Volume 12

Most Wanted by Wine and Beer Makers
Oct Dec 2004 In This Issue
Most Wanted Gadgets Science of Sweet Beer SatireOn the Beer! Beginners Corner Questions & Answers Brew News Specials Coupons From the Editor 7 8
Wine and beer makers love gadgetsand with good reason. Gadgets can make onerous tasks, such as bottling, a lot easier and sometimes even fun. The holiday shopping season is here so we decided to present a list of our favourite gadgets. Maybe if you have been very good this year youll find one of these under your Christmas tree.

Brew Belt

What is it? An electric heating belt that wraps around your fermentor. Why you need it: Keeps your wine or beer at optimum brewing temperature. Fluctuating temperatures can cause yeast damage which will affect the quality of your wine. Saves on energy bills; you dont have to heat a complete room.

Vl m ou e

Bottle Tree
What is it? A plastic draining stand for bottles. After washing your bottles you hang them upside down on the plastic fingers. This allows the bottles to drain on to the water collecting base. Why you need it: Holds 45 to 90 bottles in a compact space. Keeps your working area dry and uncluttered.

Best Sellers

Wine Kits
1. Grand Cru Chamblaise 2. Grand Piesporter 3. Grand Cru Liebfraumilch

Blast Bottle Washer

What is it? A pressure washer for bottles that attaches to your faucet. Why you need it: Greatly reduces bottle washing time and even makes it fun. This little gadget will cut your washing time in half! A bottle is inverted onto the Blast nozzle and a sharp spray of water is injected into it. Great for rinsing bottles after cleaning and sanitizing. Also available in a Double Blast model that cleans two bottles at a time.

Beer Kits

1. Morgans Canadian Light 2. Coopers Canadian Blonde 3. Brew House Cerveza

Sulphiter

What is it? A plastic bowl with a built-in pump for spraying sanitizing solution into your wine bottles. Why you need it: Saves time while doing a thorough job! Just one pump sprays the inside of your wine or beer bottle with sanitizer. Can sit on the top of your bottle tree giving you a more compact work space.

The Thief

What is it? A long rigid plastic tube with a valve at the bottom used for taking wine or beer samples. Why you need it: Makes taking samples for hydrometer readings a breeze. Just slowly lower the thief into the neck of your carboy or bucket and it will start to fill up. When its about two inches from the top lift it out of the wine or beer. You can then drop your hydrometer directly into the thief to take a reading. All of these gadgets are on sale now! Check page 6 for sale prices. Drop by our store to see more great gadgets like these.
Shop On-line 24 hours a day!

Auto-Siphon

What is it? A mechanical siphon pump that replaces your racking tube. It attaches to your plastic siphon hose. Why you need it: No more sucking! Starts your siphon quickly with just one stroke of the pump. Sanitary and simple to use. This is one of our best-selling items.

clickabrew.com

Brew News is published by Brewery Lane Ltd. www.brewerylane.com 2004 Brewery Lane Ltd.
Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140

Winemaking

Premium Wines are on the Move
Dont Forget to Order Yours!
Four exciting wine kits sourced from premium wine growing regions around the globe. RJ Spagnols' 16-Litre Cru Select RQ wine kits are exclusively designed for winemakers looking for a special limited release wine to enhance their cellars. The discerning winemaker can expect the overall taste and flavour profiles to exceed that of previous years offerings that are now known as benchmarks of excellence and superiority. These highly sought after kits have been perennial best sellers for us. They are released in limited quantities one variety per month in January, February, March and April. RQ kits must be pre-ordered for guaranteed delivery. If you order three or more kits you will receive a set of six Spiegelau expert wine glasses. Order now at your nearest Brewery Lane store. Each kits sells for $90 and includes special edition RQ 2005 labels.
Statistics show that consumers are buying more premium wines. Last year, sales of commercial wines costing greater than $20 per bottle increased by 22% while sales wines less than $8 per bottle decreased by 1%. We are seeing the same trend in wine kits. Industry statistics show that premium six and eight week wine kits sales have grown by 8% over the past year compared to a 1% growth in four week kits. Nationally, 35% of all wine kits sold are premium six week kits while four week kits have 65% of the market. Newfoundland is lagging behind the national average at just 15% premium kit sales but those numbers are moving up. At Brewery Lane our premium wine kit sales are above the provincial average at over 20%. Since our beginning in 1993 we focused on supplying our customers with quality products. We believe this is why our premium kit sales are above the provincial average. We have always advised our customers to go for quality over price. Premium kits contain 100% percent grape juice and juice concentrate. Wines made from premium kits will have unsurpassed quality, aroma and flavour. The wines will have more tannins which help the wine age gracefully with more complexity than four week wines. We stock more premium wine kits than any other store in Newfoundland. Our customers can choose from award-winning Selection and Cru Select kits or the ultra premium En Primeur and Selection Estate kits. These kits are made by the two major wine kit manufacturersRJ Spagnols and Winexpertwhich are owned by commercial wineries and have extensive quality control facilities and practices. If you would like to experience the next level of ultra premium winemaking try the new Winexpert Selection Estates Crushendo Santa Ynez Valley Syrah wine kit.

Beermaking

The Science of Sweet, Sweet Beer
BY ANDREW ROWE Most beer is made from malted barley, hops, yeast, and water. Malted barley is barley that has been soaked in water for over four days, so that it germinates and creates starches and enzymes. It is then lightly roasted to dry and add flavour. These enzymes break down starches to simple sugar molecules which the yeast can use. However, the enzymes must be exposed to certain temperatures and water to be useful. Hops are flowers from a vine that give beer its bitter taste, as well as some flavour and aroma. Yeast is a unicellular organism which undergoes anaerobic respiration with sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, along with certain esters and other by-products. Fermentation is the process that creates beer. It is achieved when the yeast in the wort - the sweet, sugary liquid extracted from the grain before it is fermented - transforms the simpler carbohydrates into alcohol and carbon dioxide. You will have to wait about a month or so before fermentation subsides to bottle your beer. Some higher gravity (higher alcohol content) beers can take at least three months before they mellow to drinkable quality.

So you want to make your own beer
To start your venture into homebrewing, you are going to need equipment. The basic equipment setup will cost about $60-80. (Ed. note: If you already have winemaking equipment you are set to go).

See PROPER, page 4

Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Brew News 2

On The Beer

with Mark Wood Man Calls His Own Funeral
You may remember the national headline from a couple of months ago. There was a funeral service in NF and another in Ont both interrupted by the guest of honour. His name was/is Dane Squires from St. Phillips and he was/is a friend of mine as much as one could be friends with a hurricane or a snowstorm or any other natural disaster. I decided to dedicate our usual Fryday Nite festivities to celebrate his good fortune and tell tales of Smokin' Joe: "There was a fishing shack by the harbour with a large, crude, hand painted inscription on the side of it, forever immortalized in the movie The Adventures Of Faustus Bidgood!" "I Say, I Say, She's Armed And Dangerous!" We all roared, falling about and slapping each other on the back. As legend would have it somehow Dane was associated with the graffiti boasting of some exploit with ocean going authority. Yep, Dane was just an abbreviation for Dangerous and even though he was legally declared deceased he is very much alive. And we've said too much for comfort.

Winners

Join the fun! Bring in your newsletter and play Scan to Win for a chance to win great prizes and enter our draw for the Brew News Super Prize. Every mailing label has a unique code. If yours matches one of the codes in the computer youre an instant winner. You can win too just like these lucky players: Angela Davis, Don Jardine, Kevin Beresford, Charlie Squires, Robert Stacey, Susan Martin, Mary Noseworthy, Greg Newton, Gerald King, George March, Bryon Hollett, Brendan Fahey, Geraldine Clancy, Colin Perks, Mae Squires Wallace, Chris Nicolle, Debra Stanley, Patrica Fagan, John Ryan, Martin Gibbons, Aubrey Tarrant, Howard Leonard, Doreen Whalen, Mary Butt, B.F. Pitcher, Lloyd Adams, Joan Hutchings, Mel Penney.
The Legend of Dane Squires.
Jimmy Two Fires: "He was once the Harbour Master for about a week and very diligent collecting launch fees and mooring accounts. The loot was promptly spent at the store keeping him and his merry band of pirates awash in beer. He usually had an entourage to encourage him and of course he obliged them with entertainment." We snickered a bit over that and filled our mugs, toasting the scoundrel.
Estate Series With New Crushendo

Winexpert is very pleased to present the Selection Estate Series with the new grape pack, Crushendo. This ultra-premium wine kit is now bigger and better than ever with the new Crushendo. This is the key to a brilliantly intense red wine experience. Why? Because the making of great red wine is in the skin of the grapes. Now, by including the skins, and packaging them separately, Winexpert Estate Series Crushendo wine kits can deliver every nuance, all of the tannin, the brilliant colours and flavours of a superpremium red wine, with all the ageing potential and lush flavours of the best commercial wines. The Crushendo grape pack and the ultra-premium vineyard-designated juices give brilliant aromas and flavours, and a velvety tannic grip, to make a wine of unique and piercing intensity. The first Estate Series wine kit with Crushendo is the Santa Ynez Valley Syrah. This Syrah from California has room-filling aromas of blackberry, smoke, plum, jammy fruit and even a hint of black pepper spiciness lurking in the intense velvety tannins. The flavours go on and on, with blackberry, blueberry, herbs, black currant toast and vanilla.
Super Prize Winners Gordon Wells and Tom Stapleton
Both won a Cru Select Premium Wine Kit!
Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Oct Dec 2004 3

Beginners Corner

Top 10 reasons why your wine may be TOO STRONG
10. You and your dog howl moving renditions of Broadway tunes after only one glass. 9. If someone rings your doorbell the next morning you answer it with several sharp knives in hand. 8. You can't uncork the bottle without opening a window. 7. The voices in your head tell you to keep drinking. 6. You decide a mattress for under the table is a worthwhile investment. 5. The stairs seem longer and more treacherous after each glass. 4. That one batch lasts a very long time. 3. Your dinner party turns into frat week. 2. You can't remember running through your neighbours sprinkler in your underwear. And the number one reason why that last batch of wine may be a little too strong. 1. You forgo the wine glasses and throw out the cheese!

with Kevin Reddy

Preparing for the holidays
Where does time go! The holiday season is fast approaching and I realize that it's time to start preparing my favourite alcoholic beverages. During my past 12 years working at Brewery Lane I have seen a lot of people who stress themselves out by leaving their wine and beer making too late. It is not a good idea to rush because most times it will yield an inferior product. My adviceplan in advance. Clearing problems can arise when you rush your wine making. Over carbonated beer and exploding bottles can be the result of hasty beer making. These things can happen if your wine or beer is not completely fermented or insufficient time is given for proper clearing. Wine and beer also improves if it is stored in bottles for about a month or two before drinking. So give yourself a little extra time. Kit instructions say that your beverages will be ready in four to six weeks, but things don't always go as planned. Allow time for minor set backs. Remember that aside from contamination 99% of wine or beer problems can be fixed. All it takes is time and patience. Try not to add stress to an already stressful season. Plan your wine or beer making in advance and you will be pleasantly rewarded when the holiday season comes around.

Proper sanitation is imperative in home brewing
Continued from page 2 You will also need bottles for the beer. I dont recommend twist-off bottles, as they are prone to breaking. Most people will have a few Bavaria or Corona bottles hanging around in their basement. If this is not the case, try visiting Evergreen Recycling, as they usually carry Corona bottles. A fivegallon pot is not a necessity, but you will be limited in the types of beer you can make without one. Proper sanitation is imperative in homebrewing. Yeast is the only microorganism you want in your beer - unless you want to create a funky Belgian beer, but I'll leave that topic alone for now. Because of its low alcohol content, beer is very susceptible to contamination. Pick yourself up a pack of pink chlorinated sanitizer - the store clerks will know what you mean if you just mention "the pink stuff." There are two main types of beer: ales and lagers. Ale yeasts require fermentation at about room temperature, while lager yeasts require longer fermentation at lower temperatures. Ale yeasts produce more estery (fruity aroma) beers, while lager yeasts produce cleaner-tasting beers. All of the major breweries mainly produce lagers. You must keep the yeasts at their proper fermentation temperatures. A lager fermented at high temperatures will be drinkable, but not true to the style. An ale fermented at lower temperatures might not ferment at all! Make sure the yeast temperature remains stable. Put a sticky thermometer available at brew shops on the side of your fermenting vessel to ensure the temperature doesn't fluctuate wildly. This can produce off flavours. Part two of this article will be printed in our next issue. Andrew would like to hear from people interested in starting a homebrew club. You can contact him at badchupacabras@gmail.com
Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Brew News 4

New In Our Stores

I enjoy the red wines I make but I can never seem to get them as dry as their commercial counterparts. Why is this? I assume that you allow your wines to completely ferment. If this is the case then you are experiencing the effect of relatively lower tannins in your kit wines. Tannin is what gives wine its dry mouth-puckering character. Most consumers expect to drink their kit wines shortly after bottling. If these wines had the same tannin levels as commercial wines they would be undrinkable for at least a year or longer. So the manufacturers solved this problem by reducing the tannin in their kits. If you prefer drier wines I recommend that you make the ultra premium wines such as the RJ Spagnols En Primeur or Winexpert Selection Estate Series. These kits have tannin content approaching commercial levels, but remember, you will have to age them longerup to a year for reds. By the way, adding tannin powder will not increase the dryness of your wine. Because of its fining properties it may even have the opposite effect and remove tannin and colour from your wine. I usually try to pour my beer for my non-brewing friends but sometimes when Im not looking they pour their own and get a glass of cloudy beer. Any suggestions on avoiding this? My solution is to pour your beer into a pitcher, place it on the table, and let your guests serve themselves a glass of crystal clear beer. Most people are impressed by this and get a certain satisfaction from pouring beer from a nice foaming pitcher. Selection Estate Series Crushendo The Selection Estate Santa Ynez Valley Syrah now comes with an innovative Crushendo grape skin pack. The Crushendo grape pack brings real grape tannin and character, and the special RC 212 yeast enhances the already spectacular fruit. Right out of the carboy this wine will have intense, gripping tannins, and although drinkable immediately, it will open up and blossom into a wine of unique power and elegance over two to four years. This is truly Winexperts best kit ever. Get this future award winner started today! Selection South African Pinotage. Bred as a cross between Pinot Noir and the Rhne grape Cinsault, Pinotage makes a wine that echoes the delicacy and subtlety of its Burgundy parent, yet shows intense fruitiness and peppery spiciness. In addition to a rich plummy character and aromas of red currant and cherry, Pinotage is unique as a red wine in that it has a subtle aroma of banana in the finish. Although it ages very well, and mellows over several years, the engaging fruitiness makes it a good candidate for early drinking. En Primeur Releases Two New Varieties RJ Spagnols is pleased to announce the launch of two new and exciting varieties in their En Primeur line. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Chilean Carmenere will complement any wine cellar, and are sure to please! And like any of RJ Spagnols' En Primeur wines, these 18 litre six week wine kits yield an exquisite wine that ages wonderfully. Two New Vintners Reserve Passport Kits! German Mller-Thurgau (Moo-lehr Tirr-gow) is one of the most widely planted grapes in all of Germany. A great sipping wine, its a perfect choice for potato chips (theres nothing like a crisp glass of Mller-Thurgau and some crunchy chips!) but mostly its a very satisfying wine to quench a thirst in good company. Chilean Malbec (Mahl-behk) makes wines of great power and character, with blackberry, plums, tar, red pepper, sweet cherry, spice, licorice and deep bittersweet notes, almost like unsweetened chocolate, or espresso.

Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Oct Dec 2004 5

Brew News Specials

Holds 45 bottles. Keep your work space tidy and safe.
Stand alone or sits on the Bottle Tree. Sprays sanitizer into bottles. Saves time and does a thorough job.

You save $3

Standard size AutoSiphon. Starts siphon without sucking. Sanitary and easy to use.

$19.95

You save $4

Expires December 24/04

$18.95

Brew House

All-grain beer with the convenience of a kit. Brewed from fresh grain and hops just like commercial microbrewed beers.

You save $7

Island Mist
Island Mist fruit flavoured wine beverage. Superior quality. These kits gain in popularity every month. Try one today!

Selection Crushendo

Santa Ynez Valley Syrah
Make award-winning wine! Be the first in your group to try one.

$22.95

You save $5

$51.95

You save $10

Brewbelt Heater

Electric belt wraps around your fermentor to maintain ideal temperature.
Bucket & air lock not included.
Cuts bottle washing time in half! Attaches to your faucet. Cleans and rinses bottles fast.
Effortlessly remove samples of wine or beer for testing and sampling.

$10.95

You save $2
New Green Bordeaux Wine Bottlesjust rinse and use.
Floor Stand Wine Corkermakes corking easy

$9.99 per case of 12

Cork & Shrink Bonus Pack120 each corks & shrink seals

$44.99 each

Economy Beer Cappertop seller

$18.99 per pack

Nomacorc Synthetic corksfor your premium wines

$15.99 each

Buon Vino Mini Jet Filterbest on the market

$9.95 per 30 pack

Economy Wine Corkera top seller

$159.99 each

EuroFiltereconomical wine filter

$69.99 each

Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Brew News 6

$5.00 off Grand Cru

wine kit

Coupon expires December 24, 2004. Regular priced items only. Not valid with any other offer.

$8.00 off Cru Select

$3.00 off Barons

beer kit

$5.00 off

Orchard Breezin'

Water Cooler Package
Industrial Grade Crystal Mountain Water Coolers Your Package Includes: One Crystal Mountain water cooler Two 18.9 Litre refillable water bottles Crystal Guard (keeps water contaminant free) One No-Spill water cap 10 Fillups!

Purewater

Made fresh daily by reverse osmosis or distillation. Our Purewater goes through a five stage purification process that makes it the safest, besttasting water youll find anywhere!

Brewery Lane

Save $5 with this coupon when you purchase a new five gallon bottle plus four FREE fill-ups!
! g Offer iing Offer ! utstand Outstand n O

5 gallon

Refills

ISO 9002 Certified

Total price if sold separately $309

2 gallon

Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Oct Dec 2004 7

Starter Kit Sale

From The Editor

with Bill Reddy

Wine and beer making is a social hobby. You can make an awesome wine or beer but if you havent got someone to share it with then it really doesnt matter. Beer and wine is best enjoyed in the company of good friends. There is something else Ive learned over the years: Wine and beer making is a lot more fun if your friends are involved. There is nothing like a bit of friendly competition to hone your skills. I hear this from customers every day. Let me relate one such story to you. A while back I was talking to John who had been making wine for ten years. His friend Charlie had recently started winemaking but his wine was tasting much better than Johns. John had enough of Charlies playfull teasing so he came to me for advice. It didnt take long for us to realize why Charlies wine was so much better; he had been making wine from our premium Cru Select 6-week kits while John was using 4week kits. I set John up with a Cru Select kit and gave him a refresher on good winemaking procedures. Now Johns wine is just as good as Nicks and they are both having a lot of fun trying to perfect their winemaking. So if you are looking for a gift for a friend this year why not give them a starter kit. Youll have more fun and youre likely to become a better winemaker. Crushendo Santa Ynez Valley Syrah If you want to take your winemaking to a new level try one of these kits. I attended a winemaking conference in Ontario last month and everyone was raving about Crushendo. I have one on now and I cant wait to taste it! I hope you enjoy the holidays! I look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Until next timehappy brewing!

Get a Friend Started in Winemaking! Buy our Economy Starter Kit and get $10 off our #1 selling Grand Cru wine kit!
Buy our Big Starter Kit and get $20 off any premium Cru Select or Selection wine kit!
Coakers Meadow Plaza 286 Torbay Road St. Johns NL A1A 4L6 Canada
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Brewery Lane Coakers Meadow Plaza, Torbay Rd. 709-754-4090 Mt. Pearl Plaza, Commonwealth Ave. 709-745-1140 Brew News 8