A number of small Oregon craft brewers say business is booming with double-digit growth numbers in recent years. Odd that most of it ends up in Portland.
Rooftop South-of-Town Brown
This weekend should include the brewing of a Nut Brown – Porter hybrid called South-of-Town Brown for my sister and her friend’s move to town, and their affinity for brown ales. Plus, its fall, and it sounds really good.
Ingredients
- 6 lbs. Pale LME
- 0.5 lbs Crystal Malt (120L)
- 0.5 lbs Victory Malt
- 0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
- 1 oz. Cascade Hops – 60 minutes
- 1 oz. Cascade Hops – 30 minute
- 2 oz Willamette Hops – 5 minutes
- Irish Moss
- British Ale Yeast – pitched to starter
OG: 1.050
If the batch goes well, I may reuse the yeast cake for another.
The Drought Nears its End
Our stove top has been busted for the last 2 months and our landlord and a contracter have finally agreed upon the work and will probably start the replacement this weekend. Its been rather infuriating to only have 1 intermitently working small coil burner for 2 months.
Next beer in the works is a brown ale. Its fall, yo. I’m thinking of sharing the yeast cake with a Porter afterwords too.
Grant's Brew Pub Closes
The Grant’s era ended somewhere between Bert’s death and the introduction of Mandarin Hefeweisen, but the closing of its brew pub probably provides the best symbolism. Yakima Brewing and Malting failed to meet its financial obligations, and is being evicted from the lovely railroad depot.
Despite the shame of the closure itself, the loss of a 22 year old institution to downtown Yakima is another tragedy. What’s left?
B to the E
Anheuser-Busch has announced a new beer-like beverage that is an “infusion” of beer, guarano, berry aroma, ginseng, and caffeine.
“It’s indicative of how seriously Anheuser-Busch is taking this challenge from the liquor folks … who are growing faster than beer,” said Eric Shepard, executive editor of industry newsletter Beer Marketer’s Insights”
Seems more to me that its more indicative of AB’s ongoing mission to dilute beer to an unrecognizable consumable. CAMRA, the campaign for Real Ales is also combatting the rise of red bull & vodka style drinks, but its doing so through education rather than self-mutilation.
If the lawyers of Budvar/Czechvar are reading this – please use Be as further evidence that Anheuser-Busch doesn’t deserve the Budweiser name.
Beer tasting in Manland
Saturday was possibly the last beer tasting in Manland, and was a great time with excellent beer and terrific company. The final beer list was as follows:
- SchellÂ’s Pale Ale, Minnesota
- Tyranena Bitter Woman IPA, Wisconsin
- Rapscallion Blessing, Massachusetts
- Smuttynose IPA, New Hampshire
- Fantome BBBrr
- Long Trail Double Bag, Vermont
- LaConner Dry Hopped IPA
- Southampton Old Herb Barleywine, New York
- Allagash FOUR
- Thomas Hardy 1990, England
- OId Dominion Oak Barrel Stout
- Dogfish Head Olde School, Delaware
- JW LeeÂ’s Harvest Ale 2002, England
- JW LeeÂ’s Harvest Ale 2001, England
- JW LeeÂ’s Harvest Ale 2000, England
- JW LeeÂ’s Harvest Ale 1999, England
- JW LeeÂ’s Harvest Ale 1998, England
- Traquier House Ale ’91
- FullerÂ’s Vintage Ale, England
- Three FloydÂ’s Dreadnaught, Indiana
- Weyerbacher Old Heathen Imperial Stout, Pennsylvania
I was only around for the first ten or so, but it was everything you’d want a tasting to be. I’ll be linking to my reviews in the list as I get them posted.
Thanks again to the host, Weefisheads aka David Bradley.
Hop Madness 2004
Michelle, Barley and I just returned from this year’s Hop Madness. It was graciously hosted at Brooks Tree Farm just north of Salem, and included a tour of the hop harvest, brewing with fresh hops, a homebrew competition, great tunes from Los Mex Pistols, and general revelry.
The hop tour was excellent. We visited a local grower during the harvest. We watched the trucks unloading full vines, putting them onto hooks that fed the vines into a picker, then chopped and spit out the vines, sans hop cones. After touring the inside of the picking machine, it was on to the kiln. Giant beds of freshly picked hops on dryers. Hop cones floating, lifted by jets of hot air. To the side of the dryers, 12 foot tall piles of dried cones ready to be packed and shipped. I made the mistake of of peeling some congealed humulone resin off the packing conveyor. It was too much bitterness, but worth the experience.
I’ve put pictures from the event up too.
Hop Damn! humulus lupulus furor (hop madness)
I moved Hop Damn! to secondary today. The IBU count of 114 may be a little high, but its still bitter and has a great citrus aroma and full grapefruit flavor. The gravity is still a bit high at 1.028, but its got a week left. I’m curious how I’m going to get a bottle carbonated enough to take to Hop Madness next Saturday.
I have my doubts that it’ll win Best Damn Hoppy Beer in the Pacific Northwest, but it is good, and with any luck, it’ll get sampled near the end and will place.
Making a Yeast Starter
Even with the advent of pitchable yeast packets and vials, a yeast starter is an excellent way to get quick and vigorous fermentation. Here’s how to make one using that empty growler you’ve been meaning to fill with a local brew.
Ingredients
- 1 cup light DME (dry malt extract)
- 1/4 tablespoon of yeast nutrient
- Yeast – your choice
Equipment
- medium-large pot
- 64 oz. growler bottle or pyrex flask
- #5 rubber stopper
- Air lock
- sanitizer
- something to stir with – no porous
Process
- Sanitize your fermenting vessel and airlock
- Bring 1 liter of water (1 quart) of water to a boil. Add
DME and yeast nutrients, stir in and watch for boil-overs. Boil for ~10 minutes - Cool wort to 80F and transfer to your fermenting vessel. I’m using a 64 oz. growler
- Aerate the wort well. If you have a bottle of O2, you know what to do
- Pitch the yeast, lightly agitate the vessel, and cap with the airlock
- Let the yeasties ferment
Fermentation will probably start overnight, and you can use it as soon as yeast has started settling on the bottom of the vessel. Most people make a starter 2 days before brewing. Good luck.
Widmer Brewery Tour
Today I made a trip down to Widmer to make sure I got another taste of Muscat Love before their last keg ran dry. Since I was already going down there, I decided to hop on their brewery tour.
The tour was surprisingly popular. There were at least 15 people there total, and with the brewer’s actually working, it made for a somewhat warm and crowded tour. It wasn’t bad – but not as intimate as others I’ve been on.
The facility was very nice, and Widmer seems to have planned ahead by adding ample room for combining batches and nearly a dozen lagering tanks. I was also pleased to see a hop room full of Yakima valley’s finest.
Following the tour was a complimentary tasting where we got to sample their flagship Hefeweisen (85% of their product), Blonde, Oktoberfest, IPA and a Milk Stout. I’m not a big hefe fan, and I like theirs even less than most, but their IPA, Oktoberfest and Stout are quite good. The tour guide even gave us a free pint glass, which I believe I accidentally left, as is my custom. Damn.
Following the tour I stopped by the bar to try another glass of the Muscat Love, which I had at OBF this year and was very pleased by. However, I didn’t have it until later in the evening was wasn’t pleased with my memory. It was still excellent and the combination of grapes and hops created a very stimulating sensation, like when you rub a sage brush sprig in your fingers. It was excellent.
The bartender, despite being quite busy, brought me a couple samples. I tried the Old Embalmer barleywine (decent) and KGB bourbon barrel Imperial Stout (superb).
The trip was a bit of an eye-opener for me. I’ve pretty much turned my back on Widmer because of what is available in stores (Hefe, blond, amber) don’t strike me, and because they are partially owned by big – bad AB. However, they are excellent brewers, and as the beers at the Gasthaus show – they’re quite imaginative.