Raise A Glass To Paradox Brewery

A little more than 18 months after opening their doors and serving up some of the finest craft beer to be tasted – Paradox Brewery hit a home run in the first beer contest it entered. Paradox took 2nd Place in the Spice Fruit Lager at the 18th Annual Great International Beer & Cider Competition in Rhode Island last weekend!

Brewery Founder Paul Mrocka was over the moon and justifiably proud with the brewery’s win. The winning beer was a result of the collaboration of Paul and PDX’s new, young Brew MNaster Devon Hamilton.

The win was for their Paradox Seasonal, which fans of Paradox came to know and love this fall as their Pumpkin Lager.

"Our first competition and we get a silver. I'm happy but Devon is really happy," Paul told us.

New at the brewery right now there is their  Porter and coming out soon will be their famous Winter Lager.

"By the time January comes around, we'll probably bring out our dark based stout and maybe our Paradox Triple or something similar to that and whatever the one-off thing that Devon decides to brew".

From all of us here at Schroon Laker, We say: “Go For It, Devon” For a complete list of winners, click here.

The Paradox Beer Story: Getting Bigger and Better

By Anthony Batson

There’s some ground-breaking news from the Paradox Brewery. A new distributor, plans for a massive brewery expansion and new tasting room, a project to give the brewery a smaller carbon foot print, new beers and, drum roll please: a canning line so Paradox Beer can be made available to a whole new audience.

I sat down recently with brewery founder and majority shareholder Paul Mrocka, in the heated beer tent behind the brewery, on a glorious fall day and caught up with all things Paradox.

First up, the new distribution deal – which means that Paradox beers are inching their way south for the flatlanders.

“Our beers will be from Kingston all the way down to Poughkeepsie, almost to the city, (NYC) towards Hunter Mountain. We hope to get into Hunter Mountain. It's a pretty good market that's not seasonal as much as it is up here, so that's pretty important to us,” Paul told me.

Founder Paul Mrocka in the Paradox Brewery Tent

The deal to get the beer south came about when Paul signed a contract with the InBev Distributor for Dutchess County, Dutchess Beer, run by Dennis Cappolino. Paradox's local distributor here in Schroon is Saratoga Eagle, also an InBev affiliate.

“Now we've moved to another distributor (Dutchess Beer) that has a connection with Saratoga Eagle, so Saratoga Eagle will take our beer  -- all of it --  even for Dutchess, and then Dutchess comes up to them and they pick it up from there and then it continues on down south”.

So how soon could craft beer fans in the New York metropolitan area be drinking Paradox beverages?

“We're getting closer, all right. Now, we're also trying to sign some other distributors within the area as well, within  western New York and northern New York areas”.

So, more distributors, more beer, more beer making, what's phase two for the brewery?

“I think with the up-coming winter, with the amount of kegs that we can continue moving forward with, we can really ramp up and get ready for the summer time, so we have a good income coming in during the winter.

“It gives us more money to expand and then, by the time summer comes around, more tanks and brewing, brewing twice a day, and continuing moving our product”.

The new building will sit to the left of the current brewery.

And part of that brewing will be taking place in a new building, which will be built to the left of the current brewery, with the ground breaking before the winder snow arrives.

“We've been approved by the APA (Adirondack Park Agency) and all we have to do is submit our plans to the Town of Schroon, once we get them. I don't think there should be any problem with that. The town works with us well. Maybe down the road, we'll put a bigger brewery somewhere in the area of Schroon Lake”.

}So stage three could possibly be a bigger facility. Where would that be, potentially?

"I want it to stay in Schroon Lake… then we'll have a lot of jobs. You know, promote business within Schroon Lake. This building would still be here. This would be our specialty building, selling beers, brewing beers still in here, brewing specialty beers and having fun. This would be our fun building. This would be where Devon can play around with experimenting and having a good time with it. The other building (Phase  3) would be for production of our core beers that are going out, hopefully, all through America one day"

But back to Phase 2  -- besides housing more tanks, the new brewery building will also have a canning row.

“We want to start canning our beer so that supermarkets can get it and everyone else can get it”.

I asked Paul why he is going with cans over bottles.

“Canning is better for the beer. Sun cannot penetrate a can. When sun penetrates a bottle, it hurts the beer. It affects the beer. Cans do not allow that, as well as the amount of dissolved oxygen in beer is reduced by canning, by the way it's canned. In other words, you fill the can with CO2, the beer comes up, the top comes down and pushes the rest out so there's limited amount of oxygen in there. Oxygen and air destroys beer”.

And of course, not to mention, that it's hiker and boater friendly.

“Absolutely. Imagine going down to the dock with a glass, you drop it in there and your buddy jumps into the water and cuts his foot. That's why we have stainless steel growlers, too. Those stainless steel growlers are great for hiking and being down on the lake”.

Paul’s business plan calls for Paradox to produce three core beers.

“What we're going to have is our Red, our IPA and then we have what we are now calling our Off Trail Series. Our Off Trail Series is a one-off. In the brewing industry, one-off means one batch only. So, as an Off Trail, it's always going to be one-off. The recent one we had was the Golden Ale. The next one we're having an ESB made with oatmeal, an Extra Special Bitter, an English style type of beer with oatmeal.

“The next Off Trail is up to the creativity of Devon Hamilton (The new brew master). Devon likes to play and likes to brew, so I'm allowing Devon to use his expertise and make something different all the time and this is going to help us. Then we're also going to have a seasonal. We have our seasonal right now which is our Oktoberfest Lager, Paradox Lager. We're coming out with our porter very shortly, by November and by December we're having our Winter Lager. Both of those are already made. They're just sitting there finishing up. By the time January comes around, we'll probably bring out our dark based stout and maybe our Paradox Triple or something similar to that and whatever the one-off thing that he decides to brew.

Weird Science makes great beer.

Tell me about the job that Devon's doing so far?.

“Awesome! I cannot be happier. The man is a clean freak, which is great. He does an awesome job and I don't know how else I can say it. He's motivated, he's young, he has ideas and he's a great asset to Paradox Brewery”.

The new brewery space measures 32x50 and will have room for a new, larger, tasting room. It will be constructed of metal and will have a log side facade to match the existing building. The building will sit on a concrete slab – but not just any slab. It goes down 4 feet and 2 feet up. It's a wall of poured concrete for a total of six feet of poured concrete.

Water piping for Solar panels: giving Paradox a smaller carbon foot-print

In the meantime the current project Paul is working on is the installation of solar panels which will pre-heat the water for brewing, which will also play a key role in the new brew house.

“This way we don't have to use as much energy boiling it to get steam out of it. So, in other words, the delta factor on that is reduced. Instead of trying to turn steam into 45 degree water, we're turning steam into 140 degree water or 160 degree water or, in the summer time, 200 degree water which we don't even have to use a lot of it. So, it's going to reduce our carbon footprint”.

Paul motions over to the current brewery and tells me that the 600 gallon hot water tank will be moved to the new building “to support our hot water coming in from our solar panels”.

“Then I have two 20 barrel fermenters sitting in my garage on their side which we're going to put inside there. So that immediately increases our amount of beer that we can produce by 500 barrels a year.

“Right now, from January, since we're the distributor, we're at about ... I think we're at about almost 550 barrels. I hope by the end of the year here to have 700 barrels our first year full year.

And by 2015 Paul has set the bar high. “If I'm not at 2000 barrels, I'm going to be very disappointed”.

Good times this summer in the Paradox Beer tent

In terms of how you see the brewery in October of '14 compared to October of '13, what's the difference from your view back then to where you are now?

"My view is probably the same, but what's happening is people are coming in and they stop into our little beer tent in the back here and go, 'Oh, my god! What I've heard about your brewery is so awesome that I thought this was a big massive brewery! You guys have no idea what the hype is going around with your brewery.' I was very surprised that these guys were saying, 'Wait, I work at so-and-so. Everybody says oh, you have to get to the Paradox Brewery. You got to have this beer.' And they came up here thinking it was this big restaurant or a big brewery and they came and saw this little tiny brewery here with a tent in the back. So it was pretty impressive to me. That made me feel good".

 154 Route 9, Schroon Lake, New York 12870 518-351-5036 (Exit 27 from the Northway (coming south) Exit 28 from the Northway from the North!)

Stick's & Stones Statler Mountain Chicken

One of the most popular dishes at Sticks and Stones is their Statler Mountain Chicken. So popular, that you may recall S&S’s Gary Tromblee appeared on WNYT, News Channel 13 to demonstrate how the dish is prepared. (We reported on Gary’s 15 seconds of fame, here).

Statler chicken is also known as Airline chicken  -- a boneless chicken breast with the drumette attached. Gary says the cut still has the skin on breast with 1st wing joint and tenderloin attached, otherwise boneless.  More from Gary:

The cut is also known as a frenched breast. It is also known as "statler chicken", a name, which originated from the Boston Hotel Statler, built in 1927 by E.M. Statler. This hotel is presently the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. A chicken dish stating it is "Statler" simply means it is a breast of chicken with the drumette still attached. It can be accompanied by any type of sauces or side dishes.

Ingredients:

8oz statler chicken

½ tsp. salt and pepper blend                              

1 oz. olive oil

6oz blanched green beans

1tbs butter

1oz sliced almonds

½ oz. Amaretto Liquor

1 tbsp. butter

½ tsp. chopped garlic

2 oz. heavy cream

2 oz. Parmesan cheese

1 strip of bacon

2 oz. thinly sliced red onion

½ tsp. of coarse black pepper

5 Fingerling Salt Potatoes

1 tbsp. shaved Parmesan

Procedure:

Heat sauté pan.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper blend. Add oil to pan and allow to heat. Add chicken to pan and sear both sides. Remove from pan and place in oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Heat sauté pan. Add butter and green beans to sauté pan. Toss beans in pan until evenly coated with butter, and then add sliced almonds and amaretto. Toss briefly, remove from heat. Heat sauté pan. Add butter and chopped garlic. Cook for approximately 1 minute, then add bacon and onions and cook for an additional minute.  Next add heavy cream and pepper, and bring to a boil. Add Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Place chicken, green beans and potatoes on plate. Add sauce to top of chicken. Place additional Parmesan cheese on top chicken and sauce.

There’s A New Beer In Town!

The Paradox Beer Guys: Vaughn, David and Paul. Photo courtesy Paradox Brewery.

For the lucky folks who get Columbus Day off as a paid holiday – we are jealous. That’s because Schroon’s own Paradox Brewery will have extended hours this weekend for  lovers of their mighty craft beers.

The action kicks off Friday, from 2pm to 7pm,  Saturday, from  11am  to 6pm, Sunday  12pm  to 4pm  and Columbus Day,  11am  to  4pm.

And if you needed a reason to stop in, we have two – actually three. To celebrate Oktoberfest,  the brewers at Paradox have come up with one kick a** brew: a traditional German Oktoberfest Beer with a malty flavor and a slight hint of German Tettnanger hops.

Some folks claim you will be transported to Bavaria, and feel like you are sitting in a beer hall, listening to Oom-pah music while eating a pretzel! For the microbrew crowd here are the stats: MALTS:  Pilsner, Vienna, Munich. HOPS: Nugget, Tettnanger 
ABV  6.4% IBU 22.

Then there’s the amazing Pumpkin Ale. If you have shied away from flavored brews in the past, have no fear. This is nothing like those cloyingly sweet and OVER-flavored beers that the big breweries churn out each year. This drop is understated, while rich in fall flavors, carefully spiced to reach the right balance. This beer, according to the brewers, “evokes memories of fresh baked pumpkin pie on a cool day”. We agree. ATTENTION GENTLEMEN: We have found the ladies particularly like this drop! The stats: MALTS: Pilsner, Vienna, Munich, & Caramel Munich HOPS: Nugget & Tettenanger

The Steamer Effingham. Photo courtesy Schroon-North Hudson Historical Society

And then there’s our new favorite beer, The Effingham Steam Lager, named after the steam ship that met its demise burning on Schroon Lake in the 1950s.It’s a very different tasting beer, due to how it’s brewed.

The entire process is very different from the typical brewing method. Founder Paul Mrocka told us “the beer uses regular lager yeast, which is normally brewed cold, but with the steam beer, it is brewed warm”.

As of this writing there should be 8 beers on tap this weekend:  The Fest Beer, Pumpkin, Effingham, Red, Pilsner, Off Trail, Beaver Bite IPA, and the Indian Summer Ale.

So what are you waiting for!