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The post A New Venture for an Established Brewer appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Now, Mott, 57, a fixture in New England brewing for more than 20 years, has opened his own brewery. Along with his wife, Galen, Mott runs Tributary Brewing Co. in Kittery, ME, not far from the famous Kittery outlets.
"Brewing is a process, just like ceramics," said Mott. "It's a different medium, but it's a similar process. It's understanding your ingredients. The whole art mixing with science was very intriguing to me."
Mott got his start as a homebrewer and then as an intern at the defunct Catamount Brewing Co. in Vermont, where he learned the difference between homebrewing and brewing on a commercial level. It also convinced him he wanted a fulltime job working as a brewer.
That goal brought him into contact with Rich Doyle, co-founder and then-CEO of the Harpoon Brewery in Boston.
Doyle said he remembers getting Mott's resume and filing it away because they had no openings. But an injury to a brewer led to Mott's original hire in the early 1990s. It was supposed to be temporary, but after a few weeks he was named head brewer.
"He was very passionate about beer—very knowledgeable," said Doyle. "He really had a spark and a real flair to make great beer. There was something there that wasn't there in other people."
Although he brewed many beers at Harpoon, the one that everyone remembers is the Harpoon IPA, originally brewed in 1993 as a summer seasonal. It was so popular it quickly became a year-round beer and is considered by many to be the first East Coast IPA.
"I had gone on vacation to Maine and picked up a six-pack of Ballantine IPA," said Mott. "It totally changed my life. When I tasted that Ballantine, I knew I had to brew a beer like that. It's very exciting and quite an accomplishment and accolade that I brought a style back to the East Coast."
Although things were good at Harpoon, Mott said he wanted something different. He wanted to brew on a smaller scale. He left to brew at first the Commonwealth Brewing Co., a defunct but nearly legendary Boston brewpub, and its sister brewpub, the Back Bay Brewing Co.
It was at Back Bay where Mott brewed a beast of a beer—the Boston Strangler Stout—an imperial stout aged with oak spirals coming in at more than 10%. However, the name of the beer caused some controversy that led to a cease-and-desist order forcing Back Bay to change the name of the beer.
"Family members (of the victims of the Boston Strangler serial killer) weren't happy with the name so we just changed it to imperial stout," Mott said.
Doyle said he was not happy when Mott left, but realized it was the best move for him.
"I think it got to the point where he rather brew than manage people," said Doyle. "Working in a brewpub was a totally different kind of community and business, and I think that's what he wanted."
After stops at a couple of more Massachusetts brewpubs—the Quincy Ships Brewing Co., which lasted a year, and the Tap in Haverhill—Mott began brewing at the Portsmouth Brewery, a small brewpub located in Portsmouth, NH.
There, he brought back the Boston Strangler Stout, renamed Kate the Great. It caused a circus in downtown Portsmouth for several years as hundreds of people would line up for hours to buy Kate the Great, which sold out the one day it was available. People drove from as far as Vancouver, Canada for a chance to buy the bottles of the stout.
"It was crazy, it was really crazy," said Mott. "Just before BeerAdvocate named it the best beer in the world, you could get a growler of it. Then we had a monster on our hands."
But after a decade in Portsmouth, Mott decided to take a chance to open his own brewery, opening the 15-barrel Tributary Brewing in September 2014.
"I thought long and hard about it," said Mott. "I had the ability to learn craft on other people's dime, and I thought it was time to do it myself."
Tributary is small, but Mott said that's what he always wanted. He brews the beers (including a new version of a yet-to-be named oak-aged Russian imperial stout). He cleans kegs.
Most of the taproom is filled with communal tables, with a few padded seats. Mott's dog, Kate, greets people as they come in. Bands play there occasionally, and there is a food truck outside for those who are hungry.
And Mott is having fun brewing beers he likes—standout IPAs, stouts and porters. He said he still has almost all of his recipes of beers he has created over the years, although he said he plans on creating new beers often. Beers are available in flights of 4-ounce glasses, full pints, and half and full growlers to go. The only beer that will always will be available is the flagship Pale Ale. Other than that, each week there will be different beers that are replaced only when the kegs kick. The beers are also available at a few local restaurants, but Mott said he has no plans to start bottling and distributing.
"It has been an amazing ride," said Mott. "I've learned a shitload over the years, and I've never seen the growth and passion that's out there now. It's very exciting. I wanted this to be an artistic endeavor. It's serendipitous, all of these things that have happened. I had a really good time doing ceramics and creating art, and I'm very lucky to still be creating art."
Norman Miller is the author of two regional beer books and he writes the weekly Beer Nut column for GateHouse Media.
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The post Quirks of Brewing: Parti-Gyle Brewing appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Back in the olden days, brewers didn't know that much about chemistry or microbiology. They understood the basics of mashing, but didn't know which enzymatic conversions were happening at certain temperatures. Even if they had known, they wouldn't have been able to control temperature, anyway (the thermometer wasn't adopted until the 1760s). That's where various oddball mashing schemes were invented. In parti-gyle brewing, a brewery would pack the mash tun full of malt and then draw off multiple worts ("gyles"). In popular understanding of the technique, the first wort would make a strong beer and the second would make a "small" beer. That kind of linear wort-collection was practiced—Belgians regularly made multiple worts, too—but in parti-gyle brewing, the worts are later blended, producing beers of differing strengths, but not strengths identical to the worts.
It's possible that a brewery here or there still dabbles in parti-gyle brewing, but no one makes it such an integral part of its process as London's Fuller's. It's the process Fuller's uses to make its three flagship beers—Chiswick Bitter, London Pride, and ESB (along with a rarer specialty beer, Golden Pride). All of them come from the same mash and go through a boil with the same hops and hop schedule; their distinctiveness comes from the blending of wort.
The way it works is conceptually simple, though there's quite a bit of math involved. Fuller's uses two mash tuns, staggered so that one is resting while one is being collected into a copper. Georgina Young, Fuller's current Brewing Manager, described it for me. "The mash tun stand is simple infusion at 65° C [149° F] of 50 minutes. We then recirculate the bed for 10 minutes until the wort is clear and start collecting it in the copper." They collect the first worts from both mash tuns—the high-gravity worts—into one kettle (known in Britain as a copper). Young continues: "When [the first kettle] is full (520HL) we continue the sparge on both mash tuns but collect the [small] worts into the second copper. The last runnings are typically 1005 SG for both mash tuns."
They boil the strong and weak worts separately, adding hops at the start and end of the 60-minute boil. "So we now start proportioning the wort to make the beers," Young explains. "We know the target extract, so all we have to do is calculate how much first wort and then second wort is needed to achieve 260HL in each fermentation vessel at the correct original gravity." And from these two worts come the four beers, in strengths of 8.5% (Golden Pride), 5.9% (ESB), 4.7% (London Pride), and 3.5% (Chiswick).
I know that among the avid beer fans of London, Fuller's is not considered a happening brewery (although I think it is broadly admired for taking risks and reaching out to the proliferating new breweries). For my money, London Pride is one of the finest beers brewed in that or any country, and if I could teleport myself to, say, the Jack Horner for a pint and pie, I would do so at least once a week. Cask ales are made spectacular by subtle degrees, and London Pride has a balance of flavors—soft, nutty malt, stiffening minerality, apple esters, and citrus-to-marmalade hops—that make it a perfect bitter.
I figured that a brewery like Fuller's wouldn't possibly continue such a strange practice unless it had an effect on the beer, but flinty, pragmatic Head Brewer John Keeling shot this idea down. "Some effect on the way the maillard reactions happen in the two kettles?" I suggested. "A difference in hop utilization?" Nothing of the kind, he said. "It is quite simple really. Parti-gyles are the most efficient way of using a mash tun both in terms of speed and in terms of extract." (In a parti-gyle, no sugars are left behind.) "It is not complicated and is rather simple and elegant."
Well, maybe. Following my visit to the brewery back in 2011, then Brewing Manager Derek Prentice pointed out at least one advantage it had on the beer. "As you appreciate from your visit here, it is considerably different from producing different gravity beers from a single wort or fermentation." He offered one example. "Dark malts typically will be readily solubilised and hence more prevalent in first worts and the copper loading of the hops into the different copper lengths are adjusted for the specific parti-gyle. Once the wort streams are blended into the fermenter they will impart unique characteristics into the final beers."
As Keeling says, the parti-gyle system has the benefit of being especially efficient—but I still have a hard time believing that's the reason Fuller's still uses it. These old practices have a way of sticking around, and the more important reason they do is because no one can argue with the beer they produce. In the late 1970s, owners of Fuller's recommitted themselves to making exceptional beer, and began spending on modern equipment and focused on careful, precise brewing practices. Between 1978 and 1989, the three parti-gyled bitters each won a medal as Champion Beer of Britain, the country's most prestigious cask ale award—and ESB won it three times. They have gone on to win boatloads of awards.
Maybe it is just a more practical, efficient way of making beer. (Though if so, it's curious that no other breweries employ it.) Or maybe Keeling is just happy to keep its benefits to himself.
Read more posts from The Beer Bible Blog.
Jeff Alworth is the author of the forthcoming book, The Beer Bible (Workman, 2015). Follow him on Twitter or find him at his blog, Beervana.
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The post Dulye Named Executive Chef of Brewers Association appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
BOULDER, CO—Adam Dulye has been named Executive Chef of the Brewers Association (BA), the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers, and CraftBeer.com, the BA website for beer lovers. Dulye will use his culinary background to promote the value and compatibility of craft beer and cuisine. He will also continue to provide the culinary vision for BA events including SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, the Farm to Table Pavilion at the Great American Beer Festival®, the World Beer Cup® dinners and write for his craft beer chef centric blog on CraftBeer.com entitled "Craft Beer with Chef Adam." He has been working with the BA for seven years.
"As the demand for craft beer continues to grow, so does the desire from beer lovers, chefs and food and hospitality professionals to educate themselves to lead in the art of pairing beer and food," said Julia Herz, publisher of CraftBeer.com and craft beer program director at the Brewers Association. "We're thrilled to have the expertise of Chef Adam, a longtime friend and collaborator of the BA. He knows how to push the palate and he is a valuable ambassador as we continue to provide resources on beer pairing."
Along with Herz, Dulye co-authored CraftBeer.com's Beer & Food Course, a free curriculum designed for culinary schools and beer educators who want to learn how to pair craft beer and food. In addition to his work at BA events, he now will also create the menu and oversee the catering staff preparing dinner for the National Homebrew Competition banquet at the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrewers Conference. Dulye also collaborates with the BA Export Development Program, presenting craft beer dinners paired with international cuisine.
At the forefront of pairing, Dulye's work garnered national and international accolades with the opening of The Abbot's Cellar and The Monk's Kettle in San Francisco. Under his direction, The Abbot's Cellar was named a Top 100 Bay Area restaurant in the San Francisco Chronicle as well as a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park and has helmed several kitchens in craft beer-centric locations such as Boulder and Vail, Colorado and Portland, Oregon. Dulye also studied cooking in France.
"Craft beer is such a versatile beverage and I am excited to share the endless possibilities of pairings with the culinary world," said Dulye. "From crafting unexpected and challenging pairings at events, to providing basic educational tools for beginners, our efforts are making waves in the ever-advancing culture of food and beer. My intent in my work with the Brewers Association is to further expand on that."
As the leading resource on craft beer, CraftBeer.com provides a number of educational tools for beer lovers and professionals in addition to the free CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course: CraftBeer.com Beer Styles Guide, Cooking with Beer Recipe Database, Beer 101, Beer Glossary, Craft Beer Seminars and more.
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA National Homebrewers Conference, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today's craft brewers and homebrewers.
Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA's American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.
The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.
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The post Sierra Nevada Hosts Top Bay Area Chefs for Collaborative Beer Dinner appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
CHICO, CA—Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is bringing eight top Bay Area chefs and two Bay Area mixologists to Beer Camp: two days designing and brewing a custom beer to eventually serve at their restaurants and available nowhere else. Sierra Nevada can't let them leave, though, without whipping up at least one "dream team" meal.
On Thursday, May 7, the kitchen masters will lead a six-course beer dinner in the Sierra Nevada Big Room, and a very limited number of tickets will go on sale next Tuesday, March 31, at SierraNevada.com/BigRoom.
Each chef will create a signature dish paired with a Sierra Nevada beer, and the featured ingredients will include fresh produce from Sierra Nevada's estate garden and local beef raised in partnership with the Chico State University Farm. Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman and UC Davis' "Pope of Foam" Dr. Charlie Bamforth will join the intimate dinner as guest speakers. Proceeds will go toward the Torres Shelter in Chico, which provides overnight shelter and evening meals among other services to help men, women and families get back on their feet.
"This is truly an all-star team and dinner, and we're honored to host such a great experience at our brewery," said Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada's founder. "Craft brewers often relate what they do to the creativity of chefs, and this group will no doubt show how well great food and great beer can work together."
"Connecting chefs and brewers has always been one of my goals, and now we'll not only collaborate on a beer but also host a dinner that supports a great local charity," said Adam Dulye, Executive Chef for the Brewers Association. "This night will showcase what we all do in our individual establishments daily: create relationships, unite communities and tell stories through our voices, food and beer."
David Bazirgan—Dirty Habit
Stephen Call and Laurence Jossel—Nopa
Kevin Diedrich—BDK Restaurant & Bar
Adam Dulye—Brewers Association Executive Chef
Yanni Kehagiaris—Nopa and Liholiho Yacht Club
Angela Pinkerton—Craftsman & Wolves
Jennifer Puccio—The Cavalier, Marlowe, and Park Tavern
Todd Shober—Molina
Staffan Terje—Perbacco
The chefs' collaborative Beer Camp beer will tentatively hit their San Francisco restaurant taps in July.
Sierra Nevada beer dinner overview:
About Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Founded in 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is one of America's premier craft breweries, highly regarded for using only the finest quality ingredients. The pioneering spirit that launched Sierra Nevada now spans both coasts with breweries in Chico, California and Mills River, North Carolina. Sierra Nevada has set the standard for craft brewers worldwide with innovations in the brewhouse as well as advances in sustainability. It is famous for its extensive line of beers including Pale Ale, Torpedo®, Hop Hunter® IPA, Nooner®Pilsner, Porter, Stout, Kellerweis® and a host of seasonal, specialty and limited release beers. Learn more at www.sierranevada.com.
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The post Going Blind with Pliny the Elder appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Almost no one talks bad about Pliny the Elder. Russian River Brewing Co.'s acclaimed double India pale ale has received almost perfect scores at popular beer reviewing sites, like RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com. Gushing fans, jabbing at their keyboards with the beloved hop bomb on their desks, have even gone so far as to call this 8%, 100-IBU ale the best IPA in the world.
But Pliny's ratings change when the blindfold goes on. In blind tastings of double IPAs, the world's would-be greatest beer often sinks conspicuously into the middle percentiles of excellence, bringing forth the question: Is Pliny's reputation built on pillars of hops—or just hype?
Google Pliny the Elder blind tasting and you will receive about 15,000 results in less than half a second. A common outcome in many of the accounts described online might surprise many: Pliny the Elder doesn't often win. Indeed, it's becoming increasingly accepted that Pliny the Elder's reputation is generated by scarcity and hype (combined with the fact that it's a very respectable beer). A similar recipe of hops, hype and even more frugal production is used to make Pliny the Younger, the triple IPA Russian River releases every February to crowds of fanatics who queue up for hours outside the brewery and select tap houses that serve the beer.
At The Jug Shop, a beverage retailer in San Francisco, beer and spirits manager Eric Cripe hosts an annual blind tasting of IPAs and double IPAs. Pliny the Elder has been in the lineup at each event, but in four tastings from 2011 to 2014, Pliny never won.
Along with Jon Page of All About Beer Magazine, I attended this year's event, which included about 50 participants who would taste 16 mystery beers—eight IPAs and eight double IPAs—over several rounds of competition before narrowing them all down to the winner from each category. Among the attendees were Dan and Jeff Huck. The brothers had flown from Missouri to drink Pliny the Younger on tap during San Francisco Beer Week and to go home with bottles (even if they were empty) of the Elder. Pliny the Elder, Jeff explained, stands out for its brilliant flash of hops that fades so rapidly a moment later that even an attentive drinker may be left speechless to describe it. "You can't beat Pliny the Elder," he said affirmatively.
Attendee David Heilbronn of San Francisco told me he'd spent at least a few hours of Beer Week hunting the city for a draft pour of Pliny the Younger. He eventually got a taste, his first ever. Heilbronn shrugged: It was a good beer, he said, but in the end probably not worth all the trouble it takes to get a glass.
At The Jug Shop, the beers were served two at a time from pitchers into snifters. Only the staff knew what beers were on the roster. Beers were pitted head to head in a tournament of eight beers. We drank through eight IPAs. Then, on the first round of double IPAs, Jeff Huck's face lit up on the beer marked as number nine. "That's Pliny!" he said. Jon and I each raised an eyebrow, dubious—or maybe impressed.
Our own capacities to taste and smell were gone, and surely, others were similarly fatigued by alcohol. Drunkenness encroached on the night as the scholastic mood turned jolly. The crowd grew louder. Dropped snifters shattered, followed by applause. Taste buds grew numb and number—and judgments were made at each round, eliminating the beers one by one on the premise that one was better than another.
After more than two hours of drinking, the game was up. AleSmith had survived each round of competition to take first place among the single IPAs, and in a first-ever outcome for Cripe's annual tasting, beer number nine—Pliny the Elder, as Huck had said—was selected as the best double IPA.
Was the outcome just random chance? Jon and I thought so. Four other double IPAs won the event in prior years. Now, it seemed, Pliny had drawn the lucky straw.
But Cripe, who concedes that his tasting is hardly a perfect system of elimination, still believes it produces valid winners. Pliny the Elder has never won his event not because his guests were too drunk to taste excellence but because the hopheads who bought tickets for the tasting were typically on the lookout for the biggest, bitterest, loudest IPAs in the lineup, Cripe says. He suspects they disregarded the subtler tropical fruit notes of Pliny. But this year, says Cripe, Pliny won because beer preferences have changed. That is, the relatively modest hop profile of Pliny the Elder, built more on balance than bigness, has become the preferred style of hopheads.
"Until now, people just weren't conditioned," Cripe says. "Now, Pliny the Elder is the standard that people judge other double IPAs by."
Vinnie Cilurzo, the man who makes Pliny and owner of Russian River Brewing Co., says he isn't worried about his beer's performance in contests, most of which, he notes, are won by other beers. Nor does he modify the beer's recipe over time to keep pace with evolving tastes. Cilurzo, however, does acknowledge he's proud that his beer is often credited as the first double IPA.
That, in fact, may be a chief reason for the beer's tremendous fame. Now, there are hundreds of double IPAs, if not thousands, and one could speculate—just speculate—that if Cilurzo had introduced Pliny the Elder into today's crowded market, the beer might never have become the star it is.
But let's not continue down that road. You don't talk bad about Pliny the Elder.
RELATED: Pliny the Younger and the Birth of 'Cult Pours'
Alastair Bland is a freelance journalist who lives in San Francisco. When he isn't reporting on fisheries, agriculture and the environment, he writes about beer. His work appears regularly at Smithsonianmag.com, NPR's food blog The Salt and the Sacramento News and Review.
The post Going Blind with Pliny the Elder appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Lonerider Sweet Josie appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Lonerider Brewing Co.
Raleigh, NC
6.1% | Brown Ale
Lonerider hit the Raleigh scene back in 2005 with outlaw-themed beers, with Sweet Josie being one of its earliest creations. This brown ale pours with faint garnet highlights. The tan head sticks around to fill the air with chocolate and a roasted nuttiness. With a creamy mouthfeel the dominant flavor is chocolate and lightly toasted bread. Underneath this you pick up nuances of tobacco and toasted coconut. With a mildly dry finish I am left wanting more of this pretty dame.
Try this beer at the World Beer Festival Raleigh on April 11. To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, click here.
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The post Lynnwood Grill Once You Go Black appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Lynnwood Grill & Brewing Concern
Raleigh, NC
7% | Black India Pale Ale
While Lynnwood Grill has been a mainstay in North Raleigh for years, it wasn't until two years ago it opened a brewery with a Michigan brewer who knows his stuff. Poured from a growler, the liquid is deep brown with a dark tan head. Licorice is the first smell to hit the nose but there is some dank pine hanging around, too. The licorice translates to the flavor but is joined by semisweet chocolate, pine needles and onion grass. This beer has all the characteristics you would expect from the style. Just remember, once you go … well you know.
Try this beer at the World Beer Festival Raleigh on April 11. To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, click here.
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The post Harpoon Brewery Releases 100 Barrel Series Braggot Rights appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
BOSTON—Victory was sweet for brewer Steve Theoharides in the 2014 Harpoon Kettle Cup, Harpoon's annual employee brewing competition. His entry, a braggot, was the landslide winner out of nearly three dozen entries from his fellow Harpoon employee-owners, clinching a coveted spot in the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series lineup. Harpoon Braggot Rights blends a big, juicy American Double IPA with Wildflower Honey – more than 7,000 pounds of it.
Harpoon Braggot Rights, the 53rd installment of Harpoon's limited batch 100 Barrel Series, is a modern tribute to the medieval braggot style. Surprisingly light in body, the honey in this 8% ABV beer provides a slight lingering character towards the back of the palate. The orange and tropical fruit profile from El Dorado hops comes forth in both the aroma and initial taste. Where a bitter hop follow-through is expected, the beer takes a pleasant turn to a sweet honey finish.
The Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Braggot Rights, winner of the 2014 Harpoon Kettle Cup employee brewing competition, is now available in 22 oz. bottles and draft (limited availability).
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Braggot Rights Beer Specifications:
Style: Braggot
IBUs: 40
Color: 23 EBC
Steve Theoharides' Tasting Notes for Braggot Rights:
Appearance: Hazy amber
Aroma: Big orange tropical fruit notes at first, with subtle honey rounding out the aroma.
Mouth feel: Light in body with a lingering honey thickness at the back of the palate.
Taste: Again, big orange and tropical fruit notes up front. Yeast characteristics as well as Malt selection play a large part behind the scenes in supporting the beer's dynamic character.
Finish: Honey, with a touch hop bitterness and tropical fruit character.
Perfect setting for enjoying this masterpiece: In good company!
Harpoon introduced the 100 Barrel Series in 2003 to showcase the individual brewing talents of its employees. Every couple months, a different Harpooner is invited to choose a style of beer, formulate the recipe, and brew the beer. That brewer's signature can be found on the bottle label. The beers in the series are one-offs; they are brewed in limited batches and are available only until the batch sells out. Since the series began in May of 2003, 53 different styles of beer have been brewed. For a complete list of beers that have been released as part of the 100 Barrel Series, visit www.harpoonbrewery.com.
About the Harpoon Brewery:
The Harpoon Brewery was founded by beer lovers Dan Kenary, Rich Doyle, and George Ligeti. In 1986 Harpoon was issued Brewing Permit #001 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, since it was the first brewery to brew commercially in Boston after a dormant period of about 25 years. Harpoon's line of craft beer features its award winning IPA and UFO White beers, along with special seasonal selections. In 2000 Harpoon purchased a second brewery in Windsor, VT, making Harpoon the 12th largest craft brewer in the US. Harpoon has since introduced the limited batch 100 Barrel Series and the as well as the all-natural Harpoon Craft Cider made from freshly pressed apples. In August 2014 Harpoon became an employee-owned company. For more information about Harpoon beers and visiting the breweries, visit www.harpoonbrewery.com.
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The post Brewers to Shave Beards for Charity appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Bartenders, employees and friends of Cigar City Brewing, Tangent Brewing and Barley Mow Brewing Company will shave their beards (and some heads) as part of the 6th annual Veredus|HAYS Cut for a Cure Charity Challenge presented by Carrabba's Italian Grill, a fund raising campaign where more than 200 men, women, and children are going bald to raise funds and awareness for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and select nonprofit organizations. Several head shavings will take place throughout the campaign, which ends in May.
To encourage fans to get involved and donate, the brewery that raises the most during the duration of Cut for a Cure will receive the coveted "Golden Clippers" award, which will be featured prominently in the winning brewery's location.
Cigar City Brewing Vice President Justin Clark said, "The Cut for a Cure Charity Challenge is a fantastic way to raise money for a very important cause. The Pediatric Cancer Foundation has a wonderful reputation and is a top notch organization. We thought this would be a great way to engage our employees and customers with a program that can help so many people. There's some great beards on our staff and it will be bittersweet to see them go. I'll be shaving my head though since I wasn't blessed in the beard department!"
Pediatric Cancer Foundation executive director Nancy Crane said, "We are so excited to have Cigar City Brewing participate in Cut for A Cure this year! We know many of these men and their beards are a staple in the Tampa brewery scene and we're honored they are shaving them in the name of pediatric cancer research."
Visit pcfcutforacure.org to learn more.
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The post Beers Made By Walking appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Sample unlimited 4-ounce pours from 250+ beers!
Brewing is a global industry. While that brewery down the street produces "local beer," it probably sources barley and hops grown many miles away. That's necessary, due to how well these primary beer components grow in certain states or countries. But through a program called Beers Made By Walking, many brewers are discovering that some of the most unusual ingredients are in their backyards.
Eric Steen founded the program in 2011 after a canoeing trip on the Yukon River in Canada. More than an excuse to get out on the water, the trip also taught him about the local herbs that grew near the river and how they were used in teas. He was fascinated that all of this—the landscape, the teas, the plants from which they were made—could be encompassed in a single word: place.
"Place is one of the only things we really have to connect with the world," says Steen. "It's not just a location; it's a mindset. I think beer that echoes that mindset is beautiful, because you can feel an attachment to it in a way that is different than a beer that doesn't have a sense of place."
To create beers with a sense of place, Beers Made By Walking invites brewers to journey out into nature in search of inspiration or ingredients. Brewers are well familiar with countless varieties of hops, malt and yeast—but not as accustomed to the myriad herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables they might encounter along the trail. That's why these hikes are often guided by naturalists, botanists and conservationists from local groups who can tell the brewers more about their potential ingredients. Later, once the beers are finished, Beers Made By Walking taps them at public events, with the proceeds often going back to the local conservation groups that led the hikes.
The program has yielded about 90 place-based beers. Some of Steen's highlights over the years include Pikes Peak Brewing's Kriekenstein, a sour-mash kriek brewed with chokecherries in the steinbier style; Worthy Brewing's Walk on the Wild Side, a "Badlands indigenous ale" brewed with sage, fescue, juniper, wheatgrass and wild Indian ricegrass; and Deschutes Brewery's Sagefight IPA, brewed with sage and juniper from Oregon's Flatiron Trail. This last one garnered a silver medal in the Indigenous/Regional Beer category at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013 and a bronze in the same category in 2014.
Not all ingredients need be so obscurely tucked away in nature, nor must all of the walks take place in arid deserts or dense wood. Beers Made By Walking held a public urban walk in Portland, OR, with brewers from Coalition Brewing and Upright Brewing joining about 25 others in walking the city. They found sprigs shooting from sidewalk cracks, just beneath their feet. Seemingly vacant lots ended up being home to a variety of herbs. From this walk, Coalition was inspired to brew a beer with rosemary and lemon balm. Its friends at Upright brewed a farmhouse ale with elderberry and elderflower.
Bess Dougherty at Wynkoop Brewing took a stroll through downtown Denver looking for inspiration and found it in the form of a 40-foot-tall blue bear. If you have ever visited the Colorado Convention Center for the Great American Beer Festival, you have no doubt seen this ursine sculpture: paws pressed against the glass, peering in almost enviously at the hordes of beer drinkers.
Of course, bears don't actually drink beer. Dougherty learned, though, that Rocky Mountain black bears do eat berries. She brewed a lager with raspberries and thyme, and then she threw in an ingredient that is most definitely not found in nature: blue gummy bears.
Last year, as so many were walking past that big blue bear on their way into Denver's Great American Beer Festival, Beers Made By Walking held a festival of its own just down the road at Wynkoop Brewing, with members of the All About Beer Magazine team in attendance. Most of the more than 40 beers served at this event were directly inspired by hikes the brewers had taken.
In addition to these, though, Steen also invited a handful of other breweries to pour beers that would fall into the Indigenous/Regional category of the Great American Beer Festival. Though these beers were not inspired by walks, they are defined by their regional heritage and use of locally grown ingredients.
The brewers from two of the breweries—Scratch Brewing of Ava, IL, and Fonta Flora Brewery of Morganton, NC—hit it off immediately. For both, place-based beers are not something brewed just for a festival—they are a reflection of their brewing philosophies.
Before becoming the brewer at Fonta Flora, Todd Boera studied sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College. So it's perhaps not surprising that he has worked with farms across North Carolina to find a bounty of fruits and vegetables with which to brew, and we're not talking your run-of-the-mill offerings.
In a state once known for its cotton and tobacco crops, Boera has brewed with locally grown kiwi fruit, sorghum juice and seed, beets, carrots, fennel bulb, Bloody Butcher corn and more. He has also foraged for ingredients, picking apples, pears, dandelion, honeysuckle and ramps. But the guys at Scratch, he says, take foraging to a whole new level.
So it was that Boera and the brewers at Scratch decided to collaborate. When the crew from Scratch visited North Carolina in January, none of the brewers had an idea as to what they would brew. Yet after hiking through the nearby Linville Gorge, they came together to create La Loblolly, a red saison brewed with cherrywood shavings and two types of pine needles.
At last year's Great American Beer Festival—where Boera first met the guys from Scratch—Fonta Flora won gold. It wasn't for one of their many beers that use local grain from Asheville's Riverbend Malt House, or herbs, fruits or vegetables from farms in the region. No, it was for the brewery's Irish Table, a dry stout that is about as traditional as they come.
Was Boera any less proud? Of course not. But the beers Boera most wants to be known for are the ones that convey and celebrate a sense of place.
"Everyone in the world has access to the ingredients that go into Irish Table," says Boera. "But this is where I live, and this is the community I'm a part of. I've lived in a lot of different places, but I've never found a place like the Appalachian mountains."
And through the Beers Made By Walking program, brewers like Boera will continue brewing place-based beers—one step at a time.
RELATED: Drink Beers Made By Walking at the World Beer Festival—Raleigh
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The post Shipyard Releases Imperial Pilsner appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
PORTLAND, ME—Shipyard Brewing Co. announces the release of its first lager, Imperial Pilsner. Available this spring in bottles and on tap, this pilsner is a unique blend of German pilsner and imperial IPA. This brew is bright gold and full-bodied with a hint of sweetness up-front and a round, dry finish. A pure American creation that balances malt and a big hop profile.
Imperial Pilsner was developed by Shipyard's product development brewer, Pete Heggeman.
Shipyard's vice president of sales and marketing, Bruce Forsley said "Pete has always had an affinity for German beers and he welcomed the challenge of producing Shipyard's first lager. He selected the yeast strain W 34/70 from the famed Weihenstephan Institute in Germany for its very dry, clean character. The hop profile is a blend of Czech Saaz and German Hallertau to add a spice hop flavor to the finish. Primary fermentation requires 10 days at which point the beer is then lagered for 28 more days. To add an American dimension to the beer Pete brought the ABV to 8.6%. A true Imperial Pilsner!"
Production is limited to 1,200 cases of 22oz. bottles and a small amount of draft. This newest addition to the Signature Series is only available in the spring while supplies last.
More about Shipyard Imperial Pilsner:
Malt: Pilsner, Munich
Yeast: Traditional German Lager
Hops: Saphir, Bravo, Saaz
Color: Golden
IBUs: 60
Available: Spring
More About Shipyard Brewing Company: Shipyard Brewing Company is a family owned brewery — rooted in tradition and brimming with innovation. Its award-winning beer is carefully handcrafted by a talented team of brewers who learned the fine art of brewing from world-renowned master brewer, Alan Pugsley. Established in 1994, Shipyard is located on the historic waterfront in Portland, Maine and produces 20 varieties of award-winning beers. www.shipyard.com
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The post Beachwood Thrillseeker appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
Long Beach, CA
7.1% | India Pale Ale
Minus the luxurious hair, I often feel like the hop on the Thrillseeker label. This is really a nontrivial IPA: piercingly bitter, huge layerings of pine and pithy grapefruit and tropical fruit, and a tongue-numbing quality that takes a few sips to adjust to. I've been digging Julian Shrago's work since he was pouring homebrews at Woodshop events down in SoCal. He's since added two awards as a Great American Beer Festival Brewer of the Year to his résumé.
This is Beachwood doing one of the things it does particularly well: enough crystalline sugar qualities here from the malts to keep this focused, but the hop onslaught leads. Mango. Bitter grapefruit. Lemon custard. This hit my palate with massive bitterness when first poured from the fridge—and that doesn't change—but a bit of time to warm opens up some cushioned aromatics and, overall, a beautifully dense hop thrill.
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The post Report: American Craft Beer Exports Near $100 Million appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
BOULDER, CO—The Brewers Association (BA)—the not-for-profit trade group representing small and independent craft brewers—today reported export growth data for the American craft beer industry in 2014. Supported by the BA's Export Development Program (EDP), craft beer export volume increased by 35.7 percent in 2014, representing 383,422 barrels and an estimated $99.7 million.
In 2014, the fastest growing markets were Brazil, South Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The strongest growth was found in Brazil, which was up 63.9 percent; Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan), up 38.1 percent; Western Europe, up 36.6 percent; Canada, up 32.3 percent; and Japan, up 31.7 percent.
The top five markets for American craft beer remained nearly the same in 2014, with South Korea surpassing Japan for fifth place. In terms of market share, Canada accounted for 53 percent of exports, Sweden for 12 percent, the United Kingdom for 10.7 percent, Australia for 5.1 percent, and Korea for 3.4 percent.
"Small and independent brewers are spreading the culture and community of craft beer around the globe," said Bob Pease, chief executive officer, Brewers Association. "Beer drinkers internationally are embracing the innovation and flavors offered by American craft brewers. The Brewers Association is pleased to assist our members with increasing their access to markets abroad."
The EDP, which generates exposure for American craft beer through trade shows, festivals, seminars, media outreach and competitions, among other activities, was initiated in 2004 with funds from the United States Department of Agriculture Market Access Program (USDA MAP). There are now approximately 80 small and independent brewers exporting their beers from the U.S., by EDP estimates.
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA National Homebrewers Conference,National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today's craft brewers and homebrewers.
Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA's American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.
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The post #AllAboutBeer on Instagram: Weekend Beers appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Visiting @cleophus_quealy – NEW brewery in San Leandro ! -Dog Friendly- Crazy Good beers ! Stop by and visit them! My flight today: 1. Citron Blonde 6.4% 2. Rye 4.5% 3. Session Pale Ale 4.2% 4. Baltic Porter 7% #craftbeer #BeerPorn #CraftBrew #Craftnotcrap #Craftbeerpics #CraftBeerPorn #BeerPorn #BeerFlight #DogFriendly #InstaBeer #Beer #Beerme #Beerstagram #cerveza #allaboutbeer #CraftBeerLover #CervezaArtesanal #DrinkLocal #BuyLocal #クラフトビール #ビール
Fearrington Winter Coffee pecan porter – @fullsteambrewery purchased this wonderful brew from @bruisinales durham #northCarolina #porter #craftbeer #winterbeer #northcarolinacraftbeer #beer ##beersofinstagram #instabeer #almostblackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #allaboutbeer A photo posted by Brian C (@winterbeerfan) on
So thankful to get to try some of the best #craftbeer from #Colorado! More on these on the blog soon! Happy Sunday! #craftbeerlife #beerstagram #allaboutbeer A photo posted by Voltron_d (@voltron_d) on
@westbrookbrewingco #datdraftsystemtho #craftbeer #drinksc
A photo posted by Jon Kelly (@jon_kelly) on
Sawdust City's Lone Pine IPA. "Whoa. This is heavy." What a fantastic movie reference and IPA! There are heavy notes of pine and subtle pineapple on the nose. Up front taste of pine and dank, which then blends into a crisp grapefruit and bitter hops finish. The bitter lingers around for a bit after the sip. This is a solid piney/bitter IPA. Great job @sawdustcitybeer #lonepineipa #IPA #sawdustcitybrewingco #AllAboutBeer
Beer review updates, 5 days so far. #beers#beer#japanesebeers#allaboutbeer#beerstagram#foodstagram#foodporn
A photo posted by @luzyacid on
Follow us on Instagram and look for future opportunities to be featured here or in All About Beer Magazine.
The post #AllAboutBeer on Instagram: Weekend Beers appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Samuel Adams Rebel IPA Family appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Samuel Adams Rebel Rider IPA (4.5%), Rebel IPA (6.5%) and Rebel Rouser Double IPA (8.4%)
Tasting side-by-side-by-side the new India pale ale trio from Samuel Adams is akin to turning up the volume on the radio as an excellent band starts to play, hits a stride and then brings it home.
Samuel Adams is no stranger to hops, nor IPAs, but last year's foray into large-scale production of its "West Coast style" Rebel IPA brought attention—and big sales—to the hop-forward collection. The brewery follows up with a session IPA and a double IPA to complement the relative-straight forward initial offering.
Rebel Rider IPA has a thin mouthfeel, a caramel-like sweetness and a rustic, earthy hop nose. Staunch hopheads might say this isn't an IPA in the modern sense, but students of history will recognize the style's British roots in this beer.
Rebel IPA brings on some of the chewiness and familiar resin and grapefruit hop character. The malt sweetness is there too, like nougat. A slight alcohol warming and a lasting pleasing bitter finish, makes this a solid IPA for beginners and hop enthusiasts alike.
Rebel Rouser brings to the glass the flavors and sensations that most have come to expect from "West Coast style" IPAs. Here's that dank hop profile, the sticky mouthfeel, the lightly harsh boozy bite and lasting bitter finish.
IPA is the best selling craft beer category, according to industry statistics, and these brands will—because of the trusted Samuel Adams name—likely bring new drinkers into the hop-forward fold. All are approachable in their own way and help serve as a solid foundation for India pale ales.
The post Samuel Adams Rebel IPA Family appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Capitol City Brewing Hosts Second Mid-Atlantic Spring Beer Festival appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
ARLINGTON, VA—Spring has nearly sprung! To celebrate the coming of the season, Capitol City Brewing Company is gearing up to host its second annual Mid-Atlantic Spring Beer Festival on Saturday, April 25 at The Village at Shirlington in Arlington. The springtime beer-tasting jubilee will include 35 area craft brewers all hailing from the District, Maryland and Virginia featuring many local favorites and several newly opened breweries. New this year, all participating breweries will sport their own exhibition tents that showcase their company creations and colorful brand designs. A variety of Shirlington Village restaurants and local eateries will feature their favorite springtime fare with music provided by a popular local DJ. Festivities begin at noon and concludes at 7 p.m. (ticket sales begin at 11:30 a.m. and all beer taps close at 6 p.m.)
Admission for beer drinkers is $30 (one general admission pass per person), which includes a wristband, official tasting glass and 10 drink tickets. Additional drink tickets can be purchased for $1 each with a five-ticket minimum. The event is free for non-drinkers and children. Mid-Atlantic Spring Beer Festival 2015 will be held rain or shine with tickets sold at the event.
For more information on Capitol City Brewing Company, please visit www.capcitybrew.com. Find Capitol City Brewing Company on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CapCityBrew and on Twitter: @CapCityBrewers.
WHAT: Second Annual Mid-Atlantic Spring Beer Festival
Regional Breweries, Local Restaurants and Music
*Held Rain or Shine*
WHO: Capitol City Brewing Company
35 Area Breweries from DC, Maryland & Virginia
50 Colorful Tents Featuring a Variety of Beer & Springtime Fare
Food Provided by Shirlington Village Restaurants and Local Eateries
WHEN: Saturday, April 25
12 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Ticket Sales Begin at 11:30 a.m.
All Beer Taps Close at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: The Village at Shirlington
4001 Campbell Avenue
Outdoor Streetscape
Arlington, VA 22206
(703) 578-3888
COST: $30 includes: wristband, tasting glass and 10 drink tickets
Additional drink tickets are $1 each with a five-ticket minimum
Ticket sales are limited – first come/first serve
*Free for non-drinkers*
About Capitol City Brewing Company
In 1992, Capitol City Brewing Company opened its doors as the first brewpub in the nation's capital since Prohibition, giving its citizens and many visitors the freedom to enjoy some of the finest handcrafted beer in the country. On the front of the menu is the Lady Freedom, a statue found atop our namesake, the United States Capitol. Our dedicated brewers use only the highest quality hops, yeast and select malt to brew many of the world's great ales and lagers. Capitol City's state-of-the-art craft brewing system is located in our Arlington, VA restaurant, where our talented brewers closely monitor each phase of the brewing process and provide beer within hours of completion, fresh and locally made.
The post Capitol City Brewing Hosts Second Mid-Atlantic Spring Beer Festival appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Left Hand Expands to Southern California appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
LONGMONT, CO—At long last … get ready to pour hard, California! Left Hand Brewing Co. is excited to announce their arrival to Southern CA this late spring, opening the San Diego, Orange County, and greater Los Angelesmarkets including Ventura and Santa Barbara. Left Hand, in partnership with The Sheehan Family Companies, DBA Craft Beer Guild Distributing of San Diego (San Diego County), and Craft Beer Guild of Los Angeles (Greater Los Angeles) will officially enter the state featuring the brewery's award winning portfolio of balanced and innovative brands. "The teams at both CBGD Los Angeles and CBGD San Diego are honored and privileged to represent Left Hand Brewing throughout Southern California. Their World Class line up of brands, led by arguably the most innovative and exciting brand in years, Nitro Milk Stout, are the perfect complement to our existing portfolio. We're very much looking forward to bringing Left Hand to thirsty Californians", said Robert Hodson, Corporate Brand Manager of the Sheehan Family Companies.
Coming off a recent expansion into New England, Left Hand Brewing is headed west to open their 34th state. "Our brewery and fan base has been looking forward to this for many years," comments Chris Lennert, VP Operations. "There's not a day that goes by that we don't get a phone call, an email, a tweet asking when they can find Left Hand in California. It's been a long time coming!" Following a 13% barrelage increase in 2014 with double digit growth since 2006, Left Hand Brewing has progressively worked towards steady expansion to meet demand and expand their Nitro series. "We've had our eye on the golden state for some time, and now we are really ready for it," states National Sales Manager, Jason Ingram. "Left Hand takes all new distribution opportunities with serious care, ensuring our commitment to quality, the distributor, and its impact on our existing footprint." After 1.5 years of development, Left Hand will begin their entrance into California, starting with Southern CA, with anticipation to enter Northern CA in the future.
The two Craft Beer Guild companies will distribute Left Hand's perennial line and Nitro series including: Milk Stout & Milk Stout Nitro, Sawtooth Ale & Sawtooth Nitro, Introvert IPA, 400 Pound Monkey IPA, Black Jack Porter, Polestar Pilsner, as well as seasonals, limited editions and their Mountain Mixer mixed pack. Left Hand Brewing will kick-off their SoCal arrival inSan Diego on May 20th and Los Angeles on June 8th.
The post Left Hand Expands to Southern California appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Narragansett Re-releases Del's Shandy and Summer Ale appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
PROVIDENCE, RI—Narragansett Beer declares that summer has come early with the highly anticipated rerelease of quintessential Rhode Island mash up, Narragansett Del's Shandy and seasonal staple, Narragansett Summer Ale. The return of two warm weather favorites brings a welcome taste of summertime after a long, cold winter.
After making a splash with its initial release last May, 'Gansett's popular and refreshing Del's Shandy is back, offering a thirst-quenching mix of Narragansett's award-winning lager and the tart lemon extract from the iconic Del's Frozen Lemonade. As part of the "Hi Neighbor Mash Up" series, Del's Shandy sent 'Gansett fans into a frenzy last summer, with the initial production run selling out in just days. This year, Narragansett has increased production of the sought-after beer so shandy fans will be able to get their fill all spring and summer long.
Alongside Del's Shandy, Narragansett is also rolling out Summer Ale, Beer Advocate's highest rated summer ale available in New England.* The distinctive light session ale made with two row pale malt, citra, galaxy and Chinook hops provides aromas of citrus and passion fruit without overwhelming the taste buds. At only 24 IBUs and 4.2 percent ABV, the esteemed seasonal brew has plenty of flavors to keep you wanting more. The crisp golden ale is the perfect, easy-drinking accompaniment to any summer adventure—whether it's night or day, beach or backyard.
"We're ready to let summer begin by rereleasing Del's Shandy and our top notch Summer Ale after the record-breaking winter we had this year in New England," said Mark Hellendrung, president of Narragansett Beer. "The response to Del's Shandy last year was so unbelievable that this year, in addition to making the brew more widely available, we also have a few surprises in the works that will really blow Del's Shandy fans away, so stay tuned!"
Narragansett Del's Shandy is brewed under the supervision of award-winning Brewmaster Sean Larkin and provides strong citrus refreshment backed by just enough sweet malt to keep it balanced. The 4.7 percent ABV Narragansett Del's Shandy will be available in six packs of 16-ounce tallboy cans ($8.99-$9.99 SRP) and for the first time, 12 packs of 12-ounce cans ($13.99-$14.99 SRP). Along with Narragansett Summer Ale (also priced at $8.99-$9.99 per six-pack), Del's Shandy will be distributed throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, and Portland, Ore. The timing and availability of Del's Shandy and Summer Ale will vary per market. Both beers will be available alongside classic Narragansett Lager, offering refreshment #AllSummerLong.
For additional information about Narragansett's summer offerings or to find a retailer near you, visit www.narragansettbeer.com.
Narragansett Beer…Brewed since 1890. 'Gansett is a straightforward, quality beer that has been a New England tradition for generations, producing a classic family of award-winning American lagers & ales. Today, 'Gansett is produced at top-rated breweries in Rochester, N.Y., and Westport, Mass. and is one of America's top 50 regional brewers and the fastest-growing in the Northeast. Narragansett is available for purchase in local restaurants, bars, and liquor stores throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Florida, Portland, Ore. and Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn.
Thirsty for more? Visit: www.narragansettbeer.com
The post Narragansett Re-releases Del's Shandy and Summer Ale appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post The Ultimate Beer Tasting: VIP at the World Beer Festival appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Soon after, we added the VIP section for enthusiasts seeking something different. Under that tent we really pulled out the stops combining event comfort with some serious beer exploration opportunities. Our staff gathers rare and hard-to-get beers (ones usually tucked away, waiting for that special occasion) just for the VIPs, and we've created a relaxing lounge environment with a designated comfort station and a catered spread to enhance the sampling experience. This is the ultimate beer adventure.
Continuing with our mission, the next addition to the World Beer Festival was the Art of Beer Experience. A multifaceted station, the Art of Beer encompasses food and beer pairings, cask ale, ingredients, homebrewing and seminars on beer-related topics.
This is the year we are taking the VIP experience to a new level. In addition to the special gifts and the other goodies ticket holders receive, the VIP area will move indoors, into a more intimate space, in the brand new 214 Martin Street Building. We also include a specially catered spread to enhance the sampling experience. VIPs will enjoy an upscale beer-themed buffet, while they sip on beers they may not find anywhere else.
Throughout the years the world of the VIP has been our cutting edge in beer education. It is easy to understand why many VIPs don't even leave their area during the festival. The limited number of tickets available sell fast. Come see our latest work and enjoy the festival through different eyes.
For more information and to purchase your tickets, visit worldbeerfestival.com.
The post The Ultimate Beer Tasting: VIP at the World Beer Festival appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Society of Independent Brewers Honors Protz, Philliskirk appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
(Press Release)
The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has given Lifetime Achievement Awards to beer writer Roger Protz (a regular contributor to All About Beer Magazine) and to George Philliskirk, former director of the Beer Academy.
The Awards were presented at SIBA's BeerX event in Sheffield by chairman Guy Sheppard, who said, "We are delighted to recognise the enormous contribution made by both Roger and George to British beer and brewing.
"Over the course of their long careers, they have been tireless ambassadors for beer, sharing their knowledge and passion with countless others within and outside the brewing and pubs industry. It is no exaggeration to say that their work has helped to restore beer's place in the national consciousness."
Presenting Protz with his trophy, Sheppard said, "Roger has energetically promoted beer at every opportunity, appearing on radio, television and national newspapers and magazines to extoll its virtues with his characteristic eloquence, style and clarity.
"As a founder member of the Guild of British Beer Writers, Roger helped to raise the profile of beer writing and paved the way for the revival of media interest in beer. He has written more than 20 books about beer, written for countless magazines in the UK and abroad and is as energetic and passionate today as at the start of his career."
Dr Philliskirk was, said Sheppard "a highly respected figure in British brewing, whose work has influenced both brewers and beer drinkers over many decades."
After completing a PhD in yeast research at Birmingham University in the mid-70s, Philliskirk forged a career in brewing, becoming head of Carlberg UK's technical department before joining the Beer Academy in 2004. He recently stepped down as the organisation's director and chief examiner.
Philliskirk is a Fellow of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) and a former chairman of its Board of Examiners, as well as an external examiner at Heriot-Watt University. He lectured extensively, and presented beer tastings across a range of media including the Richard & Judy chat show, and for several years at the BBC Good Food Show.
The presentations to Protz and Philliskirk were made at BeerX before an audience of brewers, suppliers and other visitors to the event.
The post Society of Independent Brewers Honors Protz, Philliskirk appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post A Park with a Brew: Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
On a breezy Saturday afternoon, a row of faces peers through the oversized windows of the Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery—looking out on the magnolia trees and the passersby as they stroll along "Bathhouse Row" in Hot Springs National Park, AR. It's a familiar scene in Hot Springs' history and, yet, a completely new one—for the National Park System and, perhaps, the world.
Housed in a historic bathhouse, the Superior is the nation's first brewery headquartered in a national park, and owner/brewer Rose Schweikhart believes it is the only brewery to use thermal spring water as its main ingredient.
"We are very unique in the world in that our hot spring water is potable," she says of the park. "Most hot spring water is contaminated with sulfur or bacteria or algae, so you can't drink it."
For centuries people have flocked to Hot Springs to "take the waters," a once-popular treatment that included bathing in and drinking the geothermal waters, which, at the time, were believed to cure a wide range of ailments.
"Everyone wants to know, 'Is it magical? Does it have healing powers?'" Schweikhart says. "No. The best part about the water is that it created this beautiful town that grew up around it. … It allowed me to be here and do this."
An added bonus: The thermal waters come through the Superior's pipes at about 140 degrees, saving both time and energy in the brewing process.
"It's wonderful," Schweikhart says. "We have to bring the water up to 175 or 176 when we start a brew day, so we're already at 140."
The Superior is one of eight bathhouses lining "Bathhouse Row." The present-day structure operated from 1916 to 1983, and its patrons similarly sat in the window seats, gazing out on the town as they awaited their spa treatments.
Modern medicine replaced the "water cure," and, over time, the park could no longer support eight bathhouses. The Superior sat vacant from the time of its closing until Schweikhart breathed new life into the structure, reinventing it as a brewery, restaurant and bar.
"It's neat to reinvent the purpose of the building," she says. "I feel like we're honoring the building. We've taken some walls down. We've put some walls up. We have to deal with modern health and safety standards, of course, but, generally, the historic fabric of the building has been maintained, and people can still see some of the elements of the original bathhouse."
The afternoon light flooding in through the windows illuminates the white tile floors and marble fixtures and the buttery-yellow walls, giving the space a bright, airy feel. It's not a typical bar—it serves root beer (also made with the thermal water) and gelato. Kids play outside on the expansive green lawn.
"Because it's in a national park and because our primary visitor demographics are families, Rose very smartly created a menu and an atmosphere where there's a little bit of [something] for everyone," says park superintendent Josie Fernandez.
The repurposing of the Superior is part of a larger rehabilitation/stabilization project spearheaded by Fernandez. To utilize and protect the bathhouses, the park began soliciting proposals from the private sector to lease the buildings for alternate uses.
"For us in the National Park Service, it was very evident that if there had been a market for bathhouses to be reopened as modern-day spas, that would have already happened a long, long time ago," Fernandez says. "So we had to realistically look at other potential businesses that would be complementary to the mission of this park and that would be compatible with the kinds of things that happen in national parks."
The Superior opened as a restaurant and bar in July 2013 with 16 taps, plus pub fare and gelato. This January, Schweikhart introduced Superior's first beer—Hitchcock Spring Kölsch. True to style, it's lightly malted and lightly hoppy.
"It showcases the water," she says. "When I taste it, I taste the qualities of the spring water. That's important to me."
Also on the lineup for early 2015 are the Superior Pale Ale, Whittington Park Wheat (a hefeweizen), and the Foul Play Brewlesque (an oatmeal stout). Each beer is named for a person or place in Hot Springs' history (except for the last, which is named for the local burlesque troupe).
"For me, the magic is the history," Schweikhart says, "what the water led to, which is the national park, the bathhouse, and here I am making beer. … To me, it's a big opportunity."
Leslie Fisher is a writer, photographer and video editor with a passion for great beer. She has covered Hot Springs and the surrounding areas for over eight years and most recently served as a producer for the public television series "Mineral Explorers."
The post A Park with a Brew: Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Anchor to Serve Experimental Beers at The Yard appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
SAN FRANCISCO—A parking lot near AT&T Park in San Francisco is Anchor Brewing's next proving ground.
On Friday the brewery will open a beer garden at The Yard at Mission Rock, a pop-up food and retail venue constructed of 13 recycled shipping containers, in the parking lot adjacent to the home of the San Francisco Giants. From a 40-foot long container-turned-bar, Anchor will serve its core lineup of beers including small batches brewed exclusively for The Yard. The first beer in what is tentatively dubbed the Yard Series will be a double IPA.
Scott Ungermann, Anchor's vice president of production, hopes to have the "very Cascade-focused" beer on tap in time for the Giants' April 2 exhibition game vs. the Oakland Athletics. "It's something Anchor has never done before," Ungermann said. "We just made our first IPA last year, why not make our first double IPA this year?"
Ungermann said he will pay close attention to whether or not customers come back for more than one of the experimental beers. "That's the ultimate judge of a beer that people like," he said. "Do they want another one?"
Visitors hoping to find Anchor standbys won't be disappointed. "We have the opportunity here to have all of our beers on draft," said Anchor Brewmaster Mark Carpenter, "which we can't even do in our own taproom because we don't have enough tap handles there."
Additional partners at The Yard—which is managed by the Giants—include The North Face, Peet's Coffee, SFMade, Off the Grid and The Whole Beast. The pop-up village is temporary (albeit without a defined closing date), but Anchor's involvement in the neighborhood is permanent. In 2013, Anchor announced plans to construct a brewery, restaurant and museum at nearby Pier 48. The brewery is awaiting permits to develop the facility (one half of which is empty while the other half is being used for storage), but Anchor is committed to the project.
"It's our future. We're going to make it work," said John Dannerbeck, Anchor's senior vice president. "We don't see any alternative to Pier 48. With the Giants as partners, it's easy to be optimistic about it."
Jon Page is the Managing Editor of All About Beer Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @jonpageonline.
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The post Uncle Slim, the Fornicators and the Birth of Boulder Brewing appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
One of those things was how to make what passed for beer from bread yeast and cans of Blue Ribbon malt extract. Under his tutelage, Ware and his buddies tried their hand. The results were terrible.
Still, the bug had bitten. Ware continued homebrewing through college and graduate school, and right into his postdoctorate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The institute's chairman was David Hummer, a theoretical astrophysicist who himself was a veritable MacGyver when it came to homebrewing. Hummer would, for instance, crush his own malts with a rolling pin and use a bridal veil to dip them into a 5-gallon cooler. He and Ware started homebrewing together and shared their increasingly tasty creations with colleagues, who, in turn, began making special requests for the beers.
After one such request in the institute's cafeteria, Ware looked at Hummer. "Hey," he said, "we ought to start a brewery."
The year was 1979, and the idea of a new brewery, especially one started by amateurs, seemed absurd. The trend in the wider American brewing industry was in the exact opposite direction: toward fewer breweries through consolidations, takeovers and operations simply going out of business.
And, yet, after the necessary paperwork, Ware, Hummer and a third partner, an engineer named Al Nelson, found themselves in September 1979 holding the nation's 43rd brewery license.
Their Boulder Brewing Co. (now Boulder Beer) was the first new small-batch brewery east of the West Coast since Prohibition, and the unwitting spawn of a movement that has seen the Centennial State become one of the union's most fertile for beer aficionados—a reputation accentuated by the annual Colorado Craft Beer Week, which kicks off March 21.
The brewery license, though, was only the first piece of the puzzle. Ware, Hummer and Nelson sought expertise and material from wherever they could find it. Ware visited the New Albion Brewing Co. in Sonoma County, CA, seeking advice from that 3-year-old startup's founder, Jack McAuliffe.
He also talked to Jeff Coors of the eponymous family operation that was then busting out of the Rockies to a nationwide audience. Coors' grandfather and Ware's grandmother had dated—plus Jeff Coors thought it would be good for legislative lobbying purposes to have a second brewery in Colorado.
Finally, the trio found their brewhouse in a goat shed on land Nelson owned near Hygiene, on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. There, in a stainless-steel food-processing kettle, Otto Zavatone, a former chef and fisherman serving as Boulder Brewing's brewmaster, cooked up a stout. (Zavatone and Ware played piano and sax, respectively, in a local band called the Fornicators.)
The stout won a blue ribbon in a competition held at the American Homebrewers Association's first-ever national conference in 1979. The conference was held in … where else? … Boulder.
Read more Acitelli on History posts.
Tom Acitelli is the author of The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution. Reach him on Twitter @tomacitelli.
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The post Breckenridge Collaborates with MadTree, Starr Hill appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
DENVER—In anticipation of this weekend's Collaboration Fest in Denver, Breckenridge Brewery reached out to friends to the east – Starr Hill Brewery and MadTree Brewing Company. The impetus was to create unique entries for Collaboration Fest on March 21st which kicks off Colorado Craft Beer Week. The results: two recipes to be proud of, two days of brewing with new friends, and two incomparable and wonderful beers to share.
Collaboration #1: MadTree Brewing Company of Cincinnati, OH
"Ohio's one of our strongest markets, and we have great partners there," explains George O'Neill, Director of Sales for Breckenridge Brewery. "As a nod to those who support us in that state, we wanted to partner with an Ohio brewery to create something we're proud to share in each of our tasting rooms. MadTree has a fine reputation for quality and partnership. We were excited to present the idea to them."
The goal was to create a beer that represented each state through its ingredients. Jimmy Walker, head brewer for Breckenridge Brewery's brewpub in Breckenridge teamed up with Jeff Hunt, head brewer of MadTree Brewing. Together they came up with a short list of ingredients that included Ohio spice bush berries, Colorado spruce tips, and Colorado honey.
"Carrying 10 pounds of super fragrant spice bush berries through airport security to bring a piece of Ohio to the beer was just the beginning of a great partnership with Jimmy and the Breck crew," shared Jeff. "We had fun coming up with a beer style, brewing something that plays well with these unique ingredients yet is still refreshing for the spring."
Jimmy added, "Both spruce tips and the spice bush berry can be easily overdone with their very potent flavor profiles. We attempted to err on the side of subtlety and keep the beer true to style."
Saison Ridge is the outcome of their meticulous efforts – a dry, refreshing, spicy and drinkable saison with subtle and complex flavor nuances from the native ingredients.
Collaboration #2: Starr Hill Brewery of Crozet, VA
Todd Usry, Brewmaster and Director of Brewing Operations for Breckenridge Brewery, co-created the second collaboration with Robbie O'Cain, Brewmaster of Starr Hill. "Starr Hill was an easy pick for this collaboration. Its founder, Mark Thompson, is an old friend from brewing school. I was born and raised in Virginia and love the Blue Ridge Mountains where Starr Hill is based. It doesn't hurt that Starr Hill is renowned for its stouts and other beers; I've always wanted to create something with them."
Robbie came to Colorado to brew a collaborative stout at Breckenridge Brewery's Denver brewery. He shipped ahead malt and barley used in Dark Starr, Little Red RooStarr, and other great Starr Hill stouts, and he carried with him locally sourced Virginia oats. To round out the 50 barrel brew, Breckenridge threw in 200 pounds of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory dark chocolate, the same chocolate brewed in its 72 Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout.
Denver was barraged with snow the day they brewed, inspiring the name "Snow your Oats." How appropriate that the resulting full-flavored, chocolate oatmeal stout is one that will soothe the soul and satisfy the palate during any given storm.
"After a great experience brewing and sharing knowledge with the Breckenridge team, I can't wait to show off this beer at Collaboration Fest," said Robbie, who is flying back to Colorado this weekend to help launch Snow Your Oats. "It will be a blast when Todd and Breckenridge make the trek east to Virginia later this year to brew a new collaboration with the Starr Hill team for our fans on the East Coast."
Saison Ridge and Snow Your Oats
Two beers on opposite ends of the style spectrum – Saison and Stout. To sample these unique one-off collaborations one must attend Collaboration Fest at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on March 21st, look for them on tap around Denver during Colorado Craft Beer week, or visit the tasting rooms at Breckenridge Brewery, Starr Hill Brewery, or MadTree Brewing after their introduction on March 21st.
About Breckenridge Brewery
Breckenridge Brewery was founded in 1990 in Breckenridge, Colorado. In the past two decades Breckenridge Brewery has grown from a small 3,000-barrels-a-year brewpub to one of the most successful craft beer and restaurant companies in the nation. It now handcrafts more than 64,000 barrels of fresh beer annually and owns and operates five brewpubs and ale houses in the state of Colorado. For more information visit www.breckbrew.com.
About Starr Hill Brewery
Starr Hill Brewery is a privately owned, regional craft brewery founded in 1999 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Among the most award-winning craft breweries on the East Coast, Starr Hill has won 21 Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup and Great British Beer Festival medals. Starr Hill beer is distributed throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions. Please visit www.StarrHill.com for more information.
About MadTree Brewing Company
MadTree Brewing Company was started by three self-proclaimed "maniac" homebrewers and aspiring entrepreneurs who believe strongly in the creation of beers that stand up to the best craft brews across the country. Along with that vision they put their own "mad twists" on their creations. The MadTree approach is simple – create high quality beer, foster a fun and meaningful employee culture, and support the local communities. www.madtreebrewing.com
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The post SweetWater Expands to Chicago appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
ATLANTA—SweetWater Brewing Company's award-winning lineup of lip-smackin' brews will begin to flow in Chicago this March. With the help of their Chicago distributor, Lakeshore Beverage, the brewery is excited to enter into the Windy City, its northern-most distribution point to date. Following a recent $19 million expansion, SweetWater is finally able to meet demand and deliver fresh brews to Chicagoland's craft beer scene.
"Bringing our brews this far north is awesome," said Big Kahuna and Brewery Founder, Freddy Bensch. "The reaction to our Chicago expansion has been fantastic, and Lakeshore Beverage is a big part of that. We can't wait to introduce our brews to their newest fans in Chicago!"
"SweetWater continues to experience substantial growth in their home market and the Southeast region. We know this means that SweetWater will have great success in the competitive Chicago beer scene, and we're excited to tell their story and get their beers into people's hands," said Ted Champion, Lakeshore Beverage Senior Import Craft Specialty Manager.
SweetWater will float into Chicago with its most popular brews, starting with its flagship, 420 Extra Pale Ale, as well as the other brews below on draft at bars and restaurants, to be followed by bottles, cans and Tackle Box variety packs in off-premise grocery, package and specialty bottle shops. The full lineup of styles include:
Fresh fans and thirsty sippers will find a crew from SweetWater, including Founder Freddy Bench, CFO Kim Jones and Brewmaster Mark Medlin, around town at events beginning on March 23. Events include Tap Takeovers, tastings, specialty casks and beer pairings. For a full schedule of SweetWater's Chicago launch events and participating locations, visit Beer Street Journal.
To learn more about SweetWater Brewing Company and its full lineup, visit www.sweetwaterbrew.com.
Living by the motto "Don't Float the Mainstream," SweetWater Brewery has been blazing its own path in craft beer throughout the Southeast since its inception in 1997. With a brewer calling the shots, quality of beer—and life—are always most important in crafting a lineup of lip-smackin' brews. Widely known for its flagship 420 Extra Pale Ale, SweetWater also serves up an ever-evolving Catch & Release seasonal lineup of brews and an off-beat, one-off Dank Tank series. SweetWater invites folks to join them for tours and tastings of their Atlanta brewery every Wednesday through Sunday. Visit www.sweetwaterbrew.com for more info about SweetWater, or hang out with your social thang out by following SweetWater on Twitter/Instagram @sweetwaterbrew, or on Facebook at facebook.com/sweetwaterbrew. And always remember; drink 'em if you got 'em!
The Hand Family Company has been in business since the 1940s, and to this day, remains family owned and operated. With the recent formation of Lakeshore Beverage, the Company is excited to enter the Chicago market to share one of the country's finest portfolios of beers. From world renowned labels such as Duvel to local favorites like Goose Island Beer Co. to the number one selling beer in the U.S., Bud Light, Lakeshore Beverage is dedicated to telling each brewer's story and to cultivating access to their beers in unique and compelling ways. Lakeshore Beverage attributes its recent growth to a commitment to developing the finest employees who work closely with brewery partners and customers to create memorable opportunities to enjoy great beer together.
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The post Gordon Biersch, San Jose Earthquakes Announce Sponsorship appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
SAN JOSE, CA—Gordon Biersch Brewing Company and the San Jose Earthquakes, of Major League Soccer, announced today a partnership that makes Gordon Biersch the club's official craft beer sponsor. The deal coincides with the team's 2015 home opener and public unveiling of 18,000-seat Avaya Stadium.
Gordon Biersch Marzen, Pilsner and Hefeweizen will be available in aluminum bottles while Marzen, Golden Export and Pilsner will be on draught throughout the stadium.
"The Earthquakes have been an incredible neighbor to us for years," said Gordon Biersch co-founder Dan Gordon. "Heck, Gordon Biersch has been served at Earthquakes games even before Landon Donovan first came to the team as a rookie in 2001. Having opened our state of the art brewery in Japan Town in 1997, we appreciate all the great work the Earthquakes have done in the community and in making our city a better place to live. We're honored to be the team's official craft beer partner."
"Gordon Biersch has been a great partner for many years," said Earthquakes President Dave Kaval. "Our fans have enjoyed the many different varieties of Gordon Biersch at our stadium and we are proud to have them be the official craft beer of our club."
The Earthquakes kick off their 2015 home schedule Sunday, March 22 against Chicago Fire.
About Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
After becoming the first American in 40 years to attain a brewing engineering degree from the prestigious Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan, Dan Gordon co-founded Gordon Biersch Brewing Company in 1988 with Dean Biersch. The goal was to produce the most authentic German-style lagers outside of Germany. In 1997 the company opened a state-of-the-art brewing and bottling facility in San Jose, California to begin bottling and distributing its famed German-style lagers. For more inflation, visit www.gordonbiersch.com/brewery.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gordonbierschbrewingco
Twitter: @GBBrewingCo
YouTube: www.youtube.com/GBBrewing
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The post Wicked Weed Breaks Ground on New Facility appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
ASHEVILLE, NC—In celebration with the Buncombe County Commissioners and the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County (EDC), Wicked Weed Brewing breaks ground today on outfitting its new brewing facility in the Enka Commerce Park on the western edge of Asheville. The company's expansion will add 82 new jobs and invest $5 million in facilities and equipment over the next three years.
The 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art brewhouse will enable Wicked Weed Brewing to help meet rapidly growing demand and scale its capacity up to 50,000 barrels a year. Wicked Weed plans to expand its market in North Carolina and eventually other states, while staying focused on its passion for producing creative, world-class craft beers and maintaining strict quality standards through self-distribution.
It's expected to take about five months to completely outfit the existing building, which the brewery purchased as a shell building from Buncombe County. The brewing equipment installation will occur in June, with brewing and distribution expected to be underway this fall.
"The Asheville community's overwhelming support and demand for Wicked Weed beer is what drives us forward to keep growing and brewing high quality, award-winning craft beer. As we expand, our focus remains on brewing the most creative and innovative beer styles for our many friends and fans across North Carolina," commented Walt Dickinson, Head Blender and an ownership partner of Wicked Weed Brewing.
The new brewing facility is Wicked Weed's third site, since opening its second downtown location, The Funkatorium at 147 Coxe Avenue, last fall. The dedicated sour barrel house and tasting room is the only facility of its type in the Southeast.
RateBeer.com just named Wicked Weed among the top 100 brewers in the world out of over 19,000 breweries listed on its site. Since opening just over two years ago, Wicked Weed has produced about 250 unique beer recipes, won a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013, and has garnered national attention in the craft brewing industry for its creative, high-quality brews like the Freak of Nature Double IPA.
"Wicked Weed's job growth and success in such a short time can only be explained by its innovative approach and commitment to brewing only the finest beer. We're excited to see this family-owned business continue to expand one of the nation's hottest craft brewing centers, right here in Buncombe County," stated David Gantt, Chairman of the Buncombe County Commissioners.
Wicked Weed Brewing is an Asheville, North Carolina based brewpub ranked among the world's top 100 brewers by RateBeer.com. It consistently hosts 20-plus house beers on tap, including hop forward, West Coast style ales, open fermented Belgians, and barrel-aged sour beers. Opened in December 2012, Wicked Weed is destined to become the largest producer of barrel-aged beers in the Southeastern U.S. The brewery is best known for its Freak of Nature Double IPA, Coolcumber Ale, Tyrant Double Red Ale, Hopburglar Blood Orange IPA, Dark Age Bourbon Stout and Black Angel Cherry Sour. Wicked Weed Brewing won a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival for its Serenity Farmhouse Ale in 2013. Visit them online at www.wickedweedbrewing.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/WickedWeedBrewing.
The Economic Development Coalition (EDC) for Asheville-Buncombe County is a public-private partnership committed to: creating and retaining high quality jobs, community leadership, and being a resource for better business decisions. The EDC accomplishes this mission through its four core services: business retention and expansion, small business and entrepreneurship, research, and marketing and recruitment. The EDC is funded by Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, the Town of Weaverville, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the AVL 5×5 Campaign. Visit www.ashevillechamber.org/economic-development.
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce is a member organization with over 1,800 member businesses and organizations. Chamber members collaborate with community organizations and coalitions to support the community and each other with the mission of building community through business. The Chamber is home to a 4,000 square foot Visitor Center which welcomes over 200,000 visitors per year. To get active in the Chamber, visit www.ashevillechamber.org.
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The post Firestone Walker Announces Return of Easy Jack appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
PASO ROBLES, CA—Firestone Walker Brewing Company launched Easy Jack last year as a different kind of session IPA, one with surprising complexity fostered by a rare selection of newer hop varieties from around the world.
But the brewery learned the hard way what "rare" really meant when it launched Easy Jack as a summer seasonal—and then promptly ran out of the hops by mid-summer, spelling an early end to Easy Jack.
Now Firestone Walker is doubling down and re-launching Easy Jack in 2015 as a year-round release, and adding cans to the mix along the way.
The difference this time is that Brewmaster Matt Brynildson went the extra 5,000 miles to make sure he doesn't run out of those crucial Easy Jack hops.
Indeed, during last September's harvest season, Brynildson traveled to Germany and spent several days in the Hallertau region, the birthplace of hops dating back more than 1,000 years. There, he hung out at small family hop farms and worked with the farmers to secure an ample supply of Mandarina Bavaria and Hull Melon—two backbone hops for Easy Jack.
Brynildson said that Firestone Walker is the first American craft brewery to put such emphasis and weight behind these new German hop varieties.
"Mandarina and Melon are entirely unique, and there's nothing grown in the U.S. that's anything like them," he said. "They have this classy European swagger. I first experienced a beer brewed with Mandarina in Germany a few years ago, and I knew immediately that I wanted to make it a centerpiece of our own session IPA. This trip was all about making sure we could continue to do that."
The Book on Easy Jack: Hoofing It in Hallertau
Brynildson was so inspired by his travels that he penned a small pictorial book documenting the Hallertau hop scene's distinctive blend of traditional culture and cutting-edge cultivation. A digital version of the book can be viewed here: www.firestonebeer.com/brewery/hops-of-easy-jack.php
By the end of the trip, Brynildson had visited numerous hop farms, all of them small multigenerational family operations run by fathers and sons. "I was overwhelmed by their hospitality," he said. "Here's this American craft brewer walking onto their land, and I wasn't sure how receptive they'd be. But they genuinely wanted to bounce ideas around, and there was this profound sense that we're all in this together, trying to get the most out of these up-and-coming hop varieties."
So now Easy Jack is back, and better than ever. "We were making collaborative decisions that incrementally improved hops and ultimately the beer," Brynildson said.
The Hops of Easy Jack
"With Easy Jack, we didn't want to just make a miniaturized IPA," Brynildson said. "When you dial down the malt and alcohol profiles to make an IPA sessionable, things can become bland and unfocused pretty quickly. The key for us was to find these hops that have full texture and flavor, while still bringing the fruity pop that you want from a true IPA."
Mandarina Bavaria – Hallertau, Germany
"Mandarina is the defining hop of Easy Jack. It's real orangy, zesty, like a fresh orange off the tree, which I've never smelled in any hop before."
Hull Melon – Hallertau, Germany
"I call this the rhythm guitar. It has this melony, ripe tropical fruit characteristic that complements the citrus of the Mandarina."
Southern Hemisphere Hops
"These hops are equally elusive as our prized Mandarina and Melon. We have begged, borrowed and traded…Yes, we literally traded 8 Wired Brewery in New Zealand an equal amount of Centennial and Amarillo hops for some fresh Nelson hops. The transaction was more complicated than any hop purchase I have ever made."
Blend of U.S. Hops
"Mosaic provides a tropical vibe with herbal and pine notes, while Citra and Amarillo add complexity and dimension."
Now in Cans
Easy Jack becomes one of the first Firestone beers to be canned, courtesy of the brewery's new state-of-the-art canning line made by KHS, a leading packaging company based Dortmund, Germany. Easy Jack will also be available in bottles.
"Putting Easy Jack in cans was a no-brainer," Brynildson said. "Cans are just fun, they're light and easy to carry to the beach or a party or wherever. They're a great fit for a session beer like this."
Look for Easy Jack's return starting now in markets across the United States.
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The post Searching for the Perfect Pint in Dublin and Belfast appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
One word to the wise. Beoir, a consumer group supporting native, independent breweries, has a great smart phone app, Beoir Finder, to lead you to great beer throughout your travels in Ireland.
I finally made my pilgrimage to Dublin this past summer to attend the European Beer Bloggers Conference, which holds a sister conference in America, too. All "citizen beer bloggers" are invited to attend, so start your beer-centric Twitter account now as the easiest method of entrance and enjoy experiences like the following highlight of the conference. St. James's Gate, better known as the Guinness Storehouse (St. James's Gate), is the No. 1 tourist attraction in Ireland, not surprising given that the brand Arthur Guinness created in 1759 is a liquid icon the world over.
I now join the ranks of those who believe the perfect pint is pulled at the brewery. Once a thriving city within a city, the grounds cover more than 50 acres, but production is now centered in Guinness' new facility, "Brew 4," its fourth-ever brewhouse. It produces 1 million pints a day (note: 20-ounce imperial pints, not mere 16-ounce American pints), but such efficiency comes at a price. The facility had a price tag near €200 million (note: Euros, not mere dollars). Guests get the opportunity to pour their own pint—an activity that trained experts proclaim lasts precisely 119.5 seconds—and, if anything, it shows that there's art in the pull to achieve the cascading nitrogenated bubbles that lead to a symmetric foam dome atop each creamy, roasty stout.
Sometimes visiting the Guinness Storehouse yields small-batch beers—10 hectoliters is barely larger than nanobrewery scale—and the vanilla-infused Night Porter I sampled was divine.
One mantra I kept hearing about Irish beer drinkers is that they're brand-loyal. Perhaps this explains why there are only about 60 craft breweries throughout the island, 39 of which sprouted up since 2013. But thanks to Beer Ireland, an organization that supports native craft brewers, sales of indie brands grew by 35 percent last year, a much greater gain than in the American craft beer market—if only in terms of growth yet nowhere near the volume.
Trouble Brewing, founded in 2010, is deemed the godfather of Irish craft brewing. Its Sabotage IPA, brewed with hops sourced from around the globe, clocks in at 5.5%, which, even though that nearly qualifies as a session IPA stateside, is relatively strong around here.
Dublin native and The Tale of the Ale beer blogger Reuben Gray organized a killer pub crawl that would serve all beer travelers well. Along this progression of pints we hit The Norseman (28E Essex St., formerly Farrington's) set in a 120-year-old Victorian building. It's where I made my favorite discovery, in terms of creativity and flavor, the Ginger Porter from Rascal's Brewing brewed in Rathcoole and increasingly available around Dublin. The beer's slight kiss of ginger root and light touch of cacao nibs ensure it's a porter first, with the culinary touch oozing in only at the finish, and at 4.8%, it's no one-pint pony. Like Rascal's, another new brewery from an area homebrewer is Black Donkey, whose excellent Sheep Stealer Saison—not many funky Belgian yeast strains are found in Irish beers—can be found in bottles. One more great find at the Norseman was Eight Degrees Brewing (EightDegrees.ie) Amber Ella, an American-style red ale but with Aussie hops.
Like this literary city steeped in James Joyce (whose century-old book of short stories, The Dubliners, should be required reading for any visit alongside anything from Lonely Planet), I'm afraid I didn't start at the beginning. The pub crawl began at The Brew Dock (1 Amiens St.), one of the Galway Bay Brewery's nine tied houses but with a beer list that goes far beyond the house brands, both on tap and in bottles. Being Britain-adjacent, cask ales are always a great call, and the Galway Bay Stormy Port Irish Porter pours ultra-black with a tan head. Although the coffee astringency is apparent, the velvety cask version makes for a super creamy head and mouthfeel. If the pub appears too crowded, head upstairs for more tables and elbowroom.
From there, it's less than a half-mile walk to J.W. Sweetman (1-2 Burgh Quay), the only proper brewpub in Dublin that's housed in a three-story tavern from 1808. Situated on the River Liffey, it has a definite party atmosphere, but that just means more friendly revelers to enjoy a few pints with. Here again, I recommend the Porter on cask.
Amble from the Eden Quay due west along the Liffey toward the Wood Quay, skipping much of the bachelor and bachelorette party central that is Temple Bar, and you'll find yourself in The Porterhouse Temple Bar (16-18 Parliament St.), one of the brewery's three tied houses in Dublin (yes, The Porterhouse in Manhattan is in this same line of pubs). This spot offers a quintessential Irish pub experience that's authentic, not contrived, with friendly bartenders and friendlier bar mates. Continuing the stout and porter kick, Porterhouse offers three—Wrasslers 4X Full Stout, which tastes too rich to only be 5%; the brewery's best-selling stout, plainly called Oyster Stout for its use of oysters during conditioning; and Plain Porter, the most celebrated beer in its portfolio. For dry porter fans, this may be the holy grail in the search for the perfect pint.
A quick word about lodging, since that's key to any beer trip, is that right around the corner is the Clarence Hotel (6-8 Wellington Quay), co-owned by U2's Bono and The Edge. It provides nice, quiet rooms in an otherwise loud neighborhood that's centrally located.
If you still haven't found what you're looking for, a short walk south leads pub crawlers to the Bull & Castle (5-7 Lord Edward St.) with a big beer list and huge steaks. But at this point in the expedition, it's wise to gobble down some fish and chips, and Gray said the line outside the nearby Leo Burdock (2 Werburgh St., Christchurch), doesn't lie. The "chipper" itself is near the gothic Christ Church Cathedral, which makes for impressive scenery when lighted at night.
Another of Gray's recommendations is 57 the Headline (56/57 Lower Clanbrassil St.). It not only boasts the most Irish craft beer on draft with 20 taps, but also serves a unique IPA-tempura-battered rendition of fish 'n' chips along with ginger and mint crushed peas. Rather than a fine pint of O'Hara's Irish Pale Ale from Carlow Brewing, they suggest pairing it with 5 Lamps Lager from another of Dublin's new breweries. Besides, the O'Hara's to look for is Leann Folláin, which translates to wholesome stout, and it truly is a great imperial stout, though here that means 6%, not 10 to 12. The coffee notes are less of roasted beans and closer to their cherrylike fruit cascara. A finer treat, if you can find it, is the Irish whisky-aged version, and I also managed to try a Jameson Whisky barrel stout from Franciscan Well. This was a first for both brewery and distillery, and the resulting Jameson Stout proffered a vanilla, oak and, yes, whisky essence that should make it an ongoing proposition. Oh yeah, the Headline's whisky list is impressive and could lead to a dangerous night if beer-and-a-shot is your thing.
Lastly, "a visit to the Phoenix Park is a must," said Gray. "It makes Central Park look like a backyard." Alas, the 707-hectare park (1,750 acres) features no beer garden, but, noted Gray, there's the aptly named pub, The Hole in the Wall (Blackhorse Ave.). "Because you literally access it by a hole in the wall that surrounds the park." Here you can find several draft beers sectioned into porters, lagers and pales, and some of the best wings in Dublin. The Irish may not have America's wild diversity in beer styles, but they've appropriated our love of Buffalo wings, for sure.
Day Trip: Howth and Bray
Dublin's fantastic, but what's a trip to the Emerald Isle without witnessing its glorious, craggy coast? An easy 25-minute train ride leads to the village of Howth (where you may spot U2 drummer Larry Mullen) on the north peninsula of the Dublin Bay. Hike to the Baily Lighthouse, then enjoy lunch of Shepherd's Pie with McGrath's Pale Ale-braised beef and a bottle of either the pale or sharp, exquisite McGrath's Irish Black Stout that tastes twice as full as its 4.3% ABV would imply. The pub is the place for a crowd of mostly local seniors who laugh at each other's jokes while all quaffing a pint and the barkeep greets 'em all by name. Howth is actually closer to Dublin Airport than the center of Dublin. Having said that, the coastal village of Bray, southward along the Irish Sea, results in possibly more stunning scenery. Bray is also home to the original Porterhouse (Strand Road) replete with a beer garden overlooking the sea, stellar house beers and a quaint inn.
The allure of all things Titanic is so great, there's an entire Titanic Quarter erected on the site of the former shipyard where the fateful ship was built. To partake in a less morose tradition, for those feeling peckish, there's afternoon tea at the grand, Victorian Merchant Hotel (16 Skipper St.) involving finger sandwiches, scones and a spot of tea. Even nonhistory buffs can enjoy an array of delicacies at St. George's Market (12-20 E. Bridge St.) with tempting tidbits and as many as 248 food stalls stocked with local provisions during the Variety Market on Fridays. But this is about diving into Belfast's beer culture, so Steve Lamond, resident of County Tyrone in North Ireland, who blogs at BeersIveKnown.blogspot.com, suggested an equally awesome pub crawl comparable to the one I tackled with him in Dublin.
He first noted that there are 15 brewing outfits in the North—Hilden is the oldest, Whitewater (WhitewaterBrewing.co.uk) is the most widely available, Ards (Facebook.com/ArdsBrewing) is among the smallest—with at least three more planned in the coming months. "By far and away the best selection of Northern Ireland beers, on-tradewise" said Lamond, referring to the distinction of on-trade (beer sold on premise such as at a pub) and off-trade (retailers selling packaged beer for take-away) is at Bittles Bar (70 Upper Church Lane) mostly in bottled format including the output from the tiny, half-barrel brewery Ards. A block from the River Lagan, Bittles occupies a corner site of a triangular building, what we'd call a flatiron in America, and is well-appointed with political paintings, Irish whiskies and everything else you need for a great night out.
A half-mile walk away is the other "must visit," The Hudson (10-14 Gresham St.), "which hosts a monthly beer club … and does a decent bowl of seafood chowder." Note that the pub's motto is "Whiskeys, Ales & Disco," so that second-story dance club is very real.
About another half-mile walk south brings you to the "Victorian gin palace splendor" of The Crown (46 Great Victoria St.), a historic bar that's owned by the National Trust yet managed by Nicholson's Pubs. This is a great spot for cask beer from across the UK. One intriguing item in what it calls its Ale Library is Boilermaker, described as a Welsh Whisky IPA from Brains Craft Brewery in Wales. Not only is the American-hopped ale (Cascade, Simcoe, Chinook) aged on whisky-soaked oak chips, the whisky itself also is distilled from the wash brewed by Brains.
One more 10-15-minute walk and you'll arrive at Molly's Yard (1 College Green Mews), a great spot for dinner, especially since ordering food is required to imbibe. Owned by the Hilden Brewery, which as Lamond pointed out is a short train ride away south in Lisburn and has another nice restaurant on premise, Molly's Yard serves quality meals from fresh fish to dry-aged steaks. Those meals would go great with Molly's Chocolate Stout, which is Lamond's recommended beer, and Twisted Hop, an Irish pale ale, is one of the highest-rated beers around.
Day Trip: County Tyrone
To local expert Steve Lamond, the best food in Northern Ireland is at The Brewer's House (TheBrewersHouse.com; 73 Castlecaulfield Road) in the quaint village of Donaghmore, about an hour by car from Belfast. Here, head chef Brian McMonagle, said Lamond, "is a seafood specialist, so there's always plenty of fresh fish," and a beer-battered fish of the day. He's also the namesake behind treats listed on the menu such as Brian's chorizo sausage featured in the baked tartlet (vegetarians will find plenty to eat, too). Best of all, it recently opened its own brewery, Red Hand Brewing (Twitter.com/RedHandBrewer) whose premier beer, Pale Ale, Lamond called "a decent homage to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale." Also look for a cask and keg tap dedicated to Northern Ireland brews, usually Whitewater's excellent Hoppelhammer IPA and house ciders from Mac Ivors Cider Co., a bit farther south in County Armagh.
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The post The World's Most Secretive Brewery appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
It was a miracle we were even speaking at all. I had been trying for months to get through Diageo's corporate wall (that's the giant drinks company that owns Guinness) to find someone who could even put me in touch with Murray. Totally by chance, Guinness' U.S. publicity team sent an email about a Guinness promotion in advance of St. Patrick's Day and offered an interview with the master brewer. What luck!
By this point, I'd learned that visiting the brewery was out of the question. Guinness is the only company that flatly refused to let me see its facility. If you do much research, you discover that this has been true for a while—no one has seemed to so much as glimpsed a mash tun for years. I knew that I'd only have 15 or 20 minutes with Murray, and I wanted to learn a bit about what was behind the tall walls at St. James Gate. I'd also been fascinated by that strange, tangy note in Guinness' Extra Stout, and hoped to learn its secret. I figured if I got any info on those two things, I'd be ahead of the game.
I started trying to understand something about this brewery I wasn't allowed to see. The only information you can find is fragmentary information like this, on the Guinness website: "The grist is mixed with hot water—known as 'liquor'—and then passes through a 'Steel's Masher'" This seemed at least somewhat suggestive—Steel's Mashers are old Victorian devices. Could Guinness' apparently state-of-the-art facility retain Victorian touches, as the website suggested?
Murray was instantly uncomfortable. "Ummm, yeah. Um, yeah," he began, clearly at a loss about what to say. "[I] wouldn't start with the description you have about traditional or anything like that. … It's totally new and modern in every sense of the word. So traditional terms like mashers and stuff like that—I don't think we've had a Steel's Masher as such in quite a while."
At the time, this seemed evasive, but when I pulled up the audio and listened to it again, it struck me that Murray was just trying to figure out what to do with this blatantly misleading text from the website. It sort of set the tone for the entire interview, where I asked a question and Murray spent several minutes, punctuated by murmurs, groans, and sighs, trying not to answer it.
I tried to shift gears after the Steel's Masher debacle and tried a more neutral question: How big is the brewery? "That's again not an easy answer." As he continued, it seemed like he was himself trying to recall how to put it in more technical terms. "We have a consumer story that's sort of different. We can do up to 4 million pints a day on average. But that isn't the same as you're asking. I'm not trying to put you off. It's four brewing streams in the brewhouse, so it's hard to answer it the way you're asking it. There's mills, and then there's a number of mash vessels and a number of lauter tuns and they all sort of interact together from a process point of view."
He did get around to providing some fascinating information—really the only non-talking points of the interview. "It's a high-gravity brewing process. Starts as high gravity and then prepared for different packaging formats for around the world. … You're talking about 22,000 kg of grain being converted and an original gravity in the region of 1.080. It's a 6.5 million hectoliter brewery [5.4 million barrels] that with tweaks can go up and down."
From there I shifted to the beer. I made the big mistake, in asking my tangy Extra Stout question, in identifying it as "lactic" tanginess. I didn't then and don't now know what causes it, and I regret suggesting lactic acid. Because, of course, that's the word that caught his attention. "Lactic tanginess—do you think so? We wouldn't describe it as a sour note. The roasted barley probably impacts on that. The pH of the beer is probably lower than—as a stout there's a lower pH. There's no acidification process." As when he discussed the way they described production volumes, he lapsed into a sort of meta-analysis. "Anybody describing it as lactic-y or sour-y tends to be picked up by customers these days as a negative. And I wouldn't be going that route."
He continued, more vaguely, back in the consumer mode. "We do have a legendary process and there is element of mystery behind it—and you're not going to get that out of me. The mix of it is personified in the brewing process. It's not lactate. We don't use any lactic acid addition to do that. If it's a sour flavor you're picking up, that's what we would describe it as."
Now, I should say that in the dozens of interviews I'd done with brewers before then (and the dozens of interviews since), I'd never had anyone dodge a question or redirect me. I have had brewers lie, but only quite rarely. You might touch on a subject not open for journalists, but it was pretty clear he wasn't going to answer any of the questions I was interested in. Since he'd broached high-gravity brewing, I asked if Foreign Extra Stout was high-gravity brewed. He gave an odd murmur and then said, "It wouldn't be significantly higher." I was going to ask what that meant, and then he offered this non-clarifier: "The whole idea is to get the best efficiency of the optimization of grain that you purchase out of your brew house. … If we have to increase the grist size to generate a maximum efficiency at a particular time of the year, we will do. The number of streams at the brew house would be minimized due to the optimization." Even though he had raised the topic of high-gravity brewing, he didn't want to get into the details.
Murray had another phone call to go to, and I gave him the chance to exit the conversation, but he wanted to engage me a bit more. Re-listening to the interview, it sounds like he thought it was going as weirdly as I did. For the first time, he inquired about the project and asked what it was I needed to know for the book. He followed up with an answer that, given a different context and a few more beers, might have led to some very interesting discussion.
"The uniqueness of the St. James Gate Brewery has always been—it's always been different from everything else. We have to make beer different from everyone else. It's an exotic place to work, the roast house is an extraordinary element that we have that nobody else has; the yeast management is totally different from everywhere else." He continued pointing out differences in general terms. "An amazing journey in the last 10 years of doing things differently compared to what it would have been done for the first 240 years." He was finally animated in the way brewers get when talking about their facilities, and I would have loved to ask all the obvious follow-ups: In what way do you do things differently? Tell me about that roast house. Can you tell me a little bit about the yeast—where did it come from? How old is it? What's your management process? What was the brewer like 10 years ago and what did Guinness do to change it?
But there was not time. He added a sort of summary of the info he hoped I would take from the Guinness story as parting advice. "If you're writing a story on stout, you talk about roasted barley, you talk about Guinness in its unique mystery, you talk about stout yeast, and [you] talk about hop flavor and the impact of what nitrogen will have done to the world of beer."
I thanked him and added, "Well, one day I'd love to get to see that brewery." He answered, a bit ruefully, "It's a tough brewery to get to see these days for a number of reasons." I have a strong suspicion that the interview didn't improve the odds I'd be seeing it any time soon.
Read more posts from The Beer Bible Blog.
Jeff Alworth is the author of the forthcoming book, The Beer Bible (Workman, 2015). Follow him on Twitter or find him at his blog, Beervana.
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The post Beyond Beer: Respecting Irish Whiskey appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
But, hopefully, all of that is changing, as the Irish tradition becomes the latest beneficiary of the whisk(e)y renaissance.
Believe it or not, over the past few years, Irish has posted a greater percent volume gain than bourbon and single malt Scotch. Last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS), Irish was up 9.1 percent, versus 7.4 percent for bourbon and Tennessee whiskey (DISCUS groups those together) and 6.4 percent for single malt Scotch (blended Scotch, the bulk of the overall Scotch category, continued to struggle, losing 3 percent of its volume).
There is a major caveat embedded in those figures: If you were to look at the highest of the high-end price segments of each of those whiskey styles—classified as "super-premium"—bourbon and Tennessee grew a remarkable 19.2 percent and single malt Scotch gained 8.3 percent. Super-premium Irish whiskey grew a still-impressive 6.3 percent, but it actually bucks the spirits-wide "premiumization" trend (i.e.: drinkers "trading up" to higher-end brands) and experiences most of its growth spurt on the mainstream, everyday price tier known simply as "premium" (which is actually two levels below "super-premium"; there's a price tier in between them known as "high-end premium").
For one thing, that notion of premiumization is still extremely new to the Irish whiskey segment, whereas it's actually what's been driving growth of bourbon and single malt Scotch (think single-barrel or small-batch bourbon or a single malt Scotch that's aged in, say, a sherry cask for 18 years). In Irish, it's not hard to guess where most of its volume growth is coming from: a little brand called Jameson. It's been growing between 13 and 15 percent the past few years in the U.S. and internationally. Not bad for a product that commands nearly two-thirds of the global Irish whiskey market. Being owned by the second-largest spirits marketer in the world, Pernod Ricard—not to mention having access to its massive marketing coffers—certainly has its benefits.
Though Jameson boasts such category hegemony, it's actually helping other brands. It's the gateway beverage that pulls drinkers into Irish whiskey. Many of those new to whiskey (maybe they're regular vodka drinkers looking to challenge their palates a bit) often gravitate to Irish in general and Jameson in particular because the style and the brand are considered smoother and more approachable for newbies than Scotch and bourbon. Irish is typically distilled three times, while Scotch is usually distilled twice. (There are of course, exceptions on both sides. Kilbeggan and 2 Gingers are two notable double-distilled Irish whiskeys, and Auchentoshan is a famously triple-distilled Lowland single malt Scotch. )
Once Jameson has brought drinkers into the category, they start to get curious and explore what else the Irish have to offer. And that's creating not just an opportunity for smaller brands, but also for new flavor experiences that push the boundaries of what modern consumers perceive to be Irish whiskey.
For one thing, the renewed interest in the spirit has prompted many enterprising distillers to go back to the country's more artisanal, pot-still roots.
A style once called "pure pot still" was Ireland's claim to fame a century and a half ago. In the 19th century, Irish distillers faced a tax levy on malted barley. The tariff did not apply to unmalted barley, so they started combining both the malted and unmalted grain. The resulting liquid was world-class and the style that defined the Emerald Isle tradition well into the next century—even Jameson, at the time, had been a "pure pot still." Unfortunately, the style was all but abandoned—save for two exceptions, Redbreast and Greenspot—when the Irish had been usurped by the Scots, who were able to get their products to the market much more cheaply and quickly thanks to the advent of industrial column distilling. Dumping the pot stills also meant dumping much of the character the process retained. Column stills remove most of those nuances.
Luckily, "pure pot still" has started to make a comeback in the past few years. This time, however, it's called "single pot still." Single is a word that's quite meaningful for most whiskey drinkers, so it's a big help here. (Also, in the U.S., the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau frowns upon applying the word "pure" to products that aren't considered healthful.)
Drinkers are discovering, through this resurgent style, flavor characteristics they didn't think were possible in Irish brands. Many detect some intense spicy, gingery notes, as well touches of dark berries.
Single pot still offerings, of course, are a tiny fraction of a fraction of the whiskeys coming out of Ireland. But they're an important step in refreshing the image of the country's classic spirit, one that for too long has had to sit at the kids' table while its Scottish and Kentuckian cousins got to dine with the adults.
This St. Paddy's day, help Irish whiskey reclaim its rightful seat.
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The post The Evolution of Dry Stout appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Stout originally meant any beer of fortitude, no matter the color. There were pale and brown stout, the latter the forerunner to porter. Proper porter, brewed entirely with brown malt, emerged in the early 18th century. Brewed to a multitude of strengths, stout porter, or a similar derivation, would have been the stronger version.
By the end of the 18th century, stout mostly came to describe strong versions of porter only and eventually a style itself rather than an adjective. A normal hierarchy of names, according to British beer writer Martyn Cornell, was common porter, best porter, stout or single stout, double or extra stout and imperial stout, but there were numerous other designations. The former pale stouts would evolve into barley wine, Burton ale, wee heavy, old ale and such.
London and Dublin became the pre-eminent porter and stout brewing cities by the mid-19th century. Dublin was dominated by Guinness, prosperous through far-sighted, ingenious promotion, innovation and above all, high-quality products.
Guinness may be famous now for its draft, extra and foreign extra stouts, but before getting into the stout business, it brewed ale and porter. Guinness was founded in 1759 by patriarch Arthur Guinness, who leased the dormant brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin. The newly constructed Grand Canal made for convenient shipping of incoming supplies and outgoing casks of ale and porter.
This ideal situation gave Arthur Guinness solid footing from the start and, coupled with his vision and shrewd business acumen, took Guinness swiftly to the top. He brewed the last Dublin ale in 1799 to concentrate on porter, not because of the popularity of the style in London, but because London porter was chipping away at Dublin's local market. In 1801, the first Guinness West Indian Porter was brewed for export. It is now Foreign Extra Stout.
In Dublin, Guinness representatives in 1810 encouraged publicans to push a "stouter kind of porter," one originally called Superior Porter, later Extra Superior Porter and eventually the now-famous Extra Stout.
In 1819, Daniel Wheeler's revolutionary black "patent" malt was made available to brewers. Guinness was among the first to use this product, discovering it could make suitable porter and stout by using only pale malt and a small amount of patent malt. This was a departure from previous recipes composed of pale, amber and brown malts. It also lent a distinctive, signature roasted flavor. Using this new formula, Arthur Guinness II finalized the Extra Superior Porter recipe in 1821, cited above as the precursor to Extra Stout.
This is where the Dublin and London stouts diverged over the next few decades, according to some observers. Dublin stout, using the Guinness template, came to mean a marginally drier version, made only with pale and patent malt. The attenuation was largely due to the exclusion of less fermentable amber and brown malts. London stout, truer to precursors, used pale and brown malts, but often a bit of the newly minted patent malt and perhaps amber and crystal malt. Some brewers eschewed the patent malt altogether, relying on the traditional brown malt. Irish brewers often "gyled" theirs with a dose of lively, fermenting beer for conditioning. These ubiquitous, high-quality Irish and English porters and stouts became dominant beers of the 19th century.
Porter and stout could be brewed from a single recipe, using an equivalent amount of malt, but varying the volume of brewing liquor to produce the different strength beers or modifying hop levels. Records also show that some were tailoring recipes for individual brews using pale, amber, brown and/or patent malts. Generally speaking, stouts (and porter) from all destinations were rather similar, brewed with largely the same ingredients, crafted to the preferences of the individual breweries. It was a situation of wealth and relative diversity that any beer lover would crave.
London brewers were by now exporting their product, mostly porter, worldwide, and Guinness was doing the same with stout. By the mid-1800s, Guinness products could be found from the United States to New Zealand, and were called single stout (porter), double stout (extra stout) and Foreign Extra Stout.
Between 1830 and 1880, beer was taxed by ingredients, namely malt and hops, rendering unmalted grain illegal. The Beer Tax of 1830 gave way to the Free Mash Tun Act in 1880, which taxed the original wort gravity, allowing inclusion of adjunct grains and sugars. Many brewers switched from roasted malt to cheaper roasted barley, a move likely noticed only by the most discerning palates and traditionalists. Guinness made the alteration around 1929 or 1930.
By the early 20th century, porter had essentially run its course in England and was replaced by stout as the dark beer of choice. Along the way, stout had also lost its meaning as a strong beer, but simply a black beer chiefly brewed in England and Ireland. The dry stouts contrasted greatly with sweet milk stouts favored at the turn of century. Sweet stouts became England's preferred roasty beer, leaving Ireland chief domain of the dry version.
Guinness, always keen on innovation, continued to evolve. It replaced some pale malt with flaked barley some time in the 1950s, and in 1959 introduced the "draught" dispense system, using a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The draught dispense was designed to duplicate the "high and low cask" method of blending lively young beer with flat mature beer from separate casks. This serving method brings the impressive surge that settles into a tight, tenacious, long-lasting head. It has been copied by many brewers seeking to emulate the soft flavor, mouthfeel and presentation in stouts, porters and ales. The can widget, a more recent invention, offers the same effect.
Though Irish stout has become synonymous with dry stout, most brewed today emulate the historical versions from Dublin and London, and not the modern Irish type.
Most plain dry stouts are now are brewed to modest gravity, with a diverse malt bill, and fuller character than Irish dry stouts.
That radical Export Stout brewed by Guinness in 1821 and its London counterpart help cast the die for the most active stout-brewing market in the world, North America. American brewers especially gravitated to stout early on, and it continues to be standard fare.
American-style dry stouts are stylized with the typical affection for American hops, including heavy aromatic additions, and fermented with neutral American ale yeast. They usually have complex grain bills liberally augmented with crystal and chocolate malts, with up to 10 percent black malt or roasted barley/malt. Brown or amber malts are used on occasion. Gravities range from 5.5% to 7.5%.
Those designated "English" stouts are similar to the Americanized version, especially with regard to malt/grain, but use English ingredients where appropriate or feasible. There is a firm base of bittering hops and more subdued aromatic additions. English ale yeast gives them an authentic footprint. They are a nod to tradition and are generally made pretty well. Strength would be roughly the same as American stout.
Those made to the modern Irish template would be of lower gravity (4-5%), contain adjunct grain, minimal character malts, a copious addition of roasted barley or malt, well-dosed with bittering hops and fermented with an attenuative Irish yeast.
Trends come and go in brewing, but our hankering for plain old stout will never wane. Raise a pint to all of the brewers who keep these styles alive.
The post The Evolution of Dry Stout appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Squatters Wellied Irish Style Stout appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Utah Brewer's Cooperative
Salt Lake City
Type of Beer: Irish style stout
All the traditional, familiar aromas and tastes associated with an Irish-style stout are here, happily mingling in a dark brown ale beneath a strong, mocha-colored head. While there is a light coffee-roast flavor, unsweetened chocolate in the aroma, and that subtle acidic tang and chalky dry character on the finish, all are just a bit… lacking. No one flavor dominates, and what is present consistently errs on the side of subtlety. The creamy, smooth texture made this quickly disappear, though.
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The post New Belgium, Half Acre Collaborate on Oatmeal IPA appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
FORT COLLINS, CO—New Belgium Brewing and Chicago's Half Acre Beer Company join forces to create Oatmeal IPA, a fruity, tropical hop-bomb with a creamier sip than the average IPA. The beer is available on draft, while supplies last, through New Belgium's Hop Kitchen Series.
Oatmeal IPA first came to life about four years ago, when New Belgium's brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, visited Half Acre where he met with owners Gabriel Magliaro and Matt Gallagher. That's when they planted the seeds for a collaboration beer.
In late 2013, the first beer in this two-part collaboration was released as Avoine IPA, an oat-spiked IPA brewed at New Belgium and released throughout Chicago (Avoine means "oats" in French). In February of this year, the Half Acre team traveled to Fort Collins, Colo., to brew the second installment: Oatmeal IPA.
This 2015 release is honey-hued with a velvety mouthfeel that offers brilliant pine, grass and guava courtesy of Citra and Centennial dry-hopping. Oatmeal IPA is ultra-tropical and appears softer than the traditional IPA, but be warned – lurking beneath the smooth oats and toasted malts, are vibrant hops with a bitter bite.
"Having Avoine IPA only available in Chicago was just too much of a tease," says Specialty Brand Manager and Blender Lauren Salazar. "I couldn't resist bringing it back and sharing it with everyone. You just can't get better than the Half Acre guys—we'll always have a soft spot for them."
Oatmeal IPA comes in at 6 percent ABV and 60 IBUs. Pricing varies by location. To find this beer and other New Belgium beers near you use the New Belgium Libation Location tool: http://www.newbelgium.com/
For more information about New Belgium Brewing, visit www.newbelgium.com. You can also follow New Belgium on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
About New Belgium Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine's Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal's Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu's most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews ten year-round beers; Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Slow Ride Session IPA, Snapshot Wheat, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Lager, Blue Paddle Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel. Learn more at www.newbelgium.com.
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The post Starr Hill Refreshes Logo and Packaging appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Starr Hill Brewery is set to hit the stage and shelves with a redesigned logo and new packaging artwork in early Summer 2015.
This refresh celebrates Starr Hill's 16-year evolution from a small, niche-focused brand to a regional craft brewery with a wide audience, while remaining true to its humble roots of bringing people together through great beer. The handcrafted, colorful new imagery draws inspiration from the natural landscape of scenic Central Virginia and gives a nod to some of Starr Hill's past label designs with a fresh perspective.
Starr Hill has partnered with Charlottesville-based design shop, Storyware, and their Creative Director, local artist Wyndsor Hug, to develop the brand and artwork for the updated packaging and website. Wyndsor's past design work includes album art and materials for several music artists, including Dave Matthews Band.
"This new imagery absolutely elevates our look to the level of our beer through consistency and quality," said Brian McNelis, Starr Hill's President and CEO. "We believe these new designs will resonate with our devoted fans, as it truly does with our team at the brewery, and encourage those new to Starr Hill to discover our award-winning beers."
Kicking off the packaging refresh will be Starr Hill's core brands of Northern Lights IPA, Grateful Pale Ale, The Love Wheat Beer, Double Platinum Imperial IPA and Jomo Vienna-Style Lager. Seasonal brands and variety packs will released with the new packaging beginning this Fall with Boxcarr Pumpkin Porter followed by Snow Blind Doppelbock in the Winter. New packaging for Spring and Summer seasonal brands, including the new Reviver Red IPA, as well as the All Access Series, will launch in 2016.
The update in imagery coincides with forthcoming enhancements to several Starr Hill beer recipes, to be announced upon release of the new packaging. Later this spring, Starr Hill will begin unveiling previews of the new label designs at special events and on social media.
Starr Hill Brewery is a privately owned, regional craft brewery founded in 1999 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Among the most award-winning craft breweries on the East Coast, Starr Hill has won 21 Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup and Great British Beer Festival medals. Starr Hill beer is distributed throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions. Please visitwww.StarrHill.com for more information.
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The post Allagash Announces Plans to Pour Wild Friendship Blend appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
(Press Release)
PORTLAND, ME—Over the last two years Allagash Brewing Company, Cantillon Brewery and Russian River Brewing Company each brewed spontaneously fermented beers in their respective parts of the world. These beers were blended together in the summer of 2014 to become the beer known as Wild Friendship Blend. The breweries agreed: these blends would never be sold individually, only poured at special events.
On Saturday, May 9, 2015, Allagash will host Wild Friendship Celebration, where this unique beer will finally be served. Attendees of the Wild Friendship Celebration will get to taste this small-batch brew of which only 1500 bottles were produced. Attendees will also sample 3 additional rare beers from each brewery. Brewery founders Jean Van Roy (Cantillon), Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River), and Rob Tod (Allagash) will all be in attendance to celebrate friendship and good beer. "Full Plates Full Potential," an initiative to end childhood hunger in Maine, will receive a portion of the proceeds from the Wild Friendship Celebration.
People who wish to have the chance to purchase tickets to this event are invited to visit WildFriendshipBlend.com.1 Between March 16 and March 23, this website is where they can submit their email address for the random ticket selection process – 350 randomly chosen people will be able to purchase two tickets to the event.
Details about the event:
– The event is Saturday, May 9 at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine. There will be two separate sessions: 1-4 pm and 5-8 pm.
– Tickets for this event are $100 (plus ticket service fees) and include a souvenir glass from the event.
– Attendees will receive 4 ounces of each of the 10 beers being poured at the event (including Wild Friendship Blend). Admission also includes food from 3 prominent local restaurants/caterers
– 350 tickets per session will be available, and sold through a random ticket selection process.
– Ticket buyers and attendees must be 21 years of age. Proof of age and tickets must be presented at the door at time of entry to the event.
– If you are selected to purchase a ticket, information on parking & transportation arrangements will be available at time of ticket purchase.
RELATED: Read a story about the blend from our September 2014 issue
About Wild Friendship Blend beer
Wild Friendship Blend is a blend of spontaneously fermented beer produced in three different parts of the world – at Russian River Brewing Company in California, Allagash Brewing Company in Maine and Cantillon Brewery in Belgium. Our breweries have shared mutual respect and admiration for each other for many years.
Each component was brewed, fermented and aged in oak barrels at each of the three breweries. In all three cases, the beers were cooled in some form of a traditional coolship and no yeast or bacteria was added — only natural, spontaneous inoculation. The breweries agreed to use beer that had been fermented and aged for roughly 2 years, and each brewery selected a particular barrel to be a component of the blend. The final piece of the blending process was done at Allagash with Vinnie & Rob last summer in our wild barrel room. The breweries collaborated on a similar blend for a release at Cantillon Brewery in May 2014.
About Allagash Brewing Company
Allagash was founded by Rob Tod in 1995, and has grown from a one-man operation into one of the Top 50 Craft Breweries in U.S. (by sales volume) and a spot on Maine's Best Places to Work list for two years running. Allagash brews Belgian inspired beers and is best known for its flagship beer, Allagash White. Allagash has won many national and international awards in its 20 years, and is viewed as a leader of innovative brewing techniques in the craft beer world. Being environmentally and socially responsible is a core value at Allagash, and they are constantly working to lessen the environmental impact of their operations. Allagash distributes beer in 17 states and DC.
About Full Plates, Full Potential
No child should grow up hungry, but one in four children in Maine struggles with hunger. Full Plates Full Potential is a statewide initiative ending child hunger by connecting hungry kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast, lunch and summer meals. The US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has allocated funds to pay for every meal for every hungry student in the country. We have an abundance of food in the country and programs are in place to pay for nutritious meals. The challenge is access. Full Plates Full Potential and school administrators are motivated to solve this issue because they recognize the impact of hunger on students.
1 Visit WildFriendshipBlend.com for complete Terms and Conditions. Must be 21 years of age or older at time of entry. Restrictions apply.
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The post BA: Craft Volume Share Reaches 11 Percent appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
BOULDER, CO—The Brewers Association (BA), the trade association representing small and independentAmerican craft brewers, today released 2014 data on U.S. craft brewing1 growth. For the first-time ever, craft brewers reached double-digit (11 percent) volume share of the marketplace.
See an infographic from the Brewers Association.
In 2014, craft brewers produced 22.2 million barrels, and saw an 18 percent rise in volume2 and a 22 percent increase in retail dollar value3. Retail dollar value was estimated at $19.6 billion representing 19.3 percent market share.
"With the total beer market up only 0.5 percent in 2014, craft brewers are key in keeping the overall industry innovative and growing. This steady growth shows that craft brewing is part of a profound shift in American beer culture—a shift that will help craft brewers achieve their ambitious goal of 20 percent market share by 2020," said Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association. "Small and independent brewers are deepening their connection to local beer lovers while continuing to create excitement and attract even more appreciators."
Additionally, the number of operating breweries in the U.S. in 2014 grew 19 percent, totaling 3,464 breweries, with 3,418 considered craft broken down as follows: 1,871 microbreweries, 1,412 brewpubs and 135 regional craft breweries. Throughout the year, there were 615 new brewery openings and only 46 closings.
Combined with already existing and established breweries and brew pubs, craft brewers provided 115,469 jobs, an increase of almost 5,000 from the previous year.
"These small businesses are one of the bright spots in both our economy and culture. Craft brewers are serving their local communities, brewing up jobs and boosting tourism," added Watson. "Craft brewers are creating high quality, differentiated beers; new brewers that match this standard will be welcomed in the market with open arms."
Note: Numbers are preliminary. The Brewers Association will release the list of Top 50 craft brewing companies and overall brewing companies by volume sales on March 31. Additionally, a more extensive analysis will be released during the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America® in Portland, Oregon from April 14-17. The full 2014 industry analysis will be published in the May/June 2015 issue of The New Brewer, highlighting regional trends and production by individual breweries.
1 An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional. Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Independent: Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs) are not considered beers.
2 Volume by craft brewers represent total taxable production.
3 Figure derived from comparable data set based on 2014 update of craft brewer definition.
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA National Homebrewers Conference, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today's craft brewers and homebrewers.
Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA's American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.
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The post Rock Bottom Announces Return of Bracket Challenge appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
BROOMFIELD, CO—With less than a week until the kickoff of the Men's College Basketball Tournament, Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery announced today the return of its RB College Hoops digital bracket challenge. The contest will give participants the chance to win a grand prize trip for two to the 2016 tournament games in Houston. To further celebrate, the restaurant will roll out a new line of "Street Foods" on March 18 for guests to enjoy with Rock Bottom's variety of craft beers brewed in-house, while watching the games.
Now through March 19, guests can visit rbcollegehoops.com and create an account to complete a bracket for the full tournament, as well as predict the final combined score of the championship game teams. In addition to the grand prize, each of the restaurants' participants with the highest score at the end of each round will receive a $150 Rock Bottom gift card and the runner-up will be rewarded with a $75 gift card. Challenge winners will be notified of their winnings via e-mail the day after each round has been completed and can redeem their gift cards through Dec. 31, 2015.
"This tournament is the most exciting time of the year for college basketball and Rock Bottom's digital bracket challenge continues to make the games even more interesting," said Will Powers, senior director of marketing for Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery. "Last year, we rewarded more than 200 winners during our bracket challenge and the 2014 grand prize winners will be heading to the tournament games in Indianapolis this year. We're excited to give another one of our lucky guests the chance to have the same experience at next year's games."
Starting on March 18, guests can enjoy a limited-time selection of Rock Bottom's "Street Foods" that includes:
About Rock Bottom
Rock Bottom Restaurant and Breweries are polished casual dining establishments featuring excellent service, high-quality, moderately priced food and a distinctive selection of micro-brewed and specialty beers served in a comfortable, hospitable atmosphere. The Rock Bottom menu features a wide variety of items ranging from classic favorites like Ball Park Pretzels and Brewery Nachos, to innovative dishes like Classic Mac 'N Chicken, Beer Battered Fish and Chips, and Bacon Cheddar Burger. Rock Bottom operates in 18 states from coast to coast.
About CraftWorks
CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries, Inc. is the largest craft brewery restaurant operator in the country with nearly 200 franchised and company-owned restaurants primarily operating under the Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants and Rock Bottom Restaurants & Breweries brands. As a leader in the casual dining segment, CraftWorks also operates strong regional brands, including ChopHouse and Big River, and employs more than 12,000 people throughout the U.S. All of CraftWorks' restaurant brands have innovative menus with made-from-scratch food and a vast selection of unique craft beer, as well as unbeatable service and loyalty programs that tout over a half-million active members. Based in Broomfield, Colo., CraftWorks is not only committed to serving its loyal guests, but also the communities in which its restaurants operate. In 2000, the CraftWorks Foundation was formed and has contributed millions of dollars, positively impacting communities throughout the country. For additional information about CraftWorks, the foundation and its craft brewery restaurant brands, please visit www.craftworksrestaurants.com.
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The post Colorado Brewers Guild to Host 'Fuss Off' Beer Festival appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
DENVER—In response to the recent Super Bowl spoof on pumpkin peach ales, the Colorado Brewers Guild is hosting Fuss Off during Colorado Craft Beer Week.
Imagine yourself in a room full of handlebar mustaches, oversized glasses, and refined palates. Add a lineup of some of Colorado's most thoughtfully crafted beers, and then picture yourself rubbing shoulders with the fine brewers who made them. Where is this fantasy beer festival, you ask? In downtown Denver, of course, in a mysterious venue that has never hosted a beer festival before. Only guests will be privy to its actual location… and they wont find out where it is until the morning of. Join Colorado's craft beer aristocracy at Fuss Off, and don't forget your beard wax for the beard competition. Some festivals are worth the fuss.
On the morning of Wednesday, March 25 guests of the Fuss Off will receive an email with information about the location of this secret beer tasting of fussy beers. They wont find out what beers are being served until they arrive. Fuss Off will take place that evening from 6 to 9pm. Guests should plan on dressing fussy or hipster formal. Light snacks will be served.
Tickets to Fuss Off cost $50 per person and can be purchased at axs.com/events/273134/fuss-
About the Colorado Brewers Guild
The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) was founded in 1995 by Colorado craft brewers in an effort to promote the quality and diversity of the growing Colorado craft brewing industry. The CBG provides valuable information to the beer-drinking public and the media while also serving to protect the industry and promote positive public policy for Colorado craft brewers.The Colorado Brewers Guild includes the majority of the craft breweries and brewpubs and represents more than 95 percent of craft beer production in the state. CBG is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade association and retains advocates to work with the state legislature on behalf of Colorado's craft brewers. For more information, visit coloradobeer.org.
About Colorado Craft Beer Week
Now under the direction of the Colorado Brewers Guild, Colorado Craft Beer Week is a nine-day celebration of the state of craft beer. Join Colorado's craft brewers, pubs and restaurants at dozens of events that will showcase brewers and educate beer lovers about Colorado's unique craft beer community. For more information and the complete lineup of events, visit coloradocraftbeerweek.com.
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The post Chemist Opens BrewLab for Beer Analysis appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
EUGENE, OR—A beer chemist has opened Eugene's first beer analysis facility. BrewLab is the brain child of Dana Garves, a University of Oregon alum and formerly Ninkasi Brewing's laboratory technician.
"It became increasingly apparent that brewers of all skills need to know the alcohol and bitterness content of their beer." Garves stated. While federal regulations only require ABV (Alcohol by Volume) to be displayed on a beer label, "most brewers gain insight on how to improve their craft by analyzing the bitterness, the color, and the acidity of beer." Tracking changes in a beer recipe along with charting final results will allow brewers to hone their skills and brew quality beer consistently.
"There isn't anything like BrewLab out there for brewers." Garves explains, "most analysis facilities promise results in 5-7 business days, require two bottles of beer, and will cost an arm and a leg."
BrewLab uses state of the art technology to provide high accuracy results at a low cost. Brewers everywhere are rejoicing for an ABV analysis that only costs $20, requires only 4oz of sample, and gives access to digital results within 48 hours. Analyses include: ABV, ABW, IBU, Color (SRM and tristimulus), pH, real and apparent extract, RDF, ADF, Calories/12oz, and original and final gravities.
Garves says that she hopes easy and cheap access to scientific measurements will improve beer quality in Oregon. "I want Oregon beer to be the best in the country. In order to do that, our community needs to expect the highest quality out of our brews." BrewLab also offers troubleshooting and consultation to commercial breweries for improving beer quality and consistency.
BrewLab is fully operational and accepting samples. Visit the website at oregonbrewlab.com to submit a sample or learn more.
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The post Pull Up A Stool with Mark Doble of Aviator Brewing Co. appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Brewing has been a central part of the Doble family since the family's days living in Europe in the 1980s. After teaching his older brother, Johnny, to brew, Mark Doble helped him open the BrewShack in Tampa, FL, in 1993. Johnny Doble and his parents would open Tampa Bay Brewing in 1996, where Mark and the third brother, David, would help out as well.
When the job market imploded seven years ago, Mark thought a brewery in North Carolina could help supplement income. Instead, the entrepreneur inadvertently created a community centerpiece in the heart of Fuquay-Varina, one of the fastest growing towns in the state.
AAB: Tell us about flying; it's clearly wrapped around all you do.
I have two younger brothers, and both of them began flying years ago while our family was living in Belgium. So I went to the airport one day to get my license. When it came to looking at buying an airplane, there's serious sticker shock. I got into kit building and built my own plane. I thought it would be quick, but it took four years to finish. Now I have a great plane, and [it] didn't cost very much.
How long did you live in Belgium?
Three years, and in Holland before that. We used to drink Saint Sixtus pretty much all the time. I've spent most of my life outside of the United States, and it led me to pursue exporting our beers.
I had no idea you were exporting. How did that happen?
Yes, and we will probably sell as much beer abroad as we will in the U.S. I have always been interested in exporting. I'm overseas so much that I've learned to see it as a huge market, especially compared to trying to sell your beer in other states here. Italy, for example, loves American craft beer.
You have expanded very creatively in Fuquay-Varina.
We basically got kicked out of the hangar by Wake County. They said the brewery could stay but the bar couldn't. So we bought the old train depot and moved the bar there. But it is hard to sell beer without food. So we got into the restaurant business, reluctantly. It was successful somehow, so we bought the building next to the restaurant for event space. Then the building across the street came up for sale. So we thought it would make sense to create a beer shop to promote not only our beer, but everyone else's. We enjoy everyone else's beers and think our customers do, too. We completed that whole corner, and each building has a completely different customer. The restaurant brings families, the bar brings husbands and wives, and the beer shop gets folks that just want to grab a beer and go home.
We've been lucky with a couple good decisions mixed in with a lot of bad decisions. Thankfully the town has been very supportive. When we started brewing, Fuquay had almost 17,000 residents, and now it is over 23,000. We are in one of the 10 fastest-growing towns in North Carolina. We are thrilled to be here.
What's new for Aviator in 2015?
A lot! We are looking at getting into some barrel-aging, and Brett beers, but we don't want to do that at our current facility.
Now that we sell beer throughout the Southeast, we started a trucking company. We had some delivery issues as we expanded that made us want to deliver all of our own beer. Keeping beer cold from the brewery to the distributor is a big deal in the Southeast.
We are looking closely at distilling as well. Our big thing has always been diversifying across our businesses.
What was your brewery plan when you started? How has it changed? Why?
None of what I did was planned at all. I lived in Tampa and moved to North Carolina to see if there were other tech opportunities. I was an engineer working for HP, and the job market was a disaster. I only know how to do two things: turn on computers and brew beer.
I bought an old brewing system, and the plan was to supplement my income while I found an engineering job. Trust me, the timing of a craft beer revolution was nowhere near my mind.
How do you see the North Carolina brewing scene?
When we started brewing in the hangar, I was very surprised how accepting people here were of local beer—that was so cool to see. You would bring your beer into a restaurant, and there was immediate acceptance. The Pit in downtown Raleigh was our first customer, and I was shocked that a very successful restaurant like that would put our beer on tap so quickly. Fast-forward seven years, people are saying the market is saturated, but I believe there is still opportunity to be creative and innovative. The innovative folks and those that truly care for quality are the ones to get tap handles and sell beer. We have been sort of successful managing quality, we're not 100 percent at it, but believe we are headed in the right way.
The next five years are going to be very interesting and not sure anyone knows what is going to happen in the brewing scene.
Tell us about the range of your beers.
It is kind of like everything else: We don't have much of a plan. We brew beer inspired by something, ignoring our overall lineup. That's how Devil's Tramping Ground came about. Having come from Belgium to the States, I was surprised not to see as many tripels being brewed here, and it is one of my favorite styles.
RELATED: Drink beer from Aviator at the World Beer Festival—Raleigh
Brew Boss, Aviator Brewing Co.
Years brewing: Started brewing way back in 1985
Go-to beer from another brewery: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Beer that inspired him to brew: Fuller's ESB
Couldn't live without: An airplane
Favorite place to have a beer: the Aviator back deck, in the summer
Wishes he could buy a round for: Michael Jackson
Biggest passion besides brewing: Flying
Keeping him up at night: Nothing at this point; beer helps
Aviator Brewing Co.
Founded: November 2008
Annual Production: 13,000 barrels
Availability: AL, Brazil, China, FL, France, GA, Germany, Italy, NC, New Zealand, UK, SC
Editor's Note: Pull Up A Stool is a regular conversation between All About Beer Magazine and people in the beer industry. Read more conversations from the magazine.
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The post Odell's Tree Shaker Imperial Peach IPA Returns in Four-Pack appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
FORT COLLINS, CO—On March 20, 2015, Odell Brewing will celebrate the return of Tree Shaker Imperial Peach IPA. The beloved brew, a former cellar series offering, makes a comeback in a new package configuration – a four pack.
"Tree Shaker is a brewery and customer favorite," said brewing manager Bill Beymer. "Our team decided we'd like to see more of it this spring, and a four pack was a great option for growing this amazing beer."
Tree Shaker is brewed with pureed Colorado peaches. The Imperial IPA is a bright golden hue, with a floral and fruity aroma. Familiar citrusy hop notes are balanced by a subtle sweetness from the local peaches.
Odell Brewing will celebrate the release of Tree Shaker as it kicks off Colorado Craft Beer Week in the brewery's tap room March 20 – 22. Guests can enjoy samples of the brew all weekend, local food truck offerings including Tree Shaker infused specials from Common-Link on Saturday, and live music by Porcelain City on Sunday afternoon. The brewery will also offer special cheese pairing plates from The Welsh Rabbit (available for purchase while supplies last).
Tree Shaker Imperial Peach IPA will be available in four packs April – June throughout the brewery's eleven state distribution footprint.
About Odell Brewing – Founded in 1989, Odell Brewing was started by Doug Odell, his wife Wynne, and his sister Corkie. Today, the culture of family and collaboration still thrives fostering a brewery full of beer-centric people. It is this passion for beer that inspires Odell Brewing to create quality, hand-crafted, innovative brews. As a regional craft brewery, Odell Brewing is committed to serving the communities in which it distributes by minimizing its environmental impact, sourcing local raw materials, and through its charitable giving program known as Odell Outreach. Odell Brewing was named a "Best Company to Work For" in 2013 by ColoradoBiz Magazine and is an award winning brewery, nationally and internationally: 2014 World Beer Cup® – gold for Runoff, 2013 Great American Beer Festival® – gold medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale, 2012 Brewers Association Recognition Award, 2011 Great American Beer Festival® – gold medal for Friek, 2008 World Beer Cup® – gold for IPA. 2007 Great American Beer Festival® – gold medal for IPA.
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The post Innovation Responds to Bell's Brewery on Trademark Dispute appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
"We do not believe that any human on earth would confuse Innovation Brewing with Bell's Brewery, despite their slogans," reads the statement from Innovation founders Nicole Dexter and Chip Owen. Read the complete statement below.
To Our Wonderful Craft Beer Community:
We felt it was important to get our story out to the media because this is an important matter for the craft beer industry. We did not intend (nor do we want to) have a social media battle with Bell's, but because of allegations posted on Bell's Brewery's Facebook page we now have to defend ourselves. Settlement discussions are protected communications that are not to be disclosed publicly, so out of respect to Bell's Brewery's rights we would never have disclosed them. Furthermore, Mr. Bell pointedly stated that he would not "play this out on social media" – and so we again respected his wishes by keeping the details to ourselves. Now, it appears they changed their mind.
We are planning to deliver a full statement of the facts and events that have brought us to this point. Until then, we feel it necessary to respond to Ms. Bell's enumerated allegations. Thank you for continuing to support and believe in us. You keep us going through this difficult time.
1. Yes, this is a TM proceeding and not a lawsuit, although it is like a lawsuit, requiring legal representation, being personally deposed, and including a trial. They are asking us to withdraw our federal trademark application for our brand name.
2. We do not believe that any human on earth would confuse Innovation Brewing with Bell's Brewery, despite their slogans.
3. Laura Bell did contact me at 7:00 pm the night before their opposition filing was due. They had already hired attorneys to represent them and file for their extension to file the opposition. We had not hired an attorney. After she advised us that she would "let us" keep using the name in NC only, and never expand beyond it, she said that we had until the next day at 5:00 PM to respond. That is 22 hours to find an attorney and decide on the future of our business. That was the one and only attempt Ms. Bell made to contact me. From there their attorneys took over.
4. Not a single co-existence agreement has ever been presented to us by Bell's. In fact it was we who submitted a written co-existence agreement – subsequently declined by Bell's. The only monetary compensation they have ever offered us was $2,500 which was to cover the inconvenience of being forced to abandon our trademark and go register a different one. The "legal fees", as Ms. Bell puts it, brought on by their legal action against us, may exceed $50,000. We did not feel like being bought off.
5. This matter was before the TM office one day after she began talking to us. No offer has ever been presented to us other than the offer to limit our business to NC or take $2,500 to start over and build a new brand. We believe in our business, so those are not really offers at all.
6. In regards to Laura Bell stating "we hope to resolve this as swiftly as the system will allow" we suggested the accelerated trademark opposition process that would have brought this to a legal end much sooner and with far less expense, but Bell's denied it.
You great people don't deserve to be peppered with sides of the story. So we will give you a full account of the facts so you can decide for yourself. We are good people and we know we have your support. Stay tuned.
-Chip and Nicole
RELATED: The Great Beer Trademark Wars
The post Innovation Responds to Bell's Brewery on Trademark Dispute appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post How Jim Koch Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Sales appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
"So what did you do today?" asked the uncle, a partner at Goldman Sachs in New York.
Koch, speaking from Boston, replied that he had begun the search for a computer.
To keep track of things such as payables and sales.
"Oh, yeah," Koch's uncle said, "sales. By the way, have you got any?"
"So what the hell are you doing buying a computer? You know, Jim, I've seen a lot more businesses go broke because they didn't have enough sales than I've seen go under from lack of computers. Why don't you work on first things first?"
The conversation floored Koch. Why was he looking for a computer? He didn't even have an office for the new brewing company, one of a handful in the United States then making small amounts of beer from traditional ingredients.
When they weren't working out of their respective Boston-area homes, Koch and co-founder Rhonda Kallman over the last year or so were snatching spare time during their day jobs at the Boston Consulting Group, one of the world's largest management consultancies, to nudge Boston Beer forward.
They had investors. They had a business plan. They had five batches of a flagship beer called Samuel Adams Boston Lager aging in tanks at the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. But they had no accounts. It was time to sell or sink.
The story of Koch's—and Boston Beer's—first sale has been told often. He walked into a random restaurant during a break in his day in downtown Boston, pitched himself and his product as quickly as possible to an employee who didn't understand English and then pitched it all over again to the employee's manager.
What's less well-known, and more remarkable, is how Koch even came to make that sale, and thus to start growing Boston Beer into one of the biggest breweries in the U.S. and one of the most influential stylewise in the world.
More than 10 years before that first deal, Koch had been in the masochistic dual law-MBA program at Harvard. Sales were barely referenced in his business classes. They were just sort of something that happened when the marketing team at a company got done targeting a product. At worst, fellow MBAs saw salesmanship as a career Plan B, a grubby thing a businessman would only undertake if all other avenues closed to him.
Koch's work at the Boston Consulting Group reinforced this view. His clients were manufacturers bent on quality control and better production. Such a focus kept Koch, as one profiler put it, "by choice and assignment … as far away from actual customers as a Douglas fir tree is from a New York Times reader. Selling was something he did his 'best to avoid.' "
That wouldn't do, of course, if Boston Beer was going to be successful. Koch had to overcome his aversion to sales, and he did.
He bought a how-to book on the subject at the Harvard Co-op. He and Kallman drew up a list of accounts to target in the Boston area. He memorized a spiel. And he got on with it, repetition the best teacher in this newfound effort his education and his professional life had steered him away from. (It didn't hurt, either, that Kallman was as natural a salesperson as Koch was not; she would develop the brewery's sales team into one of the best in the business before leaving in 1999.)
The rest, as they say, is history. Koch's Boston Beer is ubiquitous coast-to-coast now, and you'll see it overseas, also. Koch is pretty ubiquitous, too, having grown during the 30 years since that avuncular phone call into what once seemed, for him, that unlikeliest of things: a great beer salesman.
Read more Acitelli on History posts.
Tom Acitelli is the author of The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution. Reach him on Twitter @tomacitelli.
The post How Jim Koch Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Sales appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Bell's Issues Response on Innovation Trademark Dispute appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
According to the release from Bell's Vice President Laura Bell, the Michigan-based brewery has no plans to sue Innovation Brewing of Sylva, NC. Bell's is seeking to have Innovation withdraw its federal trademark application for its name. Bell's uses the slogan "bottling innovation since 1985″ in some of its marketing materials.
Read the complete statement below.
To our Bell's customers and the passionate craft beer community,
We want to clear up a few things regarding our federal trademark dispute with Innovation Brewing.
1. We have not, and are not asking them to change their name or their logo. There is no lawsuit. We are not suing them. We have not asked them for money. We have not asked them to stop selling their beer. We are asking them to withdraw their federal trademark application.
2. Our concern is with their United States trademark application and potential impact on our brand, which we have spent 30 years building.
3. I personally reached out to Innovation Brewing to try to settle this matter in February, 2014 and attempted to talk about this brewer to brewer instead of involving lawyers. Our efforts were rebuffed and Innovation Brewing choose to pursue this in the legal system.
4. Over the last year, we have offered co-existence agreements and have offered to pay for their legal fees. We tried to find solutions that would work for both of us. Their response was to ask for an exorbitant amount of money and we did not feel that was a collaborative solution.
5. All offers that we proposed were rejected and after more than a year of discussion regrettably, this matter has moved to the federal trademark office.
We have the utmost respect for Innovation Brewing and we are going to keep any comments we have regarding this matter positive, honest, and collaborative. We want them to continue to brew and do the good work they're doing under their own name.
We hope to resolve this as swiftly as the system will allow.
The passion that we have seen over the past few days is a testament to how much the beer industry means to those who support it and why we are proud to be a part of it. We always appreciate further feedback and invite everyone to continue to share their concerns with us directly: http://bellsbeer.com/contact/
Laura S. Bell
Vice President
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
RELATED: The Great Beer Trademark Wars
The post Bell's Issues Response on Innovation Trademark Dispute appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post Report: Bell's Files Federal Action Against Innovation Brewing appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, Bell's Brewery of Michigan is in a trademark dispute with Innovation Brewing of Sylva, NC.
From the Citizen-Times:
Bell's has filed a federal action against Innovation over the use of its name. Bell's says its unregistered advertising slogan "bottling innovation since 1985″ could lead to confusion with customers. While the slogan is used on bumper stickers, it's not present on any of the brewery's beer packaging.
Bell's also uses a slogan "inspired brewing," which has been part of the legal complaint, that the company believes would be confused with Innovation Brewing's name.
On its Facebook page, Bell's released the following statement:
We hear and appreciate everyone's comments about a trademark issue with Innovation Brewing.
We are doing our best to continue working through this as amicably as possible and are hopeful we can find a mutual resolution.
Out of respect for the legal part of this process that we are now in, we will decline commenting further.
RELATED: The Great Beer Trademark Wars
The post Report: Bell's Files Federal Action Against Innovation Brewing appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The post One Way to Warm Up A Beer: Use a Hot Poker appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
The calendar flipped to March, but here on the East Coast, the snow, ice and below-freezing temperatures did not stop coming. Forecasters said New York experienced its coldest February in 80 years. New England is buried under feet of snow. Even parts of the Mid-Atlantic got more than its usual share of winter unpleasantness.
Brewers are optimistic, and there are already spring seasonals on shelves. I seem to receive at least two press releases a day promising that more are on the way. However, when there is an inch of ice on my sidewalks and the dog is taking her sweet time sniffing around on the evening walk, the idea of a cold beer is not pleasant. No, I'm in the mood for something warm.
So I was intrigued when flipping through Randy Mosher's new book Beer for All Seasons: A Through-the-Year Guide to What to Drink and When to Drink It (Storey Publishing, $14.95). There on Page 144—part of the chapter on winter—is a picture of a glowing fireplace poker being plunged into a generous-sized mug of beer. The caption identifies it as a "flip" and says it is "a hot beverage made with ale, eggs, and other flavorings caramelized with a red-hot poker or 'loggerhead.' "
The idea of warming a beer with a hot poker is likely a German creation, and there are a handful of breweries in the United States keeping the tradition alive.
The annual bock fest held outdoors in February by August Schell Brewing Co. in New Ulm, MN, is a Midwest tradition dating back nearly 30 years. Jace Marti, the sixth-generation brewmaster of the company, said the temperature was around 5 degrees Fahrenheit during this year's festival. It was minus-12 degrees in 2014.
"We have fire pits with fire attendants, and each have metal rods in the fire," Marti says, "if someone comes up and asks to get poked, the attendant takes the rod out of the fire, knocks off the ashes and plunges it into the mug."
The bock—it always needs to be a bock, the brewer says—fizzles and froths up a bit. Marti says the caramel malts in the beer gain some depth. The beer changes composition as well. After the hot poker treatment, it has "a super creamy mouthfeel, similar to nitro," Marti says.
There's a similar occurrence at Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau, WI, during its annual bock festival in March. Mike Zamzow, co-owner and brewmaster, says the festival bonfires are stoked with hickory, and volunteers, known as "Karmel Kaisers," are tasked with warming up bocks with hot pokers.
"Because of the caramel malt, [the poker] changes the beer, and the effect is not unlike when you roast a marshmallow," says Zamzow.
Both brewers say that using a bock is better than using a beer like an American lager, because the bock has a higher sugar content to react with the heat. If you decide to do this at home, remember to use caution when playing with fire and enjoying beer.
Making a flip at home. Recipe courtesy of Randy Mosher:
– 24 ounces or 750 mL of a fairly strong beer of your choice. (Mosher says he used 5 Rabbit Ponche, but has also tried Lagunitas Brown Shugga)
– A cinnamon stick or a pinch of ground cinnamon, to taste
– 1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown or raw sugar (like piloncillo)
– A grating of nutmeg
– 3 whole eggs, well beaten
– 2 ounces or so of dark rum or other oaky spirit of your choice
– Put the beer, rum/spirit, sugar and spices into a saucepan and heat gently. Bring to 170 F, no higher.
– Beat the eggs well, and when the beer has reached temperature and the sugar dissolved, add a little of the warm beer to the eggs, stir well, then add the egg mixture to the beer in a steady stream, whipping as you go.
– Now, here's the unique part of the recipe. Heat a fireplace poker or some metal bar/object with a propane burner or torch until it is glowing red-hot. Jab the poker into the beer and hold it there until the poker has cooled and the beer stops bubbling. Flip is now ready to serve, perhaps with some additional frothing. Historically, the drink was poured back and forth between two vessels to foam it up, giving it the alternate name of "a yard of flannel."
– Needless to say this is a project for grown-ups who are capable of obeying the usual precautions regarding alcohol, fire and glowing red-hot objects.
John Holl is the editor of All About Beer Magazine. Contact him via Twitter @John_Holl or firstname.lastname@example.com
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The post Homebrewer Brews IPA at Anheuser-Busch's Pilot Research Brewery appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Dave McWilliams, a civil engineer by trade and homebrewer by hobby, knows a bit about scale, but not the scale Anheuser-Busch operates on. He converted a treadmill into a highly efficient grain mill for his home brewery. It would still take him nearly three hours to mill the 700 pounds of grain that brewers at the PRB used to make his IPA one day in December. That batch would yield less than nine 31-gallon barrels of beer. Production capacity in St. Louis exceeds 15 million barrels annually.
"Commercial brewery makes beer using prize-winning homebrewer's recipe, film at 10," hardly seems like news these days. The Pro-Am category at the Great American Beer Festival usually attracts about 100 entries. But none of those homebrewers will get the view of the Budweiser sign McWilliams had or to taste high-gravity Budweiser (with about 8% alcohol, compared with 5% in the finished beer) straight from a "chip" tank, the vessel in which Budweiser lagers along with beechwood chips.
Anheuser-Busch "made a bigger thing out of this than I expected," says McWilliams, who made sure he savored every moment. His wife, Terry, and two friends joined him at the pilot brewery, a facility few A-B employees see on the inside. He handed out custom-made wood bottle openers to any at the PRB who wanted one.
McWilliams "made my life easy. He just loves beer," says pilot brewery brewmaster Roderick Read, thinking ahead to a 2015 contest, adding that McWilliams "set the bar pretty high."
His beer was the 374th batch of the year made at the pilot brewery. Before they started, brewer Kory Li projected the recipe and all the brewing details on a conference room wall for McWilliams to examine. Li calculated it would take 3,840 grams of Simcoe hops, almost a pound per barrel, to replicate the pungent, resinous aromas in McWilliams' original beer. "Anything you see that sets off a red flag, speak up," Read said.
"I do a thick mash-in, thicker than 1 to 1," McWilliams said, talking about the ratio of water to grain when he brews the beer at home.
"We don't want to break our equipment," Read answered, smiling, as they headed to the brewing deck on the floor above.
The Small Inside the Big
A-B built the pilot brewery in 1981, three years before Read was born, when Bud Light was still in nine test markets and a Super Bowl ad cost $275,000. Jane Killebrew, director of quality and innovation, describes it as a "teaching hospital for brewers," and it serves many purposes. This is where the ingredients from each year's new crops are evaluated, where recipes are adjusted for individual A-B breweries across the country, where fledgling brewers train, and where new recipes are fine-tuned.
Occasionally a beer gets brewed that is none of the above. Last fall one of the cooperative education students who work in the brewery bought pumpkins and butternut squash, roasted them at home, then brought them to the brewery to make a beer. Read also served the group a beer made from one of his own recipes. It tasted like snickerdoodles. McWilliams' IPA was another outlier.
(Read gave McWilliams and his friends a tour from top, the ninth floor, to bottom, while Batch 373 cleared the brewing kettle. "What are you making?" McWilliams asked. "I can't tell you," Read said, smiling again.)
The idea for the homebrew contest began with Tony Caradonna and Jim Watry at Ballpark Village, the entertainment hub across the street from Busch Stadium. "There are so many festivals for craft brewers. We wanted to do one that featured the homebrewer," said Caradonna, who previously owned O'Fallon Brewery just outside St. Louis. The first Ballpark Village Brewfest included brewing demonstrations and homebrewed beer as well beers from the Anheuser-Bush InBev family.
The contest was separate, with the winner announced during the festival. Each of six area homebrew clubs conducted a separate competition to pick an IPA brewed by one of its members. Those six were judged by an A-B tasting panel, which chose McWilliams' beer to be made at the brewery. He is a member of two clubs, entered a beer with each, and won the STL Hops Homebrew Club contest.
Homebrewers in the St. Louis area simply know McWilliams as "Davo," and several have bought or traded for the custom mash paddles he makes. He began homebrewing in 1988, but quit after just a few mediocre batches. He resumed 10 years ago and has brewed steadily since, frequently making IPAs. "I never enter them (in contests). They are Terry's favorite beer. I make them for her," he explains.
That works when the world's largest brewing company volunteers to brew a bigger batch for your friends. Appropriately enough, McWilliams kicked off his party at Ballpark Village by pouring the first samples. He brought along two oversized STL Hops tap handles that included the message "Share the Love of Hops." During a quick ceremony, Caradonna handed him a plaque and announced that the 2015 festival will be on Aug. 29. It once again will include a single-style contest—this time it will be ESB. Ballpark Village plans to invite homebrew clubs from many parts of the Midwest to participate.
A week before, McWilliams tasted the beer for the first time at a smaller gathering in A-B's Biergarten. He and Read compared samples of two batches McWilliams brewed at home beside the PRB version.
"I was going for three things," McWilliams says. "One, it had to be the clearest one there. Then it had to have the biggest nose, and, three, you have to have a balance. For this contest, a little less alcohol was better. I've got a good recipe now."
Stan Hieronymus, a contributor to All About Beer Magazine for 22 years, is the author of several books on beer and brewing, including For the Love of Hops. Follow him on Twitter at @StanHieronymus.
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The post Wasatch Releases Polygamy Nitro Porter appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
(Press Release)
SALT LAKE CITY—Wasatch Brewery has entered the bottled nitro craft beer category with its new release of Polygamy Nitro Porter, making it the second brewery in the country to finesse these tiny bubbles into a bottle. This nitrogenated Porter is six percent ABV, soft and creamy.
Bottled nitrogenated beers require extensive research and development. "Our new Polygamy Nitro Porter has been a tremendously exciting project for all of us at the brewery," Wasatch founder Greg Schirf says. "We spent more than a year testing and retesting the technology of injecting nitrogen into our Polygamy Porter, resulting in my favorite beer experience."
To date there are less than a handful of breweries successfully packaging nitrogenated craft beers.
"Getting nitrogen to pour properly in a bottle is about a hundred times more challenging than nitrogenating a keg." Schirf said. "I could not be prouder of our guys putting their cumulative brewery experience of more than a hundred years together and pulling off a game-changing achievement in the craft brewing industry. You really have to try it to fully appreciate the love."
The Wasatch Polygamy Nitro Porter aroma comes off as cocoa in the nose from the use of chocolate malt. The silky smooth texture and mouthfeel is provided by fine nitrogen bubbles.
To enjoy the ultimate experience of nitro beers, it requires an aggressive approach. "Pour it harder into your favorite glass and enjoy watching a bazillion little nitrogen bubbles make their way to the top of the glass," brewmaster Dan Burick says. "Watch the beautiful dark mahogany fluid that Polygamy Porter is cascading through the rising bubbles. This necessary foreplay creates a dense head of foam that invites you to enjoy a silky smooth Porter."
Wasatch Brewery has been bottling a four percent session Polygamy Porter since 2001. Recognized at World Beer Cup and winning gold and silver awards in the session category. The name and edgy taglines – Take some home to the wifes! Why have just one? I've tried polygamy. – have grabbed the attention of craft beer drinkers over the years. It is not difficult to see it was time to add to the fun. #pourithard
About Salt Lake Brewing Co. (Squatters Craft Beers and Pubs & Wasatch Brewery and Pubs)
In 1986, Greg Schirf opened Utah's first craft brewery, Wasatch Beers and Brewpub in the resort town of Park City. A few years later Jeff Polychronis and Peter Cole founded Squatters Pub Brewery Salt Lake's original brewpub in 1989. The company currently operates five brewpubs and a wine and ale house. In 2000, Squatters Craft Beers and Wasatch Brewery merged their brewery operations for draft and bottle production, creating Utah Brewers Cooperative. To date, Squatters and Wasatch have brought home 17 World Beer Cup Awards and 30 Great American Beer Festival Medals. In 2010, Utah Brewers Cooperative received the prestigious U.S. Mid-size Brewery of the Year award from the Brewers Association.
Squatters and Wasatch bottled and draft beers are available in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.squatters.com and www.wasatchbeers.com.
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The post Starr Hill Expands to Alabama appeared first on All About Beer.]]>
Starr Hill Brewery is expanding its distribution to Northern and Central Alabama, including Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, in early April 2015.
"We're excited to introduce Starr Hill's robust portfolio of beers to Alabama," said Duke Fox, Starr Hill's VP of Sales. "With the growing demand for quality craft beer, our team looks forward to any opportunity to impress savvy beer drinkers when they discover Starr Hill."
Starr Hill's lineup of beers available in Alabama will be headlined by core brands Northern Lights IPA, Grateful Pale Ale and The Love Wheat Beer. King of Hop Imperial IPA will lead off Starr Hill's award-winning, limited release All Access Series and will be followed by Whiter Shade of Pale White IPA and Shakedown Imperial Chocolate Cherry Stout in 2015.
Starr Hill will be distributed in Alabama through Supreme Beverage. After an initial 60-day draft-only launch, Starr Hill will offer the same products to the Alabama markets in package.
"For 16 years, Starr Hill has been one of the most successful, award-winning breweries on the East Coast," said Phillip Schilleci, Director of Craft Brands at Supreme Beverage. "The investments Starr Hill's team has made to its facility and people will allow them to consistently bring world-class beer to Alabama."
Join members of the Starr Hill Brewery team at rollout events during the week of April 6th, including:
– April 7th at J. Clyde, Birmingham
– April 10th at Hop City, Birmingham
Starr Hill Brewery is a privately owned, regional craft brewery founded in 1999 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Among the most award-winning craft breweries on the East Coast, Starr Hill has won 21 Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup and Great British Beer Festival medals. Starr Hill beer is distributed throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions. Please visit www.StarrHill.com for more information.
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