The Citizen Cismontane Beer Experience

Progress

2012-01-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks at the brewery. We got the green light to start building our new space and walls started coming down, equipment got on trucks and the jackhammers started pounding away. The whole Cismontane extended family has been chipping in and we have made progress. If we keep up this pace we will be finished in a few of weeks… maybe. Either way, we won’t rest until the project is done and the beer is flowing again.

Because I know everyone is interested in the stats:

Currently:

1591 sqft (395 tasting room, 1,196 brewery)
75 barrels of fermentation
60 barrels of storage
Production was about 600 barrels last year

Future

3,187 sqft (530 tasting room, 2,657 brewery)
105 barrels of fermentation
90 barrels of maturation / lagering
60 barrels of storage
We are hoping to do about 1500 barrels next year (A whopping 0.6% of Stones Annual Production for 2011!)

Oktoberfest – Californian Style

2011-09-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

It is beautiful time of year in Southern California. The weather is warm the days are long and the transition to fall is just beginning. At Cismontane Brewing we have the added benefit of being on the edge of civilization, as far as Orange County knows it. The back drop of the Saddleback Mountains and the Cleveland National Forest afford some phenomenal views and hiking and mountain biking.

This year is the first year we decided to brew an Oktoberfest beer. Inspired by the season we decided to take advantage of the fact that the California Buckwheat is going to seed and integrate that into the beer. Along with Derek Bougie, head brewer at Newport Beach Brewing we kicked off a new series of beers that will be incorporating native species.

Video by Yoni (he's the man) http://yonisandler.com/

Keg Art

2011-05-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

For those for you that spend any time in the brewery you will know that we are supporters of the arts. If fact we even consider what we are doing, as do some others, an art form. Art in our world includes the various artists that hang their shows on the walls, our handmade tap handles and the fine beers we produce. It doesn't end there…

We have been painting our kegs for some time now. Only a few have noticed. Those that have are generally the folks that handle the kegs at the fine establishments that pour our beers. With the addition of 27 more ½ barrels it was time to crank out a few more Cismontane original works.

The process is simple: Paper off the top and bottom, place a stencil in the gap, name and sign with a permanent pen.

Enjoy…

Tap Handle Re-Un-Invented

2011-02-08T22:20:00.000-08:00

Plastic, resin, molds, factories in China and India… The list goes on. I apologize up front for my tap handles not being an electric guitar with flashing lights held by a sumo wrestler, or a dragon wrapped around a race car holding a light saber breathing ice and fire.

This may sound insane to some, but we make our tap handles by hand. When I say this, I don’t mean they are “handmade”, because as most of us know that could mean anything these days. What I mean is we make them from gathering the wood, sawing it, stamping the brass plate and finishing it. This time, we added brass plates. Oooooo, shinny.

We have become so far removed from the items that we use on a daily basis I can't tell you where what I own comes from; where my shirt was made, beer glass made, my broccoli grown, my beer brewed.

This is part of the reason that we create and build our handles ourselves. When you have a Cismontane tap handle on your tap tower you know where it comes from. Long story short, we added a brass plate and we still build the tap handles ourselves.

Ingredients: Salvaged Wild Fire Wood, Varnish, Steel Bolt, Brass Plate, Hands.

Please enjoy our latest handle creation along with our latest beers.

Holiday Experiments

2010-12-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Experimenting is definitely one of the more fun practices in brewing beer. Flavors, colors, names all that stuff. Around the holidays brewers get especially adventurous with spices and higher gravity beers. We are happy to fall in suit because it’s just a good time.

Ross and I have been brewing holiday beers together for a few years now. Some of you may have had the pleasure of tasting our Dead Santa from last year, mildly spiced brow ale. This year our beer is going to be called Hammered Holiday because, all the spices that went into it had been smashed with a hammer. No kidding.

We also had a batch of stout finish a few days ago so we thought we should do something special and age some on something…. A quick trip down to Wholefoods produced a lot of somethings….

Cherries, cranberries, blackberries, cinnamon, dates, figs, black strap molasses, agave, ginger... the list goes on। Diving right in we started chopping things up pouring stout on them and tasting. A little of this a splash of that and presto, we had some pretty nice flavors. We settled on two combinations.

1) Cherries, blackberries and cranberries
2) Figs and dates

Awesome!

Come to our holiday party and we will be tapping both of these beers and the hammered holiday of course! It will be on 12/18/2010.

Eastern European Beer Collectors

2010-09-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is a strange phenomenon that I really wasn’t prepared for. Another one of the subcultures in the world of things that most of us didn’t know was even out there. What I am referring to are the eastern European Beer Collectors.

No seriously, I get an email almost every day from some die hard beer collector in Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungry, or the Czech Republic. If I was to total all the counts of beer novelties these people claim to have in the emails they write there would be over 100,000 items!

Sometimes I wonder if the emails are even real. They are all written in the same broken English, everyone seems to have about 6,500 items and I always ask them to send me a self addressed stamped envelope so that I can send them something (which I will) and no one ever does. Besides, how did they find us? We are barely even a blip on the beer radar. So, I think to myself maybe this is some kind of scam, but why and for what?

Just when I have convinced myself they are out to get me, someone will send a picture of themselves or their kid with their collection. I love beer, freaking awesome…

MTB Robot Testimonials

2010-07-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

I was hooked up with an awesome MTB crew through a good friend, Andrew Kempe. Because we love mountain biking and they love beer we meshed our passions by providing Coulter IPA for their annual SoCal TrailRiders camping event. Needless to say I would have loved to be there myself to crush beers and trails alike.

One of the coolest things ever: When they returned the kegs and taps and such, they also handed us a book of comments from the riders on the beers! Everyone was super stoked on the beer and our generosity. Apparently what goes around does come around.

I am not entirely sure what came over us but Johnny, you’d recognize him as the dude crushing IPA at the bar or sleeping on our couch, started reading the comments like a robot / Steven Hawking recording. Here are some of the ridiculous recordings for your viewing pleasure.

Day of the Irish

2010-06-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

Live Irish music, and brewing Irish coffee stout what could better! We had one patron so fired up he kept saying "Are you hearing this?" Needless to say he took home growler of beer and some video of the band.

It's funny how things just fall into place sometimes.... We have been running pilots of strong, near imperial coffee stout for the last couple of months. We finally settled on a recipe that kicks ass and ordered the ingredients for a full batch. In all of the preparation of brewing I completely forgot that Pete, my sister’s fiancé and one of our brewers, was coming to play music with his crew of master musicians.

They have been on an Irish folk music kick and it just so happened that I was brewing our stout with Irish yeast! World class musicians and world class beers, it was truly a thing of beauty.

Normally this wouldn’t be such a special thing but it just so happened that they play traditional Irish folk songs and I was brewing a strong stout that uses Irish yeast.

Not Mother's Day

2010-05-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother’s Day, but yesterday was not Mother’s Day, it was Sick-One-Saturday.

Johnny’s thoughts on making stuff to use:
‘The culmination of a creation’s beauty lies in it’s use. This is the precise reason that my favorite things to make by hand are functional. Just as beer is more satisfying out of a hand blown pint glass, a finely shaped glass functions only to it’s full potential when it carries carefully hand crafted beer. Sitting in a brewery owned and operated by close friends while enjoying just such a combination is the polar opposite of drinking a light beer in a plastic cup amongst strangers.’-Johnny

Evan’s thoughts on making stuff to use:
"My friend Johnny is a sick glassblower, and he made these sick cups, and so we wanted to make sure they worked, so we filled them up with sick brew, and they work sick and we slammed beer, sickones. Check the sick sequence of action shots and other sickness. Sick." -Evan

Bottoms up..........

Wet tested and approved for functional applications.

-Happy Mother's Day

Morning Cup of Coffee

2010-04-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am a coffee drinker. This is a statement that I avoided for the majority of my life, but I've been on the bean long enough now that I have come to accept it. In fact I respect it as well, and having learned a little about the business I am glad that the business is moving to a fair trade. This will allow the farmers around the world to get the best price possible for their product.

My friend Nathalie's husband, Dave, is taking this to the next level and roasting his own fair trade beans in Denver and donating part of the profits to the local food bank. The project is called Beneficial Beans. I got to thinking that this would be a great opportunity for us to brew a killer beer and do something good for the community or the world. So, we got some samples of the beans and are running some test batches.

Coming soon to the tasting room.... Imperial Coffee Stout.

The Ribbon is Cut!

2010-04-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

The opening weekend was a hit. Huge thanks to all of you that made it down/up/over to the brewery. We couldn’t have done this without everyone’s support and participation. Family and friends came from all around for the experience, beer, and brewery tours.

Saturday was the main attraction with a ribbon cutting, DJ, raffle, and free snacks! The place was packed with brewery fans and supporters from all over Cismontane California. Kristy Chu, from the Orange County Register, was there and followed up with a great story and pictures.

Sunday was also a blast with more of the same. We sold out of growlers by 3pm and started filling coffee cans and shoes to make up for the lack of supplies. Okay, so we didn’t fill shoes and such, but the growlers are gone for sure.

Thanks again for everyone that came and to the restaurants in the center that helped with catering: The Neighborhood Grill, Celinda's Mexican Food- closed Sunday, Scott's Donuts and Deli, and El Fenix Carniceria.

We are all about great times, good people, tasty snacks, and delicious brews to wash it all down. -Cheers

The Time Has Come

2010-03-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

That's right, the tasting room is open and we are priming the pump for the Grand Opening on April 10th and 11th. We have been open for the last two weekends and, although the opening has been very soft, we have received great support from the community, friends, family and a young neighborly rattler.

Our first beer El Modena, mild (brown) ale with an American edge, has already received a great review from our new friend Ron, the founder of the OC Beer Society. The Peninsular Pale will be hitting the first pallets tomorrow and we are looking forward to more smiling tongues. So try to make it to the grand opening to be one of the first to taste our I.P.A.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be finally moving this project forward with solid products and great people. We are looking forward to the day that all of you make it in if you haven’t already!

Brew Days

2010-02-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that these days are really here. After all the blood, sweat and tears it felt like we may never see the day where we put all of this hard labor and equipment to work for us. But the day has come.... and don't think for a second that it was smooth sailing.

We crammed to get everything ready for the weekend. Mr. Stewart pulled out all the stops and had all the brewing materials lined up to arrive Friday morning. I was enjoying a brew and chatting about the brew day to come with my friend Laura and her family when I got the call, the grain didn’t show. Bummer.

Believe it or not there are some great people (and great brewers) in this World. One shining example is Patrick Rue from The Bruery. The man hooked us up and supplied us with the grain we need to get through our first batch, saving us days of waiting time.

Once up and running everything went surprisingly well. The brewing went off without a hitch and the wort was looking pristine during the whirlpool when the pump crapped out at about midnight. Bummer x2. We had to bypass the heat exchanger, it took 48hrs to cool and let’s just say we are a bit skeptical about the fermentation, although it seems to be kicking ass.

All in all everything is working well with a few more bugs to work out. Now on to batch 2, chocolate vanilla swirll…

It's just a little paint right?

2010-02-10T20:22:00.001-08:00

Uh, ya... like four days worth. This was the biggest surprise to us from the health board. "You guys like painting, right?" uhhhhh "Of course we do! Ceilings are our favorite!"

Truth of the matter is everything went very well and if a little white paint is going to make it possible for us to brew, consider it done. 5 guys 5 days, done.

A couple more loose ends to tie down including our city permit and that’s it. With all that behind us we are getting ready to whip up our first batches this weekend.

The Ominous Rain

2010-01-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today brought rain to the brewery. I watched in awe as a river formed and engulfed the planter next to my truck, and then the side walk. As the flash flood approached the door I decided that it was time build a raft, and then the hail started.

As I hastily tied together empty kegs with brewer’s hose, the skylight began to drip on my head. I looked back toward the tasting room and I notice the front window was beginning to burst at the seams. This is the end I thought, as my phone buzzed in my pocket. Sure enough it was a text from the citizen warning me of a tornado notice that was just posted to the national weather service site, fuck.

Well, I thought at least the EverSoft service guy will be here to save my ass shortly. The phone begins another round of buzzing and this time it’s a call… EverSoft dispatch. Apparently, the driver was swept way by the torrential down pour on the 405 in his service truck and wasn’t going to be able to make it, fuck.

That’s when I decided it was time to start loading the animals in two by two. Buzz… another text from the citizen, “There are a lot of wet beavers out there today.” I wasn’t sure if I should be pissed off or laugh, doesn’t that asshole know that I’m nearing the end?

This all must be some kind of horrific omen of what is to come tomorrow, inspection day.

-The Cismontane Stewart

The Real Thing

2009-11-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

Our Common Californian is one of the Worlds greatest beers, although it is not known to many. The reality is that it is anything but common and this last batch is just a bit further out of the ordinary. We used about 75% fresh hops, straight off the vine, the real thing.

It a takes quite a bit more fresh hops than dry whole or pellet hops to get the same effect, about 6:1. The hops also impart some very different flavors because the acids and oils have not been degraded during the drying process and there is still water in the flowers.

A unique beer style to California, California Common or Steam Beer, will be one of our staples. We think it is delicious and so do you! We have experimented with all kinds of ingredient and yeast combinations with great results and will continue to do so. I once witnessed a young lady throw out a disgruntled “Shit” when she realized the keg was empty. She refused to drink anything else for the rest of the night. That’s a true Californian!

Yeast Wrangl'n

2009-11-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

That's right kids, we got yeast corrals. May as well be dude ranch with beer hot tubs. Sound good? That's because it is.

These puppies came in from Kansas, and even though I had the flu when they showed up I didn't hesitate to man the forklift. Three tanks at 559.7 gallons of joy a piece. That's a full 1677.1 gallons we can crank out every week.

So put on yer cowboy hat, boots, and get ready to earn your saddle soars. We're gonna be wrangl'n yeast in them there hills. Yeehaw!

Tell ya'll one thing, uncle Rosco sure was fired up on bring'n um home.

The Best Place to Put Your Beer

2009-10-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's sensationalist, inspiring and down right radical. What did you think? This is some kind of joke?

Look we are as dead serious about beer as the next guy and we built this bar to prove it. Red oak, birch, and mahogany make the skeleton of this fancy beer stand. If we have our way it will hold up the occasional wine glass as well.

All in all we had a blast building this puppy and will hopefully have more fun using it.
What do they say in Hollywood.... oh ya "For Your Consideration"

Burn Baby Burn!

2009-09-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

No... I'm not just talking about what I did to myself this weekend although; I did have the pleasure of experiencing the 1st and 2nd degree flavors of burn. Don’t worry, it was nothing major.

What is far more interesting and brewery relevant is the ridiculous heat generating machines that we installed over the last few weeks. I think that we are getting close to 500K BTU in fire power, literally. Check this puppy out. It’s a venerable fire breathing dragon. In fact they call that black part on the top a power burner; essentially it’s a flame thrower. It blows hell fire straight into everything else you see below, which is the chaos containment unit that diverts the explosive force toward the brewhouse.

So the next step is to idiot proof the whole room so I don’t burn myself to a crisp. If the last 72 hours is any indicator of the future, I’m surely screwed.

Rambling

2009-08-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you that know me, I am no stranger to rambling. I didn't rock the mutton chops from my past but I man handled this truck like the roadman veteran that I am. I'm not sure if its the long hours behind the wheel or the stand up folk at the truck stops across America but I have a hard time turning down a ramble.

Yes, it is very long... did I mention long?

Indians made it, in the central valley, an hour away from Bakersfield, at a truck stop. Are you scared of curry?

Gee, that's one big can of beer. Will you be my friend?

Could I have a side of sick ass Impala with my brew?

The crazy thing was that we had an easy 6" on the average semi, striking fear in the hearts of men passing under bridges anywhere close to 14'6".

The Bud "factory" gets no sympathy, no matter the hour.

These dudes, Jason and Jason, are technicians, hands down the sickest equipment movers around. But, wait.. is that 97 kegs?! Rosco moved those 3 times that day, ladies be afraid... biceps here I come.

It glorious! Despite the worlds best efforts to slow us down, every once in a while it provides us a chance for progress. It might not be a cure for cancer or get rid of your ex-wife but what were doing might take the edge off. - Cheers

Before and After - Bathroom

2009-08-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'd say the shitter is about 85%. Done or not, it was our first tile job, and boy did we need it. It took about two days, one upset stomach, and nearly carnal knowledge of our not-new toilet to get it done. Please excuse the lack of tact in the following post, sometimes you just need to stoop to a lower level to get your point across.

Bottom line is that bathrooms are bathrooms; there is nothing sanitary about them. Yes, people wash their hands, face and whatever else they can fit in the sink there, but that is only for one reason: they have to. The reality is when you do your business in there, a little bit at a time, it gets everywhere. Linoleum is strong stuff, but after ten plus years of action you better believe something is going to soak through. While peeling up the floor, with gloved hands brandishing a crowbar, I hit a soft spot in the linoleum releasing a 'special' smell that will be forever imprinted in my mind. "Don't puke, don't puke," was all could think as I stumbled away audibly gagging. I have a pretty strong stomach, but I couldn't go near that place till I had the front door open and a fan in hand. Like a shield fending off a fire breathing dragon, that fan was my holy reliquary of safety. I think I nearly didn't escape with my health.

Day two... tile. Tiling a floor is no joke, you're on your knees for hours laying goup and setting tiles. Not only is it back-breaking work but it's messy and finicky, and when you are working in the bathroom, toilets are involved. When I say involved, I mean face smooshed on the side of, and sweaty arms wrapped around, we're talking hands freakin' on. At one point I was sitting on the toilet backward, no seat cover mind you, bear-hugging the upper-deck to take some measurements and placing a few tiles. "Dude! Ross, check me out! Talk about hugging the toilet!" Cracking up, Ross said, "Yeah, I don't think you could be closer to that thing if you were puking in it."

All in all we got the job done, almost. It still needs to be grouted and the base needs to be done, but it's looking great and I'm feeling like I trekked across the Bog of Eternal Stench during the rainy season. For those of you in this world that do this kind of thing on a regular basis, my hat is off to you.

You call that a brewery?

2009-08-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hell yes! We do apologize for the stature, however... We have been working so hard on this puppy so hard that we almost forgot why we are doing this. Ah yes, brewing beautiful, delicious, aromatic beer. With the brewery torn wide open and construction in full swing we decided it was time to whip up a batch as a friendly reminder that we are on the right track. So, we busted out the old home brew gear and got to it.

It doesn't take much to get you fired up. As soon as the mash fills the room your nerves settle and your mind relaxes. There is something about the aroma of malted grain that sooths the soul, the bright fresh scent from hops that widens the eyes and that rolling boil that gets you excited even at this diminutive stature.

All in all, it was a good end to a great weekend of progress. Bar framed, Storage built, legacy equipment removed, and plumbing capped we are ready to move on to the next stage.

Post Prohibition Bureaucracy

2009-06-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

You have got to be kidding me with the paper work! 47 pieces of paper, 4 hours and 1 interrogation later we finally submitted our request and application to the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) for our small brewers permit. I’m pretty sure the only good thing about the ABC’s paper pushing boot camp is that it must weed out some incompetence. You have to be at least somewhat capable to do it with any success. I say “any” because as far as our processor could remember no one has ever done it right the first time.

In the end of it all, we did get our ABC notice up in the window of the brewery site this weekend.

Next stop, the Feds… This one is only 30 pages or so but you don’t have anyone to hold your hand when you have to complete everything all over again. Bummer.

“Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.”

-Will Rodgers

What does it all mean?

2009-05-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes questions provide more answers than the answers themselves. For instance: What is brewing? Cismontane?

These are pertinent questions that begin to provide a sip of background into what we are doing by the barrel, what we believe you know in your bones, what your eyes absorb as their daily bread, and what is delicious by the pint. For context let’s just start with the obvious, BREWING.

If you read that, good now you know what brewing is not. What it is, is a combination of art, science, history, food, and self-sacrifice in fluid form optimized for human (and some animal) consumption.

Cismontane (see the paragraph “Geographical regions”) is truly diverse in individuals, is the foundation of a culture coveted, the tactile beauty of urban and ecological wonder, and the fundamental roots of our experience. The magnetic draw of this geographical region is measured by what is possible and what has been accomplished.

But honestly, who cares? The citizens cismontane do, and so should you. We stand proud in our beliefs and where we are, like mesoic granite protruding at the base of a continent, forcing the flow of the Sespe River to the sea. We travel our domain like nomads of the promise land, beer in hand to quaff the insatiable thirst that follows us from the sand on the beaches to majestic mountain peaks, from the golden grass and oak savannahs to the chaparral climbing the cliffs above the pacific. This is where we reside, flourish, live, struggle, and preserver.

This marks the beginning of our brewery, and the beginning of something beautiful. A culmination of cultural experimentation passed down through the centuries that finally fermented into what we call Cismontane Brewing Co.

Mash that in a pot full of hand crafted malted grain, boil it with fresh flavorful hops, release the yeast to bring us into fruition, and when it is all said an done… pour a pint and enjoy what you have come to know as home.

Cheers to all… any questions?