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Denisons

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meems
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 7:00 pm

Post by meems »

All this talk about Mill St... the real buzz should be around Michael Hancock's Denisons... other than C'est What, Pure Spirits, Boiler House and I believe the Bow and Arrow, where else is it on tap? Are we going to be seeing more of Denisons soon?

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Kid Presentable
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Kid Presentable »

denisons wheat is also available on tao at beerbistro. I don't think we'll see anything new from them for awhile, but I could be wrong. care to comment mr hancock?

kp

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joey_capps
Bar Fly
Posts: 592
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Waterdown

Post by joey_capps »

On 2004-02-20 06:02, Kid Presentable wrote:
denisons wheat is also available on tao at beerbistro.

kp
Is this some kind of new beer religion? Where do I sign up? :smile:

Cheers, Joe

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JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3088
Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »

.. to get the beer you have to not <I>want</i> the beer...

(The Tao of Steve is a cool movie)

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JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
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Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »


the.brewer
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2003 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by the.brewer »

Thanks, meems.
First the short answer - I have a webpage at http://www.denisons.ca which I am now able to keep current and a listing of bars pouring Weissbier is shown.
I'd like to produce about three or more of my other beers right now if I could! Perhaps a (the) Dunkel, also a nice dark Bock, and possibly a Marzen. The thing is that when the brewpub closed, I had to make a decision: build a brewery (with someone else's money and thankfully there were offers), or use another facility. I decided on the latter because I felt that it would be the quickest way to get the weissbier back on tap. I went for the weissbier because it was the most unusual of the beers that I had produced. It worked well. Mill Street is a great brewery to work in aesthetically (that is important for me), the guys are fun to work with, etc.
Unfortunately it is almost incomprehensible to produce more than one brand under contract in somebody else's brewery, particularly if is small and you want to do the production yourself, as I do. I don't know how you do it, Perry & John! I have one, repeat one, tank available and Mill Street fill the others due to the success, and variety, of their own beers. It's hard enough logistically speaking to ensure a constant supply of wheat beer alone. If anyone has noticed a variation in the consistency, mainly clarity, of the Weissbier, this is one of the reasons. Beer on tap at a licencee may have been kegged that day, or it might be from the previous brew and be up to four weeks in the keg.
so, if I were to produce other styles of beer, and I don't have plans to do so at the moment, then I would have to find or build another location.
That's the production side. What happens to beer once it leaves the brewery door is another story. As many may know, I'm obsessed with freshness and I am not always happy with the way the wheat beer tastes or looks on tap. I think that my style of beer is particularly sensitive out in the field, partly because of the fact that it is unfiltered; I've had beer from the same brew precipitate (pun intended) comments from customers about the beer being too cloudy or at other times, too clear! Another concern of mine is carbonation (and this is currently the bee in my bonnet, even though I don't wear one). I am coming to the conclusion that weissbier does not fare well when it poured using 'beer gas', as most bars do. For those that don't know, beer gas is a blend of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, usually 70% N. I believe weissbier is sensitive to beer gas because of the lack of hops, so that a loss of carbonation is particularly noticeable since CO2 is such a dominant characteristic. (Weissbier has less hops than most national brands, but the hops are the best!) The subject is too complex to go into further here but I am taking the following approach:-
I'm encouraging licencees to use a high CO2 blend, or in one case 100% CO2. Many with gas blenders are thankfully using 50/50. I won't say which bars use what blend and please don't bug licencees with questions. Let your taste be the judge.
Secondly, I am encouraging bars to buy smaller kegs if necessary, to ensure that the beer is on tap for no longer than a week if possible. To help this I have reduced the cost of a 20L keg (for licencees only) to ensure that the cost per glass is very close to that from a 50L.
All this makes me want to get into bottles as soon as possible, and as I believe Perry said in another post, it's being worked on continually but hasn't happened yet.
P.S. I started writing this before Jeremy posted his two. Now you really know that my keyboard speed is slow, so, if I don't reply to posts, it's not because I don't want to , it's often because I don't have time.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: the.brewer on 2004-02-20 10:42 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: the.brewer on 2004-02-20 10:47 ]</font>

meems
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 7:00 pm

Post by meems »

WELL... can't wait to get my hands on some bottles... till then i suppose i will continue with routine visits to the distillery, c'est what, and our friends at the bow and arrow. extremely excited to see how things turn out for you michael... that is great beer you have got there... cheers!

Pagan Blood
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: Hamilton

Post by Pagan Blood »

I concur. I really enjoy the wheat....it's my absolute favourite. Keep it up!

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