Thank You! /  by Marc Hughes

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Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our first sake tasting at Tengu last month! It was a lot of fun and it was great drinking and learning with all of you. If you didn't make it out, we're planning another one for April 2nd (not a joke) that focuses on sakes from other American breweries. The first featured brewery is Cedar River Brewing Company in Ballard, WA. We had the opportunity to visit the brewery a few years ago, and it is truly some fantastic sake. We can't wait to share it with you.

As for our sake, it is being ferociously worked on right now. We are hoping to have the Queen City of the Plains and El Colorado on the market by May.

We are also in the process of updating our website, so please pardon our mess while we clean it up.

Cut of Your Jib Sake Beer Grandma's House is kegging the beer this week and it should be on tap later on this month...and coming to a local pub, tavern, bar, etc. near you soon!

It Is ON! /  by Marc Hughes

We Are Ready to Rock!!!

Hey there everyone! We made it through all our legal hurdles and are ready to rock! The next few months will be super crazy around here as we crank up the sake machine to full speed! It will be a few months before we have product on the market, but we are finalizing deals with a few restaurants and liquor stores. We also have a few tasting events in the works. It is very exiting and we are looking forward to bringing you some great sake this year!

Sake Tasting Event at Tengu - February 27 4:30 - 6:30pm Our first event will be this month at Tengu. Join us for an enriching afternoon of sake sampling and Japanese fare. Comfortable for both enthusiasts and those that know nada. $25/person. Space limited. RSVP:bar@tengudenver.com or 303.749.0109.

Cut of Your Jib Sake Beer We have also been in talks with Grandma's House and are putting the Cut of Your Jib into regular production. The next release is in March.

Thanks for all your support! Gaijin24886

Keep on keeping on /  by Marc Hughes

DefineYourHustle Well there's some good news and some frustrating news. Good news our labels have been approved! Bad news we have 36 more days to wait after discovering a new permit that we didn't know we needed for the State of Colorado. So hopefully we will be able to start selling in January.

On the other good news side, we have been talking with a few local restaurants about carrying our sake and talks are going well.

We are very thankful and so appreciative of all of you for hanging in there with us during this struggle. Perhaps a Christmas Miracle will be sitting under the tree next week for us.

We are planning a few events next year that we will tell you about soon! Have a great holiday season and a great start to 2016!

Going Quiet for a Bit /  by Marc Hughes

So what started off as a very simple agreement between ourselves and the State has escalated to a bit of a legal nightmare. So we are going quiet for a while until we can get this all sorted out. Thanks for all the support and we'll see you on the other side of the tunnel. Thanks,

Marc & Keith

Still Hustlin /  by Marc Hughes

Hey kids! It has been a busy start to the year. We've been stockpiling sake(Queen City, Leadville Snow Queen, and Old Mose), working the legal system, building up the brewing space, trying out a new press idea, fermenting our part of the sake beer for our collaboration with Grandma's House, and reading lots of science books...oh and battling a nasty bug that has been floating around Denver knocking people out for days to weeks. But we're back now and working harder than ever! If all goes as planned (please cross your fingers for us) we will be through all the legal hoops (for this stage) and be able to start selling our sake to bars, restaurants, and liquor stores by the end of May. The direct retail plan is going to take a bit longer to figure out. But baby steps, right?

If you want to help, this petition by some local homebrewers may just let us sell in Grandma's tap room. Take a look at it and if you agree, please sign it.

We're also super excited to start working with local yeast cultivators Inland Island. They are a pair of super smart, super nice gents that will be helping us cultivate some of our successful yeast strains, and work with us to develop a few new ones. Science!

2015 is going to be huge! /  by Marc Hughes

Happy New Year everyone! Hope your holidays went well! Well after a few days of rest, we're back on the grind. We're filtering the Queen City of the Plains, starting the newest batch of Ledville Snow Queen, and finalizing the new recipe for Old Mose. We're hitting 2015 hard and fast. We're also hitting the legal ground running! If all goes as planned you should start seeing our sakes in a couple of bars and restaurants around Denver by late spring. We will keep you in the loop as more news comes down the wire.

2014 had lots of setbacks for us, but they also taught us a lot about ourselves and the industry we are breaking into. We met a lot of great people along the way that helped shape the direction of things to come and we are really excited about where 2015 is going to take us.

Thanks to all of you who have stuck with us along the way! 2015 is going to be huge!

Marc & Keith

Happy Holidays! /  by Marc Hughes

b489c2c3-dbfa-4235-a04d-9dbf03e06855 It has been a crazy year full of starts and stops and we thank you all for taking the journey with us. We are still furiously navigating the legal system to get our sake out in the world, rebuilding our press (it worked, but can be better), working on new batches of the Leadville Snow Queen, Old Mose, and a sake beer concept with Grandma's House.

We still have a bit of the Palisade Peach sake. We wanted it as fresh as possible so we didn't pasteurize it. Since we won't be able to sell it any time soon, please come down to the brewery and sample it. Just drop us a line and we'll set up a time for you to come down and taste it.

We also got our site updated for ordering shirts. It was a small run so get yours before they're all gone :)

Thanks again for a great year! Have a great holiday season and a fantastic start to your 2015! Marc & Keith

The Queen is Coming Soon /  by Marc Hughes

Today we spent a lovely day in the mountains harvesting snow to make our latest batch of the LSQ. We were joined by our good friends Lenny, Lexi, Sean, and Kay. The weather was great and the snow was plenty. After finding a great spot we collected a 24 gallon bucket of snow, then we're treated to the best bbq at Chicken Hill BBQ. This is always one of our favorite part of the brewing season and we're looking forward to what kind of water this snow makes. Its always a gamble, but it makes some damn good sake.

 

Press test #1 /  by Marc Hughes

IMG_4442.JPG We pressed the first batch of The Queen City of the Plains on Saturday. The press prototype still has a few kinks that we need to work out, but it works! The Queen is now sitting in secondary fermentation and should be ready for drinking by December 20th.

We have also gotten a huge dumping of snow and will be harvesting snow for the Leadville Snow Queen really soon.

We'll just have to hold tight a little longer /  by Marc Hughes

Well, we ran into a big speed bump this week that we'll hopefully get smoothed out by the end of the year. We found out that we are able to make the sake in our current location (Grandma's House - shameless plug...go drink there today!), but we are unable to sell it in the tap room. So upside, we're still making all of the planned batches...downside, we're going to have to go back into the legal tussle to figure out the best plan of attack. We've got a meeting with some great layers this week to start that plan, but it may be up to 3 months before we can sell. Hopefully this will all work out quicker than expected and we can get all the goodness to you soon!

Leadville Snow Queen - Barrel Aging Experiement /  by Marc Hughes

Leadville Snow Queen - Barrel Aged So this experiment went interestingly. We had some leftover Leadville Snow Queen that wouldn't clarify so we decided to let it sit for a few months...then we decided to try and "barrel" age it as an experiment. It was a hit with some and a flop with others. The medium French oak stave that we placed in it brought out some of the earthy flavors, added a bit of caramelness, and some hints of the oak. Those that enjoy whiskeys and scotches really enjoyed it. They loved that it held many of the characteristics of a short aged whiskey, but removed all of the burn. It is an interesting experiment that I would love to try again at an earlier stage of resting the sake. I may try this with a small portion of each batch going forward. I realize that aging sake is a rare occurrence, but I think the flavors would appeal to quite a few people. Let me know how you feel about it.

- Marc

The Quest Continues /  by Marc Hughes

  Grandma's Blonde Ale and an El Colorado Shot

I've always been interested in drop shots, especially the sake bomb. I always figured there had to be a better way to do it. I realized now that we share space with a brewery, I should try to work on this project again. The first attempt was the above photo. I paired Grandma's Blonde Ale with our El Colorado red sake...and it was darn tasty. The lightness of the blonde combined with the cider and fruit notes married very well together making the best sake bomb I'd ever tried. I'm excited to keep trying out different flavor combos and seeing what we can make.

-Marc

Works in progress... /  by Marc Hughes

Hey kids! It has been a crazy month.1. We moved into our space - Grandma's House Brewery 1710 South Broadway. Come down and have a beer! Maybe if you're nice we'll give you a taste of what we're working on :) 2. We built some work tables and are working on some fancy shelves. 3. We are completing our first batch, a Palisade Peach sake. If all goes as planned it will be naturally carbonated and ready to go in late November. 4. We started the first batch of Queen City of the Plains. It should be ready to go December 20th. 5. We're heading back to the Liquor Board for more talks. 6. We got a short run of shirts printed. They will be available for purchase soon! 7. Our site crashed so we're rebuilding it from scratch! (Thanks Rob!)

It has been a crazy ride getting everything up and going, but super fun. Here is what our 2014-2015 brewing schedule looks like so far. Peach Sake - Late November 2014 Queen City of the Plains - Late December 2014 Leadville Snow Queen - Shooting for February 2015 (Just waiting on the snow to get going) El Colorado - February 2015 Old Mose - April 2015 Cherry Blossom - April 2015

Thanks!

Here We Go! /  by Marc Hughes

Looks like Denver is going to get it's own sake brewery after all! The Department of Revenue gave us the green light on Monday and we've jumped immediately into high gear. We're super excited to move into Grandma's House, a collective brewery space at 1710 South Broadway Denver, CO 80210. Not only will it be a great place to make sake, but it is a great neighborhood. We're still working through a few of the final details, but should hopefully be moved in and starting to brew by the end of September / beginning of October. We'll post our brew schedule soon. We just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far and we look forward to all the crazy months ahead! 

Marc & Keith

Green lights all the way! /  by Marc Hughes

Looks like Denver is going to get it's own sake brewery after all! The Department of Revenue gave us the green light on Monday and we've jumped immediately into high gear. We're super excited to move into Grandma's House, a collective brewery space at 1710 South Broadway Denver, CO 80210. Not only will it be a great place to make sake, but it is a great neighborhood. We're still working through a few of the final details, but should hopefully be moved in and starting to brew by the end of September / beginning of October. We'll post our brew schedule soon. We just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far and we look forward to all the crazy months ahead! 

Marc & Keith

2014 Fermentation Festival /  by Marc Hughes

We had a great time at the first day of the Fermentation Festival today.

  1. We found a great new tequila - Casta Negra
  2. Found a great beer in a very excellent can - Crystal River Stout Ridge Amber
  3. Got to experience the excellent Baere Brewery Baere-Liner Wies with all its lovely syrups
  4. Melted our faces with some great fermented jalapeños from Vibrant Veggies
  5. Got hopped up on the intense flavor of hopped coffee from Corvus Coffee
  6. Helped save some tents from getting sucked up into the crazy storm
  7. and drowned ourselves in super fantastic Korean BBQ and kimchi from Dae Gee

We were also fortunate to teach a Sake 101 class. It was super fun and really challenging to squish a lot of tasting and homebrew knowledge into just 30 min.