The Beer Tap

Big beer = flavortastic

I came across this article in the Akron Beacon Journal today at work and thought it was a good read.  It talks about how craft brewers are continuing to develop beers with big flavor and often a lot of alcohol as well.  I enjoyed the quotes from industry experts and thought you might also.

Click here for the link to the story.

Also...they included a list of beers recommended by a number of the people interviewed in the article.  Nice to see what they recommend outside of their own beers.  Click here for the list.  It includes suggestions from:

• Luke Purcell, brewer, Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH
• Fred Karm, owner/brewer, Hoppin' Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH
• Greg Koch, chief executive, Stone Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA

• Andrew Tveekrem, brewmaster, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE

IPA Update:  The IPA I brewed a couple of weeks back is now in a keg carbonating.  Of course I tasted it warm and flat to get an idea of how the final product will fare.  I think it is going to taste great and prove to be popular with guests...not overly sweet, a nice balance of hop flavor and bitterness, and a cascade aroma that you begin to smell inches away from the glass! 

Lakefront Brewery Tour

Over the weekend I was finally able to visit Lakefront Brewery which is literally just a couple of blocks from my house.  It was another cold, snowy day and I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  I went early this time to ensure it didn't sell out like the weekend before!

I have to point out that this is the first tour I have ever been on where you get beer before, during, and after.  Wow!  Of course this does have its downside...people on the tour were just a little rowdy and the guide was often interrupted.  She was drinking also so in the end I would say all had a good time.

I was able to try 4 different beers that I had not tasted before which is always a treat.  Here are my thoughts:

• Big Easy Lager Beer - A blonde dopplebock brewed just for Mardi Gras.  I have to admit that I had high expectations for this beer.  A seasonal for this NOLA celebration should be full of character and flavor.  Alas this beer was more blonde than dopplebock and lacked the malt complexity I was expecting.  I quickly moved on.   
• Cattail Pale - "A lightly hopped pale ale" is what the bartender told me.  Yes...he is correct.  Again nothing special and by this point I am on the tour.  Thank goodness a mid-tour beer stop has been promised.
• Cream City Pale Ale - Jackpot!  At least compared to the other beers.  Lots of Cascade hops both in the flavor and the aroma with a good malty sweetness.  Also a touch of fruitiness from the yeast.  I think that there may also be another hop in the beer that adds to the flavor and bitterness but I have not been able to verify that yet.  The tour guide proclaimed this to be her favorite and I quickly concurred.
• Fat Abbey - This was a stronger, sweeter beer that may have been lost on me since my taste buds were destroyed by the hop loaded Cream City.  I wasn't impressed but I am willing to concede that I tasted these beers in the wrong order.  On my list to try again.

Overall the beers were good but not great.  I take that back...the Cream City was definitely worthy of buying a 12 pack every now and then.  I need to try it against some of my other favorites in the pale ale category to see how it stacks up. 

In general, I have found that the micro/craft brewers of Wisconsin to be very reserved when it comes to aggresive flavors and that they tend to favor lager beers.  Much of the Milwaukee area was settled by German immigrants in the 1800's so this preference may have survived the generations.  This is of course a generalization and I am sure there are exceptions, but I cannot help but notice after living in California where beers tend to be assertive and hop heavy.  I'll keep tasting to find those worth recommending!  Quite the sacrifice but someone has to do it!

Time to add the hops!

Its been a week and the fermentation of my IPA has slowed down.  I moved the beer to another glass carboy to remove the yeast and proteins that had fallen to the bottom.  I could have left the beer as is until kegging, but as the yeast dies it can explode and pollute a good beer with meaty flavors.  Don't know about you, but meaty beer isn't what I want to drink!  More importantly, it was time to add the hops!  (Think about those old Dunkin' Donuts commercials....time to make the donuts.  I know its random but I am drinking a beer and its funny to me.)  I added almost an ounce of cascade hops to help improve the aroma of the beer when it comes time to drink.  As I have mentioned in a past post, the alcohol pulls out alpha acids and other aroma compounds.  Cascades in particular contribute a floral aroma that is very common among many American style IPAs and Pale Ales.  Some people even pick up some grassy notes depending on how much of the hop is used and the particular beer.  Now that the beer has been dry hopped (the technical term of adding hops during late or after fermentation) all I have to do is wait.  In another week or two the yeast will have finished fermenting and will have absorbed any of the fermentation by-products.  Then its on to the keg and into my glass!  I tasted the beer while moving it over and I think it will be very drinkable.  Not exactly the variation I was looking for but I can try again....after I finish 5 gallons!

Slow boat to India

If you read my last post, you are expecting another description of a brewery and/or tour.  Unfortunately the tour was sold out (45 minutes in advance!) and I was not able to make it.  So instead I decided to talk about IPAs.  I brewed an IPA on Saturday and thought that it would be fun to look into the history of the style.  I have heard the basics about shipping the beer to India, but wanted to dig a little deeper.  Thanks to Ray Daniels and his book “Designing Great Beers” and Wikipedia for the details…

The British Empire appointed its first governor to India in 1774.  With this event, ships began to regularly travel back to England with spices and silk.  Since India was self-sufficient, the ships often traveled from England to India without any cargo.  George Hodgson of the Bow Brewery in East London recognized an opportunity to take advantage of low freight rates on these empty vessels and began shipping his specially developed IPA in the 1790’s.

Why the special formulation?  The long, hot journey proved a difficult one for the dark ales and porters that were common in England at that time. Ships typically left London, sailed south past the equator along the coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then crossed the Indian Ocean to reach India.  It was a 6 month trip across many climates and the rough waters of southern Africa resulted in an extremely violent voyage.  The standard, sweet ales and porters of England surely would have spoiled along the way.

In order to make the trip, Hodgson modified one of his existing “paler” ales.  First, the new beer was highly hopped to take advantage of the preservative nature of the hop acids.  Whole hops were often added to the pitch-coated casks for additional protection during the journey.  The second change was to reduce the original gravity of the beer and to use paler malts.  Doing so created a more fermentable wort allowing the yeast to consume a larger amount of sugars. The finished “dry” beer contained less sugar for bacteria and wild yeast during the long voyage.

Fast forward 200 plus years and the style is still alive today.  Many of the IPAs available in Britain today are actually closer to a regular pale ale than their cousin of the past.  In America, however, the style has taken firm roots among the craft and microbrew communities.  And in typical American fashion, they have pushed the limits of bitterness and alcohol content to the point of creating a new category, Double IPA.  Another interesting note about modern day… from what I can tell, IPA is not sold in India today. They are drinking lagers almost exclusively.  Their loss!

So here is the low down on my American IPA.  A slight modification on one of my regulars that has a bit of a following among friends:

• OG: 1.065
• Malts: Pale (American), 60 L Crystal, Cara-Pils, Biscuit
• Hops: Chinook (A strong hop to help give me the bitterness necessary for the style), Cascade (For flavor and aroma, dry hopping to follow) 
• Yeast: White Labs California Ale Yeast – High attenuation (Ferments up to 80% of sugars)
• Vessel: Glass with heater and jacket to help keep the yeast happy, no wood or pitch!

St. Arnold Brewery Tour

After a long "vacation" away from the blog, I have been inspired to pick up the pace on posting.  I was finding plenty of time to drink the beer, but wasn't doing as well when it came to writing about it!  Over the past weekend I was in Houston and was able to return to Saint Arnold Brewing Company, one of my favorite brewery tours in the US.  Part of it is the nostalgia since I have been there more times than is probably healthy, but it is also the great beer and the terrific attitude of the people who work there.

I know the first question many people have is "Why did they name it after a saint?"  Borrowing liberally from the tour....Saint Arnold is recognized by the Catholic Church as the Patron Saint of Brewing.  He spent his life telling people to drink water instead of the beer because the water back in the day was a little less than clean.  After he died, the people of Metz petitioned to have him moved back to their city.  On the way there, a miracle occurred when all of the travelers were able to drink from an endless cup.  Miracle plus the church plus beer and now you are a saint.  You can read more here: http://amaranthpublishing.com/Arnold.htm

On the tour you will more about Saint Arnold, the process of making beer, and how a couple Investment Bankers became brewers.  Most importantly you'll get to try all of the beers that are currently available.  Here are two of my favorite year round beers:

• Amber: Wonderfully malty without being too sweet.  Plenty of hops (Cascades and Liberty) but not so much as to overpower the caramel flavors from the Caravienne malt.  A great beer for both hop heads and those who like less bitterness.  I may have bribed friends to ship me this beer. 
• Elissa IPA: St. Arnold was slow in my mind to come out with an IPA, but I think it was worth the wait.  Brock Wagner (one of the founders) enjoys malty beer so he was sure to again make this beer a great balance between malt and hop flavors and bitterness.  Definitely not to be confused with the Amber, though.  It only contains Cascades and has about twice the hop bitterness (IBUs).  Always a treat when you have it cask style with extra dry hopping!
• Fancy Lawnmower Beer: OK...so I said two and I put three here.  Consider it a bonus pick!  FLM is a kolsch style which is created in part by fermenting a special ale yeast at lager temperatures.  In this case it yields a very smooth and drinkable beer.  One perfect for quench your thirst on a warm day, possibly right after mowing the lawn.  Plus in Houston it can be really hot about 6-8 months of the year.  Light, refreshing and delicious always hits the spot.

Coming up...a review of another brewery tour I have not been on before.  I live within walking distance so I will be able to taste everything they are willing to serve!