20 years part duh is not the deep dive into the history of Iron Horse Brewery that you want but it’s going to be the one you are going to get. A deep dive into the arrogance that gave birth to Irish Death becoming a beer you can actually find on grocery store shelves and part of what grew the brewery into what it is today. Arrogance gets a bad wrap but it also can push forward the change we desire. Who has it, where do they get it from, and can we turn it into liquid form, can it, and sell it to the masses? Here is a micro view of how Irish Death got its larger launch into the world told from the pov of a cocky young new brewer, Greg Parker, and Jim Quilter the OG owner of Iron Horse and the creator of Irish Death.
Greg – “Jim, why don’t we make more Irish Death?”
“It’s too expensive to make.” said Jim
“What if we charged more for it?”
“It takes too long to ferment.”
“Don’t we have an empty tank most of the time?”
“It’s a pain in the ass to brew.”
“I’ll brew it.”
“Fine, do what you want.”
And he did.
Fast forward to the days when Irish Death was being brewed on a larger scale and exceeding everyone expectations including the cocky young brewer. Greg had pushed Jim to make more of the Irish Style Lager that Jim was convinced would be the death of him but Gregs arrogance and trusting of his gut paid off. Another maybe not so cocky brewer was making a batch of Irish Death as he had many times before. What wasn’t known at the time of brewing was that the grain bill was not followed and the result was a lesser version of our baby, Irish Death. Sam, the brewer in question, alerted Greg to this fact. At this point we had two options: dump or make lemonade out of lemons. Greg decided on the latter and ran to the store to buy Hershey’s cocoa nibs and some espresso beans. It was time to transfer the beer to the bright tank so it could condition, there were few options to save the beer at that point. Greg threw some cocoa nibs in the beer and the espresso beans in a bag to be suspended in the liquid for 7-10 days. The result of this fuck up was what can be characterized as a happy accident and the very first beer in the Death Family Beer series. Happy for sure as it spawned the most popular seasonal we’ve ever made but don’t worry we aren’t asking for a pat on the back. We just want you to drink it.
20 years later, Mocha Death is Rise-ing again but this time the mistake was made by RISE Brewing Co. When they weren’t looking, the sleepy brewers at Iron Horse pulled a sleight of hand and caused them to believe we are a reputable partner and dosed some RISE coffee in our Mocha Death. Thankfully we take our beer seriously so we didn’t totally buttonhook the folks over there at RISE too badly. And in an act of seriousness, we proposed a collaboration with Rise. This union fills us with enthusiasm since RISE provides good energy for good people to do good things which is just what Iron Horse needs to fulfill our purpose of creating human connection with fermentation. Start and finish your day with some RISE coffee, the latter in the form of Mocha Death. Find Mocha Death and other Iron Horse beers and Rise coffee at fine retailers in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
RISE COUPON For the serious IHB Fans who actually read our blog all the way to the bitter end….
ENTER “IRONHORSE” for 25% off 10 oz cans of RISE at risebrewingco.com
That was really not the end because there will be an Iron Horse Brewery 20th Anniversary Party on Saturday October 26th 5-8pm and you are all invited. There will be 2004 hits from Riley Schmit, a Mocha Death Sheet cake for all, and Krissy Von Trapp reading Tarot cards but only for anyone who wants a reading predicting their future 20 years from now. Plus so much swag giveaways….At Iron Horse Brewery Worldwide Headquaters obvi…1621 Vantage Hwy. Ellensburg, Wa
*image of the once young arrogant brewer now financial steward and all things related to brewery innovation MR. Greg Parker (posing as Myspace Tom for our 20 year anniversary website reboot)
