Loose Reed Brewing Company

Getting closer on the barley...malting experiments on extra seed is proceeding.

Big update to come on our barley experiment!

We'll be at the Rotary Club of Clemson Grains, Grapes and Gifts charity event this Friday from 6 to 9. We'll have Bean Me Up, our Coffee Scotch Ale, and a classic English Pub Ale. Come join us and help support some great charities!

Get your tickets while you still can! This Friday at the T Ed Garrison Livestock Arena in Clemson! Loose Reed Brewing Company will be sharing some of their fantastic local brews! Join us for a wonderful evening!!

Loose Reed made its first appearance on local television tonight! Come join us at Crafted, The Beer Store Friday evening from 5-7!

wspa.com

Loose Reed will be on channel 7, the local CBS affiliate, tonight at 7:30. Check it out! We'll post the video afterwards!

Great news today! We officially submitted our building permit application to the City of Greenville!

Also, we'll offer a free tasting at Crafted, The Beer Store Friday, February 26th. Official time and, of course, beers TBD. We're excited to bring our beers to Simpsonville!

It’s been a long time since I posted about the barley. With the extremely warm weather, growth is way ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Too much vegetative growth during a warm fall can make winter cereals prone to freeze damage when it finally gets cold. Also, winter cereal grains require vernalization (prolonged exposure to cold weather) in order for them to flower and produce grain. That hasn’t happened yet! Thankfully, it appears that some actual winter weather is coming later this week. I’m going to hope for the best.

On to the pictures, the first one shows the start of tillering. The picture is from November 23rd, almost four weeks after planting (10/28). In the picture, you can see the 1st tiller on the right side of the centered plant. Tillers are the horizontal shoots off the main stem. Tiller density correlates directly with yield. The idea is that good vegetative growth better prepares the plant to produce grain during flowering.

In the next picture, there is a plant in about the same growth stage. Unfortunately though, some aphids invaded the exterior of the plot. Those splotches on the right side of the shoot are the aphids. Aphids are bad news for a couple reasons. One, they literally suck the sap right out of the plant, which deprives the barley of nutrients. Two, aphids are the vector for yellow barley dwarf virus, the most common disease in cereal grains. Since I identified the aphids, I’ve monitored the plot for signs of disease or additional infestation. I haven’t noticed either. Some colder weather should help too.

The next two pictures just illustrate some further development. The first of the two is from December 3rd. It shows additional leaf and tiller growth. And the other one is from last Tuesday. It shows the entire plot. The tiller growth is now too thick to actually pick out individual plants. The next step is for the plants to “green up,” which means they start to grow vertically rather than horizontally. It is a precursor growth stage before flowering. The vertical starts once the weather warms up, typically in February around here. We need the weather to actually get cold first!

Congrats to Carolina Bauernhaus Ales! We're excited to join them next year!

2 new locations keep Upstate beer scene hopping - Upstate Business Journal Loose Reed Brewing lands Augusta Street location, Carolina Bauernhaus opens in Anderson

It's about damn time! I think this means there is still a lot of opportunity for growth. There are a lot more people in our great country nowadays. The beer is a lot better in Denver (Colorado became a state in 1876) than it was in 1873.

United States Sees Historic Number of Breweries - American Homebrewers Association The total number of U.S. breweries reached an all-time high in 2015, according to a year-end review from the Brewers Association. The professional beer industry in the United States has passed a milestone this year with 4,144 breweries, topping the historic high of 4,131 breweries in 1873. Since pro…

It's an exciting time for craft beer in Greenville with all the new breweries: Upstate Craft Beer Co., Birds Fly South Ale Project, Fireforge Crafted Beer, and 13 Stripes Brewery! Don't forget Thomas Creek Brewery, Quest Brewing Company, Shoeless Brewing Company/Grape and Grains, Brewery 85 and Swamp Rabbit Brewery and Taproom! It's crazy just to throw all those out there for Greenville County! Think I got everybody. That's how awesome it's going!

Greenville Craft Beer Week Greenville Craft Beer Week will toast the best that our Upstate community has to offer in craft beer! April 23 - May 3, 2020.

I think the picture says it all!

Don't want this to get lost because I think it's hilarious. It turns out that Marv from Headforbeer has a picture of Claire taking one of the pictures we previously posted from the Greenville Craft Beer Festival. Cheers everyone!