A Defining Moment. A Defining Brew.

A quick google of "gulo gulo" finds these items:

The wolverine, pronounced /ˈwʊlvəriːn/, Gulo gulo (Gulo is Latin for "glutton"), also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae (weasels). It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself.

and...

Each player is a Gulo, or wolverine, trying to rescue a baby Gulo who got caught by the swamp vulture whose eggs it was trying to steal. Unfortunately for the baby Gulo, all the adult Gulos are distracted by all the delicious swamp vulture eggs, and it has to wait very, very patiently as the adults constantly trip the very, very sensitive "egg alarm" rigged by the vulture to scare off the pesky Gulos.
There is a nice wooden bowl filled with multicolored swamp vulture eggs of various sizes, into which a long thin dowel with another egg at one end is inserted, like a flagpole. As you can imagine, lots of M&M Peanut-shaped wooden bits banging around together in a polished wooden bowl makes it rather difficult to keep a thin dowel with weight at the top balanced...
The essential mechanic of the game is to try to pull an egg of a particular color and move to a tile of that color on the linear path toward the bowl, and the little stack of tiles hiding the baby Gulo tile. If you set off the alarm, or knock any eggs out of the bowl, your Gulo is sent back to the previous tile of the attempted color. If there's no such tile, then back to the start he goes!

ok, this was a new one to me...
 Oh. and of course this:

but you knew I'd throw HIM in, right?

However....

We here at the Wolverine State Brewing Company in A-squared (a.k.a. "Almost" Beer City U.S.A. considering that whole "per capita" thing) have something else in mind when we use the phrase. 

When the concept of "lager centricity" was proposed to our brewer, he was all "No, really?" When we emphasized the "revolution" with our own "I know, right? But...um...yeah," I firmly believe the gulo gulo concept of a hoppy "India Pale Lager" style beer hatched, fully formed into the man's brain pan.  The Gulo Gulo as we call it, is one of our Original Lagers. It's been around since the heady days of Yours Truly along with The Man and The Brewer and our various and sundry loved ones opening, pouring, closing the Tap Room.

It's been through a few alterations, but it, like the Premium, Amber and Dark lagers is with us to stay. It's a best seller, as we say, in the Tap Room. Very popular with a following so rabid that when it is off the bar staff fields daily cries of "when?" until it's back on the board.

So we are taking yet another step with it.

On Friday, May 17 (that's this week if you're lost) we will release this delicious concoction of amazing hops and malt balance with a serious bite on your tongue in bottled version. Six-packs and cases will be available in the TAP ROOM ONLY.

We will celebrate with some new bands, The Jo Serrapere Trio and The Path, beginning around 7 pm on Friday. But when the doors open at noon, this Friday, May 17 it's no holds barred on the sixers and cases!  Here are the guys who Pre-purchased a case a month ago:

Join us as we toast to "Lucius" with the release of "his" beer: Gulo Gulo.

a happy hop-headed
Wench

Kentucky Derby 2013---Wolverine Style!

For those of you who "really know me," (as opposed to those of you who claim it) you "know" I am a Kentucky girl in my soul.

 Every time I hear My Old Kentucky Home (in its current politically correct version, YES I KNOW IT'S A SONG THAT GLORIFIES SLAVERY. I am against slavery for the record but I love this song).

I grew up knowing inherently, like it was coded into my DNA that The First Saturday in May is a holiday on par with Easter or Christmas (combined with St. Patty's Day) in terms of preparations and parties and celebrations. It's a Big Deal.

I myself have been to the event many times, both in the infield where if you are even aware there are horses around you're not drunk enough, in my friend's Grandstand and in the Stands themselves. I've gone with friends, seen friends get engaged, rescued friends from jail after there, taken my kids, had too many juleps in a fancy hat and dress--the works, really. I even won as much as $400 once on a single race and bought everyone around me juleps which pretty much negated that.

When we lived overseas we transplanted the Derby Party concept into Turkish in Istanbul at a beautiful downtown Istanbul restaurant and into English by actually going to the Original Derby (pronounced "Darby" you cretins) with our friends visiting from the States (the ones who got engaged at the Kentucky version of this classic race.)

Owning a small business and having kids involved in spring sports however, can preclude lively jaunts to the south and shelling out the dough required to attend such a bucket-list style event. We've skipped it for 2 years now. Our stated goal for next year is not to, but who knows what the year will bring. Needless to say we NEVER EVER skip the celebration.

This year, I brought the fun to the Wolverine Tap Room and put out a call for Derby hats with horse, roses and craft beer themes. Some of you kids got beautifully creative! Well done to all of you and THANKS For hanging out and watching the fastest two minutes in sports (and drinking a fair bit afterwards...)

Cheers

A Slightly Still Homesick
Wench

Oh and HAPPY ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL CARDINALS!!!

We are STILL Number 1!

Hickory....Dickory....

BOCK (month) is upon us. So I'm letting the brewer speak again....

Drag Me To Helles
Maibock
7.5% abv
29 ibu

This style of this seasonal offering is also known as a Helles Bock which means "pale bock", traditional bock beers tend to be darker and richer in malt and bread flavors. Now is there a difference between a Maibock and a Helles Bock...?  This is up for interpretation but most consider them synonymous.  However!  Some would say that a Maibock is brewed to the upper spectrum of style in color and hoppiness, either way it is one of our favorite beers for the season.

Although it has a  higher abv of 7.5%, the DMTH is a very refreshing lager beer, perfect for the warmer weather of early spring and to give sustenance as we begin to work our way out to our gardens and fields.  We brew our Maibock with 100% German malt and hops to get the most authentic profile we can.  This brew has a sweet nose of malt with a smidge of spicy hop aroma.  The flavor is a beautiful representation of a straight forward malty lager with some hints of melanoidins (read: toasty and bready flavors).

Hickory Dickory Bock
Traditional Bock Beer aged on cured Hickory
6.6% abv
21 ibu

We in the brewery have been waiting for the release of this beer for some time now.  The premise was simple as we took a classic Bock recipe and considered how long we would want to lager/cold-condition beer after the fermentation was finished and we coupled that with our recent experience with aging beers on wood.  This was so we could give the Hickory Dickory Bock the best possible amount of time to age the beer cold, and age it on the wood to extract the flavors from the hickory. 

I think we nailed this one.  Not only is the base beer a very smooth, malty, rich, flavorful bock beer with an especially clean finish the hickory wood imparted just subtle hints of its character which can be defined as mesquite, marshmallowy, and an actual woody flavor, and like the Shiny New Toy the use of wood helped to really smooth out the overall profile of the beer.

A little history of the Bock style:  This style originated in the northern German city of Einbeck which was a brewing center and beer exporting area between the 14th and 17th centuries. The name "Bock" is simply a bastardized version of the city's name so "Einbeck" beer became "Bock" beer. In German "Bock" also means "billy-goat" so pictures of the animal are often used in conjunction with the beer.

BEGINNING FRIDAY, MAY 3 WE WILL OFFER BEER OF THE MONTH PITCHER SPECIALS! $12 for the Beer of The Month pitcher which means for May you have a choice:
Hickory Dickory
or
Helles!
cheers
Wench

It's Hardly Common

My beer feature this week is....

COMMON REACTION

~California Common~

5% abv ~ 33 IBU's

From the brewer's lips to your ears:

"The Common Reaction is defined by its moderate caramelly and toasty flavors and aromas that are balanced by an assertive hop bitterness and specific hop flavors of the U.S. Northern Brewer hop that are described as minty, rustic and woody. Ours finished fairly dry and crisp with soft fruity esters in the flavor as well.

First thing to consider when talking about a "California Common" is the style itself.  It originated on the American west Coast of course and is defined by three very specific points:

1.  It is fermented using lager yeast, but at "cool-ale temperatures."  This is about 58-62 degrees F (normal lager fermentation temps are between 48 and 55 degrees F). This warmer fermentation helps to develop more fruit character in the beer coupled with the smoothness of a lager yeast.

2.  A Common is brewed to showcase the U.S. Northern Brewer hop variety. This hop is characterized by its above mentioned flavors: "rustic, minty, woody."

3.  This style is most commonly associated with Anchor Steam beer from San Francisco. Anchor Brewing Co. trademarked the term "steam beer" because in the past a California Common was known as "steam beer." This was because it was originally brewed without the help of modern refrigeration so Anchor Brewing would place the fermenters high up in their brewery and as the hot wort cooled down in the open fermenters (which looked like a big shallow kiddie-pool) they opened the windows in the brewery to let the cool air from the San Francisco Bay naturally cool down the wort. Which in turn produced what looked like steam coming off the cooling wort.

Our Common Reaction is brewed in all the same ways except for the shallow, open fermenters...and the San Francisco Bay.

Cheers!

Wench (and Brewer)
Have a good weekend. I think it may not snow for a change....you know, since it's ALMOST MAY.

 

News and More from the Tap Room

Your official A2 Beer Wench Update for the week:

1.  COMMON REACTION IS BACK ON TAP! Our take on the hybrid California Common style, a crowd favorite is available once again in the Tap Rom.

2.  Movie night is ON this Thursday. On conjunction with Whole Foods Ann Arbor....

3.  Lindsay Lou is in the House on Tuesday!

4. We will have our BEER OF THE MONTH posters available for sale beginning next week!

5. In May we are planning to designate Thursdays as "Game And Beer of The Month" night. We'll have a bunch of board games and cards on hand for you to use and you can get your growler of the Beer of the Month filled for 1/2 price WITH the purchase of a 15 ounce pour of any other beer. Details to emerge.

6. On Friday, May 17 you can purchase six packs or cases of GULO GULO, our fiercely hopped India Pale Lager. Bottles will ONLY be available in the Tap Room (sort of like the Massacre was).
We'll be throwing ourselves a little release party with live music from the Jo Serrapere Trio and The Path (both new groups for us).
P.S. YES I SAID WE WILL HAVE GULO GULO IN BOTTLES (but not until May 17). Let the rejoicing commence.

Here is to a much calmer week, all around, for everyone.
Cheers
Wenchie

View from A Wench

Greetings A2BW fans, follows, stalkers and others.

It's a random every day Tuesday 'round the Wolverine State Brewing Company today. The rain seems to have let up, we had about a split second of glorious sun (it's cloudy again), and we are plotting and planning for May and beyond.

You can see Oliver the Brewer's new "Beer of the Month" feature in Current magazine beginning in May.

Brewer Karl loves distributor pick up day!

Brewer Rick does too...

Watch for our fun new ad in Current Mag:

....yes that is a bottle of Gulo Gulo...more on that later....

We are still celebrating GREENTHUMB as our Beer of the Month! 

And anticipate May as "BOCK MONTH" and will feature

Drag Me To Helles 

Hickory Dickory Bock

We did a wee bit of market research last Friday (gotta love a brewery when it's time for benchmarking)

We should have the date for the WTKA Michigan Insider Wench's Team Won But She Still is Throwing a Party, party soon!

OH and just in case you forgot (I didn't) My Team is still National NCAA Basketball Champs! (got my shirts today!)

And this truly was my fav photo of "that night" just a week ago now:

Wench's Moment of Zen:

Carry On Folks! 

You know I love ya

Yes, I am sore but digging into week 2 of the "fitness plan"

Wench

Releasing my Inner Fit Wench

In the interest of full disclosure, allow me to say that I am not naturally inclined to exercise.

I'm perfectly content to sit, drink, read, write...lather, rinse, repeat.

 I never played a sport, I am definitely NOT a runner (just ask my peeps at the MOa2 Hash House Harriers) although I am a GREAT supporter...you know...of athletics.

However, in the last 3 years I have taken my personal distaste for activity much beyond walking my standard poodles or other, more pleasurable sorts of ways to burn calories that end with a nice nap a bit too far. Even I will admit it.  I've never been one to obsess about my weight but up until about 2010 I had disciplined myself into a program that more or less allowed me to eat and drink whatever I wanted and still stay (more or less) the jeans size I was used to. Then, I got reeeeeaaaaallllly good at excuses--you know the kind: gotta blog, gotta write, gotta go on sales calls, gotta manage websites and social networking, gotta manage expansion, gotta manage the Tap Room. Busy. Busy. Busy. No time for all that...exercise...nonsense. Yes I will have another beer, thanks!

(not me, by the way but one of the few postures I like.)

I still go to Bikram yoga off and on but have not been as committed to it as I once was. But then, I got contacted by a gal down the street from the brewery with Title Boxing Club. Boxing. Yeah. I don't watch it, and never made it through the first half of Million Dollar Baby (I know how it ends, of course.  It's a dangerous sport, boxing).

I looked them up. They are a national entity, that has moved its entire operations to Our Fair City, Ann Arbor. Cool. The gal down there was interested in a cross promotion. I thought...hmmm..beer and boxing gloves? Sounds like a recipe for a police raid of my bar to me. No thanks.

 But then, I read a little more about them.  And I started thinking. Well, actually I got a good long look at the Wenchie physique (read: lack thereof) and wondered if a change up of some sort, some new goal, was what I needed to recharge.

So I gave it a shot. (Just so you know some of these are blurry 'cause I am just that lightening fast and I knew she was taking pictures so I moved extra speedy between gasping for breath and wishing for death).

And I am saying right here, right now, in front of God and the Internet and all y'all: I am gonna see this through. My plan is to alternate this way "fun" workout (as "fun" as any workout can be but the lovely and adorable Adam did keep it lively I will say) with my Bikram practice, hoping for a bit of strength, flexibility, ability-to-sweat-buckets-and-still-live balance.

As I sit here I can already feel my shoulders, upper back and, oddly, calf muscles slowly starting to seize up and set up a cry for "Sit! Drink! Don't Hurt Us Anymore!" but I shall ignore them, drink more water, take a few ibuprofen, and allow my inner Fit Wench to Emerge.

Soon, they will be offering a fun "box and brew" special down at Title, which is next to that goldfish pool swim thing in the ACE Hardware shopping center. They will pick a couple of classes on Friday and Saturday that, if you attend, you get a certificate for a killer discount in my brewery. The featured Box and Brew class will be announced on their Facebook page (but the promo does not start until May). Also, and perhaps even cooler, I am going to be putting together a WENCH POSSE, which sounds like a title for a new book but is really a group of people who will get to workout with ME at Title, for free once and then decide if they want to keep pounding and kicking  the living sh*t out of a boxing bag while music blares and some guy yells at them--I mean, "Get In Shape At Title Boxing Club."

Seriously, I thought it was pretty cool. For exercise. And you can stare at that bag and picture whomever you want! That, ladies and gents, was worth the effort.

I'll take pix as I go through this little experiment of Bikram Boxing (hmmm......that sounds like a killer crossover gym to me).  Follow along! Let's get fit! Or at the very least let's workout enough so we can drink all the beer we want and not have to buy bigger jeans!

Wish me luck and join me if ya want! Details of the Wench Posse to emerge.



A hovering on the verge of being REALLY sore

Wench
p.s. I'll be at the Bikram studio tomorrow first thing, trying not to cry. It's about the only goal I have in there. Namaste THIS! More on the Bikram mindset (the one where you don't cry within 30 minutes of being in that room) later.