Gluten, Canning, Ohio, and the Like
Hello,
It has been quite awhile since I have had the chance to work on a blog post, which seems to be the start of everyone I write. We have been slowly growing as a company, which has made my plate as full as I can get it. Today I wanted to go over some things we have implemented in the past year and how they may affect you as a customer of Alexandria Brewing Company.
Let’s start with Brewer’s Clarex® and Regular Domestic Beer. Brewer’s Clarex® is an enzyme that was developed to eliminate “chill haze.” Chill haze is a cloudiness that develops in beer only while it is cold. Scientifically, it is a protein chain, Gluten, that becomes visible when a beer containing it gets cold enough. How cold? Well, that varies depending on the level of gluten in the beer. A few of you and all our bartenders noticed that Regular Domestic Beer was pouring a little hazy and then clearing up as it warms. This was chill haze. With our Current Seltzer line, we were using Brewer’s Clarex® because it was made on our brewing equipment strictly as a precaution (I’ll get to why in a minute). With having some left over from our limited production of seltzer, I decided to implement it is part of our formula for Regular Domestic Beer. It worked. The chill haze cleared up.
When I started using Brewer’s Clarex®, I made the decision to use it at the “Gluten Reduced” level, which eliminates gluten to an undetectable level. “Hey Andy, isn’t that gluten-free?” Well, I am not allowed to say that because our beer once contained gluten. I can say it is gluten reduced and I can say it is reduced to an undetectable level, which is why we used it in the seltzer in the first place. To be clear our seltzer was 100% gluten-free, but we added Brewer’s Clarex® because it was made on our brewing equipment, strictly as a precautionary measure. Since trying it on Regular Domestic Beer, towards the beginning of 2023, we began using it in several of our beers: Alexandria Amber and Stolz Pilsner. We have a few more beers coming up that utilize it as well. That said, we have decided to not proactively advertise these beers. If you have a gluten allergy or are sensitive to gluten, please ask our bartenders. One last thing on Brewer’s Clarex®, as of now it is used in our lighter, clear beers. We do not plan to use it in hazy IPA or in wheat beer because of the nature of those beers.
Second, we are now producing our canned beer here in Alexandria. We never hid the fact that our friends at Wooden Cask Brewing were brewing and canning our beer for package distribution. It was a great partnership and one that made a lot of sense. However, it is very difficult to match beer produced at one place to one produced at another place. Meaning, our beer in the taproom didn’t taste the same as the beer Wooden Cask was putting in cans for us. Even though they used the same ingredients, their brew house, and, more importantly, their water source are different than ours, meaning the beer tasted differently. Beginning in 2022, we purchased and installed three new 15-barrel (465 gallon) fermentation vessels to ensure we made enough beer for both our taproom and distribution. Right now, we are using a mobile canning line to come in and can our beer, but we hope to buy a canning line soon.
Lastly, we are back in Ohio! In 2023, we signed on with a different distributor in Ohio with the hopes of growing our distribution more locally. So far, so good. That said, at this time, we are sticking strictly to the Greater Cincinnati area in Ohio. Previously, we were in Columbus and had a toe in Cleveland, but our distributor does not reach all of Ohio. They go roughly as far as Monroe, Ohio. As we look to grow our business in 2024, we may look at extending our footprint, but at this time, I would think the next market we would dip our toes in would be Lexington, KY.
Well, that is all I have today. I hope to make this a more frequent thing, but time is always short for me. I want to thank you all for your continued support of our small business and I want to thank you for spreading the word about Alexandria Brewing Company. We have an amazing group of fans and we wouldn’t be where we are if it were not for you!