A Note from the Chris’
It’s Our Birthday and We’ll Play if we want to
Sitting around a fire pit in the summer, drinking a new 
craft beer is where Chris and I do some of our most effective brainstorming. We’ve dreamt up everything from beer recipes to branding opportunities to delivery routes. Some of these ideas have come to fruition and some are just a pipe dream but one that has been long on the cards is to run our own festival.
Well the time has come and we’re extremely excited to be hosting our inaugural Birthday Bash & #Alwaystimetoplay Festival on June 3 at our Riverside location (on the large field behind).
In celebration of our 4th birthday and the start of summer, we have local bands filling the schedule for live music from 11am-11pm. Alongside the non-stop tunes, we have local vendors, a food truck and BBQ, a volleyball tournament, brewery Olympics, lawn games and of course a beer tent! Rain or shine (that’s right we have a big tent) we’ll be outside sharing beers, food and good times while embracing our #alwaystimetoplay philosophy.
We’re really excited for everyone to have a great time with great people and continue to make this a yearly festival that we can all look forward to. All proceeds will go to charity.
Cheers!
Chris Thompson & Chris Thompson
Brewery News
2 Awards in 2 Weeks
We are happy to announce our 2 recent wins in business. While it came as a bit of a shock, we have just received the 2017 Large Business of the Year Award from the Upper Ottawa Valley Chamber of Commerce and the 2017 Business Innovation Award from Algonquin College. Thanks to all of our friends who awarded us with these shiny trophies. They add a great touch of class to the Lakeside office.
60+ and Counting
We are moving into our busiest season yet and with two locations running at full tilt and a growing sales team covering the province our list of team members is growing rapidly. In the past few weeks we’ve hit 60+ staff and that number is still moving up. While a lot of these newcomers are only with us for the Summer, the business continues to grow and so will the jobs. If you would like to be a part of the team have a look at our website to apply.
Beer 101
Bring to a Boil
By Head Brewer Sean
Last time we spoke in depth about malted barley and the mashing process. Now that we know how to create sweet liquor, let’s turn that into wort! Wort is the pre-fermented beer. There are a couple major processes that happen during the boil that make the beer what it is. Let’s go through the process then we can talk about what happens in each step.
We have lautered (drained) all the sweet liquor out of the Mash Tun and into the boil kettle using steam to heat it. There are “jackets” around the kettle that we pump burning hot steam into, which allows us to heat the wort very efficiently. It takes about 30 minutes to bring the 4000 liters of sweet liquor to a boil. When the kettle is full we take a specific gravity reading which tells us how much sugar we have in the pre-boiled wort. This is key so that we can hit the alcohol percentage we desire. We will go into that part in the next blog. As the sweet liquor comes to a boil we start adding hops which in turn, creates wort. The wort is boiled for 60 minutes adding more hops if the recipe calls for it. Once the boil is complete we stop the steam (knock out) and we start a whirlpool by pumping the wort out the side of the kettle and back in through a round port that creates a vortex. Doing this pulls all the hops and protein into the center and keeps it from getting sucked into the fermenter. When the whirlpool is complete we let the wort rest to settle out anything remaining. Then we pump the wort through the heat exchanger to the fermenter. This is called the cast out. The heat exchanger knocks all the heat out of the wort instantly to make sure we have the right temperature for the yeast. Knocking out the heat quickly also locks in the volatile flavour that may evaporate off.
Now that we know the boiling process let’s talk a little more about the hops. The hops are added for a couple reasons, one of which is to add bitterness to the beer to balance it out. When the hops are boiled, they go through a process called isomerisation which is just a fancy word for saying we are taking the bittering oils and locking them in the beer. The longer you boil the hops the more bitterness (IBU) you get in the beer. When you add hops later in the boil you get more flavour and aroma and less bitterness. Therefore, the purpose of the hops are three fold: get bitterness (IBU) in the beer, add flavour from the hops, and add aroma to the final beer. Boiling also drives off any oxygen in the wort as well as pasteurizing it. This helps the beer to have a longer shelf life as well as stopping bacteria from spoiling the final beer.
Cooking with Beer
Fish & Chips with Mushy Pees
By Chef Chris
Best Paired with Farmer’s Daughter
Ingredients
sunflower oil for deep-frying
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
225 g nice white fish fillets, I recommend Haddock
225 g flour , plus extra for dusting
285 ml Farmer’s Daughter Blonde Ale , cold
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
900 g potatoes , peeled and sliced into chips
1 knob (thumb sized piece) butter
4 handfuls of Petits Pois
1 small handful fresh mint , leaves picked and chopped
1 squeeze lemon juice
Method
Mushy Pees
Put the butter in a pan with the peas and the chopped mint. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with sea salt and black pepper.
Either mush the peas in a blender, or you can mash them by hand
Keep them warm while you cook your fish and chips.
Fish
Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a sauce pan and heat it to 190ºC/375ºF.
Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides.
Whisk the flour, Farmer’s Daughter Blonde Ale and baking powder together until smooth. Dust each fish fillet in the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off.
Hold each fillet at one end and lower the fish into the oil one by one. Be careful so you don’t get splashed.
Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.
Chips
Parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened. Drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry.
Fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180ºC/350ºF until golden and crisp.
While the chips are frying, place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180ºC/350ºF to finish cooking.
Drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.
Events
Birthday Bash & #Alwaystimetoplay Festival
June 3
We are turning 4! This month we will be hosting a birthday bash and one day festival that is all things playful. Craft beer vendors, delicious food, volleyball tournament, brewery Olympics and more are waiting for you at the Riverside brewery on the Ottawa River this June. Get your tickets in store, online, or at the festival entrance.
Questions from Friends
Cynthia asked:
What are your pub hours going to be like at the Riverside location this Summer?
We answered:
Hi Cynthia, our Riverside Brew Pub hours are Sunday to Thursday 11:30-9, Friday to Saturday 11:30-11. The Forester’s Falls location will be opening 7 days a week as of June 12. Until then, we will be open Thursdays for dinner and Friday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. To make a reservation call 613-582-7227.
We want to answer your questions about anything from the beer, the brewery, the boys or whatever else is on your mind. Due to the high volume of questions though, we won’t be able to post every one, but keep your eyes peeled in case yours makes it to the front page.
*Questions from Friends is for general questions in the areas listed above. For personal inquiries please use thebreweryboys@whitewaterbeer.ca