Category: Beer
Pondering A Brewing Future
I have a dream. This may be a cliche start to this post, but nonetheless it’s true, and it’s what got me to thinking about writing this down. I have a dream of opening my own brewery, and it’s one I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.
I don’t normally use this forum to write about anything but other people’s products. And there’s a reason for that – I really admire well-crafted beers, whiskies, coffees, and wines, and see them as an expression of truly creative people and companies. And I’m most excited when these are people who are clearly passionate about what they’re doing. Just consider Barth and Greg at Barrington Coffee Roasters, or Alan Sprints at Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company, or the creative geniuses at Founders Brewing, to name just a few. These people create amazing coffees and beers that express their own, unique visions. Each of them has followed their own path to where they are today, and I believe will continue to do so in the future. Each is inspiring.
I’ve been homebrewing for 3 or 4 years now. As I’ve gotten more brews under my belt, I’ve gained a greater understanding of the process, an appreciation of the history and culture behind brewing, become a better brewer, and turned out beers that I’m proud of. I’ve also started to figure out what my own, personal brewing “voice” is. I’ve realized just how much I enjoy brewing, and that it’s become a creative outlet that I never expected it to be.
When I started brewing, it was just a hobby, something I was interested in trying out for fun. During the past year or two in particular, I’ve come to realize that it’s something that I’m actually good at. I love the process of thinking about the beer that I want to brew, letting the idea crystallize in my head, researching the style, ingredients, and methods involved, and then crafting a recipe that embodies the ideal beer that I’ve framed in my mind. My best beers have come about through this process, beers that I would be proud to stand up next to the commercial brews that have inspired me.
So here I find myself today, dreaming for the umpteenth time about starting a brewery. I haven’t worked in a brewery, and have only ever brewed at home. But similar to the process by which my best recipes have come about, the brewery itself has begun to take shape in my imagination, and to slowly crystallize into clear, practicable ideas.
For instance, if you were starting a brewery tomorrow, what beers would you brew? How many and what would they be? I’ve meandered along thinking about this, and have settled on the idea of 4 regularly available beers, 3 year-round and 1 seasonal. The 3 year-round beers would be: a late-hopped IPA, a hoppy Rye Ale, and an Imperial Stout. I also know what 2 of the 4 seasonals would be: in fall, a malty, low-gravity Mild, and in summer, a crisp, grainy Kolsch. Gosh, I just get so excited thinking about this, the possibilities! But these 5 beers that I’ve mentioned, I have a picture-perfect idea of them. I know how they’ll taste, what they’ll look like, even what type of glass I’d server them in. The idea is so clear in my head, it’s kind of strange actually.
I also know exactly who some of the key players would be, if I could choose anyone to be part of the team that gets the brewery off the ground. One would be my friend who is a coffee-shop owner, who is one of the most creative, entrepreneurial people I know, and whose small-business sense I think is remarkable. Another would be a friend of mine who’s a graphic designer, who does remarkable design work, and whose discussion, feedback, and ideas about brewing (and other drinks-related topics) are thought-provoking and inspiring. And without a doubt, my wife, who not only is a source of endless inspiration and confidence, but who brings a creative, sharp, analytical mind, and a remarkable ability to accomplish what she sets out to do. I know that with these three people on board, my belief in this venture would soar.
Will anything ever come of this dreaming? I honestly don’t know. I’ve never thought of myself as a huge risk-taker, and this is a very big leap. But who knows. I’ve spent countless hours dreaming up ideas for the beers that I want to brew, and have seen these ideas crystallize into reality in the form of newly brewed beers. I’ve learned that patience is the key, that I need to let the beer take the shape it’s going to take. That only then will it be ready to be brewed. So I’ll keep dreaming of opening a brewery. I’ll let the ideas gradually take their own shape, and who knows, maybe one day that’ll turn into an actual brewery where I can follow in the footsteps of those remarkably creative, inspiring companies that I mentioned earlier.
Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny The Elder Vs. Pliny The Younger
The “big” news on BeerAdvocate last week was that Russian River Brewing’s Pliny The Younger had overtaken Westvleteren 12 as the site’s top-ranked beer. This was notable since Westvleteren has held the top spot for ages, certainly in the several years I’ve been visiting the site. Since then, the two have see-sawed back and forth, leading to innumerable musings on the site and elsewhere.
Is this really significant? I don’t know. It coincided with the release of Pliny The Younger (a draft-only beer, it’s never been bottled) at Russian River’s brewpub, an event where the beer itself sold out in a matter of hours, in contrast to last year’s release where the beer sold out after several days. So regardless of whatever interest you want to ascribe to this beer assuming the top spot, it is certainly a sign of the (beer) times. We’ve entered a stage in the rise of beer where the release of big name beers is a very, very big happening, and brings with it lots of crowd, lots of hype, and also lots of great beer.
That’s the real upside here. Breweries such as Russian River and Founders, whose beers are rightly very well regarded and highly sought after, have been increasing their capacity during the past few years, or at least (in some cases) devoting more capacity to those beers that are the most highly sought after. And so we’re seeing more opportunities to taste many of these rare gems, whether at festivals, greater or more plentiful distribution, or more bottles out there giving you a better chance of finding one.
And so it was both exciting and surprising to see Russian River at this year’s Extreme Beer Fest. In the three years that I’ve gone they have never been there, although one year they sent out several cases of their “wild” beers to be served at the Belgian Beer Fest’s Night Of The Funk. This year, they brought three beers to the Saturday sessions, and a few more to the Friday evening Night Of The Barrels. And not only did they come to the fest, they brought with them none other than Pliny The Younger, along with its sibling Pliny The Elder. Talk about a great opportunity for a comparative tasting!
Pliny The Younger and Pliny The Elder are both imperial IPAs, and are two of the first wave that really kick-started this style back when they was first brewed (right around 2003 for Elder, 2005 for Younger). Pliny The Elder is brewed to a gravity of 1.071, 8% ABV, and 100 IBUs. Pliny The Younger is its bigger, badder sibling, weighing in at an OG 1.098, 11% ABV, and GOBS of IBUs (as their website says).
Tasting Notes
Pliny The Elder
Pours a rich, mellow gold and slightly hazy, with a pillowy white head that leaves loads of lacing on the glass. The nose is dominated by notes of pine and citrus hop flavors that leave little room for anything else. The palate is velvety textured with medium carbonation, very mellow without being soft. The flavors are not as hoppy as the nose implied, which is good, as there’s lots of great flavors going on here. The bitterness is mild and relatively restrained, letting lots of hop flavors come through, principally citrus and pine with a touch of resin, accompanied by sugared lemons, and a touch of sweet malt. The finish is substantially more bitter than the palate, with creamy lemon flavors offset by a lingering layer of resiny hop flavors.
Pliny The Younger
Pours a shade darker than the Elder, without as much of a head on top. In fact, if you look closely you can see the bubbles flowing to the surface much more slowly than in the Elder. The nose is rich with hops, similar to the Elder, but in the case their accompanied by a notably malty element that brings notes of bread and caramel to the nose. The palate is similar, with the hop flavors challenged somewhat for supremacy by the malty flavors. The fight’s a good one, resulting in a great combination of pine and resin hop flavors, and malty notes of honey and baked bread. The hops get the upper hand ultimately, but it’s closer than with the Elder. The finish is similar to the Elder, opening up with a blend of sweet malt and hops, giving way to lingering bitterness. Overall, the Younger is sweeter and denser than the Elder, a more mature and weighty version of its smaller sibling.
Conclusions
Both of these are top-notch, very drinkable IPAs. In fact, scarily drinkable IPAs. They both cloaked the alcohol level well behind a facade of hops and malt, especially the Younger. And in both, while the flavors were very hop-oriented, they offered great contrasts to one another. If I went someplace where both were on offer, it’d be a tough choice, seeing as how they’re both just so good, as well as being prototypical examples of imperial IPAs. I guess I’d just have to get a glass of both! Perhaps at the same time, so that I could compare them (as the true beer geek that I’ve become).
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Troegs Brewing Co. Scratch Beer #25 – Mustache Rye
Rye IPAs combine two of my favorite flavor elements in beer: rye and hops. Much as with rye whiskey, rye brings a spicy, resinous quality to beer that lends a real step up to your typical malt profile. So take a rye ale and pile hops into it, and you have the potential for a beautiful marriage of two fabulous flavors.
Today, you’re seeing rye IPAs crop up with increasing frequency, although I don’t know of too many that are part of a brewery’s regular lineup. Instead, most of the ones that I’ve had the chance to try have been either seasonals or one-offs from breweries. Perhaps this is because as opposed to your typical IPA, a rye-based IPA is an altogether different beer. The malt profile of the beer is more forward, more challenging, vying with hops for your palate, demanding attention in its own right. Whereas most IPAs are essentially vehicles for the hops, even if balanced with a notable maltiness, the bottom line is that hops reign supreme. In the case of rye IPAs, this isn’t so much the case.
This beer from Troegs Brewing Company is a great example, of both how awesome rye IPAs can be, and of rye IPAs being one-offs as opposed to regular features of a brewery’s lineup. Troegs makes a couple of very good, hoppy beers, including their Hopback Amber (which is part of their year-round lineup) and the highly rated Nugget Nectar, a seasonal that is a veritable showcase for malt and hops, and more hops. Both are great beers. But then there’s the Scratch Series of one-off beers that they’ve been brewing since 2007. The Series is up to number 27 now, and this beer, the Magical Mustache Rye, was number #25 in the series.
The Magical Mustache Rye was brewed in November 2009 in honor of both the Month of the Mustache (November, more info here) and the Troegs Mustache Growing Contest. It was brewed to an original gravity of 16 degrees Plato (1.065 original gravity), and 115 IBUs, for an astounding BU:GU ratio of 1.77 (bitterness units to gravity units). The malts included a base pilsner malt, with additions of munich and crystal. Hops used in the boil included Bravo and Cluster, along with Cluster and Liberty for dry-hopping.
The beer pours crystal clear and coppery, dark amber, with a fluffy white head that drops to a thin lacing. The nose has wonderful floral hoppy aromas of lavender, citrus, and a hint of pine, with a breath of malt lurking underneath. The palate is crisp with a great balance of malt and hops, with hops just barely taking the upper hand. Flavors arrive with a foundation of bready maltiness, then the hops come swooping in, with flavors of resin, pine, and herbal spiciness. Not overwhelmingly bitter, although there is more definitely more hop bitterness than flavor. The finish opens up with caramel maltiness that gives way to buckets of lingering hop bitterness.
What a fun, great tasting, and very drinkable beer. The hops brought plenty of bitterness, but it was pretty well-integrated into the overall flavor profile. If the BU:GU was 1.77, I’d have to guess that a substantial portion of the hops were used pretty late in the boil, otherwise – in a 1.065 beer – the bitterness may be overwhelming. Instead, this is a great rye IPA, and as much as I enjoy both Hopback Amber and Nugget Nectar, this is a beer that I’d really enjoy seeing as part of Troegs yearly or seasonal lineup. It’s just so good!
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Deschutes Brewing Co. Mirror Mirror 2009 Reserve Series
When we came back from this summer’s trip out west, I brought back a few gems from our various brewery stops. Since then, I’ve been covetously holding onto these beers, knowing that someday I’d be opening the only bottle of that beer that I had, and in some cases may ever have. Who knows when or if we’ll be out that way again?
As the months have passed, we’ve opened up one or two of these treasures, but there have been a few that I’ve been loath to crack open – I’ve just been too excited to try them. Among these was a bottle of Deschutes Mirror Mirror, the oak aged barleywine that they released last spring. It was one of the beers I was keenly looking for during our trip, was super excited to find, and possibly more excited to try.
I was finally inspired to open it as a result of the work we’ve been doing to plan a series of tastings at Amherst Coffee that will take place over the next few months. One of the tastings we’re going to do is a whiskey and beer theme, where we’ll taste a whiskey alongside a beer that was aged in that distillery’s barrels. So, as I brainstormed the various barrel-aged beers that are available today, my mind turned to the few special beers that I’ve been holding onto, and Mirror Mirror in particular.
Deschutes first released Mirror Mirror in 2006, but then didn’t release it again until April 2009. In 2006 it was the first beer in their Reserve Series, a series that now includes The Abyss, The Dissident, and Black Butte XXI. Mirror Mirror, The Abyss, and Black Butte XXI all have some portion of the finished brew aged in bourbon barrels, while The Dissident is brewed using a couple of strains of Brettanomyces, producing an oud bruin style beer.
35% of Mirror Mirror was aged in bourbon barrels, the other 65% in stainless steel. The beer was brewed to a strength of 11%, with 30 IBUs thrown in for good measure. From start to finish, Mirror Mirror took Deschutes 10 months to produce, with much of this time spent in bourbon barrels.
The beer pours a crimson-orange red with a creamy off-white heads that surges up and then drops just as quickly, leaving a thin lacing in its wake. The nose has rich aromas of toffee, malt, and caramel, accompanied by a trace of mint. The palate is soft and velvety with loads of creamy, viscous texture supported by medium carbonation. Once the flavors kick in you can tell it’s not 100% barrel aged. Instead of being overly sweet, the barrel aging element is well-balanced and mixes well with the big malt body. The flavors are a blend of caramel, toffee, vanilla and spiciness and tannins from the barrel aging, alongside a deeply malty body, bready, rye flavors, and an edge of bitter, piney hop flavors. The finish is soft and mellow, with flavors of caramel, crystal malt, and hop bitterness.
This is a totally amazing beer. I kick myself for not picking up two bottles during our trip (why did I buy just one bottle? what was I thinking?!), but am very, very glad that I had the chance to try it. Excellent flavors all in great balance. If you ever come across this in a shop, pick it up fast. Two bottles. Yet again, Deschutes has knocked the ball out of the park. I’ve really been impressed by all of the beers of theirs that I’ve tried, and once again can only wish we were somewhere that their beers were distributed to.
So this leaves The Abyss, their bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout, as the last of their Reserve Series beers that I have not tried. Given my love of this style of beer, it does give me a bit of a pang to figure I’ll probably not have the chance to try it, simply given the crazy demand for it, and my living on the east coast. But who knows, maybe someday I’ll be out in Bend or Portland on The Abyss release day. That would be amazing.
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People’s Pint Imperial Stout 2009
I have a soft spot in my heart for the People’s Pint, the little brewpub located in Greenfield, Mass. that I first discovered many (many) years ago when I was an undergrad out in the Pioneer Valley. The local beer scene was really just taking shape then, and I loved the People’s Pint’s combination of good food, relaxing atmosphere, and reliably good beer.
I moved out of the area a while back, and my last couple of visits haven’t been as fulfilling as my previous ones, even owing to the vagaries of memory. I still thought the food was good, and the atmosphere nice, but the beer was a bit of a let-down. On each occasion I’ve been there in the last couple of years, the beer was really just ok. Some pints seemed a bit low on carbonation, even for English styles, and others just lacked a real zip of flavor and personality. But hey, I’m happy to give them a pass, since I’ve only been able to go on a couple of occasions in a long time, and have many more happy memories than disappointing ones.
The People’s Pint brews all English-style beers, including a bitter, oatmeal stout, and IPA. They offer a couple of winter seasonals as well. This is the first time that I’ve ever seen their imperial stout in a shop before, and I’ve never had it on draft either, and so it seemed like a great time to give it a go. Like I said, that soft spot in my heart really spoke up and insisted on giving this beer a try.
Information on this beer is tough to track down. It’s brewed to an original gravity of 1.110, finishes at 9.2% and has 100 IBUs. The label looks like it was printed on a laser printer (nothing wrong with that from a small, local brewery) and has the year the beer was made (2009), and the bottle number hand-written on it (#233 – no indication how many bottles in total).
It pours jet black, lightening to a hint of rusty brown at the edges. A thin wispy tan head rose to the top but didn’t last long, leaving just a trace behind. The nose has notes of cocoa, coffee, chocolate covered raisins, and a whiff of smoke. Subtle overall, but pleasant and inviting. The palate has a warming, soft texture with delicate carbonation. Flavors of chewy black licorice, roasted malt, and milk chocolate are most prominent, with just a faint note of bitterness. On the whole, the palate’s not as sweet as the nose, a bit more earthy and restrained. The finish opens up with a surprising amount hop bitterness that takes a bit to fade, giving way to lingering notes of coffee and cocoa.
A good, well put-together imperial stout. Nice combination of flavors, good texture. A bit bitter on the finish, but I liked how it then segued to the coffee and cocoa flavors. I’d love to try this on draft sometime, and it goes without saying that tasting this made me look forward to my next visit to the People’s Pint. It’s been a long time since I was last there, maybe a year and a half, and I hope to be able to go again before too much more time has passed. If you’re nearby be sure to stop, and try the turkey burger with cheddar cheese, always my favorite sandwich there. The desserts are always very good too.
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