In most cases you have to give a brewery some leeway when they first open until they get the system and recipes just right. But there were several of his beers that were good right off the bat. I think Paul has done a great job preparing his business to compete in a finicky marketplace.
His place is about 5000 square feet, which is a little smaller than other places, but its utilized well. The fermenters are stationed behind the bar, and the brew equipment is confined to a room in the back corner of the restaurant. Oh, and one other big thing I noticed...NO SMOKING. Since they are in Papillion and not Omaha, they have the option to allow it. I’m really happy with Paul’s decision.
His staff is very accommodating and customer-focused. When there was a problem with my wife’s meal, a manager personally came to our table and rectified the problem. Although the beers were new to the servers, they did their best to explain them or find out and get back to us.
There were 5 beers on tap Saturday, with more to come really soon according to Paul (a holiday style, Pale Ale, and another I can’t remember). I was able to fully review 3 of them, but only got a few tastes of 2 others.
1. Belgian Wit
Citrus and spice aroma with a wheat background. Yellow and hazy with a thin head only at the edge of the glass. Crisp citrus and wheat flavors. Medium to full body with a fizzy mouthfeel.
2. Irish Red
Good from what I remember...only a few tastes.
3. Nut Brown Ale
Sweet roast aroma. Amber to deep brown. Roasted hazelnut flavor. Full body. Really nice, my favorite of the night.
4. EOS Wheat (Hefeweizen)
This was a really nice beer. I’m glad that he went with a German wheat, rather than the over-brewed American style.
5. India Pale Ale
Green hop aroma with a hint of citrus. Light amber with good head and lacing. Roasted malt hit at first then hops finish it out very nicely...balanced. Body fits beer well.
8 comments:
Great post, thanks for sharing. Sounds like the beers were all pretty good. I know you said the Nut Brown was your favorite, did the beers standout, pedesterian or somewhere in between?
Thanks again for the tough reporting gig. LOL!
They weren't the run-of-the-mill “pedestrian” beers some brewpubs like to start out with. I would say he has great foundation to build on, and I expect the seasonals to come to be good too. He came out bolder than most do when they first open, which I expect to get even bolder. We mentioned he should do a barleywine next year; he agreed and said he will consider it.
Great choice on the Barleywine. Any Belgians or lagers on the horizon do you think?
Paul told us that very soon he and Dean will make an oak-aged version of Dean's popular Belgian Blonde (from the now-defunct Jobber's Canyon) that will be aged one full year for their First Anniversary.
This should set the bar a bit higher right out of the gate. However, I must concur with Nick, almost all the starting beers served at NBC seem thicker and richer in the malt bill than most of today's newly-launched brewpubs.
I hope this does not work against them in selling mass quantities of beer to Joe Sixpack, because a brewpub needs more business than just high-gravity-seeking beer geeks like us!
Nick,
Great write up as usual. From the pics it looks like Paul has got things going well. I hope that they stay as busy as the pics show. From what I have been told Paul bought a really nice commercial system so he should be able to make some nice beers as long as his brewer can do it!!
The Nut Brown sounds good.
Good luck Paul...keep it going.
Peace out
Great news on the beers. I don't necessarily need high gravity beers to be impressed. In fact, low gravity, flavorful beers will do for me. The problem is they are so hard to make and it sounds like Paul is on the right track with his lineup, especially from the start. I can't wait to get up there.
Oh Sledge,
Not all of us beer geeks are into 10% alcohol bombs. I really like my beers more along the lines of 4-5%. Ofcourse I am going to the B4 fest this year with Nick. ha ha ha
Peace out
Thanks for the notes and pics. Looking forward to finally getting a chance to try their beers.
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