Small Beers

In the craft beer world, or at least what I've seen from it, there seems to be something very gauche about talking about getting drunk. It's in poor taste, it seems like. BeerAdvocate's longtime mantra has been "Respect Beer." Drinking beer to get drunk, apparently, doesn't fall into the whole "respect" box. It's kind of like we treat the drunkenness that beer can cause as an unpleasant side effect. I don't buy that. I like drinking beer, and I like its side effects. I'm not talking about getting falling down drunk (though that happens occasionally). I also would be aghast at doing something like funneling, for example, a Bourbon County Stout. That's a beer that's meant to be savored, not expedited into your gullet. But I'm not sad when I have a few craft beers and unwind a bit. Or even a lot, so long as "a lot" isn't to a puking level of excess.

I'll say something else that's not going to earn me much praise either. I buy beer based on ABV. Not entirely, but I definitely look at cost/ABV ratios when I go and buy a six pack. I like a little bang for my buck, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but maybe that's just me. If I'm looking at two comparable beers in terms of quality and style, I'm buying the one that's got the better ABV/cost. It's one of the reasons I came to love, and still love, Dogfish Head. When I went to the brewery this past summer, our guide said to us, "We make high alcohol beer. We're proud to make alcohol beer. We like drinking high alcohol beer." What went unsaid was that we (me, DFH, lots of other people) like a responsible buzz.

So what's the point of all of this? Well, a while ago on Twitter, @StephWeber, posted this article by Ken Weaver, on the death of the session beer. I read it, and it got me thinking about by intake. This line of thinking has synergy with making inroads into the non-craft beer population, but that's a post for another day, I guess. The article makes great points (and is very well researched), but it's somewhat at odds with my beer/drinking paradigm.

Well, today I bottled the Belgian wheat that I accidentally made by pitching Belgian yeast into the wort for an American wheat. It came out wonderfully, and is only 4.5%. Tons of flavor packed into what is a very sessionable beer in terms of ABV. To be honest, I would never normally buy a 5% beer because the cost/ABV ratio would be too high. It seems like imperials are getting a little played out. Seems like everyone's got a big beer. Whether it's a DIPA or Imperial Stout or on occasion an imperial porter, pilsener, or red ale, everyone's doing something huge. But there aren't a lot of breweries doing small beers. Brew Dog took the idea to the extreme (BrewDog, extreme? I'm shocked, shocked I say!). Anyway, maybe this could be a new trend from breweries, small beers almost in the style of the culinary amuse-bouche. I haven't brewed long enough, nor have I admittedly done enough research yet, but it seems to be that making a low ABV, but incredibly flavorful, beer has got to be difficult. Like in an amuse, every ingredient has to bring something to the table and in just the right proportions to make a cohesive product.

This was more an introductory post about something I want to do more research on. I may play around with some 3 gallon batches to see what I can make sub 3%. I'll keep you all posted. Anyway, I wanted to put this out there because it's something I've really been thinking about the past couple of days.

Thoughts on the viability of a small beer revolution?

Cheers,
Bill

How Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Made Me Realize How Much I Love Hops

So, I just got back from a four day cruise with Royal Caribbean. It was a great time. Excellent food and entertainment. Fine facilities and for the most part warm and competent staff. The boat is an absolute wonder. A small city on the seas that seems like it would be unfazed no matter the weather. This was my first cruise experience, and I thought it was great. I enjoyed it very much...except for one thing.

Around the two day mark, after drinking "deals of the day" and other assorted fruity concoctions, margaritas, martinis, and some lagers, I realized how much I missed craft beer. Especially hops. From memory, here was the long and the short of the beer availability on board:

Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light, Singa, Kirin Ichiban, Kirin Light, Red Stripe, Heineken (bottle AND draft), Foster's, and, of course, Corona.

When you went to the 'Two Poets Pub" the list expanded just a little bit to include Newcastle Brown, Boddington's Pub Ale, Blue Moon, and Guiness.

Notice anything? I did up front of course. This is the standard macrolager fare. In offering this "variety" of beers, Royal Caribbean is essentially offering the same beer...with 15 different labels. Sorry for painting with such a broad brush, but macrolager is macrolager. Yes Guiness, Newcastle, and Boddington's, and Blue Moon are all different in their own way, but the rest? Might as well be interchangeable. It's bullshit, but it's standard at this point.

The wine list on this boat was not entirely populated with Sauvginon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. So why is the entire beer menu populated with fizzy yellow adjunct-filled water? Would it really kill Royal Caribbean to have some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale? I'm not talking about having DFH Palo Santo Marron on tap, but something ANYTHING with some hop character would've been much appreciated.

Back to the beginning of this story, around day two I started realizing that I really was craving hops in a bad way. I was literally jonesing for some cascade hops. A Green Flash West Coast IPA would've sent me over the edge of happiness. But it wasn't to be. I had to wait to get home and have a Sierra Nevada Torpedo. I'm much happier now, but was it really necessary to make me wait four days? I guess it was since the prevailing opinion is that Bud Light and Miller Light taste different enough that something that ACTUALLY tastes different doesn't need to be included. Maybe next time I go on a cruise that'll change.

Cheers,
Bill

Multiple Beers Under My Belt

Six batches under my belt now.

- The bitter brown
- A kitchen sink pale ale (nicknamed the abortive ale because I messed it up pretty badly)
- Northern Brewer black IPA kit
- A to Z Brown Ale from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing
- Belgian Wheat (funny story there, I'll write it up soon)
- Imperial Red (screwed this up too)

I saw all-grain brewing for the first time two weeks ago. I think I might make the leap pretty soon. I guess I should get extract straight first.

This is a terrible entry. But I feel guilty about not writing here. I'll work on that soon.

Cheers I guess.

Second Brew Day

I had my second brew day today. It went pretty smoothly, which may or may not have been because I refrained from imbibing heavily during the process. In all seriousness, having the right equipment really expedited things. I went and got a hydrometer jar and auto-siphon from MyLHBS, and it was nice to be able to take an actual gravity reading today. I'm sure being able to use the auto-siphon a few days from now to rack today's beer into the bottling bucket will be helpful too.

I guess I should get tasting notes for the first batch, which I'm calling the Bitter Brown, up soon. I have to say I'm very happy with it. Yes I was going for a hoppy red, and instead I got a bitter brown, but it's definitely drinkable. Everyone who has tried it so far has liked it, which is encouraging for a first batch. I've got some things I'd like to correct with it, but that will come in time. I'm going to be giving bottles to coworkers and that kind of thing to see what they think. I want to hear from craft beer folks about it, but I also want to hear from people who drink more mainstream beer, or who don't drink beer often at all. It can only make future batches stronger.

Today's recipe can be found here. This was a kitchen sink batch because it was only 2 gallons and it had ingredients from the Mr. Beer kit that my sister got me last Christmas. It isn't really 2 pounds of amber extract in the recipe, it's really a can of this, and the corn syrup is this. Eh, I know Mr. Beer isn't refined homebrew, but I wasn't going to toss the ingredients. I got some Hallertau and honey malt to add to it. I'm hoping it'll be alright. I really would like it to be more balanced than the Bitter Brown. I missed my OG on it by quite a bit (Hopville said 1.056 to 1.066 and I had 1.052). Not sure exactly why, but it could be because the Booster isn't corn syrup, it's corn syrup solids. Whatever, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Before I sign off tonight, I want to take a moment to talk about something completely different. In the last entry, I neglected to thank my girlfriend for her help with figuring out the siphoning. She was the one who looked up the diagrams and the explanations for us and kept me calm while I was certain that my batch was going to be DOA. In general though, I think it's rare that most craft beer enthusiasts significant others are crazy about beer in the same way they are. What I don't think it's rare is the support, encouragement, and downright tolerance through discussions of different kinds of malt, new releases of beer, etc. that said significant others offer. My girlfriend goes above and beyond the duty with my obses--- hobby, and I'm very grateful for it, even when I forget to mention it in my blog entries. My suggestion for myself and everyone else is to show that gratitude more often, it means a lot to get that support, and it's not always easy (I imagine) to give it.

I'll get tasting notes on the Bitter Brown up this week.

Until next time, happy homebrewing.

First Batch of Homebrew in Bottles

First things first, if you haven't had Bell's Hopslam, run out and get some ASAP. You can get it at Rodman's, D'Vines, Churchkey, and The Black Squirrel, among other places. I've had a lot of IPAs before, but I think this might be my favorite one. Unbelievably delicious grapefruit notes in the aroma which continue into the front pallete. Very bitter, yes, but if you're a hophead, this is your equivalent of crack. It certainly won't be a session beer at 10% ABV and $20 for a 6-pack, but it is well worth the price of admission, believe me.

Anyway, the task at hand is to post about me and Josh bottling our first batch of homebrew this past weekend. This batch was not without its trials and tribulations. For example, we relied on beercalculus.hopville.com for our gravity readings because I didn't have a hydrometer jar and couldn't find anything in my house to approximate one (ideas?). We also couldn't really get the siphon started. I had read a lot in Papazian's book and on the interwebs, but it's kind of one of those reading about riding a bicycle versus riding a bicycle things. Anyway, Molly and Josh eventually figured the siphon thing out (for posterity, you have to fill the siphon hose all the way up with water, then put the end siphoning into the bucket lower than the beer in your fermenter. Or buy an auto-siphon, which is what I plan to do). Once we got the siphon started, we were having issues with keeping the tube straight. So then we rigged a racking cane where we put the tubing inside of a plastic hydrometer case with its bottom cut out. Then we taped a knife to this, sanitized it, and put it in. Then everything went pretty smoothly. Except for Josh putting his arm into the beer a lot. Eh, sanitation is for next time.

We tried some of the beer, and it tasted kind of watery. It also had a very earthy taste, almost like a watered down version of Weyerbacher Double Simcoe. I'm curious about whether that will change in the bottle or not, but I guess we'll see. I'll do tasting notes when we eventually open it.

Some other notes. Both Bell's and Founder's have really been growing on me lately. Founder's Red Rye and Backwoods Bastard and Bell's Two-Hearted (a great session, well, maybe not a session at 7%), Expedition Stout, and Hopslam. I'll have to check them out more.

Pictures from this weekend's bottling:

Rigging the Racking Cane


Racking the Beer


Trying the Beer for the First Time


The Happy Homebrewers

Until next time, cheers.

First Beer in the Fermenter

So my first batch of homebrew is bubbling merrily away in the carboy right now. I'm happy to have finally started my journey toward brewing. Brew Day went smoothly for the most part. My friend Josh and I polished off half of a mini-keg of flat Bell's Two-Hearted. Even flat, this beer is better than a vast number of other beers. Anyway, brew day went smoothly. No boil overs. The only thing I'm concerned about is whether I sanitized everything properly (I guess we'll find out soon enough). I also forgot to take an original gravity measurement, but I used beercalculus.com to figure out what it was approximately.

Speaking of beercalculus, I heartily recommend the site. This is the brew I just made: http://hopville.com/recipe/142099/american-amber-ale-recipes/attempted-hoppy-red

I was going for a very hoppy red in the mold of Green Flash's Hop Head Red. We'll see if I succeeded. I know that the ABV on this beer is going to be very low and subsequently the high IBUs will end up being very high. It may end up being an unbalanced beer, but given that I love hops, I don't think I mind all that much.

Here's my equipment as it stands right now:

- plain stainless steel 20 qt. brew kettle
- one 6g glass carboy
- two brew buckets (one with spigot for bottling)
- assorted airlocks, tubing, etc.

I'll keep this updated when I bottle and include tasting notes for the first beer.

Next up will be a brown ale with maple syrup from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing, and after that will be a black IPA kit from Northern Brewer.

Anyway, that's that. Happy brewing to all of you.