So, I decided since this is a blog all about beer, it wouldn't hurt to comment on beer news I garner through the grapevine from time to time. We could be talking about new breweries, expansions, or industry shake-ups.
This post is dedicated to Tony Magee (@lagunitasT on Twitter), who was recently very active in support of his own company/employees, but small breweries everywhere. Plus, Chicago and the brewery formerly known as Goose Island got in there too, which makes me happy Tony still has love for his original city. Before we go any further, well done Tony, well done indeed.
So, according to his Twitter posts, some executive, the one that captured the contract with Goose Island, from AB-InBev began a process of wining & dining Tony. This was not the first time a decent sized craft brewery has been approached by one of the dreaded "Big 3," and it certainly won't be the last. Hell, it wasn't that long ago Sam from Dogfish Head had to turn someone down from another conglomerate.
Well, Tony's responses on Twitter were not only hilarious, but they proved a point that all brewers must respond to at some point: to sell or not to sell. While some will make the decision to give the reigns over to some faceless company that has to focus on investors and their returns, the ones that remain strong are the ones we need to thank for moving the craft beer industry to a point where the "Big 3" have to consider these moves more and more often. Why? They are losing business to the little guy, and that is seen as a problem. Why do you think we see more and more of the big guys joining up in the last 10-15 years? This trend will continue until there is an equilibrium, more or less, in the industry, or craft wins/loses totally to the "Big 3".
So, does that mean I'm upset when some craft brewery makes the decision to sell? Not necessarily, but the game that is being played is a simple one. The "Big 3" control so much revenue, and therefore have a lot of sway in the way the overall industry is directed. When they capture a craft label, it is to add another feather in their cap for additional revenue for the investors. If that stream begins to underperform, you will see it either be cut in quantity, quality, or just removed altogether. This is very plainly on display for the consumer that is savvy enough to see it with Goose Island; look at the bottle next time, because they are no longer brewed in Chicago or by the watchful eye of a GI brewmaster. The various offerings they have generated lately seem to be less and less underpinned with the goal of quality, sacrificing some ingredients for cheaper ones. And how the hell is 312 Urban Wheat if it isn't even coming from the 312 area code?!
Some breweries are taking a different approach to this issue by going to an local or employee-owned system. Schlafly in St. Louis recently took that stance, and not only are they thriving, they are showing strong everywhere you look, even expanding into new markets. So, selling, so to speak, can be done in a way that helps in terms of cash as well as perserving the atmosphere of the brewery when it first opened.
I guess the overall thing to take away from Tony & Lagunitas being able to stand up and say no should mean that in this industry tipped highly in the favor of the "Big 3" there are still beacons of hope. Hope in the original purpose of a brewery to be in it for the beer first, the money and glory all come in a distant second. So, tonight, raise a glass and say thanks to Tony and the other small local guys that you support; they are not alone!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Beer Review Challenge: Spitefull Burning Bridges Brown Ale
Good afternoon once more! This is the dramatic conclusion (insert your favorite climatic music) to the Spiteful reviews. Again, thanks to Caitlin Malone for her help in getting these bottles. On to the review!
The brown ale style is a seriously ambiguous beer that can be so many different things. American versions are bigger in most aspects than the original source of England, but both are very good and share similarities. The malts and hops will vary from mild to aggressive depending on who is making it, but overall, you expect to have a balanced beer with bit more of a nod to the malt overall and maybe a glimpse of the hops at the end. The new trend, however, is to make this into the India Brown Ale, or a hoppy brown ale, which does make things a bit harder to narrow down. Ultimately, if it is brownish-reddish in color, with anywhere from 3% - 8% ABV, and low to high hops, you may very well have a brown ale in your glass (brewers do get to "decide" if that is what they intended to make, so be respectful if this isn't what you end up with each time).
Color: Brown through and through, but you cannot help be notice the tinge of heavy color, almost black in the right light. The head has a very fluffy, creamy, white appearance, which offers a nice contrast to the beer itself.
Head: Wow! This is some serious head retention, begging the question about hop selection, protein use, and mashing methods. Very impressive.
Taste: The balance of a true brown ale is in the heart of this beer. A touch of malty sweetness is married to a hint of bitterness from the hops. The mouthfeel of the slightly chewy character, a nod to the presence of proteins and unfermented starches, helps to give the weight to this beer you really want to see. The aftertaste also was a welcome offering, as it started with the sweetness but cleaned up with the bitterness. Yum!
Overall: I am a big fan of brown ales, because they can be anything you want them to be. Small/big, malty/hoppy, thick/thin, etc. This was one of the best I have had in a long damn time. The delicate balance of these flavors with 7.5% ABV (oh yeah baby!) and the excellent head not only heighten the appearance, but it makes the entire beer a great offering. This is one I would gladly take again...and again...and again. I would consider whether or not this beer has something to offer year round by toying with adding some candi sugar or lactose to make it a milk brown ale (sounds so tasty), but this is one hell of an ale.
Score: 8.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
The brown ale style is a seriously ambiguous beer that can be so many different things. American versions are bigger in most aspects than the original source of England, but both are very good and share similarities. The malts and hops will vary from mild to aggressive depending on who is making it, but overall, you expect to have a balanced beer with bit more of a nod to the malt overall and maybe a glimpse of the hops at the end. The new trend, however, is to make this into the India Brown Ale, or a hoppy brown ale, which does make things a bit harder to narrow down. Ultimately, if it is brownish-reddish in color, with anywhere from 3% - 8% ABV, and low to high hops, you may very well have a brown ale in your glass (brewers do get to "decide" if that is what they intended to make, so be respectful if this isn't what you end up with each time).
Color: Brown through and through, but you cannot help be notice the tinge of heavy color, almost black in the right light. The head has a very fluffy, creamy, white appearance, which offers a nice contrast to the beer itself.
Head: Wow! This is some serious head retention, begging the question about hop selection, protein use, and mashing methods. Very impressive.
Taste: The balance of a true brown ale is in the heart of this beer. A touch of malty sweetness is married to a hint of bitterness from the hops. The mouthfeel of the slightly chewy character, a nod to the presence of proteins and unfermented starches, helps to give the weight to this beer you really want to see. The aftertaste also was a welcome offering, as it started with the sweetness but cleaned up with the bitterness. Yum!
Overall: I am a big fan of brown ales, because they can be anything you want them to be. Small/big, malty/hoppy, thick/thin, etc. This was one of the best I have had in a long damn time. The delicate balance of these flavors with 7.5% ABV (oh yeah baby!) and the excellent head not only heighten the appearance, but it makes the entire beer a great offering. This is one I would gladly take again...and again...and again. I would consider whether or not this beer has something to offer year round by toying with adding some candi sugar or lactose to make it a milk brown ale (sounds so tasty), but this is one hell of an ale.
Score: 8.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Beer Review Challenge: Spiteful GFY Stout
Good afternoon brew crew! I bring you a quick bit of reviews I have been meaning to post. This was only possibly due to the wonderful and kind Caitlin Malone, so a big shout out to her on the help acquiring these.
First, a little back story on the brewery, because the brewers have a cool history to tell. As kids, they knew each other and played hockey together. As fate would have it, they would end up teaming up again when both were in situations they decided were not ideal, and the idea machine was roaring away. How about opening a bar? Well, in Chicago, there are plenty of those around, so that scrapped that plan. Eventually, microbrewery was tossed out and it was barely out there before they were off and running. Starting off as homebrewers, they have become the true definition of a small brewery, almost a nanobrewery. The thing I have to truly respect is that they get to do it all on their terms and have a blast the whole time. Also, from what I can tell, they appear to have no filter when it comes to interviews, which I can relate to at times.
Now, the beers I got from them are their GFY stout (it is up to you to figure this bit out, but I assure it is funny) and Burning Bridges brown ale. I'll do a separate review for each, so here we go!
GFY stout is a Russian Imperial Stout (RIS), which means most people already know where this is going. For those lacking the background, the style should have a ton of complexity in aroma and flavor, ranging from chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, and even some specialty items like vanilla or fruit. The body should be thick and viscious, with a oil-like color to match from deep brown to jet black. Lastly, this should be a bit of a bigger beer, from 8% on up.
Color: The color on this is on par with any others in the mix. A deep black with touches of brown when held up to a light. The head on this is a nice velvety brown color, which invites sipping.
Head: The beer surprised me to an extent with the amount of head on this draft, but it dissipated pretty quickly. Still, pretty good for a style that doesn't always have the best retention.
Aroma: Overwhelming notes of caramel interwoven with chocolate and coffee. Hints of sweetness and spice try to peak through, even if they are easily missed by anyone that rushes.
Taste: Coffee and roasted flavors are the dominate player here, but some sweetness does try to break through. I found the flavor just a bit of a let down considering the way the aroma made me keep rethinking, but still a very satisfying beer. The mouthfeel is what helped this out immensely, because this sticks to your mouth and keeps the velvety texture around for a while, allowing the bitterness of the hops to finally make an appearance as a bittering additive with the aftertaste to help cleanse the palate.
Overall: As far as RIS go, this is a very good example. The aroma is probably my favorite part, and it would be a total home run if the lingering features in the aroma could be more prominent in the taste. Still, I cannot deny a fantastic beer for what it is and ask simply to try oaking this bad boy and see what happens with some extended aging (salivating).
Score: 7.0/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
First, a little back story on the brewery, because the brewers have a cool history to tell. As kids, they knew each other and played hockey together. As fate would have it, they would end up teaming up again when both were in situations they decided were not ideal, and the idea machine was roaring away. How about opening a bar? Well, in Chicago, there are plenty of those around, so that scrapped that plan. Eventually, microbrewery was tossed out and it was barely out there before they were off and running. Starting off as homebrewers, they have become the true definition of a small brewery, almost a nanobrewery. The thing I have to truly respect is that they get to do it all on their terms and have a blast the whole time. Also, from what I can tell, they appear to have no filter when it comes to interviews, which I can relate to at times.
Now, the beers I got from them are their GFY stout (it is up to you to figure this bit out, but I assure it is funny) and Burning Bridges brown ale. I'll do a separate review for each, so here we go!
GFY stout is a Russian Imperial Stout (RIS), which means most people already know where this is going. For those lacking the background, the style should have a ton of complexity in aroma and flavor, ranging from chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, and even some specialty items like vanilla or fruit. The body should be thick and viscious, with a oil-like color to match from deep brown to jet black. Lastly, this should be a bit of a bigger beer, from 8% on up.
Color: The color on this is on par with any others in the mix. A deep black with touches of brown when held up to a light. The head on this is a nice velvety brown color, which invites sipping.
Head: The beer surprised me to an extent with the amount of head on this draft, but it dissipated pretty quickly. Still, pretty good for a style that doesn't always have the best retention.
Aroma: Overwhelming notes of caramel interwoven with chocolate and coffee. Hints of sweetness and spice try to peak through, even if they are easily missed by anyone that rushes.
Taste: Coffee and roasted flavors are the dominate player here, but some sweetness does try to break through. I found the flavor just a bit of a let down considering the way the aroma made me keep rethinking, but still a very satisfying beer. The mouthfeel is what helped this out immensely, because this sticks to your mouth and keeps the velvety texture around for a while, allowing the bitterness of the hops to finally make an appearance as a bittering additive with the aftertaste to help cleanse the palate.
Overall: As far as RIS go, this is a very good example. The aroma is probably my favorite part, and it would be a total home run if the lingering features in the aroma could be more prominent in the taste. Still, I cannot deny a fantastic beer for what it is and ask simply to try oaking this bad boy and see what happens with some extended aging (salivating).
Score: 7.0/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Get Off Maibock
It is already proving to be a super productive brewing season at home this year, so I hope you are finding yourselves enjoying some quality brews.
I recently brewed up my Maibock for the year to usher in spring with a wonderful beverage. To prepare for this run, I decided on two simple points. 1) This was going to be a traditional German lager, down to the ingredients; 2) The finished product will undergo as much of a true lagering as I can muster.
The first part of that was easier to do than I anticipated, as it just required me to adhere to the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Purity Law of 1516 that stated beer can only be made with barley, hops, yeast, and water. To that end, I tried to collect only German ingredients for my malt and hops, which was not hard to do, with one small exception that I was able to get around: Munich LME is a pain to find, but still available.
The latter of this was what required research and careful purchasing. To lager this beer, or even ferment it at the proper temps, I had a couple of choices, but I opted to go big or go home. I got a digital temperature controller, a fermentation heater, a digital thermometer, and a refractometer. During the brewing process, the thermometer made things vastly easier and faster compared to the old analog thermometer I was using. The refractometer, a tool designed for testing specific gravity, only requires a couple of drops instead of nearly a pint of liquid, so I get to save more beer for the final product (huzzah!).
The temperature controller combined with the heater allows me to set a fixed point for the beer to be at and keep it within 1 or 2 degrees at all times. Considering this was my second lager, and I didn't feel like doing the swamp cooler thing again (way too much effort), I am totally pumped! The carboy is sitting in the garage, and the controller is keeping it between 48 and 50 degrees F, right in the wheelhouse for this Bohemian lager yeast. Check out the set up below in the attached picture.
With the fermentation having no issues temperature-wise thus far, I'm very optimistic that the lagering it will experience in the garage will go just as well (after a brief period for a diacetyl rest to clean up some off-flavors).
So, that is my lager update. I suspect this will be available for consumption sometime in late April as I want to give this a solid 2 months of lagering, but only time will tell. More to come as the brew develops!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
UPDATE 1: The fermentation on this is taking forever! I couldn't believe how fast it started and how consistently it was creating CO2, but I'm going to let it ride as long as it wants. I am aware of the lower temps bringing down the metabolic rate of the yeast, but still, it is fun to see it go this long. Plus, the blow off tube makes the hops aroma super strong in the bucket.
UPDATE 2: The lagering is upon us, and I am happy to say that the winter weather in Northern IL is not a hurdle to overcome this year. I am seeing consistent temps of around 30 in the garage, which is totally where I wanted it to be. Plus, a sample I took had a great color, insane clarity, and a nice subtle hoppy bite with malt undertones. I'm looking forward to this one!
I recently brewed up my Maibock for the year to usher in spring with a wonderful beverage. To prepare for this run, I decided on two simple points. 1) This was going to be a traditional German lager, down to the ingredients; 2) The finished product will undergo as much of a true lagering as I can muster.
The first part of that was easier to do than I anticipated, as it just required me to adhere to the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Purity Law of 1516 that stated beer can only be made with barley, hops, yeast, and water. To that end, I tried to collect only German ingredients for my malt and hops, which was not hard to do, with one small exception that I was able to get around: Munich LME is a pain to find, but still available.
The latter of this was what required research and careful purchasing. To lager this beer, or even ferment it at the proper temps, I had a couple of choices, but I opted to go big or go home. I got a digital temperature controller, a fermentation heater, a digital thermometer, and a refractometer. During the brewing process, the thermometer made things vastly easier and faster compared to the old analog thermometer I was using. The refractometer, a tool designed for testing specific gravity, only requires a couple of drops instead of nearly a pint of liquid, so I get to save more beer for the final product (huzzah!).
The temperature controller combined with the heater allows me to set a fixed point for the beer to be at and keep it within 1 or 2 degrees at all times. Considering this was my second lager, and I didn't feel like doing the swamp cooler thing again (way too much effort), I am totally pumped! The carboy is sitting in the garage, and the controller is keeping it between 48 and 50 degrees F, right in the wheelhouse for this Bohemian lager yeast. Check out the set up below in the attached picture.
With the fermentation having no issues temperature-wise thus far, I'm very optimistic that the lagering it will experience in the garage will go just as well (after a brief period for a diacetyl rest to clean up some off-flavors).
So, that is my lager update. I suspect this will be available for consumption sometime in late April as I want to give this a solid 2 months of lagering, but only time will tell. More to come as the brew develops!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
UPDATE 1: The fermentation on this is taking forever! I couldn't believe how fast it started and how consistently it was creating CO2, but I'm going to let it ride as long as it wants. I am aware of the lower temps bringing down the metabolic rate of the yeast, but still, it is fun to see it go this long. Plus, the blow off tube makes the hops aroma super strong in the bucket.
UPDATE 2: The lagering is upon us, and I am happy to say that the winter weather in Northern IL is not a hurdle to overcome this year. I am seeing consistent temps of around 30 in the garage, which is totally where I wanted it to be. Plus, a sample I took had a great color, insane clarity, and a nice subtle hoppy bite with malt undertones. I'm looking forward to this one!
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