Craft Beer is Gaining Momentum

Homebrewing is not a common hobby in the southern states, especially Louisiana. It wasn't that long ago that it was illegal to homebrew beer in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama! What I am glad to see is the growth of homebrewed beer and craft breweries near our home.

The American Brewers Association released the numbers for 2013 craft beer sales. Craft brewing is a growing industry nationwide.


Soon C'est Bon Biere will add to these numbers.

This growth is becoming evident in southern states too. New Belgium Brewing (Fort Collins, CO) is building a new production facility in Ashville, NC. Abita Brewing Company recently completed an expansion that doubles their brewing capacity. Lazy Magnolia Brewing (Kiln, MS) is in the process of an expansion that will extend their distribution footprint well beyond the Gulf coast.

Stone Brewing Company out of California is also looking to begin constructing a brewery east of the Mississippi River. One of the states considered was Alabama. An editorial from the Anniston Star explains how the state has handled the situation.

The three-tiered distributing system is also the law in Louisiana among other states. Here is an over-simplified explanation of how it works (because simple is how I operate).

Currently in states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama there is no "Brand Owner" selling to "Retail Stores". There is no "Brand Owner" selling where the "Brand Owner" brews. States like Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania do not have these systems in place, and they have more craft breweries than most states (especially Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama).

The message that Stone sent to the state of Alabama was clear. Construct your laws to be fair to breweries of all size, especially the home-grown local businesses. I am glad to see the growth that craft beer has realized over the past year, and I can only hope that this trend continues in 2014 as well.

At C'est Bon Biere, we bottled the Shiva Blast Spiced Ale, and we are gearing up for our next homebrew competition. Happy Spring everybody, enjoy a craft beer (spring seasonal beers are coming out), and enjoy a homebrew if you can. Until Next time, Cheers!

Brewing Beer Like the Pros (Shiva Blast Spiced Ale)

There are many ways to brew beer. Most homebrewers begin by purchasing brewing kits, then making beer on the stove. These kits have either dry or liquid sugar extract which had been removed from the grains and condensed.

Sam and I brewed all of our batches up to this point by steeping some grains for color and flavor, then getting most of the sugars from sugar extract. Since we were actually using less grains, less water was needed when boiling the worth. This process is called partial-mash brewing.

After finally upgrading our equipment, we have finally converted to all-grain brewing. No more sugar extract for C'est Bon Biere! Our new system has the capacity to brew up to 10 gallon batches. It includes a 10-gallon hot liquor tank, a 10-gallon mash/lauter tun, and a 15-gallon stainless steel brew kettle. Here is a picture of the entire setup.

Looks like a real brewery now.

It was exciting to brew our first all-grain batch of beer. Once we got all of the valves and hoses leak-free, it was a breeze. It was much different brewing with 14 pounds of grain and 8 gallons of water.



A full mash. This is where the magic happens.

Another interesting thing about this batch of beer was the way we designed the recipe. A very easy to use computer program called BeerSmith allowed us to fine tune the recipe to specific color, alcohol content, color, and bitterness.

This beer was brewed specifically for an upcoming homebrew competition. The only beer category allowed is "Spiced, Herb, and Vegetable Beer". The recipe that we designed is a strong, bitter, German ale infused with freshly brewed chai tea, or as we like to call it, the Shiva Blast! To all of my friends who enjoy watching The League, you're welcome.



We wanted to have some fun creating this beer. It will have a wonderful aroma, mixing chai tea with the hop bitterness. Alcohol will be present in the flavor, with somewhere between 6-9% alcohol by volume.

In the end, I hope our first all-grain batch of beer will be as good as some of our previous batches. With this upcoming completion, the Shiva Blast will be competing head-to-head against the Belgian Missile Crisis. Fingers crossed for some positive feedback from there. Until then, cheers!