November 19, 2009

New Glarus Unplugged Cran-Bic

Posted by amm002 under Rating: A | Tags: |
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The legendary lambic style made famous by artisan brewers in Belgium is about as labor-intensive as it gets when it comes to making beer.

  • Step 1 – develop a base wort using wheat, barley malt and cheesy hops
  • Step 2 – place said wort outside in the cool night air, preferably in the Pajottenland region of Belgium, exposing it to indigenous wild yeasts and other funky bacteria causing spontaneous fermentation
  • Step 3 – age in oak barrels for a couple years to let the nasty critters really set up shop and pucker the hell out of the beer
  • Step 4 – sample the beer, and possibly blend with other lambics of varying age to achieve desired flavor, also known as a gueuze
  • Step 5 – if the gueuze isn’t your thing, rack the beer onto a bed of sour cherry, raspberry, peach, or strawberry, causing a second spontaneous fermentation from the sugars in the fruit
  • Step 6 – continue to age in oak barrels for, oh, a year or two
  • Step 7 – bottle, wait another year, and serve chilled in a fluted glass

Reuters recently did a nice profile on the art of brewing lambics, which is fortunately seeing somewhat of a reprise thanks to growing global interest in finely crafted beer. So when you get a good one (and I’m not talking Lindemans), savor it.

New Glarus’ recently released Cran-bic, part of their Unplugged Series, is one of those fantastic examples, brewed in the great state of Wisconsin using locally grown cranberries and native wild yeasts to give the beer its harmoniously balanced aromas and flavors, really a masterpiece that only reinforces in my mind that these guys know their way around a fermentation vessel when it comes to brewing incredible fruit style ales.

Poured in a fluted glass with a beautiful light crimson tone, perfectly clear and jumping with large champagne-like bubbles. The aroma is breathtaking, a combination of tempered brettanomyces giving the beer some very mild musty, horse blanket notes, but coupled with a sweet acidity from the cranberry. Flavor is so balanced, with each complex component equally expressed from start to dry finish. Wonderful sourness hitting the sides of your tongue, but not overly dominating like some other lambics I’ve sampled, which makes this beer incredibly drinkable.

This is such a nice beer, a great example of the style if you’re able to get to Wisconsin and get your hands on some.   

Rating: A

 

November 18, 2009

Update on Berliner Weisse Homebrew

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing | Tags: |
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Just a real quick post on this because I know several people have expressed interest…

The Berliner Weisse I brewed a couple weeks ago seems to be doing very well. I racked the beer to secondary last night after a nice primary fermentation, and it smelled amazing. Beautiful sour aroma set on a solid wheaty background. Very light and delicate.  No hops to speak of, which was expected given the no boil approach. Taste was also pretty good, the faint beginnings of tartness, but not as sour at this point as I was hoping. I’ve been reading that the lacto will take some time to work its magic. All in all, I’d say somewhat reminiscent to Festina Peche, minus the apricot thing.

The beer finished at 1.002, putting it at about 2.5% ABV. When I bottle in a week or so, I’ll dose with a second helping of lacto, which will help promote the souring as the beer conditions in the bottle over the next couple months. When the time comes, I may even try to concoct my own syrups to accompany the beer, an homage to the traditional way the beer is served in Germany.

 

November 8, 2009

Berliner Weisse Brew Day

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
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Forget hops…over the past several months, I’ve been slowly becoming what can be called a sour head.

After having a few phenomenal sours at GABF, and more recently sampling stuff like Russian River Consecration and Supplication at a friend’s beer tasting event, I’ve been itching to brew my own. I did some research into styles, bacteria and brewing processes, and decided to focus my first foray into the category on making a Berliner Weisse, a very delicate, low-alcohol beer that originated in northern Germany several hundred years ago.

When Napoleon’s troops marched into Germany and sampled the beer, they called it “the champagne of the North,” and it does indeed resemble a champagne with its high effervescence and dry acidity. They generally come in between 2-3% ABV, with extremely little (or no) hop bitterness or aroma, and are often served with various syrups to balance the trademark sourness. The grain bill is very simple, traditionally made up primarily of pilsner malt with about a third (sometimes up to half) wheat. The puckering sour in the beer comes from lactobacillus delbrueckii, a bacteria that can be imparted in the wort any number of ways, either naturally using a sour mash or via inoculation from a prepared culture as I did, figuring the sour mash procedure seemed like too much of a crapshoot on the level of sourness you’d ultimately get.

It’s fairly difficult to find commercial examples here in the Twin Cities. But if you’re willing to order beer online or travel to Hudson, you can find a few nice ones (often seasonal) including The Bruery’s Hottenroth, New Glarus’ Unplugged Berliner Weisse, and Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche.

Here’s the recipe I went with for a five gallon batch:    

3 lb Pilsner
3 lb White Wheat
1 lb Carapils
1 oz Tettnanger (4.4%)
Wyeast 5335 Lactobacillus Delbrueckii
Wyeast 1338 European Ale

Saccharification rest: 152 degrees for 60 minutes
Sparge: 170 degrees for 45 minutes
OG: 1.028

This is a no boil recipe…yes, you heard me right…no boil. And the reasoning behind it is two-fold. First, while I decided to inoculate the wort using a bacteria culture from Wyeast, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let any naturally occuring lactobacillus from the grain husks in the mash play a less significant role in upping the sourness of the beer (assuming any survived the saccharification rest). I suppose that also means there’s potential for other unwanted bugs to get in the beer, but I’ll take that chance (the style is also known to have low levels of brettanomyces, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Secondly, hops play an extremely small, almost non-existent role in this type of beer, so I hopped in the mash using a small amount of the low alpha acid German Tettnanger as opposed to boiling which would have extracted and utilized more compounds than required. Hop compounds can also inhibit the growth of bacteria (ever heard that hops have a preservative effect?) which is counterproductive for this style.

Once I had collected my wort, I cooled down to about 85 degrees and pitched the bacteria into the carboy, thinking that the bacteria would work more effectively at a warmer temperature as opposed to cooling to the preferable 65-68 degree range for ale yeast. I gave the bacteria a 24 hour head start before I pitched the yeast, as I wanted the bacteria to get some sugars before the yeast came into the picture and gobbled everything up. However, the bacteria can quickly cause the pH level in the wort to become too acidic, creating an unsuitable environment for the yeast to do its thing. So 24 hours seemed like an appropriate timeframe between bacteria and yeast.

Within 12 hours of pitching the yeast, I saw a small but active krausen in the carboy. The beer’s original gravity is only 1.028, so very small. I’m anticipating this will finish out around the 1.002 range, giving me about 2.5% ABV. After primary fermentation and a diacetyl rest, I’ll condition in secondary for a few more days before I bottle. When I do package the beer, I’ll dose it with another shot of lactobacillus and let it bottle-condition for at least a couple months.

 

November 2, 2009

Surly Darkness 2009

Posted by amm002 under Rating: A | Tags: |
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It’s been more than six weeks since I published my last dedicated review, with a smattering of stories mixed in here and there. Call it the post-GABF slump.

Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve tried to hold myself to a loose goal of two, sometimes three, stories a week. But following my trip to Denver, I think I pretty much expended most of my beer writing energy for a while. Which has been just fine, however, since life has been a bit busy around The Captain’s abode, to say the least.

In addition to putting in some long hours at work, my wife and I have been anxiously preparing for the birth of our daughter later this month, and I couldn’t be more excited. 

It’s been a significant mental shift, and at times a bit tricky balancing my love affair with yeast with all the changes and new responsibilities that come with preparing to be a new father. Instead of brewing or bottling homebrew, I’m following IKEA-like diagrams to assemble cribs and glider chairs. Instead of heading up to The Blue Nile, Acadia Cafe or Town Hall to sample the latest wares, I’m attending baby classes at the hospital learning about proper swaddling techniques and how to securely fasten an infant car seat. Who knew babies needed to eat up to 8-12 times per day? Wait…so does that also mean…well, good thing I paid attention in the diaper class.

With less than three weeks to go, we are in the long-awaited final stretch…and when I say “we” I’m of course referring primarily to my beautiful wife who has been nothing short of amazing throughout this entire process. Pretty sure there’s a reason women were blessed with the ability to bear children as opposed to men. Because if I were in my wife’s shoes, I would have likely thrown in the towel months ago, considering my threshold for pain and discomfort is that of a soccer player flopping on the ground after stubbing his toe on a blade of grass. 

Pregnancy is an amazing thing…it’s difficult to put into words the emotions of love and total awe that I’ve felt watching our little family grow with each passing day. It’s exciting and scary all at the same time, and I’m trying my best to fully take in every moment of it.

Somehow amidst all the baby prep, I did manage to make my way out to this year’s Darkness Day at Surly, what proved to be another incredibly fun experience meeting new friends and enjoying some of the best craft beer in the country.

Not having much free time to run out with my fellow beer geeks in town and take in what seems to be a large number of bars tapping Darkness 2009, I decided to crack the wax on one of my bottles on Halloween night (seemed apropos) and sit down to immerse myself in this year’s vintage (or is it bintage?).

Poured into my 2008 commemorative snifter with a very deep and rich ebony appearance befitting its name. A nice mocha colored head briefly formed, but quickly retreated under the strength of the beer below. It’s cliche, but this beer truly does benefit from warming to near room temperature. I’d cooled the bottle down for an hour in the refrigerator to about 55 degrees, and the hop character, certainly much more perceptible in this year’s batch than 2008 (and closer to 2006 and 2007 versions), came off a little too dominant in the nose for my taste compared to the somewhat muted malt, I’m certain a result of the chilling. Not sure what varieties were used, but somewhat dank and earthy (guessing Fuggles), not citrusy or piney.

After giving the glass some time to warm, the aroma came right back into balance, providing a suitable segue to what is truly a spectacular malt foundation complete with flavors of molasses, coffee, roasted barley, and chocolate. More of the bittering hops in the finish, mingling with cocoa and a faint alcohol burn.

Aroma and flavor aside, one of the common denominators across many of Surly’s offerings that I’ve always loved and admired is the mouthfeel…whether it’s Furious, Bender or a huge beer like Darkness, there’s a trademark chewyness that you frankly don’t find in many other beers. Call it something like a “house flavor,” or simply Todd’s unique brewing stamp. Whatever the case, it completely sets Darkness apart from most other imperial stouts out there, making it a perennial front runner in my book as one of the best examples of the style.

So bottom line…what kind of beer are we dealing with here? I think an offering that surpasses nearly every expectation that’s been heaped upon it, delighting with nuanced complexity sip after sip. However, taking into account all my genuine superlatives in describing Darkness 2009, I’m ever so slightly partial to last year’s sweeter, more malt-forward version, which I realize is the distinct anomaly in the Darkness portfolio to date.

Rating: A

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October 28, 2009

Fulton Beer Launches in the Twin Cities

Posted by amm002 under Beer Events, Beer News
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FultonBadgeColorOut of the garage and into a bar near you, the boys at Fulton Beer officially launched in the Twin Cities this evening with their tapping of Sweet Child of Vine at The Happy Gnome. I wasn’t able to attend, unfortunately, but I’m really looking forward to trying their stuff.  

FOX 9 covered the event, you can watch the video here. And for more info on where to find them, check out their site for a list of bars and restaurants where they’re tapping.

However, one thing that caught my attention that could possibly be more important than their beer (can’t believe I just said that) is the brewery’s Ful10 microloan program, an innovative initiative that will hopefully help prospective business owners (like, say, fellow homebrewers who’ve always aspired to make the commercial leap) get a running start when traditional channels like banks can’t (or won’t) make loans available. From their website:

At the end of each year, Fulton invests 10% of our profits in our Ful10 fund.  When we find a business that could be greatly helped by the amount available in the Ful10 fund, we invest in them and develop a repayment plan that works for both parties. This can take many forms, such as a loan with no regular payments and only a lump sum due after several years, or variable payments made as the business can afford them.

Ful10 makes financing available to entrepreneurs unable to obtain it in other ways. In fact, Fulton was made possible because of this very same type of investment. We were grateful for the opportunity that made it possible to share our beer with the world. Now, it’s our turn to help other entrepreneurs do the same thing.

 

October 25, 2009

Surly Darkness Day 2009

Posted by amm002 under Beer Events | Tags: |
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5:15 a.m. and 37 degrees…
The chill in the air was already seeping into our bones as our group of six rolled up to Surly Brewing in the still of pre-dawn, eagerly awaiting our first taste of this year’s vintage of Darkness. Not a single soul was standing in line on the street, save for a few tents pitched on the nearby lawn and a lone RV parked near the front gate.

We planted our flag in the ground at the head of the line, set up our chairs, and opened the cooler filled with rare and difficult-to-find beers…Russian River Consecration Batch One, Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous, Alesmith Speedway Stout, Three Floyd’s Dark Lord, Ballast Point Sculpin, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza, and The Bruery Saison Rue. Within minutes, we were joined by a couple bleery-eyed guys who had driven up from Chicago that same night, and after the obligatory Vikings/Bears and Twins/White Sox taunting, we cracked a few bottles and happily shared some beer with our new friends.

Darkness Day 2009 was successfully under way. 

6:15 a.m. and 38 degrees…
A snaking line of fellow craft beer lovers quietly formed down the street as we set up our bean bag boards and started in for what would be a nearly six hour slog before the doors opened at noon.

Thermoses of hot coffee and bombers of good beer were passed around to folks huddled together in winter coats, mittens, and warm blankets. There was a quiet understanding amongst those of us in line…we were a small tribe of beer lovers, gathered from near and far enjoying each other’s company and generously sharing resources to ensure everyone’s experience was a good one.

The cool morning slowly pressed on.

8:05 a.m. and 41 degrees…
I took to our small propane camp grill as the sun broke above the horizon, churning out brats and cheddarwurst like a short-order cook. 

Several Surly staff and volunteers began rolling in to prepare for the day, including owner Omar Ansari who generously wheeled out not one but two kegs of Coffee Bender for the crowd to enjoy. Unbelievably fresh and potent with intense notes of cold-pressed coffee set upon a rounded backdrop of caramel, cocoa and silky oatmeal. A perfect way to usher in the morning.

9:45 a.m. and 42 degrees…
The tasting table magically appeared out of nowhere 50 feet down line from us, and we quickly brought a number of our bombers to share. Glasses were happily filled with the likes of Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper, Alesmith Anvil, New Glarus Unplugged Old English Porter and Wisconsin Belgian Red, Three Floyd’s Dark Lord, Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold, and countless others.

Several friends bellied up to the table, including Shawn and Mike from The Beer Genome Project, Brad from Hop Cast, and fellow Twin Cities home brewer Nate (thanks again for the empanadas). We all quickly forgot about our frozen feet and numb fingers with each sip of incredible beer.

11:30 a.m. and 44 degrees…
The line weaved several blocks down the road, nearly 800 people holding tightly onto their own special pieces of real estate like burrowed ticks. Volunteers began checking ID’s and passing out wrist bands. A palpable sense of excitement rushed through the crowd as the kilted bag pipers emerged, tuning up their instruments to ring in what promised to be an incredible afternoon filled with Surly’s finest.       

12:01 p.m. and 45 degrees…
The line quickly poured in through the gates, trampling over the bedding of straw that had been strewn over the muddy ground in front of the stage set up for the afternoon’s line-up of bands. Logistically, the operation was a smooth one, very well-organized to ensure everyone got into the brewery and received their allotment of Darkness in an orderly fashion.

After purchasing our bottles of Darkness, we bought a handful of beer tokens and got a pour of this year’s vintage…utterly divine, and noticeably different from last year with less dominating molasses and sweet malt flavors. Perfectly balanced, likely the best batch yet (more extensive review to come).   

1:30 p.m. and 45 degrees…
We mingled outside the brewery, sampling several other fresh Surly beers including Wet, Fest, and Tea-Bagged Furious on cask. The first band of the day, Kruddler, ripped through its aggressive set, a perfect soundtrack to the prolific craft beer enjoyment taking place yards away amongst the Surly faithful. It’d been a long, cold day for our small group, thankfully filled with new friends, incredible beers and many great memories. We left a happy bunch, already looking forward to next year.

Huge thanks to Omar, Todd and all the Surly volunteers for the beer, the time and the effort that went into making it a great experience for everyone.   

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October 18, 2009

Won’t You Take Me To Funkytown

Posted by amm002 under Beer Events | Tags: |
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It’s nice to have generous friends.

I was recently invited to a beer sampling over at a homebrewing friend’s house with the general theme of sour and/or funky brews, meaning any beer that puckered your lips or smelled like the Miracle of Birth barn at the State Fair was invited to the table.

The list was impressive, including a number of beers I’d never tried before that aren’t readily available around these parts. Here’s what we sampled:

  • The Bruery Saison Rue
  • Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
  • Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
  • Russian River Consecration Batch One
  • Russian River Consecration Batch Two
  • Russian River Supplication
  • New Glarus Belgian Quadrupel
  • Boulevard Saison-Brett
  • Brouwerij Verhaeghe Vichtenaar
  • New Belgium Lips of Faith Transatlantique Kriek
  • New Belgium Lips of Faith La Folie
  • Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme
  • Allagash Confluence
  • Ommegang Ommegeddon
  • Goose Island Sofie

The wild ale thing is definitely on the rise in popularity, as evidenced by my time at GABF this year, with many brewers experimenting with wild yeast strains and bacteria to give their beers characteristics and outcomes that are very unique, adventurous, and often uncontrollable.

But there were a few misses for me, including Vichtenaar (far too young and sweet to include in this tasting), and Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja (great fruit aroma, but didn’t get enough of the sour I was looking for).

However, the big winner of the night for me was Russian River’s Supplication, a superbly crafted wild ale that I had the fortune of first trying at Falling Rock in Denver. Somewhat reminiscent of a lambic in its intensely tart aroma and flavor (it gets ya here, and gets ya right here) with some cherry, vanilla, and vinous qualities. Really one of the masterpieces in the category.

 

October 11, 2009

AHA Rally at Surly

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Collaboration beers are all the rage these days. But I’d be willing to bet not many breweries have so generously offered to brew a beer with about 400 of their closest homebrewing friends.

Surly Brewing was the site this past weekend for the American Homebrewers Association membership rally, and what a turnout! It was pretty cool seeing a few hundred fellow homebrewers standing in line with their empty carboys, buckets and corny kegs waiting to get their 5 gallon share of the imperial brown ale wort brewmaster Todd Haug whipped up for everyone to take home and ferment on their own. Northern Brewer also provided free yeast packets to anyone who wanted it, so I picked up some Safale S-33, what I’ve read is supposed to deliver some nice English ale characteristics (although some say it’s good for Belgian styles, so we’ll see what happens). 

Here’s the breakdown on the recipe Todd used:

82%  Canada Malting Pale Ale Malt
10.8% Fawcett Brown Malt
3.6%  Dark Candi Syrup
1.8%  Fawcett Crystal 85L
1.8%  Fawcett Dark Crystal  120L
Bittering –Columbus
Whirlpool/aroma -Willamette
OG  1.085
IBU 64

After sampling a couple glasses of Surly’s new Wet Hop IPA, I got my carboy home without tipping it over in the passenger seat of my car, transferred to a larger plastic bucket with more headroom, and pitched the yeast. Within hours it was bubbling away nicely. Sunday morning when I woke up, the air lock was completely clogged with krausen spewing everywhere…since I don’t have a blow-off tube at the moment, and to prevent another explosive outcome like my imperial stout earlier this year, I pulled the top off and just let it ferment in the open. I’ve had luck with this before, so I’m crossing my fingers no serious bacteria get in there and screw up the whole production.

Word on the street is that people are going to try and save a bottle or two and bring it to the AHA National Conference next June in Minneapolis. The base wort lends itself well to variation, so should be fun to see how other folks decided to ferment and condition.  

Big thanks to Omar, Todd and everyone at Surly for the time and effort they put into hosting the event.   

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October 9, 2009

Surly Wet Hop

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Surly’s latest creation…sounds fantastic.

 

October 6, 2009

Bring it Yanks

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A little off topic…but I couldn’t help myself. The Yankees are gonna need all the Brooklyn Brewery Pennant Ale ‘55 they can get.

 

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