Their mantra says it all! A few weeks ago I got to go on a sales call with the sales manager, Brad Robinson, and this past week I was able to visit the brewery and see the inner workings. This is one hard working brewery. I arrived in the middle of the bottling/brewing day. On the bottling line was Nick Heppenstall, the newly added brewer. He and Jon Katayama were filling the bottles with Freya’s Gold Kolsch. After tasting this, the ginger is ever so slight but really adds to the overall flavor and finish. We just had to because it is a rule to try the beer and dang it was tasty straight from the cold, damn cold keg.
Odin brewing started over a year ago and as they head into their second summer they are
making some great beers. From the Freya’s Gold Kolsch to the Odin’s Gift Ruby – a truly awesome amber ale with a hint of juniper added. You can taste the juniper in the flavor and the finish, but it is ever so light and gives off such a faint taste it will leave you wanting more. This beer is one of my favorite Odin beers thus far. For you Belgian lovers they also have Odin’s Pearl, a Belgian-style wheat ale. Orange peel and spices added to this brew make for wonderful light and fruity flavored ale.
This is a production only facility at the moment. They can accommodate tours but you have to call ahead to make the needed arrangements. When they get bigger and the demand becomes such that they need to open a tap room they will be ready. They have an area all ready, but right now they’re keeping to the business of brewing beer. They are making great beer and then selling all they can to establish themselves as a great producer of a solid product. In my humble opinion, this should not take long.
I want to thank Jon and Nick for letting me check out the inner workings of Odin Brewing as they were working hard. The 8 barrel system and all they had going on was fun. I love this stuff! The kettles, mash tun, grain mills, empty to full kegs and most of the finished product. Look for Odin at your favorite beer bar as they are expanding every day.
I saw this story on their web page about why they picked “Odin” for the brewery name:
The Norse culture of the early middle ages had a rich and complex set of gods and goddesses and related mythology to explain the natural world. The chief of all the Norse gods was ODIN (ODEN, WODEN). He is usually pictured as an old, long-haired and one-eyed wiseman. Legend has it that he sacrificed one of his eyes in order to drink from the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom. Bringing it back to beer, there is another legend where Odin transforms himself into an eagle and flies down to the land of men. He sprinkles “magic dust” on some clay vessels that were storing the grain harvest from that year. That “magic dust,” along with some water transformed the grain into the first beer. Hence, Odin gave the gift of fermentation to mankind. We now know of course, that “magic dust,” is airborne yeast which caused spontaneous fermentation.
(from Odin Brewing’s web site)
