Cowtown? Damn straight

Elevator Brewing Company believes it's time Columbus started embracing its reputation as a "Cowtown." (Look it up on Wikipedia - we're first on the list!)

This summer, we're unleashing our aptly-named Heiferweizen, inspired by the lovely Maudine Ormsby. Indulge us as we take you back to the fall of 1926, when Maudine was nominated for Homecoming Queen by the Ohio State University College of Agriculture.

Did we mention Maudine was a Holstein cow?

Due to voting irregularities, Ms. Ormsby won the vote and was crowned the 1926 OSU Homecoming Queen. She was featured during the parade, but unceremoniously left in the barn during the dance.

So raise a bottle of Heiferweizen in Maudine's honor. This unfiltered German-style wheat beer makes an impression with a stimulating burst of clove & banana essence, courtesy of hefeweizen yeast.

To Maudine!

To the Sunshine State!

Elevator Brewing Company products are now officially available in Florida!

Well, one case, at least.

On Friday at the Elevator Brewery in downtown Columbus, two couples approached Dick Stevens, Elevator owner and operator.

"They stopped by the brewery and asked, 'Is this where we get the dark beer?'" Stevens recalled. The wandering souls were visiting from Florida, and a lunch stop in German Village took them to Schmidt's. There they sampled pints of Elevator's Dark Horse Lager. The verdict?

"They said it was the best dark beer they'd ever had in their lives," Stevens said. Inspired (and craving more elixir), the couples headed for the Elevator Restaurant before ultimately reaching the brewery, where they were able to purchase a case of Dark Horse for transport back to the Sunshine State.

It's a Great American Beer Festival Bronze Medal winner for a reason, folks.

The Mother of All Beer Weeks

Vic Schiltz and Mark Beery (far left and far right) of Elevator Brewing Company flank Lori Wince (Weasel Boy) and Angelo Signorino (Barley's) during Meet the Brewers Night.

Midway through American Craft Beer Week, Dick Stevens was asked how the annual celebration was progressing.

“My back hurts,” muttered Stevens, owner of Elevator Brewing Company.

Elevator organized much more than a simple toast to “The Mother of All Beer Weeks,” held May 17-23 this year. In beer-drinking terms, Columbus' finest brewery filled a pint full of events, drank it down, then licked the foam off the glass. Rest assured, Stevens wasn't the only one with a sore back.

Or liver.

The festivities kicked off Monday evening with a brewery-hosted meeting of the Scioto, Olentangy & Darby Zymurgists (SODZ), featuring a tasting of the wildest creations of the Poor Richard's Ale Homebrew Celebration. Back in April, the Elevator crew passed out five gallons of free wort to any local homebrewer who wanted to enter the competition, with one simple stipulation: Bring a taste of your recipe to the SODZ meeting. More than 50 people attended, bringing with them 30 homebrew versions of Poor Richard's Ale.

Tuesday's event was a fundraiser for the Downtown Columbus Dog Park Association, which operates a canine stomping ground at Spring and 4th in downtown Columbus. More than 30 people attended Bark & Brew, featuring a tour of the Elevator Brewery. All funds benefited the dog park. (And no, the dogs did not receive a sampling flight.)

Wednesday was Meet the Brewer Night at the Elevator Restaurant. Attendees included Vic Schiltz and Mark Beery from Elevator, Angelo Signorino from Barley's Brewing Company, and Lori Wince from Weasel Boy Brewing in Zanesville. They didn't come empty-handed, either; the evening was billed as a tasting of the state's five finest wheat beers, and each brewery delivered. Elevator supplied Mogabi (American wheat) and its Heifer-Weizen; Barley's brought Hoptopus and Frambwah? Raspberry Wheatwine; and Weasel Boy offered its American Wheat, actually a refreshing hybrid of wheat and barley. Even one of the SODZ homebrewers who was unable to attend Monday's event got in on the action, bringing a sour brown recipe of Poor Richard's Ale for sampling.

Thursday night saluted the Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA) members with a reunion barbecue. More than 60 members showed up for an evening of food, drink and merriment.

But the week's showcase was Saturday's five-course beer dinner, hosted at the brewery. Each course was prepared with Elevator beer in the recipe, then paired with a tasty brew. The menu included shrimp & pancetta sauteed in a Heifer-Weizen butter pan sauce; a mixed greens salad tossed in a Mogabi cherry vinaigrette; a soup swirling smoked tomato with Bleeding Buckeye Red Ale; pork loin simmered in a Dark Horse Lager au jus; and for dessert, bread pudding made with Procrastinator Doppelbock – paired with the final remaining bottles of Horny Goat porter. There was also a barley burger for the vegetarians, and warm spent grain nut-brown ale beer bread.

Caleb Amos, Elevator international sales rep, introduced the beers. Lee Hill, beer cicerone, discussed each food and beverage pairing and lent a touch of class to the proceedings. The evening was such a success that Stevens is already plotting an autumn dinner to launch Elevator's fall pumpkin beer.

“We wanted to hit all segments of craft beer,” Stevens explained. “We wanted to do a homebrew event, and also showcase our civic involvement. We wanted to introduce local brewers to the general public, and celebrate the MBA. The beer dinner was just the icing on the cake.”

Dick Stevens, left, addresses an adoring crowd during Saturday's five-course dinner with beer-inspired menu at Elevator Brewery.

May Specialty Beers!

With the mercury beginning to rise, Elevator Brewing Company is thrilled to unveil a pair of specialty brews designed specifically for spring sipping.

For the Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA), Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz is introducing the second varietal of his Poor Richard's Ale.

"We wanted to try something different this year, so we used Belgian yeast," he explained. "The result is more like an American tripel." This surprising ale balances a refreshing sweetness with a potent 8% ABV kick.

For the Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program, Assistant Brewer Mark Beery opted to raise his pint glass to Cinco De Mayo with a Mexican Lager.

"It's like Corona without the lime," he said. "It's a good, light summertime beer."

Both beers are available exclusively on tap at Elevator Restaurant beginning May 1.

Polish Off April Properly

There's still time to try April's specialty beers, Milk Stout and Barrel-Aged Barleywine.

Milk Stout is the creation of Mr. Sean Davies, Elevator's brewing assistant, bottling line operator, delivery driver and all-around utilityman extraordinaire. Its flavor is weighted more toward chocolate than milk, and at 7.5% ABV, it packs a punch.

"It's smoother than our doppelbock because of the lactose used in the recipe," Davies explained. Milk Stout is the official April beer in the Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program.

Barrel-Aged Barleywine, yet another mighty Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA) selection from Elevator Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz, is advertised at 12% ABV. The beer is more than a year old, and spent nine months aging in a whiskey barrel. When asked how strong it tastes, Schiltz didn't respond.

He merely smirked.

Both beers are available exclusively on tap at Elevator Restaurant, and only for a limited time.

Mogabi In Bottles!

Above: The Mogabi label features an image of Elevator Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz riding a motorcycle. "Mogabi" is his nickname.

Imagine a pint of wheat beer. Unfiltered and cloudy, right? Non-hopped, tart, perhaps garnished with fruit wedges to sweeten and soften the edge?

Not always.

Consider Elevator Brewing Company's Mogabi, a hoppy American wheat with bite, handcrafted from Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz’s own recipe.

The moniker? It’s actually Schiltz’s nickname.

Mogabi, brewed with Amarillo hops, was unveiled on Elevator taps in the fall. April 22 marked the official release of bottled Mogabi six-packs, a perfect companion on a warm spring evening.

Dick Stevens, Elevator owner and operator, accredits Mogabi’s bold flavor to “the spirit of experimentation” shared by Schiltz and Assistant Brewer Mark Beery, who have been working together for two years.

“With Mark, Vic has a counterpart,” Stevens said. “I try to give them the freedom to do things they wouldn’t have done before.”

With that freedom comes creativity – and innovation.

“This type of wheat beer is a purely American invention,” Stevens said. “We really live in Beer Nirvana. Can you think of another country that has this selection of beers?”

Fetch yourself a stash at these fine retailers:

Blacklick Wine & Spirits

Corners' (Gahanna)

Palmer's

Weiland's

Gentile's

Grapes of Mirth (North Market)

Pit Stop (Lancaster and Nelsonville)

Beverage Source (Newark)

Viking Premium Beverages

Weber Market

Whole Foods

Andersons

Clintonville Co-Op

Huffman's Market

Worthington Hills Market

Carnardo Wine & Cheese (U.A.)

Below: Mark Beery and Sean Davies bottle the first batch of Mogabi cases.

New Month, New Beers!

It may not feel like spring quite yet, but Elevator Brewing Company has two new beers that'll help you shake off winter's final freeze.

We're proud to introduce our Imperial Witbier and Irish Red.

The Imperial Witbier, created by Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz, is the Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA) selection for March. This unfiltered beer, brewed with Trappist Ale yeast instead of a typical wit yeast for a distinctive flavor, features hints of coriander and orange peels.

But don't you dare call it fruity.

"It's nine percent alcohol and very potent," Schiltz said. "It knocked me on my ass."

Brewer Mark Beery mixed up a batch of Irish Red as the March entry of the Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program. This malty beverage features a copper color and a sweet finish, with an IBU of 24 and 6% ABV. It's on nitro lines at the Elevator Restaurant.

Both beers are available for a limited time only, exclusively on tap at Elevator while supplies last. February's Chocolate Cherry Wheat is gone, while a minute quantity of the Mocha Plum Stout remains.

Ohio Brewing Company

The fraternity of brewers adheres to a simple creed: My fermenting tank is your fermenting tank.

Elevator Brewing Company is putting the finishing touches on a pair of limited batches for Akron-based Ohio Brewing Company. Dick Stevens, Elevator owner, is friends with Chris Verich, head honcho at Ohio Brewing Company.

Now for the bad news: If you're a local beer drinker, you're gonna need to set up a road trip to sample the stout and double red potions that Elevator Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz has overseen.

"They're just contract brews, meaning they won't be available at Elevator," Stevens confirmed.

However, the lucky attendees at February's Elevator brewery tour - roughly 45 folks, the biggest tour yet - were rewarded with a treat, sampling both beers before their pilgrimage to Akron.

Barrel Shopping With Elevator

Anyone in the market for used goods?

Elevator Brewing Company is putting six barrels up for sale. These barrels have a storied history, having been used twice: Once to distill whiskey, and once to age Elevator's Horny Goat Porter.

Now it's your chance to extend a perfect lifespan. In an attempt to raise money for future brewery equipment needs, Elevator is offering empty barrels for $99 apiece. These are perfect for planters, artwork, or attempting to make your own Horny Goat at home.

Call (614) 496-3575 for info, or stop by the brewery at 165 N. Fourth St.

February = Beer + Chocolate

Since it is February, Elevator Brewing Company thought it only fitting to feature two new beers this month crafted with traditional Valentine’s Day fare.

That’s right: Chocolate. Introducing Chocolate Cherry Wheat and Mocha Plum Stout, now on tap at Elevator.

Chocolate Cherry Wheat is Brewer Mark Beery’s second creation for the Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program. Beery shot from the hip for this recipe, with no smaller batch or draft version to work from. The result is a light wheat beer with fruity esters, similar to a Belgian blonde due to the use of trappist yeast.

“There’s a hint of chocolate and a hint of cherry,” Beery explained. “It’s there, but it’s not going to whack you in the face.” For a food pairing, Beery recommends a salad with ranch dressing and bleu cheese crumbles.

The Mocha Plum Stout, by contrast, is as decadent as the Chocolate Cherry Wheat is subtle. Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz packed 16 pounds of chocolate and 42 pounds of plums into this recipe, part of the Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA) program.

“It’s just your basic chocolate stout,” said Schiltz, ever the modest creator. A fun insider secret: Elevator’s previous batch of Mocha Plum Stout, unveiled at the Columbus Microbrew Festival in September, was actually made with prunes.

Come on down and fall in love with these new beers, available for a limited time only.

First We Take Columbus...

Above: Sean Davies, Mark Beery and Vic Schiltz (from left) go through a practice run with Elevator Brewing Company's new bottling line.

Elevator Brewing Company has a clear mission for 2010: Take Columbus.

The recent addition of a mechanical bottling line should help considerably.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a year,” explained Dick Stevens, Elevator owner. “Our goal is to blanket the whole market in the Columbus metropolitan area.”

Elevator beers can be readily found throughout town on tap at bars, but the availability of bottles has been a different story. Up until last week, the Elevator Brewing Company “bottling line” consisted of one man – Sean Davies – and his hands. Davies was responsible for individually filling, capping and labeling each bottle of Elevator beer to be distributed. He typically churned out 35 to 40 cases on a good day.

That rate of production, while impressive for John Henry of the Brewery, simply was not meeting public demand for Elevator beer.

“We have our keg sales, but bars go out of business,” Stevens explained. “Bottle sales are the best way to get our product out there, and case sales have been increasing. In the past because of our hand-bottling methods, we were limited to a small selection of products at specialty beverage stores.”

Last week, the brewery staff finally got its hands on a mechanical bottling line, effectively blasting a hole through the production ceiling.

“I would estimate that we’ll bottle in an afternoon what we used to do in a month,” Davies said. That translates to roughly one case of beer bottled, labeled and packaged per m

inute.

Davies, along with brewers Vic Schiltz and Mark Beery, spent last Monday learning how to operate the machine. Davies loaded 24 bottles at a time to pass through the labeler; Schiltz flipped each labeled bottle for cleaning, then lined them up for filling and capping; and Beery packaged each bottled beer into a case.

In theory, at least.

Labels wouldn’t fasten to wet bottles, and the labeling line frequently toppled bottles before they could make it to the label stickers. Once cleaned, the bottles often misaligned

during filling and capping, resulting in broken glass. At one point, Schiltz triggered the cleaning hose before the bottles had been loaded, spraying water into the air like the Bellagio fountains.

Colorful language abounded. But the payoff will be sweet; soon, bottled Elevator beer will be available at major retailers such as Whole Foods and Anderson's.

Above right: The old "bottling line" at Elevator.

And the winner is...

Above: Judges study the appearance of beer entries.

Anyone who thinks that a beer competition is just an excuse for drunken debauchery is sorely mistaken.

For Elevator Brewing Company’s Procrastinators Homebrew Competition, held Jan. 14-15, certified beer judges traveled from locales as far as Indianapolis to participate in an event officially sanctioned by the American Homebrewers Association and the Beer Judge Certification Program. Some judges don’t even swallow the beer that they are critiquing, for fear that the alcohol will cloud their focus and objectivity; most take tiny sips for taste, bury a nose deep in the sampling glass to inhale the aroma, and study the appearance of the beer in the light. Loaves of bread and glasses of water await, allowing the judges to cleanse their palettes between beers.

It’s like wine tasting minus the snobbery. And as an aside, beer judge? Greatest job ever.

Each beer is entered into a stylistic category, such as American pale ale or robust porter. Then, the judges determine how well the beer matches its classification based on aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impression. Judges follow guidelines laid out in a 48-page booklet.

And these judges aren’t simply drunks that have been dragged away from the bar. They earn varying levels of certification based on the number of events they have judged. The Procrastinators Homebrew Competition featured 10 judges ranging from apprentices to brewers to certified and nationally recognized.

Not bad for a competition in only its second year of existence.

“We’re growing and adding more credibility,” said Dick Stevens, Elevator owner. “This is a sanctioned contest, and we had strong judges this year.”

Mark Beery, Elevator brewer, shook his head with wonder as he thought back to last year’s competition.

“We had one judge, and ended up pulling people off the bar to be judges,” he said. “This year, we had a judge drive in from Indianapolis who has been on the beer competition circuit at state fairs.” Most of the judges contacted Beery through Zymurgy, a beer trade magazine, and through the Beer Judge Certification Program.

There were 60 entries this year, roughly three times as many as in 2009. Beers ranged from light lagers to stouts. The strangest entry? A wheat extract and lemon creation that “smelled like Dawn dish detergent,” Beery said.

The 60 entries, labeled by number, were whittled down to nine finalists. The judges reached a consensus and selected the top three. Emerson Nunez-Moran placed third with his Golden Brew, in the Light Lager/Dartmunder Export category. Scott Shives placed second with his Twisted Stout, a Russian Imperial/Stout.

Doug McCrackin was the victor with McCrackin’s Dunkel, a Dark Lager/Munich Dunkel. His beer will be featured on Elevator taps in July as a specialty beer in the Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program. As an added boon, McCrackin will be invited to brew the batch with Beery at the Elevator Restaurant.

Above: The judges sample the nine finalists.

Beery's Belgian Strong Dark Ale

For the grand revelation of Elevator Brewing Company’s Professor of Hearty Drinking (PHD) program, Brewer Mark Beery was charged with creating a curriculum of 12 beers – one for each month of 2010.

His Belgian Strong Dark Ale is one hell of an introduction.

Dark in color with a fruity complexity, this assertive ale has a low hop bitterness and aroma. Roasted malt and an overall creamy character disguise a deceptive kick, featuring 9% ABV and 24 IBU.

“We don’t do any Belgian beers,” Beery explained when asked about his inspiration. “The last one was a trippel two years ago, and everybody loved it. I just wanted to do something Belgian and dark, trying to find new stuff that hasn’t been done.”

Beery’s Belgian Strong Dark Ale was concocted on a 3.5-hectoliter brewing system at the Elevator Restaurant, and is available exclusively on draft there. This single batch release will only last for a limited time.

Resolution: Drink Good Beer

So this is why all you boys and girls were so good last year!

Just in time to kick the post-holiday blues, Elevator Brewing Company introduces Horny Goat. This aged porter emerged from whisky barrels on Dec. 19, a day shy of three months’ aging. The barrels – direct from Lynchburg, Tennessee’s legendary Jack Daniel Distillery – blessed this full-bodied ale with hints of vanilla. It’s the rare beer designed to savor, especially during the bitter winter months.

Horny Goat is currently available for sipping, on tap now at the Elevator Restaurant. Bottled four-packs ship out to fine beverage houses throughout Columbus in mid-January.

In 2010, resolve to drink good beer!

Top right: Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz bottles the first batch of Horny Goat. Below: Schiltz and Brewer Mark Beery drove down to Louisville's Brown-Forman Distillery in December to pick up more aging barrels for the next Horny Goat batch.