6 Months?

Wow, is it really 6 months since my last newsletter?

There's a lot to catch up on. When I started this, venture, I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but didn't realize how much. (But naiveté is perhaps how many great companies are born.) I've also been having massive writers block, so every time I sit down and attempt to write a newsletter, some other shiny thing captures my attention, like what's the flavor profile of various malts, what are the temperature ranges for yeasts, what singer and football player got engaged, etc.

A quick rundown of highlights before I dive into the details:

March

• First Night Market booth, at 365 Nightmarket in San Jose

April

• NEW RELEASE - our 3rd beer, Chimeko, a Kolsch-style Ale, made especially for Chicken
• Chimeko wins the 25th annual Battle of the Brews in Santa Rosa
• Booth at Bay Area Brew Fest in the Presidio

May

• CAAMFest Gala Sponsorship - Beers featured at the annual Gala
• 2nd time at the 365 Nightmarket in San Jose

June

• Biru 101 Rice Lager featured at the It's the Malt Festival at Admiral Maltings

July

• Nagoya Nights featured at Umami Mart's annual 4th of July BBQ
• NEW RELEASE - first seasonal beer - Indochine Kumquat Saison
• Biru 101 and Nagoya Nights pouring at the California Brew Fest in Sacramento
• Biru 101 wins Bronze Medal at the California State Fair
• Booth at Parks4All Beer Festival at the Presidio
• Booth at Marinwood Beer Festival in Marin

August

• WSET2 in Beer Certificate, pass with distinction

Upcoming

September

• NEW RELEASE - Luna Más: Cerveza Negra Asiática, made with forbidden rice and ginger
• Chuseok Festival - September 27 in the Presidio

October

• Fostoberfest - October 18 in Foster City

November

• Sugoifest - Celebration of Beer and Food. Invite only event for supporters of AI Beer, AI = Asian-inspired

January

• NEW RELEASE - Fire Horse Red Sorghum Lager, made with sorghum, goji berries, and chrysthanthemum

About Beer

Let's talk about the beer.

Chimeko

Chimeko is a kolsch-style ale. What is that? Let's break it down. First, ales are a type of beer. In general, all beers are divided into ales and lagers. The main difference is the type of yeast used, ale yeast vs lager yeast, but another differentiator is the fermenting process, where ales are generally fermented at a higher temperature, and lagers are generally fermented at lower temperatures. What's the difference in flavor? Lagers tend to be "clean" tasting, whereas ales tend to have some yeast character to them, such as esters and phenols. Esters give those fruit-like characters, whereas phenols give spice-like characters. An ale-style that is an example of esters and phenols is a German wheat beer (Weissbier), where people notice a prominent flavor reminiscent of banana and clove.

What's a Kolsch? Actually it's "Kölsch." It's a style from the city of Köln (Cologne), Germany. It's an ale. However, of the ales, it's the most lager like. That is because, though it uses an ale yeast. It is fermented at a lower temperature like a lager. This is due to some local politics of the time that forbade brewers from using new-fangled lager yeasts. But since lagers were becoming very popular around Europe, the local brewers found ways to make beer similar to lagers, but using ale yeasts as the local authorities dictated.

This style according to the BJCP is "A clean, crisp, delicately-balanced beer usually with a very subtle fruit and hop character. Subdued maltiness throughout leads into a pleasantly well-attenuated and refreshing finish." It's characteristics like this that led to the beer winning at the Battle of the Brews in the European beer style category.

It's this kind of beer that I think goes excellent with chicken, particularly fried chicken. And Google AI agrees saying

In making this, I use Admiral Malting's Organic Maiden Voyage Pale Malt. It's a light malt with robust earthy sweetness, and is balanced with Mount Hood hops which provide a lovely floral bitterness, and Sorachi Ace hops, which lends a herbal and citrus top note. In addition, I diverge from the standard Kolsch recipes that usually use a percentage of wheat, and instead use corn, plus Korean corn tea, which gives it just a touch of toastiness, and cereal character.

To me, this hits all the marks of an excellent Kolsch, and has everything you want in a beer when having fried chicken.

And with that comes the name. "Chimaek" is a Korean word for beer and chicken, it's a portmanteau of sorts, the "chi" coming from the English word "chicken," and "maek" taken from the Korean for beer, "maekju," therefore "chimaek." I then just added "ko" at the end for "kolsch." I felt the name as a good ring to it.

Oh, and what's the business of "kolsch-style ale"? Well, since it's not produced in Köln, Germany, some in authority object to calling it a kölsch, hence kolsch-style ale.

For the label art, I found it funny to make a chicken holding a mug of beer. It makes no sense, since it's physically impossible. My odd sense of humor at work. Unlike Biru 101 and Nagoya Nights label, I did minimal art by hand. The only portion is the corn used as the background pattern.

The tag line "does not contain chicken," is another bit of humor, though interestingly enough, there are reports of some beer containing chicken.

I'll leave you with an except from a book on beer I have:

yum...

Business Update

I've been very busy reaching out to many businesses on carrying Sugoi beers.

It's a real privilege to meet so many people in the Bay Area in the food and beverage business. There's so much creativity and passion. It's very exciting to be a part of it all.

With the attention from the various festivals, events, and awards, word is getting around. The following is a list of places that carry Sugoi Beers, and I'll be updating as more are added.

• Aburaya, Oakland
• Ale Tales, Albany
• Best Friends, Albany
• Cask, Berkeley
• Chile Lindo, San Francisco
• Danbi, Los Gatos
• Duan Chun Zhen (aka Duan's Kitchen), Cupertino
• Everest Kitchen, Albany
• Gestalt Haus, San Francisco
• The Rake, Alameda
• Joodooboo, Oakland
• Nara Restaurant and Sake Bar on Haight, San Francsico
• Ramen Shop, Oakland
• Rabbit Hole, San Francisco
• SAMS American, San Francisco
• Umami Mart, Oakland
• Woo Can Cook, Oakland

more coming soon!

Know a cool place that should have Sugoi Beers? Ask them to reach out to info@sugoibrewing.com or @sugoibrewing on Instagram.

Random Tidbits

I have yet to finish my website. I'm too busy making (and selling!) beer. :-)

But if you want to buy any beer I have direct, please email me, or DM me. I can deliver.

For past newsletters, please visit: https://sugoi-brewing-company.ck.page/profile/posts​