Hopsploitation

Disclaimer: No hops were harmed during the writing of this post.

A few weeks back I placed a sizable (for me at least) hop order from the good people at http://www.freshops.com/. I purchased approximately 24 oz. of hops in variety of types. I've been itching to use them, so that's how it went down this afternoon. After brewing strange concoctions for the past couple of months like tripels with agave syrup, cherried belgain browns, cider, and wooded wild yeast beer, I decided to get back to my roots. What's that? Aggressively hopped west coast styles.

Enter the HolzBrew Hopsploitation. My main inspiration for this recipe was Nugget Nectar, the Imperial Amber Ale brewed by Troegs. I was at Norm's last weekend browsing the shelves and wishing I'd come across some Nectar. Unfortunately it is a seasonal and doesn't come out until February.

I decided to shoot for something close. I started with a split of approximately 50/50 pilsner and munich malt, which I think is fairly on point. I threw in about 6oz. of 120L crystal malt. My OG ended up at 1.064, probably a little lighter that I was shooting for, but that should put me around an ABV of 7% which is close to NN. Now for the hops. According to the Troegs website they use: Nugget, Warrior, Palisades, Tomahawk, and Simcoe. I did mine a little different: Nugget, Simcoe, Centennial, and Amarillo. The IBU calculator at rooftop brew, put this batch well past 120 IBU, but I think that's probably somewhat overstated. I'm fermenting with straight up California ale yeast from white labs, 'ole faithful.

I've got an empty keg that is begging to be filled with this IPA/Imperial Amber (What's the difference? Seriously, if someone can explain the difference to me I'd appreciate it.)

Life's better when it's bitter,

HolzBrew

What will $20 get you?

Nowadays a twenty spot doesn't go far. Maybe you can get a half a tank of gas or possibly an XL pizza.

Twenty dollars WILL get you a pack of cider yeast and three gallons of organic (code word for foolishly expensive) apple cider. That right folks, I've decided to brew up a batch of fermented apple drank. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but sometimes that works out, surprisingly. I hope the yeast will do most of the walking, so I can do all the talking (I'm not sure that makes sense here, oh well, when in Rome).

See the first day of HolzBrew cider bubbling away.

-HolzBrew

Scenes From The NOVA Brewfest

Well it was a muddy one for sure, but great beer was enjoyed by all who made it out to this fall's NOVA Brewfest. I poured for awhile at Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada. I always forget how darn good that Lagunitas IPA is, seriously, its world class stuff. Other notables included: Mad Fox Wee Heavy, Williamsburg Bourbon Amber, St. George Fall Bock and Star Hill Saison.

Keep the great beer flowing,

HolzBrew

2009 NOVA Brewfest

HolzBrew and friends will be pouring beer at this weekend's NOVA Brewfest on Sunday afternoon from 2pm to 6pm. The fest is both days, Saturday and Sunday, out at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville. Tickets are still on sale, see all the details at the official site: http://novabrewfest.com/fall/

The list of brewer's and beers can be found here. My favorite Oktoberfests this year will be available, Left Hand and Flying Dog.

If you've never been to this fest you've got to come out for it. Or even volunteer for it.

-HolzBrew

Fest Rundown 2009

While most Oktoberfest celebrations are dwindling, lots of Oktoberfest beers are available in the bars and on the shelves. I've done my best to try as many as I can and to take notes. When I tried some of them, I did not have pencil and paper around to record my thoughts, so the summary on some of these is limited. My favorites this year were Flying Dog Dogtoberfest, and Left Hand Oktoberfest (several years running now). Drink'em if you got'em.

Here goes:

Left Hand

This one has been my fave three years running and there is a reason for it. Left Hand knows what they are doing and they need to keep it up.

Look: Pours an orange-copper color with a thin cream colored head.

Smell: The aroma is downright malty, sweet, and some toffee.

Drink: As always this one is sweet all the way through. Not a cloying sweet, but big time caramelly goodness. Some noticeable hop bitterness in the finish to balance out the sweetness some.

Overall: As always, A.

Lancaster

Meg liked this one last year and was excited to see it on the shelves. Unfortunately, I think she was a little disappointed.

Look: Pours up a fairly clear bright golden orange body with a small white head which disappears quickly.

Smell: Some sweet malt smell and little hop bitterness

Drink: Initially caramel maltiness, but something here just ain't right. There is an odd sourdough bread thing going on here, then a little fruitiness. Finishes off with some hop bitterness.

Overall: The thing that threw me about this beer was the sour-tart thing going on. Its almost like they brewed it with an ale yeast strain instead of a lager yeast. Not my cup of tea, D.

Spaten

Had some of this early on in the Ok-fest season and then again this weekend. Definitely my favorite German example.

Look: Pours up a deep orange-almost brown color with marginal head.

Smell: A nice mixture of caramel - toffee maltiness with touch of nuttiness.

Drink: Brown sugar, and spiciness up front. A little bit of some orange flavor and it finishes with the expected German hop crispiness.

Overall: I definitely like this one and it was easy drinking, B+.


Bell's

Overall: Forgot to take notes with this one. I don't remember it blowing me away, but I remember it getting the job done. B-

Sam Adams

The BBC continues to disrespect this the style by spelling it with an Oct- instead of Ok-, I kid. I had a love jones for the '08 batch of Sam O-fest, but this year back to just liking it. I like to think that the beer keeps changing from year to year, but maybe its me.

Look: Amber color with a nice thick white head.

Smell: Smells malty, not much in the way of hop aroma.

Drink: Lots of munich malt up front. Sweet caramel with some roasted peanuts through the middle. Slightly thicker mouthfeel in comparison to some of its brethren. Finishes with a nice crisp bitterness.

Overall: B

Hacker Pschorr

Look: Bright and clear maple syrup color, with a thick ring of lacing.

Smell: Biscuit and nutty aroma.

Drink: Nice toasty malt and biscuit flavor upfront. Ends with a tart bitter finish.

Overall: B-

Flying Dog

Look: Pours up a a copper color, topped off with a thick foamy off white head.

Smell: Great mixture of caramel and bready aromas, blended with a pleasantly fresh floral hop aroma.

Drink: Great malt body, consisting of caramel, toffee, and something sweet like graham crackers. The body is somewhat thick with medium level of carbonation. The floral hops round out the back end with some bitterness.

Overall: I really liked this. Since flying dog moved from Colorado to Frederick, MD, I've found their beers more appealing, must be freshness. A

I also tried Paulaner this year, but I didn't take notes and I don't remember it being notable. Not sure where that puts it, but most likely in the B to C range.

Get'em while you still can,

HolzBrew

GABF Hardware and Best State For Beer

Last week's announcement of the Great American Beerfest ("GABF") winners got me thinking... BUT first, major congratulations are in order to DC/Baltimore area breweries that came away with medals:

-Brewer’s Alley Restaurant and Brewery, MD
Brewer’s Alley India Pale Ale won Bronze for English-Style India Pale Ale

-Clipper City Brewing Co., MD
Clipper City Marzhon Vienna Lager won Bronze for Vienna Style Lager

-DOG Brewing Co. MD
Pub Dog Black Dog Stout won Bronze for Classic Irish Style Dry Stout

-Flying Dog Brewery, MD
Horn Dog Vintage 2007 won Gold for Aged Beer
Dogtoberfest won Gold for German Style Märzen
Gonzo Imperial Porter won Gold for Imperial Stout
Barrel Aged Gonzo won Silver for Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer

-Devils Backbone Brewing Co., VA
Gold Leaf Lager won Gold for International-Style Pilsener
Natural Born Keller won Silver for Kellerbier/Zwickelbier
Danzig won Silver for Baltic-Style Porter
Vienna Lager won Silver for Vienna Style Lager

-Great American Restaurants ( Sweet Water Tavern ), VA
Crazy Jackass Ale won Gold for Rye Beer
Wits End won Bronze for Belgian-Style Witbier

-Rock Bottom Brewery – Arlington, VA
Dude! Where’s My Vespa? won Gold for Coffee Flavored Beer

-Starr Hill Brewery, VA
Dark Starr Stout won Gold for Classic Irish Style Dry Stout

Also the “Mid Size Brewery of the Year” went to Flying Dog and Brew Master Rob Malone of Frederick, Maryland.

All of this talk about the GABF got me thinking again about the best city or state for beer. As you can see from the results of the HolzBrew poll on the right, California won the poll easily. What if we look at the state whose breweries have won the most GABF medals? I logged onto the GABF website and downloaded the results of the last four years, 2006 - 2009(it actually took a little Excel work in order to extract the necessary data, that's why I stopped after 4 years). The top 10 states in order of total medals were:

California: 158
Colorado: 134
Oregon: 67
Wisconsin: 51
Illinois: 43
Pennsylvania: 40
Washington: 35
New York: 28
Michigan: 25
Delaware: 21

According to this analysis California is the best state for beer in the US. BUT is this really fair considering that California is the most populated state in the US? I mean California can sustain a lot of great breweries with such a large population. What if you adjust the rankings to account for population? By using the 2008 census estimate, I divided the total awards won from 2006 - 2009 by the population of that state. This yields the following results (stated in medals per million residents):

Colorado: 27.1
Delaware: 24.1
Alaska: 21.9
Oregon: 17.7
Wyoming: 15.0
Montana: 9.3
Wisconsin: 9.1
Utah: 7.3
Washington: 5.3
Vermont: 4.8

Congrats to all GABF winners,

HolzBrew

Best City for Beer in America?

What's the best city in America for beer?

Thankfully this is not an easy question to answer. My initial knee jerk answer lends a few great ones, perhaps Denver, San Diego, Portland, or possibly Boston. But after thinking about it for awhile, its clear that there is no "best" city for beer and I think that's alright (as Americans we love #1, ain't that right?). That being said I think that there are at least some relative parameters for measuring your city's beer worthiness.

1) A wide variety of local brewed beer.

Let's face it, with the exception of the occasional barleywine or imperial stout, beer is a beverage best enjoyed fresh. Nothing is better than enjoying a freshly poured pint at or near the actual brewery. So in order to be great your town has to have accessible breweries or brewpubs. I think a a variety of local brewers is also important because it ensures more in the way of choice. Choice of what you ask? Choice of style, lager or ale, hops or malt, inspiration from afar (e.g. Belgium) or inspiration from home (e.g. west coast pale ales).

2) Great beer bars and restaurants.

A great beer city, has to have great beer bars with variety of draft and bottle selections as well as a knowledgeable staff. The knowledgeable staff part is key. I hate going to a place that has a wide selection of draft options and asking the waiter or waitress about a particular offering and they respond either that they "don't like beer" or "I mainly drink miller lite."

Also, not to be overlooked are great beer restaurants. In case you haven't noticed, beer is good by itself, but great with food. The trend in good beer restaurants the last couple of years has been beer and food pairings also beer used in the preparation of the food itself.

3) Great beer stores.

If you are like me, you like to try something new almost every week. That being said, I can't necessarily afford a trip out to my local watering hole for $8 - $12 pints of the newest Belgian IPA, but I can afford to purchase a four pack of the BIPA at a store for $10 and enjoy it all week long.

4) Great beer distributors.

This one kind of takes a back seat and isn't readily apparent, but it allows the first three items on this list to exist. You've got to have at least one to two distributors in your area who have a passion for good beer instead of just being sales focused. As highly as I regard great local beer selection, I think its still awesome if you get the chance to try stuff from either other US markets or even internationally.


So, how does DC rate in all of this? I think we do pretty well in items two through four, but we are still about a half dozen local breweries away from making it great.

How's your city hold up? What's your favorite beer town?

-HolzBrew