June GOOD BEER News: Illustration Ale Release THIS SATURDAY, Growler Hours now 5 days a week, Keg Ride results, New hardware, and of course New Beers!

[EastEndBrewing]

Hey there long lost GOOD BEER Fans,

You've probably noticed the lack of GOOD BEER News for the last couple
of months. Or worse yet, maybe you haven't? But I'm happy to report
that even though I've not been sharing it with you lately, the GOOD
BEER News has been happening anyway these last few months, and it's
been a busy couple of months!.

I could chalk it up to the Keg-Ride-That-Ate-My-Brain, or the fact
that Brendan's skipped the country to go watch the World Cup leaving
me to fly solo in the brewhouse for a few weeks. But mostly it's
because we're just getting busier and busier lately - and quite
honestly, I'd rather spend my time keeping the beer flowing and
deprive you of my ramblings for another month or two. Those are
probably in line with your priorities too, I'm guessing, no?

So, what's the solution? How do you stay "in the know" without your
favorite newsletter? Well, our Twitter feed is by far the best way to
stay in touch with our latest GOOD BEER Releases, GOOD BEER Events, as
well as a bit of the less exciting details of our day to day
operations. But don't worry, I promise not to tell you what I'm
eating for lunch. There's enough of that out there. Our Tweets are
more brewery-operations focused, so if you'd like to follow along, go
to http://twitter.com/EastEndBrewing and click "follow".

But since we're both here now, how about I cut to the News? ....the
Old News, the New News, and some things that really make no sense at
all.


2010 KEG RIDE IS HISTORY!
This year's keg ride has left me happy on a number of fronts - not the
least of which being my happiness that I don't have to think about it
again for several more months. But I'm mostly happy for the massive
turnout we had, and for the fact that the attendance doubling effect
we have seen for the last 5 years finally ended. Thankfully, we only
had 700 cyclists turn out for the ride...yes, I said SEVEN HUNDRED!
And with all of your generous donations, we raised a total of $2984.44
for Bike-Pgh, and $2,238.43 for In-Stride Therapeutic Riding. (We
split the registration proceeds, but people also donated directly to
these organizations and purchased Bike-Pgh memberships.) Not too
shabby, considering it was pretty much the same event we did last
year, but we helped out two very worthwhile charities!

And while the feedback was generally VERY positive this year, it's
certainly taken on a life of it's own and as such, is not without it's
issues. So it's become clear to me that for next year, we need to
make some significant changes to how we put this all together. Some
of those plans and an ever-growing list of photo links are now posted
on the 2010 KEG RIDE RESULTS page here http://www.eastendbrewing.com/node/830.
If you've got some photos you'd like to share, send me the link in a
reply to this newsletter, and I'll add it to the page. And thanks
again everyone for making this year's Keg Ride Bigger and Better than
ever!


20% MORE GROWLER HOURS: NOW FIVE DAYS A WEEK!
In an effort to make it easier for you to remember when we're open,
we've decided to open our doors for Growler Service five days a week,
all year long. This also has the side effect of spreading out the
crowd a little more, which comes in handy on those days when you just
need to pop in for a quick fill-up. So starting a month or two ago,
we're now open Tuesday through Saturday. Or if you're a Growler-Half-
Empty kind of person, we're closed on Sundays and Mondays... for now.
Who knows, that could change some time soon if things continue to stay
busy. The new hours are Tues, Wed, Thur 5-7pm, Fri 4-8pm, Sat
12-5pm . Or you can always find them on the right side of the website
in RED: http://eastendbrewing.com/


NEW HARDWARE:
As some of you may know, we've been short on cooperage (big word for
"kegs") for some time now, and it was beginning to limit our ability
to keep everyone properly stocked. But all of that has changed, as
we've just taken delivery on our latest investment: a couple hundred
assorted new and used half barrels, quarter barrels, sixtels, and
firkins. Meaning that it's now MUCH easier to keep our distributor in
stock on sixtels of all our year-round beers, and keep a ready supply
at the brewery for those last minute party planners out there... you
know who you are.

And then next month, we're going to cram one more tank into our cozy
little space here - a 20 Barrel Fermenter which will pretty much put
us at full capacity here for floorspace. It's another exciting
milestone for us, and another reason for me to thank you for all the
support you've been throwing our way! You have my Gratitude... quite
literally!

NEW SOFT WEAR:
Our new Growlersuits are in and thanks (as always) to Wayno, they are
looking really cool. Your Growler will stay cool too, since they're a
really well insulated snug-fitting bag, made from the same neoprene
material that wetsuits are made of... hence the name Growlersuit. I
still need to get them up on the webstore, but you can pick them up at
the brewery anytime we're open. Here's what they look like:
http://waynocartoons.blogspot.com/2010/04/keeping-it-cool.html


FIRKIN FRIDAYS AT OTB:
The word "Firkin" may have caught your eye in that last section, and
in case you didn't know, a firkin is one size of cask specifically
designed to hold and serve REAL ALE...beer that contains live yeast,
is unfiltered, and is served with only natural carbonation. We've
been doing firkins at Piper's Pub for a couple of years now, running
them on their hand engines, and it's finally time we had some of our
own to play around with. So, to give them some exercise, this summer
we've picked one Friday in each month to tap a Firkin of something
special at Over The Bar - and by tap, I mean hammer in a faucet, spill
some beer on the floor, and hopefully get some into some glasses, live
and in person. I'll be there too, but the beer really is LIVE ale,
actively fermenting right there on the bar! Dates are July 9th,
August 20, September 17, and you missed the June tapping, I kept most
of it off the floor: http://www.twitvid.com/W9VXZ


FOUR NEW BEERS! Well, sort of. You'll see what I mean...

ILLUSTRATION ALE RELEASE THIS SATURDAY 6/19 AT THE TOONSEUM:
A while back, I told you about this beer... a Belgian Dark Strong Ale
that we brewed as a special collaboration with Pittsburgh's very own
Toonseum. Our big one liter swingtop bottles of this beer will be
sporting one of SIX different labels, showcasing the handiwork six
local artists. While we always do our best to dial in a new recipe as
best as we can to produce exactly the result we have in mind,
sometimes we get lucky and the yeast decides to take a beer to a place
where you never thought it could possibly go. That's what happened
with this beer, and it's left me wishing we had more than 700 bottles
of it to go around.

We're doing the release Downtown at the Pittsburgh TOONSEUM this
coming Saturday, and they're putting on a nice little shindig to kick
it off in style - they're promising BEER (tasters of Illustration Ale
and a keg of something else East End), hot dogs, veggie hot dogs,
entertainment, and cartoons! Wait - doesn't beer count as
entertainment? Admission is $20 for members and $23 for non-members,
and everyone buying a ticket gets a bottle of Illustration Ale to take
home. Order tickets via Eventbrite: http://toonbrew-efbevent.eventbrite.com
or get them at the door on Saturday. It should be a really fun event,
and I'll see you there!

Now if you can't make the release party, or want to get more than one
bottle (assuming there is some left - and I'm betting there will be),
we'll have all six labeled versions of Illustration Ale for sale at
the brewery starting on that following Tuesday at Growler Hours, and
running until it's all gone. That's 6/22 for the numerically minded.

SESSION ALE #39: "DESERVING PORCUPINE" Best Bitter: On the darker side
and with a rich malt character, it's a "Best Bitter" of about 4.4%abv,
brewed with Marris Otter Malt and hopped with English Hops both in the
kettle and as dry hops in the fermenter...which I think is also the
reason it's so stunningly clear. Sometimes toward the end of a keg it
even looks like we filtered it, but you know that I wouldn't deprive
your liver of that pleasure. This has been on tap for a while, so in
that sense, it's not so new, nor is the literary reference in the
name. But it's been a solid mover at Growler Hours (the only place
you can get it), and it won't last much longer.


SESSION ALE #40: WOOD ST. KVASS The weather is finally warm enough for
us to brew another batch of Kvass, our bread-beer that we've done a
few times before, each time tweaking the recipe and the process a
bit. This time, we're brewing 2 identical batches over 3 days with a
total of 60 loaves of stale rye bread from the Wood Street Bakery.
We'll ferment both batches with bread yeast, one in a fermenter, and
the other as a sour fermentation in oak barrels. We may end up
blending some of this barrel-fermented stock with the wonderfully
soured kvass we've been secretly cellaring for a few years here, but
we'll see what kind of sourness the oak can bring out for us first.
Look for the "normally fermented" WOOD STREET KVASS to show up on tap
at Growler Hours next month, and the barrel fermented stuff in bottles
several months down the line.

"PICK UP ANOTHER GROWLER FOR THE KIDS WHILE YOU'RE THERE"
We don't have much in the way of extra beer brewing capacity these
days, but we still have a couple of taps up front that we've been
meaning to put to good use, and although we're still working some of
the kinks out, we now have something pouring that the whole family can
enjoy: ROOT BEER - Craft brewed with all natural flavors, pure cane
sugar, and our very own filtered local free-range city water. It's
pretty tasty stuff, and since we're still dialing in the carbonation
side, for now we're selling Growlers of it for just 5 bucks a fill.
And on the other tap, crisp sparkling seltzer water for 3 bucks a
fill. Tasters are free as usual, so give it a go.

DID YOU KNOW HOW ATTRACTIVE WE ARE?
Check out who made the list of "10 Best Parks and Attractions" in
Pittsburgh: http://ow.ly/1VIXR I guess we were in the "Attraction"
category, but seriously, The National Aviary, Kennywood, Frick Park...
and us??? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Still it's nice to make
the list, so thanks guys.

MAYBE SOMEONE LIKES WHAT I PACK FOR LUNCH?
Apparently we took second place in the Microbrewery Category in
Pittsburgh Magazine's Best Restaurants edition. Hmmm... Since we
serve no food here aside from the ever present bag of "Dark Splits"
Pretzels when Eli stops in, I'm guessing it's about the beer. Have a
look - you have to page down a LOT or search on the page:
http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/June-2010/25-BEST-Restaurants/
Glad to see Pittsburgh Magazine is embracing the Beer-Is-Food
mindset. Well done!

SPEAKING OF LUNCH:
We were featured in this month's lunch recipe in Bier Magazine - or
rather our Black Strap Stout was: http://ow.ly/1ZB4X

COVER SHOT:
We also made the cover of Lew Bryson's new PA Breweries book. See if
you can spot Wayno's label: http://networkedblogs.com/42BGF


Whew! I think that's about all I have to share. I don't know if
that's enough to hold you for another 2 months, but it might have to
be. This is looking like it could be a momentous year for us with
lots of huge distractions, but I'll share those details as they start
to take shape. Thanks again for reading, and I hope to see you at the
brewery or at one of the GOOD BEER Events some time soon!

Cheers,
Scott

BUY A GOOD FRIEND A GOOD BEER (tm)
www.EastEndBrewing.com
http://twitter.com/EastEndBrewing