Violet Beauregarde - Blueberry Hefeweizen

Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’s gum chewing, blueberry turning, Oompa-Loompa juiced character is the inspiration for name of The Neverending Beer Factory’s delicious blueberry hefeweizen.  I know what you’re thinking – “blueberry beer?!?”  But stay with me.  Granted, most beer drinkers are not big fans of fruit in their beer (us included), but that’s because most fruit beers take the fruitiness way too far or manage to combine the flavor of beer and fruit into an reminder of mom’s cough medicine (looking at you Cherry Wheat).  But, if you manage to find the right balance, a fruit beer can be tasty and refreshing.

That was the goal when we set to the task of creating a beer that one of our (typically not a beer fan) wives would enjoy.  She’s a hefeweizen and blueberry fan so we thought of brewing her something like that.  We were very hesitant at first, I mean, there aren’t very many drinkable fruit beers out there, but with our experience we figured if anyone could do it, we could (self high fives).  So with a pot full of wort, cinnamon, and overflowing blueberries, we gave it a shot worthy of Willy Wonka’s praise.

The first pour of our brand new beer was incredible – cloudy, dark purple beer under a light pink head.  I realize that sounds extremely girly, but it’s a blueberry hefeweizen so what did you expect?  The fact that it was a color that we had never seen in a beer before was really cool.  Since she was the one it was brewed for, we let Brenda try it first – she was instantly in love and wouldn’t put the glass down. That was a very good sign, but how would we (or any fruit beer skeptic) react?  We took sips…it was delicious.  The blueberry and cinnamon made it taste like a blueberry pie. But to us, it wasn’t beery enough.  Despite Brenda’s protests, we decided to tweak the recipe a little the second time with a little more cinnamon and a little less blueberry.  Brenda hated it.  So for our third (and what turned out to be final) tweak we found the perfect balance.  It still as the quality that is beer, with a nice hint of blueberries that makes it light and refreshing.  

It’s Brenda’s favorite beer.

Brandon’s quote: “Perfect for a hot summer day, plus a happy wife makes a happy life”

Joey’s quote: “A beer that Sylvester Stallone AND Orlando Bloom can enjoy proves the right balance of masculinity and feminine-arrow-shooting was achieved. Plus, a happy brewery co-owner’s wife makes a happy life.”

2012 UPDATE – Where’s the blog?

Woah! A blog update by The Neverending Beer Factory…something must be a-brew.

Get it? Cuz we’re a brewery and we brew? Nevermind.

Okay, lame jokes aside; we’ve decided to buckle down on this blogging business because we didn’t realize how many hearts this social media method actually reached. Look at the top right corner of this page…..go on now…..see that? 2 followers. That’s why we didn’t put much effort into the blog, however, we’ve heard whispers on the winds of time that millions of people are looking at this page. You think I’m exaggerating? Fine. Billions of people.

THIS MEANS YOU’RE GOING TO GET BLOG UPDATES FROM US ALMOST EVERY WEEK OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!!

Rather than catch you up on everything that happened in 2012 (there’ll be a special little blog post on that at the end of the year), I’ll give you a snapshot of where we are right now. Check this…

We’ve got quotes from all our vendors for the mass of equipment we need to purchase (fermenters, boil kettles, canning lines, glycol chillers,….., everything in the world) and a few lucky locations in Burbank that we are going to be aggressively trying to inhabit. This seems like something as easy as calling a company for a quote but you’re completely wrong about everything. Everything. It’s an iterative process that helps shape what your brewery will look like and, ultimately, your production size.

Our business plan and proposal is shaping up to be rock solid. After collecting market data and researching the brewing industry, we’re more convinced than ever that the Beer Factory is going to be huge. ßI called it. And I will bring this blog up all the time at future parties, saying, “Hey, you guys remember when I predicted the success of the Beer Factory? Oh, I have a printed copy of the blog in my pocket to show you.”

Our logos, labels, and names are all cleared for trademarking! We were worried that we were infringing on rights by using pop culture references and images associated with Willy Wonka, The Neverending Story, or Lost Woods the movie, directed by Phillip and Nathan Ellering on Netflix or at your local Blockbuster (go buy it). But, we’re all clear.

We’re now a recognized “Brewery in planning” by the people that track and record all of the US breweries. I don’t know, I thought it was cool.

I think that’s all I care to mention right now. We’ve got to go get ingredients to brew beer for our super secret tasting event coming up in November. Oops. Now all two followers know that something is happening sometime in November.

Oh, and I know I said I wouldn’t do a recap but I have to congratulate the Mars Science Laboratory Team for the successful landing of Curiosity. The post-landing party took down a keg of 1982 and a keg of Falcor White. Yep, The Neverending Beer Factory: fueling rocket scientists since 2011.