BREW LOVER'S FORUM

GREETINGS BREW LOVERS!

We'd like to welcome all those who love great beer to join our BREW LOVER'S FORUM to get emailed updates on our beer lineup, upcoming events and specials. Just enter your email address and indicate how frequently you would like to receive updates (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly), click here to sign up! Want to express your opinion about the brews we offer and the brews you'd LIKE us to offer? PLEASE TAKE THE BREW LOVERS' TASTE SURVEY and earn a Thank You discount coupon!

Then read Phil's current article below.

FYI....

Pearl Sreet's SABER'S EDGE Double IPA took the "Boldest Taste" Award at the 2011 Buffalo Brewfest!

PSGB Beer Event Announcements

Hey, Brew Lovers - look for great PSGB brews at these upcoming events:

3-8-2012 - Beer Release Party @ PSGB - Come join us at 5:00pm - ?? on Thursday, March 8th in the Brawler's Back Alley Bar & Deli - It's time for another Big Party at the Pearl, and this time we've got a lot to party about!

The brawler wants to give you a knockout evening with a smashing left-right combination:

Left, owe are releasing the latest in our ongoing series of homebrew competition winning brews - Shelleighleigh, a nice malty and robust Irish Red Ale created by PSGB Brewmaster's Challenge First Place Winner Dan Baish. There will be limited free sampling and 1/2 Price Pint Specials on Shelleighleigh during the party. Help us welcome this great beer and congratulate Dan and his competition, Second Place winner Eric Burt and Third Place winner Tom Schlosser.

Right, the Brawler's Back Alley is celebrating its Second Anniversary with a great lineup of food and drink specials and live entertainment -

Free Appetiser Buffet - Live Music by Zak Ward - Sabres vs Bruins on HDTV - 1/2 Price Beer Specials - Corned Beef Sandwich Speed-Eating Contest (5 minutes to glory!) - The Pinnacle Vodka Girls (limited free sampling) - Deli Food Specials - My Buffalo Shirt Co. Custom Tees

As always, we encourage you to pass this along to your friends. See you at the party there!

Cheers!

Phil Internicola, Brewmaster Tom Ryan, Brawler's Deli Manager Pearl Street Grill & Brewery

3-09-2012 - ART OF BEER @ Niagara Arts & Cultural Center

3-16-2012 - Intermission refreshment featuring "Maestro's Muse" Vienna Lager @ the BPO's "Music of Pink Floyd" - Kleinhan's Music Hall

Introducing PSGB's Limited Edition Reserve Series Brews

Our Reserve Series Brews are very special beers made in limited quantities and available only in 22oz bottles. These brews are the result of painstaking research and development by our brewing staff to create extraordinary brews with interesting and unusual flavor characteristics that appeal to the craft brew connoisseur's discerning tastes.

The current issue in the Reserve Series is "Madam Lizzie's Velvet Hammer", an oak-aged version of our Imperial stout. A BIG beer with a huge malt and roasted barley presence, balanced to leave you with just a touch of bitterness. Velvet Hammer is infused with the essences of bourbon barrel oak for a truly complex and sophisticated flavor experience.

Be on the look-out for more Reserve Series brews released from time to time throughout the year, including "Th' Auld Laird" (Scotch Ale) and "Old Bargemaster" (English IPA).

These great beers are in limited production prepared in very small batches and are available on a first-come, first-served basis at our main bar only, at $10 + tax per 22oz bottle. Get yours before it disappears!

Brew Lover's Taste Survey Results (So Far…..)

We have received a total of 222 survey responses as of 03-05-2012.

33% of all survey respondents consider themselves to be Knowledgeable Craft Beer Fans.

32% of all Survey respondents consider themselves to be Average Craft Beer Consumers.

The following beer styles have significant popularity among survey respondents:

American Pale Ales 54.1%

American Amber/Red Ales 35.1%

Irish Amber/Red Ales 31.1%

American India Pale Ales 40.1%

American Double/Imperial IPAs 33.3%

Irish Dry Stouts 30.2%

German Oktoberfest Lagers 36.9%

Belgian Wit (White / Wheat) Ales 30.1%

The following beer characteristics have significant popularity among survey respondents:

Medium Body 51.4%

Full Body 56.8%

Deep Color 58.6%

Even Balance 32.9%

Malty Flavor 37.4%

Hoppy Flavor 47.3%

Medium Strength 60.4%

High Strength 35.1%

The majority of survey respondents visit PSGB either Once or Twice Per Year (31.5%) or Once or Twice Per Quarter (29.3%).

88.7% of all survey respondents say they visit PSGB primarily for the Beer.

No given beer in our lineup was selected as "Most Favored PSGB Brew" by a significant number of survey respondents.

No given beer in our lineup was selected as "Least Favored PSGB Brew" by a significant number of survey respondents.

44.1% of all survey respondents expressed a desire for PSGB to occasionally offer "Guest" Craft beers from other breweries.

Once we have received enough responses for a valid statistical sample, this valuable feedback from our customers will be used by PSGB Management to help determine future beer offerings. If you haven't participated in the survey, please do, and thanks to all who have participated thus far!

Cheers!

Phil Internicola

Brewmaster, Pearl Street Grill & Brewery

HOW CAN YOU TELL A REAL BREW LOVER?

A Real Brew Lover is the one who insists on the freshest, most flavorful brews in a truly diverse variety of styles.
A Real Brew Lover is the one who appreciates the intrinsic differences between craft-brewed beers, made with traditional ingredients, and the mass-produced "malt" beverages made through the wonders of chemistry.
A Real Brew Lover wants a beer that is true-to-style with abundant, authentic flavor. A Real Brew Lover will settle for nothing less than the very best.

AT PEARL STREET GRILL & BREWERY...

We strive to make beers that are worthy to be among those sought after by the Real Brew Lover. We are constantly looking to improve both the quality and the diversity of styles of the beers we offer. One of the best ways we know of to find out just what needs to be improved is to listen to our customers, the Real Brew Lovers, who are both our harshest critics and our biggest fans.
We want your input! Please tell us what you do like, what you don't like, and what you would like us to offer by participating in our Brew Lover's Taste Survey (last item on the PSGB Website "Brewery" menu) if you have not done so already. We're offering a special discount coupon to show our appreciation for your participation.

WHEN TRYING TO PLEASE YOUR PALATE...

One of the problems we encounter is the concept of commercially viable appeal. Some truly wonderful beer styles may be offered less frequently, or left out of the lineup entirely, because they do not have commercially viable appeal.

SO, JUST WHAT IS COMMERCIALLY VIABLE APPEAL?

In a nutshell, commercial viability means "Does it sell? Are there enough Real Brew Lovers out there who want a particular beer, and are they willing to do their part to make sure it sells-out while it is still fresh and at the peak of flavor?" In an ideal world, from a Real Brew Lover's point-of-view, we should be able to offer exotic and unusual beer styles all the time, because variety is the spice of life, is it not?
Unfortunately, we are forced to live in a less-than-ideal world, a world in which the bean-counters use commercially viable appeal as a measure by which to determine whether we will be allowed to make a particular style of beer, and how often. Two perfect examples of the opposite extremes of the power of commercially viable appeal are our Saber's Edge Double IPA and Luminator Double Wheat Bock.
BOTH BEERS RECEIVED HIGH PRAISE FROM REAL BREW LOVERS

They have about the same alcohol content and body, and neither beer is for the faint-hearted. Yet Saber's Edge has had very high commercially viable appeal and has earned a spot in our regular lineup, while Luminator did not sell at a commercially viable pace in its first outing over a year ago and is now on the endangered species list, doomed to extinction as the most recent batch did not have a much better showing.
The bottom line is that your opinion of our beers goes a long way toward determining whether they stay or go, or get into the lineup in the first place.
THE BEST WAY TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION…….

and cast your vote for your favorite brews, is to get the word out to all the Real Brew Lovers you know and encourage them to help you force us to make another batch, by finishing-off the current batch while it is still fresh! It's a simple formula - if you drain it in its prime, we'll have to make it one more time!

PLEASE TAKE THE BREW LOVERS' TASTE SURVEY --
Tell us what beers you want, and, when your picks make it to our Draft Board, cast your votes – one pint at a time – for their extended or return engagements!
Cheers!
Phil Internicola
Brewmaster, Pearl Street Grill & Brewery