Nickel Brook at night, a brewer's delight...

Now I'm not saying that Nickel Brook's Immodest Imperial
IPA is so good that a guy would put on fishnet stockings and
high heels (as shown here on the can) just to get some. I'm just
saying if you do show up like that, they serve you a lot quicker

Not so long ago, back in the months our calendars like to call February and March (wait, is it still March?), Nickel Brook Brewing whipped up not one, but two batches of their outstanding Immodest Imperial IPA. Why is that a big deal? Well, there's a few reasons. First, the word 'immodest' itself means lacking in decency and humility. That's pretty much me. Second, this IIPA, a favourite among the Beer Musketeers, uses "an obscene amount of Citra and Simcoe hops", making this brew one kick-ass 9.5%, 85 IBU (international bitterness units) ball-buster. But thirdly and perhaps mostly, because it's off-season. The hops and/or malts needed to make this exceptional beer shouldn't even have been available that time of year.

Knowing that the liquid gold shouldn't even be in their retail until April (when I bought it last year for the first time), I asked brewery owner John how they had managed to pull that off. According to the big guy, that despite being off-season, Brewmaster Ryan had found all the key ingredients and asked if it was okay to make some fresh batches of the golden goodness in a couple of big-ass vats. John enthusiastically waved him home like a third-base coach noticing the ball was still being bobbled at the right field wall.

When I popped by to grab some in early-February as a Birthday Treat for myself, the guy in front of me made me a little nervous about my chances for a decent Immodest Score. Why?

My main man at Nickel Brook, Tony Cox, set me
up to watch Brewer Patrick do his thing in the late
night hours of March 19. Me? In a brewery? Late at
night? I have no idea how Tony got the okay on this

Because he bought 60 cans of it. That's right - sixty 473-ml (16 ounce) cans. I was only gonna grab a few but I thought, "What if this guy keeps coming back?" so I upped it to a dozen and kept purchasing a few more each time I returned to fill my growlers. Batch #2 is pretty much gone and I would be in panic mode, except for two things. #1) Their Headstock IPA is available year-round and trust me when I say, that's more than enough to keep me happy. And #2), the magic beer board deep within the bowels of the brewery told me they were brewing another batch of Immodest on March 12, which, I would guess is their normal Spring release.

And how did I manage to see that magic beer board? Well, I'd like to say I have friends in high places but honestly, the best I can muster is friends who are sometimes high. However, I count Tony Cox among them (not the high ones) and well, Tony? This dude makes stuff happen. One day, he saw me in the retail section, awaiting my biweekly growler fill-ups. He scooted out, shook my hand as he always does and said, "You once wrote you had no idea how beer was brewed. Would you like to learn?" Whoa. When he extended that invite, I gotta tell you, I haven't been this stoked since I heard my Uncle Jennifer was going to be on The Jerry Springer Show!

Brewer Patrick stands next to barrels filled with their
Old Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout that were filled
on June 12, 2014. That means in three months, this batch
will be ready to be bottled after a year-long aging stint

Now to be fair, I do know some of the basics from my stint at the now-defunct Beer Academy in Toronto. But, well, they used a coffee pot to show us the principles behind brewing. If I could actually make beer in my coffee pot, Maxwell House would be out of business. I'd also own 170 coffee pots. As well, when Beer Musketeer Cat and I did the tour of Amsterdam Brewery early last year, they also walked us through the process but we were trapped within a tour group of thugs and goons. Or more accurately, they were trapped in a group with two hooligans. It's all semantics, really. But no, my night at Nickel Brook would be a one-on-one tutorial, courtesy of Brewer Patrick.

Now Patrick has some serious brewer cred. As a graduate of the International Center for Brewing and Distilling program at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, he was tapped by Brewmaster Ryan to come work for Nickel Brook before he had even written his dissertation. Meeting up with him at the beginning of his 12-hour night-shift (6 pm to 6 am), I discovered that on this fine evening, he would be starting a batch of my favourite Naughty Neighbour American Pale Ale, For the record, the brewery has four brewers under the watchful eye of their brewmaster and each will put in seven 12-hour shifts over the course of two weeks. It ain't pretty being a brewer.

Brewer Patrick uses his flashlight to look into
the mash tun, where the grain gets cooked to
start the brewing process. Not quite beer yet.

Patrick walked me through the main four ingredients - barley, hops, yeast, water - and basically how they go from simply ingredients to delicious final product. (Again, I'm not a brewer but my recipe? "Add more hops. Not enough... keep going... did I say stop????")

Okay, let's get the Brew Train rolling here. Patrick started with the Mash Tun (first tank) where the grain gets cooked to start the brewing process. Think: lobster pot. From there, the liquid is transferred to the Lauter Tun where it separates the solids (grain) from the liquids. Think: colander. From there, the liquid, now called wort, goes into the kettle, another huge tank. "The kettle is where you boil, add any spices, any hops, anything like that," Patrick told me. (So onto Lobster Pot #2.) But now there's more solid matter in the wort so that has to be dealt with. "Once you've done that, you send it to your whirlpool. Your whirlpool separates your solid matter from your wort." In essence, the whirlpool jets the brew into the cylinder in a circular motion around the edges, trapping solid matter on a metal blocker. "Once that's done," Patrick said, "you cool it down and send it to your fermenter (the final tank) and let it ferment out."

Well now, that sounds easy, doesn't it? Except, it's not. As he worked, I watched Patrick monitoring all the initial steps very carefully, constantly checking glass vials attached to some of the tanks and looking in from the hatch at the top with his flashlight. The reason? "It's a very simple process and it's very, very easy to screw up," he noted.

Here's the Magic Beer Board within the brewery and I would like Beer
Musketeer Glenn to pay close attention to Tank #7 which was started on
March 12. Glenn will notice that tank contains "IIPA", meaning their
Immodest Imperial IPA. In Tank #9 is the "APA" or Naughty Neighbour
American Pale Ale that started by Brewer Patrick on March 19, the night
I was there to watch the process. Pretty sure that will be a good batch...

So while he monitored the batch through the process, there was a lot of "hurry up and wait" time so basically, we just talked shop.

Finding out I worked at the Beer Store, he grimaced a little and said, "You guys are getting a lot of bad press these days." Indeed, we are and changes in how alcohol is distributed in Ontario certainly seem to be on the horizon. "We'd be happy if we could sell craft beers other than our own (in the retail section)," he noted, "Open it up a little." That is actually being considered by the government as is my long-time wish - that craft breweries be allowed to have their own collective retail outlets, separate from the LCBO and Beer Store. I'm thinking something similar to the Consumer Beverages outlets in New York state, which carry the best craft beers from across the USA. You can always buy your Miller High Lifes and Budweisers at the local 7/11 but you want the real deal? You go there.

The notion that beer and wine may soon be allowed in grocery stores (albeit a select few - just 300 across the province) was not one that appealed to brewery owner John. Why? "Just another listing fee," he shrugged. You see, brewers pay for their shelf space at both the LCBO and Beer Stores. They would also be paying for shelf space at your local Loblaws, should the store be one of the few whose bid won the right to carry alcohol. So the concern there is that while yes, it would be convenient to buy beer or wine at the same time you buy your groceries, only the big breweries can afford the listings. (Also there are probably three Beer Stores and LCBOs each between where you live and that single grocery store selling booze.)

Patrick took me into the room where the brewery is
storing barrels of soon-to-be-released sour beers.
"Hoppy IPAs are the thing now but I have a feeling
that maybe the sour beers will be the next big thing."

Patrick told me the brewery was looking to expand their product into New York state and Ohio (for starters), in much the same way that Barrie's Flying Monkey Craft Brewery has been slowly working its way across the American border. (Glenn has spotted their Smashbomb Atomic IPA numerous times in Consumer Beverages.) While New York state is a gimme product-wise, it's John's association with Dave Esper, connected with a 79-year-old beverage distribution company in Ohio, that makes the Buckeye State a prime destination.

While we were talking, retail store-minder Dale showed up with a surprise - it turns out owner John had made a huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs and Dale came bearing plates. On this evening, we would dine for free! (Turns out beer is not the only thing John is good at making.)

Naturally, our talk turned to the new Arts and Science Brewery in Hamilton - a collaborative effort between Nickel Brook and Toronto brewer Collective Arts that saw them take over the old 50,000-square-foot Lakeport Brewery building in Hamilton, expected to open some time this Summer. Which beers would be brewed there, what would be brewed in the present Drury Lane brewery in Burlington - matters of dire urgency to me since the Burlington location (which is, thankfully, staying put) is literally around the corner from Donny's Bar and Grill.

Old Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout
that was barreled the day I visited:
March 19th. Just a few  weeks before,
the brewery received 92 oak bourbon
barrels from Heaven Hill Distilleries
in Kentucky. So this time next year,
this batch will be ready to pounce on.

Patrick noted the big name beers for both brewers (Nickel Brook presently contract-brews the Collective Arts line) will be done at the new brewery while smaller specialty and seasonal beers will be done out of Drury Lane. But the equipment for the Arts and Science Brewery came up. As well-documented, John bought all the equipment from Sleeman's (Canada's third-largest brewery) when they shut down their Maritime plant a couple of years back. What is less-known is the major coup the owner scored with the equipment. "I think what happened is that John went to them and offered them X amount of dollars for their equipment and Sleeman's said yes," said Patrick. "It wasn't until they started doing the inventory of the equipment that they fully realized how much we got. It was, well, a lot!"

Finally, I got around to something that's always puzzled me so I bounced it off Patrick. How does Headstock IPA, one of the province's best, only warrant a 93 on RateBeer? (It was at 91 for the longest time - several years - until recent scores boosted it two points. Still, this is a high-90s beer.) "I think maybe that has to do with lower early scores when perhaps we couldn't get the malts or hops we wanted - something that's common to all new breweries." Since then, he noted, the recipe's been tinkered with and we have a product today that may be a bit different from its beginnings.

The end of my night involved a tour of pretty much every room in the place (it's a lot larger than it appears from the outside) and I was thrilled to see a room filled with barrels of Old Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout barreled that same day.

This is what you'll find at the end of the
rainbow. Ignore that pot of gold nonsense...

How much do I love that beer? Well, I once spilled some on my kitchen floor and my first thought wasn't "I should probably clean this up." No, it was, "Does the Five Second Rule apply to liquids?" I won't tell you the answer but let's just say I don't keep a straw in my shirt pocket because it looks cool. (Because it really really doesn't.)

So that's my late-night field trip to Nickel Brook summed in a tidy little package. Big props to both Tony and Patrick for making it happen and giving me a real look at the inner workings of a craft brewery in the after-hours. Hell, if there wasn't already a St Patrick, I'd put this Patrick up for the nod. (Because we all know how much weight my name carries at The Vatican.) Hey, at least, this Patrick has some serious beer cred. And Tony? Sorry, man, the name St Anthony is also taken. Guys, if you give me your middle names, I'll see what I can do.

Okay then, I'm flying off to Las Vegas tonight for a couple of reasons, the first being I'm there basically just to drink new craft beers. The fact that it's 32C (90F) the next few days also plays a role because, well, I'm pretty much done with this stupid Winter. Big heat (meaning shorts, T-shirts and well, bikinis at the hotel pool) and cold craft beers - some of the best craft beer America has to offer? Well, count me in.

The real reason I'm off to Las Vegas tonight. Well, I heard the Nugget has
some sweet new urinals! Their sign says "Come see." Whatta sales pitch, eh?

Naturally, I'm concerned my buns of steel may set off the metal detector at the airports but unless they accidentally have the dial turned to "buns of pancake batter", I'm probably good to go. I will try to behave myself, mindful of the fact that when Prince Harry last went to Vegas, photos of him playing Strip Pool with the Royal Scepter hanging out flooded the internet. Frankly, I'd be more impressed if I ever saw pictures of any of the Royal Family actually doing some manual labour. But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!!! When we talk next, it will be of Sin City and its finest craft suds. Until then, I remain, as always...