A toast to Sour Jim!! This is a long post for a long time friend and collaborator... Many moons ago I had the fortuitous pleasure of linking up with a Cal Poly Food Science grad, running a quality lab, in a small brewery in Paso Robles, named Jim Crooks aka Sour Jim @thereal_sourjim His main objective in those days was to grow and nurture brewing yeast and to protect our brewery from other unwanted microbes – wild yeasts and the like. We brewed a lot of beers together, wore a lot of hats, solved a lot of brewing puzzles and managed to pull down some award hardware along the way. Meanwhile our FW brewery family multiplied. Over the years, our mutual curiosity for barrels led us from barrel fermentation to spirit barrel aging, developing experimental and interesting beers through the integration of wood. At some point along the way, as our individual passions developed, Jim took a path less traveled toward mixed fermentation-wild beers. Living in wine country provided limitless opportunity to dive deep into this magical world. Jim created an incredible “wildlife-preserve” of sorts, hosting yeasts and other flavor producing microbes at his mad-scientist Laboratory- Barrelworks in Buellton CA. He pushed the limits and gained the brewery international recognition for his Barrelworks beers. Legendary by any measure. This week marks the turning of the page and a new chapter as Jim heads off on new adventures. I am quite sure that wherever his passions lead him, it will be a delicious and rewarding place. Cheers to my enabler in flavor and co-conspirator in wood for over 22 years. Please raise your glass for Jim! Thank you Barrelmaster Crooks!!