Winter in Northern Michigan is time for snow skiing, getting cozy-cozy by the fire with your special someone, and, for us, making crazy new beers for you to try. With that spirit in mind, we bring you two new experimental beers, Joyous Almondo and Sasquatch Named Kodini. Their descriptions are below. Be sure to drop into the pub and try these out!

Joyous Almondo~ Described as an experimental Brown Ale, all traditional brewing ingredients take back seat to allow the focus to be on the “exotic” adjuncts that make this beer so special. Equal parts chocolate, coconut, and almonds create a brown ale delicacy unlike any other. Sweet soft aromas of chocolate and coconut excite the senses and peek curiosities. The first sip leads toward a perfect fusion of flavor, as chocolate and coconut seem to embrace the toasted almond qualities, complimenting and accentuating in impeccable unison. Pleasant almond flavors remain well into a finish that is not too sweet, bitter, or dry.

Sasquatch Named Kodini~ A medium bodied, light brown ale made w/ oranges, marshmallow, chocolate, and cinnamon. Following the path laid before it by other recent R&D beers, this one definitely picks up where they left off and then goes way beyond. This beer features a crazy sounding name, four unusual and exotic brewing ingredients, and a malt composition that makes it extremely hard to define. The initial aromas of zesty orange fragrances reluctantly give way to subtle hints of coco and malt. Tangy orange flavors dominate the first taste and linger into a slightly bitter finish. Eventually, the elusive malt sweetness complimented by chocolate and faint marshmallow flavors join harmoniously with the citrus and give way to traces of cinnamon. This beer is so complex that many individual components do not become more prevalent until warmer consumption temperatures are reached.

- SBC

We are currently looking for team members to work at our deli in Bellaire!  We are currently accepting applications for two roles: (1) a “deli lead” with significant kitchen experience and references; and (2) a general deli worker with kitchen experience or strong desire to learn. The deli lead will act as a “right hand” (although left hand is fine too!) person to our Food Service Director.   The duties of the general deli worker position include food prep and cooking, deli cleaning, and other tasks as assigned by management.

The physical requirements of these positions include standing for 8 hour shifts, walking up and down a flight of stairs several times a day, and lifting up to 40 pounds.  If you are interested, please send your cover letter and resume to employment [at] shortsbrewing [dot] com.

Today as we were making heart-shaped valentines envelopes out of paper plates and decorating them with pink and red construction paper hearts, it occurred to us: we should do a Valentines Day special at Short’s! Really, we were just hoping you’d bring us some cool Valentines cards. So here is the deal: (literally, it’s a deal!)… On Valentines day, you can get a 16 inch pizza with up to 2 toppings and 2 regular pints for $20! So come on down to Short’s and share your love for pizza and beer with your super special someone, the love of your life, that dude from the apartment down the hall, or even yourself!

Check out the full poster here.

Hey Short’s fans! We have a few announcements we’d like to make, with more information to come soon. The 2011 Short’s to Short’s paddle will take place on Friday, April 29th. Be sure to schedule that day off work and join us for one of our favorite events of the year. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Short’s to Short’s paddle is an event that allows participants to paddle through the rivers and lakes that connect our Bellaire Pub to our Elk Rapids production facility. The total 27 mile trip includes three lakes interconnected by three different rivers, all of which are beautiful and challenging in their own ways. For participants interested in a less challenging day on the water, we offer several drop out points. We hope to see all of you there! Also, plan to stay for the weekend because we will be celebrating our 7th anniversary at our Pub on Saturday April 30th.

On Saturday, February 5th, Short’s Brewing Company’s Team Huma will compete in the White Pine Stampede cross country ski race. To prepare, the team did some training on the local trails at Shanty Creek Resort this past weekend. Please watch our “Movie Trailer” to see our team members demonstrating their cross country skiing skills! It’s pretty hilarious!

Here’s some past information to get you caught up on what we’re up to with our Health and Wellness Program, including sponsoring the White Pine Stampede this year.

(make sure you turn up your speakers for the full experience!)

The 90 bbls Tank Video Is Here!

Back in 2004 when Joe Short opened Short’s Brewing Company in the old Bellaire Hardware Store using a 7 barrel (bbl) brewing system, he believed that unrelenting standards of excellence would allow him to one day carry his vision to a much larger audience. Joe’s original business plans from 2002/2003 contain several statements that have held true to Short’s through the years, like: “be outrageous, dignified and delicious.” Joe understood that if these principles were maintained, we would draw people who appreciate quality.

As Short’s has grown, we have maintained our core belief in the “Power of the Smallness” — that the art of making truly world class craft beer can be best achieved on a small scale at the local level. At the same time, when you make truly exceptional beer, people will want it! Lots of it! So, in 2009, we began operating a production-only facility in Elk Rapids to meet the dual objectives of increasing production while retaining our exacting standards and “Power of the Smallness” mantra. Over the past two years, we have designed and developed our Elk Rapids production facility to accommodate these objectives. While our Pub in Bellaire continues to brew its own beer, the Elk Rapids facility brews beer for both bottling and keg distribution to the rest of the state.

Back in October, we received 4 new 90 bbl tanks designed specifically for Short’s and built by Sprinkman Mfg. in Wisconsin. These new tanks hold 3 batches at once and are classified as unitanks, which means that they enable us to ferment, carbonate, and package beer from the same tank. As awesome as these tanks are, getting them into our plant presented a logistical challenge. Since they didn’t fit through the door, we had to take the roof off the building and “drop” them in. The 90bbls tanks are now at full production capacity.

We are truly humbled by the support of our loyal friends, family, and all the loyal Short’s fans that have made our success possible. So, it is to you that we dedicate our video tribute to our new 90 bbl tanks. Thank you!

Our philosophy here at Short’s is to embrace “the power of smallness” to bring you the highest quality craft beer you can get your hands on. To that end, we work overtime to keep our operation small and awesome, even as our demand increases. There are a lot of moving parts to operating Short’s, and keeping it all running smoothly is a burly task sometimes. To keep our creative juices flowing, we embrace our Northern Michigan heritage. One of the key ways we do that, is our health and wellness program.

On February 5th, many of our employees and friends will be skiing in the White Pine Stampede cross country ski race (see update, below), which Short’s is sponsoring. To get ready for the race, Joe Short has been leading training operations at Camp Huma. Here, we have a 5k course with lots of challenging features, all of which are named after Wilco songs (one of our favorite bands). So, for instance, here is a picture of Joe expertly navigating Handshake Drugs, a long descent that suddenly jogs left, then right.

The course ends with Impossible Germany, a long, steep descent that suddenly arrives at a 90 degree turn and nowhere to go. Ah, but the ride down is like a long, sweet Nels Cline guitar solo.

Those of us here at Short’s know that Joe is up to some pretty amazing things in the Brewery (stay tuned), but it is nice for us to see the kinds of things he can achieve when he turns his focus and determination on other things. For example, today Joe debuted a new “ski jump” style of cross country skiing that involves self-propulsion through sheer mindpower, though some of us theorize it may also involve flatulence.

Stay tuned for more “health and wellness” updates as we prepare for our 2011 events, including the Short’s to Short’s Paddle, Iceman, and more.

-SBC

Released for the first time since 2007 the beloved Woodmaster, an Imperial Brown Ale made w/ toasted pecans and Northern Michigan maple syrup, returns to the Short’s brewing schedule. First brewed near the end of 2006, this beer was originally part of our 13 beer Imperial Beer Series. Hand filled, capped, and labeled the original was only available for sale at our Bellaire pub in 750ml bottles. This time we were aiming to make it more readily available for Short’s fans located throughout the state, and decided on doing a special bottle release in 12oz six packs. However, distribution will be extremely limited, so seek out your specialty bottle shops within the next two weeks, and get ready to covet your share of this very tasty brew. Can’t wait two weeks? Then visit our brew pub in Bellaire, where a select number of Woodmaster six packs are already available!’

Cheers!

SBC Crew

Woodmaster A high gravity American brown ale fermented with Northern Michigan maple syrup and toasted pecans. This dark brown, full bodied ale is rich with sweet malt and syrup flavors which are complimented by the presence of hop aromas and a faint nuttiness. The palate delights with toasted qualities of caramelized malt and an earthy pecan laced finish.

How could we forget?

Sometimes we move so quickly from one project to the next, that we forget to keep everyone in the loop. Bellaire wasn’t the only Short’s facility to receive some fancy new upgrades. Here’s a message from Joe, along with some cool pics, about the amazing new fermenters we installed in Elk Rapids almost two months ago! The images are of the SBC crew lowering tanks into the ER facility through a makeshift hole they created in the roof. This was also the day we saw some of the first snow flurries of the year.

Enjoy,

SBC Crew

Today at 211 Industrial Park Drive, Elk Rapids Michigan, the maintenance team and the brewing staff in ER ripped a hole in the roof and deployed 4 brand new, 100 barrel tanks! This puts us at roughly double fermentation capacity. Very cool stuff. I have to say it went very smooth. The roof seemed to be the most troublesome and even at that was still not too much of a hassle. The crane from Elmer’s made lifting and moving the tanks down into the brewery a cinch.

These tanks were designed by the Short’s Brewing staff to fit inside our building, cater to our brewing style, hold as much beer as possible while keeping safety in mind. The bottom of the cone is one of two points of access making it easy for personnel to clean and inspect the tank from ground level. The other access point is the top man way, which was designed to accommodate a lot of hops or whatever else we like to put in our beer. These tanks will hold 3 batches at once. Classified as “unitanks” we will be able to ferment beer, carbonate beer and package beer from the same tank. This makes our operation more efficient, with less beer to transfer or additional tanks to clean and uses less water and energy.

Our new babies were made by Sprinkman Mfg. out of Wisconsin, and we’re proud to have American made vessels in our brewery. It’s likely we’ll have beer in these tanks within two weeks.

Cheers!

Joe Short

We all lead pretty busy lives, and sometimes you just can’t help but wait until the last minute to get that friend, family, boss or neighbor a great gift. Well good news, Short’s fans. If you fall into that category, you can now purchase a gift certificate to our newly renovated Bellaire pub and get the gift certificate emailed to you! Crisis averted! Just note during checkout that you’d like us to email us the gift instead, and we’ll do the rest. For more information email estore [at] shortsbrewing [dot] com.