Mobile Growler Crate

I love growlers.  There is nothing to make you welcome at a party like a couple of half-gallon growlers full of a handcrafted beer.  Just wait until I pour some people their first patersbier!

The problem with growlers is that the bottles are big and heavy.  Enter the growler crate.  It’s wood and it holds a couple of growlers.  But what if you are taking your trusty two-wheeled, human powered steed to the party?

Just mount it on the back baby:

Check out the full story over at Commute by Bike.

Nothing like mixing bikes and beer.

 

Mild Ale and Patersbier

Two recipes from Northern Brewer have been brewed, bottled, and conditioned: a mild ale and a patersbier.

First, I’ll deal with the mild ale.  The folks at Northern Brewer describe the recipe kit as follows:

Mild ales are very light-bodied with low bitterness but dark in color and full of malty flavor, striking a nice balance between quaffability and character. A special blend of malts imparts a nutty dryness with roasty undertones and a rich deep-ruby color, with subtle fruitiness from the yeast. A great session beer (which means you can have a few pints instead of one) that tastes best at cellar temperature.

I would not argue with the description too much.  Here is what it looked like:

The color in the picture is a little dark, but fairly true.  The results, in my opinion?  Meh…

I do not know what else to say about the recipe.  It is nothing wrong with the beer other than it has become a tired and boring style, like so many American style amber ales.

The other reason this beer seemed so boring?  The patersbier that I drank it with during the same night.  The patersbier is a totally different animal:

Again, the color is a little dark but pretty true.  This beer is a complete success.  It’s light in body and alcohol, so you can drink more than one.  Yay!  It’s effervescent and the carbonation really makes the flavors explode.  Damn!

Looking around on the internet I have seen versions of this recipe using candied ginger and/or sage to spice things up.  I think there is a lot of potential in this style to try some variations because the core recipe is so great.

Session beers, especially the lower alcohol versions, get overlooked by a lot of homebrewers looking to go to extreme levels with hops or alcohol.  Trust me, there is something to be said for making a beer that is drinkable with a lot of complexity beyond bitterness and ashtray aroma.

 

 

August Beer Thoughts

The drought of 2012 does make me thirsty.  Thank Saint Arnold of Soissons, the patron saint of hop pickers and Belgian brewers, for beer.

Patersibier and Mild Ale

My patersbier and mild ale batches are in bottles.  I am letting each bottle condition a little longer than the minimum two weeks because I have found a few extra days to a week makes a noticeable difference in mellowing some of the overly distinct hop aromas.  Maybe I am getting a little Sideways on y’all, but this is why we homebrew.  I get to make and enjoy beer my way.

Beers from Up North

My brother came down last weekend from the Twin Cities and this means two things: I have to buy Miller Lite for my sister-in-law and I can get bootlegged beer from the metro area that is unavailable to me here in eastern Iowa.

This trip brought two Surly beers—Hell and Bitter Brewer—and one from long time Twin Cities craft beer veteran Summit—Unchained Series Batch 10.

First up is Surly’s Hell.  No, it’s not referring to hell in the Biblical sense.  It’s the German word for “light.”  This is Surly’s take on a Zwickel Bier—per Surly’s description—which is an effervescent form of a Bavarian Kellerbier but generally brewed slightly weaker and less hop-accented.  So, what does it look like:

How does it drink?  The description about nails it: effervescent, low alcohol, and not overly hopped.  Between this and New Belgium Brewery’s Shift pale lager a person has a couple of good choices for beer from a can on a hot day.  Trust me, you want to make sure you have can beer options lest the beach Nazis come after you for a glass container.

Bitter Brewer is a different animal.  Like Hell, this is not a potent beer (4.0% ABV) but it is hopped a little bit more (37 IBUs for Bitter Brewer versus 20 IBUs for Hell).  The result:

The biggest difference that I could not was the apparent American hop aroma.  If you have had an American style IPA in the last decade you know what I am talking about—strong, pungent aroma and a particular aftertaste that settles on the back of your throat for a moment.  In this beer those are good things because it is not so hopped as to be a kick in the teeth.  No visions of a head shop when I crack open a can and pour it into a glass.

Summit’s Unchained Belgian Style Abbey Ale leaves me conflicted.  This is a style that I love to drink, albeit in the fall when the temperatures drop a little and I can enjoy a pint wrapped in fleece on the deck at night.  Everything appears to be in line with expectations:

What went wrong?  I do not know if it is the higher alcohol (8.0% ABV) or an off flavor but this beer tasted industrial.  It reminds me of when fellow homebrewers go all high gravity and produce beers that have the aftertaste of cheap grain alcohol.  It’s one thing to think of moonshine when drinking a Mason jar of white lightning.  It’s another thing to think those same thoughts when sitting down to enjoy a pint of beer.

This is why beer is so intensely personal and why the stores are stocked with shelf after shelf of options.  One man’s swill is another man’s nectar.

Green Flash

I was in the liquor store picking up a twelve pack of Miller Lite—why my sister-in-law insists on drinking this insipid swill I will never know—when I stumbled on an end cap display of 22 ounce bottles and six packs from the Green Flash Brewing Company.  Given that it was surrounded by Anheuser-Busch InBev products I thought that it might be yet another macrobrewers attempt to “develop” a craft beer product line a la Blue Moon.  Regardless, I picked up a bottle of Saison Diego.

A little research at home wiped away my worst fears.  Green Flash is an independent craft brewer based in San Diego, California.  The brewery was founded in 2002 by Mike and Lisa Hinkley.  I do not know if this is a California take on traditional beer styles, but here’s what the Saison Diego looks like:

The description of this beer is an unfiltered golden farmhouse ale.  In some ways the terms session and farmhouse when describing beer are getting thrown around a lot.  It sounds crafty or artisanal.  But what does it mean?  I do not know.

The Saison Diego was pretty true to the description and if you think of session or farmhouse beers as easy drinking than you would not be disappointed.  The trick, in my opinion, to creating a great beer from these lower alcohol and lightly bittered beers is to strike a real balance.  Without a ton of alcohol, body, or bitterness to hide any flaws there is little room for straying far into the comical zone that a lot of American style IPAs are falling victim to.  Conversely, what has happened is that a lot of these less belligerent styles have become cluttered and unmemorable.

It’s that way with Saison Diego.  It’s a well-made beer that drinks easily, but in the end it is kind of forgettable.  If someone put one of these down in front of me I would remember it fondly and drink it with a smile on my face.  I would not, however, seek it out.

Beer Thoughts in a Time of Drought

One upside to living through the worst drought in the past twenty five years is that after a day of ferrying buckets of water to the plants you want to save a cold beer tastes mighty fine.  By the third beer, as the sun goes down, you even begin to forget that your grass is crispy and the dawn redwood you planted earlier in the summer is really having a hard time.  Ugh!

I was brewing a new batch of beer this past week.  As I was pouring the wort into the carboy, my four year old daughter stuck her head inches away from the carboy’s opening and asked, “Daddy, where’s the trub?”  Yep, my daughter knows about trub.  I am proud parent.

American Wheat

For a summertime treat I went back into my homebrew past to brew up a batch of American Wheat using an extract kit from Northern Brewer.  This recipe is the first one that I tried when I began homebrewing almost one year ago.

It’s my opinion that my skills have improved, but only the beer will prove that out:

Well?  I have mixed impressions right now.  My sinuses are burnt—a combination of the heat, allergies, and medication have left them somewhat desensitized—so nothing smells right.  A big part of beers is the aroma and this beer actually smelled burnt.  Literally, it smelled like burnt malt.  I cannot believe that is an aroma from the beer.

It’s easy drinking, which is good in a time of drought.

Patersbier & Mild Ale

The patersbier I brewed up a few weeks ago has been put into bottles and will be ready to drink in a couple of weeks.  One reason why I keep looking at a soda keg dispensing system is that it cuts out the bottle conditioning time.  There is nothing as bad as waiting for a beer to bottle condition.

One step that I skipped with the patersbier was secondary fermentation.  Since no additional ingredients were going to be added I just extended the time in primary fermentation and went right to bottles.  I am not a fan of secondary fermentation because it adds in the chance of contamination.  The color on this beer is very light.  It will be interesting to see how it looks coming out of the bottle.

Also in a carboy right now is a batch of mild ale.  This recipe is very light on hops.  It only calls out 1 ounce of U.S. Fuggle boiled for 60 minutes.

New Zealand and Australian Hops Arrive on the Scene

The more I brew the more I learn about hops.  Currently, the hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest seem to dominate.  How many recipes do you recall that spec out Cascade or Willamette hops?  Too many to count.  But, it looks like the folks from the southern hemisphere are looking to invade the U.S. beer scene.

New Belgium’s Shift Pale Lager, reviewed below, uses Nelson Sauvin variety.  I could not tell you about that particular hop because my palate is pretty weak at discerning the individual notes.

The good thing about this invasion is that it brings more options to the table.  For the longest time I remember every craft beer that I opened being an exercise in restraining my gag reflex because the over abundance of either Cascade or Willamette varieties made me think I was about to drink day old bong water.  A lot of breweries have gotten away from that heavy hand, but the trend is still prevalent.  If you want to experience a blast of hops like no other check out Stone Brewing Co’s Stone Ruination 10^th Anniversary IPA.  Not only is it heavily hopped, but it also clocks in at almost 11% A.B.V.  This is a “big” beer.

Variety is the spice of life, right?

New Belgium Brewery Shift Pale Lager

There are times when even the most disciplined homebrewer runs out of beer.  I was one such homebrewer this week.  I found myself facing ninety degree temps and nothing read to drink for almost a whole week.  What’s a guy to do?

Go to the liquor store of course, but this would be the first time in a while that I had made a purposeful trip to the beer section of my local Hy-Vee’s liquor department.  One nice thing about not having made such a trip in a longtime is that there were a lot of new options.  Most of the new stuff from the macro-breweries sounded pretty vile.  Lime-a-rita or something like that from the makers of Bud Light.  Joy.

New Belgium Brewery’s new Shift Pale Lager caught my eye.  When I buy beer I tend to gravitate toward styles that I do not make myself.  Lagers fall into that category because I have not gone to the trouble to devise a fully climate controlled fermentation system preferring the room temperature joy that is ale.

True to its name, Shift is pale in color:

The taste is anything but pale.  Apparently, the beer uses four different hops (Target, Nelson Sauvin, Liberty, Cascade).  The neat trick is that this beer does not taste overhopped like so many other craft beers.  Oh sure, you can taste the hops but the bitterness and aroma are there in the right amounts.  Unlike beers that are heavy handed with varieties like Simcoe or Amarillo, which seem to be the hops of the moment, the mix of four varieties produces something that is more complex than a one note daisy cutter on your palate.

This beer definitely fits into the “lawnmower” category that I do not find derogatory in any way.

It’s available in 16 ounce aluminum cans so it is venue friendly.  This is important in the summertime when the safety police outlaw the presence of glass bottles.

Olympic Beer Controversy

What is the official beer of the 2012 Olympics?  Why, Heineken of course!

Huh?  These games are being help in a country that is home to the Campaign for Real Ale.  A country that has a long history of unique beers is going to be serving pale Dutch swill for the ever so reasonable price of £7.23 or just over $11.  Nothing like laying down over ten bucks for a schwag imported beer in England.

What’s next, ordering a Bud Light under the shadow of St. James Gate in Dublin?

First Beer Thoughts of Summer

It’s officially summer in the northern hemisphere, so naturally my mind turns to beer.  My most recent homebrew, an Irish red ale, is being poured and another batch is in the carboy, an American wheat.

The only downside, when you drink beer you have to make beer:

Irish Red Ale

Very drinkable.  This is one of those descriptions people give to a beer that I think is the kiss of death.  It basically says to me that nothing is very memorable about the beer five minutes after finishing a glass.  However, I am beginning to think that in the evening following a hot summer day this is exactly the kind of beer you want to drink.  You can see the “color” of the beer in the photo above.

More than some previous “lawnmower” beers I brewed up—notable the AK47 recipe from the good folks at Northern Brewer—the Irish red ale has more personality.  Unlike some aggressively hopped or overly alcoholic beers this particular beer is drinkable in a way that lets you finish a few pints without feeling like you’re bloated on bong water.  Sorry for the imagery, but my friend from St. Louis came up this past weekend with about ten different beers from local breweries down south.  Half of them filled the room with the distinct aroma of a head shop the moment the bottle cap was lifted.  Ugh!

Patersbier and Petitie Saison d’Ete

The next couple of batches that I brew are going to be different styles from anything I have tried earlier.  It is going to be an escape from the trap of American hybrid ales.  Do not be fooled, I am a huge fan of the American style of beer but there is something to be said for spreading one’s wings.

Northern Brewer had two interesting recipes that I just had to try: patersbier and Petitie Saison d’Ete.

Patersbier is the brew that monk’s save for themselves.  Translated literally, patersbier means “father’s beer.”  Usually not served or sold to the public patersbier is a very drinkable and rare treat.  This is one of those styles of beers that makes you glad to be a homebrewer because it is unlikely anyone you know has ever raised a glass.

Another notable element of the patersbier recipe is that is calls for Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity.  A characteristic of this yeast is that is produces few iso-amyl acetate, which are the dreaded banana flavor producing molecules.  You may like banana flavor in your beer, but it makes me want to vomit.

Petitie Saison d’Ete is a session strength seasonal beer.  Of less strength—in terms of alcohol—from beers with similar ingredients this beer represents a continental version of the “lawnmower” beer.

Can Craft Beer Save the U.S. Economy?

Can beer save America?  Or, more accurately, can craft and smaller scale beer save the American economy?  It’s a question posed by David Sirota over at Salon.

I think the question is less can craft beer save the American economy, but can deep craft save the American economy?  It’s not the small scale, in and of itself, that makes many craft beers so attractive and what propels to segment’s growth.  Rather, it is the ability to pay attention to details forgotten by the large brewers because these characteristics do not apply to a broad audience or are too expensive to institute on a large scale.

The same thing could be said for a lot of other segments of the economy.  Whether it’s furniture built with a degree of customization impossible from China or Ikea.  Or, meat raised by ranchers and farmers who actually care about the welfare of the animals and the health of the planet everyone shares.

Maybe it’s just craft for craft’s sake.  Like the light bulb guy in Portlandia.  Maybe that was a low blow.

Uh oh:

I am only listening to what the beer glass tells me to do!