Sunday, May 29, 2011

Brewing Castlewod Old Ale, and the Copenhagen Beer Festival

After a satisfying brewday last Sunday, Castlewood Old Ale has been bubbling away happily. With a hefty Maris Otter malt base to give it a rich, nutty character, crystal malt and molasses to give it sweetness and complexity, and Fuggle hops to give it a balanced, earthy bitterness, it should be quite nice. Preliminary taste testing indicates it'll be quite delicious, so I'm looking forward to how it turns out. Check out the video for more!


Following a short but hectic work week at the brewery, I headed down to Copenhagen for the Copenhagen Beer Festival, organized by the Danske Ølentusiaster and featuring over 70 different exhibitors. I poured beer at the booth all three days, and while I had a bit of a rough time at the end of Thursday evening, it was a fantastic event. I met many Danish brewers for the first time, including Søren Parker Wagner of Nørrebro Bryghus and Croocked Moon, and Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeler. Many excellent beers appeared at the festival as well. Personal favorites included Fanø Bryghus Kolval, Beer Here Farligwine, and Svaneke Licorice Stout - which they even made into an ice cream with chocolate chips!

The festival in full swing.
Pouring beer at the festival!
Work at the brewery continues to be hectic, and with Ilan resuming his bike tour I'll have my hands full. But I'm training one of the workers at the brewery to assist me, and my friend Thure Harrington will work with me for the next few months until our new full-fledged assistant brewer arrives. Until next time - vi ses!
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1 comment:

  1. CoryJune 16, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    Hello Brian,

    My name is Cory McGuinness, and while doing Google research on working in a brewery abroad, I stumbled upon your blog. At first my thoughts of being able to even obtain a brewery position overseas seemed so small, until I started reading through your posts, and I realized that it's something I could actually do.

    Like you, I'm a Siebel graduate, graduating last December. On top of brewing, there's nothing more I would love to do in my young life than travel a little bit more than I already have. And what better way to do so than taking my brewing experience with me.

    It seems like you're a busy guy at the moment, but if you're ok with it and have a second out of your schedule, I would love to chat with you more about what it's like to be working in a brewery abroad, and what steps/recommendations you took/have to do so.

    My email is cmcguinness at live.com, probably the best way to contact me. I love the blog by the way, and I wish you the best in your continuing brewing career.

    Thank you!
    Cory McGuinness

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