October GOOD BEER News: Kelly's Wet-hopped Beer Fest this week, BIGGER HOP release, My Bogus Label Claims, and a few more GOOD BEER Events - not all of which are hop-focused, okay?

[Scott at East End Brewing]

Happy October GOOD BEER Fans!
Now that things have returned to normal around here, and the G-20 came
and went with about as much mayhem and strife as Y2K, we can get back
to our regularly scheduled program... program of beer, that is. We've
got Thursday's mini-wet-hop fest to talk about, as well as a few other
GOOD BEER Events for the chilly months ahead, and updates on a couple
of our newest beers to share. Well, that was unclear... how about
I'll share the updates AND the beer, okay? But first...

ONE MORE LOSS AT PNC:
The baseball season is over, but I wanted to extend my apologies to
anyone who hit the last "Beer Passport Night" of the year at the ball
park. If you were there, you no doubt discovered that EEBC had a
rather limited presence at this event. I had a personal schedule
conflict, so our distributor had committed to setup and pour both Big
Hop and our Belgian Black Ale on our behalf...and that didn't quite
happen. Instead what you got was just our Belgian Black Ale over at
the Church Brew Works table (thanks for the save Church Brew Works!).
Like I say, sorry about the "error" on this. So if you were at the
game, please stop in at the brewery and I'll be happy to buy you that
Big Hop sample I owe you.


BIGGER HOP BOTTLES ARE HERE!
It only took us two rounds of label submissions with the Feds to get
this one "through channels", and last Tuesday we got the approved
labels back from the printer and onto the bottles so you can take some
home with you. If you've not had a "double" or "imperial" IPA before,
think about a stronger version of Big Hop but with a very light malt
character, so as to better show off the whole point of the
beer...HOPS. Bittering hops, flavoring hops, aroma hops, and even a
bit of dry hopping (not to be confused with the wet-hopping seen
elsewhere in this newsletter). They're all on display here, as the
name suggests, in a big kind of way.

I think we all have a friend like this: The first meeting will likely
be quite bracing and maybe even a little overpowering at times, but as
you get to know each other a little better and make your way through
the first round, you'll begin to appreciate more of the subtlety,
depth, and uniqueness that you find there. The only difference is,
your friend won't devastate your palette with an onslaught of hop
flavor that will ruin you for lesser hopped beers. Well, maybe they
will, depending upon that FRIEND - and the GOOD BEER you buy them.

I should also mention that this is not a beer to be cellared for years
on end. It's best enjoyed fresh while the hops are still in all their
raging glory. That's why, in spite of the massive amount of hops that
went into this beer (and hops are still pretty expensive these days),
it's been priced to move quickly and freshly, closer to the low end of
our big bottle offerings. And there's less than 400 bottles of it to
go around.


BIG HOP HARVEST "OFFICIAL" RELEASE/WET HOP FEST:
Our Harvest Ale has been out for a couple of weeks now, since the
debut at The Big Pour, but we're going to kick the Hop season off
properly THIS THURSDAY at Kelly's Bar and Lounge, the very spot where
we started pouring Big Hop nearly five years ago. This is our Annual
Mini-Wet-Hop BrewFest, and since we seem to lose another brewery in
this town each year, it has the potential to become quite "mini"
indeed. So we're fattening up the lineup this time - with more hoppy
beers of course!

Wet-hopped beers from The Church and East End will be supported by a
bunch of hop-centric beers to fill out the lupulin-loaded-
lineup...BIG ones, little ones, BIGGER ones, even a wet-hopped stout
that I'm especially looking forward to trying (this is an unconfirmed
list):
-Fresh Hop American Dry Stout (Church Brew Works)
-Thunderhop IPA (Church Brew Works)
-Rebel Ale APA (Church Brew Works)
-Pedal Pale Ale (EEBC)
-Big Hop IPA (EEBC)
-Big Hop Harvest Ale (EEBC)
-Bigger Hop Beer (EEBC)
Things will get started at 7pm, but you don't need to worry about
scrambling to get a ticket, or even committing to a whole evening.
It's a nice and easy "Pay As You Go" format, where the only thing you
have to stress about is the keg of your newest favorite beer kicking
before you get your fill. I'll see you there!


SPEAKING OF PEDAL PALE ALE...
We've got our last batch of this year's Pedal Pale in the tank right
now, and when the last of it is ready to be tapped, we're looking to
send it off in style this year... with our very first "Reverse Keg
Ride", starting out at this year's not-so-mysterious tap spot, Over
The Bar, and heading BACK to the brewery for a tasting. We're still
sorting out the details and the date for this, but if you left your
car at the brewery for the keg ride back in the Spring, this should
sort that logistical problem out quite nicely. (See how we help
you?) Look for more on this next month - and start shopping for cool
weather riding gear!


EYE OPENER REMAINS A GROWLER HOURS EXCLUSIVE...UNFORTUNATELY
Nothing like having a brewery full of tasty, fresh beer, that's all
kegged up and ready to go. And then not being able to sell those kegs
to anyone. Apart from tying up our kegs and tying up some working
capital, and it just drives me nuts.

What am I talking about? Well, it seems that the Feds (the TTB to be
specific) has rejected our name "Eye Opener Coffee Porter", because
according to them, we're making a bogus label claim. Namely, they're
saying that we're claiming "your eyes will physically open when you
drink this beer". Uh... no, that's not what we're saying at all.
We're saying it's a beer brewed with locally roasted Rachel Carson
Blend Coffee, and that Rachel Carson had an eye opening effect on the
world with her book, Silent Spring.

But apparently such word play is lost on bureaucrats. To be clear,
we're talking the black and white tag on the keg that has the
Government Warning and the beer name on it (and some other stuff), and
is almost exclusively seen by the guy delivering the keg, and the
person tapping it. Without federal approval of this label, we can't
register the beer in this state, and without PA registration, we can't
sell the beer.

The amazing thing to me is that there are no restrictions on what the
tap handle says, and no restrictions at all on what goes into our
Growlers. The Growler label's already been approved, so we can fill
jugs of Eye Opener at the brewery all day long... or rather, all
Growler Hours long.

And what's more, the kegs sit and wait while this beer now has to go
through the additional prerequisite process of "Formula Review", where
I detail every single step, ingredient, time and temperature setting
used to brew this beer on a form, and mail it in to them so they can
tell me it's okay to sell. (Pretty straightforward: Beer + a bit of
coffee is okay, don't you think?) I'm on the second round of this
process, so hopefully they'll give me the okay soon, and I can re-
submit the label again under some new name, and hopefully start
shipping those kegs to the thirsty tap-spots around town. Or if it
takes too long, you guys can just take it home, one Growler (sometimes
2) at a time until it's all gone. Sometimes, I think that might be
simpler.


UNI-GROWLERS ARE FAIR GAME NOW TOO!
Speaking of Growler Hours loopholes, I should mention that
Construction Junction is still selling their Uni-Growlers that first
made their appearance during the Big Pour. "Uni" as in "Universal",
meaning you can get them filled here at the brewery, as well as at a
number of participating GOOD BEER spots around town that are listed on
the label.

This is a first for us - filling non-East End Growlers at the brewery,
as we always thought that sort of thing was not permitted. The jury
is still out on filling jugs without our name listed on it anywhere,
but that day may come soon as well... which would be fine by us! Re-
using the Growler you already have sure beats using a new one.


BIG BOTTLE UPDATE: A quick rundown of what's left around here...
Ugly American - Last case, get it while you can!
Toaster 4th Anniversary Imperial Stout - 6 cases left, should run out
by 5th Anniversary.
Smokestack - Well-stocked, should have in stock through the end of the
year.
Bigger Hop - Started out w/ something like 350 bottles, just getting
started.
Gratitude 2008 - 3 cases left before we close it down for the year.
Brewing 2009 this week!
5th Anniversary Beer - Still on the drawing board.


GOOD BEER Events:
Oct 17 - Brewing Up a Cure: Cystic Fibrosis Benefit in Oakland
Oct 22 - Beer Dinner at Blue Dust in Homestead
Nov 14 - Flavor PA: Benefit for the PA Brewer's Guild
Nov 22 - Venture Outdoors Brewery Hike
Nov 25 - Special Thanksgiving Eve Growler Hours
Nov 26 - CLOSED Thanksgiving Day, no Growler Hours
Dec 23 - Special Christmas Eve-Eve Growler Hours
Dec 24 - CLOSED Christmas Eve, no Growler Hours
Dec 25 - CLOSED Christmas Day, no Growler Hours
(November and December will definitely fill-in a bit more as these
months approach, so don't fret the current shortage of holiday-ish
beer events!)

That's all for now folks. More on the Reverse Keg Ride when I know it
- see you at Kelly's Thursday Night!
--
Cheers,
Scott

BUY A GOOD FRIEND A GOOD BEER (tm)
www.EastEndBrewing.com