Fall
Lots to tell, some sad, some happy
| Good Afternoon, I haven’t put out a newsletter in a long time. Not because there aren’t lots of things that I could share, but more because there are so many things that are difficult to talk about. The past week has been pretty tough. Kristy’s mother passed away recently. I loved her dearly and she will always hold a special place in my heart. I have many stories I could relate about her, but suffice it to say she impressed me the first time I met her. She was caring, thoughtful, witty, stubborn, and intelligent. While I’m sad she’s gone, I treasure the moments I had with her and smile when I think of them. Kristy is doing as well as can be expected. Like her mom, she’s a trooper. Thank you all for your support. The Crystal Springs Brewing community is a huge part of who we are, and you all mean so much to us, especially at this time of year. As I’m sure many of you already know, we also lost a dear colleague recently – the owner of Moxie’s, Andy Clark. Kristy and I met him almost the first day we started working on the downtown taproom. We were out front working on something, and Andy came walking up the street. It was early in the morning. Andy greeted us with a big smile and asked what was up. We talked for a while about what we were doing, and he said he would look forward to our opening. We instantly took a liking to him. In the months and years to follow he has offered our beers in Moxie’s and served them at many of his Friday celebrations. We always looked forward to seeing him. He was a huge supporter of small business in Louisville and a vital part of our community – a unique individual. We will miss him greatly. Our incredible and talented team has been working hard to get our seasonal beers out and to produce new and exciting beers we hope you enjoy. Again, I apologize for not getting some of this out to you sooner, but here goes: -Woody’s Salted Chocolate Stout is back and will be released tomorrow, November 17, 2022, on tap and in six packs at the taproom and in six packs at your favorite liquor store. -Once again, we’ve teamed up with Hazel’s Beverage World to exclusively release our award winning Doc’s Porter. You can find it in our taproom as well. Be sure to get some before it sells out. Doc’s is a great pairing for much of what shows up on tables this Thanksgiving. -Solano has been aging on Pueblo Chili Peppers and is very close to being ready. Our schedule is pretty tight, so I’m not sure when it will be released but we’re doing our best to get it packaged. -We’ve been having a lot of fun creating new beers for you. Recently we put out Skull Island Hazy IPA, a beer that was influenced by both the East and West (and maybe even a little from the Mid Coast). Unfortunately, it sold out rather quickly and is gone, but…… -We’re putting out another one tomorrow, Skull Crusher Hazy IPA. It too is a wonderfully juicy IPA with a hint of bitterness but uses an entirely different line up of hops and an entirely different set of malts to support and accentuate those malts. Great aroma, flavor and aftertaste. Don’t miss this one! -If you haven’t tried Old Man IPA, a beer influenced by the West Coast IPA style, but using more contemporary hops, I would urge you get into the taproom before it sells out. -Our new (and in my opinion, amazing) Head Brewer, Kyle, recently developed a recipe for a pale ale. We brewed it last Friday and it is scheduled to be released on Thirsty Thursday, December 8th. I know I’m adding that date to my calendar! It is patterned after a traditional American Pale Ale, but rather than using the usual hop suspects (Cascade), Kyle decided to use hops for which he has grown rather fond, almost Casablanca like (I know there’s no hops in Casablanca, but there’s a lot of fondness). I just got to taste it from the fermenter and, oh my, it makes me think I’m on a West Coast beach in spring. -Of course, it wouldn’t be December at Crystal Springs if we didn’t put out our 12th edition of Black Saddle. We pumped it up a little this year and aged it in bourbon barrels (we can’t name the brand) and it is ready to package. We just need to find time to package it. We’re tentatively shooting for December 1st, but no promises. -If you’ve tried our Tripel, I’m hopeful that, like me, you really enjoyed it. When we first developed it, we thought we had a winner, so we decided it might be fun to put it in barrels as well – which we did. Bourbon barrels from Indiana. -If that’s not enough, tomorrow we’re brewing a “Wassail” ale – patterned after the wassail beers of olde. One of our employees, Packaging Director and Inventory Guru, Rhiannon, loves Wassail and begged me to come up with a recipe. I did a lot of research, learned a lot about Wassail and did my best to come up with a beer that will taste similar to those of yesteryear. We’ll find out! If Kristy has her way, we’ll also put out a Holiday Beer/Winter Warmer later in December, but we’ll see how that goes. And if that’s not enough! We’ll be open on Thanksgiving for the Turkey Trot – watch for our special hours. Nate and Dion will be your hosts. Just a suggestion, but that might be a great time to pick those Thanksgiving beers you forgot to get. In December, the Downtown Taproom will have been open five years. Never ones to miss an excuse for a party, we’ve decided to celebrate this momentous occasion. However, since there are always so many things happening in December, we decided we’d hold the celebration in January. We’ll let you know the specific date as soon as we figure it out. On to 2023. We’re dreaming the new year will begin in the best way possible, with no disasters or setbacks. In fact, we insist. Of course, we’ll be releasing our yearly seasonals, but we will also be offering some new special releases, possibly some new year around beers, and certainly a host of Thirsty Thursday releases. Suffice it to say, as usual we’ll be all over the place, having more fun than ever, and with the incredibly creative crew we have who knows where we’ll go. Dunkelroggendoppelbock anyone? If you’re like me, you woke up one recent morning and said to yourself, “Oh, the holidays are upon us once more! I better get busy.” If you want to make it easy on yourself, we have lots of great stuff for your gift giving needs – beer! We have to go beer, packaged beer, beer gift cards, beer crowlers and, if you want to take care of several people at one time, give the gift of a beer tour, hosted by yours truly. Need a place for an intimate private party (up to 30 people)? Contact Kristy at [email protected] and reserve the Brewer’s Lounge (at the brewery in the Tech Center). Thank you all for your caring, your support, your patronage, and for just being you. We hope you enjoy our beers and that you feel Crystal Springs Brewing is your “third place” to gather (after home and work). Kristy and I plan to be in the taproom next Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, and hope to see you there. No matter how you celebrate, Happy Holidays! Cheers, Tom and Kristy |
