1188 Brewing Company
he 1188 Brewing Company started out with two families in search of a hobby. Naturally, homebrewing soon came to satisfy that role. 1188 Brewing is owned by Jeremy and Shannon Adair, as well as Ken and Jennifer Brown — Jennifer and Shannon are sisters. The hobby soon evolved, and before too long, the group had decided to start a brewpub in the town of John Day, Oregon.
For a business centered around family, the group knew that the name must speak to their long history together as well — as well as the outdoorsy lifestyle that’s shared by many in their community.
“Ken’s family and ours raced snowmobiles in the late 70s when we were kids and our families became fast friends, with Ken and Jennifer eventually marrying in their late 30s,” Shannon says. “11 was the snowmobile racing number of mine and Jennifer’s dad and 88 was the snowmobile racing number of Ken’s dad. These numbers have always meant something to all of us and remind us of all the adventures we had with our families together. Jeremy added the tag line ‘Time Well Spent,’ which turned our story into family, tradition, and ‘Time Well Spent’ at 1188.”
Growth has remained an ongoing puzzle to be solved in the increasingly competitive beer market of the Pacific Northwest. Shannon says they had always planned to grow into a distribution brewery one day but began to see more and more obstacles in the way of that goal. By the time they’d been in operation for several years, they decided to shift their focus once again.
“In 2017 we bought our building, doubled our space and created a larger restaurant. We continued with a 2-BBL system, offering eight of our beers on tap at all times.”
Eight taps have proven just enough to allow for the right amount of experimentation. Being in eastern Oregon, far from the brewery hubs that typically get most of the attention on the West Coast, Shannon says they often find their customers aren’t as familiar with novel beer styles, presenting them with both a challenge and an opportunity.
“There isn’t a lot of exposure to certain beer styles out here, so many times the beers people try here at 1188 are their first experience with a style,” she says. “Pouring samples and flights is a big part of getting people to taste and enjoy the many varieties we have available.”
As a result, Shannon says they’ve been able to avoid a list dominated by IPAs. “I think IPAs have been getting more and more competition here from our lagers, blondes, and fruited wheat beers, and that’s a welcome sight for us. It’s more in line with our drinking preferences. We usually try not to follow trends, especially IPA trends. It’s our experience here that what’s old will be new again. You can’t beat quality classics.”
Given their rural location, Shannon says, many drinkers in their community are still macro lager drinkers.
“Having a solid light lager on tap that can work as a bridge into other styles is extremely important to us,” she says. “Our servers often offer a taster of our lager when someone orders the one macro we have in bottles and a good percentage of the time the customer will pick ours over the macro.”
Due to their small system, 1188 rarely does any test brewing. According to Head Brewer John Spencer, “We do a lot of sampling other beers of a style we want to brew and pick apart what we like and don’t like. There are hops and yeast that are our go-to ingredients. Plus, our system steers us in different ways. We have our own little way of doing things.”
According to Spencer, careful research tends to pay off. This is especially true with an extra-light beer like a rice lager — a challenging beer for any brewery, given the difficulty of mashing with rice. Rice has a relatively high gelatinization temperature (153–196 °F/67–91 °C), with some variation between rice varieties. Since this temperature range exceeds the typical mash temperature range, rice must be cooked separately in order to ensure gelatinization. Otherwise, the starches will not be soluble, and the rice will therefore be useless in the brewing process.
In order to get around this, 1188 utilizes flaked rice in their recipe. Like other flaked grains, flaked rice is pre-gelatinized, making for a far simpler brew day. Flaked rice still might not see the most efficient conversion all on its own, however. Spencer recommends adding liquid alpha amylase enzymes to the mash to help to increase fermentability.
Beyond this, the challenge is really one of process. The ingredients are simple, but it’s all in how you showcase them.
“With our system and the way we brew, process runs the show,” Spencer says. “You can’t hide very many poor ingredient decisions in a delicate beer.”
1188 Brewing Co.’s Silk Robes and Kimonos Rice Lager clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.041 FG = 1.006
IBU = 30 SRM = 2 ABV = 4.6%
Ingredients
5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) Pilsner malt
2.25 lbs. (1 kg) flaked rice
10 oz. (284 kg) flaked corn
½ tsp. Amylo 300 (liquid alpha amylase enzyme)
6.5 AAU Sorachi Ace hops(first wort hop) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (15 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (5 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
Imperial Yeast L17 (Harvest Lager), White Labs WLP830 (German Lager), or SafLager W-34/70 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
With the goal of creating a highly fermentable wort, mash in with 12.5 quarts (12 L) of 157 °F (70 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 146 °F (63 °C). Add liquid alpha amylase enzyme. Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes.
Recirculate and raise the mash temperature to 168 °F (76 °C). Recirculate for 10 minutes.
Add first wort hop addition. With sparge water at 170 °F (77 °C), collect about 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Set timer for 90 minutes at start of boil. At 30, 15, and 5 minutes, add Mittelfrüh hop additions.
Chill wort to around 54 °F (12 °C). Pitch yeast, making sure fermenter is topped off to 5.25 gallons (20 L). Begin fermentation at 55 °F (13 °C) and hold there until gravity reaches 1.020, then raise to 59 °F (15 °C). After holding at this temperature for one week, lager for three weeks at near-freezing temperatures (32–40 °F/0–4 °C). Bottle and prime or keg and force carbonate to 2.5 v/v.
1188 Brewing Co.’s Silk Robes and Kimonos Rice Lager clone
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.040 FG = 1.006]
IBU = 30 SRM = 2 ABV = 4.6%
Ingredients
2.5 lbs. (1.13 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Pilsner malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked rice
0.5 lb. (230 g) Weyermann CaraFoam® malt
14 oz. (400 g) table sugar
½ tsp. Amylo 300 (liquid alpha amylase enzyme)
6.5 AAU Sorachi Ace hops(first wort hop) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (15 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
3.5 AAUs Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (5 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
Imperial Yeast L17 (Harvest Lager), White Labs WLP830 (German Lager), or SafLager W-34/70 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mash the Pilsner, CaraFoam®, and flaked rice in a muslin bag in 2 gallons (8 L) of water at 152 °F (68 °C). Once mash temperature has settled to about 146 °F (63 °C), add liquid alpha amylase enzyme and hold for 30 minutes. Afterwards, place the grain bag in a colander and wash with 1 gallon (4 L) of warm or hot water. Remove, then add water to reach a total volume of 6 gallons (22.7 L). With the heat turned off, carefully stir in the malt extract, first wort hops, and table sugar. Once fully dissolved, bring wort to a boil.
At start of boil, set timer for 60 minutes. At 30, 15, and 5 minutes, add Mittelfrüh hop additions.
Chill wort to around 54 °F (12 °C). Pitch yeast, making sure fermenter is topped off to 5.25 gallons (20 L). Begin fermentation at 55 °F (13 °C) and hold there until gravity reaches 1.020, then raise to 59 °F (15 °C). After holding at this temperature for one week, lager for three weeks at near-freezing temperatures (32–40 °F/0–4 °C). Bottle and prime or keg and force carbonate to 2.5 v/v.
