Posted By Jason on July 20, 2010

I think an uphill battle a lot of us small-scale craft breweries have had to face is getting the idea that brewing is a mix of art and science. I’ve actually had people ask me “what kind of machine turns water into beer?”. No beer machines..yet.
A lot of breweries focus on either one aspect or the other; science or art. I tend to view myself as an artist with a good grasp of the science. For me, brewing isn’t about making the exact same beer over and over again, it’s about letting my mood, the ingredients I could get that month and/or even the time of year affect how I brew. For instance, I decided to add Centennial hops to the latest batch of IRA…why, because I like them and I think you will to. Maybe if I like them a lot, I will keep adding them, maybe not. The beer stays the same, so you know that when you buy a bottle or a pint, the quality will be excellent and the flavor will be 95% the same but there also may be a little surprise in that glass for you as well. This goes against everything the the macro-breweries have shoved down consumers throats…beer should be bland, watery and consistent. Beer is a similar food product as bread. Both products are affected by things like yeast, grains, water, herbs and the brewers/bakers finesse in putting them all together. I buy the best ingredients I can afford, and use them regardless of expense (for instance..how many hops I dry hop the IRA with). Cost is more of a side thought but quality and creativity are always on the forefront.
So, if you buy a bottle or pint of IRA and find it not exactly to your liking, send me an email and tell me why you did or did not absolutely love my beer. Also, please be adventurous and buy a bottle from time to time, I’ll try to keep you on your toes.
Slainte
Jason Lavery
jason@laverybrewing.com
www.laverybrewing.com

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Posted By Jason on June 30, 2010

LAVERY BREWING CO  bottles have officially hit the streets. As far as I’m aware, our bottles are for sale at Calamari’s, Brew Thru, U Pick 6 and 6 Pack Shop West. Hopefully Giant Eagle and Wegmans to come soon (i.e. by the end of summer).
Pick one up and check out the awesome label and story!
Slainte
Jason

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Posted By Kate on June 21, 2010

…and soon to be ErieBrewed.

A review of Wells Banana Bread Beer and Ellicottville Brewing Company.

Stay tuned.

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Posted By Jason on May 10, 2010

Friday was one of those days where you curse everyone out cause nothing went right. Maybe you kick the dog for good measure as well. Everyone knows I’m learning my way in this big craft brewing world. No professional experiecne..just passion. A lot of techniques must be reinvented when I want to apply them. Stuff other brewers probably learn about in classes like “Carbonating 101′. Up til now, we’ve pumped our fermented beer over to the ‘brite tank’ and injected co2 into the side and thats how our beer was carbonated. We decided to switch to a traditional form of carbonating used by the British called ‘priming’. Basically the same thing as a bottle conditioned beer – you add priming sugar into the flat beer, seal up the keg or bottle, the yeast eat the sugar you introduced and produce co2 into the sealed vessel. Well on Friday at around 9pm, I decided to give this method a try. I had already bought a special tap that could allow sugar, water, gas, etc to enter the keg via the gas in port. I found a small funnel that fit into the gas in port. I meticulously measured out my sugar, vented the co2 out of the empty keg and poured my sugar into the funnel. Well apparently I didn’t vent all the gas cause the keg ‘burped’ throwing sugar all over my face and eyes. Ok, lesson learned. Once the keg was completely vented, I found the dry sugar was not going down the funnel smoothly. I had to mix the sugar with water. Problem was, I didn’t have sanitary water to mix my sugar with. So, I grab my 1000 mL flask and headed to the Brewerie’s kitchen. Boiled up 1000 mL’s of water and waited for it to cool. Measured the sugar…again. When I went to add the cooled boiled water to the sugar, I find the vessel I measured the sugar in wasn’t big enough to hold the sugar and the water and clearly 1000 mL was not going to be enough to mix enough sugar for 6 bbls of beer. So I promptly said “f%^k It’ and called it a day. I canceled the brew day that was supposed to happen in about 8 hours and left the brewery defeated. Over the course of 2 sleepless nights, I figured it out (Seriously, I dream about this shit every night). At first I was going to give up and transfer the beer to the brite tank and let carbon dioxide win this fight but then i said to myself ‘Jason, are you a brewer or are you a man?’. I didn’t know how to answer that question but figured it out anyway. I would pre-boil enough water to mix all the sugar for the entire batch and re-package the water into sanitized water jugs. I pre-measured all the sugar into sanitary ziplock bags. I figured out a way to insert sugar and also let the keg burp as needed without spewing. We’ll see on tuesday evening if my plan works. If not, I’m transferring to the brite tank. I guess the question is why go through this trouble? Any time you transfer, you pick up oxygen, which is really bad for finished beer. You also run the risk of contaminating the finished product. Also, it’s just super cool. This is pseudo cask conditioned ale, which in my opinion tastes better and has finer bubbles of co2. I like the idea of using as little technologyu as possible to make beer. humans have been doing this for 9,000 years without co2 tanks. Why can’t I? Also, it’s better for the earth; no metal o2 canister to transport. You guys be the judge. Batch #5 IRA should hopefully hit the bars next weekend (May 21) if all goes well Slainte

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Posted By Kate on April 29, 2010

Mark your calendars, folks!

Friday, April 30th ~ 4pm
Where: Six Pack House of Beer West
What: Lavery’s Tasting

Wednesday, May 19th ~ 7p – 9pm
Where: U Pick 6
What: Beer & Cheese Pairings to celebrate American Craft Beer Week.
Signing of the Declaration of Beer Independence
Promotional Material Handouts from Erie Brewing

Friday, May 21st ~ 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Where: Six Pack House of Beer West
What: Beer & Cheese Pairings to celebrate American Craft Beer Week.
Signing of the Declaration of Beer Independence
Promotional Material Handouts from Erie Brewing

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