'Fest Frenzy

Tomorrow from 12 - 7 is the Shirlington Oktoberfest as known as the "best thing to ever happen in Shirlington." I can joke, because I lived there for a year. The brewery list is impresssive, 51 in total:

1. Capitol City Brewing Co.
2. Rogue
3. Southern Tier
4. Hacker Pschorr
5. Woodchuck Cider
6. Heavy Seas
7. Boston Beer
8. Starr Hill
9. Troegs
10. Sierra Nevada
11. Mad Fox
12. Dc Cophouse
13. Gordon Biersch
14. Vintage 50
15. Specialty Bev.(Belgian)
16. Specialty Bev. (German)
17. Specialty Bev. (mixed)
18. Olde Richmond
19. Hebrew
20. Duck Rabbit
21. Hofbrau
22. New Holland
23. Wetten Imports
24. Alewerks
25. Bell’s
26. Dogfish Head
27. Stone Brewing
28. Avery
29. Founfers
30. Lagunitas
31. Oskar Blues
32. 21st Amendment
33. Victory
34. Left Hand Brewing
35. Terrapin
36. Blue Point Brewing
37. St. George Brewing
38. Bluegrass Brewing
39. Boulder beer Co.
40. Green Flash
41. Hops
42. Old Dominion
43. Firestone Walker
44. Flying Dog
45. Allagash
46. Abita
47. Brooklyn
48. The Raven
49. Climax Brewing
50. Shenandoah
51. Sweetwater Tavern

Meg and I will be out there early trying to beat the crowds and get back to watch some of the Hokie game starting at 3:30. I hope to see some familiar faces out there.

-HolzBrew

Where Brooklyn at?

Above, a slightly edited camera phone picture from my trip to Brooklyn Brewery on Sunday.

We enjoyed some of the brewer reserve offerings, Blast and Detonation, as well as, the Weisse and Sarabrossa. All excellent beers. The chill environment at the brewery made for a relaxing visit. Highly recommended if you are in the NYC area.

-Holz

Touring and drinking brew at Brooklyn Brewing in Brooklyn. Great atmosphere! Brewmaster reserve Blast and Detonation are fantastic!

The difference between an ale and a lager

Here's a question I get all the time when I'm describing one of my newest creations. What's the difference between an ale and a lager?

Sometimes I'm a little surprised when people I know who are burgeoning beer enthusiasts are unaware of the difference between the two houses of beer, ale and lager. The essential difference is simply the type of yeast used to ferment the wort (beer before it's beer).

Ale yeast is the so-called top-fermenting (or top-cropping) yeast. Ale yeasts are so called because they float to the surface and ferment (and form a foam) at the top of the wort. Ale yeast typically ferment at ambient room temperatures (approximately 70 - 80 degrees). Ales typically are characterized as beer high in esters, which lends to the fruitier flavors. Ale yeast strains are used for brewing porters, stouts, IPAs, pale ales (pretty obvious), and much much more.

Lager yeast is the so-called bottom-fermenting (or bottom-cropping) yeast. They are best fermented at temperatures ranging from 45 to 55 degrees approximately. At these temperatures, lager yeasts grow less rapidly than ale yeasts, and with less surface foam they tend to settle out on the bottom of the fermenter. This is why they are often referred to as "bottom-fermenting" yeasts. Lager beers are usually characterized by a crisp clean finish, but the final flavor of the beer will depend on the strain of lager yeast used. Now there is also a process called lagering which is usually employed when brewing lagers, but is sometimes used when brewing ales as well. Lagering a beer involves dropping the temperature of the largely completed fermenting wort close to freezing for an extended period of time (weeks to months) in order to round out the flavors and lends to the crisp finish of most lagers. Some lager styles made from bottom-fermenting yeasts are Pilsners, Märzens, Bocks, and much much more.

I hope this was helpful.

-HolzBrew

World's 'oldest beer' found in shipwreck

Pretty cool article on CNN about finding a 200 year old bottle of beer that is beleived to be still drinkable. Apparently the yeast strain is still alive in the bottle. Pretty freaking cool. Check out the story here.

-Holz

Little Bro

Although not beer related, I couldn't help but post my brother's recent interview on you tube:



Last season, in his first year as head varsity football coach, Jim led the Century Knights to a county championship. If you live in Maryland and want to see some good high school football, head up to Carroll County on a Friday night.

I can't help but be proud.

Good luck this season Century Knights!

-HolzBrew

The difference between a Stout and a Porter

I get asked this question all of the time and I'm not quite sure there is a really good answer. What's the difference between a Stout and a Porter?

It is an understandable question. They look more or less the same, the strength (ABV) is about the same, and gosh darn it if the flavor profiles aren't too terribly different. Every year inevitably a brewer at the Great American Beer Fest, wins a medal in one of the Stout categories and the brewer themselves describe the beer as a porter. See category 72: American Stout from last year's winner list, Dead Reckoning (great beer, by the way) by Troegs Brewing in Harrisburg won a silver medal. Check out the Troegs website, they call this beer a porter. In spite of this phenomenon, Stout and Porter are classified as two separate animals in the world of beer.

First, there are several sub categories of each style, stout has the following: dry stout, sweet (or milk) stout, oatmeal stout, foreign export stout, russian imperial stout, and american stout. The porter sub categories are as follows: brown (or english) porter, robust porter, and baltic porter.

I'm going to focus on american stout and robust porter. The following descriptions are from the BJCP guidelines. Specifically, the flavor and vital stats sections of robust porter:

"Moderately strong malt flavor usually features a lightly burnt, black malt character (and sometimes chocolate and/or coffee flavors) with a bit of roasty dryness in the finish. Overall flavor may finish from dry to medium-sweet, depending on grist composition, hop bittering level, and attenuation. May have a sharp character from dark roasted grains, although should not be overly acrid, burnt or harsh. Medium to high bitterness, which can be accentuated by the roasted malt. Hop flavor can vary from low to moderately high (US or UK varieties, typically), and balances the roasted malt flavors. Diacetyl low to none. Fruity esters moderate to none.

Vital Statistics: OG: 1.048 – 1.065
IBUs: 25 – 50 FG: 1.012 – 1.016
SRM: 22 – 35 ABV: 4.8 – 6.5%"

And from the flavor and vital stats sections of american stout:

"Moderate to very high roasted malt flavors, often tasting of coffee, roasted coffee beans, dark or bittersweet chocolate. May have a slightly burnt coffee ground flavor, but this character should not be prominent if present. Low to medium malt sweetness, often with rich chocolate or caramel flavors. Medium to high bitterness. Hop flavor can be low to high, and generally reflects citrusy or resiny American varieties. Light esters may be present but are not required. Medium to dry finish, occasionally with a light burnt quality. Alcohol flavors can be present up to medium levels, but smooth. No diacetyl.

Vital Statistics: OG: 1.050 – 1.075
IBUs: 35 – 75 FG: 1.010 – 1.022
SRM: 30 – 40 ABV: 5 – 7%"

Pretty similar, no? The only differences are that american stouts are "on average" slightly hoppier and slightly darker in color. Conventional brewing wisdom says that porters are brewed with Black patent malt and Stouts are brewed with roasted barley, but I've seen a study or two that shows only homebrewers stick to this convention, where as, commercial brewers use both malts in formulating their stouts and porters (I wish I could find that study, but alas I have not been able to).

This issue is constantly up for debate, simply use the search function at beeradvocate.com and you'll find many threads discussing this issue: see generally this post.

The history of both styles is very intertwined, for the cliff notes check out the wiki page for stout.

The only observation that I can lend after trying dozens of brews from each style, is that "on average" porters are a little smokier and generally are more likely to have that "burnt" characteristic. Stouts are more likely to have that coffee and dark chocolate flavor. BUT that is a very broad, "on average" observation.

Either way, fall is around the corner and nothing is better on a cool fall afternoon than a fresh stout or porter.

Keep it dark and roasty,

HolzBrew