Blog-O-Beer Happenings: A Long Overdue Update

I know it's been awhile, so this is gonna be a long one (that's what she said). There's been a lot going on lately in my wonderful world of beer, so this post is gonna be a huge clusterfuck of unrelated updates, but that's what Napolean invented lists for.

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!

Reinitzgebot's Marzenbation

I opened a bottle of my homebrewed Marzen tonight. I brewed this beer back in March (Marzen = German for March) and it's been lagering at 34-35 F for about a month after fermentation was complete. I bottled it about 1.5 weeks ago. I think that besides my Southern English Brown Ale, this is probably one of my favorites. It was easy-drinking with a great malt character. I thought it would be fun to fully judge this beer with my review, and I've included scores for each of the sections as per the BJCP scoresheets. Also, for your reference, here's a link to the BJCP style guidelines for the Marzen (aka Oktoberfest), which I judged against: BJCP Marzen/Oktoberfest Guidelines. I tried to be as unbiased as possible, though it's tough, because, well, I did brewed it. Oh, and regarding the post's title, I've decided to name my home brewery, The Reinitzgebot Brewing Company after the famous Reinheitsgebot (the German beer purity law). And as for the name of the beer, you can figure that one out. Here it goes...

Aroma: Strong malt with hints of toast. Some background notes of dark fruit, though it's very faint. No hop aroma, and pretty clean. The fruit is inappropriate for the style if it's coming from esters produced by the yeast. I have a feeling the fruitiness here though is coming from the Munich malt, as it's very subdued. (9 out of 12 points)

Appearance: Medium copper with an orange tint. The clarity isn't great. Small off-white head dissipates quickly, leaving very little lacing. (1 out of 3 points)

Flavor: Biscuity and, like the aroma, there's a toasty aspect to it. Mild hop bitterness with no hop flavor. There's an initial malty sweetness that lingers a little, finishing sort of semi-dry (and maybe not dry enough for the style). Clean overall. (14 out of 20 points)

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is low to medium. The body is a little thin. No astringency and very smooth. (3 out of 5 points)

Overall Impression: A smooth, malt-focused lager. Carbonation is a little low--it could probably use a little more time to condition in the bottle. Increased carbonation will help a great deal with head formation/retention as well as the thin body. Quite tasty and very drinkable though--the flavor and aroma are really nice. (6 out of 10 points)

Total Score: 33 out of 50 points, which falls into the "Very Good" range.

So there you have it, I brewed a 33 point beer, which is something to be proud of. Yes, it's a 66%, but any score in the 30s is very good for a competition (plus 66% is better than I did on any college exam). For those who live in DC, I'll be visiting this weekend, and I plan on bringing a six-pack with me to share.

On the DC note, I'm heading down there for the weekend to attend SAVOR on Saturday, which I'm really excited about. SAVOR is a craft beer & food pairing event held at the National Building Museum. In addition to the main event, I also have tickets to a mini "salon" of beer and chocolate pairing--how could you go wrong?!?! Full update on that after the weekend!

A Wit and a Marzen Walk Into a Bar...

...and then I drank them.

This past weekend I shared a keg of my homebrewed Belgian Wit (that's actually a photo above--thanks Seamus) with a bunch of friends down at the guido-tastic Jersey shore. Between fist-pumping and spiking our hair, we somehow found the time to drink some beer. The beer came out good, but I was a bit disappointed, because it wasn't what I was shooting for. I was trying to produce a Blue Moon clone, but with a little extra flavor from a true Belgian yeast (Blue Moon uses a clean American yeast). I think the beer was good, and judging from how quickly it was consumed, so did my friends, but it just wasn't what I was looking for. A few things I would change:

1. Increase the bitter orange peel, orange zest, and coriander. I cut back on the suggested spice amounts from the recipe I used, so that I wouldn't over do it. An overly spiced beer could be disgusting. Next time I brew this though, I'm going to increase the spices a little--they were barely apparent in the flavor and aroma, and I would've liked to see a little more citrus character.
2. The recipe called for a portion of the fermentables to be pure dextrose (corn sugar). This thins the beer out a little, and it could've used a little more body. I'll probably cut the sugar in half next time and replace it with a 50/50 split of wheat and Pilsner malt to maintain the gravity.
3. I'm going to try this beer with an American yeast next time. This way, I can get the other flavor components to where I want them. Once I get everything else in place, I can try it with the Belgian yeast again to see how it complements the beer.

I'm looking forward to brewing this one again and trying to tweak a recipe to my liking--it's definitely a warm weather beer, so I'll either take another stab at it at the end of the summer or it will have to wait for next spring. In addition to the Wit, my Marzen was bottled just about 2 weeks ago, and I'm planning on opening a bottle tonight. If I'm feeling saucy, maybe I'll try to post some tasting notes on it later this evening, so be on the lookout for a second post in one day! Until tonight, may the schwarzbier with you! (Yes, I know that was horrible)