Sputnik

I'd call them 'thoughts' more than 'plans'. We definitely plan to start canning special releases next year. I know, on here especially, Einhorn and Sputnik would probably be the top choices. We get lots of requests to brew those two beers year-round. But, each of those beers would be very difficult to add to our full time lineup.

Einhorn is a very dangerous beer to make due to the intentional addition of bacteria it requires. We brew it in a way to minimize the vectors for contamination elsewhere in the brewery, but the possibility still exists. Additionally, the flavors from sour beers are very difficult to remove from beer lines. If we were to run an entire batch through our canning line, we're not sure if we'd be able to appropriately eliminate the flavor from the fill heads. Sour Pearl-Snap might be awesome, but we don't want to find out.

Sputnik is also very difficult to make. In addition to dealing with 90lbs of coffee grounds, it requires the use of 3 fermentation tanks. If we were to make it all the time, that would wreak havoc on our production schedule. And, Cuvee wouldn't be able to supply enough coffee. We could get it elsewhere, but the quality wouldn't be the same.

Long story short: Maybe.

 

I imagine there are logistics involved that I'll never be aware of when it comes to brewing on your kind of scale. Thanks for the reply and I guess we will just have to keep purchasing your beer so hopefully someday soon you can afford a few more tanks to brew your delicious Sputnik more often. Cheers...

 

Yeah, running a production brewery can be tricky. One of our top projects in 2013 is to install a really nice 3-5bbl pilot system in the brewery. That will allow us to play around a lot more.

 

Slightly off topic... but how many bbls are y'all doing now? I saw the story on the news a few weeks back and it sounds like ABW is flying off the damn shelves.

My dad came to town and now all he wants is for me to send ABW Fire Eagle IPA back to Florida (in exchange for Cigar City )

 

I recently visited Montreal. In defense of the Quebecois, I had multiple great beers (Peche Mortel included) and witnessed 0 moose sodomizings.

Still, if anyone is inclined to do a side-by-side of Sputnik and the aforementioned beers, I'd love to hear how you think we stack up.

 

We're on pace to do just over 5,000bbl this year. It's past where we initially thought we'd be in 5 years. And we've done it all in Austin. Pretty crazy.

PS - If you save some of that Cigar City for us, we wouldn't mind.

 

Just wanted to add that i bought a sixxer of Black Thunder to compare to the great tap Black thunder i had and i have to say.

IT WAS DELICIOUS, and still is since ive got 2 more waiting Definitely not as hoppy as the first time i tried it, love it more now!

and to keep it on topic, i am looking forward to snagging some sputnik for sure.

now if only i could solidify my plans to open a brewpub featuring abw and OG jester king beers.....

 

Draught House still has the growlers if anyone is still lookin'.

Picked up one tonight after church w/ a few beers. $25 and includes a fill of Sputnik (expensive, but what a great aluminum growler).

To steal an image from UT-Alex...


Now someone tell me it was $15 at Whip In. LOL. I asked what a refill would cost and he quoted me $9 at the Draught House. This bad boy is gonna get quite a few refills before the winter is done if I have my way

Might be one of the nicest pieces of modern Texas breweriana I have.

 

One of those showed up at the Petrol Christmas party. The coffee in this beer is no joke! Very impressed.

also, FYI, if you mix with Parabola, it makes for a tasty treat.