Beer of the Week

This BOTW, is our first from California, courtesy of Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma. Perhaps best known for their hops-to-the-face IPA, this NorCal brewery also makes an Imperial Stout, a Pilsner, and a bunch of seasonals including "Brown Shugga."

Brown Shugga is called a "fortuitous mistake" by the brewery that resulted in a copper colored strong ale. The Shugga has a very sweet carmelly, molases front (perhaps the reason for the name) and a piney hops finish. The head is minimal, but remains throughout. At 9.9% ABV, you'd think that the Shugga would have an alcohol taste, but it really doesn't; the sweet malts and hoppy finish are too much to cut through. Considering the sweetness and alcohol content, this is a beer that should be sipped, but for some unexplainable reason, it seems to force chugs.

The Shugga is a little too sweet and strong to drink every day, but it is a perfect end of fall beer, and a great one to share with some friends. Congratulations to Lagunitas for being our first California Beer of the Week.

Links of Interest:
Lagunitas Brewing Co.

Beer, Barley, and Biofuels

Could the lucrative lure of ethanol turn barley farmers into corn farmers? Could ethanol be made from barley as well as sugar cane and corn? And most importantly, will this make my 6-pack cost more!?!?!?

An interesting read from Green Living: here.

Interview with President of Capital Brewery

A recent article in Dane County's Business Watch magazine included an interview with Capital Brewery president Carl Nolen. I mentioned Capital in the previous article, so I thought the interview would be illuminating to those of you who try Capital's beer, as well as to beer drinkers in general. The article is no longer available online, so I've chosen some highlights to share.

Business Watch: Why are there so few craft-brewed lagers compared to ales?

Carl Nolen: The cost of doing business is one factor. An ale brewery takes less than half the aging time for its beer than a lager brewery. For ales, it takes 10-15 days. We have a doppelbock called Autumnal Fire. It's an outstanding beer, but it takes nine weeks to get through the production cycle....

BW: What exactly is a craft beer?

CN: The textbook definition of craft brewing is varied. From a revenue perspective, a craft brewery generally pays lower taxes than a large brewer. In Wisconsin, all brewers, including Miller, are taxed 50% less on the first 60,000 barrels of production, meaning that craft brewers who produce less than that - and that's all of us - pay a lower tax overall.

From a production definition, craft brewers are also those that have a full, natural process with no additives. That's certinaly the case for us. We use malted barley and wheat in our production. We don't add rice or corn or anything of that nature.

From a consumer standpoint, however, craft beer is something totally different. To the consumer, the fascination is the experience. A few years ago coffee was limited to regular or decaf. Talk to a manager at Barriques (a Madison wine and coffee shop) and you realize there are more than 1,000 different varieties of of coffee. This translates to the variety in our category as well.

BW: The craft-brewing industry is exploding in varieties, brands and breweries. Is there a point when there will be too many brands and not enough consumers?

CN: The chances are likely that we'll reach a saturation point. Right now, the craft segment constitutues about 3% of production, while the industry growth in total is flat. It's been flat for a long time and what's never talked about is that the industry is actually shrinking on a per capita consumption basis....People are drinking less, but they're drinking better.

In Wisconsin, we're ahead of the curve. Here in Madison, craft brands constitute closer to 7% of the market. I would think that Wisconsin can handle about a 10% market share of craft brands. The majority of that percentage will come from in-state breweries and consumers who want to drink what's locally produced.

BW: I've heard that, while farmers make wine, engineers make beer. Is there a sense of terrior with beer similar to that of wine? What's the attraction with drinking locally?

CN: When you think about Wisconsin brewers like Russ Klisch from Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery, Deb and Dan Carey from New Glarus Brewing, Bo Bellanger from South Shore Brewing in Ashland or Tom Porter from Lake Louie in Arena, you realize that they're personalities in their communities. They put everything they've got into it. I don't know one of them that talks about making money; they all talk about making beer. You get to meet them at these local beer festivals and taste their beer. I think that's what puts a face on local production.

Capital Brewery's business strategy is not to be a regional or national brewer. That's different from what would have been the case years ago, when success would have been determined by how quickly you spread from coast to coast. Before that however, everything was local. There was a corner brewery in every small community in America, and your market was about as far as you could see from the tallest building. When things changed and everyone went national, a lot of very good breweries went out of business. But now things have gone full circle again.

Links of Interest:
Capital Brewery
Business Watch Magazine

Jack Frosted Mugs

The mercury is finally starting to drop here in the upper midwest; we saw snowflakes yesterday! So, in anticipation of that first onslaught from Old Man Winter (which us seasoned Midwesterners know can come at any time now), it's time to suggest some good brews for winter.

To me, a good winter beer is full-bodied and malty. It doesn't have the intense hops of an IPA or APA, nor is it light and crisp like a Pilsner or an American lager. A good winter brew is hearty, malty, and satisfying. It doesn't have to be drank at a cold temperature, and it pairs well with the savory meals and treats of the holiday season. With that in mind, to the beer!

Capital Winter Skål - Middleton, Wisconsin

Capital Brewery, located in the Madison suburb of Middleton, is an all-around excellent brewery. Focusing on the German styles brought over to Wisconsin from the old-world, Capital produces solid annuals like their Wisconsin Amber and Island Wheat, and a bevy of seasonals including a great domestic Oktoberfest, and their Winter Skål. The Skål is a rich amber color with an off-white head. It has a very malty aroma with very little hops present. The taste is earthy with a balance of subtle spice. Skål is a nice medium bodied brew that clings to the palatte, but doesn't have the "chew your beer" feel, or the rediculous spices you'll find in some other winter beers.

Summit Winter Ale - Saint Paul, Minnesota

I'm hardly one to recommend something from Summit; their flagship Extra Pale Ale, the IPA, and the Grand Pilsner are all easily surpassed by many domestic breweries, but I have to hand it to them: Summit Winter Ale is good. It pours a very dark, coffee brown, which is accompanied by a subtle coffee taste. The roasted malts are very noticeable in a "winter warmer" style, but are subtley balanced by Williamette, Fuggle and Tettenanger hops. The beer comes in a 6.2% ABV, but beneath the malt start and hop finish, you don't notice an alcohol flavor. This is far and away Summit's best beer.

McEwan's Scotch Ale - United Kingdom (Scotland)

Clocking in at 8% ABV, McEwan's Scotch Ale is an example of a strong scotch ale, or a "wee heavy." It isn't a winter beer in the sense that it is a winter seasonal (it's brewed year round), it's just a good brew to have in winter. McEwan's is a deep copper and is a carmelly, malty sweet delight. Are there hints of cola in there? There are definitely hints of alcohol in there. Like most Scotch beers, this one doesn't have the hops as bittering agents; it's smooth and solid. It may not be a winter seasonal, but it will sure warm you up.

Links of Interest:
Capital Brewery
Summit Brewing

Beer of the Weekend

After a busy weekend, Sunday night was the perfect time to plop on the couch with Amber and the dogs, and enjoy our company. Sunday night is also the perfect time to enjoy our BOTWE, Unibroue's Don de Dieu.

Our first Canadian brewery to grace these pages, Unibroue is located in Montreal's francophone suburb of Chambly. I've been to Montreal, although not Chambly, but from what I understand, there is an old fort, Unibroue, and not much else there.

Unibroue's saga begins in Lennoxville, where Unibroue acquired shares of an existing brewer that was in financial trouble in order to bypass Quebec's tough restrictions on brewing licenses. Unibroue eventually gained all shares of the former brewer and then mergered the old brewery with Unibroue to create the brewery we know today.

In 1992, Unibroue became associated with a Belgian brewmaster, a nameless person described by the brewery as an "expert in producing beers on lees," that is, unfiltered beers with live yeast in them, which causes a refermentation (or completion of fermentation) that occurs in the bottle.

Don de Dieu is a triple wheat ale at 9% ABV that Unibroue has produced since 1998. It has a deep yellow color, just approaching light orange. The beer is very smooth, although the carbonation is noticeable, and is just slightly sweet with a fruity, malty body. The head of the beer was not as nice as I would have expected, eventually totally vanishing, although I would have to try it again to pass a complete judgement on that. I had mine with some spicy Asian noodles, and it paired ideal. I would imagine it would go equally well with spicy Latin flavors.

Unibroue makes many quality brews, so look for them next time you're in the beer depot, and make sure you try Don de Dieu, our Beer of the Weekend.

Beer of the Week

After all this talk on pale ales this week, it would seem odd not to nominate one for BOTW. I'm sure after hearing the tales of the pale ale, bitter, IPA, and APA, you're more than ready to pour one over your tonsils. Fear not loyal hop surfer, I have a brew for you.

In addition to the new school of craft brewers from the Pacific Northwest, Colorado has emerged as a front in the American beer revolution. I'm not talking about the Silver Bullet here; with quality breweries like Flying Dog and New Belgium, Colorado has shed it's Coors image and now produces some of the nation's finest beers.

Billing itself as Colorado's first microbrewery, the Boulder Beer Company of Boulder (of course) has been brewing beers since 1979. Although perhaps not as popular as their Hazed & Infused dry-hopped ale, another recent addition to the brewery's line is their Mojo IPA. Mojo is made with Amarillo and Centennial hops, which are similar to the Cascade hops that made Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale famous. The beer has a deep yellow, approaching orange color and a nice clean smell spiked with notes of citrus. The hop aroma is there, but it won't singe your nostrils. The mouthfeel is light with a dry crisp finish...not much malt balance here. At 6.8% ABV, this probably isn't a beer you can drink a ton of, but it sure rolls off the palette like you could. This isn't the caliber of a Liberty Ale or a Sierra Nevada pale for me, but the intense citrus makes this an interesting IPA, and a very drinkable beer that I actually prefer to Boulder's flagship Hazed & Infused.

A nod goes to Colorado and Boulder Beer for being our first non-Wisconsin Beer of the Week. Cheers!

Links of Interest:
Boulder Beer

Pale Ale, Pt. III

Two days ago we started our exploration of the genesis and development of the pale ale world, which included the development of the India Pale Ale (IPA). We followed that up yesterday with an IPA recommendation, a Burton brewers overview, and an introduction to English Bitter. Today we continue on our IPA-like voyage to unravel the term pale ale, talking more about bitters, and the American pale ale (APA).

As I mentioned yesterday, bitters are less common stateside, and are sometimes found masquerading as a plain "ale" or simply as an "ESB;" however, bitters, both in name and style can be found.

Nestled between downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota is Town Hall Brewery. Town Hall is a bar-lovers bar. It has lots of dark wood, a proper food selection, beer specials, a huge scotch selection, pool by the hour, and a great patio. Additionally they have a few good brews. The West Bank Pub Ale is so named for a section of the city on the west side of the Mississippi River, and it used to go by the name West Bank Bitter. While it is perhaps more hoppy than other "mild" ales, it has a nice malt balance. It has an alcohol content of 4.6% (which might fall into the "best" category of bitters in the UK) and is what Town Hall calls their "session beer" (you can have a few and not get totally munted). The beer has smooth medium bodied mouthfeel, and is a rich copper hue. If you're in Minneapolis, swing by Town Hall for an American example of an English bitter, and try the award winning Oatmeal Stout while you're there.

So where does the APA fit into this?

Knowing the brashness and ingenuity of Americans, it should come as no surprise that American brewers would not be content to simply adopt the brewing traditions of the old countries...not without a few tweaks that is. Early Dutch and English brewers brought over their traditions of ales and porters, but later, Central European immigrants did the same. Brewing innovation in the mid-19th century brought the pale lager and pilsner to the fore, and the popularity of this beer spread from Germany and Bohemia all over Europe and to the United States. These pale lagers began to dominate the US market and could be produced easily using indigenous grain like corn. Towards the end of the 20th century, the early traditions of American ales had all but vanished. Simultaneously, consolidation and taxation were doing a number on the other side of the pond, and British ale crafters were disappearing or producing low alcohol bitters. The ale traditions of early America were in serious jeopardy: enter the California ale revolution.

The San Francisco based Liberty Ale mentioned in yesterday's column was Anchor Brewery's attempt at a real ale. First produced in 1975, it emerged as one of the first (if not the first) known examples of a commercially successful ale produced in the US in quite some time. Just a few years later in 1980, a brewery in Chico, California produced what would become what many consider the prototype of the APA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has a truly American flare, using Cascade hops, giving the brew a dry, floral character, without the carmelly malt back of a British pale ale. This unabashed "in-your-face" hop flavor is a characteristic of the APA, which is drawn in part from using native hops. Sierra's is in the middle of the color range for what you might find in an APA, and has been a huge commercial success. Sierra Nevada has since expanded their brewing facilities and produces many other quality brews including an IPA and a Porter. Breweries like Anchor and Sierra Nevada helped prompt the huge agricultural boom of hops in the Willamette and Yakima valleys, further expanding the possibilities for unique American ales.

APAs are almost synonymous with the craft brewing explosion of the last twenty years, so go to your local beer depot and find a local example. For a Midwestern example, try the Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale, made in Cleveland. It's not my favorite, as many of the West Coast breweries do it better, but it's worth a try.

Links of Interest:
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Great Lakes' Burning River