Brix

What

Retail: wine, beer, spirits, cheese, meats (sausage/deli), and some grocery
Other: bar and meeting/party space

When

Retail: Dec 21 (or as close to it as possible)
Other: bar and meeting/party space to open one month after the retail

Where

Village Pointe Shopping Center
225 N 170th St, Omaha

I had an informal walk-though with Brent Udron at the new Brix store. He showed me the ins & outs, and gave me some information to pass onto the beer readers.

First off, I wanted to level-set. Brix is not a chain or franchise. I believe most people, like myself, have been thinking that. It just happens there are other stores named Brix in the U.S. that specialize in the same thing. This store is locally owned.

The store will carry wine, beer, and spirits. In addition, they will have cheese, some deli meats/sausages, and some grocery (mainly dry goods I believe).

There will be a lounge area in the retail space. I believe there will be the opportunity from time to time to taste wines (via a tap) in the lounge, and maybe even beer in future. The retail store is separate from the bar and meeting/party space. They share the same entrance, but aren’t technically connected together.

The bar (different then the lounge in the retail area) will serve wine and high-end beer on tap. I don’t know about spirits, but I would assume those as well.

The meeting/party space is available to rent out for a variety of reasons. They will have full on-site kitchen facility, along with supporting audio/video devices. I see this being a great place for holiday parties in the future.

The retail space is slated to open around Dec 21. They are waiting on the delivery of specific items they need to open. The bar and meeting/party space will open about a month behind.

There will be approximately 800 different beers available when they open. The hope is Brix will help to add more beers and breweries and to the distribution list are not available in Nebraska currently.

They have an email list on their website (which I told them is a good thing to get going early) and frequent buyer’s card. I signed up for the list a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t got anything yet. I assume they are still concerned with the opening first.

Here’s to more great beer in Omaha!

Extreme Beerfest

I had eluded to this a few months ago, and now the official announcement came out last week. I'm looking forward to the TipTop venue. It's a move that I believe may make this one, if not the biggest, beer festival in Nebraska. There is also a beer dinner the night before the tasting event.

Here are the details I received from the Crescent Moon/Beertopia:

Extreme Beerfest

When: Saturday, February 6 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: Tip Top Ballroom (15th and Cuming, Omaha)
Price: $28 in advance or $33 the day of the fest

Due to overwhelming demand for tickets to this event, we have moved to a much bigger venue. This year’s event will be held downtown in the Tip Top Ballroom across from the new ballpark. 900 tickets are available and due to demand we expect a sellout.

Over 150 of the most extreme beers the world has to offer!...Doppelbocks, Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, Belgian Dubbels, Tripels, Quads and many more rare and unusual beer styles...most beers above 7% ABV

Your ticket gets you a souvenir tasting glass, program, and 4 hours of sampling. Brewery and distributor reps will be onsite to answer your questions.

• Food will be available for purchase on-site
• A free shuttle will run continuously between Beertopia and Tip Top from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Because we care about your safety, we encourage you to book a room at the adjacent Downtown Fairfield Inn. The official hotel of the Extreme Beerfest. Offering a $79 room rate for Friday or Saturday. Make a reservation online by linking from our website or by calling the hotel directly at 402-280-1516 giving the group code : EBF

Purchase tickets at Beertopia, Crescent Moon, or online at www.beercornerusa.com.

Beer Dinner - Extreme Beerfest

When: Friday, February 5 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Tip Top Ballroom (15th and Cuming, Omaha)
Price: $45 (includes four course dinner paired with beer)
Key Note Speaker: John McDonald (Founder and President of Boulevard Brewing Company)

Don’t miss your chance to attend our first ever Extreme Beerfest Beer Dinner. Enjoy a fabulous 4 course meal expertly paired with Boulevard’s Smokestack Beers. President and Brewery founder John McDonald will be on hand to discuss the history and philosophies of Boulevard Brewing Co., one of the largest and most successful craft brewers in the nation.

Seating for this dinner is limited and will likely sell out. Call Beertopia at 402-905-2603 today to reserve your spots.

Collaborative Brew on Tap (Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head)

From the Crescent Moon's Facebook invite:

Time: Thu, Dec 10 from 5:00 pm to 1:00 am
Venue: Max & Joe's Belgian Tavern
36th and Farnam Street, Omaha

This fall independent craft brewers Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head, will release two collaborative beers. Life & Limb and Limb & Life — are dedicated to the family of beer drinkers and enthusiasts worldwide who continue to support the little guys, iconoclasts, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who risk life and limb to shape the vibrant craft brewing community. Over the years, the two brewers -- Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione -- have become friends in the industry. They quickly realized how many similarities they share. Grossman’s history as a craft brewing pioneer and his radical approach to brewing are echoed some fifteen years later by Calagione, through his boundary-pushing innovation and tireless promotion for the cause of craft beer.

Both men started out as home brewers obsessed with beer-making. Both share deep values of sustainability and responsibility. Both share the desire to pass their breweries onto the next generation, and both started out small, from humble beginnings, and built vibrant, creative, beer-centered and fiercely independent breweries, despite the long odds. Their mutual respect, admiration, and none-too-few shared glasses of beer led to the collaborative idea.

Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong beer that defies style characteristics. Brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico. The beer is alive with yeast -- a blend of both breweries’ house strains -- bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska; it is the first beer we know of ever to use birch syrup in the brew. this beer will be available in 24 oz. bottles and limited draft. If stored under good conditions, this rich, full-bodied beer should age well for years.

Limb & Life is a companion to the big beer -- an acorn off the larger tree. It is a 5% ABV small beer, a low-gravity beer made using the residual sugar as “second runnings” from the first larger brew, fortified with American hops. This is a session beer. Its big brother is a sipper. Limb & Life will be a limited draft-only product, a prelude to the bigger beer, available in select bars and restaurants.

The Crescent Moon was chosen as the ONLY bar in Nebraska, and in our Sierra Nevada market 5 state area to receive these kegs to tap. The next closest place will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota!

On Thursday, December 10, 2009 we will tap 10 gallons of each in Max & Joe's at 5pm and pour till it's gone!

We also received 5 cases of the 24 oz bottles of Life & Limb, that's only 60 bottles, that will be available that night for sale in Max & Joe's for you to take home. Due to the limited quantity of the bottles of this beer only ONE bottle will be sold per household.

Come and try these special once in a lifetime brews!

Lucky Bucket Ribbon Cutting & Grand Opening

Map to the brewery/distillery

From their email...

I would like to invite everyone to Lucky Bucket Brewing Company and the Solas Distillery's official grand opening and ribbon cutting. The event will be held on Wednesday, December 2nd at 4:30 p.m. The guest of honor will be Douglas Kindig, Mayor of La Vista, as he will join us for the celebration. This day will also mark the first release of Solas Distillery's Joss Vodka. We will have samples of the vodka for everyone to try as well as Lucky Bucket Pre-prohibition Lager and Certified Evil Ale.
So please stop by and join us for the fun!

See the attached pictures of Joss Vodka, Certified Evil and LB Lager.

Cheers,
Zac
--
Zac Triemert
Co-President
The Sòlas Distillery &
Lucky Bucket Brewing Company
11941 Centennial Road, Suite 1
La Vista, NE 68128

Rock Bottom Gold Medal Tap

Rock Bottom's website

I visited the new brew pub/tap house on Wednesday of this week. Right off the bat, I noticed the service was excellent. Even with my geeky requests, like having them pour a tall head, rather than filling it to the top.

They have eight beers of their own on tap:

Kölsch
Red Ale
Brown Ale
IPA (Hop Bomb)
Stout
Pale Ale
Seasonal Wheat (didn’t check to see what is was)
Brewmaster’s Choice (Amber Ale)

A few comments on the line-up before I get into what I tried. The Pale Ale (ABV 6.2% IBU 45) and the IPA (ABV 6.6% IBU 66) are very similar based on their profiles. Also, I do not understand the point of having an Amber Ale seasonal, if you already have a Red Ale. I would hope they adapt to the market here in Omaha, as I believe we are mature when it comes to our beer palate. I made this point to the manager when he came by to ask how we were doing.

I tried the Kölsch, Pale Ale, and the IPA. The Kölsch (3rd pic from the top) was very nice and true to the style. I wouldn’t hesitate to order this again. I had to try both the Pale Ale and the IPA, just to see why they would have both. Although it’s difficult to have two hoppy beers back to back and differentiate between them, I could not pick up too much of a difference. In my opinion, they should drop the Pale Ale and put in something else.

About half of the ten guest taps were relatively average. However, they did have Delirium Tremens, New Belgium 1554, and Boulder’s Mojo IPA. A little factoid I found out while I was there: Rock Bottom owns Boulder Brewing. This may be common knowledge, but I wasn’t aware of it. I would like to get confirmation on this though.

All things considered, I think it’s a good addition to the Omaha beer scene. Make sure your opinions are heard by the management, as I believe they care and will act upon them.

And the confusion continues...

So as my previous post stated one company is claiming to be the first distillery in Nebraska and now an article is out proclaiming Solas to be the first.

First off, the article is great and really tells the story of "Zac and Company" very well. I contacted Zac in email last week regarding the previous article and who was/is first. He indicated to me that he has corrected everything with the liquor commission indicating that they(Solas) are the first to distillery in Nebraska since prohibition.

I am sure this won't be the last time we hear about this but the cool thing is we have 2 distillers in the state now and things can only get better from here. It is also great to hear that the beer side of things is doing so well for Zac as well.

Congrats gang! Can't wait to try some.

New Distillery in Nebraska - No, another one.

So here I thought Zac at Solas was going to be the first distillery open in Nebraska since Prohibition by a landslide, but apparently someone else has been working on getting one going in the meantime.

Cooper Chase Vodka



The article claims that they are the first distillery to be licensed in the state since prohibition but if I recall I thought the guys over at Solas(Lucky Bucket) have been licensed just have not started producing. We are talking semantics but if you are going to market something this way you better be accurate. I will let Zac and the gang answer this one because I honestly don't know.

I do think this is very cool and the distillery's really couldn't be more different from the sounds of it. The owners of Chase are trained in the American art of moonshining and have taken to the legal side of production. Then you have Zac who is classically trained in the art and science in Scotland, I believe, and has a custom built setup.

I want to be clear, one is not better than the other and I don't mean to hint in anyway that that is the case. I think this is a classic example of the many ways to skin a cat and both of them can work very effectively. The down homey, you can do this in your backyard nature of what the Chase guys are doing is an interesting story as well is the techinical science and history of what Zac will be doing.

Bottomline, Nebraska can support both, both have a niche. Now, who's on first???