Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Beer Revolution 2nd Anniversary St.Eve Inagural Brewday



Beer Collaboration with Steve Donahue at Firehouse Brewing in Sunnyvale which is being brewed for Beer Revolution's 2nd anniversary party in early February. Steve and I met with Rebecca a couple weeks back and decided to brew a Belgian Tripel with a St.Eve twist or two. We had a lot of supporters stop by during the brew: Pete Slosberg, Arie Litman, Peter Estaniel and Alec Stephanski all made appearances. The beer knocked out at 19.6 Plato and is fermenting away very happily for its debut in about 6 weeks.
The first of many golden sugar crystal additions that occurred throughout the duration of the boil.
Motivational Speakers were present


First Runnings


Just Thinkin.....



Saturday, December 3, 2011

Winter Warmer Brewed


On the Brewdeck at Devil's Canyon. Matt McDougall and I brewed the newest creation for High Water Brewing yesterday. It is a Winter Warmer and should finish out around 7.5% ABV. We added a little finishing spice bag of Ginger, Cardamon, Star Anise & Grains of Paradise during whirlpool and a tiny bit of peat smoked malt in the mash. 30 BBL's total and should be ready in time for New Years!!!

All Four Tanks in place


All four of our 30 BBL Fermenters are in the Drake's new Brewery Fermentation room and full of beer.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

New Fermenters are Installed



The latest addition to the fermentation room,
our two new 30 BBL fermenters are in place
and ready for some new High Water Beers.


Of course we needed the help of our new/old
forklift to get these new tanks moved into place




.


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Gypsy Brewing

Back on the road last week doing a Gypsy brew
at Devils' Canyon




First Half of the Batch ready for Mash In



Dark Indeed



Imperial Lovibond scale was needed
Our first trip to the Baltic Region!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Late Summer Seasonal - No Boundary IPA


Here is a sneak peek at the new No Boundary IPA label.
We will be bottling this 9/22, so look for it on the shelves and on tap very soon after that! This is probably the driest finishing IPA I have ever brewed. Belgian yeast
with hops from Australia and New Zealand with a couple twists thrown in for fun.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011


New Cooperage is arriving, we have a nice supply of 1/2 BBL's stainless kegs. All taped, stenciled and filled with fresh beer.


Fresh Bourbon barrels from Kentucky arrived a couple days ago, we will be filling with Old & In The Way on 8/16.


Some premium Brandy barrels as well are staged and will be filled, these beasts hold 99 gals each.

Sunday, August 7, 2011


All Three Beers on Tap in downtown Stockton!!!
Think of the Beach and your there....

Monday, July 18, 2011



First Pallet of the day, 220 cases total



Matt showing the love....

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Pom Cherry Bomb




Get ready for something new for the summer. Our newest release will be our Pom Cherry Bomb summer specialty ale. We sourced the Pomegranate juice locally from our friend Alex at Home Grown Cellars in Madera, Ca. The Montmorency cherry juice came from the folks at Cherry Central in Michigan. Bottling date is scheduled for 7/18 with a special sneak peak at the draft version on Sat 7/16 in Livermore, Ca. A great new Saloon will be offering all of our beers on draft.

The beer is an easy drinking slightly tart ale with a bit of a kick at 7% ABV,

Here are the specs on the Pom Cherry Bomb:

O.G. 15.9 Plato
F.G. 3.0 Plato
16 IBU's
7.0% Alc by Vol




Thursday, June 2, 2011

Pomegranate Season Looks Great



Took my annual adventure to the Southern Region for a peek at the new Pomegranate crop at my favorite Farmers Ranch, looks like a great year.....

Sunday, May 22, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO BOTTLE RELEASE PARTY


High Water Bottle Release Party in San Francisco
on Folsom May 20, 2011

Steve, Jeremy, Dave and John


Gail and Steve



L2 and Lane

Tuesday, May 3, 2011


Getting ready for some fun.......
Who's Thirsty?????





A little Draft product ready.

Monday, May 2, 2011


Get ready for a real treat, check out the website for release details...
www.highwaterbrewing.com

Tuesday, March 15, 2011




Well the first of the two 30 BBL fermenters have made it into the brewery and are ready for glycol and temperature controller installation. A quick clean and passivation cycle and this bad boy will begin turning out some fresh High Water Brewing Beers.


Yes folks that is the infamous "Caustic Bob"Mann racking out some 5's of Hop Riot IPA and Retribütion IIPA. It was a great day with Bob and James Costa (Oakland Beer Company) pitching in to move the new fermenter into place.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

New Tanks Arrive




Look What Arrived Today!! Our 2 new 30 BBL Fermenters arrived and are unloaded and make a great backdrop for a photo. Plenty of near You-Tube video possibilities but we pulled off the unload with only one dented and bloodied thumbnail (mine)



Cone Huggers

Friday, February 4, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What's behind the name Hop Riot?

High Water Hop Riot IPA

This beer name arrived to me via a very good friend in the beer industry. There actually was a Hop Riot in Wheatland California in 1913. Here is a little background on the event which inspired our IPA.

For the history buffs, here is the actual landmark information:
California Landmark 1003
Wheatland Hop Riot
Intersection of South A Street and 6th Street
Wheatland
Year 1913

Here is the information I was able find on the Riot:
The Wheatland Hop Riot took place at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland on August 3, 1913. It was the first major farm labor confrontation in California.

Ralph Haines Durst, owner of Durst Ranch, was the largest employer of migrant farm workers in California. In response to his advertisements, an estimated 2,800 migrant farm workers showed up to pick hops on August 1, 1913. There was not enough work for all of them, and the conditions and pay were abysmal. On August 2, Richard 'Blackie' Ford and Herman Suhr of the [WWW]Industrial Workers of the World called a protest meeting an organized a strike. On August 3, Ralph Durst called out the local sheriff to control the strike. A deputy sheriff fired a warning shot into the air, and the migrant farm workers began rioting in response to the threat of violence. The sheriff, the district attorney, and two migrant farm workers were killed in the riot. At least a dozen other people were injured.

Blackie Ford, Herman Suhr, and two other strike organizers were charged with being accessories to the murder. The trial was held in Marysville. Defense attorneys petitioned for a change of venue and a new judge, on the grounds that Judge E. P. McDaniel and the new district attorney were both personal friends of the district attorney who had been killed in the riot, the son of the dead district attorney was also working as a prosecutor in the case, and bias against the Industrial Workers of the World for their socialist views was widespread in Yuba County. The petitions were denied, and the trial continued in Marysville under the same judge. Ford and Suhr were convicted of second-degree murder for their roles in the riot, and were sentenced to life in prison. They were eventually released on parole from Sacramen to Folsom Prison in 1925 and 1926, respectively.

The riot focused public opinion for the first time on the plight of California's agricultural laborers, and spurred Governor Hiram Johnson to create a new State Commission on Immigration and Housing. The commission created new state legislation that regulated working conditions for migrant farm workers.

There you have it........

Monday, January 10, 2011


Here are our two new 30 BBL Fermenters just finished at the factory, they are now somewhere on the Pacific Ocean headed to the Port of Oakland. Land date is 1/22/11 and we should have them on site by the 24th or 25th.

Friday, January 7, 2011


Wow, what a day. We have officially launched the new website, Twitter accounts, Facebook page and my blog here to kick off our new adventure. Our warehouse space is now officially ours and we even have a few kegs stored in it. Empty, but hopefully no t for long. The picture above is the exciting new entrance to our warehouse. Second floor accommodations just a few feet away from the brewery.

Some of the "new" kegs courtesy of our great friends up in Truckee at Fifty-Fifty Brewing. Special thanks go our to Brian Prewitt for piloting the truck and trailer from Truckee to Stockton.



OK now I do know how many kegs fit in a Dodge Caravan, the answer is 20 without any problems, I still had room for a co-pilot. The next load I am shooting for 25 with a new packing strategy. Not the quietest of road trips traveling from Stockton to San Leandro though.







Our new logo in all its glory. The artwork was done by local artist extraordinaire Steven Noble. The "High Water Brewing" text done by our Brewmaster Steve Altimari.