Overcast forecast: hazy with chance of beer

As many of you know, Big Timber Brewing has released its second batch of Overcast, the brewery’s popular Hazy IPA. Unfortunately, it may already be about gone from most of the West Virginia market.

Overcast is a beautiful New England-style IPA (NEIPA), soft and approachable, with a big time juicy hop load. They even upped the dry hopping by 20% on this second batch. It’s absolutely packed with Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado, Azacca, and Cascade. And it is very expensive to make.

It could easily have twice the amount hops that you would find in the same sized batch of regular Big Timber IPA. Another thing that makes brewing NEIPAs more expensive is that the yield is considerably less than that of a standard IPA. Because the brewer uses twice as much hops, they soak up a lot more beer and produce more unusable sludge that settles to the bottom of the tank and must be discarded. And because the yeast stays in to beer to help make it hazy, the brewer only gets one pitch out of his yeast instead of being able to reuse it five or more times as you normally would.

Causing quite a stir

Overcast caused quite a stir in the Charleston market last fall, even though we did not get any of it. Folks got to try it when people brought the beer back from visits to the Elkins brewery. Or they just heard how good it was. Word circulated fast and everybody wanted it. Overcast became a bit legendary. Don’t we always want the beer we can’t get? Brilliant Stream included Overcast on its list of the best WV beers of 2018.

This time around we got a little drizzle. I heard that Spriggs Distributing was able to obtain about 20 cases of 16 oz. cans and 9 one-sixth barrel kegs of Overcast for the Charleston-Huntington market. I’m sure that beer is pretty much gone by today. And that is likely the case in most other parts of the state too.

So, if you’ve missed out on it, you have a good reason for an Elkins road trip this weekend. In fact, that’s what brewery co-owner and head brewer Matt Kwasniewski would prefer you do. Out of the 125 cases they canned, about 70 cases were kept to be sold the brewery. They also kept a good supply of draft. Kwasniewski is not being selfish, he has some real good reasons he wants you to come to Elkins for the beer.

Two reasons to head to Elkins

Kwasniewski says there are two main reasons he would prefer people to come to the brewery to purchase his NEIPAs rather than asking for them in distribution: (1) price and (2) quality control.

PRICE – Kwasniewski thinks his NEIPAs are a good retail value at $4 for a 16 oz. can. West Virginia isn’t a rich state, and he’d like to keep all his beer affordable to average citizens. To achieve that kind of selling price on a NEIPA, however, means that you will only see that $4 price in brewery direct-to-consumer sales. He needs to sell it for $4 a can to cover his costs and make a reasonable profit. I don’t think he’s making that up because that’s about the price point small breweries sell NEIPAs for all over the country. When the beer goes into distribution, the price unavoidably goes up. Sometimes by quite a bit by the time you purchase it in a bar or restaurant. So you get the best bang for your buck at the brewery.

QUALITY CONTROL – New England IPAs are very, very sensitive beers — more-so than any other popular style. They depend so much on the hops and yeast for their special flavor. Hop oils are very volatile and reactive and tend to lose their potency fast or change flavors to something less good. Because the beer is not pasteurized, the yeast stays active and, if not stored cold, can change flavors or even settle out leaving the beer less hazy over time. Due to these factors, NEIPAs are typically at top quality for only a short period of time.

At the brewery, the brewer can keep the beer stored in pristine conditions, at proper temperatures. The brewery can manage their inventory ensuring that the beer is consumed within its Best By window. Once a beer leaves the brewery and goes to a wholesaler and then to a retailer, the brewer really has no control over how it is stored or how long it sits on the shelf. For a beer as quality sensitive as a NEIPA, Kwasniewski would rather manage the beer inventory himself so he can assure its quality, rather than send it off to parts unknown.

While Big Timber makes the same money on the beer either way it’s sold, you can see why Kwasniewski would be happier if you came to the brewery to buy your Overcast.

Short supply forecast to continue

Big Timber plans to keep releasing a new New England-style IPA every few months. Some could be recurring ones, like Overcast; and some could be totally new, one-off brews.

You have to expect that these much anticipated beers will continually be in short supply, as far as distribution goes. It does not appear that the brewery is in a position to make larger batches of NEIPA. This time, Big Timber put 30 barrels of Overcast wort into the fermentor and it yielded 22 barrels of beer. Out of that, they got 125 cases of 16 oz. cans and something like 20 half-barrel kegs, or its equivalent in one-sixth barrel kegs. That’s not a lot of beer for a state our size. Even though they just moved into their new, larger brewery, their production schedule requires the extra tank space for their core brands, regular seasonals, and other specialties like their popular fruited goses. Getting four or five big batches of NEIPA a year, may be just about all they can handle at this time, capacity-wise.

Elkins awaits you – This weekend, the forecast for Overcast is good in Elkins at the brewery. In the future though, just to be safe, before you start your road trip to Elkins, you might want to call the Big Timber taproom to be sure their latest NEIPA is still in stock.

---

Big Timber Brewing
304-637-5008
1210 S Davis Ave
Elkins, West Virginia 26241