week. We also do some co-op purchasing amongst ourselves to fill containers of malt and source ingredients together while importing them ourselves. There is a lot of excitement of craft beer in China right now and it’s amazing to have this opportunity. Working with other International brands such as Mikkeller has also been awesome as it sheds light on brewers working together while also getting a bit of media attention for craft beer.

MB: RateBeer currently list 37 Chinese breweries, including 6 that now are out of order. Why the low amount of breweries, doesn’t at least a few of the over a billion Chinese like beer?
MJ: Ratebeer is not widely used in China as the website is often blocked by the government. To access this site or other sites like facebook/twitter you have to use a VPN. Therefore Ratebeer ratings/listings are low in China and not really reflective of what is happening with craft beer in the country. Untappd is an application that is gaining usage and something that I use and help moderate within China. In the end China is the worlds largest country for beer consumption due to the 1.34 billion people that live here. The per capita consumption is low compared with Western countries but when it shifts 1-2% a year it’s a massive jump in total consumption. We don’t worry too much about that in the end. If craft beer can get a portion of 0.5% we’ll all be rather happy!

MB: What would it take to start a Chinese craft beer movement, much of what has been seen in other non-traditional beer countries?
MJ: Well I think the Chinese craft beer movement has already started dating back to 2010. The interest in craft beer is seen with the surge in more and more brewpubs opening and beer festivals catering to just craft beer. We’re seeing increased interest with imported beer with craft beer here from USA, Scotland, Wales and Denmark. More and more bars/pubs are opening and carrying great imported beer from Belgium plus craft beer from Mikkeller, North Coast, Brooklyn, Rogue or Brewdog. In the past 2 years a quarterly beer publication has started called Hops Magazine. Recently they started publishing a Chinese language edition and it’s really taking off. The interest in homebrewing is also surging forward with many local homebrew clubs forming and some homebrew competitions happening. It’s a bit of a complete package and I see lots of great things happening for craft beer in China. Craft breweries (including Boxing Cat) are being asked to participate in the huge Chinese beer festivals so I think the recognition of our little industry is happening. The more exposure we receive and use that opportunity for education the better we’ll all fair in the end. In the end I do a lot of staff training regarding our beers so our staff can help educate our Chinese customers. Simple stuff like literature explaining beer styles in dual language goes a long way. Having a tasting tray so people can taste and discover beer on their own is also a great experience. I really feel that we’re doing many of the things you see happening in other countries, we’re just a bit behind. Luckily China likes to move fast so maybe we can catch up a little bit:)

MB: As a beer drinker in China, how do you find craft beer to drink at home or in bars?
MJ: You can drink craft beer at either home or bars. There are not a lot of places to drink craft beer as far as bars go so you have to seek it out or know where to go. Craft beer in bottles is perhaps easier to find as we even have beer specialty shops that will deliver beer to your doorstep. I order beer for deliver from a company in Shanghai called Cheers In. It’s a great service where you can shop online and choose a time for delivery while even requesting that the beer be delivered cold. If you order a small volume around 8-12 bottles depending upon price the delivery is even free! Of course seeking out the local brewery is a great way to discover craft beer and probably also meet other craft beer aficionados in the respective Chinese city.

MB: You brew everything from hoppy pale ales to IPA to a smoky porter but who is the average Boxing Cat beer drinker in China?
MJ: We do brew a diverse range of beers at Boxing Cat. Last year we brewed something like 35 different beers which is pretty good for a little 1000 liter brewhouse only serving beer within their own locations. Our best selling beer is Right Hook Helles. It’s our lightest beer (4.5% ABV, 15 IBU’s) that we offer year round and it’s a lager. In general Chinese are used to lager beer so it’s no surprise it’s our best selling beer. Saying that it’s about 1% ABV higher than their used to and it has lots of taste and body when compared with Tsingtao. Our second best selling beer is TKO IPA, so complete opposite side of the spectrum. The expat customer base is primarily responsible for this consumption but we’re seeing more locals try this beer. They like the citrus notes but sometimes the bitterness (62 IBU’s for TKO IPA) is a bit much for them. If this is the case we try to let them sample Sucker Punch Pale Ale as it has similar citrus notes from the Citra hops with less bitterness (38 IBU’s). We have a few new beers that we’ve done recently that have been enormously popular so we’re still figuring out the local preferences as well. One example is Contender Extra Pale Ale– brewed with Mosaic hops and dry hopped rather liberally with this same hop variety. Lots of tropical fruit notes in this beer but low bitterness at 16 IBU’s. Some of the local Shanghainese food is a bit sweet so the local preference is along sweetnes so some of our newer beers are along these lines, such as Ringside Red Lager (malty with low hop character).

MB: Have you ever though of brewing a beer with traditional Chinese ingredients and/or for the typical Chinese cuisine?
MJ: We definitely brew with traditional ingredients. I mentioned the Sichuan peppercorns and fresh ginger in Tripel Threat earlier. I brewed Bruce ChiLee IPA with Mikkel when we did the collaboration brew. This beer used local green chillies with medium spice and a large Simcoe hop addition. We’ve brewed with local pumpkins in our Fall seasonal beer. I made a wheat beer using kaffir lime leaves, kaffir limes and lemongrass. This beer was popular so I need to brew it again. I’ve done a collab beer with Great Leap Brewing based out of Beijing where we used Yunnan Black Tea in the beer. Another example would be the mango ale we made. I’m currently working with a local coffee roaster to make a coffee beer. This coffee beer is based upon a Pale Ale recipe using single origin coffee that has berry and chocolate notes. In the end using local ingredients is great and something I’ll continue to explore. The food in our 2 restaurants is American so in the end I’m pairing our beers with American cuisine. Occasionally I’ll sneak a growler into a Chinese restaurant to see how it pairs with different Chinese cuisine. It would be fun to play around with this some more but that most likely won’t happen until we get our production license and distribute to local Chinese restaurants.

MB: You have been with the brewery for a little more than two years, what is your vision? Do the bureaucracy and problems with importing ingredients ever frustrate you and would it be possible to expand or find new international markets?
MJ: Our vision is to be the most innovative craft brewery in China that is Internationally recognized. We want to open a production brewery and distribute throughout China and potentially look at other export markets. It’s a big challenge as I discussed earlier but something we will battle and eventually overcome. I definitely get frustrated at times…luckily I have a never die attitude and realize that we’re in a unique position to shape the future of craft brewing in China. I’ve never had this type of opportunity in the nearly 20 years of brewery experience. I knew coming in the job would be challenging so I signed on with that intention. We’ve figured out ingredients issues since I arrived and it’s a great feeling when you accomplish something that has been a huge hurdle. For better or worse I share my experiences with other brewers in the country….It’s who I am based upon my brewing experience in the US or Europe. Brewers share information to better the movement for the entire beer community. We have a few players in China who don’t get that right now. In the end it’s their loss and something I’ve seen before. Most likely those players are only in the industry to make money and don’t have the passion that the rest of us have. If history has taught me anything those same breweries won’t exist for very long.

We’ve figured out how to export beer for a few beer festivals such as Copenhagen Beer Celebration. It’s difficult and costly. I believe most beer was shipped via boat to Copenhagen. Our beer went on a plane so it’s pretty damn fresh and has seen limited abuse from transportation. We mainly due this to eliminate delays with customs and shipping issues but it feels good to send beer to DK and have it arrive and clear Danish customs in 10 days after it left the brewery in Shanghai!!

Of course exporting beer like this is not a long term business solution so we’ll participate in a few International beer festivals but we cannot do too many at such a high cost. In the end there are so many opportunities within China that we want to focus on the local market and not get ahead of ourselves. We want to do well in China as that’s our primary focus.

MB: What should beer fans at Copenhagen Beer Celebration really notmiss?
MJ: I feel we have a diverse lineup of beers we’ve sent to Copenhagen. I think hopheads will like TKO IPA and Firecracker Imperial Red…maybe Sucker Punch Pale Ale too. King Louie Imperial Stout is a beer I’m very proud of and I think the Bourbon edition is tasting awesome. 13 months in Jim Beam Barrels has treated this beer well. We shipped extra kegs of this beer along with TKO IPA and Bare Knuckle Barleywine. I hope people can enjoy Chinese craft beer with a bit of an American attitude!!

Thanks for reaching out to us and see you in Copenhagen!!

We thank Michael fore taking the time to put some light on the Chinese craft beer scene and sharing some of the difficulties with pushing craft beer in such a closed country. CBC will be a great opportunity to try a wide range of The Boxing Cat’s beers and don’t miss out on giving Michael some praise or feedback on what you try! We are looking forward to it! Below is the list of beers, as always the preliminary line-up where changes may occur and differ throughout the different sessions – Pink! For an overview on all the beers – consult this amazing online list of beers (which will be updated frequently with more beers, and maybe new breweries)

The Boxing Cat’s CBC Beer List:

• TKO IPA
• Sucker Punch Pale Ale
• King Louie Imperial Stout
• Firecracker Imperial Red Ale
• Bare Knuckle Barleywine
• Donkey Punch Porter
• Bourbon Barrel Aged King Louie Imperial Stout
• Ringside Red
• Undercard Imperial Brown Ale

Photo: SeriousEats.com

At last year’s Copenhagen Beer Celebration one of the best stands, according to me, was the one all the way in the back where breweries like Westbrook, Farmer’s Cabinet and Cigar City could be found. Not much of a surprise as we Scandinavians aren’t too spoiled with beers from either of them. For CBC 2013 two of the three are coming back (Westbrook and Cigar City) and there were cheers coming from all over the beer community when the CBC crew announced that Cigar City was coming back. The brewery are sending over head brewer Wayne Wambles to spread some of Florida’s best beery love and as the brewery are expanding into the restaurant business and are establishing plans to produce mead and cider we took the opportunity to see what he would be bringing to CBC and what is happening over at the brewery in Tampa.

MankerBeer (MB): Wayne, how would you present Cigar City for someone new to craft beer?
Wayne Wambles (WW): Cigar City Brewing is a brewery that embraces its surrounding culture and environment. Their beers often have tropical fruit notes and/or tell the story of the history of the surrounding area, which is Tampa, Florida. Ybor city has a rich history of hand rolled cigars. In the 1880’s, cigar manufacturers attracted thousands of immigrants from Spain, Cuba and Italy, which rolled millions of cigars for the next fifty years. The city of Tampa became referred to as the Cigar City.

The brewery also uses items like Cuban espresso and guava in their beers. Cafe con leche, which is made from Cuban roast espresso and scalded milk, is a drink that was popularized by Cuban immigrants. Cigar City produces a sweet stout with this same coffee roast. Another Cuban import is the guava pastry. The brewery uses guava in one of their saisons.

Finally, the brewery doesn’t limit its concepts to strictly local culture. It intends to be more diverse by making beers like Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout. This beer is a transplant from central America. Hunahpu is the Mayan god that gave chocolate to the Mayan people. This beer is a fusion of culinary and zymurgy. It blends the religious and culinary concepts of the Maya with modern day mole and the Holy Trinity of chili peppers. Mole is a secret sauce made from a combination of chocolate, chilis and spices. The Holy Trinity is a combination of ancho, guajillo and pasilla chilis, which is used in the beer as well as Peruvian cacao nibs, Madagascar vanilla beans and Ceylon cinnamon. The Mayan culture made the first chocolate drinks using meticulously hand ground cacao nibs, chili peppers and spices.

Cigar City Brewing paints a vivid picture of history and culture infused with culinary on a canvas of zymurgy.

MB: After working for almost six years at Buckhead Brewery & Grill and then at Foothills Brewing for a little over a year you joined Cigar City in 2008 (march 24 if I got my facts straight). What experiences and lessons have you brought with you from your past employments?
WW: Buckhead Brewery is where I was allowed a great deal of initial creative freedom. This is the brewery where I solidified most of my recipe formulation for traditional beer styles. I also was constantly experimenting with different raw materials…hops, hop extracts and many specialty grains, as well as yeast strains. This chain of brew pubs went through a fairly rapid expansion that I was a part of several times. This allowed me to see what kind of issues one has to face when constructing a brewery.

Foothills allowed me the first view of a hybrid facility. It was a production facility and a brew pub that was also self distributing. I learned many things about self distribution but could not apply them to my experience at Cigar City because Florida is limited to the three tier law. Raw material purchase strategy and hop allocation were things that I discussed and attempted to harness during my time in North Carolina.

To be quite honest with you, there were many things that I wasn’t prepared for when I left North Carolina to work at Cigar City but I promised myself one thing. I constantly reminded myself that this opportunity was a “do or die” situation and I pursued it that way to the best of my ability. I might not have always made the best decisions but I’m still breathing so I guess that I managed things fairly well.

MB: Many of your most sought after beers are only made in small batches, poured only at the brew pub or sold locally. What is the Cigar City brewing capacity and how do you handle the demand on some of the beers?
WW: Our current brewing capacity is around 25,000-30,000 bbls a year. That is a decent chunk of beer. It is a little more complicated than you think, however. Allow me to explain.

In 2009, we sold beer for the first time. There was some consumer demand in the local market but we found that we had extra beer. Our first market outside of Florida was New York. They embraced our brands. All was good.

Next, we went into Philly. They also liked what we were doing with our product and would have taken more.

Shortly afterwards, we brewed a collaboration with Mikkel at Cigar City Brewing, thus developing a relationship with Mikkel and Jeppe. Henrik was also involved and began to import our beer to Denmark and spread it throughout Europe.

Slowly, year after year, our home market of Florida was demanding more product. The locals were finding our brand and seeking it out. The demand became so great that we could no longer supply the consumer demand in the state of Florida. This, in turn, forced us to pull our beer out of all other markets, even the panhandle of Florida, and focus heavily on our local market.

In the last month or so, we have moved back into the panhandle of Florida again but we currently have no plans to distribute outside of Florida anytime soon. That is the grand scheme of things but I don’t think that answers your question.

We believe in making solid base beers. A solid base beer allows us to add many things to one beer and develop different concepts inside of a single brand. There is a branch of the brewery that works on development of small volumes of beer that is just for the tasting room. They don’t make the beer but rather use existing beer to create blends and variations of different brands. We take these beers and sell them at the tasting room to see how the consumer responds to them. It allows us to take a little more risk at minimal waste of product should we make a bad blend.

That is why these beers are more limited.

MB: What brewing style would you say you personally have and how well does it mirror the beers Cigar City produce? When at home, what would your personal pick for the evening be?
WW: I have gone through multiple stages of approaches to brewing.

Initially, I wanted to learn as much as I could about raw materials and process. Then, I moved on to trying to identify and produce examples of various styles of beer, which is probably the stage that I dedicated more time to than any other thus far. I still like to use the style approach occasionally but I also attempt to bend that style into my personal interpretation. That can sometimes evolve into something that is very different than it was in the beginning of the process.

I also attempt to bond with the concept of the brewery. As I have stated above, I feel like tropical notes in many of our different styles is just one of the many things that I can do to breathe life into our concept and make it tangible for the consumer. We live in the subtropics with water and tropical flora all around us. I feel that it should be present in our beer as well.

I also feel that there is a rustic element based on the history of cigars, the immigrants that performed that function and the cigar in general. I have approached this in several ways. We have used Spanish cedar, the wood used in the construction of humidors for cigar storage, to age our beers on. This provides forward notes of white grapefruit and more subtle notes of white pepper, sandalwood and clove. The use of chili peppers and dark malts can also add rustic notes like tobacco and leather.

My personal pick for the evening would be Jai Alai IPA. I drink it more than any other brand that we produce. I designed it to fit our concept and as a result it is one of my favorite beers on the planet.

MB: You brew classic styles but often with a twist – either in the form of cucumber extract in the saison, baseball bats in the IPA or mint in the brown ale. Where does this experimental gene come from?
WW: Every single one of the above examples weren’t my ideas.

The cucumber concept came from an event that we were doing with a martini bar that specialized in cucumber martinis. We decided to take a sessionable saison and add cucumber essence(essence is different than extract…it is distillate of the actual cucumber with no alcohol added…it’s a concentrated version of real cucumber) and the result was a Summer hit. We brewed five or six more batches than we planned during the Summer of 2012. It has become an official Summer seasonal now.

The baseball bats are part of a nonprofit organization called Operation Homefront. It is for a great cause. They supply financial support to the families of soldiers that never came home and to wounded soldiers. The sales of the beer are donated to this cause and the baseball bats that the beer ages on are auctioned to the public to raise even more money for this organization. We participated in this last year and we are proudly returning to participate again this year.

Finally, the mint brown ale was a small volume beer that we blended for Christmas one year.

The cucumber beer and the mint beer were both developed by the same department that makes all the small volume beers that are featured exclusively in our tasting room. We refer to that branch as the “Treatment Department”.

My creativity started with cooking and then moved towards brewing. I worked in restaurants and bars for many years(from the age of 15-25). It taught me the importance of the knowledge and quality of raw materials. I also learned that process can make a big difference in final product. Perhaps one of the most important things, I was constantly exposed to many cultures, having worked in Mexican, Greek, Italian and many other types of concepts. Having that breadth of contact allowed me to explore global possibilities.

MB: Florida has not really been famous for the amount of breweries, but lately it seems as it if starting to change? What does the Florida beer scene look like and why?
WW: The Florida beer scene has been changing for quite some time now.

As I have stated above, most of Florida has this tropical feel. South Florida also grows many exotic and tropical fruits.

The climate of Florida is warm most of the year. It encourages many consumers to drink lower alcohol beers. As a result of the climate and the access to tropical fruit, a new style of beer has emerged in Florida. We call it Florida Weisse. It is a Berliner-style weisse that is infused with different tropical fruits. When I say fruit, I mean fruit. Lots of it! Many of these beers have so much pectin haze that they will never drop clear. It makes for a refreshing, tropical drink during the warm months(most of the year).

There are a great deal of nanos popping up everywhere. Some of them have rapidly moved to larger production due to the success of their brands. That’s inspiring to many home brewers and that is what continues to fuel the nano movement in Florida.

MB: Johnathan Wakefield brewed some collaboration with you that are now ranked among the top beers of the world, with him opening up his own brewery – is there a chance that we will see collaboration with him again, maybe one that will get bottled?
WW: We brewed another collaboration with him late last year. It was based on the Aguas Frescas concept, which are fresh fruit drinks that are served at Latin restaurants and bodegas. We decided to start a series of beers called the Cervezas Frescas series in which we would use large amounts of fruit to create these concepts as well as consider making versions of Carribean cocktails in the form of beer.

The first beer in this series is called Guanabana. It is a tropical fruit that is also referred to as soursop. It has a flavor similar to a mix of pineapple and strawberry with sour citrus and finishing with a creaminess that resembles coconut and/or banana. The base beer was a higher alcohol version of a pale ale hopped with New Zealand and Australian hops for the tropical fruit notes to tie the base beer to the fruit. It was only available draft.

We are working on another brand to continue the series. So far no plans to bottle any of these beers yet but there is a good possibility that will happen in the future.

MB: On the topic of collaborations and your collaboration with B.Nektar (Camp Braggot Ghost Stories) – our mead loving guest writer Kristopher wanted to ask if you are considering trying that again.
WW: That collaboration took well over two years of planning. We kept pushing it along slowly. The label design took just as long as the recipe. The feds didn’t like the fact that we put the word “meadery” on the label, claiming that it was misleading so we had to drop the title to the name of the meadery and leave it at that.

Our next move with B. Nektar is to make a mead in Michigan. We are currently discussing spontaneous, wild or sour. Not sure what we will end up with.

MB: What does the future hold for Cigar City; any expansions, new markets or crazy beers in the pipeline?
WW: Yes, no and always.

We will max out our fermentation capacity in the new facility this year. That will allow us to produce up to 50,000 bbls annually by the end of year six. This year(the end of year five) should put us in the neighborhood of 30,000 bbls. I’m still amazed when I think about how we were able to obtain regional status in four years.

MB: What should beer fans really not miss at Copenhagen Beer Celebration?
WW: This will be my first year attending. Perhaps I should ask them/you that question.

We are going to be pouring a three year vertical of Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout. I would recommend that to attendees.

Cheers! Looking forward to sharing a beer with all of you!

We thannk Wayne for taking the time to answe all our questions and for giving us a hint of what we can expect from Cigar City in the future. The Hunahpu’s vertical will run over all three sessions (or as long as they last) and as always changes in the below line-up may occur and the other three beers will not be poured at all sessions. Go pink!

Cigar City CBC Beer List:

• Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout 2011
• Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout 2012
• Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout 2013
• Humidor Black IPA.
• Cheers.
• Jai Alai

At Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2012 the brewey which sold out their beers the quickest was probably Danish phantom brewery Xbeeriment. With incredible sours beers lovers asked for glass after glass of their beers and suddenly most of the beers were all gone. Later in 2012 we interviewed one of the brewers, Thomas Hoelgaard for and article in preparation of Stockholm Beer Festival and as we now have added his beers to the CBC 2013 list we thought we should look back to what he said last fall, about Xbeeriment, the beers and the Danish beer scene.

 

MB: Many Swedes will try your beers for the first time at the festival as. In short, what is Xbeeriment and what kind of beers are you focusing on?

TH: Xbeeriment is a phantom brewery. Both of us had been homebrewers for some years before we decided to go semi-pro and open Xbeeriment in 2008. We had been part of the Danish homebrewing circuit that grew rapidly in the first decade of this century. A lot of the guys that we knew here started their own microbreweries, these were guys like Christian Skovdahl (Ølfabrikken, Beer Here) and Mikkel Borg Bjergsøe (Mikkeller). What Mikkel did with Mikkeller was an inspiration to us – in the first many years he ran his brewery as a part time occupation besides his regular job as a school teacher. That was what we wanted to do as well – to open a brewery where we weren’t financially dependent upon selling large quantities of beer rapidly but instead being able to just focus on brewing the beers that we wanted to drink ourselves.

In the beginning we wanted to make extreme beers with a high level of experimentation but these days our focus has changed a bit. We still like to experiment but our main focus when making beers today is to make beers with intensive flavours but also great balance. Even though most of our beers are quite strong in regards of alcohol, we have immense focus on the issue of drinkability. Xbeeriment beers will never be cheap beers, so we feel we have an obligation to make sure that one can actually drink a whole bottle of any of our beers. So we guess the answer is not so much what kind of beers in terms of beer styles we focus on, it’s more a question of a house style in all our beers.

 

MB:  You attended Copenhagen Beer Celebration back in May 2012 and quickly sold out on several of your beers and a great amount of the visitors held your sours beers among the best beers of the festival – what was your experience of CBC?

TH: The CBC was an absolutely amazing experience! For us as brewers we were honoured to be asked to participate and also a bit scared, really. Before the festival we thought that with well-known breweries like 3 Floyds, Cigar City, Hoppin’ Frog, De Molen, De Struisse, Mikkeller, Evil Twin …… on the ticket, we should probably be happy if we poured half a keg of each of our beers during the 2 days.

But when the CBC opened we were surprised to see that the people coming to the festival didn’t just go for the big names, but instead were eager to simply try beers that they hadn’t seen before. And also that the word travelled fast if there was something of particular interest somewhere at the festival. And suddenly we realised that the rumour of our sours was one of the tips going round.

And we did notice a lot of Swedes amongst the very international crowd at the CBC. Therefore we are proud to be able to offer the very last reserves of our lambic at Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2012.

 

MB: Compared to many European colleagues the Danish breweries seems to be experiementing a lot more. Why could that be?

TH: It probably has to do with the fact that few other European countries have had the lack of variety in beer as Denmark had from the end of World War II and until about 12-15 years ago. Until the late nineties you could seriously not find any other types of beer than cheaply made lagers in different alcoholic strenght and a few baltic porters on the Danish shelves. Most danes had never tried a top-fermented beer! So when the interest in craft beer took off in Denmark we weren’t bound by a lot of traditional ways to make craft beer, and a lot of the pioners of Danish craft beer like Brøckhouse, Nørrebro Bryghus and later on Mikkeller and Ølfabrikken had turned their eyes towards the US for inspiration. That is probably why the European country, whose craft beer scene has the most resemblance to the American scene, is Denmark.

That being said, most Danish micro breweries still make beers that are not at all experimenting, but just rather bland imitations of classic European styles.

But yeah, there is also a very creative, very experimenting small group of Danish micros. These are the ones beer geeks outside of Denmark have heard of, and most of these – ourselves included – actually sell most of their beer outside Denmark. Funny thing is, though, that most of these are phantom breweries. Only very few of the breweries with an actual physical brewery has taken the experimental road.

If you were at CBC last year and tried their beers you know how good they were, the below list  (changes may occur, for more info on the beers please check out the full list of beers) is equally exiting and I know where I will spend a great part of the celebration. That Thomas and the other from the Xbeeriment crew are great and friendly people who love to talk about their beers doesn’t make it worse.

Xbeeriment CBC Beer List:

• 1. # 44 Smoked Stout Whisky Barrel
• Agent Orange
• Bertold Brett Reads Das Kapital
• Black Force One XO
• Agent Cooper’s Delight
• Bretty Boop
• Black Force One Bourbon B.A Ed.
• Acid Jazz
• Brett the Elder(Berry)

Uploaded 15/4
Updated 16/4 (new beers, new link to document)
Updated 17/4 (Lervig’s beers added, Kernel’s beers added)
Updated 18/4 (Lagunitas beers added)
Updated 21/4 (Lervig update, BrewDog beers added)
Updated 26/4 (Siren added, new beers added)
30/4 list completed, see below link!

More and more beers from the Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2013 list are announced and who knows, maybe a new brewery or two might show up – no one knows. Along with new brews being announces, others soon to be admitted we have gathered not only the ones announced so far (here and at the event page) but also added some extras for all you thirsty dawgs out there. We will add more beers to the list as they are presented (or just add one every now and then for kicks), so bookmark this post as I might have to change the link to the document if Google Drive messes up my file.

Tomorrow I’ll publish the interview with Wayne Wambles from Cigar City and maybe I’ll throw in what Brian ‘Stillwater’ Strumke is bringing? Sounds like a good deal? Then follow the below steps and mind the gap.

1. Bookmark this page, you will have use for it later
2. Press the below link
3. Get psyched for CBC 2013.

Okay, so here is the list – I haven’t had the time to update it with all the sessions, ABV’s etc. so edit the fields you prefer. Remove the ones you won’t be able to try or add comments to the ones you liked!

MankerBeer’s Beer List for Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2013 – POW!

Amager Brygghus is a small Danish brewery with an impressive list of beers, several awards and ranked highly among the best breweries in the world and despite being close to Sweden (where I live) their beers can sometimes be difficult to lay your paws on. The respect Morten Valentin Lundsbak and Jacob Storm have earned throughout the years have paved ways for collaborations with well-known breweries such as De Molen, Hoppin Frog, Port Brewing and Goose Island and as you soon will read there are a couple of new collabs being brewed later this spring. Over the last 12 months they have also gone from a two-man operation to hiring two additions to their team as well as making an investment in a new brewing system. The beer list, which you can read at the end of the article is really interesting with a brand new line-up of beers including a one-off lambic series, a Flemish red and a black American pale ale. We asked the brewery team all the questions you might need an answer for to get to know the brewery better before the celebration as well as their suggestions for where to drink the best beers after the sessions. Do not miss them at CBC!

MankerBeer (MB): Founded in 2007, Amager Bryghus is one of the most known and well-respected Danish breweries, what is the success story of Amager Bryghus?
Amager Bryghus (AB): Well, that’s not a question that is easily answered in short 🙂 From the start off we have been following a strategy with 2 legs: we have brewed a series of beers with local names aimed mainly at the local market. Good, solid and well brewed beers, but at the same time not very challenging beers. These beers sell really well locally – being our “cash cow” if you prefer.

But it’s no secret that our heart lies elsewhere. Our second leg is what makes brewing fun: hoppy, huge, weird, black, sour beers – you name it! We love to experiment, we love to play around and have fun. It would simply kill us if we had to brew the same 5 beers for the rest of our lives. These are the kind of beers that have opened the eyes of beer geeks nationally and abroad. And as a consequence has made us interesting for beer importers all over the world. In 2013 almost 50 % of our production will be sold outside Denmark, Amager beers can be found in 15 countries.

Many Danish microbreweries have bowed down since the boom of the “Danish Beer Revolution”. We believe that we’re still here because we cater to all beer drinkers – and we respect all beer drinkers. And when it comes to investment and expansion we’ve always been extremely conservative preferring to make the money before we spend them.

MB: You have received great awards from all over the world and made collaborations with several of the most respected brewers and breweries in the world – what have been the high peaks so far?
AB: There have been many! Perhaps the first was the first time we finished an order to our US importer, Shelton Brothers. Standing there looking at 10 huge export pallets of Hr. Frederiksen truly made us proud. In a different category completely is the first time we ran our automatic bottling machine. After years and years of handbottling you cannot believe what a relief that was. Most small brewers that have grown can attest to that…

And yes we really enjoy collaborating, that’s our play day when those are happening. One particular great day was when we had Mike Rodriguez and Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing/ Lost Abbey visit to brew the first batch of Wookiee IPA. That beer has been so successful that it has become a member of our regular line up of beers.

Actually, in the 3 days just before CBC starts we’ll be doing 3 collaborations 3 days in a row – with Against The Grain, Three Floyds and Cigar City. Really looking forward to that – it’s a great way of making friends in the brewing business, and to exchange views, opinions and tricks.

MB: Apart from the Nordic countries and northern Europe you export to North America and Australia. When I visited the brewery 2 years ago I was told that there soon was not capacity enough to still the demand, you then acquired a new brew work. For how long can the new equipment satisfy the demand and can you expand further within the current premises?
AB: Well, that’s actually a very good question. Already in the first year with the new brewhouse we doubled our production and had no problem selling every drop. In 2013 we’ll probably add another 20-30% to that and then – once again – we’re at maximum capacity. So now what? Well, as said before we’re rather conservative in the way we handle capital, so everything we do is considered in detail – and for very long. We cannot really expand in our current rented facilities, so the next step would be finding or building our own brewery. Right now we’re very happy with the way we share warehouse facilities with Mikkeller and drikkeriget.dk as they bring a lot of dynamics and life into the house. So hopefully a future move could still maintain a working business partnership with these guys which we also consider good friends. But bottom line is that we’re staying where we are – at least for now – working hard towards our next step.

MB: For being such a small country, Denmark has given birth to quite an amount of great brewers and breweries, what is it in the Danish gene pool that makes you such great brewers?
AB: If you had asked this question 10 years ago we might have laughed since the first wave of Danish craft brewing contained an awful lot of terrible and infected beer! So I don’t think a foreign beer lover would have considered the Danish beer scene back then as one containing a lot of great brewers. But luckily the general quality level has gone up for almost all breweries. But speaking in general terms Danes have always been curious. We’re one of the most travelling nations in the world we like to seek out new territory. It’s not anything different in the beer world. And since we had been starved for ages with breweries offering mainly bland lagers of little interest then the bubble burst with a big splash when it eventually burst – leading to the Danish beer revolution. Because abroad Danes had experienced that beer could be so much more than what they were offered in their local supermarket.

MB: The Sinner Series has now been completed; can we expect something similar in the future?
AB: The seven deadly sins are quite well known in the general public, helped a great deal by David Finchers great movie. But not many people know that there actually also exists the seven virtues. Somehow it just felt more….right….for us to start with the sins, considering who we are 🙂 But who knows, there might be a virtue series from us one day. “Chastity” by the way is one of these virtues, we’re sure that beer will be embraced by Systembolaget…

MB: You recently hired expert beer drinker/ticker Henrik Papsø – what will he be doing for Amager? How does it feel to go from a two-man operation to involve more people like Henrik and René Hulgreen?
AB: René has really helped boost production on the new equipment. With an extra brewer we can simply get more brews done, also at times where we holiday, have to travel or go to beer festivals etc. It’s been working perfectly, as René is a skilled brewer and a very pleasant guy to work with.

Henrik Papsø has actually been with us since the start – at least on the side writing press releases, label texts etcetera etcetera in his spare time, but only paid in beer! When we employed him, we let him pick his own title and he chose Head of Communications since he is a journalist by trade. But he’s also our Export manager, he conducts tours and beer tastings, arranges our participation in collaborations and beer festivals – and a ton of other things really.

Of course it’s always a challenge to bring in new people into a small closely knit organization of only two – and to be honest we might not always have the most easy personalities. But things have been going surprisingly smooth – probably because they were handpicked and we knew them very well beforehand. But their results are already quite visible to us. But you know, different opinions and views are very rewarding – even if we may not embrace them, the first time they are presented to us!

MB: As Copenhagen citizens what places (restaurants, bars, beer stores, historical places etc) would you recommend the beer freaks coming to CBC to visit?
AB: If you’re in Copenhagen for CBC only, I think your time to do touristy stuff is very limited. So why not use your few spare hours – to have a beer… With the recent openings of Mikkeller & Friends, Søernes Ølbar and Bryggens Ølbar Copenhagen has really turned into a beer haven. So check out some of these new beer bars – and support them for all their great work for the craft beer world. AND all the other established great beer places of course.

MB: As a CBC veteran, what is the best thing with CBC? How important is the interaction between brewers at a festival like this?
AB: Extremely important, and that’s part of what makes this beer festival different and very special. Because our brewery is so focused on exports, the breweries we compare ourselves with are quality craft brewers from the rest of the world. To meet them, try their beers – and have them try ours – and make friends across borders is both fun and rewarding.

MB: Amager Bryghus is probably bringing one of the most interesting line-ups of beer to CBC, what can you tell us about the beers?
AB: Well, it’s quite a challenge to be told to produce 9 new beers, but we thought – what the heck, let’s just bring 10! No Rice & Curry will be on during all 3 sessions – the other 9 on different sessions. But all are regular debuts at CBC. Some will appear on other festivals and a few of them will, also be released in bottles. But really, this was a great chance to try some of the recipes we had in the book. Hell, without the CBC some of these beers may never have been brewed!

MB: What should beer fans really not miss at Copenhagen Beer Celebration?
AB: Well, the 3 fruit lambics are one-offs for sure. We brewed the base lambic 3 years ago on the old equipment and it has been resting on 3 Bourgogne barrels ever since. One of the barrels have turned vinegar, but the two others were nice. It’s probably our most expensive beer to date: buying fresh fruit in the middle of the Danish winter cannot be recommended! There’s only 40 litres of each.

The days Of Barley And Roses is also a one-off in this non-barrel-aged version. It will later appear in a port barrel edition.
And even if huge Imperial Stouts are getting out of fashion you really should try Double Black Mash – as it’s all-grain as opposed to so many others in the same style. It’s really motor oil – yet strangely balanced.

But many of the first are simply not ready as we write – so we really have no clue as to how they come out!
Hope to see you all – and really looking forward to it!

Thank you all at Amager for answering our questions and for offering this great list of beers! Changes may occur and except for No Rice and Curry the beers will be poured during different sessions. Pinks will be able to try them all.

Amager Bryghus CBC Beer List:

• No Rice And Curry (India Pale Lager)
• Showdown in Tourpes (US-style Saison)
• The Days Of Barley And Roses (Barley Wine)
• Smoking Scotsman (Scotch Ale)
• Hr. Papsø In Black (Black APA)
• Godverdomme (Flemish Red)
• Double Black Mash (Imperial Stout)
• Fruiticus Lambicus Blackberry
• Fruiticus Lambicus Raspberry
• Fruiticus Lambicus Redcurrant