Summit interview and tour

Continuing in my series of interviews with breweries, I contacted one of my local favorites, Summit Brewing Company. I had some email exchanges with their PR person, Carey Matthews, who sent my questions along to the owner of Summit. I also arranged to have a tour with Carey, which was nice because I got an opportunity to talk with her about the brewery, the company and check out some areas not normally included on the public tour. It was a really neat experience, and Carey was nice enough to spend an hour and a half answering my questions, showing me around, and just bullshitting about beer.

While I'd seen most of the brewery before, one of the places not normally shown was the lab. I got to spend some time talking to a woman who does quality control for the brewery, which was really interesting. Since I'm not really a journalist, I wasn't smart enough to record and then relay the information. But it was really cool learning about all the steps Summit takes to make sure they have a quality product. They sample at about every stage and pull a bottle off every run to test it. There was some other quality technical information that would have been nice for me to report...but again...I'm an amateur at this, so I apologize. It was quite interesting though! It was also cool to learn that they have teams of people from the brewery who have tastings each week. The teams rotate and they have tastings where they either break down a style, competition, or their own beers. Everyone at the brewery goes through a course on how to properly taste beer when they start.
Again, I was really impressed with how accommodating and nice they were at the brewery. This post is going to be long enough, so I'll just go ahead and post the interview below: (I apologize for the funky formating)...

1. What was the beer landscape like prior to Summit’s founding and how hard was it to establish yourself as a craft brewery in the mid 80s?

When we were conducting market research in the early 1980s, we found that Minnesota had a very minimal representation of craft or import beer. The few beers that were out there included Bass Ale, Guinness, and Heineken for imports, and really only Anchor for American craft beers. The awareness of craft beer was pretty sparse on the customer and retail level, but there was some interest if you looked for it. The beer wholesalers were highly skeptical of this “craft beer” idea-they treated us like a bunch of deviants for not making the infamous American light lager. No one would touch us so we self-distributed the first 9 months. We were 100% draft at that time. It took us about 7-8 months to get 50 draft accounts. Once we had those and started bottling our beer, then wholesalers finally took us on. It is easy to forget that it took a lot of sodbusting to get Minnesota on board with a hoppy, craft beer 21 years ago.

2. How did Summit grow to the size brewery you are now?

That is easy to answer in one word: our customers. We were not hell bent to build a brewery like this or to grow to this size, but our customers demanded it. They defined our rate of growth and the size we are today. We have always been product driven versus being just a marketing machine. Word of mouth has always been the strongest marketing tool we’ve had. In the early days we did our share of guerrilla marketing to get people to find out about us. We would go to bars that didn’t serve our beer and leave Summit coasters on the tables so that the next customer would ask for our beer. Believe it or not, it did get some places to pick up Summit. The other piece was that from the beginning we really focused on a quality, consistent product, which was very different from a lot of the other breweries that got started in that first wave of craft beer in the 70s and 80s. Our customers became so loyal and helped us grow because they knew that each bottle of Summit would taste as great as the last.

3. What do you think about the growth of craft brewing in Minnesota and what do you think the future holds for the market?
   
   Minnesota lags behind other regions in terms of craft beer. About 70% of draft beer served in this state is still light beers. The upside of this is that there is huge potential for growth and conversion of those drinkers to the “dark side”. And let’s face it, once you convert to full-flavored beer, you rarely turn back. Change has been slow here, but we actually have some pretty sophisticated and educated beer drinkers. You are seeing more and more of those great “beer bars”, those pubs that really focus on craft and import beers. As for our own growth, we’re still only 1.8% of the beer market in Minnesota! You sometimes hear that Summit is everywhere, but that is a bit of a skewered perception. From the beginning, we’ve always focused on the on-premise market, which is why you see a lot of Summit tap handles at metro bars and restaurants, but we’re still such a small segment of total beer sold in the state. On a national level, craft beer is seeing about 12% growth while the big brewers are somewhat stagnant. This can make us all hopeful!

4. What kind of things does your brewery do to be sustainable?

Our spent grain, hops, and proteins get picked up by a local farmer from Jordon, MN. We recycle all corrugated and other paper materials. We recycle shrink wrap and plastic straps.
Pallets are reused and returned to manufacturers. We carbonate naturally so less CO2 is released into the environment. Our glass bottles are composed of 30% recycled glass and we recycle any glass used at the brewery. We try to cultivate local or regional sources for our vendors. Any future improvements to the brewery will definitely be focused on efficiency and conservation.

5. How did you get hooked up with Finnegans and could you discuss a little bit of what Finnegans is doing?
   Jacquie Berglund, the founder of Finnegans, approached us when James Page Brewery started to struggle. At that time, Page did the Finnegans draft and Schell’s did the bottles. As you can imagine, she wanted to streamline and consolidate the operations. At that point we had only done one other contract brew and we swore we wouldn’t do another, but Jacquie’s mission and business plan were very appealing. We felt it would be great to support a brew whose profits went 100% to charity. Definitely check out their website at www.finnegans.org to find out what they are up to.

6. How far does your distribution extend and where do you plan on expanding to?
   
   We are in 13 states currently-PA, KY, OH, MI, IL, WI, SD, ND, IA, NE, CO, MT, and of course, MN. We are considering some new markets , but want to be smart about that growth. One, we need to be able to manage expansion and two, we don’t want to change our core values as a craft brewer in order to gain new customers.

7. How has the response been for Summit in the Chicago market? Do you have other beers in that market other than Hefeweizen
   
   All of the Summit beers are available in the Chicago area, but our Hefe Weizen, Extra Pale Ale, and seasonals are the most popular.

8. What advice do you have for homebrewers?
   Always use a healthy, viable yeast culture, move from filling bottles to filling small kegs, and always keep things clean! For homebrewers interested in moving in a commercial direction, schooling is an absolute must. Places like the Siebel Institute in Chicago really give you a great base for technical consistency and brewing on a commercial scale. The other piece is that when you are a homebrewer, it is all about process. When you start doing it for money, there is the whole other business side you have to manage, in addition to just making the beer.

9. Do you have plans for the future to include organic materials in any of your brewing?

There is nothing in the near future, but it is being talked about. We do not currently produce any organic beer, but the way we make our brews is not highly processed, we don’t do things like pasteurization, and the raw materials we use are a very wholesome type of food. Craft beer being just four natural ingredients makes it a pretty good product to begin with!

10. What other styles of beer might we see Summit adding to their line in the future?
    We plan on releasing another Limited Release beer by the end of 2008, but the style is top secret! Other new things:

-The return of Hefe Weizen this summer, along with the Scandia Ale.

-We have started packaging Extra Pale Ale in our new 22oz bottle. You’ll also see Maibock in the bomber as well.

-Our cask-conditioned ale program is in full swing at beer festivals and special cask ale nights at area bars. Be sure to visit www.summitbrewing.com for the next one near you!

Beer Reviews- Organic Beers from the West Coast

In exchange for the home brews that I sent to Bob Woodshed, he sent me 3 beers that I would be unable to get here in Minnesota. All three were organic and all three were really good. Here's the breakdown:

The first beer I drank was Bison Brewing Company's Belgian Ale. This beer is a Belgian Triple and the label says it's 8.1% abv and features organic coriander. The beer pours a cloudy, light orange with a lacy, 2 finger head. There's a real fruity and citrusy aroma. It's really carbonated, with a nice alcohol warmth, with flavors of melon and plum. A really good beer, smooth but there was definitely a heat to it. My only complaint was that I really didn't notice the coriander. But overall a really impressive Belgian Triple...and organic at that.

Next up was a beer I was really intrigued by, Roots Brewing Company's Island Red. On their website they describe it as a red stout, with a full body. I have to admit that I was expecting a bit more body to it based on that description. It pours a beautiful red with a thick, foamy white head. It has an interesting hop presence in the aroma. I can't really put my finger on the aroma, but it was unique. There's definitely a strong hop bitterness. I noticed some complex flavors in the body, not your typical red ale at all. The more I drank, the more the hops revealed themselves. This is a really unique beer that I would like to try again. I think I was expecting something different, so it took awhile for me to put my finger on the tastes. Very intriguing beer. Rick at [BW] Beer Blog and I reviewed this one at the same time, so for a another take, I suggest checking out his impressions.


The last beer was Green Lakes Organic Ale from Deschutes Brewing Company. I was really excited to try this beer. It pours a beautiful amber color with a finger of off white head that dissipates to a thin lacy head. It was an outstanding beer and I'm actually just going to post the link to [BW] Beer Blog about this beer because he describes it perfectly: Green Lakes

It was a great exchange and we plan on doing some more in the future. Its nice to try three good organic beers. Also its fun to see two takes on the same beer. So if you're visiting this site from Bob Woodshed, thanks for checking it out. If you haven't checked out his site before, I suggest taking a look at his great reviews.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Mayabock and other random thoughts

This weekend I brewed a new organic recipe for my maibock. Last year I brewed a similar beer, and it spent close to 3 months in my garage lagering. I was fairly happy with the turnout, but not totally satisfied. It lacked some maltiness and something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I think part of the problem was that I lagered it for too long. When I tasted the maibock after a month I think it tasted closer to what I was going for than after the 3 months that I lagered it. I don't know if that makes any sense, but this time around I'm going to only lager it for 4 weeks.
As I've mentioned before, maibock is one of my favorite styles of beer, so its a beer I really want to perfect. I redid the label and tweaked the recipe a bit, making it organic and changing some of the grain bill and the hops. I also poured it on top of a slurry of California 2112 Lager Yeast. The name comes from the my 3 year old golden retriever Maya, featured on the label.

I also transferred The Gringo (hence the slurry) and I have to say that I'm intrigued to see how this turns out. In the sample I tasted there was a huge grapefruit presence, which I would attribute to the Centenial hops I used. I'm excited to see where this ends up after lagering for a month.

Also this weekend I scored an old fridge, so I'm excited to have room to store more grains and hops in the freezer (just in time since I ordered 14 pounds of organic grains from Seven Bridges Co-Op last week.) I cleaned it out and am excited about using it for lagering year round. While I'm not a huge lager fan, I'm excited about the ability to make bocks and several other styles.

Friday I came home to a package of beer sent to me from Rick from Bob Woodshed Beer Blog as part of our exchange. He sent me three 22 oz bombers of organic beers I can't find here in Minnesota. Needless to say I was excited ! He sent me Bison Brewing Company's Belgian Ale, Green Lakes Organic Ale from Deschutes Brewery and Island Red from Roots Brewing Company. I'll post some reviews soon.

He also posted a review of my Northwoods Ale, and I was happy that he liked it. I completely agreed with his suggestion of adding more wild rice. I had read that it could be strong, but in both beers I've made with it, I found myself wanting more of a presence. Here's the link if you're interested: Northwoods Review

In addition to the reviews of the organic beers, I'm planning on posting about my recent visit of Summit Brewery. I had contacted them for an interview and I ended up getting a tour with their PR person. It was really cool, and I got to see some things not normally included in the tour like the lab, which was really interesting. It was a neat experience and again I was impressed by how nice and cool everyone was. That'll be coming this week.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Interview with COAST Brewing Company

I recently read a post on beeractivist about a new organic brewery in South Carolina started by a husband and wife. The brewery is called COAST Brewing Company in Northern Charleston, South Carolina. After reading the article, I decided to contact them for an interview about organic brewing and their involvement with Pop the Cap, a beer advocacy group. Owner Jaime Tenny was nice enough to respond to my questions about organic brewing and their operation.
Without further ado, here is Interview Number 3 (or 4 if you count Chris O'Brien) in my series of interviews with organic brewers:

How long have you been a brewery and how did you get started? We became official in March but it took until September until we were ready to brew. We did 99.8% of everything ourselves.

Why did you make the choice to be a "green brewery?
There was no other option for us. It is how we live our life and we couldn't operate a business any other way. At least we couldn't without a clear conscience.

What are some of the things that you do to be sustainable in your brewing and business practices?
It's not just about using organic grain.We think about the most energy efficient/green way to do something before hand, that's half the battle, and probably the most important one. Our spent grain goes to a local farmer, locally made biodiesel for our boiler, recycle and reuse EVERYTHING. Pretty simple stuff in my opinion.

What has been the most challenging part about starting a brewery, and in particular a green one?
Money. No difference in starting a green brewery vs. "non-green" exept for money. Since there was no other way for us, we simply had to make the better, greener choice but it all comes down to money. Cash flow is a major issue with breweries so spending more money on a better ecological choice is hard to justify up-front. So, since (in our opinions) we had no other choice it was easy. We either did it green now or we didn't do (or have plans to do it later when it can be done right). And of course, being flatout exhausted in the process. And I have no idea if what I just said will make any sense to anyone else.

In addition to organic materials, your website states that you also try to support local ingredients, what are some examples of this?
Well, that is the hardest part. Brewing ingredients are extremely hard to come by locally for us. There are no southern maltsters and hops don't grow well around here. So our only choices are any other additional ingredients. Some things in the works are local herbs (heather, coriander, are a few of what we are growing ourselves this year). Honey, easy to get locally.We are going to start experimenting with local grits to see what may come out of that. Local fruits like blueberries,, peaches etc...problem is I am not a huge fruit beer fan. We have just started looking into the possibility of working with southern wheat/barley growers to see if they can grow malting quality organic grains and then get them malted at Briess or the like. Fuel issues then become something to consider.

Could you talk a little bit about the activism you and your husband have been participating in regarding beer?
I am President of Pop the Cap SC. We are a grass-roots craft beer advocacy group. We worked to get the abv limit raised and it was passed in May 2007. That has literally changed the face of craft beer in SC. We now are focusing on better beer laws for breweries in SC. We have a bill coming out shortly addressing a few things. The ability for one business in a tier (manufacturer, distributor,retail) to be able to own more than 1tier. Onsite tasting and retail sales directly to the consumer. This would be absolutely huge for microbreweries to actually be successful! Honestly,we really need this or we just won't see any growth in SC brewed beer.

What advice do you have for organic homebrewers, or homebrewers in general? Don't stick to a certain recipe, explore on your own. Think about brewing organic for all the above reasons.

Where do you see organic brewing going, especially with the recent surg in popularity with a lot more organic beers on the market?
Who knows in this crazy market. I think the craft beer segment is blessed to have as much support from both local folks and people really into good craftbeer. So I hope they will continue to support their local brewery,especially if they brew organic. I think in time organic won't be looked at as different, you might not even know your drinking organic beer."It's really good beer, and oh, it happens to be organic as well"... and then the ball gets rolling. I also hope it will bring organic grain costs down a bit so we can stay competitive.

For more info on check out their website at: http://www.coastbrewing.com/
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Partial Mash Brewing

Last year in the span of a month; a home brewer told me about how easy partial mashing was, I found an article in Brew Your Own magazine about it, and I got Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing which gives very simple instructions on how to partial mash. Bottom line...the signs were there that I needed to make this step into partial mashing. I was intimidated by the idea of moving into all-grain before this, and now I'm definitely not. As of right now I don't have any plans to move into all-grain, while I might eventually, I'm satisfied right now with my system and like what I can do with partial mashing. I don't believe partial mashing is superior or inferior to either extract or all-grain brewing. I like making extract recipes, and some of my best beers are extracts. However, I do enjoy the extra step of partial mashing and that it allows me to mess with some base malts and other grains a bit more than I could before.
For those unfamiliar or curious about moving past steeping grains in an extract recipe, here's a basic breakdown.

1. You need to buy some more toys, primarily a small 2-gallon cooler. I suggest replacing the valve with something that flows easier. I did it with a bung, a small piece of tubing and a cheap plastic valve. And a bigger muslin bag.

2. You change your recipe to limit the amount of extract you have and increase the amounts of grains and some base malt. An example of your grain bill might be:
4 lbs- 6lbs Malt Extract
1-2 lbs base malt like 2-row, pilsner, munich, etc.
1-2 lbs of specialty grains.

(I suggest reading one of the links above for better breakdowns and recipes). I also suggest using Beertools.com (which is free) or another kind of brewing software.

3. Place your grains in the grain bag. Gather water with the following equation: 1 quart per pound. Heat up strike water to 11 degrees over your target (which is usually 150 to be safe, at least that's what Mosher suggests). Once your water hits the target, pour the water into the cooler, slowly put the grain bag in, mashing it with a spoon or mashing paddle. Then take the temp, adjust with warm or cold water if needed. Let the cooler sit for 45-60 minutes (although I've heard of 30 minutes since the cooler might not hold the heat long). I've tried both methods and haven't noticed a difference.

4. When the time is up, drain the cooler into a vessel, and then pour it back over the grains (I believe it's called vorlaufing), and finally pour a gallon of water (heated to 180) over the grains (sparge). Pour in the rest of the water you would normally boil, then start your boil from there.

It's a really easy process once you do it. I made this video about it:




So, for those extract brewers looking for an easy step towards all-grain, but not quite ready to make the plunge (time and/or financial) this is a very easy process. And as I mentioned, its a great way to start learning about different malts. It also is cheaper because extract is usually more expensive than a couple pounds of grain, so you're cutting out those costs.
Post questions if you have them or consult one of the resources I mentioned.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Interview With Chris O'Brien

Last year I got the book Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save
The World by Chris O'Brien. I highly recommend this book, it takes
a look at the history of brewing, going back to its origins and discusses
the changes that have happened over time as brewing has changed from a
mostly female oriented small scale craft to the large mega-corporate brewing of today.
The book talks a lot about sustainability and some innovative things some
brewers in the industry are doing to be sustainable and organic. The book
really spoke to my social and political ideals, as well as my love of beer.
The book was the inspiration for me to change my own approach to the beer I
buy and make, and it eventually led me to create this blog. I've been reading
the blog Chris writes, www.beeractivist.com for some time, and decided to email
Chris and see if he'd be willing to answer some questions about homebrewing,
beer, organic and sustainable brewing. Here's what he sent back:

How did you become interested in the craft beer culture, especially
getting involved in it to the extent that you have?

I started homebrewing as a grad student in upstate New York. My reasons
for beginning the pursuit were, if not noble, at least practical. I was
living the typical meager student lifestyle. Ramen noodles, macaroni
and cheese, and cheap beer provided the bulk of my nutritional intake. I
quickly realized the pittance I was earning as a coffee barista wasn’t
enough to make ends meet. So I reviewed my expenses and looked for
places to cut costs. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a surprise when I
discovered that the majority of my discretionary spending went to beer.
But beer, like love, is a necessity, so cutting down on it was out of the
question. However, like dating, it is awfully expensive. Whatever was a poor
student to do? Woe was indeed me. My nights were sleepless, my pockets
empty, and my head in a cloud. I implored the gods, begging them to reveal a
solution. They sent me a sign. Walking home one evening from the Troy Brewpub, I
noticed a fancy little shop that had hitherto escaped my attentions. It must
have been the curvaceous carboys in the window that caught my eye. Stainless
steel brew pots behind them twinkled in the glow of the store lights. I
entered impulsively and illicit thoughts of homebrewing immediately  filled
my head. But, I wondered, would brewing beer all by myself at home be as
satisfying as getting it at a brewpub? Doing some quick calculations, I
figured I could cut my beer expenses in half by brewing myself. Not only
that, but taking the craft into my own hands promised to considerably
improve the quality of my quaff. The fact is, I rarely sprang for the
good stuff, and instead usually settled for run-of-the-mill industrial beers
that actually tasted kind of horrible. Thinking about it now, I can’t
begin to count the number of nights I took home a bag of whatever cheap
cans of beer happened to cross my path. So it was with a gleam in my eye
that I bought a pile of recreational brewing gear and some helpful
magazines, ran home, and went at it. I have been homebrewing ever since,
and an all around interest in craft beer took hold over my life from
there.

How did the Seven Bridges Cooperative get started?
As a homebrewer seeking to lighten my footprint on the planet, I soon
discovered Seven Bridges, a company that sells all organic brewing
supplies.  As a cooperative, I decided to buy my way into the small
company as an owner-member and I've now been involved with that for
about seven or eight years.

What increases have you seen in the organic home brewing market over
the past several years?
Seven Bridges has grown steadily every year and now I've seen a number of
other homebrew suppliers offering organic ingredients. None of them seem
to be certified as organic but nonetheless it's a good sign that demand  is
rising. This past year, Seven Bridges hosted the first ever AHA-sanctioned
organic homebrew contest. Two winners, one from east and west of the
Mississippi, got to brew their beers commercial organic breweries,Otter
Creek in Vermont and Santa Cruz Mountain in California.

Through your travels and experiences, what have been some really
innovative things you've seen breweries do to be sustainable?
Crannog Ales in British Columbia is probably as sustainable as they  get.
It's a farm-based organic brewery where they grow much of their own
hops on-site and they will only distribute within a small region around the
brewery so as to keep transport impacts low. In an effort to reduce
waste, they only offer kegs and growlers - no packaged beer. They feed spent
grain to their own farm animals. They also wrote a free how-to guide on
growing organic hops. All around, the couple running this place really
seems to have a deep commitment to sustainability. But larger scale
brewers are making a difference too. Sierra Nevada has an on-site solar
array, their own organic hop yard, a fuel cell set up for capturing
brewery wastes and converting them back into energy, and with the
soon-to-be installed second solar array they hope to be almost entirely
reliant on renewable energy generated right at the brewery.

Where do you think organic brewing and sustainability in brewing is
headed?
"Sustainable" business in general is just better business. Mega-brewers
have been innovating so-called sustainable practices for decades. For
example, Anheuser-Busch is the world's largest aluminum can recycler.
Business in general will continue to adopt what essentially amounts to
efficiency measures because they make financial sense. They happen to
be better for the environment too but that's not what motivates most
companies. Some brewers are exceptions and they are actually doing it
out of genuine interest in environmental causes. But ultimately, laws need
to change. Corporations need to be stripped of the power they have to
determine the course of the planet. We can't rely on companies to make
the right decisions on their own, especially considering the urgency of the
environmental crises we face. We need to legally respect the inherent
worth of nature.

What would you say to people who are skeptical and feel that organic
brewing is just a marketing gimmick or a hot trend?
Taste one of the four 2007 GABF medal winning organic beers and get
back to me.

For those of us who currently have our sights set on being sustainable
in our home brewing and trying to brew organically, what advice do you
have for us?
Try growing your own organic hops at home. It'll save you some money.
Its fun and sustainable, and you can try 'wet hopping' which seems to be
all the rage lately.
How can fair trade (which I realize is much more of an issue in coffee)
be incorporated into the craft brewing industry?
You named it, brew coffee beers with fair trade beans. A number of brewers
are already doing this, such as Shorts Brewing in Michigan and Big Boss
in Raleigh, NC. Other fair trade ingredients that can be used in beer
include cocoa, vanilla and orange. What I'd really like to see though is some
traditional African beers being made available in the U.S. through fair
trade. The best thing might be to have some recipes licensed by
traditional African brewers but brewed right here in the US, with a
licensing fee going to the originators. That'd be truly innovative but I
don't know of anyone even thinking along those lines in the beer scene.
Brewers don't seem particularly aware of fair trade at all, but maybe
with time some one will get turned onto it.

La Libertad- West Coast Pale Ale

In September I went on a trip to San Fransisco and I was struck by the difference in beer styles between the West Coast and the Midwest. Not that I haven't had my fair share of west coast beers, but what struck me was that in the two brew pubs I visited, I thought the pale ales were much hoppier than a lot of Midwestern pale ales. In fact, looking back over my notes, I wrote "very hoppy, almost like an IPA, and very little sweetness," and this was written about two pales from two different brew pubs.
I decided to make a "west coast pale ale" inspired by the beers on my trip. I spent some time playing with the recipe and drinking some beers like Sierra Nevada Pale and Anchor's Liberty Ale. It was Anchor's Liberty Ale that inspired this beer (hence the name La Libertad) and I decided to really feature Cascade hops, which of course are the signature hops of west coast ales.


After about two weeks in the bottle, I'm really pleased with how La Libertad has turned out. It definitely is what I was going for. It pours a golden color, and very clear, with a thick two finger white head. The citrusy aroma of Cascade hops hit you right away, and linger throughout. There's a nice hop bitterness to the beer and very little sweetness. I wrote down "nice clean taste to it. " It really has a floral-citrus hop presence, with a bitter hoppy bite as well. It is quite a bit hoppier than my Bearded Fury Pale Ale, which uses Fuggle hops. Its all organic except for the hops, but I think Organic Pacific Gem hops could be substituted to achieve a similar effect.

Here's the recipe:
1 lb Organic 2-Row
1 lb Organic Munich
.35 lb Organic Crystal 20
.15 lb Organic Belgian Special B
Above mashed at 150 for 35 min
4 lbs Organic Dry Light Extract
Hops:
1 oz Vanguard @ 60 min
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 30 min
1 oz Cascade @ 15 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 1 min
.5 oz Cascade dry hopped
I used the Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale Yeast

I'm curious to see how it ages, but I'd have to say I'm happy thus far and La Libertad might be added to the normal rotation.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Organic Beer Reviews

I've been meaning to get to some reviews of some organic beers I've had recently. A couple of them I had awhile ago, and a few have been recent.

Fish Tale India Pale Ale- This is a beer I had at a friend's house and was really impressed. I'd seen this beer in the stores before, but had never picked it up. Fish Brewing Company is a brewery in Olympia, Washington and from their website it looks like they have three organic beers in their line. Here's a quote from their site: Fish Brewing provides three bottled organic ales made with choice ingredients grown without the use of the harmful fertilizers and pesticides that damage our precious streams and ground water.
This beer poured a nice golden-bronze color with a two finger white head. Right away a nice aroma of citrusy hops. I thought it might be cascade or centennial, but after reading their website it looks like they use a New Zealand organic hop called Pacific Gem. I've seen these hops for sale on the Seven Bridges Co-op website, and I might have to pick some up, because at least in this beer they were very similar to the two hop types I mentioned. There's a nice caramel presence and some maltiness in the body. A great drinking IPA, similar in my mind to Bell's Two Hearted, which is a good thing! I would for sure buy a sixer of this beer. Their website is: www.fishbrewing.com

New Belgium Mothership Wit- When New Belgium beer finally came to the cities this year we were not only blessed with Fat Tire, but two other great beers, the unique 1554 Black Ale, and this beer, their organic wit. I'm a fan of Belgian white beers, especially Hoegaarden and some American varieties. Hopefully, everyone knows about the pioneering that New Belgium does when it comes to sustainability in the brewing industry. If not, either read Fermenting Revolution by Chris O'Brien or google it because it deserves a post all its own. Anyway, onto the beer.
It pours a very pale yellow color, close to Hoegaarden, with a thin white head. It has a very lemony aroma to it, and some lemony presence in the aftertaste. It has some coriander evident as well, but not as much as some other wits on the market. Overall I think this is a good beer and very refreshing. It's not the best wit I've had or the best beer from New Belgium, but a good drinking wit and nice to see them adding an organic beer to their already wonderful approach to brewing.

Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale- This is the second offering from Peak Organic that I've tried. I like their amber a lot, if you're interested, here's my review http://www.beardedbrewing.org/2008/01/organic-beers.html

The brown ale pours a chocolate brown with a finger of off-white head. It has a nice malty sweetness with hints of chocolate and a nice nutty finish. It has very little hop presence, with a crisp, smoothness to it. Another good beer from Peak and a brown ale that I would put up with any other good browns out there.

I'm happy to see the amount of organic beers growing and I'm sure there are plenty out there I haven't tried. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Brewing Books

This weekend I bought a new brewing book while I was at Northern Brewer picking up some bottle caps. I had read about the book on the Shoreman Organic Brewing blog, its Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. Jamil is probably the most famous homebrewer other than Charlie Papiazan. I had seen this book but was skeptical until reading the review on Shoreman's blog. I flipped through the book some this weekend and I'm really excited about it. First of all, I love his approach to brewing and his attitude of experiment and try because in the end, it's just beer. If I read too technical of books I begin to overthink things and then it becomes less fun for me because I get stressed out. So I appreciate books that take a more relaxed approach. This book has his award winning recipes, but also a lot of good insight into the style and some fermentation tips for each style. I tend to look at the recipes as guides, but not copy the actual recipe, and I think its going to be a great resource. Its very informative, yet brief and to the point. A couple beers I've been interested in making, Weizenbock, Oatmeal Stout, Tropical Stout, are in here, so I'm excited to read it some more.

My brewing bible is Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. I've mentioned this book several times throughout the blog, and I'll continue to promote this book! My dad is an extract homebrewer and taught me the basic ropes of homebrewing. After that, I got most of my knowledge from the internet and what I'm sure were tons of annoying conversations with the staff at Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies. Then last year I got Radical Brewing and it changed everything! I know that sounds cheesy, but Randy Mosher's laid back approach encouraged me to a)brew more Belgians because I was scared off before, b) partial mash brew, c) experiment with whatever because in the end its just beer. Its the resource I go to if I'm thinking "I wonder what this would taste like" or if I'm thinking about brewing a new style. I can't reccomend this book enough.

A book I got this summer and used to design my Brother Brotino and will be using to design my upcoming El Jefe Belgian is Brew Like A Monk by Stan Hieronymus. I've only read through this book a couple of times and I think its a good resource for brewing Belgians. Its very informative and well written. Its definately not for beginnners, as it dives pretty quickly into some techincal language. It has a great amount of information on the brewing traditions and specifics of six trappist breweries. This is a quote from the book:
You shouldn’t consider this a recipe book, but this is where you’ll find recipes created by both professional and amateur brewers, and they explain their thoughts about recipe formulation and making the recipes work.Its a good book, and one that I'll continue to use as a reference when making Belgians. I would definitley put it in the "Intermediate" range when it comes to using this book for brewing, much more advanced than the previous two books mentioned.

In other Bearded Brewing news, I bottled my Yinzer Lager experiment this weekend. Happy that the hops mellowed out, but not quite sure what to think of this yet. I'll hold off on commenting until its had some time to age. I'm skeptical of how it'll end up. Between that and the Frozen Beard Winter Ale, I could have two disappointing 3 gallon batches....let's just say that's why its called experimental!

I was happy with La Libertad, my west coast pale ale, after 1 week in the bottle. I'll have a review of this once its been in the bottle a bit longer. The bottle I had was good, so I have high hopes. Due to a plumbing issue in the brewery, I wasn't able to brew the Gringo this weekend, so that'll be coming. I also plan on doing a review on the blog this week about some organic beers I've been meaning to review. I tried another one, Fish Brewing Company's Organic IPA this weekend and was impressed. I'll post that in the next couple days.

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

[BW] Beer Blog reviews my beer

I've never entered a competition. Mostly out of laziness more than anything else. I came close one time and even filled out the info and took the bottle to the home brew store, only to find out I couldn't send clear bottles. To be honest, its never something that I've ever been super concerned with because I really enjoy the beer I make and so do my friends. I have a very honest wife and friends, who will tell me if they like my beer or not. I don't consider myself a super technical brewer and definitely lean more on the artistic side of brewing than the scientific side. I brew what I think will taste good and so far have been lucky that my beers turn out well despite not always knowing all of the technical aspects of it. I have a lot of admiration for people who are that technical, its just not a strength of mine.

I've been in admiration of a blog I found early on in my blogging and that's [BW] Beer Blog, aka Bob Woodshed. This guy has some of the best beer reviews on the web and I think he just flat out knows his beer. After reading reviews of his beers for months and exchanging some comments on posts, I decided one night to email him and see if he'd be interested in reviewing a couple of my beers. He was really excited about the prospect and after a hassle with UPS two of my beers made it to him. I'm disappointed because my Morris Park Porter broke on the way, and it was a beer I really wanted him to review. Apparently when something breaks in route, they send it back and repackage it. So...for a couple weeks Rick (aka Bob Woodshed) and I have been exchanging emails trying to track down where the hell the package was.

Anyway, it finally arrived and last night I went on his site and was surprised to see the review up of the Bangy Tangy already. To say I was blown away was an understatement. I didn't expect such a positive response and was honored and humbled by it. Not that I'm not confident in my beer, but like I said before, I think he really knows his beer and didn't know how he'd react to a home brew.

You can check out the review if you want at: http://bobwoodshed.org/beer/?p=85

I'll be excited to see his response to the Northwoods (which I don't think is as good as the Bangy Tangy). I'm disappointed in the porter breaking, but I still have a couple that might make their way back to him for a review (not through UPS!). This might be something I continue to do, because its great to get another opinion on your beers. And after his response I might be entering a competition (luckily I bottled in brown bottles)!

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

"Imperialistic " Mexican Cerveza

A couple months ago I was talking to a friend about the hoppiness of beers, and the recent imperial beer trend. I wrote a post about how I think there seems to be a trend in American brewing to make beers as big and hoppy as possible. While I can respect that people enjoy it, I think it can be excessive at times, in a very American way. Obviously everyone has different beer tastes and luckily there's enough great craft beer to satisify all those tastes.

In that post I mentioned a beer from East End Brewing Company in Pittsburgh called the Ugly American. I've never had this beer, but I loved the description: "A perfectly enjoyable classic Belgian Trippel corrupted almost beyond recognition with a completely inappropriate amount of US hops. Only in America can such excessive excesses be fully appreciated, celebrated, and enjoyed.."

I love the concept of this and the sentiment. I'm not a huge hophead, but I do enjoy hoppy beers. So that got me thinking of what I could do similar to that idea, and I came up with a hoppy Mexican Lager. I've spent a lot of time in Mexico and enjoy some Mexican beers: Negro Modelo, Bohemia, Montejo. The Gringo is based partially off Bohemia, I'll post the recipe, but I'm using Munich, Vienna and Pilsner malts. I also threw in some flaked maize to lighten up the body. But to "Americanize" it, I am using 2 ounces of Centennial hops for a 3 gallon batch. Another first for me, I'm going to use the slurry of California 2112 yeast left over from the Yinzer Lager. It'll have alot more hoppiness than a standard Mexican Cerveza (and hopefully some citrusy overtones from the Centenial hops) and at 6% abv, its stronger as well.


I'm planning on brewing it this weekend. It's not quite a true Imperial, but in the spirit of the Ugly American, The Gringo is definitely an Imperialistic Mexican lager. We'll see how it turns out.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

End of a Batch

One of the best things about homebrewing is creating a great beer, one that you would buy. While its awesome that you made that great beer, it sucks that when its done...its done, and you can't run out and pick up some more.

I sadly poured the last of my Whitefish Cranberry Wheat last night. This beer turned out great and I plan on making it again soon since I still have enough cranberries left in my freezer. While I know that brewing it again, and waiting it out, will be worth it, it is a sad day when you drink that last bottle of a great homebrew batch. I read in Randy Mosher's book that your beer is finally ready on the last bottle, and I find this to be true more often than not. I've had too many beers that were perfect when I had 2 bottles left. You never know if the next time you brew it, it'll turn out the same, or how all the variables will turn out.

So...here's to your last bottle or draft of your batch!

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

Bangy Tangy Weekend

This weekend one of my best friends, Josh Broten came into town. Broten and I grew up together in Iowa and he now lives in Chicago. He's a big fan of Belgian beers and has introduced me to a lot of great ones. Last year I told him I was going to make a Belgian for him and he came up with the name Bangy Tangy. So I tried to make a beer that was tangy, but sweet with some strength to it. I had read in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing that orange marmalade was better to use in white beers than the dried orange peels I had been using. So I tried that and also added some Wisconsin cranberries I had in my freezer. The end result was a big hit amongst my friends. If your interested, I posted the recipe in a previous post. With Josh coming into town, I brewed it again. I'll have to say, I think it turned out great again and it was popular with some new drinkers of it.


As you can see, I need to better my photography skills to match some of the great pics of beer on some other blogs. But it pours a golden-orange color with a lacy white head. It has a sweet aroma and right away its fairly tangy with some orange in the aftertaste. Its fairly smooth with some crispness at the end. Its very easy drinking, and at 6.3% abv it definitely bangs!

I'm planning on making a couple other belgians inspired by some beers he's introduced me to, such as Triple Karmeliet and Delirium. I'm going to start adding the Brotino Belgian logo to those beers.

I'm trying to be patient with my lager, but really tempted to keep tasting it, I have no idea how it will turn out. I'm planning on brewing The Gringo, a hoppy Mexican Lager. More on that another time. I also re-wrote the recipe to another of my "house" beers, El Muerto. Orginally based off Rogue's Dead Guy, its morphed into kind of an amber ale. I'm still messing with the recipe, but I'm switching the recipe to organic. Also,I bottled my Libertad tonight and think its going to be good.
However, after 1 week in the bottle, my Frozen Beard tastes like cough syrup! I'm hoping that things just need to mellow out...or my experiment with spruce extract proved to be a bad idea. At least its only 3 gallons. That's about it for now.
Great to see the Patriots lose!!
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer