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Butler Winery's Brew Supply
Hops, Competitions, Prices, New Stuff
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Greetings!
Spring is well on its way & the weather is so gorgeous right now! March is refreshing after that horrible February we had :) I am so over cold & snow that if it snows in March I swear am moving south! I was in such a funk last month that I decided to finally make some beer. The world was cold & my husband kept drinking all the beer in the fridge before I could so James (my fine, young brewing assistant & shop rat) & I decided we wanted to make an IPA. It's official name is Seven Year Hiatus Indiana Pale Ale, because it has been that long since I made beer! It's still in the secondary but is soon to move to the bottles... Unfortunately my assistant informed me at racking that it was stinky but I am convinced it is stinky in a good way & am really looking forward to quaffing it in a few weeks. I will keep you posted, as if you care :)
Well, the reason behind this newsletter is not to tell you about my awesome beer but to tell you about a few things going on in the beer & wine world at Butlers- read on to find out what they are!
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Hop Rhizomes!
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~Grow your own~
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 In years' past we've offered rhizomes in the spring & it is not quite too late to put in your order for some! I need to put it in this Friday (the 12th) at the very latest, so if you can get back with me ASAP I will have time to compile a list of our rhizome requests to get them faxed into Hopunion on Friday. There's a list on our website at http://www.butlerwinery.com/supplies/Rhizome2010.pdf
Be sure to include your first & second choice varieties, just in case we can't get your first pick. I've been told they're running low on Glacier unless you want 50 of them, we should be able to get what you need.
Rhizomes will be $5 per root & will include growing instructions upon request. It is suggested that you buy two roots for each variety you're interested in growing, since the rhizomes are not guaranteed. (I planted two last year: one did well, the other definitely did not!) Hops like full sun, well-drained soil & some space... HopUnion suggests to plant same varieties 3 feet apart & different varieties 5 feet apart! So make sure you plan accordingly when plotting out your hop garden.
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Wine & Beer Competitions
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Love your latest batch? See how you measure up!
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So you think you make some killer beer or wine, eh? Well enter a competition and see what happens! You never know, it may just be medal worthy... Several home winemakers have entered the Indy International Wine Competition & a few brewers have entered the Indy Brewer's Cup & done very well! For those of you who are interested, I have posted a list of competitions on our supplies page as well as mentions of some of Butler Winery's own brewer & winemaker winners! Congratulations to all of you! If you know of a competition I've missed that you are considering entering or if you won an award & I failed to mention you, let me know the name of the competition, the award you won & I will take care of it.
Winemakers who enter any Winexpert wine kit into either the Winemaker
Magazine competition, FITA wine competition, or the Indy International & win an award,
that's a gold, silver or bronze medal, will receive a free wine kit of equal
or lesser value of the winning wine kit! SO if you enter & win, just bring in the
competition results of the winning kit(s) & you will have your
choice of a free kit, or a price reduction on a kit of greater value! Please note: If you won with a kit at a competition in 2009 & haven't claimed your free kit yet, its not too late, bring in your results!
And to give you a touch of incentive to enter your wine or beer in a competition in 2010, any brewer or winemaker of ours who wins an award at any major homebrew or wine competition will receive a free gift! I haven't decided what yet, maybe a Butler Winery t-shirt, a small store credit, an autosiphon, etc... I'm open for suggestions!) And if you won in 2009 & feel you deserve a free gift too, stop in on a Tuesday or Thursday (when I'm officially here) & I will give you a pat on the back & maybe a little reward to go with it!
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Ahhh, price changes!
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Some prices coming down, some are not
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 Whether we like it or not, many of our products are imported. But we try to stock as many American made products as possible to help keep our prices down & our money in the US. Thankfully,the American dollar has stabilized versus the British Pound & the Euro (see the graph of Dollar vs. Euro on the left which will take you to CNNMoney's currency converter & latest rates page). So far, we haven't had to raise many prices this year & the prices we have raised are not by very much. Wholesale cost on equipment is holding nicely, with very few increases, as opposed to years' past. Two recent notable changes are: One Step & Straight A cleansers went up a bit with a new product formulation, as well as crown caps (steel is apparently more expensive these days). We have started purchasing both the caps & the cleansers in bulk to keep the price changes to you as minimal as possible.
I have heard no news in the way of raw wine ingredients pricing, so we
will just stick with the mantra of "no news is good news"! I will keep
you posted of any changes in that area if they are passed on to us from
our wholesalers. Wine kits went up a little last November but I have
yet to hear of any further increase. We are now ordering our corks in bulk so what little price changes
those have undergone will not be noticeable to you. Bottles always seem to be
increasing by .10 here to .20 there, but not enough to write home about
:) There was a HUGE increase in carboy prices a little while ago when the plant in Mexico stopped making them & the Italian plant started, but thankfully there is nothing new to report there. Because of the high price of glass carboys shipped from Italy, we've been selling lots of the Better Bottles. They're made in the USA of a special PET high density plastic (no BPA), they're virtually unbreakable & have minimal oxygen permeability, so be sure to consider them the next time you need a carboy & save yourself some $$!
Raw beer ingredients have changed some (& in the good way!) - the most obvious price changes this year have been our hops. Almost every variety we stock has come down in price. Inclement weather across Europe & the western US & a hop warehouse fire all combined to make some nasty changes for the brewing industry two years ago, but the hop industry has bounced back nicely. We can only hope that this will continue to happen, or atleast hold steady!
Grain prices have also started to fall, as the barley shortage of 2007-2008 is now over. Ample supply is now available to the market so you will find most of the Briess malt prices have dropped, as well as a few of the Munton's malts. And, I have just found out that this will also be the case for the Belgian malts from Dingemans. We should see some of those come down around the middle to end of this month. If you check out our store CATALOG I have updated the hops & Briess malt & English malt prices to reflect the lower pricing & will follow shortly with an updated list of Belgian grain prices in a few days.
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New Stuff & Gadgets
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Stuff you really need!
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We've got some new stuff to buy. If you haven't seen these already, check 'em out the next time you're in!
- Kitchen & Multifunctional Scales from Escali (spring, digital, stainless steel, glass, plastic, handy pocket sized, etc)
 Auto-siphon clamps to free up your hands while racking - for both the 3/8 & the 1/2 sizes. It clamps to the side of your bucket, like the bucket clip, but it looks as if it might also clamp to a carboy neck. I don't have them in just yet, they'll be here when the next order arrives (tomorrow- Wednesday the 10th). This is a necessity for those of you who already have the handy auto-siphons from Fermtech. And a note to those who don't have an autosiphon, if you hate siphoning, you are really missing the easy boat here!
- If you haven't yet noticed, we now stock organic malts, both extract & whole grain & hops! Now you can brew some organic beers with: Briess Organic 2 Row, Gambrinus White Wheat, Briess Maltoferm DME, Briess Crystal 60 & Briess Chocolate. Hop varieties - Pacific Gem, Opal, Admiral, Cascade, and Saphir. We order most all of it from Seven Bridges Cooperative so if you are interested in a specific item/ingredient they carry let me know & we can start stocking it!
- Draw tube brushes - so how do you clean out that siphon tubing anyways? Well now we have some long skinny brushes that are sure to help you with this difficult task. Just $3.95 each for either the 3/8" tube brush or the 1/4" brush for your kegging lines! These brushes are 36" long, so they will easily get the hard- to-reach interior of your tubing. From Foxx Equipment (our Keg stuff supplier) we also stock "Direct Draw" brushes - they're 66" long & bristle sizes include 1/2", 3/8" (both for $6.95 each) & 1/4" & 3/16" (at $5.95 each). I have the 3/8" & 3/16" in right now & will add the 1/2" & 1/4" sizes to our next kegging order.
- Here's a few new books for your library - Art of Distilling Whiskey and Other Spirits, Tasting Beer, He Said Beer She Said Wine, and The Beer Book. They are still coming in & they are popular! So if you don't see it on the shelf the next time you're in, check again, or if you want me to hold one for you just let me know!
- Brewer's Edge Kettlescreens & Kettlevalves - these handy gadgets will help any homebrewer turn their stock pot into a mash tun. Easy to install & no welding required! Go to LD Carlson's equipment page to check them out if you're interested.
- New Vintner's Harvest Fruit Bases & fruit flavorings- we've had them available for a while but in case you missed it, we now have both Kiwi & Rhubarb wine bases. Along with quite a few new flavor & aroma enhancers (chocolate, ginger, banana, black currant, grape & watermelon) our winemakers can make some yummy new concoctions!
- Brewer's Best has just come out with a new Oatmeal Stout & Maibock kits as seasonal additions to their lineup. The Oatmeal Stout is here & the Maibock is on its way!
- We now make our own beer ingredient kits so if you've made lots of the Brewer's Best ingredient kits (or haven't) & want to try one of Curtis' special recipes, check out the available styles & full ingredient listings on our supplies page.
- New flavors for our "fruity" winemakers- Island Mist from Winexpert has recently come out with a Pomegranate Zinfandel & in April they will release their new "Twisted Mist" Strawberry Margarita & Mojito flavors! The "Twisted Mist" are limited summer release kits only, so if you want to make them - don't miss out! Contact me today with your pre-orders!
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Looking for a job?
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I have been dreading this for a while, but it looks as if we will be losing a few employees very soon. Liz is leaving us in May (she's off to Bowling Green) & Matt will be gone all summer (May to August), not to mention that Curtis will be gone for basically the whole month of April! We need a new employee (or two) so if you need a job & think that you can swing it, contact me & I will get you one of our employment questionnaires. You must be 21 or older & eligible for a bartender's permit. We'll be hiring very soon, so if you're interested or know someone who is, do not delay!
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Amy Butler
vineyard@butlerwinery.com
812.339.7233
Butler Winery
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