Interview with Three Palms Brewing

I'm back at doing interviews after a bit of a break. I'm also going to be changing things up a bit. This time I'm going to actually try a beer or two from the brewery I'm doing an interview with. That will make the postings a bit irregular. Just depends on how easily I can get my hands on the beers. That being said I'm open to suggestions and willing to do a trade to get a sample from a brewery.

This interview is with Randy Reaver from Three Palms Brewing in Tampa, FL. I was able to get a growler of a Pale Ale called Accolades in the Pacific by Three Palms that had a very interesting and different hop flavor to it that I really enjoyed. Randy describes it as an experimental beer. This beer had a forward malt profile that balanced very well with the flavor of the the two hops that were used.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

1. How did you get started in brewing? 

I started as a home brewer from the love of drinking craft beer. When I started home brewing I was really into IPA's so a partial extract IPA was the first beer that I brewed

2. How did you decide to open your own brewery? 

The desire to brew better and more craft beer coupled with the desire for a new career was the driving factor.

3. I was fortunate to be able to get some of your beer in a growler. I had a beer called Accolades in the Pacific. What can you tell me about that beer? 

Accolades in the Pacific was an experimental beer based on a pale ale style brewed with Bravo and Pacific Jade hops fermented on Scotch Ale yeast.

4. I noticed that you do package beer. How often do you have a packaged release? Are your packaged beers distributed? 

We do packaged beer and the schedule of the beer releases vary. For the month of October we have a few bottle releases including Palmkin Pumpkin Ale, Skippin' a Jiffy Peanut Butter Stout and, Hot Schutff, A stout aged on brown sugar, cinnamon and ghost peppers. We also can our Going The Distance Session IPA from time to time and bottle some of our other beers. At this time all of our packaged beers are sold out of our tasting room but we have distributed a few in the past.

5. From your website, looks like you have a lot of different beers on tap in your tap room. Is that usual? 

Yes, we typically brew 1 to 2 new beers every week with the idea of keeping our tap list constantly rotating with fresh craft beer.

6. I noticed you have guest beers in your taproom. How do you decide what your guest beers will be? 

Guest beers are determined by styles of beer that we don't have on tap from our brewery.

7. Which of your beers have won awards? 

In 2013 we won Silver for our Pindo IPA in the Best of Florida Beer Championships and in 2014 we won gold and second runner up best of show small batch category in the Best of Florida Beer Championships

8. Do you ever brew any beers with locally sourced ingredients? 

We try to as much as we can. We have brewed a few beers using locally grown star fruit and guava. 

9. Are you planning any type of expansion? 

We have acquired an additional 2000sq. ft. in June and have added a larger brew kettle and a few other pieces of equipment. At this time we are going to keep brewing with what we have.

10. Are you going to be pouring at any upcoming events? We do not have any on the calendar at the moment but we have done quite so far this year.

11. Do you use social media to communicate with the public about your brewery? 

We are very active on social media to communicate events, happenings, and new beer releases at our brewery. We utilize Facebook facebook.com/ThreePalmsBrewing, Twitter @ThreePalmsBrew , and Instagram @ThreePalmsBrewing. Our website is www.threepalmsbrewing.com. 

Thanks for reaching out to us for the interview, Cheers!

Thanks again to Randy for taking time out to respond to the interview. I really enjoyed the beer from Three Palms and hope to get to try even more of their offerings.

Here are a couple of useful links to Three Palms Website:

What's On Tap

Calendar of Events

Part 3 of the Device Brewing Interview

In this interview, Jamil and John Palmer conclude their discussion with owner Ken Anthony of Sacramento, California's Device Brewing Company. The guys engage in a verbal trouble-shooting session - what would Ken have done differently? What went according to plan and what didn't? The crew also covers his experience with budgeting, and the importance of remaining active in your local homebrew club.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

Next Installment in the Device Brewing Interview

This week I'm giving you the link to the second installment in the Device Brewing Co. interview on Brew Strong. Again I'd like to thank Jamil for allowing me to link to the interview. I listened to it myself and really enjoyed how open and honest Ken was about his experience in converting his hobby into a full time job.

"In this episode of Brew Strong, Jamil and John Palmer continue their conversation with owner Ken Anthony of Sacramento, California's Device Brewing Company. This week, the beer is the focus - from brewing processes, to recipe formulation, to future plans and upcoming styles Ken plans to brew. Tune in to catch more of this enlightening discussion about turning brewing from a hobby into a profession, straight from the mouths of men who are consumed with just that task."  - Brew Strong


To visit the website of Device Brewing Co. CLICK HERE

To be directed to the Brewing Network Archive for Part 2 of the interview CLICK HERE

To follow Device Brewing Co. on Twitter CLICK HERE

Brewing Network Interview with Device Brewing - Part 1

This week I'd like to thank Jamil Zainasheff, one of the hosts of Brew Strong on the Brewing Network and brewer at Heretic Brewing Co., for allowing me give you all a link to their interview with Ken Anthony of Device Brewing Co. in Sacramento,California. This week is part one of a three part interview. In this interview Ken talks about how he made the jump from homebrewer to Nanobrewery owner.

To visit the website of Device Brewing Co. CLICK HERE

To be directed to the Brewing Network Archive for Part 1 of the interview CLICK HERE

To follow Device Brewing Co. on Twitter CLICK HERE

Interview with Opposition Brewing Co.

This week's interview is with Founder/Brewmaster Nick Ellis of Opposition Brewing Company in Medford, Oregon. They began brewing in September 2012 as Apocalypse Brewing Co. and in October of last year they took a bold step and changed their name to Opposition Brewing Co.. The current setup is a 1.5 Barrel Brewhouse but due to the popularity of the beer, there are already plans for expansion. The following is a brief interview with Nick about the brewery, their beer and about some of the locally sourced ingredients they use.


1. How did you get started brewing?

I started as a homebrewer.

2. Did you attend any brewing schools or work/volunteer at a brewery?

No. Just at home for fun.

3. How did your brewery get it's start?

I was laid off from my corporate job and needed something to do. The layoff came at the height of the great recession so I knew there wouldn't be any jobs available in my current field in my locale. After some discussion with my wife, we decided to roll the dice and turn my homebrew hobby into a full time job.

4. The Apocalyptic theme is really cool. How did that come about?

We began as Apocalypse Brewing Company. It was an inside joke between my wife and I. Unfortunately 10bbl Brewing out of Bend believes they own the rights to the name because of a similarly named beer they make. We fought them as long as we could, but they're a large corporate brewery with millions of dollars and teams of lawyers. We simply couldn't afford to fight them anymore and decided on our own to change our name.

Full details of the saga can be found here: http://www.oppositionbrewing.com/winningthewar/

 

5. How many beers do you usually have on tap?

We have 7 of our own brews on tap at any one time and one guest tap.

6. What is your most popular beer?

Sixth Seal, a Northwest Pale Ale, is our biggest seller and our hoppiest standard beer.

7. How are your beers available? Draft only? Growlers? Bottles?

We're currently a nano-brewery taphouse operation - our product is available by the pint and growler. We don't currently bottle or distribute our beer.

8. Are your beers on tap at any bars?

We occasionally pick up a handle in town but given our limited production volume, we're generally only available here at the taphouse.

9. Do you partner with any local farmers for ingredients?

Yes. Some of our hops are sourced from local farmers. When we do utilize things like fruit in beer, we try to source that locally as well. All of our hops are PNW grown (we only use whole cone hops) and our base malt is all Oregon Select which is grown on the Oregon side of the Klamath Basin.

10. What do you enjoy most about owning a brewery?

The freedom to be creative with our product, the ability to be my own boss, and the challenge of running a small locally focused business.

11. What is your favorite beer style to drink or brew?

While I enjoy drinking all styles of beer, my goto is generally an IPA of some kind. We don't have a favorite type of beer to brew... we like brewing them all!

12. Where do you see your brewery in the next 3-5 years?

We're currently in full expansion mode and hope to be in our 7bbl brewhouse in the next 12 to 18 months.

13. Are you active on social media? If so, what is your twitter name or Facebook page and do you think social media is an aid to your brewery?

We leverage social media entirely for advertising and connection with our patrons. It's an invaluable tool for us and we would not be where we are today without it. Twitter: @OppositionBrew   -   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oppositionbrewing

14. Will you be attending any festivals or "brewfests" this year where people can sample your beers?

Absolutely. We attend as many local festivals as we can. In the coming months we'll be participating in the Pear-A-Fare and the Medford Beer Week (June 6-14, 2014) festivities.

I'd like to thank Nick for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer questions for the interview. For more information about the brewery you can visit their website at www.oppositionbrewing.com or better yet stop by the brewery, have a few beers and "go ahead, raise a pint, and embrace the chaos!."

What is this blog about?

This blog will be a place for me to write about Nano-Breweries. Why Nano Breweries? These breweries are small and have little or no distribution, but many make great beer and often have trouble staying open because they don't have the money for advertising or the time to stay very active on social media promoting their brewery.

After visiting a Nano Brewery in North Carolina and spending time talking with one of the owners, I found that their biggest problem is getting the word out about their beer. Most new people found out about them by word of mouth and growler sales is what is keeping them open. I felt like it would be good to spotlight breweries in this category by doing short interviews with the brewers, visting some myself and writing about the experience, and promoting festivals and "brewfests" that feature Nano Breweries.

First of all I guess I should give a definition of a Nano-Brewery. While the Brewers Association gives no specific definition, a loose definition would be something like this, “My working definition is three barrels or less, which essentially makes them large-scale homebrewers,” says Jeff Alworth, author of the Portland-based beer blog Beervana.

I feel that is a good place to start, however, I do feel that a Nano Brewery can be, for instance, a 5 barrel brewery. I have also read articles where it is defined as less than 10 barrels. To me it depends on how the brewery is operated more than the size of their brewhouse. I'm really talking about those "mom and pop" neighborhood breweries or brewpubs that have no real means of distribution other than growlers and may have convinced one or two bars in town to give them a handle. I think you get the idea.

If you know of any Nano Breweries that you would recommend, you can find me on Twitter (@km_craftbeer) or just leave a comment below this post.

Enjoy!