Category: Other Beers

NA beers have suddenly become of interest in my household again, and as generalization, I think they’re just not good. Luckily, it doesn’t matter what I think. Dave Eryn at BS Brewing has a great review of NA beers, and while I differ from her on Kaliber, I agree that O’Douls Amber is about as close as you’re going to get to a decent beer sans alcohol. Still, it’s not great, but there might be a way to improve on it.

My wife is as big a hop head as I am, and one thing consistently missing from NA beers is discernible hoppiness. Buckler at least gets the slight skunk of a green bottle correct, but that’s a pretty lame distinction. So here’s what I tried.

Hop reduction

Bert Grant used to carry an eye dropper of hop oil with him to add to tame beers. Hop oil is extracted using alcohol, something we’re trying to avoid, so why not create a hop tea? I’ve got a lot of hops, so boiling an ounce of Summits seemed like a good use. I boiled the hops in a small stock pot for about 5 minutes, then strained off the cones and continued to boil the tea for another 10 minutes to reduce the volume. The resulting brownish sludge didn’t look too great, but it smelled nice. A reckless sip and I was startled at how bitter it was. Better be careful.

A small addition to a pint of beer definitely made the beer more bitter. Sadly, it was impossible to get the right mixture of the reduction to get the desired hoppiness without making it too bitter. Maybe a hop variety with a lower alpha acid percentage would be better, but this just didn’t work.

Hop Oil

This stuff contains alcohol. To get the hop oil, you have to use alcohol to extract the oils from the glands. But, as it turns out, you only use 2 drops per 12 oz bottle, something that is well within a safe consumption level. I tried two drops in a bottle of Widmer Drop Top, and the beer suddenly became much more to my liking. For the first couple sips. Then it was time to re-drop. I think I used a total of 5 drops over the course of the beer. This is promising though.

Michelle tried it in an O’Douls and the flavor is markedly improved. It’s almost drinkable. The body is now the missing link. I wonder if there’s a way to add unfermentables to bolster that….

In the mean time, it looks like tonic & lime is the preferred alternative.

As part of Fermentation Friday, I’ll be answering the following question: “”What is the craziest concoction you ever came up with, on the fly or prepped, to brew with?

I have to say I don’t have much that really qualifies as crazy. I once used a tea towel as a grain sack, a chip clip for a racking cane holder, and the usual assortment of Pyrex and other kitchen gear or garden hoses in a pinch. Nothing too elaborate though.

I think one of the worst mid-process “hacks” I made was during one of my first bottlings. I misread the instructions on adding priming sugar, so instead of adding sterilized water with sugar in solution to the bottling bucket, I added sugar in individual measurements to each bottle. As if this wasn’t inexact enough, I didn’t have a funnel at the time (college) so I used a sheet of paper from the middle of the ream (seemed the cleanest). The beer turned out awful and in some cases insanely carbonated. I didn’t have a single explosion though.

I was recently in Newport with the wife and kid. Michelle had a conference for work, so Ella and I decided to tag along to see the coastal town. Entering the town, you’ll notice signs identifying Newport as “The Friendliest,” no small claim to make.

One of my first tasks was to check in to brewery tours at Rogue. The last time I was in Newport was before Rogue existed, so this was my first chance to see the source of the beer I’ve been drinking for nearly a decade. Rogue beers are usually more of a treat – they cost more in the bottle, and their pub costs more to visit. A quick check of the website revealed that they do tours daily at 3pm, and a quick call to brewery revealed that minors are allowed on the tour. Score!

Michelle, Tim, Ella and I all hit up the brewery for the tour. The brewery is below the Yaquina Bay Bridge, and sits on a pretty cool piece of property on the water. From the outside, the brewery is easily identifiable with large signs on the side, and even some official looking, brown, “attraction” type signs on the road pointing to it. We got there a few minutes early and wandered around the guest shop and event room looking at schwag, medals (they have tons!) and to-go bottles.

The tour started promptly at 3, though the tour leader had only done the tour once before. She appologized repeatedly, and read descriptions from a sheet of paper while pointing (occasionally inaccurately) at the various tanks, kettles, tuns, and so on. The brewery was surprisingly rough too. For the quality of beer, and the coin they must make on $5 bottles, I guess I expected more of those funds to come back in to the brewery. It also seemed to be a maintenance day, so there was painting and other work going on, which seemed overdue.

We did get to meet a few of the brewery and cellar staff who were able to answer some of the questions I had, and they were all good people. It was really awe inspiring to see the cold storage room with its stacks of kegs and bottles ready to ship. There was a lot of Dead Guy, which I’m not the biggest fan of (weird, I know) but clearly the customer has a preference. In one corner, I noticed a stack of non-Rogue items and asked about it. Turns out it was “John’s Locker,” or his private cache of beers. There were several beers I’ve never seen before, and I’m sure will never see again. Maybe I’ll just get my own locker.

There was no tasting after the tour – a bit of a surprise, I thought. I’ve only been on 3 other official tours, and each one ended with at least a pint of the brewery’s wares. Not so here. No matter, we decided. We whipped out our Rogue Nation cards and grabbed a couple pints and enjoyed looking at the bay. The pub was in a similar unfinished state, but the service was great, and the beer was fantastic. I had a pint of Love & Hopiness and a glass of I²PA. Wonderful. We left with 2 growlers and two cases of beer to take back to the office.

Later that day Ella and I walked from our hotel to the brewpub on the bay. It was a nice walk, and we beat the rush, grabbing a table for 2 by the toys. The beer was good, the food was identical to Rogue Portland and the brewery (nothing to write home about), and the service was passable. The next night Michelle wanted to see the pub for dinner to, so we went back. This time, the service slumped. The wait staff was nice, but I had an empty beer before my meal arrived and didn’t get asked if I wanted a second until I had almost given up waiting for the bill. Yes, I ate dinner then waited nearly 15 minutes until someone came by again. I could have been a little more assertive, but I was curious to see if I had indeed fallen in to some parallel universe where you don’t have to pay for your meal and drink.

Overall, the only redeeming part of the visits was the beer. Everything I had was great. Brutal Bitter, Black Brutal, I²PA, Love & Hoppiness, 100 meter, and Shakespeare Stout.

Here are some pics from the visits.