The bad news is that I won’t be updating this blog anymore. The good news is that our new website is fully functioned and includes a blog as well as events. So you can now subscribe or follow my blog at http://www.theyakandyeti.com (go to brewery –>blog). It’s been a good run. Now check out a new and improved blog. I even posted something there today (which you can’t see unless you visit) http://www.theyakandyeti.com
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The wheat beer is back, just in time for all this 100+ degF heat! The Victorian Sunrise Wheat is a 5.2% ABV and 18IBU cloudy wheat beer based on a hefeweizen recipe. This beer will be quite refreshing but don’t expect huge banana or clove flavors as I designed the beer to be less fruity so that our Wheat Wednesday flavors will be showcased better. Many other local breweries keep a wheat beer on draft year round (Arvada Beer Co, Odyssey, Wynkoop, CB & Potts, Avery Brewing Co, Twisted Vine, Dry Dock, etc) but I like to think of ours as a VIB (very important beer) since it only comes out once a year!
The Victorian Sunrise Wheat will be released at 4PM on Wednesday June 12th.
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This has been the favorite of the porter series releases so I thought I would release it again for those who didn’t get a chance to try it last time (the kegs blew in about 2 hours). I made plenty this time, so hopefully it lasts through the weekend.
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Yes, the Colonial-style Ginger Beer is back on the Haunted Beer Series Tap. This is something that George Washington or Ben Franklin would have homebrewed. Is it historically accurate? Unless you own a time-machine, I’m going to say “yes.” Nobody can be certain but I used Brown Malt which is basically what the beers would have been like before the invention of Pale malts. Also incorporated English hops and English yeast, as there wasn’t any American strains yet. You’ll have to try it and decide for yourselves.
This beer is fairly dark in color, like a brown ale and is 6.7%ABV and 22 IBU’s. The beer has a very distinctive ginger bite as it has more than 3lbs of ginger per bbl of beer. Will be released at 4PM on Wednesday April 24th, 2013. Read more about the first release and other interesting facts (like it is not a root but a rhizome and the Nepalese call it the “aduwa”) here.
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So, I’ve been playing with ways to lower the pH of my beers to emulate sour beers. A true sour typically has bacteria like Lactobacillus and/or Pediococcus to lower the pH and get all the sour flavors. This beer uses acidulated malt with very sour cherry concentrate (Montgomeries from Michigan). It tastes pretty close to a sour and I think it is definitely a better beer than the Blueberry Tart that I attempted last October. (Although many people loved the Blueberry Tart as well). Like most sours this beer is under 5% alcohol, this one clocks in at 4.3% and only 16 IBU’s and had a distinct cherry pie flavor and aroma but it much more tart.
You’ll have to try it and judge for yourself if this clean beer still makes a good sour. Tapped today at 4PM. (Wed. April 17th, 2013)
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So we haven't had a beer on the Belgian tap for over a week, as I was waiting for the next beer to be ready. Brahmin Dubbel Knowledge is a Abbey-Style or Trappist-Style Belgian beer. The BJCP describes the beer as “A deep reddish, moderately strong, malty, complex Belgian ale” They can be from copper colored up to dark amber and are usually between 6.0% to 7.6% ABV.
Our version comes in at 7.8% and 14IBUs and is served in 10oz Belgian glassware. I made 25lbs of medium-amber Belgian candi syrup from plain cane sugar and added this during the boil. When I was making the syrup it smelled like baked cherries (as in cherry pie), delicious! When the beer fermented, most of this flavor went away, but the color and dark notes stayed. This beer has a pleasantly strong banana ester and surprisingly a lot of body/mouthfeel despite it’s fairly low attenuation (aka, dryness due to the yeast fermenting most of the sugars into alcohol, thus lowering the viscosity of the finished beer).
Commercial examples of the dubbel include: Chimay Premiere (Red), Westmalle Dubbel, St. Bernardus Pater 6, La Trappe Dubbel, Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale, Grimbergen Double, Affligem Dubbel.
The name comes from the scholar class in the traditional Hindu societies of India and Nepal. The Brahmin or Brahmana are dedicated to attaining the highest spiritual knowledge. I figured after one of these beers you would be feel as if you were attaining a higher level of spiritual knowledge!
Released at 4PM on Wed. March 27th, 2013. Dubbel the fun, dubbel the knowledge.
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So first there was the English IPA, then the American IPA, then the double and triple IPAs, then the Black IPA and White IPAs, suppose we weren’t done unless we made a PINK IPA! Clint McCaskill is a brewer in the KROC Club and this was his recipe for a collaboration. Made with over 2lb of pink peppercorns per barrel this IPA clocks in at 7.1%ABV and 56IBU. Sort of weak on the IBU side, but we wanted to showcase the peppercorns without over dominating. For those that think it will actually be pink in color, you’ll just have to show up to the release to find out (and congratulate Clint while you are here).
TBR (to be released) on Friday, March 22nd at 4PM at the Brewpub in Olde Town Arvada.
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The first Game Night was a big success and the group didn’t want the night to end. So we decided to add an addition night to the line up.
Join us for Game Night. In addition to the 2nd Wednesdays of each month from 6:30-9:30PM we are adding the 4th Sundays of each month from 3PM until close. Both events held in room A (first floor near buffet).
We are open to new players who haven’t even heard of these games but would like to learn, as well as gamers who are more advanced. There will be several games and tables of people to chose from. Some of the games I’ve overheard Rob talk about are Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Sentinels, Multiverse, Munchkin, Magic, Alhambra, and Stone Age. You can bring your own games or just show up to meet new people and learn a new game.
Hope to see you for the next Game Night, we’ll keep the taps cold for you.
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The 1st Wednesday of each month is poker night at the Yak and Yeti. Poker is good for practicing your bluffing skills, but what if you want to practice your resource management skills?
Join us for Game Night. I met some people that are board gamers and were willing to help me coordinate a monthly game night here at the Yak. For ease of our staff remembering, we decided to start this on the 2nd Wednesdays of each month from 6:30-9:30PM held in room A (first floor near buffet).
We are open to new players who haven’t even heard of these games but would like to learn, as well as gamers who are more advanced. There will be several games and tables of people to chose from. Some of the games I’ve overheard Rob talk about are Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Sentinels, Multiverse, Munchkin, Magic, Alhambra, and Stone Age. You can bring your own games or just show up to meet new people and learn a new game.
Hope to see you for the first game night tonight from 6:30-9:30, we’ll keep the taps cold for you.
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This was also a first for both Royer and I, as we’ve never done a beer made with carrots before. The only other instance that I’ve heard of was Twisted Pine’s “Roots”. Since carrots do not require mashing, we added them directly to the fermentor to see how much sugar and flavor we could actually get from them. The dessert ale came in with 7.1% and 24 IBUs.
You’ll have to see for yourself as the beer is released at 4PM on Saturday March 9th. Porter will be around to answer questions as well.
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I’ve had a request to write a blog about our Haunted Series since many people have been asking about it. This is something I started shortly after coming to work here at the Yak and Yeti Brewpub. The Haunted Series is a tap-handle that we serve beers from that were barrel-aged or produced on our 1/2bbl pilot brewing system. These beers are typically “special” in some fashion. The “special” could mean, hoppier (double IPA or Barleywine), more alcohol (RIS or Dark Belgian Strong), Belgian-American fusion (White IPA or Grand Cru), Fruit/sour (Blueberry Tart or Belgian Cherry Sour), Barrel-aged (Sherpa Prima, Oaked IPA, Oaked-Coast Glutton), Vegetable (Ginger Beer, Pumpkin Ale), Crazy (Red Hots Wheat, Fenugreek Belgian or Dragon’s Wort) or maybe a collaboration beer that we’ve done in the past (Very Berry Stout, Green Tea Pale, Imperial Common, etc).
The name comes from the allegation that our house is haunted. So I figured if a beer is produced in a haunted kettle and fermented in a haunted vessel and put into haunted kegs and served from a haunted tap into a haunted glass, we should called the Haunted Beer Series!
We have had some bloggers write specifically about the series, for instance on the Drinking Made Easy website, Brewtally Insane blog, etc.
The fact of the matter is most of these beers are one-of-a-kind that you’ll only find at the Yak and Yeti Brewpub. If you want to try most of them you’ll have to come in quite often since the batches are so small they go fast (about one per week). Due to supply issues, we do not sell growlers of these beers. For consistency sake, we serve all the Haunted Series in 10oz Belgian Style glasses.
Come join me in my experimental journey by ordering your next glass to be part of the Haunted Beer Series.
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Yes, the Toasted Coconut Porter is back for a short time only. The first time I used too much sweetened shredded coconut, so I cut back on the sweetened and turned up the volume on the toasted part. The original posting was here.
The beer has 5.2% and 32 IBU's. I just heard from a regular last night that they don’t like coconut beers typically, but this one was good enough to like. Others have commented that it is better than Maui’s because we “didn’t skimp on the coconut.” It was released on Wed Feb 27, 2013. Come get some before the weekend it out.
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You’ll have to give it a try, we release the beer at 4PM on Friday Feb 22nd and Dana will also be around for answering questions (or for being congratulated on a job well done!)
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I called it Atomic Firebeer the first time it was released. Last year for Valentine’s day it was called “Cinnamon Love” and now Red Hots Wheat speaks the plain truth. I keep thinking of the 1973 Golding Earring song “Radar Love” because when I was growing up I always thought the lyrics were “Red Hot Love!”
Released at 4PM on Valentines Day 2013. The beer is bright red, or deep pink with a “hit you in the face” aroma and flavors of candy cinnamon (think Dentyne Gum).
Red Hots are made by Ferrara Pan who also makes Lemon Heads and Boston Baked Beans Candy. More information about them:
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“Bock” originates in Einbeck, Germany and the Bavarians adopted as one of their own.
There are 3 theories why it is called a “bock” bier:
1. The Bavarians have a slightly different dialect and when they tasted this Einbeck beer, it was thought to be “ein bock” or “one billy goat”
2. Bock beers have traditionally been stronger than most other lagers and as a result they can really give an alcoholic “kick”, goats were associated with kick
3. Traditionally it was made in winter during December 22 through January 20 (the Capricorn zodiac sign is a goat)
Come join on Fat Tuesday for a big fat…
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We also have logo’d Brittanica mugs for sale as well. When you use our pint club card you automatically get a free logo pint glass, but since these are $8, if you pay the difference of $3, then you can get a mug in place of the pint glass. The growlers only cost $4 when you get a newly filled growler.
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So what’s coming?
1. Leopold Brothers Peach Whiskey bbl with Belgian Blonde Ale.
2. Tonnellerie O French oak (Bordeaux) bbl with Belgian Blonde Ale.
3. Leopold Brothers Small Batch Whiskey with Porter. Like last year, the first fill makes a beer we call Sherpa Prima.
The stand had to be assembled in place, as it barely fits in the space provided. I built it extra high (can’t see in the photo) so that I can gravity fill kegs. (Plus the extra benefit that it stores some of my kegs underneath as well. Each one empty weighs about 100 lbs, each one contains approx 400lbs of beer, so 1500lb pounds are on this stand. I hope my engineering and carpentry skills are good, because I just used 2x4, 2x6 and 4x4 to build this.
I started a barrel-aging log as well, from the advice of Eric who used to work for Wynkoop Brewing Co. and started their barrel aging log book. Based on my experience, we might be able to taste the first fruits of these within two months, but I’m going to age the rest of it longer to see what other flavors develop.
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For those who love their coffee, or maybe just like caffeine this beer is for you. Released on Wed 1-9-13 at 4PM.
5.2% and 32IBU’s and made with 100% Kona Coffee, course-grind and cold infused for the smoothest coffee porter you’ve EVER tasted. Prove me wrong!
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