Helles Schlenkerla Lager

Once again, it's been awhile--life's been busy, but because of some recent events in my life, I'm going to really make an effort to step it up on this blog. I'm going to forgo a post about Belgium in Cooperstown since it was almost a month ago already--suffice it to say that it was AWESOME and I don't recall much! In terms of more recent happenings, I had a family BBQ this past weekend and served 5 gallons of homebrewed Hefeweizen on tap. The beer went over incredibly well--everyone loved it. Both my father and my aunts, none of whom are big beer drinkers absolutely loved it. It was clean, light, and refreshing--perfect for the hot August weather. And at 7% ABV (okay, it was an Imperial Hefeweizen maybe), everyone was feeling especially good! This was probably my most successful brew yet, and I'm going to be entering it in a competition (Malt Madness, put on by the Lehigh Valley Homebrewers and being held at Allentown Brew Works in Allentown, PA) this coming weekend along with my Marzen. I'll also be judging at the competition (obviously not in the categories I'm entering), so I'll provide some details on that after the weekend.

To kick-off my renewed efforts to update this blog more regularly, I felt it was only appropriate to start with some tasting notes. Tonight, I drank a Helles Schlenkerla Lager from Bamburg, Germany. This smoked helles (a German lager, similar to pilsner, but a bit more malt balanced) is unique in the fact that it doesn't actually use any smoked malt. The smoky character comes from making the beer in the same kettles and using the same equipment as the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer), the famous Rauchbier. The end result is an interesting take on classic Helles...

Aroma: Sweet, pilsner malt backbone with and upfront touch of smoke. There's a slight spicy note in the aroma, and it's hard to distinguish if this is a by-product of the smoke or hop related. Besides the spiciness, there is no hop aroma. Some sulfur is apparent in the background as well.

Appearance: Light golden, almost bright with great clarity. A small white head is formed when initially poured but dissipates quickly

Flavor: Some smokiness initially gives way to a solid pils malt profile. The beer finishes rather dry with a slightly bitter aftertaste, and the smoke lingers in the mouth for awhile. There is no hop flavor and the beer has an exceptionally clean in terms of fermentation byproducts.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body with high carbonation. The smoke gives the sensation that the beer is coating the inside of the mouth, leaving an impression that the beer is a bit heavier than it actually is.

Overall Impression: A great "gateway" beer for those afraid of trying smoked beers. The smoke is mild and welcoming. This smoked helles goes especially well with food (I had it with German-style sausage & peppers tonight); the smoke complements the meal, while the natural crispness of the lager is refreshing and cleansing.

Sam Adams, Homebrewed Hefeweizen, and the N.J. State Fair

Sam Adams Brewery Tour


Just about two weeks ago I finally got around to visiting the Sam Adams brewery while up in Boston for the weekend visiting some friends. To begin with, the brewery is in the middle of nowhere--it's in a small industrial park in an otherwise dead residential area on the outskirts of Boston. The brewery that's open for tours is actually their pilot brewhouse--they have much larger production facilities elsewhere in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania if I remember correctly. When we first got to the brewery, they were holding a small tasting in their hop garden/picnic area for their annual Beer Lover's Choice. The Beer Lover's Choice is an annual "competition" that Sam Adams holds to choose their newest beer. Consumers get to sample two options and vote for the winner. On the menu this year was a Czech Pilsner and an English-style IPA (I'm sure most west coast beer drinkers would cringe at the fact that they called it an IPA, but it's brewed in the traditional English manner--it's not an American, west coast hop-bomb). I was partial to the Pilsner and voted for it a second time (I had voted once already at the National Homebrew Conference). After voting, we began our tour. The tour itself was your standard brewery tour--nothing extraordinary for anyone who knows the least bit about beer and brewing. We sampled some grains, smelled some hops, etc. I was a big fan of our tour guide though (I think her name was Lauren). She had just the right amount of corny, tour-guide humor, and at one point she stopped in the middle of speech, leaned into me, and whispered something about having a few pints already (it was noon...awesome). Following the tour, we got to sample a few Sam Adams brews--their standard Boston Lager, their seasonal Summer Ale, and their limited released Brick Red, which is available only in Boston. Everyone's had the Boston Lager and the Summer Ale, but it was nice to try something new with the Brick Red. It was an Irish Red Ale that was sweet and malty from what I recall--a tasty and sessionable beer. On a final note, we also got a chance to smell an empty bottle of Utopia, a nearly 30% ABV beer produced every other year. The bottle (which is shaped to resemble a copper brewing vessel) had intense maple aromas, which is about all I could pick up.


Hefeweizen Brew Day!


This past Saturday I spent the day in my brewery, brewing up a Bavarian Hefeweizen for a family BBQ we're having in August. Things went very well overall. I had one hiccup in that my yeast starter didn't take off until nearly a day after I pitched. A 24-hour lag time with a starter was cause for a little concern, so I headed to the homebrew shop on Friday to pick up an extra vial of yeast before brew day. I'm guessing the slow start had something to do with the original vial being shipped from California in the hot weather (I had ordered ingredients online--last time I do that!). After my yeast scare, the brew day went great. For the first time, I had a really great mash efficiency--I usually hit about 65%, but this time, with some process changes, I hit 77%, which is perfect. The only problem was, I calculated my malt bill for 65% efficiency, so the beer had a much higher gravity than what I was shooting for. I could've watered it down to bring it within the parameters, but I figured I'd let it be. It'll just be a 7% ABV Imperial Hefeweizen; time to get the family wastyfaced! After the boil and cooling, I used pure oxygen to oxygenate the wort for the first time in order to aid fermentation (I've been having some issues with stuck fermentations). Although I can't say for sure, the oxygen seems to have done the trick. The beer's been fermenting all week at 70F, and it started spewing out of the airlock after 24 hours because fermentation was so active. It finally calmed a bit, and I'm going to clean up a bit tonight and probably replaced the airlock with a new clean, sanitized one. More updates on the hefeweizen when I pour the first pint in August!

N.J. State Fair Homebrew Competition
After a full day of brewing on Saturday, I headed over to the Sussex County Fairgrounds on Sunday to help judge a homebrew competition as part of the New Jersey State Fair. It was a relatively small competition compared to others I've been to, but they had a respectable 106 entries. In the morning, I judged the English Pale Ale and Scottish & Irish Ale categories. There were some really great beers entered--I believe first place went to a Scottish 80/- (the "/-" means Shilling--Scottish beers were historically named by how much tax was paid on a barrel), second place to a Irish Red Ale, and third place to an Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale). In the afternoon, after lunch, I judged the Belgian & French Ale and Sour Ale categories. I don't remember the winners here, but the entries consisted of Witbiers, Saisons, a Belgian Specialty Ale, and a Fruit Lambic. It was a fun competition to judge and I walked away with a t-shirt and beer mug courtesy of Krogh's (a brewpub near the fairgrounds).

Finally, this coming weekend I'm heading up to Cooperstown, NY for Belgium Comes to Cooperstown at Brewery Ommegang. The event is a Belgian beer festival with live music, food, bonfires, and camping on the brewery grounds to top it all off. I'm really excited and will be sure to provide an updated when I return!

National Homebrewers Conference (long overdue)

Though it was over a month ago, I'm finally getting around to writing about my trip to the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland, CA at the end of June. The short story is: It was AWESOME! It was such an incredible experience to be in the presence of so much beer and brewing information for 3 full days. Without writing a 30 page thesis, here's a summary of what I did at the conference, the people I met, and the beers I drank:

Wednesday, June 17
I flew into Oakland, checked into my hotel, and without a minute to spare headed over to Pacific Coast Brewing for a bite to eat and my NHC inaugural beer (Pacific Coast's Ultra Yellow, a "double maibock" style beer). An interesting note on Pacific Coast is that they brew all the beers extract, not all-grain. I'm not sure the exact reason for this (extract is more expensive), but I suspect it has something to do with available space for a full brewhouse. After the Ultra Yellow, I tried their Leviathan Imperial Stout for a night-cap and then it was off to bed.

Thursday, June 18
First thing in the morning, I headed over to the registration table to get my conference credentials, tasting glass, welcome kit (a bunch of freebies from different homebrew supply companies), and commemorative conference beers (an IPA and a Saison brewed specially for the conference). I started off Thursday's festivities by stewarding at the National Homebrew Competition for the Specialty Mead table. I've never really tried meads before, so it was an interesting experience. Since this was the second (and final) round of the competition, there were some top notch meads there. Among some of the more unique varieties was a raspberry-chipotle mead with a distinct spicy/smoky characteristic and a mint-lime mead that was crisp and refreshing. After the morning of stewarding, the conference officially began with the Opening Toast. Among the speakers were Jamil Zainasheff (award-winning homebrewer, beer author, and Brewing Network brewcaster), Gary Glass (director of the American Homebrewers Association), and Charlie Papazian (founder of the AHA and the "godfather" of homebrewing"). Following the toast, there were two sessions of seminars--I attended Water Kemistry with Colin Kaminski (brewmaster at Downtown Joes) and Funkification: A 100% Brettanomyces Spontaneously Fermented Mind Dump with Vinnie Cilurzo (brewmaster/owner of Russian River). I'm not gonna go into detail about the seminars here because it'll take way to long. If you're interested, shoot me an email and we can talk. I also don't remember much, because during the entire conference we were served beer from 9am till bedtime. Drunken lullabies indeed. Thursday's evening event was Pro-Brewers Night, a 3.5 hour beer festival with professional breweries from all over the country--though mostly California establishments, since we were, well, in California.

Friday, June 19
Friday morning brought two more sessions of seminars. I hit up Extreme Fermentables with Sam Calagione (brewmaster/owner of Dogfish Head) and Making Better Beer II: Advanced Homebrewing & Science with homebrew gods Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher. Early that afternoon was the Keynote Address given by Ken Grossman, the founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (and a beerlebrity in his own right). Following Ken's speech I attended two more seminars: Yeast: Taking It To The Next Level with Dr. Michael Lewis from UC Davis' brewing program and a Going Pro Panel that was moderated by Justin Crossley (founder of the Brewing Network). That evening was Club Night, a 4 hour homebrew extravaganza. Instead of professional breweries having booths, different homebrew clubs setup booths and served their members' beer on tap. Some clubs had over 20 taps going at once! Club Night was a lot of fun, especially because each club had their own theme going on (check out some of my pics--link at the bottom of this post).

Saturday, June 20
After barely recovering from Club Night, I made it to two more seminars in the morning: Troubleshooting Panel moderated by James Spencer (host of Basic Brewing) and The Equipment Geek with homebrewer and self-proclaimed equipment geek, Kent Fletcher. In the afternoon, there were three tracks of seminars--I only made it to two: Maintaining Ideal Yeast Health: Nutrients Yeast Need with Dr. Tobias Fischborn from Lallemand (a yeast company) and Chocolate and Beer, a delicious event with Timothy Childs of TCHO (a chocolate company) and Roger Davis (brewmaster at Triple Rock). I skipped the third seminar session that afternoon because nothing looked that interesting and I was thirsty--I headed over to The Trappist for a beer, an awesome Belgian beer bar near the hotel in Oakland. Saturday evening was the Grand Banquet, which meant at end to the conference. The banquet was a three-course beer pairing dinner prepared by Sean Paxton, the homebrew chef. Each dish was brewed with beers from Rogue and was paired with a specific Rogue beer during the meal. The highlight for me was when the chocolate mousse (made with Rogue Chocolate Stout) came out garnished with real crystal malt (a sweet, caramel-like malted barley used in brewing).

Overall, the conference was a great success...for my mind and my liver! I learned a ton of new information about beer and brewing, and I tasted a bunch of awesome beers. I will definitely be attending again next year (in Twin Cities, Minnesota) and hopefully I can drag some friends with me (here's to you Sully/Mose!). If you haven't seen them already, here are some photos I took at the conference: NHC Pics

I'll hopefully have some additional post(s) later this week about my visit to the Sam Adams brewery last weekend, my brew-day yesterday (I brewed a hefeweizen), and the homebrew competition I judged today for the NJ State Fair. Also, this coming weekend is Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, a Belgian beer festival and camping extravaganza at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY...more on that later! Cheers!