Last Call?

I've enjoyed a lot of beer over the last 20 or so years. Too much, in fact, but so far I don't regret it a bit. I'm hoping I don't. That said, I think it is time for a change. In short, I think being a part of the beer culture as I've known it (likely too much of it) has taken a toll on my health. So, I think it's time to stop pretending to be keeping up with the younger, healthier people that are far better at abusing their hearts and livers with beer than I am. Yes, with each day lately it seems that I'm stepping ever closer to ceasing to be the "beer guy" in favor of someday being the old man who can slowly sip that beer with dinner and maybe one for dessert.

So it is indeed possible that the last batch of Marcobrau may have been brewed. I certainly don't see myself as drinking and brewing enough to keep a blog about it going. Maybe my anxiety is getting the best of me, but I think it's time to hang up my beer blogging mug. I'm not sure at this point what I'll do with my website that I've had up since 1998, but I'm certainly not going to worry about it. Going forward, I just don't see myself as being "beery" interesting. This isn't quite how I planned things, but life rarely goes according to plan.

At only 38 years old I'm looking forward to figuring out what's going on with my body, getting healthy and putting more time into some of my other hobbies such as music, cycling and hiking. There's a lot of summer left. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to continue to be active, in one way or another.

A stop at Short's (at last)

I had the good fortune this past week to visit Short's Brewing Co. in Bellaire, Michigan. I've been pining to visit them ever since sampling their beers (Nicie Spicie, Chocolate Wheat and Huma-Lupa-Licious IPA) at the Real Ale Festival in Chicago several years ago. I've had some Short's since then; sampling Nicie Spicie in Holland at Butch's a couple summers ago, but traveling to the source and getting direct access to the dozens of beers Short's produces was so exciting that I think I had anxiety attack.

The sheer breadth and diversity of Short's beers are amazing. Suffice to say we took home a six-pack of Bellaire Brown (possibly one of the best brown ales I've ever had) along with a limited edition bottle of Bloody Beer; a "specialty beer" fermented with Roma tomatoes and spiced with tellicherry peppercorns, celery seed, fresh horseradish and dill. I'm really looking forward to trying it; I imagine something like the marriage of a Bloody Mary and a good all-malt beer. A fellow patron at the bar described as awesome. Some of the other far-out limited edition creations we could choose from included Peaches and Creme (a strong blonde ale brewed with peaches and lactose, Ginger in the Rye (a strong rye ale aged on ginger and The Woodmaster (a strong brown ale fermented with maple syrup and toasted pecans.) Pretty interesting concoctions and based on reviews at Beer Advocate the extreme beers of Short's are gaining notoriety.

This, of course, is not to say that the regular offerings of Short's are not worthy; they are in fact quite good. I still love Nicie Spicie which the brewer describes as a "Northern Michigan spiced wheat ale" made with "a 50 percent mixture of premium two-row malted barley and malted white wheat ... loaded with fresh citrus zest, coriander, and a four pepper blend." The beer ends up in the glass with a citrus (orange) nose, a refreshing wheat middle and a peppery (but not hot) finish. I also appreciated the Pandemonium Pale Ale for having an excellent hoppiness without being as strong as an IPA (less then five percent alcohol), while the Bellaire Brown, which the brewer describes as a "gateway beer" is really an outstanding complex brown ale that any level of beer drinker should appreciate. The toasted, caramel and chocolate flavors of this brown ale blend exceptionally well with the hops and yeast.

The brewpub itself is pretty interesting, too. It's in an old brick building in Northern Michigan and is full of local art work (mostly paintings) and interesting places to sit -- such as the red seats out of a 1970s Cadillac automobile. The brewpub is separated into two sections: there is a bar area and a music room with perhaps the deepest, narrowest stage I've ever seen. The beer is served in pints and samplers (a paddle) of five beers. In our case we ordered two five-beer samplers so we had 10 different beers to sample. Six-packs and limited edition bottles are available for sale and growlers are filled, too. The food is great, as well, especially the spicy Thai Carrot Soup which my wife thought was the best soup ever. (I concur that it was pretty damn good.) Other food including sandwiches and pizza is available along with unique snacks such as Briess Malted Milk Balls -- which I really wish I would have tried and probably would have paired well with the Bellaire Brown Ale.

Short's Brewing Co. is not too far from Traverse City and in the middle of an awesome Chain-of-Lakes district. It's off the beaten path, but well worth the visit.

Yeast smoothie of a saison racked

Racked a saison-style ale that I brewed last Sunday. I received a Williams Brewing catalog and got curious about a new Belgian Pale liquid extract that is 90 percent pilsner malt and 10 percent wheat, which seems ideal for brewing a saison. I kept it really simple because I haven't used this extract before (it's new on the market), so I just added three additions of Spalter pellet hops and a little cracked black pepper at the end of the boil.

The liquid that filled the glass carboy that is my secondary fermenter was like a yeast smoothie, but based on my sample it's tasty one. I poured my hydrometer sample into a tulip glass. The beer smelled a bit peppery and quite earthy-yeasty with a bit of lemongrass even though I didn't add any. It tasted very crisp and cracker-like, especially towards the finish with lots of pepper followed by juicy citrus and phenols accented by a floral, spicy character. The hydrometer reading, by the way, showed about 74 percent attenuation. I'm fairly confident this yeast (Wyeast 3724) will keep working, albeit slowly, for a couple more weeks. And, if by chance I don't get the attenuation I'm looking for, I have another yeast (Safale T-58) that I can pitch. I've used the T-58 before with decent results, but I'd to stick with supposed "Dupont" strain if I can. I've posted a Promash recipe report for this recipe here.

Drinkin' (in the) Metro

Finally, a new microbrewery in Chicago that is crafting a portfolio of lagers. I've waited several years for this moment. I'm old enough to remember drinking lagers from two Chicago craft brewers: Chicago Brewing Company and Pavichevich Brewing Company. These two breweries produced two of my favorite lagers back in the early to mid-1990s. Chicago Brewing produced Legacy Lager and Pavichevich made Baderbrau. Legacy Lager was good, but I remember really enjoying Baderbrau. I miss that beer.

Fast forward several years and Doug and Tracy Hurst open Metropolitan Brewing Company at Ravenswood and Winona on Chicago's north side. They're seeking to bring "a little balance to the party" that is the American craft beer movement by brewing German-style lagers. Their portfolio includes two beers so far, Flywheel Bright Lager and Dynamo Copper Lager. I sampled the Flywheel Lager at Lunar Brewing Company a few weeks ago and I had mixed feelings about it, mostly because I wanted it to be Baderbrau, my all-time favorite Chicago lager beer. But this wasn't fair -- I'm pretty sure the creators of Flywheel were thinking of Germany and not the Czech lagers that inspired Ken Pavichevich to brew Baderbrau. I think there is a difference between German and Czech lagers; it might not be as great a difference as English and American-style IPA, but I think there is a difference.

So I started thinking of German lagers when I opened my bottle of Flywheel tonight and I got it. I liked it more the second time around out of the bottle. The Metropolitan beers might be a bit pricey at $10 a six-pack for local lager beer, but they're fresh -- brewed just a few miles away -- which counts for something. The details of my tastings of both Metro beers are on Beer Advocate.

Belgian Pale Ale sleeps, saison is in the mail

Well, the Belgian-style Pale Ale I brewed a few weeks ago is bottled and resting comfortably in 22-ounce bottles and one giant (1-liter) swingtop. Half the batch is in the de facto beer cellar at my friend Ryan's house and the other half is in my kitchen. It's probably about 67 degrees in the basement and 75 in the kitchen. It'll be interesting to see how these bottles compare and which ones I like more. I'm guessing the bottles kept at the warmer temperature will have more esters. Whether that's a good thing remains to be seen. I'm letting the beer sit at least another week (which will be about three weeks of conditioning) before I crack one open.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting on some ingredient from William's Brewing. I'm trying out a new Belgian extract that is 90 percent two-row Belgian Pale and 10 percent wheat. I'll be making a saison with this extract along with perhaps a little bit (5 percent or less) of sugar to enhance the dryness. So far I'm not thinking of adding any spices; just the Wyeast 3724 yeast. I've also purchased some Wyeast 3522 that I'd like to try brewing a Grisette (low alcohol saison) with that would be packaged in a Party Pig or two and maybe some bottles. I've been reading about Grisette, a version of saison, in the book Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftmanship in the Belgian Tradition by Phil Markowski. It's a really great book if your'e intrested in brewing saisons or even if you're a fan. Pictured is my "Saison Morency" from last year.

Coffee Stout to warm the beer lover's heart

We took trip to Wisconsin recently, as we do from time to time, and on our way to our destination we stopped (of course) at the New Glarus Brewing Company. It's requisite stop if we're in that part of the state, as we enjoy quite a few of the brewery's
beers but can't buy them in our home state. (New Glarus beers aren't distributed outside of Wisconsin and many people complain about this, but I think it makes going to Wisconsin just a little more special.)

Anyhow, we picked up a mixed case or so of the New Glarus beer. Among our picks was the new version of Coffee Stout, which I'm trying for the first time this evening. I really liked the old version and have high hopes for this one -- that actually has coffee in it!

First off, as you can see in the pic, this stout is damn dark. It's a good lookin' stout with a compact off-white, persistent head. There's a whiff of burnt chocolate at first, but then it's pretty much roasted coffee -- quality roasted coffee. The first sip is much thicker than I remember compared to the old version. The taste is predominantly chocolate (more milk chocolate than dark, which is a bit surprising) followed by dry roasted grains and dry cocoa finish. It's pretty full bodied, thick and smooth throughout. The finish is pretty full, but by no means too sweet or cloying; there's the right amount of bitterness coming from hops and roasted grains. The roasted coffee flavors tend to flourish a little more as the beer warms up to room temperature and the chocolate flavors dominate much less. There was a lot more chocolate flavor here than I thought at first, with the coffee mostly in the nose. I was hoping for a little more coffee flavor, but as it warmed up I liked it more and will happily finish the rest of the six-pack served close to room temperature; just not tonight.

Bubbly Bitter and Belgian Ale

The bitter I brewed a couple months ago is definitely over-carbonated. Both the bottles and the Party Pig are excessively foaming. I haven't noticed any off-flavors in the beer, so I'm thinking I must've just goofed and added too much priming sugar and/or the beer wasn't done fermenting. It's disappointed, but at least the beer is drinkable. It just requires some patience.

Yesterday I brewed up a sort of Belgian Pale Ale using mostly Northwestern Gold LME, some crystal malts (20L and 80L) along with some Spalter and Czech Saaz hops. I pitched Wyeast 3787 Trappist yeast at about 73 degrees. The kitchen is always warm, so I decided to surrender and brew a yeast that is more tolerant to warmer temperatures. I'm not sure why I even try to brew English style bitters in my kitchen; they always turn out really fruity with a ton of esters. Nothing off-putting, just lots of fruitiness. Certain Belgian yeasts, like the Wyeast 3787, seem to be able to tolerate the heat better. I've had pretty good look with dry yeasts, too, especially SafAle S-04 and S-05 which seems to ferment fairly clean up into the mid-70s. So maybe dry and Belgian yeasts are what I should use instead of trying to brew the perfect bitter in a warm kitchen?

The Wyeast 3787 seems to be starting kind of slow, but I'm not worried about it. I've got pressure in the fermenter (the cone of the airlock is pushed all the way up), I just don't have bubbling going on yet...except in my over-carbonated bitter!