The Brewery

Banner...check Table signs...check Extra warm clothes...check Beer to share.....check. Tomorrow morning I leave sunny Eugene Oregon where highs are expected in the 90's. My destination, the often sunny Denver Colorado and the Great American Beer Festival. Tomorrow's high in Denver, 48 with rain. Well, we at Oakshire hope to drag a little sunshine with us to the Rockies and have a great week at the largest beer festival and competition in this country. Preparations have been many as is the norm for this time of year. We all get to head out and that means get the work done early.

Today marks one of the most stressful events in my year-bottling competition beers for the GABF. A brewer can spend hours planning, brewing, and tending to a fantastic beer, just to see the long wait in a package create havoc in your creation. As most people know, bottling beer can be devasting to the life of a beer. Light, Oxygen, heat and handling can all influence the taste of beers.

Collaborate: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.

Last Sunday evening we got a chance to celebrate Oakshire Brewing's 3rd Birthday (and my 37th coincidently) with about 300 of our great friends. Thank you all for sharing our day with us! Started last year when co-founder Jeff Althouse's brewery had to make a quick name change from the original Willamette Brewing to Oakshire, the now annual party is beginning to get some buzz. Beer, Burgers and a Band. Throw in some good friends and a beautiful sunset and you've got the makings of quite a hootenanny.

We've been frantically pushing to prepare for Oakshire Brewings inaugural bottling run. Because we have been preparing to rip out about 1200+bottles today, I've had a hard time letting you know what is going on lately. Just know that it is still a lot (we can handle it though). Anyway, if you want to follow the process, I'm going to try twitter the day, if you are into that. Follow OakshireMatt if you don't already for updates throughout the day. In addition, we'll be pouring Perfect Storm Imperial IPA at the Portland International Beerfest this weekend.

...the mayhem that is. Nobody said expanding was easy. We're rolling with it hough. The 80 bbl fermentor rolled through the door last Tuesday with very little trouble. Pix below. The new keg washer arrives Thursday and 300 new kegs fmay just show up Wednesday. On top of all that, we will be getting the new FV cleaned and plumbed so we can brew for 30 straight hours. Yes!! Hang on tight, you might fall off!

If the rest of the 80 bbl tanks we plan to add to our cellar go in that nicely, we'll be feeling great. Tomorrow: Joe heads into the tank with climbing gear. Fun times!

On April 2nd of this year, Oakshire Brewing had about 75 barrels (2325 gallons) of fermentation space and about 20 barrels (620 gal.) of bright tank space. A bright tank is the vessel in which we keg the beer from. On July 2nd (that means Thursday, folks), Oakshire brewing will be sporting a whooping 215 barrels of fermentation space (6,665 gal.) and roughly 60 barrels (1860 gal.) of bright tank space. 90 days and nearly a 3 fold expansion. A-B/In-bev and Miller/SAB/Molson/Coors you'd better watch out. Oakshire Brewing is on the move!

Finally, we have been cleared by the government to bottle our Overcast Espresso Stout! Here's the final artwork. First run begins on Thursday July 16th. Wish us luck.

One of the great things about Oakshire Brewing is the ongoing commitment to seasonals, one-offs, and barrel aging. Right after I arrived, we purchased two bourbon barrels and promptly began to age beer. (We pulled the threeish kegs of Overcast Espresso stout and a few lucky dogs will be pouring it soon!-the Watershed IPA is tasting great, but will get a little more wood exposure) We plan to get more bourbon barrels in the mix, but for now I set my sites on the plentiful harvest here in Wine country.

Wow, a lot has happened in two short months at Oakshire. I rolled into Eugene April 1st and the whirlwind has not slowed down and really doesn't appear to be any time soon. In that time we have installed 3 30 barrel fermentors, moved our cooler to the new addition, and moved two bright tanks as well. We have debuted two different Imperial IPAs, Introduced our spring AND summer seasonals, and are now looking towards the Great American Beer Festival. We have filled two bourbon barrels and we are ready to purchase ten wine barrels later this week. Wow! Say that's enough.