First Off, big thanks to Ken for taking the reins, Dave for hooking up the wood, and also thanks to all Brewers and bartenders and everyone who pitched in on the project. Also big thanks to Black Swan for the wood, I hope all the bartenders were "selling the product", I meant to mention that beforehand. Anyway, In the name of constantly improving our methods, what are people's thoughts on the wood school?
I know some thought that it may not have been the best recipe for some of these woods in retrospect, and the following thoughts are not critiques of anyone's beers or brewing skills, just my impression of the wood flavors. For the record I think this was the most solidly and equally brewed beers in any school series yet, good job on that., I thought cherry and sassafras paired very well with the recipe, I didn't taste anything I didn't like though. The cedar was nice, hickory had a bbq-ish thing going on, that's just what I associate the flavor with, the oaks gave a predictable whisky-ish flavor. I'm not sure the maples went well with the recipe, but the flavors imparted were nice and would be great in a different context. I expected more out of the birch and ash, but I think by the time I got around to tasting them I was already deep in drinks, so that may have had some influence.
I think black swan has a great product, and we should let them know.
Seemed to me to be pretty popular and well received. The differences were subtle which I think led to a lot of conversation, which is the goal. People seemed to really like seeing the wood. I think that added to the experience a lot.
Overall I'm happy with the way it played out, there are things I think I could have done better with increased signage and coaching the bartenders on talking points, but I did the best I could with my situation. I'll do better with Cerveza De Mayo...
Once again, great work everyone.
When people came up to the bar to ask me what was going on, I gave them a quick explanation of the exercise and what we were looking to achieve. After offering the abstract, I recommended that everyone begin with a sample from the control batch and then go from there.
Not sure how things were at the bar later on, but when I was on woodie duty, people seemed really interested and generally stuck around to try at least 3-4 different beers.
Having three of the wooden insertables available at the bar was a major boon to the educational effort, but I agree that more signage and literature would have come in handy.
I agree with Rob that there was a lot of interest and people all trying the different kinds when we were there. I thought maybe my beer was a lot better than I thought it was because it was being requested a lot, but quickly realized that people really just enjoy saying "Sassafras". In retrospect, I think we should have all kept the woods and labeled them and maybe taped a brief description on each one with the flavors it was supposed to give. I think it also might have been nice to have extra cups to pour everyone the base beer to try alongside each type.
I think the honeycombs were extremely convenient and easy to use with no clean-up. I was expecting more flavor from them, but the style probably covered up some flavors.
I think now that the School Series is solidified as a part of every event we need a person or persons to commit to managing the school series completely. I tried to stay on top of this facet of the party the best I could, but there were two curve balls thrown late in the game at us.
Steven Lane never had an opportunity to finish the menu before he left for Mexico and Nancy and I collaborated via email to complete the Teasers and the Final Menu all week. Unfortunately, we didn't find out until late Friday the the descriptions for the individual wood varieties would not fit on the menu. Nancy and I were still putting the finishing touches on things until 5pm on Friday and she made a sign quickly that included the descriptions...but she was also rushing to the brew house to help cook. Nancy accomplished much in the short time she was granted (especially on short notice) and did a great job! This was a major constraint that we were dealing with.
Friday night was originally scheduled to cook the chili and set-up the front bar area for the woodshop. Any one at the brew house on Friday knows that we lost power for 4 hours and setting up Wood Shop ended up being moved to Saturday.
In the future...I think we need to create "Flight Sheets" for guests with information, additional glasses and signage that is created by the person(s) in charge of Wood Shop.
We know which beers we will be serving for this months in advance and signage/information/etc should be completed weeks in advance to the event so that we can have all hands on deck leading up to our parties.
I think a flight-style serving presentation (possibly on top of a placemat type scoresheet) is a fantastic idea. It would definitely be a little more cumbersome for the bartenders, but would make the comparison of the product magnitudes easier. We could also think about scaling down the number of beers to tailor to this approach if we decide to move forward with it.
Ken, I will take ownership of the school series and see it through to completion for the foreseeable future.
I like the idea of serving complete flights...I'll see what I can cook up.