OBX Brew

As we have been doing for the last five or six years, to celebrate the kick off of Summer Meg and I and an assortment of friends flock to the Carolina Coast for Memorial Day weekend, in search of sun (sometimes we find it), cold beer (we always find that), and relaxation (depends on how late you stay up). For at least the past 3 trips I have brewed and bottled a batch (sometimes 5 gallons and sometimes 10 gallons) of beer just for the occasion. The first two years I brewed something I dubbed a "Strawberry Blonde Ale." Last year I brewed a American Wheat Ale in the style of Bell's Oberon. Well its getting to that time of year and the house is booked and I need to start thinking about what I am going to brew this year.

The idea is to brew a beer on the lighter side, but that is still full of flavor to complement a warm sunny afternoon.

The options this year are as follows:

Hefeweizen

I've never brewed a Hefe before, but its essentially the quinessential summertime beer. Full of flavor, but light in body. In my opinion a hefe that is low on banana flavor is preferable.

American Pale Ale

I already make a pretty damn good American pale ale, that has already received one request (thank you Swanny).

American Wheat

Similar to last year, but probably somewhat hoppier.

California Common

Can you say Anchor Steam?

Strawberry Blonde

Been there done that, but people seem to like it.


If you are not sure on the style check out the BJCP guide for a definition.

I've added a poll on the right, please chime in. Even if your not coming on the 2009 OBX trip, which of these would you prefer for an early summer beach trip?

Life's a beach,

HolzBrew

Denver Days

AHHHH Yes my favorite place for Beer Travel, Denver, the sunshine state. It had been way too long (October 2007, crazy I know) since Meg and I made the pilgrimage to the US capital of all things hoppy, malty and delicious.

We left last Friday and arrived at Denver International around noon. We promptly rented a 4 wheel drive (the only way to get around in Colorado) and headed for our hotel in Longmont. Why Longmont, you may ask? Because that is the location of Left Hand Brewing Company. On our way to the hotel, Meg and I were looking for something to eat so we made an impromptu turn on Main St. and chanced upon Pumphouse Brewpub. The third picture up above is from the Pumphouse or as the locals refer to it, just da' House. Pictured is their IPA, which was very good and I think Meg's club sandwich and you might be able to make out a little bit if the fish tacos I ordered (playing the good Catholic boy on a Friday in lent).

After dropping off our bags we hit up the Left Hand tasting room for some drankz. Different than VA, breweries can just sell their beer on site and not offer food. Now some breweries may have a small bar where visitors can taste their beers, but this place large and well decorated and it was truly more of a bar scene than a "tasting room." I was surprised at the wide variety of Coloradans that were at the tasting room for happy hour. Everyone from guys and gals with suits on (just getting off work) to blue collar guys and college kids. The first photo above is the flight of six that Meg and I went with. If memory serves I believe we tried the: pilsner, winter warmer, warrior ipa, milk stout, imperial stout (aged in brandy barrels for a year!!!) and the twin sisters (double IPA, right up my alley).

After re-hydrating at the hotel, we headed for Lyons, CO for dinner at the Oskar Blues restaurant. If the name doesn't ring a bell, then they are the guys who make Dale's Pale ale and Old Chub, really the modern day champion of canned craft beer. Meg and I were so full from pumphouse and left hand that we choked down a little food and did the best we could on a couple of beers from the bar.

The next morning after some much needed exercise, we hit up Boulder for lunch. Now, Boulder might be one of the coolest towns in all of the US. If my company had an office there, I'd be on the first flight. After a nice lunch of gyros, MEg and I asked around for a good beer store. We were heading for Vail for the next couple of days, but wanted to make sure we tried some new beer while we were hitting the slopes. We settled on a sixer of Deschutes Inversion IPA (absolutely fantastic stuff, I wish they would distribute to the east coast) and Upslope IPA (a very nice offering from Boulder, CO).

The next couple of days we spent skiing. Monday evening we found ourselves back in Denver and decided to stop by the famed Falling Rock taphouse. The Rock had 69 beers on draft, wow what a selection. Meg and I both went for Russian River offerings since we can't get them here on the east coast. I went with Damnation and Meg went with the famous Pliny the elder. Both awesome. It was a slow night and we starting chatting it up with Chris Black, the owner of The Rock. He's a great guy and he regaled with a ton of beery stories. He's actually on the Brewer's Association events committee and was getting us excited for this years Savor in DC. As always, Denver/Vail was a memorable voyage. I think I could plan every vacation there for the next ten years and be very very happy.

Denver daydreaming,

HolzBrew

HolzBrew Wordle

This is pretty cool. Check out "wordle.net" It essentially takes a website and creates a word cloud with words from that website. The larger the word, the more often it is used on the site.

See the HolzBrew Blog Wordle here

2008 Craft Beer Stats

Good News! Craft beer is growing. That might not be a huge surprise to many people familiar with the craft beer industry, but in a recession economy, basic logic would say that consumers would spend less on beer and drink cheap mass produced swill. Not the case. You the consumer have spoken and despite plummeting 401Ks and IRAs you've decided to spend more this year on craft beer compared to 2007. Hats off to you and your sophisticated palate, well played good sirs and madams.

This is very exciting for those of us who secretly harbor the desire to open a brewery or brewpub.

From www.beertown.org:

The Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data for U.S. breweries, announced that today's small independent craft brewers are gaining alcohol market share due to a shift toward full flavor beer and increased support for local breweries. From 2007 to 2008, estimated sales by craft brewers were up 5.8 percent by volume and 10.5 percent in dollars¹. Overall share of the beer category from craft brewers was 4.0 percent of production and 6.3 percent of retail sales. More than 1 million new barrels of beer were sold in 2008, and close to half of those barrels were beer from craft brewers.

"2008 was a historic year for beer with the large brewers consolidating and imports losing share, while the top ten selling beer brands dropped in sales. At the same time, small independent craft brewers continued to gain share and attention," said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association.

With total U.S. beer being more than a $100 billion industry, the Brewers Association estimates the actual dollar sales from craft brewers in 2008 were $6.34 billion, up from $5.74 billion in 2007. Taxable barrels of the total beer category was 1,210,018 more in 2008 with craft brewers producing 473,364 of those barrels. Total craft brewer barrels for 2008 was 8,596,971, up from 8,123,607 barrels in 2007.

Beer's popularity as America's favorite fermented beverage continued in 2008 with Gallup stating "beer is back to a double-digit lead over wine." Taking into account the challenges in today's economy, BevincoNielsen released a survey showing beer was faring better than spirits, with wine lagging. The Brewers Association emphasized trading across from wine and spirits to beer continues, with some of today's wine drinkers discovering the affordable enjoyment and rewards of craft beer.

These increases in share and barrels for craft brewers come at a time when, according to the Brewers Association, the cost of operating a small brewery increased over 39 percent in the period of November 2007 to November 2008. The Brewers Association states that today's craft brewers face many challenges including:

* Access to ingredients and raw materials
* Increased pricing for materials and supplies
* Access to market (competition for shelf space at the retail level)

Trappists IV: Westmalle

Its been awhile since I posted in my series of trappist breweries. Well today's post covers the Westmalle brewery, home of the original tripel!

The Trappist abbey in Westmalle was founded 6 June 1794. Martinus Dom, the first abbot decided to brew their own beer, and the first beer was brewed in 1836. The first beer was described as light in alcohol and rather sweet. By 1856, the monks had added a second beer: the first strong brown beer. This brown beer is today considered the first double (dubbel, in Dutch). The current Dubbel is derived from a recipe first brewed in 1926. The monks began local commercial sales in 1856.

The brewery was enlarged and rebuilt in 1865 based on the example set by the Trappists of Forges (nearby Chimay). Father Ignatius van Ham joined the brewer team. Further commercialization and sales to traders commenced in 1921. In 1933 a new brewery was built and in 1934, the brewery brewed a strong pale ale of 9.5% abv giving it the name TRIPEL - the first known use of the name! The brewery was remodeled in 1991. It currently has a bottling capacity of 45,000 bottles per hour, and yearly output of 120,000 hL (in 2004).

The brewery produces three beers.

* Westmalle Dubbel, a 7% ABV Dubbel. Despite its dark color and strong aroma, it is not as rich and full-bodied as one might think upon imbibing. It does not go straight to the head, and is a local favorite because of its soft flavor. It has a brown color from dark malts and dark candy sugar as well as a dry finish.

* Tripel Westmalle, a 9.5% ABV tripel, was first brewed in 1934 and the recipe has not changed since 1956. It is made with pale candy sugar and has a very pale color produced from a mash of light pilsner malts. Styrian Goldings hops are used along with some German varieties and the classic Czech Saaz pilsner hop. After a long secondary fermentation, the Tripel is bottled with a dose of sugar and yeast. This beer holds up well in the bottle over time and seems to soften with age.

* Westmalle Extra, 5% ABV, a beer produced only for the monks (patersbier). It is not available for sale, but can sometimes appear at local beer festivals.

The abbey also produces milk and cheese.

Drink like a monk,

HolzBrew

Spotting a Unicorn - the famed Obamagang

Last weekend Meg and I hit up Paradiso in Gtown for dinner. I had been searching the area for the mythical Obamagang by the Cooperstown brewing giant Ommegang (I think that they qualify as "giants" now that they are part of the Duvel family of beers, no?). Well I found it, sure enough the 'diso had it on draft downstairs in the birreria paradiso (try saying that three times fast). If haven't heard of the Obamagang it was a special release brewed for the inauguration of one Mr. Barrack Obama. The TTB wouldn't officially let them call the beer Obamagang on the keg labels, so it is known legally as Inauguration Ale 2009. It had a limited release in DC, NYC, Syracuse, Philly, Chicago and Boston.

So how was it? I enjoyed this one immensely. Perhaps in line with our new prez, this beer defies any style classification. I think it is described somewhere as between a porter and a stout with kriek added. I guess that's a pretty decent description. This beer is all about malt, so don't go expecting much in the way of hops. In the above picture (sorry for the graininess, I used my cell camera) it is the beer on the right. As you can probably see it pours up an opaque brown with a small amount of white lacy head. The smell is largely toffee and chocolate. The taste has notes of chocolate, espresso, and interestingly roasted peanuts. I actually was drinking while eating some salty olives and the combination of the two left me with the distinct after taste of pretzels. The beer actually finishes with a little bit of tartness due to the kriek, which I thought was really unique.


If you can find this special release in your neck of the woods, don't delay because I'm sure its drying up fast.

-HolzBrew

The perfect case of beer

 

We stopped by Norm's last night for the usual friday night routine and my was it a fantastic trip. If it wasn't just the holidays I would have thought it was Christmas come early. We put together one of the greatest cases of beer known to mankind: 2 six packs of Bell's Hopslam, 1 six pack of Troegs Nugget Nectar, and 1 six pack of Sierra's new Torpedo IPA. For those not familair with any of the above listed beers, they are a hophead's dream come true. Norm's recieved all three Friday afternoon and we were assured that their stock of all three beers would be gone in a day or two. As if it wasn't sweet enough to construct the perfect case of beer, Norm's had also received a shipment of 22oz. bottles of Stone's Cali-Belgique. At first we were given the bad news, that although Norm's received this shipment on Friday, they had completely sold out of it before we arrived at the store. But through generosity Raul, our buddy who frequently works the Friday night shift, was willing to part with the bottle he had saved for himself in the back b/c he knew how excited we were to try it. Now that's friendship folks. Needless to say it was a great night.

-HolzBrew