Beer+Men+Bus=Smells

Here's a picture of Briess's office building in Chilton, Wisconsin. We had a great power-point seminar about making specialty grains and sampled all their product. Then it was off to the middle of town to visit the malting plant built in 1900. We were told not to bring any cameras, cell phones or recording devices because they've had problems with "blogs". So, sorry I don't have photos of the facility.

After learning about the process for a whole week, we could walk through the facility and point out exactly what everything was and did. The class felt pretty darn smart. Although we had frosty beverages on the bus and at lunch, we did spend seven hours driving to and from Chilton. I felt like a rock star in a very unpleasant way.

Briess is coming out with a smoked malt targeted for heavier american beers like smoked porter. Unlike Bamburg malt, it won't be something you should use over 30%. It will be 6-9L six-row made with cherry wood. I want to try it.

We got back around 7:00 and because it was my birthday, Chicago was raining and 50F. Thanks for making me feel at home. A lot of the guys went to the Local Option and drank IPAs untill fun conversations about metal, 60's pop and grunge persisted into the evening.