Jeff Young Leaving Black Star Co-op

Jeff Young, head brewer at Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery ever since it transformed from crazy idea to brick-and-mortar reality, will be stepping down. And if you've had his beer, you know his departure certainly is not due to failure to create a quality product — he does fantastic work, and Black Star's Recalcitrant Dockhand (and its many variations, such as Cantankerous Dockhand) is absolutely one of my favorite beers, local or otherwise.

Indeed, in his farewell letter to the membership of America's only cooperatively run brewpub (I think that's still true), he says he'll be moving on to start a new brewery.

I'm gonna trust him when he says his successors will do a great job. They have big shoes to fill. The day Black Star announced it was setting up shop in my neighborhood was one of the better days of my life. It's been a fantastic asset to my part of town, and I've really enjoyed having such fine food and drink walking ... er, stumbling distance from my house.

Black Star Co-op One-Year Anniversary!

There's a couple of big events happening today at my neighborhood brewpub, Black Star Co-op, both worthy of checking out. This afternoon, 1-5pm, is the Eat Drink Local Week Local Brewfest. But even more important is this evening, 6-10pm, the one-year anniversary!

Yes, that crazy idea of operating a cooperatively run, customer-owned brewpub has survived a full year, and from what I can tell, it's been a success. (I was in there Wednesday night and it was packed.)

As I wrote in The Austin Chronicle last year, I had my doubts whether this could work. I'm really happy to have been wrong so far, and I hope I keep being wrong about it for years to come. Congratulations, Black Star!

Another 'Dockhand' Beer at Black Star

I loved both Recalcitrant Dockhand and Cantankerous Dockhand at Black Star Co-op, my neighborhood bar, so I definitely gotta walk down the street and check out the new Rebellious Dockhand. From their website:

Waterloo, our first endeavor into wild, sour beers, was a huge success. We just served up the final batch of Waterloo and it will make a national appearance in Denver at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. I learned a lot through the sour mashing techniques used to give Waterloo its distinctly tart, funky flavor, and these lessons learned were used in our final wild Summer beer — Rebellious Dockhand. For the latest beer in the “Dockhand Series,” we take the base ingredients from Recalcitrant Dockhand, sour the mash, and then add raspberry puree to make one of the most unique beers coming out of the co-op’s brewery. Rebellious Dockhand has strong raspberry flavor and aroma on top of roasty, complex maltiness. The wild sourness is more subtle in this beer compared to Waterloo. The sourness is meant to enhance the raspberries and provide a tart, refreshing Summer beer, but with depth and earthiness that make Rebellious more than just another fruit beer!

Additionally, to provide higher quality in our beers, we are now treating each batch with a “fining product” that helps settle out the yeast quicker and provide a clean, brite beer. A lot of breweries can filter out their yeast as a final step before serving. If too much yeast is left in the beer, it can dominate the flavors and tend to prohibit the subtleties of the malts and hops from coming through as brightly. Therefore, it’s common to either settle out the yeast over a longer period of time, remove the yeast with a coarse filter, or speed the settling of the yeast with a fining product. The most common and effective fining product is isinglass, which is a form of collagen derived from dried fish bladders. The isinglass grabs the yeast and settles down to the bottom of the tank where we then pull the beer off of the top of the yeast bed. Virtually no isinglass makes it into the final product, but instead, you get a beautiful, clean tasting beer! We are investigating other, synthetic fining agents to preserve the vegan-ness of our house beers and hope to quickly find a quality product that is comparable to our current fining agent. (Note: obviously this isn’t done for beers that are supposed to have a yeast presence like hefe-weizens and witbiers).

Brewing and Flavor Analysis Class at Black Star Co-op

Wow, I really should attend this. Black Star Co-op is offering a couple of classes on brewing and flavor analysis, coming up on Aug. 14 and 21. They say: "The 101 class will be for beginner homebrewers and beer appreciators. The 201 class will be for intermediate and advanced homebrewers and beer aficionados." I have to say, learning from Jeff Young would be a treat considering how good his Black Star beers have been. Click on that link for more details and to register.

New 'Irrational' Beer From Black Star Co-op

Black Star Co-op is unveiling a new beer from their "Irrational" series: Rover. They describe it thusly:

A golden ale fermented with Belgian yeast, Rover is made with oodles of local wildflower honey added in the fermenter. The honey gives Rover a light and crisp body with a dry and floral finish. Named for the enigmatic enforcement tool in The Prisoner, watch out because Rover’s gonna get you!

They'll be tapping it this Wednesday (April 20). Hours are 4pm-midnight.

Reminder: I Love Beer Fifth Anniversary Party Tonight!

My loyal readers: Please remember to swing by Black Star Co-op for a pint or three with me this evening, 6-9pm. I'll be celebrating the fifth anniversary of my first post to this blog. (Sorry, the beer isn't free, so bring your wallet.) See my previous post for more details.

I Love Beer Fifth Anniversary Party!

Damn, the fifth anniversary of my first post on this blog is coming up on Monday, March 14.

Now, if I had a lick of foresight and promotional savvy – like, say, those clever kids at Beer Town Austin or Craft Austin – I'd have scheduled a big blowout. You know, a special cask, bands, pint glasses, T-shirts, stuff like that. (Or maybe host a pub crawl on the No. 3 bus route!)

But I didn't. In fact, it almost escaped me that year number five was about to pass, because I'm such a dipstick.

So I'm going with something a little lower-key and informal. I'm just going to head to Black Star Co-op (pictured, behind the MetroRail train; 7020 Easy Wind Dr #100, aka where Airport Blvd. hits N. Lamar Blvd.) that night about 6pm and drink until about 9pm. If you're a fan of this blog, please show up, introduce yourself if we haven't yet met, and lift a glass or three with me. I'll be hanging out at the "bar-ninsula" (it'll be pretty obvious where that is when you get inside).

(Oh, don't forget: If you take the MetroRail to Black Star any day this month, show them your train ticket and you get $1 off on house beers.)

(UPDATE: Just so we're clear, no the beer is NOT on me, unless I spill it. So bring your credit card.)

House Brown 660

So apparently there's this new beer on the Texas market called House Brown 660. But it's not just one beer – different brewpubs each have their own recipe, but they're all using the same name to promote House Bill 660 in the Texas Legislature, a bill that would allow brewpubs to sell their beer 0ff-premises, i.e., at your local grocery store, liquor store, or other bars.

As I've noted in previous posts, it's a good piece of legislation that would remove silly obstacles to allowing these businesses to grow. If you're a craft beer-loving Texan, or even if you just support small businesses' right to reach more customers, then you should write to your state representative and state senator right now and declare your support for it. (And for HB 602, which would kinda-sorta allow microbreweries to sell their product on-premises. Click here for fuller descriptions of both.)

I think North by Northwest served up a cask version Monday night. And tonight (Thursday), here in Austin, you can get Black Star Co-op's version of House Brown 660. Head on over there and grab a pint to show your support. Or, if you'd like to make your own, head to Austin Homebrew Supply and pick up the ingredients and a recipe for yet another take on it.

But most of all, get involved and get these bills passed!

My Review of Black Star Co-op

Hey y'all, I have a review of Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery in today's Austin Chronicle. Please check it out.

(photo copyright of John Anderson; do NOT reprint without his permission.)

Black Star Grand Opening Tomorrow

Damn, I've been so busy I almost forgot to post this.

Yes, Black Star Co-op has actually been open for several weeks now, but tomorrow begins the official celebration. See below.

(EDIT: D'oh! Looks like the html is a little wonky, but you get the idea. And if you don't know, Black Star is at North Lamar and Airport Boulevard here in Austin, inside the Midtown Commons development.)

Yes, it’s finally here! Black Star Co-op invites you to join us this weekend, December 10th-12th, for a weekend full of Grand Opening celebrations!

Friday: Grand Opening Party! 6PM-12AM We’ll kick off the festivities with a big outdoor party on Friday, December 10th from 6PM to midnight. Join us for Grand Opening ceremonies, the first tap of our house beers, and a party into the night. Music by Vanessa Lively, the Ugly Beats, Melogrand, and Brownout! The entire evening will be family friendly with free hot apple cider, face painting, and a bounce house. RSVP to the Facebook Event (and share it with your friends!).

Saturday: Eat Local Week's Texas Craft Brewers Mini-Festival, 2-5PM Come back on Saturday afternoon for the Texas Craft Brewers’ Mini-Festival as party of Edible Austin’s Eat Local Week. The event will run from 2-5PM, and tickets are $15. As with other Eat Local Week events, all proceeds will benefit Urban Roots. Normal service at the brewpub will begin after the festival at 5PM. RSVP to the Facebook Event (and share it with your friends!). Purchase tickets at Frontgate Tickets.

Sunday: Traditional Sunday Roast, Charter Member Portraits, and Group Photo, 12PM Finally, we’ll wrap up the weekend with a traditional Sunday Roast and service starting at 12PM. Charter Member-Owners are invited to have their portraits taken from 12-4PM with a group photo of the membership scheduled for 4PM. RSVP to the Facebook Event (and share it with your friends!).

Meet the New Brewers

This Saturday, Austin Homebrew Supply wants you to meet several of the new brewers that either recently started or plan to go into business soon in Austin and Central Texas. As you may remember, I wrote profiles of several of these folks back in June in The Austin Chronicle. AHS is located at 9129 Metric Blvd.

Here's the schedule:

"Meet Austin's Newest Brewers" and Lisa White, VP of White Labs

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 9th. Representatives from 6 new Austin breweries and the VP of White Labs will be hanging out and fielding questions throughout the day.

11am-Noon: Hops and Grain
Noon-1pm: Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery
1pm-2pm: South Austin Brewing Company
2pm-3pm: Jester King Brewing Company
3pm-4pm: Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling
4pm-5pm: Circle Brewing Company
5pm-6pm: Lisa White, VP of White Labs

Black Star, Jester King up and running

Big news in the Austin beer scene:

One, Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery is open for business. It was a "soft opening," meaning they didn't make a big announcement, because they wanted to work out the new-business kinks with only members being served. So I've been holding off on announcing it. But now they've posted it to Twitter, so the cat's out of the bag. They open at 4pm-midnight each day.

I went in there last Friday to check it out. No, they are not brewing yet – some construction delays are holding that up, but they have more than 20 other beers on tap (see photo). I enjoyed a delicious Green Flash IPA and 512 Wit, and a friend had the Southern Star Smoked Porter, which was outstanding. Black Star's shrimp & grits appetizer was unusual but tasty, and I also had a nice pulled pork sandwich. I intend to work my way through the entire menu.

This is a great day for me. I now have two bars with great beer selections (the other being The Pour House) within stumbling – er, walking – distance of my home.

If you head in, be gentle with them. A business this new inevitably needs to do some troubleshooting early on. And expect long lines – a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this to happen, so enthusiasm is producing big crowds. If you're not a member of the co-op, join today – then you can have a direct voice in how the brewpub improves and grows.

Second, Austin's Jester King Brewery began producing beer last week. I'm also excited about this – they gave me a preview of their beers a few months back, and they are definitely ready for prime time. Jester King is the second new Austin brewery this year to begin rolling out commercial product, the first being their neighbors in the Oak Hill area, Thirsty Planet. I featured those two and other wannabe pro brewers earlier this year in this Austin Chronicle article.

Here's a press release from Jester King on what they're currently making:

Austin, Texas – Jester King Craft Brewery is now brewing! Located on 200 acres of farmland in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Jester King is an authentic farmhouse brewery started by brothers Michael and Jeffrey Stuffings and their friend Ron Extract. On Thursday, September 23rd, five months after breaking ground at the site, the brewery began production of its first batch. Appropriate to the farmhouse setting, the inaugural brew is farmhouse ale called “Boxer’s Revenge”, in honor of the stalwart, hard-working farm horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Boxer’s Revenge is an oak barrel aged wild beer First Brew that is golden in color and brewed with Belgian pilsner malt, American hops and French Saison yeast. Following the initial fermentation, it will be dry-hopped with a blend of Cascade and Centennial hops and transferred to neutral, French Oak wine barrels for additional fermentation and aging with a blend of wild yeasts. The finished beer will be quite dry and effervescent, with an anticipated ABV of 7.5%.

Boxer’s Revenge is the strongest of three Franco-Belgian inspired farmhouse ales that will be part of Jester King’s year-round lineup. Along with Boxer’s Revenge will be Das Wunderkind! – a “session-strength”, unspiced, farmhouse saison at roughly 4% ABV and Cocksure – a slightly darker, stronger, heavily-hopped farmhouse pale ale brewed with all European noble hops. All three beers will be aged in French oak barrels with the addition of wild yeast. The starting lineup will also include two Anglo-American inspired beers brewed with English ale yeast – Commercial Suicide, a 3% ABV British-style dark mild, partially fermented in new, American oak barrels and Wytchmaker, a 7% ABV Rye India Pale Ale.

Along with our commitment to making artisan beer, Jester King uses sustainable brewing practices. The brewery is equipped with two large rain water collection barrels, which will soon be connected to gutters surrounding both the brewery and a nearby 8,000 square foot rustic beer hall. The collected water will then be passed through a reverse osmosis filtration system, which is already in use. We are also striving to make use of organic ingredients whenever possible and will be using organic two-row malt as the base for several of our beers.

Later this fall, Jester King will begin hosting festivals and special events at the brewery and beer hall with plenty of live music, good food and, of course, hand-crafted artisan beer.

Black Star Co-op: The Food

Dang it, Black Star Co-op's future location is walking distance from my house, but I almost always seem to have a conflict when they're having an event! Well, I need y'all to go in my stead and tell me how it was: This Saturday, July 17, the co-op will take its monthly beer socials beyond the brew and give you a glimpse at what its food menu will be like. Details here.

Last I talked with the co-opers, they said they were shooting for a September opening date. I'm really excited about it.

UPDATE: Black Star + Thirsty Planet = Yum. Black Star e-mailed me to say that they'll have some brews by Thirsty Planet at this event. How cooperative of them! Having gone to Thirsty Planet's grand opening just a few days ago (I'll update soon) I can tell that will be quite enjoyable.

Black Star Beer Social This Saturday

Assuming you're not too wasted to move after watching the USA upset England in the World Cup Saturday afternoon, that evening you should head over to Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery's under-construction location and socialize with other co-op members and beer drinkers. Press release from Black Star:

Dog Days BEER SOCIAL!
Saturday, June 12th 7-10 PM

The weather is heating up and we’re hot and heavy into construction. Let’s get together and enjoy a cold one. Join us at the future brewpub on Saturday, June 12 from 7-10 PM for an evening of good beer and good music shared with good people in a co-operative environment.

This a great time for member-owners to connect with one another and for future member-owners to join the Co-op. As an added incentive, we’ve been running a membership drive based on referrals from current member-owners. If you refer three (3) new people to join the Co-op, you’ll receive a free Black Star Co-op t-shirt or hat! Many of you are almost there, so bring a non-member friend and sign them up! Oh, and make sure they list your name on the referral line of the membership application.

If all your friends are already members, you're not out of luck. As usual, we'll have a variety of Black Star Co-op swag available for sale. Bring cash and show off your Black Star threads wherever you go. For those of you that still have not joined the Co-op: you only have a couple months left to become Charter Members! Remember, if you can't make it to the Beer Social, you can become a member-owner on our website at anytime.

See you there and bring your canine friends!

• What: Dog Days Beer Social
• Where: Black Star Co-op, 7020 Easy Wind Dr (enter at Lamar & St. Johns)
• When: Saturday, June 12th, 7-10 PM
  
• Share: Facebook Event, Website Listing

Events and More

Okay, I'm trying to quit being a bad beer blogger and get back to tending this thing. Here's a round-up of all kinds of things sitting in my inbox, mostly upcoming events here in Austin:

• Austin's Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery held a groundbreaking ceremony today for the construction of their new brewery. Given that they're actually moving into a building that has already been constructed, they dispensed with digging their shovels into dirt and instead plowed them into a stack of spent barley (see photo.) The Co-op invites the public to a "Construction Zone Beer Social" on Saturday, May 15, 2-5pm. Also, Black Star's next Members' Assembly meeting, open to all member-owners, is on May 22, 3pm, at the Scoot Inn.
  
• Judging in the 15th Annual Big Batch Brew Bash will be held this Sunday, May 16, starting at 1pm at the Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston. The winning English-style barleywine will serve as the "inspiration" for SA's Divine Reserve No. 10, and the winning brewer will be invited to be Brewer for a Day. Four previous Big Batch winners have served as the model for previous versions of the limited-edition DR series: No. 3 (Double IPA), No.5 (Russian Imperial Stout), No.7 (Weizenbock), and No.8 (Scotch Ale).
• American Craft Beer Week will be held May 17-23. I'm sure there are several Austin bars planning events, but the only one who contacted me about it was the Draught House Pub & Brewery, which is planning on having a different brewery representative at the bar each night through Saturday, 5-8pm, and then will conclude the event Sunday, 1-3pm, with a $45 beer and cheese pairing. Go to the Draught House's website for full details.
• If you're a political conservative, you can probably skip to the next item. The nonprofit organization Drinking Liberally needs a little bit of cash, as it's facing a $6,000 budget shortfall over the next six months. If you lean to the left, both in your politics and your barstool, you may want to give to them here.
• My apologies for not posting the LifeWorks May 7 event in time. I hope lots of you made it down there and enjoyed some (512) beer.
• Every Wednesday is Pint Night at Zax Restaurant & Bar. If you get there in the next few minutes (they close at 10pm), you can enjoy something from the Real Ale Barrel Aged Series. Since it's probably too late for that, head down there May 19 for Avery IPA or May 26 for St. Arnold Summer Pils. They also report: "Our current seasonal and rotating taps include Real Ale Devil's Back Bone, St. Arnold Summer Pils, Allagash White, Victory Hop Devil and Trumer Pils. We are also excited to welcome back Live Oak Liberation IPA."

Rail 'n' Ale Social

I've spent a great deal of my time at The Austin Chronicle over the past year spotlighting two great things coming to my neighborhood: Austin's new commuter rail line and Black Star Co-op Brewpub. Well, the former is now here, and the latter is coming. And in fact, they're coming to the exact same spot – the Crestview Station train stop is right outside the front door of where Black Star will be located (see photo).

For this first week of operations, the trains are free, and the afternoon trains arrive in Crestview between 3:10 and 7:01pm, so Black Star is celebrating with a Rail 'n' Ale Beer Social – from 4 to 7pm this Friday, March 26. Click on that link for more details.

(But remember: Chugging is for trains, not craft beer lovers.)

Black Star Wants to Be Green (Upcoming Event)

Press release from the Black Star folks on their efforts to not only be the world's first co-op brewpub, but also an environmentally conscious one:

Black Star Co-op to Host Green Brewpub Investment Forum

Own Your Own Brewpub and Help Make It Green!

AUSTIN, TX, February 25, 2010 — The Black Star Co-Op is pleased to announce the “Own Your Own Brewpub and Help Make It Green“ investment forum scheduled for Saturday, March 6th, from 2pm-4pm. Located at the future location of the brewpub, 7020 Easy Wind Dr., Suite 100, 78752 (Midtown Commons), the forum will focus on educating attendees about the advantages of LEED certification in the construction of the brewpub, as well as the green building efforts underway, and the general Black Star membership.

The Black Star Co-op, scheduled to open in Summer 2010, is the world’s first co-operatively owned brewpub working to raise the majority of its start-up capital through local investors — members of the community — to remain free of debt financing.

Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others, but it adds upfront costs to the build-out of the brewpub. That’s why Black Star is reaching out to the Austin environmental community to help them raise investment capital to achieve LEED certification. With investment support from Austin’s environmental community, Black Star will be a highly efficient, energy and water-saving brewpub.

About Black Star Co-Op

The Black Star Co-op is located in Midtown Commons, a 73-acre transit oriented, mixed-use development set on a remediated brownfield at Lamar and Airport, a few hundred feet from the Crestview station of Capital Metro’s Red Line rail service. With a diverse membership of more than 1,300 members and growing, the Black Star Co-op is based on the principals of co-operative ownership and worker self-management to create the best venue in Austin for the production and enjoyment of high quality beer and food. For more information, please visit www.blackstar.coop or call 512-452-2337.

My Black Star Co-op Feature

Hello loyal readers, please read my feature in today's Austin Chronicle about Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery, which is attempting to become the first-ever cooperatively run brewpub.

Black Star Co-op: Bar Hours With the Board Tonight

Message from Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery:

The mild weather has returned to Austin, so there's no need to brave the cold to go out and have a beer.

In pursuit of that tasty beverage, please join us tonight (1/13) at Snack Bar, 1224 S Congress, for an opportunity to share a pint with members of our Board of Directors. As you know, these events are not formal meetings, but they are a great opportunity for member-owners (and prospective new members-owners!) to meet with some of our Directors and enhance the membership linkage of our Co-op.

See you on Wednesday

When: Wednesday, January 13th, 7-9 PM
Where: Snack Bar, 1224 S Congress

Black Star Co-op Unveils Brewpub Location

Exciting news, folks: The Black Star C0-op Brewpub has apparently taken a major step toward transitioning from really neat idea to an actual physical business. On Saturday, they'll host a preview event of what will eventually be their brewpub in the new Crestview Station Midtown Commons development. Sadly, I can't make it, but I'm real fired up about the location, because it's within stumbling distance of my house. Pictured is an aerial rendering of what Crestview Station will look like when it's done; now just imagine a member-owned brewpub in the middle of that.