Here we are in early March, after brewing and fermenting some fun and interesting beers. The beer styles we envisioned brewing are now all fermented and beginning their next leg of their journey to Chicago. We were very happy with the results in the brewhouse—we hit our target temperatures, gravities, oxygenation and even our yeast cell counts went as planned.
The final recipes included the following beers and qualities:
January is always a fun time at our brewery. It’s the time of year when we begin planning to make beers to be enjoyed by craft brewers across the nation and world. The Craft Brewers Conferences attract over 1000 brewmasters and brewers for seminars, discussions and a trade show for the vendors that serve the craft beer industry. As many of you already know, for the last three years, we have collaborated with friend and Brewmaster Eric Toft of Schönrammer Brauerei in Germany, along with the German Hop Growers Association, to create unique beers that showcase the great hops of Germany. Our first effort was Saphir Bock, brewed for the 2007 Craft Brewers Conference in Austin. It was hoppy and the craft brewers in audience were excited to drink a hoppy bock beer.
For the 2008 Craft Beer Conference in San Diego, we upped the offerings to 3 beers. The Tettnanger Pils and Spalt Select Pils were an interesting exploration of hop aromas and flavors. Many preferred the flavor of the Tettnang and the aroma of the Spalt Select. Others concluded the opposite. That is the fun of it. We also brewed a . . .
Christmas of 1985 I gave Ron a homebrewing kit. Eight years later, on New Years Eve, we convinced our wives to let us write a brewery business plan. So I guess the Holidays will always be tied to big adventures and big ambitions for us.
But ambition and adventure also need a quiet place to be contemplated and appreciated. That place is called ‘home.’
We wish for you to enjoy this time with your loved ones and their gifts to you of support, faith and maybe even BEER.
Many of us realize that the Golden Monkey has been known to incite silliness. But nothing acts sillier than kids with Christmas approaching. So playing around with one of our more favorite Christmas toys at home, Mr. Grinch, I was inspired to engage his acting talents for a silly scene. My girls willingly filmed my goofy vision for you, adding their own emphasis at the end, which was not on my script but they nailed the idea. How proud that makes me!
As silly as this may be, the notion of ‘Respect The Monkey’ is a wise one.
Which leads me to an announcement. With respect for the life of strong ale in a bottle, we kept a number of cases of Golden Monkey bottled in June of 2002 around for analysis purposes. These were some of the first 750 ml bottles off of our ‘new’ bottling line at the time. Since they had been primed and dosed with yeast at bottling, a bottle fermentation was initiated at that point. We were anxious to assure that that ‘bottle conditioning’ would yield great results. It did in the short term, and the beer was happily enjoyed by us and our audience. But, a fair stash of cases were kept by us for over 7 years now and we’d draw bottles out every so often to see how the flavor was progressing. Having been kept refrigerated for the past 5 years, we feel that the flavor progression has reached a standstill now.
So, time to release the vintage Monkey!
Granny Golden Monkey Gone Wild!?
No, actually, it’s mellower than fresh Golden Monkey, with a very round character full of Golden Monkey vigor, but overall softer with a decidedly honeyed finish. What we have of this is now for sale, only at our retail shop here at Victory.
Why only here in Downingtown, you dear friends from further-flung places ask? Certainly, we are not trying to frustrate anyone, but the reality is that after this long at controlled temperatures, we are not willing to take the risk to roll this out into the brutal world of temperature abuse that can occur on trucks, in warehouses and in brightly-lit retailers. Besides, there really is too little stock to democratically divide over 30 states even if we were willing to take the risk.
So, if you are near to the brewery, come by and treat yourself to a bottle. It’s a available for only a 50% upcharge over our very reasonable standard price. Lots of extra energy cost and TLC in these bottles, you know.
If you are further removed from Downingtown, maybe it’s time you made a friend there who might score you a bottle and wrap it safely in that happenin’ new ‘Respect The Monkey” hoodies I so amply sport in the video.
Vermonters have been vocal for Victory for a few years now and as we have crept north through New England we have always looked forward to this day when we could slake their thirst for Victory! We look forward to serving our friends up there over the many, many years ahead.
But, we must also admit that the great creameries of Vermont have also been a strong draw for us to the Green Mountain state. Ever since our friend Jeff Roberts, author of The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese, introduced us to a few wondrous cheeses from Vermont a few years back, we have been planning our excuses to get there more frequently. Funny what you might fill a refrigerated truck with once it’s emptied of its Victory beer…
Special thanks to our friends Tim and Amy at Forty Putney Rd B&B for helping us introduce Victory in Vermont in style!
Cheers and Cheese, Bill Covaleski Co-Founder/Brewmaster
P.S. For up to the minute info on how you can get your hands on Victory in Vermont, please check out our wholesalers G.Housen
P.P.S. Don't miss our exclusive launch part at Forty Putney Rd on Jan 7th! Space is limited so reserve your spot today.
Dan Keating interviews Bill Covaleski during the Beervan Fest at The Roger Williams Botanical Garden on October 2nd 2009. More on Beervana:
Our mission: To enlighten and educate the community for the responsible appreciation of craft beer. Join us in turning the beautiful Roger Williams Botanical Garden into “the ultimate beer garden” with tastings in conjunction with educational seminars by nationally renowned craft beer luminaries . . .
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:58PM 
