Weekend in Scarsdale, NY

"Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." ~Will Rogers

September 9-10: Woke up early and began to rearrange the beer I've collected in my trailer. One bottle of everything is heading to Oregon so I can share it with my husband. The rest I repack into mixed 6-packs that I will distribute as I continue on my journey. Hopefully every brewer that I visit will find something special that they can't get locally in their gift 6-pack from me.

Ellen made a lovely Sunday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and a very nice cinnamon coffee cake. Then it was time for Valerie to dress up in a fancy black party dress and head off to another local Bar-Mitzva party. I guess boys can invite girls to their Bar Mitzvas. The theme of this party was rock and roll. While she was gone I taught her twin Brian several games from my bin including Cathedral, Quoridor and Loot. That was fitting because yesterday when he was off partying at a Bar-Mitzva I taught the same games to Valerie.

Then I spent a few hours going through a stack of old photos with my Aunt Pat (photo above). She's my father's eldest sibling and is still pretty feisty at 88. As we went through the photos, I wrote on the back of each photo who was in the photo, and where and what year the photo was taken.

We called my Pop when we were finished to see if we were supposed to send the photos back to him or if Aunt Pat was supposed to keep them. He said we weren't done with our homework: we had to put all the photos (about 40 of them) into chronological order and slide them into a little photo book. We did, and now Aunt Pat has a small picture book of her life story to show to any and all visitors.

Then it was time for the weekly Sunday dinner at Ellen's mother's house. I got there a bit late because Michael's brother, Peter and his wife Denise showed up at the last minute after being away for the weekend. We literally had 30 minutes to visit. Peter asked me a few questions about my trip and I pretty much spoke at top speed for most of the 30 minutes. I hadn't seen Peter and Denise since 1996, so it was nice to visit, even if briefly.
Ellen's mother is a charming woman with a charming house. Ellen's brother "Uncle Bill" joined us for turkey, mushroom pasta, veggies and salad. Photo above, L to R: Michael, Bill, Ellen, Valerie and Brian.

Photo below, L to R around the table: Ellen, Valerie, Brian, Mother, Teri and Michael.

Back home and time for bed. School for the kids tomorrow. I planned to get up at 7:15 am and get ready for the next leg of my trip.

Morning in Manhattan & Drive to Scarsdale, NY

"Go to your bosom. Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know." ~William Shakespeare

September 8: I'd left a phone and email message last night with Jon's cousin, Cathleen, who lives in Manhattan. She returned my call about 8:30 am this morning, just as I was checking my email messages.

In the middle of Brooklyn Brewery's warehouse in the middle of Brooklyn, I found an unsecured wireless network available, so I "borrowed" it. Nice to have an office right in my trailer!

Cathleen told me which subway trains to take to catch up with her on the edge of Central Park. We went for a nice brisk hike past the folks camped since yesterday trying to snag free tickets to the last "Shakespeare in the Park" of the summer. Then we walked around the reservoir. I'd never been to Central Park. It's a very spendy neighborhood. I really liked it! If I lived in New York City, I'd be lusting after some digs nearby. (Photo of us in Central Park above. Note Manhattan skyline in the background.)

After our hike, Cathleen treated me to lunch at a trendy bistro called "Nice Matin." She picked the place because it had a great beer menu. How thoughtful!

During our walk, Cathleen had told me what her favorite beers were: Several brands of imported lagers that come in green bottles. She's a foodie, so I thought I could turn her on to some more interesting beers. Since she already liked bottled beer, I ordered two draft beers from Belgium. (Photo of us at lunch below.)

Cathleen enjoyed our Wit and Belgian Golden ales. But she was intrigued by the Saison DuPont stories I told her; how it played a role in Jon's and my courtship. Since we were talking too much to eat quickly (okay, that was me), we ordered the bottle of Saison DuPont to enjoy with the second half of our meals. Cathleen liked the Saison DuPont best of all. Score!

After lunch I got a quick tour of the apartment Cathleen shares with her son William, and then I took the train back to Brooklyn.

Back at the warehouse, I got the trailer and van road-ready, then the warehouse manager directed me as I backed my rig at an angle out of the warehouse. Whew! I did it. I sure didn't want to have to disconnect the trailer to push it out.

The drive from Brooklyn to Scarsdale, New York, was like a roller-coaster ride. My knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel; the lines painted between the lanes were 50% closer together than they are on any freeways in California or Oregon, so I had the added thrill of wondering when that semi-truck in the next lane would shear off my trailer mirror-extensions. The highways seemed to be under construction so the lanes were rerouted with sharp turns that wove in and out of what should be the road's shoulder. The van and trailer bounced up and down over the bumps of the road's zig-zag transitions. They sounded like a squeeky bed.

Arrived in Scarsdale in good shape. Not me - the van and trailer. My cousin Michael expertly backed my rig into his narrow driveway. I met his twin children, Brian and Valerie, both 13, whom I had not met before. The last time I saw Michael was when he and Ellen were married in 1984. They have an extended family, as Michael's mom, my Aunt Pat also lives with them. Michael grilled big juicy BBQ ribs for dinner, Ellen made home-made German potato salad with vinegar and bacon, and we sat down to a fine dinner.

Brian missed the feast. He was dressed to the teeth and off to a Bar-Mitzva party, a type of event that happens quite often in Scarsdale. The Bar-Mitzva's theme was Monte Carlo gambling, and I don't think Brian missed our little feast one bit.

Pink Boots at Brooklyn Brewery

"Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future." ~Charles F. Kettering

September 8-9: Ah yes, he's still the champ: Nobody can do "The Garrett" as good as Brewmaster Garrett Oliver can. Point proven in the photo above.

After my shower and mash-in at Southampton Publick House on Long Island, I was off for Brooklyn. I took the photo at right while just driving into Brooklyn. I liked the pink graffitti heart on the back of the semi-truck!

I arrived at Brooklyn Brewery without incident. Garrett had a parking spot all picked out for me in their warehouse. He rode with me as we circled the block, waiting for a big truck to leave after loading up with Brooklyn's beers. Garrett had me pull straight in, between the rows of kegs.

The photo at left shows where I was parked for two nights. The warehouse got really hot at night, so luckily the warehouse guys were able to hook me up, and I had electricity so I could run my trailer's air conditioning. If not for Garrett, where would a nearly 30-foot Road Brewer rig park in Brooklyn?

Garrett gave me a full tour of the premises. The detail at right is the old carved concrete ceiling in the delivery entryway of the warehouse.

Garrett set me up with a full line-up of all his tap beers, plus his famous (or soon to be famous) "Local One," a medium-bodied Belgian-style beer. Garrett didn't shoot for any particular Belgian style with this beer. In fact, Garrett likes to ride the line between American and British with his straight ales, and he likes to be a little un-style-able with most of his beers.

I had generous pours in front of me, and I'd skipped lunch, so I was feeling pretty good by the time we jumped in Garrett's car to head to Manhattan for dinner.

Garrett only learned to drive about ten years ago. When you grow up in Manhattan, you hardly need to have a car. Garrett must have attended the "Italian Taxi Driver School of New York Driving." He's good in a scary way. Many years ago I attended the "Wisconsin Country-Bumpkin School of Small Town Driving," so I would never attempt the professional driving moves that Garrett was able to pull off. I took the photo at left as we drove across the bridge into Manhattan.

Garrett took me to The Spotted Pig, a highly popular dive foodie bar where Garrett's buddy, Mario Batali is an investor. I think Garrett knows every famous food, beer, and wine person in New York City. Garrett's beer was on cask so we ordered glasses of that and some Local One too. Garrett suggested the Gnudi, which were like Gnocchi, but stuffed with cheese. I said let's go easy on the cheese as I'm allergic to it. We ended up with several cheesy dishes but I didn't make a fuss. Sometimes in the name of gorgeous and delicious food you have to suffer with allergies just a little.

After dinner Garrett suggested we walk to the Blind Tiger, one of his favorite New York beer bars. (Photo at right.) We enjoyed 4-ounce tastes of a very strong English beer that had been aged in a Port wood barrel.

At that point I was hankering after a sour beer, and Garrett surprised me with an oak-aged Belgian-style sour red ale made in Italy. Who'da thunk it?

I took a photo of the bottle's label so I could remember it. I wanted to recommend it to Chip Hardy, the proprietor of Eugene's multi-beer "The Bier Stein." The name of the Italian oak-aged sour Belgian was "Panil Barriquee." The photo turned out as blurry as I felt, so I'm not posting it here.

The next morning I meandered across the street to the brewery and met up with Tom Villa who was about to mash off the single brew of the day. Then I hung out with lab guy Dan Peterson. Christopher Basso was busy with Brooklyn Brewery's current Intern, Kristoph, who was visiting for 5-weeks from Weihenstephan's brewing school in Freising, Germany.

Some of the guys brought sack lunches, but Garrett will often do a lunch run to fetch lunch for himself and the other brewers. His call today? Half-pound hamburgers from the famous Peter Luger Steak House. Wow! Yummy. And filling.

After lunch I took over one of the computers in Brooklyn's offices upstairs to work on my blog and emails.

Popped down just as all the brewers were about to head home. They'd already changed out of their work uniforms. Kristoff took the friendly photo at left and the photo at the top of this page.

Garrett helped me figure out my route to Scarsdale for tomorrow, and also told me about the closest train/subway station.

Soon it was 6:00 pm and time and time for the weekly "Brooklyn Happy Hour." (Photo below.) It was slow at first but heated up quickly. Garrett stuck around for a few hours, a rarity for him, and the other brewers came back to hang out for awhile.

Brooklyn Beer's Happy Hour is a happening Friday night hot spot for this up-and-coming neighborhood. Folks of all stripes and tatoos bring their babies and their thirst for $3.00 pints of Brooklyn's best.

Where else in Brooklyn could you get a pint for $3.00? After the crowd and noise surpassed my tolerance level, I retired to the peace and quiet of my trailer in the warehouse across the street and read a book.

Thank you to Garrett for gifting me a mixed case of Brooklyn Brewery's beers.

Pink Boots at Southampton Publick House

"There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by." ~Annie Dillard

Sept 4-6: Departed Newtown around noon and drove straight to the ferry at Bridgeport, Connecticut. The photo at left shows my van & trailer first in line 3. Photo below left shows the view off the back of the ferry. I wrote blog posts on my computer during the 75 minute crossing.

Drove straight over to Southampton with no incidents. Brewer and Regional Sales Rep Spencer Niebur met me at the Southampton Publick House bar, and had me park in their parking lot across the street.

Then Spencer was kind enough to take me on a sunset drive. We saw giant estates, a beautiful white sand beach (Spencer said it was rated one of the top three in the nation), and a great view of the sunset over one of the marshes where all those famous Long Island ducks feed. Photo at left is the beach, and photo at right is the sunset.

I can see why "The Hamptons" are so popular with the rich and famous. The area is just beautiful. The houses are cute, the shops are trendy and expensive. The restaurants are good. (Everything I ate at Southampton Publick House was outstanding.) And the beaches are stunning.

After my tour, we went back to Southampton Publick House and Exectutive Chef Carl whipped us up some items he is working on for future Beer Dinners. Our first course was Blue Crab on half an Avocado, served with Southampton's Double White, an extra strong Belgian Wit. The entree was Pork Loin marinated in Southampton's IPA. After grilling, it was dipped in honey and maple syrup then put under the broiler to carmelize. This was served on top of mashed sweet potatoes and winter greens with a maple-honey sauce. This entree was designed to be served with Southampton's Pumpkin Ale, but instead we had it with their Grand Cru, which was full-bodied and robust with a caramel sweetness.

The next day Spencer was busy with sales calls all day, so I worked on photos, blogs, and figuring out how to set up an email newsletter system with Constant Contact. Later in the day I got the photo below of Spencer (left), Assistant Brewer Evan Addario (center) and me in front of the kettle. I had hoped to go on sales calls with Spencer, but because it was right after labor day weekend, a lot of the owners of local restaurants and pubs were out for the day.

For lunch Spencer recommended the Caeser Duck Wrap. The famous Long Island duck (a particularly meaty wild Mallard) was marinated in Caeser Dressing before grilling. It was so good and filling that I didn't even eat dinner that night.

On Thursday morning, the day of my departure, Brewmaster Phil Markowski brewed his Espresso Stout. I got to mash in for a bit myself (photo below left). Phil and I are in the photo at the top of this page.

Phil and his wife are from Connecticut and recently moved back there with their three small boys. That gives Phil a huge commute when he works in Southampton. Phil also keeps busy commuting to the two breweries that contract brew some of his unique Belgian-style beers. One is in upstate New York, and the other brewery is in Pennsylvania.

Southampton is unique among contracting breweries. Instead of just contracting those other breweries to brew Southampton's recipe, Phil actually goes there and brews his recipes on their systems with them. Brewing at three different locations keeps Phil busy. Luckily Spencer and Evan can help him in Southampton.

Other unique features of Southampton Publick House are that the brewing equipment is installed on cement pillars in the basement, which brings the tanks up to eye level of the restaurant. This gives the brewers a little bit of space below the brewhouse vessels.

Southampton's beers are also unique. Phil prides his beers on being eclectic and I agree. He offers a blend of European and American styles, often in the same beer. For some of his classic styles, Phil has pushed them just a little farther. Hence his 7.2% ABV Belgian-Wit-style Double White.

I used to think that Oregon was cutting edge in the beer business. This trip has really changed my mind about that! I hope to bring some of the unique and interesting beer variations and techniques I've seen on this trip, home to Portland. Oregon makes lots of fabulous and interesting beers, but they are not the most unique beers out there today. Maybe I'll get lucky and in my next job I'll be involved in a brewery's wood-aged beer program. You never get what you don't ask for, so I'm putting the good vibes out there for this!

After mashing in, Phil gifted me with a mixed case of his 12-ounce beers, and a mixed case of his very special 750-ml Belgian-style beers. Sorry, I'm saving the big bottles for when I next see my husband Jon, so I'm not sharing any of them.

Thank you to Brooklyn Brewery for letting me borrow a computer in their office to write and post this blog.

P.S. I have given away approximately 600 business cards so far on my journey. I only have 200 left, so I just ordered 500 more. I still have two months to go on this 5-month road trip.

Pink Boots at Ommegang

"Don't rule out working with your hands. It does not preclude using your head." ~Andy Rooney

July 31-August 1: Drove from Rochester to Cooperstown in about four hours. It takes other folks three hours, but dragging the trailer behind my van slows me down. Got off I-90, the NY Throughway, onto NY Route 28 which curved and turned and took corners through all sorts of very small towns. Once I got off I-90, the Route 28 appeared to go up and up.

I filled up with gas at the McDonalds-Mobil station on the north side of Richfield Springs. That's where I took the photo of this live bait vending machine (below right). Dave Web Enterprises should franchise to Oregon, although Oregon is more a catch-and-release and fly fishing state than a live bait state. Inside the McD-Mobil I found an exact replica of New Holland's Elvis, except of course this one didn't dispense beer. I also found some gourmet sodas and I can report that Saranac Ginger Beer is nice and spicy with a fresh ginger bite, but personally I would have preferred more bite and less sugar.
Kept driving up and down hills, through small farming towns, and around lakes. Even saw an Amish family travelling down the road in their horse and buggy.

Apparently Cooperstown cellebrated their annual induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame last weekend, and I am glad I missed the crowd. Considering how far out in the boonies Cooperstown feels, it looks like a nice small town and a lot of the houses are very cute with gingerbread woodwork under the eaves and around the front porch posts.

Arrived at Ommegang after most of the staff had retired for the evening. Only brewers Mike McManus and Wes Nick were left, brewing the last of the six batches for the week. They were both pulling a 12-hour, 6:00 pm to 6:00 am shift. If you haven't already figured it out, brewers work very hard to bring you your libation!

I didn't hang out with them as I hadn't spoken with Director of Production, Phil Leinhart yet, to find out what was kosher for me to do during my visit. Every brewery has things they are comfortable with me doing and seeing, and I aim to make no enemies during my visit. Therefore I missed participating on the last brew of the week.

However, Mike and Wes brought me to Ommegang's tasting room and set me up with a real glass (no plastic cup for the road brewer) and a bottle of their current limited release, Ommegeddon. This beer is on the trucks headed all over the country as I write. If you buy some, buy two bottles because this beer will continue to change over the next two years, and you'll want to save a bottle for later.

The base of this beer is similar to the Ommegang Abbey, however it has been infused with Brettanomyces and dry hopped. The extra hops is subtle, but the Brett is definitely present. As QC Manager & Brett-Wrangler Jason Parrish told me, you have to be patient with Brett. Jason thinks most American breweries overpitch the Brettanomyces, but Jason likes it to grow and flower and slowly develop its characteristic horse-blanket, copper-penny flavors and aromas.

Now, if you haven't tasted a beer with Brettanomyces before, this is a good starter Brett beer because the Brett character is still fairly subtle. You may think the beer reminds you of the flavors in a slightly funky French or Italian wine. Then wait six months or a year (or two) and try it again. Voila! Mondo funkadelic. But not now. Now it is baby-barely-funk.

I'd parked in the back of Ommegang's country rural gravel parking lot. I opened my trailer door about 8:00 am and the sun was low behind the hill of trees, it's bright light muted with field fog. I put on my pink boots and looked for Phil, who had been my email contact. Phil had a full day ahead of him because he and his crew were installing a brand new labeller.

Phil's been in the brewing industry for a long time, starting at small brewpubs in New York City, spending some time at Anheuser-Busch, and now at Ommegang brewing a completely different kind of beer.

Phil had me job shadow Joe Poliseno who was training Andre Demidenko. Photo at right was taken from the second floor. Andrew in red, Joe in green. Note the gift shop right in the middle of the cellar at lower left next to Joe. That's nuts!

Then Brewmaster Randy Thiel took me to join a sales rep tasting/training session where we tasted four non-Ommegang Belgian beers that their distribution arm sells. That was fun because I was able to help provide descriptive words that the sales reps might use at a tasting or beer dinner.

Randy began working for Ommegang ten years ago, just before they opened. He worked under a Belgian brewer who got homesick, then was promoted to top brew dog. Not only did Randy attend Siebel, he attended the Brewmaster program at U.C. Davis. And he's a fellow Wisconsinite/Cheesehead, as am I.

Next we tasted a test batch of Ommegang's next limited release, a Belgian Chocolate Stout. How it tastes is a secret until they hammer down the recipe.

Ommegang is busy preparing for a huge expansion that will occur within a year, or so - these things are moving targets. They are also busy with summer tourists who come to Cooperstown for baseball or the lake, and then visit the brewery. Lots of tourists.

By the time we took the photo most of the brewers were gone so we grabbed the packaging crew for the photo. They were mostly cleaning today because of the labeller installation. In the photo at the top of this page, L to R, Top: Jason Parrish, Mike Weller, Phil Leinhart, Andre Demidenko, Teri and Brett Frasier. Bottom: Randy Thiel, Jim Gott, Justin "Scooter" Backus and Casey Morris.

After work Randy took me to dinner and then gifted me with some of Ommegang's unique Belgian-style beers. No driving tonight. Burlington, Vermont is about six hours away at the pace I can drive. Good night.

Pink Boots at Rohrbach

"Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us." ~Thomas Browne

July 30-31: Drove from Buffalo to Rochester, New York. The van was working hard, so it felt like the drive was all up hill. The landscape looked drier with shorter crops and less corn. Rohrbach's Brewmaster, Jim McDermott and his family were headed to the AAA minor league Redwings game, but I passed in favor of a quiet night in the camper.

I parked in Rohrbach's gravel lot and read the Great Lakes Brewing News cover to cover, as well as Animorphs #19. Yes, I read books written for teenagers, and I love them. Jim arranged dinner for me in the pub so I was well taken care of.

The next day Jim started work at 7:00 am and I joined him shortly after that. We spent about an hour brainstorming Rohrbach's impending move. Now, I've spec'ed and opened four brewpub breweries from scratch, and I've modified an old Rock Bottom into a Steelhead brewery, but I've never had to move a bunch of 20-barrel tanks to another location when 75% of your production is kegs and the other 25% is sold at the brewpub which will be served by the 7-barrel system that will be installed once the 20-barrel is moved. Yikes!

I made a few suggestions based on how agressively the Rohrbach owners apparently want the business to grow, like labwork and a grain-handling system including a silo. I have my articles on these two subjects on my computer, so I printed out copies for Jim. I will be posting these articles on my website, http://www.terifahrendorf.com/, after I update them. I was able to make a few other suggestions that I thought would standardize production, free-up the brewer from babysitting the brew, or reduce labor. Jim liked my ideas, but it all depends on the owners and their budget.

Then we mashed in. Rohrbach has a 20-barrel Criveller system similar to Flying Bison's, but it doesn't have mash/lauter rakes, so Jim mashes into the kettle and later transfers it to the lauter tun. I recommended he bolt a cutting board to his garden hoe, as pulling 20-barrels of mash with a small hoe (no rakes!) takes a lot of time. See info on mash hoes here.

Daniel Agne helped with the hand-bucketed mash-in, and then Bruce Lish arrived to work on the brew. In addition to kegging 75% of their production, Rohrbach also cleans and refills their growlers, which keeps the brewers busy when they're not already busy!

After lunch it was nearly time for me to drive to Cooperstown, which is about 4-5 hours drive. Thank you to Account Manager Larry Schultz for gifting me a Rohrbach t-shirt.

P.S. Thank you to Rohrbach brewery for letting me use their business computer to update this blog.

Pink Boots at Flying Bison

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." ~Shakespeare

July 29-30: Drove across Ontario, Canada, for a very long time. The landscape had some rolling hills and nice dairy farms and corn fields, so it reminded me of Wisconsin and the Midwest. In fact Buffalo reminded me of a large midwestern industrial city like Chicago. And Buffaloians talk with what almost sounds like a Milwaukee accent. Must be the shared German heritage.

Flying Bison's Owner/Brewmaster Tim Herzog had me meet up with him and his friends on the Canadian side of the bridge - in the tiny 1940's-style resort community of Crystal Beach. The Lennons, friends and neighbors of the Herzog's, rent a cabin there for two weeks each summer. They invited a bunch of friends to their bright yellow and green cabin for a barbeque. (Yes, U of O's fighting Duck team colors - it reminded me of Eugene.)

There I met up with the extended family including Tim's wife Betsy and sons Colin and Peter. Both boys work at the brewery part-time and Peter has declared he wants to be a brewer. You go boy!

After a wonderful barbeque dinner served with Flying Bison's Kolsh and Pale Ale, it was nearing dark and time to tackle the Peace Bridge and U.S. Customs. I was worried since I was packing the several cases of beer I've collected along the road. On the way into Canada, Canadian Customs asked me if I was bring in any tobacco or alcohol and I said, "Oh, I've got some beer." The Customs Agent said, "So, mostly camping stuff right?"

"Right!" I answered.

This time I was going through U.S. Customs and we are a much bigger pain in the tush than Canada. What with terrorist women brewers smuggling American beer back into the country and all. However, Tim has natural good luck, and I do to, and together we manifested that our U.S. Customs Agent was a growler customer of Tim's. The Agent said, "So, this camper is from where? Oregon?"

"Yes it is. I'm on a long vacation," I said.

The Custom Agent collected our passports then said, "Ha! I know that guy. Hey Tim, my growlers are getting dusty. Think you can do something about that?"

After some light banter, the Agent waved us through. That's good. I was sort of afraid they would have to do an intense inspection as I have tubs of books and winter clothes in the van and cupboards and dinette benches in the trailer, and the Agent could have elected to tear apart all of it. Made it to Tim and Betsy's home in Buffalo without further ado.

The next morning I was up at 6:30 am to shower. Although at home I may not shower two days in a row, on the road I take a shower whenever I can get one, because I never know where I'll get the next one. Then Tim made me a scrambled egg and toast breakfast. What a nice host!
Tim rode with me to the brewery where he let me mash in. He has a 20-barrel Criveller system with rakes, but without a hydration collar, you have to keep the grain moving so it doesn't clump. No silo and a two-person opperation to mash-in, with one milling while the other is mashing. We made a Vienna Lager.

I spent a fair bit of time in Tim's offices working on my long blog about the Michigan Beer Festival. Ryan Coleman worked the brew while Paul Koehler ran a filter. Tim gave me the complete tour and answered the phone which rang a lot. He not only runs the brewery, he takes the keg orders and he's very involved in brewery legislation on a local, state, and national level.

Photo at top of page, L to R: Ryan, Paul, Teri and Tim.

Flying Bison is in a very old mixed use (residential and industrial) neighborhood. The brewery is hidden away on the back side of a building, but after seven years his customers have figured out where it is and they wandered in all day, tasting beer and picking up kegs and growlers. There is no retail employee, just Tim, Ryan and Paul, so Tim and Ryan took turns waiting on the customers.

Flying Bison is up to over 2,000 barrels per year, but it has been an uphill climb for the seven-year old brewery. Tim's done lots of educating of the local populace, and he had some very bad luck over the years, beginning when his partner was killed in a motorcycle just before opening day. However, I believe that Tim actually has natural good luck, because had he not, I believe the brewery wouldn't have survived at all. Now Tim has a good team in place, and Flying Bison is poised for a productive future.

The building Flying Bison is in has lots of room for added tanks, and hopefully a silo too. They also have a 1-barrel pilot brewery, which Tim used for homebrewing back in the day. Photo at right shows the 1-bbl pilot system and Ryan weighing hop pellets. And they contract brew beer for several breweries.

Flying Bison is so named because Buffalo was once a major center for airplane manufacturing. Now, the local Coast Guard pilots are good customers and Flying Bison's barleywine is named after their squadron.

After a much-too-short day it was time to leave for Rochester. I told Tim I was sorry I couldn't schedule two days for each brewery so I could stay all day long and still drive, but if I stretched out my trip anymore I'd never get home, and I already miss my husband too much.

Tim said, "Tell your husband 'Thank You' for lending you to the brewing industry for the summer." I told Jon that, and he liked the sentiment and asked me to put it on the blog. Jon says, "You're welcome!"

Luckily I'll see Jon in a week when I arrive "home" to attend the MBAA Hop Symposium in Corvallis, Oregon, which is about 50 minutes from Eugene.

Thank you to Tim at Flying Bison for gifting me a 6-pack of his special strong beers.

P.S. Thank you to Rohrbach Brewing Company for letting me use their computer to access the Internet.

P.P.S. Sorry all the indoor photos are so dark: I don't have any photo manipulation software on my laptop so I can't lighten the photos until I return to Eugene at Halloween.