The current state of Midnight Sun?

Wrong. Sloth was a seven deadly sins beer and Gabe was still there. Ben did Barfly. Although Ben was working there at the time of the sins.....so you never know?

 

Where did Ben go?

 

On the MSBC front I have been somewhat disappointed as of late...infected Oak Aged Treat and Berserker as well as some other lackluster brews. That said there are always some nice things on tap at the brewery...the focus seems to be on cranking out the canned beers and the regulars to send south more than the monster beers of old.

 

India.

 

Don't be bitches....bitches.

 

That's a strange place to move to.

 

He's the brew master at Seven Islands in India. Or he was the last time I spoke with him. Great guy.

 

Disagree. I'm not a fan of the African Amber but I've had some good stuff from them at the cask festival over the years. But then, I don't need a beer to be barrel aged, purchased in a line or presented in a wax dipped bottle to get excited. Give the guy a chance to get his feet under him and show what he can do.

 

To me the African amber is one if the best session beers. Not much in Cali comes close

 

And yes, he did bathtub gin...reminds me I've got a few left....

 

I'm not saying that I think it's a bad beer by any means, just that for me personally, it doesn't do anything.


I do love a good session beer though and in my opinion we have vastly superior options locally: anything from Machine House, Fremont Summer Ale, Reubens Brews American Rye, Fremont's Beer Week Pale, Black Raven Nothing But Flowers, and many others. I know I'm missing some others but those are the first that popped into my head. Next time you're in town give some of those a try.

 

Tried to stay out of this one but I can't. Yes…I'm Ben. I started working at MSBC in 2004 and worked there until fall of 2011. Gabe was head brewer when I started. Gabe left MSBC to open Anchorage Brewing in late summer of 2010 and I took over as head brewer. When I left in fall of 2011 for personal reasons Jeremiah (who had been working right alongside both Gabe and myself for quite some time) took over as head. As you all know Jeremiah left MSBC to work with Gabe, that's when Lee (who also worked with Gabe, Jeremiah and myself) took over. As was correctly mentioned before I am currently working on a brewery project in Mumbai, India, so I can't speak to the current quality of MSBC beers (you guys know better than I do) nor will I ever bash them. I cut my commercial brewing teeth at that place and was lucky enough to work under a highly skilled brewer like Gabe. So there is that story...

As for recipes and beers go…Sloth was mine. I believe Barfly was Gabe…maybe Jeremiah. Brewing at almost every level is a collaboration. A head brewer is not, or at least shouldn't be, the supreme ruler of a brewery…unless they are the owner I guess. For me, it wouldn't be any fun to work in a brewery setting where your ideas and recipes are never given consideration. So many of the beers, especially the series beers and one offs, were ideas one of us had and then we made it happen as a team. Sometimes when presented to the boss the recipe looks great as is. Other times they need a little tweaking and that is why having a skilled head brewer is a beautiful thing. Just don't assume that every beer a brewery puts out is automatically the "head brewers" just because they were there at the time. Sure…in the end...it is the ultimate responsibility of the head brewer to ensure every beer released from the brewery is of the utmost quality, that's the job. That is where the love, passion, education and skill shows. That's why we do it.

So there are my two cents. As I said I tried to stay out of this but I could not. It just kinda stings a little when you work at a place like MSBC for over 7 years and nobody even remembers you worked there. I obviously still care about the place or I wouldn't be checking up on them through you guys. Thanks to those of you who do remember me. And for all of you…if anybody is coming to India and traveling through Mumbai send me a message. I'd love to share a pint of what I hope will become the best beer in all of India! Cheers passionate beer lovers!!

 

That's the Real Ben Johnson, bitches.

 

Ben, if you don't mind, tell us what it's like to brew in India and what the scene is like. What kind of stuff are you brewing? BTW, speaking of Sloth, I cracked one about three months ago and it's still drinking amazingly.