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Apocalypse Beer: Redefining “Beer”

Posted: February 8th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Amidst all the sometimes-vehement debates surrounding the definition of craft beer, and the arguments about styles, I am absolutely going to be cheeky enough sweep all of that aside as irrelevant and entirely redefine “beer.” Hey, it’s the Apocalypse, it’s a whole new world! And for some background, read the Introduction.

What is “Beer”?

In the early 21st century, “beer” has a rather precise classification among industrialized societies: a carbonated alcoholic beverage (usually less that 10-12% alcohol by volume) made from malted cereal grains (most often malted barley), almost always spiced with hops, and fermented with a specific family of yeast.

A lot of thought and ink has been devoted to defining “beer” and classifying it down into various styles, somewhat by ingredients (“beer” as opposed to “braggot” which is half beer, half honey mead for instance) but more often by appearance and flavor variations, especially subtle ones (pale ale vs. India pale ale vs. bitter for instance). Within these definitions, of course, there is variability: other sugar or starch sources besides grains (such as fruits, processed sugars and syrups, honey, and so on) may be added to supplement the beer at various stages of the brewing process; the beer can be flavored with other herbs and spices in addition to (and sometimes instead of) hops; it may be aged in wooden barrels previously used to age other alcohols; and so on.

Ultimately, these definitions all still agree that beer, at its core, is primarily made from grains and hops and adheres to a certain set of guidelines (and the country of Germany took this definition step further—or narrower—with their Reinheitsgebot purity law which stipulated that beer could legally only consist of malt, hops, water, and yeast).

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Oregon Beer News, 02/08/2012

Posted: February 8th, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Here is the Oregon beer news for Wednesday, February 8th, 2012. As usual, I will be periodically updating this news post throughout the day, so if you have some news of interest to share, please contact me and I can get it updated.

Ezra at the New School reports that the much-sought-after Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing is landing in Oregon today, at Higgins Restaurant in Portland: “Always the first to tap the keg in Portland, it seems Higgins Restaurant in downtown Portland has done it again and will be tapping its super fresh keg of the Younger tomorrow, Wednesday, February 8th, at about 4pm. Higgins reports it only took 47 minutes for the keg to blow last year, so get there quick.”

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): They are all set to release the latest in their Brewer’s Share Experimental series, “Dan’s Satin Stout”—a 5.2% abv creamy nitro stout with wildflower honey added. There will be a Meet the Brewer event on Thursday, February 16th from 5pm to 6:30 to celebrate the release of the beer, and Full Sail is doing some cool charity work along with this series: “With each Brewer’s Share Experimental series beer, Full Sail picks a local charity to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the beer. Dan has chosen to support Hospice of the Gorge so every keg of Dan’s Satin Stout benefits this organization whose mission is to compassionately support patients and families through the end of life process.”

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Shock Top Wheat IPA

Posted: February 8th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Last week I received a six-pack of the latest offering in the Shock Top lineup: Shock Top Wheat IPA. The Shock Top line is one of the Anheuser-Busch “craft” beer arms, and the brand revolves around a Belgian Wit (or “White”) style of beer (in the same vein as Coors and their Blue Moon series); in addition to the main Shock Top Belgian White, they also produce a Raspberry Wheat and a Pumpkin Wheat—and now, a Wheat IPA.

What “Wheat IPA” actually means in this case is “Belgian IPA” as it marries a Belgian Wit style of beer with (usually) an American-style IPA hop and (usually) strength profile; it’s a style that’s not only been coming out of Belgium but is also being popularized here in the States by the likes of Stone Brewing’s Cali-Belgique, Deschutes Brewery’s Chainbreaker White IPA, Great Divide‘s Belgica, and others.

And it’s such an unlikely style for an A-B craft arm to brew that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it.

Shock Top Wheat IPA is 5.8% abv, and no idea what the IBUs are.

Appearance: Orange color, honey-like, hazy from the (recommended) swirled pour. Fluffy, substantial head.

Smell: Has that nice summery Wit aroma of coriander and sweet orange peel, with a touch of estery fruitiness. Mellow.

Taste: Interesting blend of Wit and earthy English-style IPA; neither really dominates. The “Wit” aspect is dampened and tempered by a gentle earthy bitterness—not terribly hoppy but quite a bit moreso than most A-Bs. Finishes clean and a bit muted.

Mouthfeel: Between light and medium-bodied, with a bit of a sharp edge to it.

Overall: Decent, a bit different, I’ll give A-B props for doing one like this. I don’t know if it quite hits the mark but it’s drinkable and not harsh (which I think could happen to any example of this style).

Shock Top Wheat IPA on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 2.88/5 (4 reviews). RateBeer: 2.48/5, 16th percentile.
Oregon Beer News, 02/07/2012

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news in Oregon for Tuesday, February 7th. As usual, I’ll be updating this post throughout the day so if you have some news you’d like to share, please contact me and I can get it updated.

If you were planning to attend the Ninkasi Brewer’s Dinner for the Civil Liberties Defense Center at The Granary in Eugene tonight, be aware that it has been postponed; no word on why the event had to be postponed but if you’d like to know when they event will be rescheduled you can contact CLDC directly.

Planning has begun for this year’s Corvallis Beer Week, and this year the CBW takes place from September 10th through the 16th (Monday through Sunday). Mark your calendars and plan accordingly!

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Widmer Spiced IPA

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

The second of the two beers I received from Widmer last week is their latest offering in their Rotator IPA series, Spiced IPA. This one has an interesting provenance, as it is (as far as I know) the first collaboration beer Widmer has brewed with a homebrew club that isn’t the Oregon Brew Crew; the recipe for the unusual beer originated with the homebrew club, QUAFF out of San Diego.

Widmer explains:

In the spirit of collaboration, we teamed up with San Diego’s Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity, or QUAFF for short, to brew Spiced IPA, a beer that offers an intriguing twist on the West Coast’s favorite style. Blending familiar flavors with unexpected ingredients, this hop-forward yet balanced IPA is brewed with malty assam black tea, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper, and cardamom. The beer and the spices come together, much like the brewers behind it, to create on amazing brew.

Essentially the beer is spiced with a complex, chai-like tea—combining the black tea and spices to high effect, and in fact as part of the gimmick of the PR package I received, there was included a bag of what is essentially this tea mix for which I could brew up tea with, and get a sense of how the spices would present normally. (Similar to having a bag of loose hops on hand to smell, taste, and so on.)

Spice IPA finished out at 7% alcohol by volume. It’s also new enough that I’m not sure it’s hit the shelves yet.

Appearance: Crystal clear copper-golden color, with a fine series of bubbles rising to feed the off-white head.

Smell: Black tea along with light citrus hops; other spicing that reminds me of cloves, orange peel, sweet tea; cotton candy hops.

Taste: Bitter-forward flavors that combine resiny hop stems with strong black tea and some fruity notes. Very earthy and maybe a touch of tobacco. Very interesting and characterful, lots of layers (though “tea” is the predominant essence for me).

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a spicy, earthy, bitter aftertaste.

Overall: I keep sipping to explore the spicing, it’s earthy and complex and much more “savory” than “culinary” (or dessert-y) which definitely is appropriate for this style… assuming this is a “style”…

Spiced IPA on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 4.1/5 (only 2 reviews so far). RateBeer: 3.8/5 (only 1 review so far).
Oregon Beer News, 02/06/2012

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Happy post-Super Bowl Monday! Did you all unlock the “Brew Bowl XLVI” badge on Untappd? Back to work today… and here’s the news for February 6th. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so please contact me if you have news to share.

The Broken Top Bottle Shop is now open in Bend—in fact they opened Saturday late afternoon to a large, eager crowd. We stopped in for dinner and beers, and we very impressed overall; there were a few opening night snafus but all were entirely understandable. They are going to be a valuable addition to Bend’s craft beer scene.

McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale): They are continuing to showcase the distillery/brewery connection this month with their limited edition tasting coming up this Thursday the 9th, featuring “The Widowmaker”: “Shortly after Halloween, we filled a freshly emptied Hogshead Whiskey barrel from our own Edgefield Distillery with a limited-release Black Widow Porter. For a month, the complex flavors of this wicked ale mingled with the whiskey barrel, resulting in a beer that marries the two — it is sublimely full-flavored with plenty of whiskey aroma and flavor, coupled with hints of vanilla and oak.” The tasting starts at 5pm and lasts until the beer is gone; in addition you can get tastings of the Edgefield Distillery’s Hogshead Whiskey along with The Widowmaker, and the brewers and distillers will be on-hand to answer questions about it.

Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/06/2012” »
Widmer W’12 Dark Saison

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

This year’s Brewmaster’s Release “W” series from Widmer Brothers Brewing—the W’12—is Dark Saison, a French farmhouse-style ale with a roasted nuttiness to it. But don’t let the “dark” part fool you: unlike that other unusual “dark” beer style rising in popularity, this isn’t anywhere near black or even that dark a brown, but rather a deep amber colored ale. And this one is of course one of the bottles I received from the Brewery.

The beer is 5.5% alcohol by volume, and Widmer says:

Inspired by the classic French Farmhouse ale, our interpretation of the Saison style gets its dark color and deep ruby hue from a hint of caramel and dark chocolate malts. While the beer is darker than many examples of the style, the citrus spice of Saaz hops provides a perfect balance of complex fruity esters with earthy and spicy notes. Dark Saison finishes slightly tart with a drying, clean, and pepper-like finish.

Jeff notes that this will likely be the first Saison that many Americans try, since it’s getting nationwide release—and I can’t think of any other widespread commercial Saisons with that much general reach either, can you?

Appearance: Amber-brown color (mahogany), clear, with a skiff of light tan foam.

Smell: Spicy and peppery, fairly fragrant—I notice the aroma from a distance—along with a nicely floral note. A nutty aroma?

Taste: Dry, white pepper with a touch of cracked black pepper, and a bit of roast to it, almost a nuttiness. A spicy, earthy bite to it, but it’s very clean, with perhaps a tiny bit of astringency.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and dry, with a thin(ish) feel to it on the tongue.

Overall: This is a nice, “mainstream” saison, I think. Nothing flashy but fairly easy drinking.

W’12 Dark Saison on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 84/100. RateBeer: 3.28/5, 65th percentile.
Received: Shock Top Wheat IPA

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:35pm CET by Jon

I have to say, one style I wouldn’t have expected the big breweries to delve into (even as part of their smaller “craft” branches) is the relatively-new Wheat or Belgian IPA… but that’s exactly what Anheuser-Busch has done with their latest Shock Top release: Shock Top Wheat IPA, which I received a six-pack of this week.

This is slated to hit the shelves nationally on the 6th (Monday), and at first blush—it’s rather interesting and actually not bad at all. I’ll be drinking more and writing up review notes for it this weekend sometime.

(And no, I don’t automatically turn my nose up at macro-brewed brands remember—I’m a beer geek, not a beer snob, and I’m always interested in trying new beers—whether from A-B or the newest nanobrewery down the street.)

Some details from the press release:

The newest full-time addition to the Shock Top family, Shock Top Wheat IPA is a unique hybrid style that brings the refreshment and smoothness of a wheat beer and marries it with the crisp, hoppy bitterness of an India Pale Ale (IPA).

To create the new beer, brewmasters started with Shock Top’s signature recipe, adding citrusy Cascade and Magnum hops and dry hopping the beer for several days to give Wheat IPA the rich, hoppy aroma that is the signature of IPAs. Containing 5.8% alcohol by volume (ABV), Shock Top Wheat IPA will be sold nationwide in six- and 24-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draught.

Which interestingly puts it at about the same level as Deschutes‘ Chainbreaker White IPA (just recently announced as the newest year-round addition to their bottled line-up).

More soon.
The Session #60: Growlers Galore

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 8:30am CET by Jon

Today is The Session‘s Diamond Anniversary! (Although technically it would be its “mensiversary” for the Latin and date geeks among you.) The Session is a monthly collaborative beer blogging event where a different host for each month suggests a topic, and on the first Friday of that month everyone who wants to participate writes about that topic. (As simple as that!) Our host then collects links to all the other Session posts for easy reading.

This month’s host is Kendall Jones of the Washington Beer Blog, and the topic he has selected is “Growlers Galore“:

These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.

Tell us about your growler collection. Tell us why you love growlers or why you hate them. What is the most ridiculous growler you’ve ever seen? Tell us about your local growler filling station. Ever suffer a messy growler mishap? Anything related to growlers is acceptable.

I haven’t taken to collecting growlers in the same way that I would collect bottles, partially because I don’t have the room—indeed I did a major purge of my bottle “collection” about a year ago and I still really don’t have room for more—and partially because the growlers I have are a reusable commodity: I keep getting them refilled!

I only have a small number of growlers though: two from 10 Barrel Brewing, one a Rogue Dead Guy growler, one from Hopworks Urban Brewery, and one from Steelhead Brewing in Eugene. Those are my clean and reusable set, and all are the standard brown glass, half-gallon “jug” style without much fanfare; I have another fancier one from Southern Oregon Brewing with a ceramic flip top and metal handle that my brother gave me, but it’s not in good enough condition to fill unfortunately.

But for me these are “working” growlers: I’ve taken to always carrying one or two in the car with me on the off-chance that I’ll be near a brewery, and for the most part I’m unconcerned about the decor on the bottle. And fortunately that decor doesn’t matter as I live in a state (Oregon) that has lenient enough beer laws to allow breweries to fill any growler that comes in the door, even ones from other breweries (indeed, some breweries will fill just about any lidded container you bring in), unlike, say California or South Dakota that will only let you fill a growler if said growler is from that same brewery.

So I love having a growler on hand, but not for a collectible purpose, for me it’s almost entirely functional. Don’t get me wrong—having a Hopworks growler is cool but what’s even cooler is being able to fill it with fresh beer from Deschutes, or Brewers Union, or Barley Brown’s, or any number of other Oregon breweries anytime I’m in their neighborhood. It’s hard to beat that.
Oregon Beer News, 02/03/2012

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Friday! Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Friday, February 3rd (and going into the weekend). I will be periodically updating this post throughout the day with news bits, so if you have something to share please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Old Mill Brew Wërks (Bend): The original owners of the brewpub/restaurant in Bend’s Old Mill District have sold the pub to focus entirely on building out their own (production) brewery, according to a local Bend Bulletin article (which is unfortunately behind their paywall). They will be renovating the brewery space formerly occupied by 10 Barrel Brewing tentatively beginning in March, installing a 7bbl system. They’ve tapped Michael McMahon from Langley Brewing in Langley, Washington to be their new head brewer. (I’m not sure how/if the name will change considering they’ve taken the brewery out of the “Old Mill”.)

Brewpublic has a nice article on the new Golden Valley Brewery Beaverton which opened recently, giving a nice overview and introduction to the new brewpub and former Chili’s location. “The bar now offers up large TV’s to catch some sports while sitting at some tall bar tables in the middle and shorter tables around the perimeter. Speaking of the bar, Golden Valley offers a full liquor selection along with 6 wines on tap and 10 taps of their beer that they bring in from their McMinnville location. The ten selections offer some excellent variety in styles that you’d expect from a brewpub with this history.” And they just recently released their first beer brewed at the new Beaverton location, “Exit 65 IPA” which is looking to be a popular addition to the GVB lineup.

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