This afternoon we visited Saint Archer Brewing Company in Miramar to speak with head brewer Kim Lutz about canning, Europe trips and more…
Saint Archer is getting ready for its first canning run. What can you tell us about that?
The canning line is almost ready. The guys at Pizza Port Bressi Ranch were nice enough to come in last week and let us borrow their D.O. (dissolved oxygen) meter. We’re dialing in the machine and seeing what the best speed is, and we’re working on how many people it’s going to take for off-packing once the cans are filled.
We recently received a shipment of 194,000 cans, and over the next two weeks or so we’ll be doing the first run of 800 cases each of our White Ale, Blonde Ale, Pale Ale, and IPA.
We hear you’re going on a trip to the UK soon?
Yes! I leave Friday for an overnight flight with my fiancée Heather (of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters). On Monday we’ll be brewing 300 barrels (1039 casks x 9 gallons) of Saint Archer Pale Ale at Banks’s Brewery in Wolverhampton. We wanted to brew the Coffee Brown, which uses Heather’s beans, but the logistics just didn’t work out. Yiga (Miyashiro, Director of Brewing Operations) passed on the trip because of his role in this big canning project. I was lucky enough to get chosen to go; cheers to Mitch Steele from Stone who mentioned us as well as Jesse from Golden Road and others.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll be meeting with managers of the J D Wetherspoon pubs where the casked beers will be served. On Wednesday and Thursday we’ll have a chance to sight-see; I’m going to try to go to Cantillon because I’ve never been. Hopefully we’ll make it to Cologne too.
What was your experience like at the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (IWCBD) at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station last weekend?
It was fun – a lot of women at once in one room! Working with Devon (Randall, Pizza Port Solana Beach head brewer) and Laura (Ulrich, Stone small batch brewer) was awesome. We came up with the recipe a few weeks before and decided on a rye pale ale with Mosaic, Cascade, Centennial and Mandarina hops from Hallertau, Germany. There was a very small allocation of Mandarina hops to brewers this year, and Saint Archer luckily got 110 pounds of it, so I think I’m going to do an all-Mandarina pale lager, and I’ll mostly be focusing on the hop’s aromatic qualities.
Saint Archer recently launched distribution in LA. Have you been to any events in the area?
Not yet, just because I’ve been so busy at the brewery. But this Wednesday night I’ll be going to Mohawk Bend for their Pink Boots Tap Takeover, and then to Eagle Rock for the three-year anniversary of their Women’s Beer Forum. There I’ll be presenting a flight of Saint Archer beers from 7 – 9 p.m. Ting (Su, Eagle Rock co-founder) was nice enough to e-mail and ask me to be a part of this event.
How similar is the new Saint Archer White Ale to the award-winning witbier you brewed at Maui Brewing Co., La Perouse White?
White beers are pretty simple, so you can’t really get away from making them similarly. In Maui, I sourced local Mandarian oranges and processed them myself, which was fine for the brewpub but overwhelming on the big system. In that beer, the coriander was the star, with citrus notes coming from the oranges. This Saint Archer beer has more of a natural citrus highlight; we’re using Navel orange puree and fresh peel from a company in Covina, as well as 9.5 pounds of coriander per 30-barrel batch. The coriander is an Indian variety that comes from Santa Rosa.
What’s the story behind the Saint Archer Double IPA?
We first formulated that beer when Yiga arrived. The hops are similar to a single IPA I brewed at Maui called Freight Trains using Chinook, Citra and Simcoe. We played around a bit with the base recipe and how much we hopped it. Today we’re brewing a new 60-barrel batch for the tasting room and select draft accounts.
What is your normal day like?
My days change all the time. Now that Yiga is really focused on the canner I try to help out in the office as much as possible. Today I was brewing because we’re almost out of the Double IPA. So we fill in the gaps, and I’ll do cellar work because I like doing it. Right now we’re doing two brews a day. Soon we’ll be doing four.
What else is new at the brewery?
Today we’re kegging a hoppy red ale that’ll show up on tap (carbonated and on nitrogen) in the tasting room, as well as select draft accounts this week. Yiga has won some awards for his red ales with Pizza Port, but I don’t like my reds too sweet, so we collaborated: he got his malt base but I got my hop profile, so it’s a little more of a red IPA. It’s got a Crystal malt background, and it’s hopped with Cascade and Centennial mainly, plus Galaxy and Mosaic, and all four hops were used in the dry hop. We made sixty barrels of that beer, so you’ll have to try it before it’s gone.