More progress at the new location...

Things are moving right along... the sprinkler system is up and operational, concrete's been poured, and the electricians and plumbers are working on the taproom area. We bought a good used cooler at an auction today (RIP Rosario's, sorry to see you go), that will go behind the bar to hold kegs for serving the taproom. This week we will knock out an opening in the back wall of the brewery to get ready for the new brewhouse, which will arrive next week! If you happen to drive by the new location on next Tues or Wed, you may see a crane and several trucks, delivering our new 40 bbl brewhouse! Just don't try to talk to me, because I will be sweating bullets and biting fingernails, hoping we get them unloaded and inside the building with no problems. It's going to take two cranes and a lot of rigging, but it's not going to be as hard as getting tanks into our Marathon location has been!

Yazoo Fall Fest beer debut at the Flying Saucer

We've never done an octoberfest-style beer before. Come out to the Flying Saucer in Nashville, and the two in Memphis (Cordova and downtown) tomorrow night, Wednesday Sept 30th, for a special tapping of our newest beer, Yazoo Fall Fest. The Saucers will be running a special package deal all night on this new Yazoo creation - buy the special ONE LITER mug and you'll get to take it home, along with a special Yazoo Octoberfest t-shirt for the first 100 people. If you aren't lucky enough to be in Germany right now, strap up the lederhosen anyway and come on down to your local Flying Saucer tomorrow night!

www.beerknurd.com

Award for the best t-shirt at the Asheville Brewers Fest

As always, it was a blast to see all our brewer friends at the Asheville Brewer's Fest this past weekend. Our Hop Project continues its march across the southeast, drawing converts all along the way. A lot of people came by telling us it was the best beer they had at the fest. And as always, the t-shirts at Asheville always are the most creative. See how long it takes you to get it - it took me a minute.

Hop Project #21, Return of Fresh Hop, out in bottles

Identified by the notches on the label, bottled 3rd week of Sept.

It's pretty easy to describe the hops in this beer. Bittered to about 100+ IBUs with Amarillo from the 2008 harvest, and dosed with 200 lbs of fresh, wet hops from the 2009 harvest. This is an Amarillo bomb!

Scroll down to the last few posts about this beer to see how we made it and the story behind it!

Yazoo Hop Project #21, Return of Fresh Hop, on tap this Thursday Sept 16 at Yazoo Taproom

Become One with the Hop at the Yazoo Taproom this weekend as we unwrap the freshest, most incredible hop experience ever. This is probably the best Hop Project we have ever made. It's not the most aggressive, not the most in-your-face beer. It's kind of like the pretty girl next door, friends, nothing more - until you realize you are madly in love and can't stop thinking about her. This beer starts with a juicy-fruit aroma, nicely balanced with some sweet toasty malt notes. The first sip is deceiving, as you think, "This is not overly hoppy, nicely balanced..." Then, as you swirl it around in your mouth and swallow, the waves of bitterness hit, and hit, and hit, pitching you like a surfer who didn't quite make the 'pipe...

If you ever wondered what exactly Amarillo hops do for a beer, this is your one-stop shop for Amarillo flavor. We bittered it with Amarillo hops from last year's harvest, and then started adding over 200 lbs of fresh-off-the-vine, airlifted from Yakima valley the night before, wet Amarillo hops from my the best hop-growing connection , Darren Gamache. As anyone who follows Yazoo knows, I love Amarillo hops. I would shoot Amarillo hops straight into my veins if that was practical.

Luckily for me and you, this latest Hop Project is a much better way to become one with the Amarillo Hop. This absolutely will not last long, because we only made one batch and we are bottling half of it. The bottles will be out in store soon... but honestly, something this good needs to be experienced on tap fresh at the source. Please come out to the Yazoo taproom this weekend, and save me from drinking it all myself!

Oh, they're real, and they are spectacular...

The freshly picked Amarillo hops arrived via Fed Ex yesterday morning, and we had a brew in the kettle waiting for them. We decided to make our next Hop Project, #21, using only Amarillo hops. It made for a very long day and night but it will be worth it! Look for this batch to be out in both kegs and bottles by mid October!

Brandon's Beer for Mark

Brewers are a tight-knit community. One of the things that convinced me to become one was how open and supportive most brewers were that I met along my path to opening Yazoo. So when the comunity of brewers in Nashville, homebrewers and professionals alike, heard what had happened to a fellow brewer in Knoxville, we knew we had to do something to help him and his family.

Mark Moynihan, an assistant brewer at Calhoun's Brewery in Knoxville, was critically burned in a welding accident inside a tank at the brewery. He was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital's Burn Unit with third-degree burns over 98% of his body. His doctor gave him a 2-3% chance of surviving. During a monthly brewer's meeting, we decided to auction off the right to brew a homebrew recipe on Yazoo's system, and to put the beer on tap in our taproom, with all the proceeds going to Mark for his medical bills. Brandon Jones, a top-notch local homebrewer and the news director at Channel 5 news, bid the most for the chance to brew his award-winning "Hop Blaster" ale at Yazoo. Unfortunately, Mark passed away on June 23rd after 74 days of fighting. We went ahead with the brew with the hopes that the money raised would help support Mark's wife, Kim.

Please join us this Friday Sept 4th as we tap Brandon's Hop Blaster, with all the proceeds going to the fund for Mark. For more info see http://markmarathon.blogspot.com/

Hop Project #20 out in bottles, and on tap this Thursday

Bottles marked as "Bottled on week 1 in September": For #20, we used Zeus as mash hops, then First Gold and Galena at the beginning of the boil; Ahtanum and First Gold at 30 minutes; and Cascade and Ahtanum with five minutes left. We then dry-hopped with Ahtanum.

It's not as dank as #19 was, and the bitterness is very Cascade-like. Ahtanum is sometimes recommended as a substitute for Cascade so we tried it as a dry-hop to get a full sense of its flavor. As far as the Zeus - I'm still not sold on using hops in the mash. Sometimes when we try it, we get a mellower, fuller hop flavor, but I'm not picking up that in this Project. But hey, that's why we keep experimenting, and thanks for coming along for the ride. Maybe one day we will hit upon THE ABSOLUTE KILLER IPA recipe and stop experimenting with our Hop Project series, but we are having too much fun with it to stop now.

#21 is going to be the Return of the Fresh Hop. My hop grower friend in Yakima is sending us 200 lbs of fresh wet Amarilllo hops this week. We should be brewing it on Thursday, and it will be bottled the last week of September. If you come by the taproom this Thursday afternoon, your clothes will probably never get the hop smell out of them again. Hop Project #20 in your glass, and #21 in the air. Like that's a bad thing?!

More Sue locations...

Beyond the Edge in east Nashville has "Sue" on tap. That makes three including 12th South Taproom and Broadway Brewhouse in midtown.

Pics from the Last Party of the Summer

What a great night! The weather cooperated, the bands were great, and the beer flowed like a river. Thanks to all the folks who came out to enjoy the night and the great bands. And thanks especially to Space Capone! Just like back on our 5th Anniversary party in November, they rocked the place. Celebrate good time, Yazoo!