1. SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience
About 2 weeks ago, I was down in our nation's capital (Washington, DC for you geography all-stars) for SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. The event was AWESOME to say the very least. There was somewhere in the range of 60 different breweries there, each with 2 beers each. This wasn't your ordinary beer festival though--every single beer was paired with a small appetizer. The food ranged from meat skewers to little shots of soup to mini-lamb burgers to chipotle chocolates. The pairings were really quite well done. Basically, the SAVOR organizers put together a large and varied menu of appetizers, cheeses, and mini-desserts, and then allowed the various breweries to select two of their beers to pair with items on the menu. In addition to the main event, I also had the opportunity to attend one of the "salons" (small 20-person pairing sessions led by the brewers/chefs themselves). For the last hour of the evening, I attended Paradox or Parallel - the Curious Matter of Craft Beer & Chocolate , a chocolate and beer pairing with Hugh Sission of Clipper City Brewing as well as Kim Rigby and Brenda Nelson of Parfections. I think this was definitely the highlight of the evening--it was incredible to see how well chocolate and beer complemented each other. I think most people could see how a rich stout or porter would pair well with chocolate, but what about an IPA? You wouldn't think it works, but it was really a tasty combination. If I remember correctly, the truffle paired with the IPA had an orange filling and was sprinkled with sea salt on top. The orange in the chocolate worked really well with the citrusy hops in the IPA, and the sea salt on top helped to cut the bitterness of the beer (in fact, sometimes you'll see people sprinkle some salt in their beer if it's too bitter for them--I call these people first-class pussies). And, now for the icing on the cake: I met Charlie Papazian (president of the Brewers Association and the "godfather" of homebrewing) and Ray Daniels (author of Designing Great Beers), who actually hosted my salon! These guys are true beerlebrities (just coined another word--write that down), and as J.T. can attest, I was a bit starstruck....yes, I'm a huge beer-dork and proud of it! Oh yea, that's J.T. and I posing for a "red carpet" pic at the event (I'm the sexy guy making a funny face on the left, and J.T.'s the schmuck on the right).
2. BUZZ Off 2009 Homebrew Competition
Last Saturday, I headed down to the Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in West Chester, PA to judge a homebrew competition hosted by BUZZ (Brewers United for Zany Zymurgy). In case you're curious, zymurgy is the scientific study of fermentation (not to mention the name of a kick-ass homebrew magazine published by the American Homebrewers Association). I judged the German Wheat & Rye beer category in the morning, where I tasted some Weizens, Dunkelweizens, and Weizenbocks--there were no rye beers (Roggenbier) entered. None of them were extraordinary in my opinion--I think our top beer in the category was under 40 points (out of 50), but apparently one of the Dunkelweizens went on to win Best of Show for the competition, which is slightly mind-boggling, but whatever. In the afternoon, I judged the Light Lager category, which was really interesting, because I basically had homebrewed versions of Bud Light and Heineken. The category includes Lite American Lager, Standard American Lager, Premium American Lager, Munich Helles, and Dortmunder Export. There were actually some pretty decent beers in this flight. One of the Dortmunder Exports was excellent--crisp and clean with a refreshing hop character. Believe it or not, light lagers are one of the hardest styles to brew, because there's no strong flavors to hide any mistakes or infections. It was a pretty fun day overall, and I came home with a nice bottle Iron Hill's FE 10 Anniversary Ale, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, which I'm probably gonna save for the Fourth.
3. Independence Pale Ale & The July 4th Jockey Box
Speaking of the Fourth, I'm gearing up for another legendary July 4th in the Adirondacks, and got things rolling last Sunday with a long brewday. I brewed a clone recipe of the Lagunitas IPA, using 5 different kinds of hops (Magnum, Summit, Willamette, Centennial, and Cascade). The beer is fermenting strong right now and I'm going to move it to the secondary fermenter on Sunday, where I'm going to dry-hop it was 3/4 of an ounce each of Centennial and Cascade (I may just up it to an ounce so I don't have any leftover--the more the better!). The Independence Pale Ale, I've dubbed it, will sure to provide a Hoppy July 4th! Damn, that was awesomely corny. On top of getting the IPA ready, I've also been getting parts together to build a 3-tap jockey box (or draft box) to use with commercial kegs during the long weekend. Each keg will sit in its own bucket filled with ice, and the beer lines will feed into a 120qt cooler equipped with three 50 foot stainless-steel beverage coils, which will then feed into the faucets. I'm pretty confident that between the buckets and coil system, the beer will be Rocky Mountain cold when it comes out!
4. Upcoming National Homebrewers Conference
Finally, in less than one week, I'll be flying to sunny Oakland, CA for the National Homebrewers Conference. I'm heading out there on Wednesday next week and staying until Sunday. The conference will surely prove to be the ultimate beer event of the year (for me at least). On the schedule for the conference, I'll be stewarding at the National Homebrew Competition Judging on Thursday morning, followed by the "opening toast" in the early afternoon. There's also a couple of seminars that afternoon, of which I'm probably going to attend one on wood aging beer and one on brewing authentic German lagers. Thursday night is Pro-Brewers night (basically a regular beer festival with commercial breweries). On Friday morning, I'll probably go to seminars on extreme fermentables (with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head) and one on advanced homebrewing science. The afternoon begins with the keynote address from Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada, followed by more seminars (I'll probably go to one on yeast and a "going pro" panel). Friday night is Club Night, which means a beer festival with all homebrewed beer (different homebrew clubs have booths setup). Saturday means more seminars, and I'll probably attend a troubleshooting panel, one about equipment, one about quality, one about beer color, and another yeast seminar. Saturday evening is the Grand Banquet (a beer pairing dinner) and the awards ceremony for the National Homebrew Competition. I'm really excited about this mini beercation (there's one more; write that down), and I'll be sure to provide a detailed updated when I return. Until butter flies, drink your beer!
