The Beer Tap

Zymurgy's Best Commercial Beers in America

Earlier this month, Zymurgy magazine released its annual list of the best commercial beers in America as voted on by members of the American Homebrewers Association.  Last year, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and New Belgium Fat Tire tied for the best beer in the country.  This year, 1,100 voters decided to hand the distinction over to Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.  The exact method of voting and ranking isn't revealed in the article, but I imagine it to be fairly consistent over the 5 year period that the survey has been completed.

Let's look at the top 10 beers as ranked by this group of homebrewers:

• First: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
• Tied for Second: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Stone Arrogant Bastard
• Tied for Fourth: Alaskan Smoked Porter, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Guinness Draught, North Coast Old Rasputin, Schneider Aventinus, and Sierra Nevada Celebration

No surprise here that the top ten is dominated by flavor packed beers with 5 being centered around hop flavor and bitterness.  In fact, when I look at the entire list of 61 beers provided, 22 are hop-centric as classified by me.  Should it be any surprise that more than a third of the top beers are hop heavy?  Of course not!  Home brewers have been piling hops into beers for years testing the limits of drinkability in search of the perfect "hop bomb".  Other stats from the list of 61: 12 Belgian style beers, 5 imperial/high alcohol stouts, a number of barley wines, and only 6 non-Belgian imports.

An interesting peak into the minds of what homebrewers are drinking these days.  Obviously there are many other great beers out there, but unfortunately they are not all equally distributed across the US.  Some less widely available beers certainly got votes, but not at a level sufficient for them to make the list. 

Another interesting award handed out by the magazine was the Spirit of the Homebrewer Award.  The total number of votes received by a brewer is divided by the total production in barrels.  This years winner was AleSmith Brewing Co of San Diego.  I have been to the brewery and can honestly say that they pump out 1,200 barrels of beer from the smallest space possible so this award is very appropriate.  AleSmith also produces some wonderful beers including Speedway Stout which tied for 34th.  I picked up a bottle in LA last weekend and look forward to drinking it sometime this week.

Diagree with this list?  Then, what are your top five beers?  Or even ten?  Leave your list in the comments section so I can see what my readers prefer to drink.

Time Elapse Fermentation

Ever wonder what the process of fermentation looks like?  I always enjoy watching yeast go to work during the home brew process, but this is a new twist for me.  Stonch, a beer blogger in London, has put up a You Tube video over at his blog that shows a fermentation condensed into a two minute play time.  Its great watching the krausen build to an undulating mass after a short time only to recede once the fermentable sugars are gone.  Be sure to turn the speakers on as well.  This is a music video! 

Long weekend brewing

Summer officially begins this weekend and that has me thinking about what beers to brew with the extra day off.  So many styles go well with the warm weather: wheat beers (both Belgian and German), lagers, lighter IPAs and Pale Ales, and fruit beers.  As I was shopping online for yeast, I noticed Kölsch and knew I had found a winner.

For one, Kölsch is a quaffable beer that goes down smoothly on a hot summer day.  In fact, Saint Arnold brews Fancy Lawnmower Beer which falls into this style and as the name says its perfect to enjoy after activity outside on a summer day.  But do not let the name fool you...in no way does this mean that the style lacks flavor.  Quaffable, yes...tasteless and watered down, no.  Subtle fruit flavors and aromas combine with mild malt sweetness to create a very enjoyable beer.

Second, if I am going to brew a Kölsch I need to do it now before the temperature in my basement gets too warm.  The hybrid ale yeast used to make Kölsch likes temperatures closer to that of a lager and my basement probably won't give me that too much longer. 

And finally, I need to follow up fermentation with a 6 week lagering period.  Doing the math...2 weeks to ferment + 6 weeks to age = 4th of July Kolsch.  Perfect!  For those worried about patriotism, don't.  I will be brewing American style ambers and IPAs over the weekend as well to aid in the celebration!  No English beers...I promise!

With styles that I do not brew frequently, I like to look at the history of how the style came about so that I can be sure to incorporate any traditional methods or ingredients.  Kölsch is an appellation designation similar to Champagne that is protected by the Kölsch Konvention and is restricted to the breweries in and around Cologne(Köln), Germany.  The Konvention defines the beer as a "light, highly attenuated, hop-accentuated, clear top-fermenting vollbier."  The Kölsch style as it is brewed today is less than a hundred years old, but there has been brewing in the city of Cologne, Germany for at least a thousand years.  The precursor to this style was called keutebier and was made from mostly wheat.  Over time, the amount of wheat has been slowly reduced to the point that the beer is produced almost exclusively from malted barley.  The grain bill today for producing a Kölsch consists of Pilsner malt and 0-10% wheat malt.  With that knowledge in hand, I'll probably try about 5% malted wheat to provide some character as I think 100% Pilsner malt will probably be lacking in some of the depth I would prefer.

Back in college when I was traveling Europe one summer, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the approved Cologne brewers, Fruh.  Here we were able to experience Kölsch served in the authentic Kölsch glassware by the dedicated beer server as is the tradition.  Each beer comes in a tall, cylindrical glass of 200 mL like the one pictured at the top of the post.  The specially designated server walks around with a special tray of full glasses delivering them to those who are ready for a refill.  From what I remember, the small glass never lead to situations where I was without beer! 

In a related note, as I was writing this post, a friend forwarded this article from the NY Times that details a writer's recent trip to Germany that includes an exploration of Kölsch.  He does a wonderful job of explaining the Kölsch experience.  He also happens to have a great job...traveling around Germany, drinking beer, and writing about it.  Sign me up!

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!