The 2017 Craft Brewers Conference in Washington D.C. was a great success, and BSG was so happy to be there with 13,000 of our friends and colleagues for the premier gathering of craft brewers in the world. We believe there's great value in meeting your suppliers face to face over a beer, and we're excited to bring that opportunity from all over the globe to the BrewExpo America each year. Below are just a few of our highlights from D.C - hope to see you in Nashville in 2018! 

Our West Coast Regional Sales Director Peter Hoey teamed with Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. to brew a double IPA for San Francisco Beer Week using BSG ingredients, including our variety-specific hop extracts.

The beer, titled I Need A Miracle, features Cashmere hops at a ratio of 2 lbs/bbl in the whirlpool.

If you’re there this weekend, make sure to get some of this intensity! There will be a release event on Saturday the 11th at Pacific Standard in Berkeley and it will make an appearance at The Bistro double IPA Festival and opening Gala. More release info can be found here.

I Need A Miracle Double IPA

9.0% abv, 90 ibus.

Grist:

48.4% Weyermann® Premium Pils

48.4% Simpsons Best Pale Ale

3.2% Gambrinus Honey Malt

Hops:

Citra, El Dorado extract, El Dorado and Mosaic.Cashmere and Mosaic Flowers.

Dry hopped with Citra Simcoe and Mosaic. 

Idaho 7 burst onto the scene in 2015 with a sensory profile that reminded some of Mosaic in its multifaceted character. By turns it seems to show pine, tropical fruit, citrus, and tea leaf. You may have first tasted it in Sierra Nevada’s single hop series, but it’s becoming much more commonly seen in flights and pints all over the country.

An experimental variety with undisclosed heritage bred at the Jackson Hop Farm in Wilder, ID, Idaho 7 is named for its home state. It’s known for late maturity in the field but good yields of up to 2200 lbs/acre.

One day at the beginning of this year we received a plain brown box from hop country with plain foil bags inscribed in plain black Sharpie - a mix of pelletized and whole Idaho 7 from the first crop. An ad hoc hop-rubbing committee was formed on the spot and noted powerful aromas of pungently dank balsam fir, juicy fruit gum, and red grapefruit. Fingertips became thoroughly yellow and sticky – both the pellets and the cones had a tangibly high quantity of aromatic oils.

That high oil content makes Idaho 7 a natural finishing, whirlpool, and dry hopping all-star, where it can deliver most strongly on its complex and powerful character. Expect overtones of resiny pine needles with big notes of pungent tropical fruit and citrus (think apricot, orange, red grapefruit, papaya) and earthy/fruity suggestions of black tea leaves.

Idaho 7 hops are available on spot and for contracting through BSG – please contact your sales manager for details.

(updated January 12, 2017)

Please watch this page for updates.

Please feel free to contact your CSR or Sales Manager with any questions or concerns. We would like to thank you for your business, and we look forward to working with you in 2017 and beyond.

Cheers!

Named after Mt. Kazbek, a dormant stratovolcano in Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains, Kazbek hops have seen increased acreage every season in the Czech Republic since their release in 2008.

Bred from Saaz and a wild landrace hop from the Caucasus, Kazbek exhibits late maturity in the field but good hardiness and better yields than its Saaz parent at 2100-3000 kg/ha.

Its aroma and flavor are similar to Saaz, but turned up to 11. Kazbek can show a dominant bright citrus note of lemon or grapefruit, but never obscures the quintessential mixture of floral and earthy spice of its Saaz parent.

Kazbek’s alpha acid and oil content is higher than Saaz as well, with a range of 5-8% aa and 0.9-1.8 mL/100g being typical. Myrcene (40-50%) and humulene (20-35%) make up the major fractions of the oil, contributing to the prominent citrus and fruity aspects of Kazbek’s profile. 

In the brewhouse Kazbek is favored for aroma and flavor additions; Czech brewers use it for late additions in a variety of lagers. Craft brewers in the US and elsewhere have been putting it to use as a finishing or dry hop for lagers, pale ales, wheat beers, and Belgian-style ales. You may have had Kazbek in: 

Fair State Keller Kazbek

Summit Brewing Baltic Pale Ale

Jester King/Live Oak Kollaborationsbier

Triple Rock Belgian Czech

Kazbek hops are available on spot and for contracting through BSG – please contact your sales manager for details.

Beer is an agricultural product, and that normal variances in crop year, variety, and growing region of raw materials can have a big impact in the brewhouse, cellar, and shelf.

That’s why BSG has made it easier than ever to access certificates of analysis for our products on our website. Use your desktop or mobile device at any time to get lot-specific analyses for the malt and hops in your formulations.

BSG Hops - https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/HopAnalysis

Lot-specific values to fine-tune your hop bill. The link to our Hop COA Lookup is embedded in the header of every page on bsgcraftbrewing.com.  Select country of origin, variety, and type (cone or pellet) from the dropdowns, then enter the QR code or lot number printed on each hop box or bag.

Note:  at this time of this writing, hop COA lookup is available for 2016 crop year or newer.

BSG Malts - https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/MaltAnalysis

Brewing values for malts from Crisp Malting Group, Malting Company of Ireland, Rahr Malting Co., Simpsons Malt, and Weyermann®. Like the Hop COA, the link to our Malt Lot Analysis is embedded in the header of every page on bsgcraftbrewing.com.  Select the maltster and product from the dropdowns, then enter the lot number from the sack.

Other options from suppliers:

Crisp Malting Group’s COA Lookup App

Crisp began printing QR codes directly onto bag labels at the end of 2015. The QR codes link through to the analyses for individual batches of malt, allowing customers easier access to this important information. The Crisp app is required to scan the QR codes printed on Crisp malt sack labels.

Simpsons Malts’ new website 

Although the analyses provided are general, Simpsons’ revamped website (launched in November 2016) puts users just one click away from specs on their full line of brewing and distilling malts.

If you cannot find the malt or hop lot analysis you are looking for, please call a Customer Service Representative at 800-374-2739, or reach them by email at csr@bsgcraft.com.

“It used to be that a brewery worth its chops had to have an IPA,” says BSG Midwest Sales Director Chris German, “now it’s Pils.” 

The 2016 GABF would seem to support this, with record numbers of entries in the pale lager categories.

Malt color – as well as many flavor compounds – are created in the kiln. Lower temperatures and shorter kiln times mean paler malts that let the milder noble hops  typically used for pale lagers have more of a voice in the glass.

But the brewing applications of low-color malts don’t stop at Pilsner and Helles. 

“Session IPA and Pils are kissing cousins,” German continues. “Balanced but hoppy. Drinkable. But where Pils has a track record of 180 years of popularity, session IPA is maybe 5 years old. The ‘flavor volume’ is louder, but the malt still has to be interesting.” 

A low-color base malt can be a great tool for portfolio differentiation, too. With a visual connotation of approachability and  lightness, a low-color malt can help surprise  increasingly been-there, done-that craft drinkers. 

“Think of double IPA” says German. “Low color but tons of flavor. It’s a cool trick to have a beer that surprises you – tells you with your eyes what to expect, and when you drink it it’s something pleasantly different.”

Selected Low-Color Malts 

Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter

Patagonia Extra Pale Malt

Simpsons Low Color Maris Otter

Weyermann  Premium Pilsner

Shakopee, Minn. – Rahr Corporation debuted its malt house and other new spaces to 650 neighbors and the local brewing community on Saturday, September 24. Rahr began the $68 million expansion project in April 2015 and completed it six months ahead of schedule. 

“This project is focused on taking our quality, capabilities and service to an even higher level,” said William Rahr, president and chief executive officer of Rahr Corporation, a family-owned business for the past 169 years. “We’re adding 28 full-time employees at our home base in Shakopee to make this growth possible and meet the needs of a thriving brewing and beverage industry.”

Rahr manufactures malt – a key component in beer – and distributes this and other ingredients to brewers and beverage makers worldwide, including nearly 90% of Minnesota’s 110 breweries, from Steel Toe Brewing to August Schell Brewing Company. About one-quarter of American-brewed beers contain Rahr malt, which moving forward will originate from the company’s new malt house, the focal point of the expansion.

At 115,000 square feet, the new malt house makes Rahr’s headquarters in Shakopee – located in the southwest Twin Cities of Minnesota – the largest single-site malting facility in the world. The expansion increases the annual malting capacity from 390,000 to 460,000 metric tons – enough to brew about 12 billion 12-ounce cans of light beer or 6 billion bottles of craft beer.

Additionally, the expansion includes a 20,000-square-foot research brewery and technical center that enable Rahr to test the performance of its products in a realistic brewery environment, as well as an 80,000-square-foot distribution and packaging facility. This facility is used primarily for warehousing and bagging by Brewers Supply Group, a Rahr Corporation subsidiary that supplies premium ingredients to brewers, winemakers, distillers, and home fermentation retailers.

“Firestone Walker Brewing Company has been partnered with Rahr Malting since 2001.  We have enjoyed a long and productive relationship through many years of growth and an ever-evolving beer landscape.  Consistent, clean and good flavored malt is at the core of all good beer and Rahr has delivered world-class malt to us year in and year out.  The talented and dedicated Rahr team has played a key role in the success of our brewery." Matt Brynildson - Brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles CA. 

Grand opening

The grand opening of Rahr’s new facilities in Shakopee included facility tours and a brief program featuring remarks from William Rahr and Scott County Commissioner Mike Beard.

“Rahr Malting is a vital part of the local economy and the fabric of this community,” said Scott County Commissioner Mike Beard. “The company’s most recent investment in its Shakopee headquarters is a win-win for Rahr and Scott County well into the future.”

State and local support

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded $610,000 in Job Creation Fund resources to Rahr in April 2015. DEED’s funding approval followed the City of Shakopee’s approval in March 2015 of Rahr’s tax increment financing request. Combined, the state and city approvals helped Rahr launch its latest expansion and job creation. 

About Rahr Corporation

Rahr Corporation, which was founded by German immigrant and brewer William Rahr in 1847, is still owned and operated by the Rahr family, now in its fifth and sixth generations. Along with malt production plants in Shakopee, Minnesota, and Alix, Alberta, the company has a barley procurement and distribution business in Taft, North Dakota; a hop processing facility in Yakima, Washington; and within Brewers Supply Group, has a network of 11 leased warehouses throughout the United States and Canada focused on supporting the craft brewer and homebrewing industry. For more information, visit rahr.com.

###

BSG Hops has been out in the fields monitoring progress in the weeks leading up to harvest, and we like what we're seeing - good growth and good cone set. Please contact your Sales Manager for more info or to forecast your hop needs for the coming crop year.

Cascade cones from Cornerstone Ranches.

Centennial showing excellent growth.

Chinook coming along.

Centennial yard at Double R Hop Ranches.

Centennial cones ripening at Double R.

CTZ yard in Yakima.

Willamette cones at Double R.

El Dorado cone looking golden.

Our friends at Summit Brewing Co. invited us over on a brew day for a limited-release beer celebrating their 30th anniversary, using 100% Simpsons Maris Otter from BSG. Thanks to head brewer Damian McConn and everyone at Summit for having us - can't wait to have the finished product!