Exclusive PHOTOS: Brut IPA, the Official Beer of Detroit Bookfest being co-brewed in Detroit by Downey Brewing Company and Eastern Market Brewing Company!

Exclusive PHOTOS: Brut IPA, the Official Beer of Detroit Bookfest being co-brewed in Detroit by Downey Brewing Company and Eastern Market Brewing Company!

Jesse Ho-on & Devin Drowley

 

Detroit Festival of Books (aka: Detroit Bookfest)

https://www.facebook.com/events/489759531358545/

 

Official Detroit Bookfest Afterparty @ EMBC

https://www.facebook.com/events/2019975491658433/

 

John Downey, Jesse Ho-on, Dan Downey

This is where the magic happens.

I’m here in Detroit’s Eastern Market District at Eastern Market Brewing Company with our Bookfest beer vendors, Downey Brewing Company and EMBC brew crews.

Present are Downey brothers Dan & John and EMBC brewers Jesse Ho-On and Alex Sebastian.

In addition to the several great beers they’re bringing to Bookfest, the Downey-EMBC team is co-brewing a special, exclusive beer for Detroit Bookfest called Et Tu Brute, which is a Brut IPA, a dry champagne-like beer.

Et Tu, Brute?” is the line “Even you, Brutus?” from Shakespeare’s 1599 play, ‘Julius Caesar’.

Brut IPA is a new beer style which started in San Francisco a few months ago. Nicknamed “Hop Champagne,” the Brut IPA has a ‘pale color, light body, highly carbonated, champagne taste.’

Jesse Ho-on, head brewer @ Eastern Market Brewing Company in Detroit

Jesse Ho-On, the head brewer at Eastern Market Brewing Company, says “We’re using Galaxy hops and an enzyme that will dry it out even more, for a nice dry, champagne-like taste. It’s really interesting!”

In between being a hanger-on’er and vulture observing the brewing process, I’m drinking a delicious Detroit Black IPA (6.5%) and a nifty Blueberry Hefeweizen, where the beer color itself is blue.

EMBC Blueberry Hefeweizen,

Jesse tells me his path to EMBC, “I’m from Chicago, then started brewing in Traverse City at Right Brain, then Terra Firma, then did some baking at 9 Bean Rows Bakery where they have some killer croissants. I moved down to Detroit and was working at Avalon Bakery as a baker, then I transferred here to the Eastern Market Brewery.”

Meanwhile, the Downey Brothers are keenly observing and inquiring.

Downey is a family brewery located in their grandfather’s old warehouse in East Dearborn. Father Dean and sons Dan (marketing) and John (head brewer) crank out some tasty brews.

Dan and John

I’m really excited for Bookfest,” says Dan who is looking at the beer and smiling, “it’s going to be a great day and we’re gonna have some great beers there.”

Jesse, our beer guide for the day, explains more about the Brut IPA, “this dry champagne IPA has an enzyme that’ll drop it lower, but it’s hopped up on the backside with floral tones from the Galaxy Hops and very carbonated. By adding an enzyme, it takes the sweetness out, so it’s dry and tastes like champagne.”

Galaxy Hops from New Zealand

“For this Brut IPA, we’re using Southern Hemisphere hops and wine. The Galaxy Hops are from New Zealand. The wine is in the form of grape must flavors Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. Grape must just means crushed grapes.”

John tells us about his path to the beer kettles, “My dad Dean started homebrewing in the 1990’s. I picked it up in college when I worked in a homebrew store. For the most part, I’m self-taught, like most brewers, although several aspiring brewers will typically shadow a Master Brewer as an apprentice until they learn the ropes.”

Alex, the assistant brewer, is carrying massive 55-lb. bags of grain up a ladder and pouring them into the mash tun, which is a large stainless-steel vat. Alex explains, “We got pre-milled grain from Germany and we’re pouring it in here to mix it with hot water in order to pull out the enzymes.”

“It converts the starches into sugars for fermentation,” adds Jesse, who is now holding a clear plastic pitcher and mixing around salts and water with a silver ladle.

Alex Sebastian & Jesse Ho-On

He sees me looking weirdly at it and elaborates, “I’m stirring the calcium chloride and gypsum. Detroit water is ‘soft’, which means it’s low in minerals. Every type of water has its own profile and might need to be treated depending on the beer. Water chemistry is critical.”

Both Downey and EMBC brew about two times per week.

EMBC has a 5-barrel system and Downey has a 3-barrel system. Conversely, John says “MillerCoors in Milwaukee has a 3,000-barrel system. They brew more in one day than we do in five years! In terms of craft breweries, Sierra Nevada has a 300-barrel system, which is a huge system for craft beer.”

We’re all staring intensely at the Brew Home Controls box Jesse just opened. This is a wall-mounted box from Brewmation in Memphis, it’s full of circuitry and gizmos, and includes a touchscreen panel for temperature control, timers, all types of monitoring and adjusting.

Mash temperature and the length of mashing determines the sweetness or bitterness of beer,” says Dan.

After 60-90 minutes in the mash tun, we’ll transfer the wort to the boil kettle,” exclaims Jesse, “That’s where we start to balance it with hops. Hops give beer aroma and Galaxy is ‘high alpha’ which means it has some bitterness. Hops are like the spice of beer, they help balance the sweetness.”

In 3-4 weeks, we’ll have a finished product. There’s 31 gallons in a barrel. We’ll have 4 barrels of finished product, so 124 gallons of Et Tu Brute, the Brut IPA Detroit style.”

Definitely be sure to try this amazing new beer at Detroit Bookfest! Thank you Downey and EMBC for the brew-a-thon.

Cheers! Drink up.

Detroit Festival of Books (aka: Detroit Bookfest)

https://www.facebook.com/events/489759531358545/

 

Official Detroit Bookfest Afterparty @ EMBC

https://www.facebook.com/events/2019975491658433/

 

 

Win a FREE Copy of ‘Brewed in Michigan: The New Golden Age of Brewing in the Great Beer State’!

Win a FREE Copy of ‘Brewed in Michigan: The New Golden Age of Brewing in the Great Beer State’!

Unfortunately there is no prize draw with this ID.

 

*Special thanks to Jamie Jones & the crew at WSU Press for this*

 

 

*3 winners will be selected at random. Enter now for your chance to win!*

The raffle will run from Monday, May 14th to Sunday, May 20th.

 

 

 

Michigan is one of the USA’s great craft beer states.

The Michigan beer industry is enormous, internationally well-known, growing rapidly and generates billions of dollars and creates thousands of jobs annually.

According to the Michigan Brewers Guild, the great State of Michigan has over 260 craft breweries!

Michigan’s Great Lakes water helps make great beer. The State of Michigan is also ranked # 2 nationally in hops production, just behind Oregon.

Brewing started in Michigan around 1829 and started in Detroit in 1831 with the Farmer’s Brewery of Owen & Scott.

About 160 years later, in 1989, Ben Edwards inadvertently kicked off the craft beer revolution in Michigan when he wanted to make his own beer at Detroit’s Traffic Jam & Snug which shortly thereafter became Michigan’s first brewpub.

Bill Rapai (Photo by Jodi Westrick, Michigan Radio)

Local author William “Bill” Rapai, a Grosse Pointe resident and University of Michigan grad, decided to compile an overview of the Michigan craft beer industry by visiting over 100 of Michigan’s craft breweries.

Bill was an award winning reporter & editor for the Detroit Free Press, Boston Globe, Grand Forks Herald, and his journalism talents are evident throughout the book.

Brewed in Michigan: The New Golden Age of Brewing in the Great Beer State‘ was published by Detroit’s own Wayne State University Press and named a Michigan Notable Book in 2018 by the Library of Michigan.

You can also buy the book from WSU Press here:

http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/brewed-michigan

Founded in 1941, Wayne State University Press publishes a wide variety of great books. They also host an excellent book sale every Noel Night at their warehouse in Detroit.

Bill’s book was published by WSU Press imprint Painted Turtle, which “publishes books on regional topics of cultural and historical interest.”

We are also proud to report that the Detroit Festival of Books will feature two beer vendors this year: East Dearborn’s Downey Brewing Company and Detroit’s Eastern Market Brewing Company! Come check it out!

 

 

WSU Press Homepage

http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/

 

WSU Press Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/wsupress/

 

WSU Press Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/wsupress/

 

WSU Press Twitter

https://twitter.com/wsupress?lang=en

 

You can also buy the book from WSU Press here:

http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/brewed-michigan

 

Michigan Brewers Guild

http://www.mibeer.com/

 

Know Beer (Annette May’s Michigan beer education courses) 

http://knowbeer.org

 

Eastern Michigan University’s Fermentation Science Degree

https://www.emich.edu/chemistry/fermsci/

 

Detroit’s Eastern Market Brewing Company GRAND OPENING! (Friday, October 20th, 2017)

Detroit’s Eastern Market Brewing Company GRAND OPENING! (Friday, October 20th, 2017)

Detroit’s Eastern Market Brewing Company!

We have been eagerly awaiting this exciting grand opening all year long!

We are proud to announce that the Eastern Market Brewing Company will have their Grand Opening kickoff party at 6pm on Friday, October 20th, 2017.

Exclusive Preview: Detroit’s new EASTERN MARKET BREWING COMPANY! An extremely collaborative group of visionaries are injecting new life into Eastern Market by bringing people together through beer!

 

Some highlights include:

  • Amazing building and staff!
  • GREAT BEER, especially their signature favorite Market Day IPA 
  • Elephant Shack foodtruck outside
  • They can actually can beers for you to take home with the Michigan-made Oktober Designs Mk16 Can Seamer!

 

Detroit’s Eastern Market Brewing Company!

Also, be sure to walk down the street and check out the new home of Henry the Hatter (2472 Riopelle, Detroit).

And if you go to the annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival at Eastern Market Shed 5 later this month, definitely make sure you walk down to Eastern Market Brewing Company!

Congrats to the crew at Eastern Market Brewing Company! Come join us for an amazing grand opening!

Friday, October 20th, 2017

6pm

Eastern Market Brewing Company

2515 Riopelle Street

Detroit, MI 48207

Exclusive Preview: Detroit’s new EASTERN MARKET BREWING COMPANY! An extremely collaborative group of visionaries are injecting new life into Eastern Market by bringing people together through beer!

 

EMBC Homepage

http://easternmarket.beer/

 

Contact

[email protected]

 

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/easternmarketbrewing/?hl=en

 

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/EasternMarketBrewing/

 

Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/16155341/

 

Twitter

https://twitter.com/embctweets?lang=en

 

Danny Jacobs graphic designer

http://osoco.co/