pint sized ambitions

2009-05-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Yeehaw!,

Alright so “yeehaw” isn’t a salutation or even a word but it does manage to capture the mood here at Shooting Creek, especially as we ready ourselves for what promises to be very busy summer.

Another colloquialism that leaps to mind is “dang”. As in “Dang, ya’ll managed to keep all these folks ‘round here plied with beer ya’ll made in that tiny brewery?” To this imaginary, yet not unimaginable voice I say “Yessir, you bechya we did and still do!” O.K., sorry to evoke Gomer Pyle and Sarah Palin in just two sentences, but I think you get my point. Now no more daft literary devices, I promise.

Ya’ll remember me mentioning the new hops field right? We plowed three, make that 4 rows that come in around 340’ each in which we planted rhizomes of Nugget, Cascade, and Chinook. Well last I checked they were at least a couple of feet long. This week we’ll be mulching the rows, putting in stakes and stringing them up off the ground.

I’ve even decided to try my hand at growing some of those Cascades and Chinooks on my property. I’m approaching this endeavor with complete kid’s gloves as my record with growing anything doesn’t exactly reflect skill or competence. I think that if I reverse course on my usual routine of taking my subjects out with the weed-wacker, usually because I’m rushing to finish so I can get at that pale ale in the fridge, I should be fine. Or my other bonehead-of –the-year, award winning approach of treating plants like my old drill sergeant treated me back in the day when he’d shower me, not with praise or the water I was craving but with the standard kind of screed reserved by guys in their line of work for guys like me who happened to find themselves directly under their “care” and supervision – “What’s that Anderson? You want water? You better start showing me more son! You break formation again by tippin’ that cantine and I’m gonna shove my boot so far…… I don’t really need to tell, I mean you probably already know where he was going with that, my point being that plants need water just like I did and I’ll stop giving them a hard time for it. Sorry for breaking that promise I made earlier.

I gotta get back to work

More later....

More hops on the farm

2009-04-02T08:28:00.001-07:00

I worked with Brett the other day on transplanting successful hops strains from our test plot at the brewery to elsewhere on the farm. A total of three 300 foot long rows were plowed and rhysomes of chinook and cascade were added to two of the rows, while nugget rhysomes that we ordered were added to the 3rd row. It's our goal to eventually grow most of our own bittering and aroma hops.

Brewery News

2009-03-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

So today we've transferred our batch of Red Tractor from the fermenter to the conditioning tank to ready it for bottling and to also make room for another batch of our already popular Rebel Ale.

Activity abounds- as I write this Brett is tending the boil kettle and his wife Johanna and farm intern Amy are seeding in the greenhouse.

Tomorrow we meet with our distributor's Floyd County representative to visit local store owners and secure shelving for our bottled beer as well as a couple of draught locations. Wish us luck!

I gotta get back to the brewery.

Jason Anderson
Manager/ Assist. Brewer
Shooting Creek Farm Brewery

Recent Happenings

2009-03-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

So much to report on I hardly know where to begin. Let's see, the distributor made their first pick up the other day and we'll be on the shelves any day now so that's a load off.

Brett and I met with Valley distribution's Blacksburg representative Danny Flad two days ago and he led us on a Bar and restaurant tour downtown to meet the owners and let them sample our Brown Ale and Amber Rye. The response we got was impressive, but most impressive of all was Danny's unique and personal relationships he has crafted with these businesses. The man knows no strangers and is a friend to all.

That being said, expect to find us on tap in the coming weeks at the following locations- The Cellar, Souvlaki's, The Rivermill, Boudreaux's, and Poor Billy's. Once production levels out we'll be putting taps in at London Underground, Cabo Fish Taco, and Sharky's. We're proud to have such wide acceptance in our nearby college town and will continue to work hard to maintain and build our following.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention our recent write up in the latest 16 Blocks issue so for all of you Blacksburgonians, pick one up next time you're out.

Bottling and Launch

2009-03-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

To all who care about beer:

We've now successfully gotten through the first and second batches of Buffalo Brown and Rebel Ale. I will say it has taught us a lot about our equipment and manpower capabilities as well as some simple methods in cutting down on the time factor.

Brett intrepidly manned the six-headed counter pressured manifold as I sanitized, racked and fed the bottles to him. Our friends Darrin, Dandee, Maggee, Brian, Amy, and Rachel carefully dried, labeled and packaged each and every bottle, manually. It is fair to say that none of this would be making it's way to the marketplace without their fastidious hands and steadfast cooperation. Big ups ya'll!!

Please continue to check in us as Shooting Creek Farm Brewery makes it's shift from a non to a for profit company.

Best Wishes,

Jason Anderson
Manager/Assist. Brewer
Shooting Creek Farm Brewery

Bottling Begins

2009-02-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

Excitement is building here at Shooting Creek as we prepare for our very first bottling day with our very first batch of beer- Buffalo Brown Ale.

Our dedication to provide the area with premium craft beer remains undiminished by the long hours spent laboring over the many details of the brewing process. It has been a real treat to learn all of the particulars and nuances of our equipment these last several weeks and I feel that the small scale of our operation has really fostered a level of commitment at every level of the business.

The families that support the Shooting Creek staff (Brett and myself) have endured many challenges with the building of this business and continue to stick by us as we work to bring you and the region our interpretation of American Farmhouse Ales. We hope that you will taste the results and judge for yourselves.

Please continue to track our progress as I will be posting many more updates in the coming weeks.

Best Wishes,

Jason Anderson
Manager/ Assist. Brewer
Shooting Creek Brewery

Calendar of Events for Shooting Creek Brewery

2009-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Greetings and Salutations Shooting Creek devotees!

Just an update on upcoming events and happenings around the brewery. We've been feverishly readying ourselves for the indelible mark we're going to make on the Virginia beer scene this summer. So we've now got 2 batches of beer under our belts. Our first batch of Buffalo Brown is conditioning in our bright tank and our Rebel Ale is in its primary stage of fermentation. Bottling should start in a couple of weeks. Translation- you'll be able to find us on the shelf at the grocery store by the end of next month! We're greatly looking forward to your feedback.

Details on our forthcoming CSA are still being worked out. I'll get you a launch date as soon as I can.

So without further ado, here's the list of events we're scheduled to attend :

*May 9 - Brew Ridge Festival in Pembroke, VA at Mountain Lake Conservancy and Hotel. Live music, food, and beer! Contact Emily Woodall at 540.626.7121 for more details. Also, check out their website at MtnLakeConservancy.org

*June 13&14 - Blue Ridge Wine Trail www.blueridgewinetrail.com We'll be joining our friends at Foggy Ridge Cider in Dugspur, Va. For coming out and saying hi to us you'll be rewarded handsomely with award winning cider and American Farmhouse Ale. For directions and more details go to www.foggyridgecider.com Other stops along the tour include Chateau Morrissette Winery, Villa Appalachia Winery, Black Snake Meadery and Amrhein Winery.

*June 27- Magic In The Mountains in Covington, VA For more details contact Kristen at 540.968.0156

*July 4-5 - Floyd Fandango - More details available at atwproductions.com

*July 23-26 - Floyd Fest - More details available at atwproductions.com

*August 8 - Microfestivus in downtown Roanoke. More details available at microfestivus.squaresociety.org

*August 29-30 - Blue Ridge Wine Trail- We'll be presenting our hand crafted nectar of the grain gods with the good folks over at Amrhein Winery in Bent Mountain for the second installment of this genuine Floyd affair. For directions and more details go to www.amrheinwine.com

So there's our calendar of events for this summer. We look forward to meeting those of you who can attend.