Everything Deep Ellum

Thanks for the response.

Now send it all the Austin in the future. Houston obviously can't be trusted.

 

I just stopped in to say "Fugazi, Fuck Yes!"

Also, can Houston get Wealth and Taste in cans, please?

 

Hello beer people,
Drew from DEBC checking in here. There is a lot of territory to cover, but I'll try to keep it brief.
From a practical standpoint we have to look as this as growing pains, and it sure is painful.
The likelihood of the unfiltered/unpasteurized/unrefridgerated triple whammy coming into play here would ordinarily be the first thing I would point to. In this instance, however, there is a key factor missing: time. Even under ideally spoiling conditions it takes time for beer (particularly at 70 IBUs and 7%abv, less so at 5.2% and 23 IBUs).
While looking over the packaging records I see that the Dallas Blonde was canned the day before it left for Houston, and the brewing records look good.
The IPA would have been less than a week in the can by the time it made it to Houston. The brewing records here also look just as to be expected, but there's a catch.
IPA has been through many iterations since its release a little over a year ago. The demand for IPA far outstripped the supply for some hop varieties. When it looked like we had secured reasonable substitutions demand again surged and we ran out again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Now, let me back up a bit here. While we can certainly be blamed for not planning ahead well enough, the issues go much deeper than that. Deep into the root stocks, actually. There is simply not enough of the newer, trendy hops that are so popular these days in the ground (poor crops and proprietarily held varieties) that were originally intended to be the backbone of our IPA (Citra, Amarillo and even Simcoe, Centennial, Chinook, etc) planted or harvested to meet demand, even with future contracting. In fact in the last few years Citra, Amarillo, Sorachi Ace and others have been delivered 25-35% short on existing contracts, not to mention the difficulties in securing new contracts for new breweries. So that sucks for us and for y'all, as well. Basically, we've been making the best IPA we can with what we can get, as opposed to simply halting IPA production in early June.
We are working on eliminating the microbial variable, but along those lines we did dump 120bbls of IPA in July due to those very concerns.
To illustrate some of the hopping changes I'll give you a few of the schedules we've used (yeast and grain bill have been steady).
Initially:
Summit FWH, Citra :20, Amarillo & Chinook Whirlpool, Palisade & Chinook Hopback, Amarillo, Citra & Apollo Dry Hop
Later:
Summit FWH, Citra :20, Centennial & Chinook Whirlpool, Sterling & Apollo Hopback, Centennial, Citra & Apollo Dry Hop
Sent to Houston (and many others):
Summit FWH, Summit & Citra :20, Centennial & Chinook Whirlpool, Sterling & Chinook Hopback, Apollo, Citra, Centennial Dry Hop
Currently:
Summit FWH, Summit & Citra :20, Centennial & Chinook Whirlpool, Palisade & Chinook Hopback, Apollo, Citra, Simcoe Dry Hop
Near Future:
Summit FWH, Summit & Citra :20, Simcoe & Chinook Whirlpool, Palisade & Chinook Hopback, Apollo, Citra & Simcoe Dry Hop
So hopefully this sheds some light on things, if there are any further questions, I'll try to be good about checking my inbox!

Cheers and beers,
Drew Huerter
Head Brewer - Deep Ellum Brewing Company

 

Great info, Drew. Much appreciated that y'all share this kind of stuff with us.

 

So that explains the difference in the IPA taste that I've experienced over the last year. I knew not to believe the young bartender who wanted to chalk it up to "the driver dropped the keg off the truck".

 

Of those which version was the first canning? (Current recipe or the one just previous to it?) I believe this version tasted outstanding in every regard and as I've (and many others) mentioned before it did mimic the first draft version very closely and perhaps exceeded it.

Thanks for letting us peer behind the curtain a bit and hopefully your supply chain and inventory logistics enable you guys to settle on a recipe in the coming year. Any word on the Barleywine release?

 

Bought a sixer of the rye pils, dallas blonde and IPA while in Dallas last week. All excellent. I cant believe there is not more hype on the rye pils...that beer rocks! I wil definitely be buying some more next time I am in the metroplex...

 

Drew and Tait, I say you need to expand to San Antonio. I f the guys in Houston cant appreciate your beer I will sure do my best . I have enjoyed everything i tried from you guys and would love better access to your brews rather than have my wifes friend haul some down when she visits. Also when are you guys going to open up your online store? I love your designs and would like to get my hands on some glassware and shirts.

 

DEBC IPA was bangin this week when I had it on draught. I usually prefer 512 ipa, however DEBC IPA is the TOP TEXAS IPA right now. DEBC ipa had some issues when it first came out. astringency (maybe water issues) and such, but I am glad I tried them again. This is my goto IPA for now. Wish austin would get some cans

 

Actually, Houston wants their DEBC thank you very much. Like a lot of people on here, I always drink it when I see it on tap. Love the Farmhouse Wit, Rye Pils, Dream Crusher. And, IMO, the IPA is the best Texas IPA I've had when its right.

 

Give Rogness Gigantophis a try if you have not.

 

I have, it was ok.

 

Some DEBC has arrived in Austin at East 1st Grocery:

Double Brown Stout
Rye Pils
Dallas Blonde

 

Cans of Double Brown Stout, Rye Pils, and Dallas Blonde also arrived at Central Market in Houston today.

 

Those don't look cold

 

Those ipa cans look different than the ones at specs

 

No IPA?

 

Unfortunately not!