Roll out the barrel for Staff Series Sundays
Half Pints has one hoppy staff.
One of the brewing company’s employee perks includes coming up with a beer of your own.
The Staff Series Sundays started as a way to liven up the winter season with staff-crafted libations using Half Pint’s small-batch brewing system, said brew master Chris Young. The system produces one keg at a time of a custom brew created by Young and a different staff member. That’s important, because producing one keg’s-worth of a staff member’s recipe is more manageable than having six palettes of grandma’s carrot cake ale in the warehouse, he joked.
Meanwhile, demand for the Staff Series beer has been as strong as Half Pint’s flagship Bulldog Amber Ale. It’s not uncommon that an entire batch in the staff series has sold out on the Sunday of its release.
“It’s creative and fun,” said Young. It also gives staff who may not be as close to the brewing process a view to how it all works.
Customers were able to get in on the action with a Staff Series Sunday passport, stamped for every beer in the series they sampled. The passports were also an entry into the contest to win the opportunity to brew their own beer at Half Pints. The winner was drawn at the series conclusion this past Sunday April 14 at the taproom at 550 Roseberry St. in St. James.
Last year was the first for the series, with selections including Blue Lady IPA with bergamot, Anita ’Nother Carrot Cake Cream Ale and Gimme S’more Stout making their way into the 13-beer lineup.
This year’s offerings included a Big Mood Black IPA from Hailey Breland, who was looking to bring back a version of one of her favourite Half Pint brews, the Black Galaxy. She declared the hoppy, roasty concoction a success. “Chris has a way of making it seem like all the good ideas were yours, while setting aside your worst,” she said.
The only parameters Young places on the partnership is that the end result is a consumable product, and at best “a tasty beverage in the end,” he said. He’s takes measures to make it happen, for example, learning a fat-washing extraction process in order to get pistachio flavour (and no actual shells) into the Shell Shock Pistachio Milkshake IPA in this year’s series.
Warren Comrie, Half Pints packaging manager, went with a contemporary take for his Terpenator: The Dankest of Haze Bombs IPA, using a newer variety of hops in his mix, resulting in a “nice, easy-drinking IPA. I was happy with how it turned out and it was a fun experience.”
Timothy Dyck, who works in sales, took his turn as an opportunity to explore an ancient method of beer-making. His Black Stone Red Ale involved sourcing granite, breaking it apart and heating the rocks in a firepit before adding them to the brewer.
Historically, heated rocks were added as a heat source that wouldn’t damage the wooden barrels containing the brew. Ultimately, “the process was more exciting than the end beer,” said Dyck, who was hoping for more of the smoky, mineral and sweet caramelization to come through. He’s already looking forward to next year’s series.
“It’s a fun crash course that’s hand-on. You know, understand, and are more appreciative of the whole process.”
All Photos by Claudine Gervais
