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 June Lake Brewing Party Time ~ Big thanks goes out to Mammoth Brewing Company for putting on the 18th annual Bluesapalooza and Grand Tasting. It did not disappoint. If you made it out you're probably still smiling, and if you didn't you really blew it and should go cry in the corner for a couple days. As if Bluesa wasn't enough, this past Saturday was the 59th annual June Lake Fireman's BBQ. Helping out behind the bar we ensured everyone was properly lubricated and kicked down tips to help fund our all volunteer department. Good times had by all... In other party news, we're working with the June Lake Chamber of Commerce to help organize the 1st annual June Lake Autumn Beer Festival slated for Saturday October 5th. Block off your calendars and start making excuses to your boss, because this is going to be an afternoon of drinking and decadence that can't be missed. With a visiting brewery roster that includes, but is hardly limited to Cismontane, Mammoth Brewing Company, Green Flash, and Tahoe Mountain Brewery, we're going to have a romp raging good time oompa-ing along to tunes from the Kalifornia Krauts. Complete with a totally artificially authentic German stein holding contest, the first ever Eastern Sierra Master Chili Cook Off, a pie baking competition and an autumn photo death match, we've got everything including the kitchen sink. Tragically we won't have our license yet, so JLB won't be available, but don't let that detour you cuz this is going to be the first JLABF of many and you know you want to say you were there to make history. Finally on the beer front, our Grant Lake Golden Tart turned out phenomenally and has been a big hit with everyone that's been lucky enough to try some. If you're around JL anytime soon, hit us up, and if we've got any left we'll be more than happy to let you take it for a test-drive and decide for yourself. Cheers! Justin/Sarah
June Lake Brewing Smokey The Bear~ With the Aspen fire on the westside still raging, June, Mammoth and the rest of the eastside has been enveloped in an unrelenting haze. Unfazed by the air quality, our team of dedicated JLB TestPilot downhill racers continue to rip the mountain and represent in the Friday Village Championship Downhill races. If you haven't been to one yet, come on out Friday afternoon and check it out for yourself. On the beer front we're pretty jazzed up for Mammoth Brewing Company's 18th annual Bluesapalooza this weekend. This yearly gathering of blues and breweries unites killer tunes with some of the best beer in the country (or world even). As volunteers, Sarah and I will be helping the MBC crew setup and breakdown draft stations for the visiting breweries, we'll also have to sample some of the goods to ensure they're fit for public consumption. From Russian River to Ninkasi, good beer will be available in abundance so if you're not already planning to attend, immediately stop what you're doing, cancel all of your plans, and get up here because it's going to be friggin awesome! In other beer festival news, block off Saturday October 5th on your calendars because we're working with the June Lake Chamber of Commerce to put together the inaugural June Lake Autumn Beer Festival. With the Kalifornia Krauts booked to play and Mammoth Brewing Company and Cismontane leading the brewery charge, we're gearing up for a super good time. Tragically we won't have our license in time, so JLB will not be featured, but we assure you there will be super good beer available along with bratwurst and a real life stein holding contest! Cheers! Justin/Sarah
June Lake Brewing Taking Time To Do It Right~ Great news, we had our use permit application accepted for review by the Mono County LDTAC committee yesterday! This means we're one step closer to making JLB a reality. However given the limited Planning Department staff (three people for all of Mono County), and their current backlog of applications, the review and approval process is probably going to take 60 to 90 days. This means we probably won't be cranking out beer for sale until early 2014. Bummer, but we think we've got a prime location and aside from timing, the county is being very helpful. With the timing piece in mind we've put the Kickstarter campaign on temporary hold, as we don't want to launch it and then not be able to deliver on some of the rewards until six months after it's completed. I know everyone is ready to pump this thing up, but again taking the time to do it right! On the beer front though we're still cranking... The BlackDog Imperial IPA came out fantastic at 9.7% with a velvety chocolate finish that isn't too hoppy or overwhelming, and a big thanks goes out to everyone that voted on their favorite label design on Facebook. We will be transferring the Carson Peak American Strong Ale off the dry hops this week and then that 12.5% monster of a beer will be put down for around a month to rest before we even attempt to approach it. Aside from all that we just want to send out a big thanks to all of the support everyone's provided. Cheers! Justin/Sarah
 June Lake Brewing Brewcation~ It finally happened, we've got a home for June Lake Brewing! That's right, picture a cozy little space nestled in the heart of the village. Located in the old bank building beneath the June Lake General Store at 2740 Hwy 158, we've even got a bank vault! Though smaller than what we were looking for, everything has to start somewhere. Still pending County, State and Federal review, we're currently getting everything organized and hope for a December opening. Also our Kickstarter campaign is ready to launch, but to get maximum effectiveness we're going to wait until July 16th to release it into the wild, so stay tuned on that front. On the brewing front the Black Dog Imperial IPA and the Carson Peak American Strong Ale are both fermenting along nicely. The former should be ready for consumption mid July and the latter, being the massive beer it is, will probably not be ready until mid/late August. Yesterday we brewed up our take on a golden blond ale that we're crafting for the Gold Rush Adventure Race, that will be held in June Lake September 18th - 22nd. For those not familiar this is a backcountry race that drops teams off at an undisclosed location ~100 miles from June Lake, and then each team has four days to find their way back to June Lake across the rugged terrain of the Sierras. Cool stuff, so why not make a killer beer to celebrate?! Lastly we come to the Pedal Driven Pale Ale... When we went to bottle this beer last week, we were greeted with a beer that pretty much sucked. It was bound to happen, and after five brews that turned out awesome, our sixth fell flat on its face. So tragically we won't have any beer for a couple weeks until the Black Dog Imperial IPA emerges from the fermentors. We'll revisit the pale session ale style, but for the time being we're going to strive on with what we know and love: Big Aggressive Ass Beers! Cheers! Justin/Sarah
  Sarah Gettin Ready for Pipeline June Lake Brewing Update 06/18/2013 BikePark and Happenings~ Summer is here and our favorite activity has finally arrived... Bike Park! If you aren't familiar, get knowledged - Twilight Zone. Basically gravity assisted mountain shredding mixed with a constant fear of immanent carnage. With the full mountain slated to open this Friday we're pretty excited, and what better after a long day of riding than a nice refreshing JLB ale... Our Pedal Driven Pale Ale just came out of the dry hopping tanks with a crisp, easy drinking taste accompanied by just enough hoppy loveliness to please. The Black Dog Imperial IPA we brewed with MoJo the BrewFather is fermenting along nicely and has almost hit its terminal gravity. Pedal Driven and Black Dog should be ready for consumption by late July. This past weekend we stepped to our biggest beer yet, Carson Peak American Strong Ale. I mean this beer is BIG! With an estimated 12% ABV and 130 IBUs, just like Carson Peak this brew will school you if you aren't ready for it. Last newsletter we told you to get ready for our forthcoming Kickstarter fundraising campaign, and production is coming along nicely. We had hoped to launch it in June, but we really want to nail it, so we're taking our time and doing it right. Expect a launch the second week of July ~Tuesday the 8th. When it goes out we'd really appreciate everyone's support spreading the word. Even if you're broke and don't have any funds to kick down, we can definitely use your help pushing the message out on all of your social and personal networks. And finally we couldn't have a newsletter without a section dedicated to our search for a location. As indicated in the last couple, we've identified a suitable space and we're working with the county to ensure we can get the proper permitting to be legit. We're real close and will hopefully have more news for you in the next JLB update. Until then keep your fingers crossed, and email us if you're in the area and want to taste some JLB. Cheers! Justin/Sarah
June Lake Brewing KickStart My Heart~ First off a big thanks goes out to all the heads that made it to our second officially unofficial tasting party Saturday Memorial Day weekend at Gull Lake Park! We poured through all the beer we had plus a super secret keg from MoJo the BrewFather. Super fun had by all and we finally released some of our fresh JLB gear into the wild. For those who missed it, fear not cuz we're getting ready to launch our KickStarter fundraising campaign later this month and you'll get your chance to get your hands on yet-to-be released JLB gear and goodies. What is KickStarter you ask... well KickStarter is a crowd sourced, interweb based approach to fundraising for projects and fledgling businesses. Basically we are putting together a short video outlining what we're doing and why we need money, or in our case our Director of Visual Awesomeness is (thanks Bobby), and then we have different levels of donation available with awesome stuff as compensation for the contributor. So for instance we'll have custom JLB branded double insulated stainless steel growlers (pic below) with a free fill available for a certain level of donation (exact price TBD by the Director of AntiFun aka our accountant). We will set a certain level of overall donations that we're seeking on the dedicated JLB KickStarter webpage and if we achieve that level over a specified amount of time we'll receive the money and the donors will receive the promised items and/or services. Not to mention they'll be a part of history by bringing the first brewery to June Lake. Point being we need your help to make a brewery in June Lake a reality, and what better way to do it than get everyone involved contributing what they can and spreading the word to the masses. Okay KickStarter, check... now on to location. So we've been making progress with Mono County and we're just about there, but it hasn't been finalized just yet so you'll have to wait a little bit longer to find out what cool locale we've got lined up. However, we're always moving forward on the beer front and with MoJo the BrewFather in town we couldn't resist enlisting his extensive brewsperience to concoct a Black Imperial IPA of epic proportions (pic below). This midnight express of a beer should be ready mid July, so stay tuned for the release because it'll be fierce! As we get closer to the end of the month we'll let you know what you can do to help make our KickStarter campaign a success and bring a brewery to June Lake, but until then hit us up if you're in the area and want to hook up for a taste of some fresh JLB goodness. Cheers! Justin/Sarah
 June Lake Brewing Party Time ~ Maybe you've heard the rumors, but we'd like to finally confirm the location/date/time of our second release party! Block off the afternoon of Saturday May 25th, because we're taking over Gull Lake Park! That's right this Saturday starting around 4pm we'll be pouring beer and grilling it up down by the shore of Gull Lake. We plan to have three beers on tap (Alpers Pale Ale, Hootay Double IPA and StickBoy Stout) and will be pouring free samples for all of our TestPilot Crew over 21 years of age. As usual be sure to bring your own cup as we will not be providing any. Also feel free to bring any food or grillable items as we plan to have the grill going to keep the hunger dragon at bay. On the beer horizon we brewed our Pedal Driven Pale Ale last week in homage to our favorite summer time activity in the Eastern Sierras. Also later this week we'll be brewing a mystery beer with all of the leftover ingredients we've accumulated over the past four months, so keep a look out for something interesting. Finally on the location front we've found a suitable space and we're in discussions with Mono County and the landlord. Hopefully we'll have more info on this for the next newsletter. Until then drink beer, stay awesome and get outside! Cheers! Justin/Sarah
  June Lake Brewing Spring is Awesome ~ With Tioga Pass open to the Yosemite gate we had to drop everything and get some final splitboarding missions in. It's pretty killer to spend a day with friends cruzing around exploring the epic terrain to be had. If you didn't know, it's beautiful outside... Step away from (or put down) the digital zombie machine and breath it in, because it always goes down smooth! Pictures are worth a thousand words, so reference below for the unabridged grandeur. Now for Beer... If you're around June Lake Wednesday May 15th at 6pm, be sure to stop by the Heidelberg Inn for the June Lake Chamber of Commerce Spring Mixer. JLB will be there for our TestPilot Crew to sample the final pints of our Sierra Scotch Ale. We've been dispersing this fine fermented treat where able, and now we're down to our last ~2.5 gallons. That's only 20 pints, so be there by 6pm to get yours (limit one per TestPilot)! As you all know (or should) we've got three crazy concoctions on the verge of release into the wild. First up our fisherman's best friend Alpers Pale Ale brings a flavorful pale with a lot of spunk to the table for those long days out on the lake. Progressing down the line, the palate wrecking furry of our Hootay Double IPA at 130+ IBUs will please even the hoppiest hopheads out there. Finally rounding out the trio, our marsh mellow chocolate vanilla mutation that is StickBoy Stout will provide a nice dessert for all those sweet tooths out there. In all we've got some interesting beer coming.... Keep the last weekend of May open because we've got some power moves on the horizon and would hate for you to miss the release of these JLB creations. Cheers! Justin/Sarah  Rambo looking on at the Snowboard Magazine photo session  MariBeth and Natalie Swetkoff-Kramer getting their move on  Jimmy Goodman and Brian Hacker ready to drop  Jimmy Goodman throwin down some turns  The Snowboard Magazine photo crew  TestPilot Billy Dean missioning near False White 
 JLB TestPilot Doug Nidever's tracks June Lake Brewing Great Day, More Beer on the Way ~ So b002 Sierra Scotch Ale emerged from carbonation as a success and we bottled what we could. If you want to try some hit us up with a reply email and we'll arrange a tasting with you. Tragically we don't have enough for another release party. At this point it's looking like our next release party will be mid to late May when we unveil our Hootay Double IPA and Alpers Pale Ale. So stay tuned for details as that's going to be pretty frickin sweet! Back to the beer... we dry hopped the Hootay Double IPA this past weekend and it's tasting splendid. Contrary to prior indications it is going to be more in the 9% region, as opposed to 11%... still figuring out that altitude thing. The Alpers Pale Ale is coming in a little stronger and darker than initially planned, but what else would you expect from a beer named after the renowned Sierra Monster Trout? This past weekend we also brewed our most experimental beer yet: StickBoy Stout (see pics below). This is Sarah's recipe that we worked on to make a s'mores tasting American style stout. The ingredients included six pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate, six pounds of marshmellows and four vanilla beans. The name StickBoy Stout is in homage to our friend who's the ultimate backcountry explorer and known to disappear into the wilderness solo for weeks on end only to emerge with crazy stories about trippy squirrels and epic descents. Basically he epitomizes camping in the backcountry so what better way to tie the local culture into our mutant creation. Lastly on the location front we're still searching, though we've got it narrowed down to a few locations here in June Lake Village. Hopefully we'll have some good news in the next update. Cheers! Justin/Sarah
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Justin Walsh
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November 2018
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