Bill Learns Beer

Small Beers

2010-03-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-22T18:34:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Craft Beer in My Hometown and Why I'm Encouraged By Sierra Nevada's Summerfest

2009-12-27T18:57:00.001-08:00

I'm from a pretty generic middle class suburban community in central New Jersey. I now live in DC, which is becoming, if it hasn't already become, something of a craft beer stronghold in the United States. Even before Churchkey opened its wonderful, wonderful doors, there were a number of bars in the District that took pride in the suds they slung. Now, with Churchkey, DC is undeniably a craft beer town. It's very familiar when I come home and find the same BMC cases/kegs at parties I go to hosted by friends from high school. I've tried to turn them onto something better, but I guess it's kind of hard to play beer pong or other drinking games with fuller-bodied beers. Scratch that, I guess it's not hard to play those games with these beers, but it is a lot harder to play the games for any length of time. Mostly when I come home I just bring a six or some bombers with me so I don't have to bother with the BMC stuff.

I've had a couple of interesting and encouraging things happen during my last two trips home:

- I had a conversation with a friend of mine at Thanksgiving about how he's on a quest to try as many different beers as possible. He doesn't really want to repeat, and he's saving the bottles on his journey. Very positive. He's currently pretty big on wheat beers, which isn't really my wheelhouse, but hey, more power to you. I'll be dropping him off a bottle or two of Flying Dog's Raging Bitch before I leave as I'm certain that the distribution for it won't make it up this way for a while.
- There's a liquor store that remodeled itself on a major intersection in my town that now advertises itself as the "Home of 1,000 Craft Beers." They aren't lying. The selection is fantastic, and they have the always-a-winner "Mix a Six" opportunity. I've loaded up these past two trips home. What's really nice is my friends go to this store as well, so they're starting to branch out a bit.
- Last night at a party a friend of mine brought a six of Sierra Nevada Summerfest that he'd picked up. Summerfest in the winter? Yeah, it doesn't really fit. But it wasn't Bud Light Golden Wheat, so I'm not complaining one bit. I recommended Sierra Nevada Torpedo to him, and he said he'd check it out (for the record, I think it's one of the best IPAs for your buck out there, even better than the venerable DFH 90 minute IPA, which is probably my favorite beer of all time).
- I brought two bombers of Rogue to the same party last night and another guy asked me, "They make Dead Guy, right?" Solid.

One mark in the "negative" column? Blue Moon is still viewed as craft beer. I guess it isn't really non-craft beer. I don't know, I'm kind of torn. On one hand, I want to see people buying true craft beer from craft breweries. On the other hand, if people are going to buy from BMC, I'd prefer they buy stuff like Blue Moon and not the usual swill. This will show BMC that market share is shifting (I mean, it's really not, but if Blue Moon sales go up, it might send a message, who knows?)

Anyway, I'll keep planting the craft beer seeds (bottles?) at home. We'll see what grows.

Why I like beer bars and other things that have the word beer in them that I similarly like

2009-12-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

From an early age, what are we conditioned to do when we meet a new person? I can't begin to tell you the number of times I was chided by my parents to, "Tell him/her your name!" and to "Put out your hand!" Where you don't seem to do this really is in the service industry. I mean sure your waiter/waitress/server person at restaurants usually says, "I'm Bartholomew and I'll be taking care of you tonight" but you don't really say that to say, your dry cleaner, barber, or postal worker. I mean, I guess I don't, but I might try that soon. I've got a new thing where I introduce myself to bartenders at beer bars before I order. Now first let me stop and clarify, what do I mean by "beer bars." Well, if you don't know, I'd be surprised if you're reading this blog. I guess I mean anywhere craft beer is sold. My definition of craft beer is pretty broad, maybe broader than most people's. Craft beer, to me, is anything that isn't in the macrolager style and anything that isn't directly produced by Bud/Miller/Coors (BMC). Anyway. Introducing myself to bartenders (beertenders?) I think it goes well. There are few things in life I take as seriously as beer, and why wouldn't you want to develop a rapport with the person who will be slinging your craft suds for whatever drinking session you're on? I started this when Churchkey opened up, mostly because they introduced themselves first. It's a small thing, I guess, but beer really is a social hobby. You share beer with friends. Talk about it with friends. Network through beer. Meet new people. Talk to them about it. And so on and so forth. Beertenders who you get to know may be more inclined to tell you what deals they've got going on right now, what beers taste off, what beers have been really popular, and hell, may even throw a free pint your way. It's not something I expect by any means, but it's happened enough to know that building that relationship can help. Anyway, introduce yourself to your next beertender. See how it goes.

On a completely different note, I've decided to take the plunge and start homebrewing. I bought some equipment (I'm going with the 6 gallon plastic bucket with an airlock for a fermenter). I also have a 5 gallon Poland Spring jug that I will try to fit a bung and airlock into for a second fermenter (if I could get two batches from two fermenters a month I wouldn't hardly have to buy beer ever again). I'm basically using Charlie Papazian's seminal The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (3rd Edition) as my reference. I like his philosophy about not stressing out. It's important. We'll see if I feel that way once I actually start doing it. I know that all-malt brewing is the best way to start for a n00b like me, but honestly, I'm in this to win this. I'm not in this to make some watered down ale that is less appealing to me than whatever BMC is slinging this month. I want something I will be satisfied drinking. And if I don't get that, then I will try again, but I'm not going to shoot low and play it safe. My first brew will (hopefully) be a very hoppy red ale. I'm using Stering hops to bitter and Glacier and Cascade to finish. If it tastes anything like Rogue's St. Rogue Dry-Hopped Red or Green Flash's Hop Head Red, I'll be ecstatic.

I'll update when the equipment comes and I try it out. I may even take pictures. We'll see.

Anyway, I guess I'll get to bed. Cheers.

A little on what I know and what I don't

2009-11-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to simultaneously know a whole lot and painfully little about beer. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and all that. Sure I can name a lot of breweries, I've tried a lot of beers and beer styles, and I know what kinds of beers I generally like and dislike and can articulate why, generally. I still don't really understand the beermaking process though. On a very basic level I do, and I guess this could easily be remedied by a little homebrewing, but the process is, as I understand it, kind of like the board game Othello: "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master." I also am working on refining my palette. I get the big picture; i.e. I can taste the degree to which a beer is hopped, generally what flavors those hops elicit. I can taste whether a beer is particularly malty or not. Bitter or sweet or dry. Fine. But I have issues with the small stuff. Last night I had a Yakima Twilight from Victory Brewing last night at RFD in Chinatown. Tons of hops in that beer, but then I was able to detect anise on the back palette too. I was pretty proud that I was able to detect (and identify, which I guess is the hardest part for me) that even though anise is a very strong flavor. I guess it's small steps, and as I learn to identify flavors I'll hopefully be able to continually identify them.

This rambled a little bit. It's hard for me to articulate what I want to about beer. I guess it'll come in time.

Ideas for next time: the beer review process.

Welcome!

2009-11-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

If you're here, you probably think this is an unsightly piece of shit, and you are so right. I'll be working on constructing this and making it presentable over the next week or so.

What can you expect to see here? Well, after some prodding from friends I decided to try to write this. Who am I? I'm a 22 year old recent college grad living in Washington, D.C. A little over a year ago I was getting into arguments about whether or not Keystone Light was better than Natty Light, and more egregiously I was convinced that all beer tasted the same. Now, a year older, and a little bit wiser, I'm diving head first into the craft beer movement and all its wonders. I'm trying to learn more about beer (and of course trying new beers) every day. I've come a long way in a year, but I've got a whole hell of a lot still to learn. This blog is dedicated to that learning process. I want to share the resources I'm using to learn more. Tell funny stories about how I got to where I am now. Describe my favorite beer dispensaries. Review new beers. Pass along beer news. All things that will get more info about the craft beer movement out there to as many people as possible. I hope you'll stick around and check back in, it should be a wild ride (or stumble, depending on how ambitious I get).