Since the inception of Braxton Brewing Company, we set out to be different. Not different in any regular way, but by doing things that set us apart from others. This can be seen in a multitude of ways – our passion for quality, continuous strides to educate our consumer, and our love for tech and finding unique ways of tying it in with craft beer. As I write this blog post, I have the ability to do so with a huge smile on my face, simply because this is no different than those listed above.
As a brewer, beer lover, and even before Braxton as a homebrewer, there was always one beer category that I loved – lagers. It is no coincidence with my background at Hofbrauhaus, Newport, that the love of this style turned into a mini-obsession. The amount of knowledge obtained from my years at Hofbrau, only made my love for quality and consistent lagers that much stronger. Once Richard joined the team, it only got better. Richard brings years of experience from a number of different well-known breweries, not to mention that they mostly produced lagers. Richard and I knew from the start that lagers were going to play a role in what we set out to do with Braxton. From the design of not only our brewhouse, but also our entire system, lagers were always in the front of mind. This only helps (or makes things more expensive, depending who you ask…Cough…Jake…Cough…) our case for Braxton to do lagers, the proper way. Call it the “Braxton Touch,” if you will…
Around the brewery, and in a few non-public updates, we have been stressing Braxton’s commitment to lagers. It sounds simple but it is actually a big deal. The beautiful thing about this is that we have always been committed to lagers, but they played a lot smaller role in our overall beer portfolio, until now.
We launched Twisted Bit Dortmunder Lager in the Garage Series a while ago. The idea behind this beer was it would be the first in a rotating lager series that lived under the Garage Series. Essentially, we would brew a different 20bbl batch of a particular lager style, and continually rotate what this style was. This never happened. Primarily because we couldn’t keep up with the demand of Twisted Bit.
Enter Sparky. Sparky, an American Wheat beer, was the second beer we launched with behind Storm. Personally, Sparky is one of my favorite beers we brew. However, we have to do what you (the consumer) want, not what we as brewers want. It turns out that Sparky is a confusing beer style. From what we have gathered, most would see wheat, and jump to thinking it was either a hefeweizen or a Belgian Wit. Unfortunately, that is not the case with this style. However, keep your eyes posted for some new releases in the future (hint, hint). Regardless of the reason, Sparky didn’t move as quickly as we would like to see from a quality and consistency standpoint.
So let me get to the overall point of this now lengthy blog post, Twisted Bit is going to be replacing Sparky in the core lineup and will be a year-round beer. Have no fear Sparky lovers, Sparky is not going to go away for good. Sparky is going to move under the Garage Series and will be produced and on tap Mid-March – November, and will still be on tap in Great American Ball Park for the upcoming season.
There are two reasons this is a huge deal. The first is cycle time. Lagers take approximately twice the amount of time as an ale. Meaning, that for every batch of Twisted Bit, we could be producing two batches of Storm or any other ale. We have accounted for this from a production standpoint, and feel that not only is it the correct decision, but that starting with this commitment early on, will allow us to grow even more strategically. Second, Twisted Bit utilizes traditional brewing techniques and water chemistry to create the same water profile as Dortmund, Germany. This is something that we take immense pride in. This beer would not be the same if we didn’t build upon our Covington water profile – it adds another layer of underlying complexity, another layer of authenticity to the beer, and an additional layer of delicious lager to your glass.
In summary, Braxton is committed to lagers, now more than ever. Sparky, will no longer be year round, but it also isn’t going away for good. I hope that you are as excited about this as I am. It has been an awesome journey getting to this point, and I can’t wait to pour you a lager, and hear your feedback!
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