Greetings all,

Yes we’re releasing one new beer in ’18: Rökig Öl Rauchbier that we’re releasing on Friday 12/14 at both locations! I’ve never brewed a Rauchbier before I’m pretty excited about how this one is turning out. 20% German smoked malt (from Best Malz) in the grain bill. Really nice balance with the base dark amber lager malt character and 6.2% abv.

Vice President Tom Christie came up with the name and it means smoked beer in Swedish (harking to brewmaster’s ethnic heritage). So, come on by either location starting at 3 next Friday to try our last new beer for 2018!

Come on by!

Skål,

Jim

Hello all,

Tomorrow (Friday the 7th Pearl Harbor Day) heralds the return of SWEETNESS Imperial Sweet (Milk) Stout, our smash Black Friday release last year! This beer didn’t last long at all at either location last year so we brewed twice as much this year and this year’s batch has turned out quite well and finished out at 8.1% ABV.

Brewed annually for football season and named after the brewmaster’s favorite player ever (Walter Payton), Sweetness is rich, creamy, smooth, dark and dangerous. No matter what team you root for, Sweetness is a delicious dessert beer for the holiday/football season! Sweetness will also be on tap at our Westport Brewhaus at 3pm next Friday. As a Sweet Stout is definitely not for the lactose intolerant.

Meanwhile, only was Walter Payton one of the greatest football players ever, he also started a brewery in the 90s! According to Wikipedia:

“In 1995, he and several partners purchased a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad roundhouse in Aurora, Illinois. The property became known as “Walter Payton’s Roundhouse“, hosting a restaurant, brewery, banquet and meeting facility, and museum. In 1999, the property received an award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[43] The beers brewed at the Roundhouse received awards in the 2000s.”

So, come on in to either location to enjoy the official dessert beer of the Parched Eagle: SWEETNESS Imperial Sweet Stout!

Cheers,

Jim

Greetings all,

I’m writing today to update everyone on the Parched Eagle’s 2018 so far as we head straight towards the end of the year. Basically, from a business perspective it’s a been a tale of two years within one so far:

From the beginning of January through mid-May sales were quite good and we were in the black, starting with an outstanding first quarter (as winter is interestingly our busy season).This culminated with our two anniversary parties in early to mid-May for both of our locations.

Business was so good that in April we were literally running out of beer at both locations as our one barrel brewing system was unable to keep up with demand (a proverbial good problem). So, we pulled the trigger on a two barrel system, which has been serving us quite well as we have gotten the system dialed-in.

We were also planning on having a new contract brewer start brewing 20 barrel batches for us in mid-June, starting with Crane Ale APA. This would have included six packs in bottles.

However as soon as the weather became consistently warm in mid to late May we experienced a precipitous decline in sales (at least 25%) that lasted through the summer and into the fall. We usually experience a lull in the summer, but this year has been especially difficult. This included ill-timed equipment failures in late summer.

As the weather gets colder sales are picking up but, honestly, we are in a financial hole here in mid November. This means that we can’t afford to have a contract brewer come on board for us to help get our products out in the marketplace (a central business goal for this year).

How can you help? Come in to either of our locations to drink our beer! Sounds easy/fun enough, huh? Another way to help is to spread the word about us. We don’t have much of a marketing/advertising budget so word-of-mouth is an important outreach tool for us.

I am quite happy with the beers we have on tap at each location this week, including the return of our namesake  Kölsch last Friday. This is arguably the best batch of our Kölsch yet and nicely rounds out the tap selection at both locales:

Parched Eagle Golden Ale Kölsch

Catcher’s Mitt India Brown Lager

Alferd Black Rye Imperial Saison

Utopian w/Mosaic Imperial IPA

Hop-Bearer w/Mosiac IPA

DIPAer Danky Double IPA

Burgeoning Goth Queen Oatmeal Stout

–Something for everyone, we think (hope). Next up for Black Friday: a very limited release of GERONIMO Imperial Stout at both locales!

And, on Saturday evening our charming Taproom at 1444 E. Wash was visited by fine folks from The Old Fashioned restaurant. They posted this outstanding comment on Instagram on Sunday:

“A shared space. It’s a weird space. But here, it’s about the beer. It’s not about hipster food, rooftop views, retro swag, carefully designed crowler labels, or anything promotional. This place is an epitomization of the full rejection of the phony commercialism currently shrouding beer culture. Here, they lead with exceptional beer, and it stops there.”

I shared this with my main business partner Tom and our outstanding bartender Robert yesterday: we all agreed that this comment sums us up perfectly! To it I add that within the context of our no frills yet nice/comfortable/friendly environs at each location a nice sense of community exists. So, please do come on by!

Cheers,

Jim

Hello all,

This Friday CATCHER’S MITT India Brown Lager returns on tap at both locations as Major League Baseball’s division playoff series get under way! This annual autumnal release has been quite popular and the ’18 batch is showing considerable potential. A couple of years ago Bryan Richgels of the Mason Lounge asked me if I’ve ever heard of an “IBL” (I hadn’t) and suggested that we brew one and indeed we have! Weighing in at 7% abv, Catcher’s Mitt is kind of like a fairly hoppy American Brown Ale (or more accurately an India Brown Ale as IBL implies) fermented with lager yeast so it has a nicely clean/crisp finish. Nicely dry-hopped with Amarillo, too. All hail October baseball with Catcher’s Mitt!

And, as tough as catchers’ mitts have to be, this batch of Catcher’s Mitt has overcome a very badly timed (temporary) breakdown of our glycol chiller, leading to (very) warm fermentation temperatures for three days. As a result ’18 Catcher’s Mitt is a bit higher than the target of 6% abv and a tad more fruity. So, also all hail Wyeast Labs’ California Lager yeast strain, which more than admirably handled the inadvertent very high fermentation temperatures for a few days.

Cheers!

Jim