Penny Coal Pale Ale

Penny Coal Pale Ale

We dug back very deep into Port Vue history to come up with the name of our American Pale Ale. Port Vue, named after it great view of McKeesport, PA, is a small borough commonly known as the town where the sun always shines and the mud never dries. I'm sure not many people know much about Port Vue or any of its rich history, so this is why we felt the need to bring a small slice of it to light. Penny Coal Mine was a small mining operation that was in existence from 1884 to just after the turn of the century. They mined the coal in Port Vue and railed it to the Youghiogheny River to be put on barges and sent on its way. Below is a picture of the Yough and the Penny Coal Rail Road on the other side of the river.

Photo Courtesy of Rudolph Antoncic Sr., former Mayor
Port Vue Book

Time can mask a lot of history that built this area and what it stood for. Not only is it a kick ass name for a Pale Ale, but it brings some of Port Vue's history to the forefront.

The label was created by Eric Boyd to highlight the look and feel of the time period. Look closely at the background of the label to see the signature image of Brick Alley.

As always, the beer is generously hopped and brewed with American Pale Malt and flaked wheat.
Summit hops are dwarf hops grown on short trellises in the Yakima Valley that create a very citrusy aroma and taste. Falconer's Flight 7 C's hops are a unique blend of Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus and Crystal along with additional experimental varieties that highlight citrusy/earthy overtones in the beer. Hop Union LLC created this blend of hops to honor the late Glen Hay Falconer. The first batch came out great, so I fully expect us to brew this one again!

Enjoy!

Beer Label Art May 2012

Just wanted to shoot out a quick update on some great label art created by Eric Boyd and Chelsea Leber. We needed to get some art together for our last few beers before this weekend, and they did not disappoint. 

This weekend will be Brick Alley Brewing's first advertising of 2012. We will be sponsoring Miss Greater Juniata Valley, Amanda Pope, during the 2012 Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Pageant. 

We will also be donating some craft beer essentials as well as a 6 pack of our craft beer. The items will be raffled for charity. 

Just for all of you keeping score, we've successfully locked down 9 recipes in less than 1 year. 

Also, we'd like to get your input again. Take a quick second and vote on all of the label art for the beers that will be raffled off next week.  The earlier labels are a few posts back, so check out those labels that were created by Sarah Kane. 

Labels and Beer descriptions below!

Thanks to Eric Boyd, Chelsea Leber, and Sarah Kane for designing the label art for the beers that will be donated for the charity raffle.

Trolley 68 Tripel (Belgian Tripel - ? ABV)

After a few hoppy recipes, we wanted to tap into some old school styles and design a unique Belgian Tripel.  This tripel is brewed with 4 different malts, belgian candi, and lightly hopped with Saaz, Hallertauer, and Fuggles hops. So where does the name come from? 68 was the number of the Trolley that used to run from McKeesport to Pittsburgh back in the early 1940's and 50's. We wanted to honor the history of the old street car era with a classic belgian tripel style. Another reason for the street car/trolley theme came from Josh. He's been on the trolley bandwagon for the last few brews so I feel like the name and the beer were made for each other. 

Sh*t Hoppins (Belgian IPA - 7% ABV)

As the famous saying goes,"Shit Happens." That's pretty much all you can say after someone drops a 6 gallon carboy full of beer. We'll never know what that first batch of the Belgian IPA would of tasted like, but judging by the 2nd, it would of been a great beer. The name of this beer doesn't have a unique historical significance, but it does follow in the foot steps of our other satirical names we've used for IPA's.  This Belgian IPA is a darker deep amber that is hopped with Warrior, Columbus, Simcoe, Cascade, and Challenger hops. Just for good measure we dry hopped this beer with Citra for about 14 days. So in the end, the Shit part of the name covers the drop (RIP), and the Hoppins covers the 6 varieties used to hop this beer. 

Bawdy House Red (American Amber Ale - 7% ABV)

You might be asking yourself, "What does it mean?" Well, nobody really knows what it means, but it gets the people going. Had to do it, sorry. A Bawdy House is an old school word for a brothel or house of prostitution. So....why would you name a beer after that. Two reasons: the beer is an amber ale (reddish in color), which is a play on the "red light district". The second reason is the name sticks with the Brick Alley theme of McKeesport. We decided to honor the old red light district with a beer named after the brothels that once lined the alley. If you look up old newspaper articles on McKeesport in the 1940's, they talk about the raids and corruption of the old "bawdy houses" on Brick Alley. Nothing better than a little bit of prostitution history while enjoying a great beer. This beer follows the basic malt and color blueprint for an American Amber Ale, but is hopped up for great bitter finish. This beer will be ready to be bottled and enjoyed in about a week.

Our B(rand)eer tells a story...

Beer and Branding - 2 very different words that, to me, come together more than ever in the craft beer industry. This is an industry that is built on quality, taste, uniqueness, and history. So why are some craft breweries naming some of their highest quality beers generic names like...Lager or IPA? Am I going to try the (insert generic name here) Amber Ale or a Bawdy House Red Amber Ale created and named after the bawdy houses that lined the red light district in McKeesport? I'm going to try the beer that has a more intriguing name and a story behind it. After all, breweries represent the town they are in and the people they serve.

Example. Even though Shur Fine Ketchup is cheaper than Heinz Ketchup, and made with almost the same ingredients, which Ketchup do you buy? You buy Heinz every time because of the history of the brand and the quality it represents. There's a story behind Heinz ketchup and they put it right on the bottle. Why aren't more craft breweries putting more thought into the "brand" they represent? Why are we naming beers generic names?

Think about this for a second: Craft Breweries are small versions of Proctor and Gamble. They sell many different brands, each brand's survival based on success and sales. Do you know why P&G is so successful? It's because of their excellent branding strategies. P&G sales 5 different brands of laundry detergent. All of the brands are priced to various target markets and every brand they sell has a net profit of over 1 billion dollars in sales annually. You go into Walmart and ponder which "brand" of laundry detergent to buy. Chances are, you picked one that fits your budget, and fits your needs, based on the brand. There's also a really good chance that the brands you were comparing were all owned by P&G. So, what I'm trying to say is, P&G doesn't make billions of dollars by naming their detergents Brand A, Clear Detergent, Value Brand, Cheap but Works, and Fresh Good Smell Brand. They sell that much detergent without cannibalizing sales of the other brands by their unique branding strategies. Just like P&G, breweries represent many "brands" even though they brew all of them. You have to name them and brand them accordingly. People are "shopping" for a brand when they are buying your beer.

The same goes for your local/hometown brewpub or microbrewery. These breweries represent the towns they are in. They represent the people that work there and the patrons that enjoy their beers. People want something they can connect to. They want something that represents their style, personality, and hometown. People connect to family, history, and the foundations they were brought up with. 

This is what Brick Alley Brewing represents. Even in it's home brewing infancy, the brand represents history, good and bad. There's a story behind what we brew and why we brew it. The beer not only represents the style you can find it under in the BJCP style guide, but it represents the history of a city that once was one of the back bones of the United States. The beer is named for places, people, and things that aren't physically there anymore. These beers don't represent tangible things, but they represent the history of what these things and places once represented. They represent stories and values that our parents and grandparents lived through and passed on to us. The ingredients, color, and name of our beers represent what you taste, and what you think about when you try that beer. 

Everyone's got a story, you have to make sure people want to read, or in this case, drink your story.

HOP DUSTED - 2ND PLACE IMPERIAL IPA - TRASH 22

When we entered the TRASH 22 competition at the end of February we honestly didn't have super high expectations on winning any awards. Heck, we haven't even been brewing for a full year, and only started all grain recipes a few months ago. To us, our biggest award would be positive feedback from the BJCP judges. Of course our family and friends are going to tell us that our beer is great, but we wanted an unbiased opinion on our work. We wanted to know what we are doing well, and what we can be improving on when we brew.  Our IPA, Hop Dusted, was awarded 2nd Place in the Imperial IPA category! We knew it was a good beer, but it felt great to be recognized as a top beer out of the 604 total entries.

HOP DUSTED, 2ND PLACE, IMPERIAL IPA

The whole experience of the TRASH 22 banquet was great. We got to try tons of home brews, talk to other brewers, and got more information on the organization as a whole. I'm sure we'll compete again next year with a few more entries.

THANKS TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT ATTENDED YESTERDAY.

Name....that....BEER....Brick Alley Edition - LABEL ART UPDATE

Even though we're home brewing, we've been churning out a new beer every 2 weeks with the same equipment we've originally purchased from the Porterhouse Brew Shop. As  home brewers, this is great, but we've been a little lax on naming our beers. Over the last few weeks we've got some good names rolling. Hope everyone enjoys them. We usually stick to brewing the beers and naming them. After that we let people with the art experience take over from there.

BIG THANKS TO SARAH KANE (@danitySKANE) FOR DESIGNING THE LABELS BELOW!!! SHE TRUELY MADE OUR "IDEAS" COME TO LIFE. JOSH, ERIC, AND I TRUELY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR GREAT WORK!

Hop Dusted (Imperial IPA - 7% ABV)

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Great play on words with this beer. Everyone has been guilty of a little crop dusting from time to time in public AKA (silently breaking wind on unknowing bystanders as you walk past). Personally, I am a repeat offender of this in Dollar Tree and Walmart on a weekly basis. This beer is a darker shade of cloudy amber brewed with 5 different types of American hops. We also entered this beer into the Trash 22
competition.

Porch Sit (Belgian Pale Ale? - 7+% ABV)

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If you know my group of friends, then you know there's one thing we love to do in the summer, and that's porch sit. Porch sitting is a great American tradition that can be done alone, but it's highly recommended to do with great friends and great beer. This recipe went a few different ways at first and in the end came out like nothing we've ever done before. It's really hard to categorize this beer because of it's Belgian malt base, wit yeast, American hops, and apricots in the secondary fermentation. Ultimately we categorized it as a Belgian Pale Ale? Whatever it is, it's sure to be truly unique. Since we've never brewed this recipe or tasted it, we were a little unsure about entering it into the Trash 22 competition. In the end, we figured, ahhh screw it, let's do it. This beer will be ready to roll this weekend after a few weeks of carbonation.

Monongahela Monster (Black IPA - 7.5% ABV)

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Just like something that would crawl out of the Mon, this Black IPA is very dark, malty, and super hoppy. We wanted to explore this unique beer style and put a little spin on it. We hopped this beer every 10 minutes with 3 different kinds of American hops for 60 minutes. This beer will appeal to both hop heads and people looking for a dark, roasted malty base. We didn't get this beer made in time for the beer competition, but it should be ready to go in about a month.

Bawdy House Red (American Amber Ale - 7% ABV)

You might be asking yourself, "What does it mean?" Well, nobody really knows what it means, but it gets the people going. Had to do it, sorry. A Bawdy House is an old school word for a brothel or house of prostitution. So....why would you name a beer after that. Two reasons: the beer is an amber ale (reddish in color), which is a play on the "red light district". The second reason is the name sticks with the Brick Alley theme of McKeesport. We decided to honor the old red light district with a beer named after the brothels that once lined the alley. If you look up old newspaper articles on McKeesport in the 1940's, they talk about the raids and corruption of the old "bawdy houses" on Brick Alley. Nothing better than a little bit of prostitution history while enjoying a great beer. This beer follows the basic malt and color blueprint for an American Amber Ale, but is hopped up for great bitter finish. This beer will be ready to be bottled and enjoyed in about a week.

Cheers

Beers on the Horizon for 2012

Winter in Pittsburgh was great, hasn't really snowed much and the deep freeze never really set it. More reason to get the spring beers rolling. Starting March 9th we'll be brewing at least 2 spring beers for 2012. 

The first beer will be a Belgian Tripel with an ABV around 10%-11%. We haven't really pinned down a recipe yet, but we do know we want it to be strong and lighter in color. Kinda the opposite of a spring time beer, but we don't really care.  I'll keep everyone updated as the recipe develops.

The second of the spring beers will be a Pennsylvania Saison. Ligher in body, balanced hops, and brewed with herbs, spices, and possibly fruit grown by local farmers in PA. Usually when we use fruit we sanitize with vodka because of it's tasteless characteristics. If we do go with some local fruit, we'll be utilizing Boyd and Blair potato vodka, distilled right here in Pittsburgh. 

As we think of more recipes this spring we'll keep everyone in the loop.

Cheers

Taking out the TRASH

A few days ago I saw some info on the TRASH brewing competition that is held every year here in Pittsburgh. For those of you that don't know, T.R.A.S.H. stands for Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers. It's a competition that's held every year where homebrewers can submit their beer, cider, or mead for a chance to have their beer brewed on a commercial scale. There's a few special awards that are presented each year from East End Brewing, Rock Bottom, and the TRASH organization.

The guys who started TRASH were drinking craft beers in Turtle Creek before I was drinking Pedialyte so this organization has been around for a long time.

Last year, we attended the tapping of Tartanic Scottish Ale and Saison Shine down at Rock Bottom in Homestead. Both were winners of the East End Award and Rock Bottom award respectively.

The East End Award will go to the best session beer below 4.5% ABV. Not gonna lie, we won't qualify for this award. Our beers generally range about 6%-8% ABV. Oh, by the way, ABV stands for alcohol by volume. The lucky brewer to win this award will have their beer brewed by East End Brewing. EEB will put the beer on a few taps around town and it will be available at their growler hours. 

The Rock Bottom award will go to one of the winning beers that can be fermented with a Rock Bottom strain of yeast. So if you are brewing a beer that can be fermented with a Scottish ale Strain, a Kolsch strain, or a wit strain, then you're qualified to win this award. We'll be brewing a specialty beer that will fall into this category. 

The Turtle Creek Award will go to the homebrewer who's beer accumulates the highest number of points. This award will be presented by the TRASH organization.

We'll be entering  three, I mean 2 beers into the competition this year, one old school extract beer, and an all grain specialty that will qualify for the Rock Bottom Award.

We lost our third potential entry in a catastrophic carboy accident a few weeks ago. 

R.I.P.