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In the I-have-a-cool-wife category, I finally have the all-grain equipment that I’ve been wanting for a while now. My birthday was May 21st, and my wife hooked me up with the cash to finally get the infusion mash system that I wrote about a few posts ago. I knew that I wanted to get a 10 gallon Rubbermaid/Gott cooler system, but after a bit of researching, I realized that I didn’t have the patience to save myself 50 bucks by getting the pieces individually.

I searched around, and found the Deluxe All-Grain System at Northern Brewer. It features 10 gallon coolers, a stainless false bottom, and brass ball valves. It goes for about 200 bucks plus tax/shipping. If that’s a bit much, the 5 gallon version goes for 160.

I also received for my birthday a couple of recipes-worth of ingredients from Paul, a new Deschutes growler full of 20K Bourbon Imperial Porter from Jen, Extreme Brewing by Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione from my in-laws. I think it’s safe to say that it was a beer-i-licious birthday. Thanks, again, you guys.

I’m probably going to do the Cloud Cover as the first beer to dial this system in. I’ll be sure to post about it as I go.

More pictures after the link.

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Here we are on another first friday of the month. Time to drink some local brews as specified by the host of this month’s installation of The Session. This month’s theme is Local Brews. The general idea of this month’s theme is to point visitors to the beer/brewery/region that represents the best of what the local area has to offer.

Bend, OR is smack-dab in the middle of the state and is home to several breweries including an obvious choice of focus for this theme - Deschutes Brewery. They’re the brewpub in town that sports the long line of framed GABF medals as you head down the hallway toward the bathrooms. These guys have a production brew-house away from the pub that produces the beer that allows them to achieve their distribution goals.

The brewpub is located downtown and has about 15 handles pouring year-round, seasonal, and one-off beers. There’s also usually two beers on cask at any given time, and a single special handle called the X Tap. This is usually reserved for something the brewers are playing around with like a Lavendar Pale Ale or Lemongrass Wheat. There’s a 12 barrel system that’s always got something going. For a comprehensive list of what’s currently on tap, check out the brewery’s Now Pouring page.

In the spirit of The Session, my wife and I headed down to Deschutes for dinner and a pint. I was pleasantly surprised to find a rare favorite on tap. The Mirror Mirror barley wine. This was brewed quite a while ago, and while I still have a few in the cellar, I can’t bring myself to crack one quite yet. This is what the 2005 vintage bottle says:

This unique barley wine is the happy result of our brewers’ patience and hard work. Brewed in early 2005 and then aged four months in French oak wine barrels, Mirror Mirror has a lusciously layered profile with hints of raisin and oak - perfect for slow sips and fireside conversations.

Despite the cheesy marketing-speak of “fireside conversations”, this is one damned good barley wine. The raisin and oak are very prevalent, but are leaned up against a fantasticly-assertive malt/hop presence to achieve a fantastically balanced overall profile. I had this with a smoked meat and cheese apetizer platter and couldn’t have been happier. It was a fantastic meal. It’s so very nice to have a place in town where you stop in for a pint and find this waiting for you on tap.

Just two blocks over from Deschutes is another brew pub that has brought a GABF medal back to Central Oregon - The Bend Brewing Company. While they don’t have as many irregular beers going, their Brewmaster, Tonya Cornett, has produced among the best Oregon beers I’ve ever tasted.

The BBC won their GABF medal for the Hop Head Imperial IPA. Two years ago, she pulled out a bourbon barrel Imperial Porter that blew my mind. A perfectly balanced, assertive blend of two things I love … big porters and bourbon. A lot of people do the barrel aging thing, but to get such pronounced flavors, and have it not tip over in any one direction … the girl’s got tallent.

My not-to-miss, probably-will-be-on-tap recommendations (depending upon your style preference):

• Inversion IPA, - Deschutes (assertively-hopped, classic Northwest IPA)
• Cask Bachelor Bitter - Deschutes (easy session cask beer that’s just way too easy to drink)
• Nitro Obsidian Stout - Deschutes (excellent roasty stout)
• Black Butte Porter - Deschutes (widely distributed and super-tasty … definitely don’t pass up if porter’s your game)
• Elk Lake India Pale Ale - Bend Brewing Company (another solid NW IPA … bring on the hops)
• Outback Old Ale - Bend Brewing Company (chewy, malty, raisins, caramel … yum!)

And, of course, if you see anything in the seasonals that sounds good, take a chance or ask for a taster … these people know what they’re doing, and are more than happy to hook you up.

Now I think it’s time to go raid the cellar for a bottle of Deschutes, The Abyss to finish off the evening. Cheers!

This is my first review of an Avery beer. This came from a stash brought to Bend from my favorite beer store in Seattle by a man who I owe much to now. I owe him because this beer makes me say Daaaaaayum! It’s so tasty. I’m really looking forward to trying the other Avery beers that were delivered along with it now.

This is a classic Imperial IPA. It’s all about the hop. It’s got the bitterness, flavor and aroma … and it smacks you in the face with all of them at the same time. It’s not as bitter as some other Imperial IPAs I’ve had, so if bitter’s your game … well, you’ll still like this. This one’s all about the balance. So without further ado …

Appearance: Off white head, beautiful orange color, big bubbles in head around glass. A little hazy, but plenty of light gets through to show off the color and the good carbonation bubbling up.
Smell: I can smell the hops a foot away! BIG grapefruit. Some caramel/cotton candy notes follow, but they’re burried under the hops. Awesome aroma.
Taste: Wow! Now that’s what an Imperial IPA is supposed to taste like. It is a huge flavor explosion. You can really get the hops here, and it artfully settles into a significant, but not overpowering bitter. While this is a hop monster, it’s not all bitterness. Much hop flavor sits on top of the substantial malt backbone. Residual sweetness keeps the hops from overwhelming the balance. A bit of alcohol heat at the end, but only the slightest suggestion. At 9.87% ABV, this is a pretty balanced Imperial IPA.
Mouthfeel: Good carbonation dancing off the tongue. A bit of thickness stays on the back of the sip and keeps the flavor lasting a long time. Great finish.
Drinkability: Wish I would have asked for more than one! I will pick up several for the cellar for sure if I come across it again.

That’s right kids … it’s time for another Brewerman brew day. To celebrate my birthday yesterday, and in preparation for the sometime-in-the-not-too-distant-future man trip (date and time TBD), I’m brewing the 5th edition of the Butterface IPA. The Butterface is an ever-changing recipe for a somewhat assertively-hopped American IPA. The original recipe used Chinook, Cascade, and Amarillo hops, and tasted so yummy.

Basically I stick with the same simple extract-based malt bill. 8-9 pounds of pale extract, and a pound of light crystal malts. Simple. This is really a beer that I learn hops with. In the 5 years that I’ve been making this beer (or any of my beers for that matter), I’ve never really focussed on Cascade. It’s only while writing this that I realize thatt I’ve always steered clear of Cascade because I thought it was so cliche. I think that I chose to really focus on Cascade this year because as I get older, I want to go with what works. Cascade is the typical workhorse NW hop. From what I gather in looking at IPA recipes, it just tastes yummy. And that, my friends, is what I drink beer for!

So I’m going to go with what works, and I’m going somewhat big. Six hop additions including 3 ounces dry hopped (one in primary and two in secondary). 8.5 ounces total for a five-gallon batch. Amarillo for bittering, and Cascade for flavor/aroma. Should be good. I’ll be doing the usual post updates as the beer progresses, so check back when curious. Think positive guys … the Butterface is coming!

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Beer festivals are great. Summer rolls around and it seems like there’s always one on the horizon. My only gripe is that it’s always the same roll call. Same breweries. Same beers. Don’t get me wrong … I realize that all beer fests aren’t aimed at the beer geek in me. As a matter of fact, I would say that most aren’t. But when they are … ah, now that’s a beer festival for which I’ll send out the emails … make blog postings … rally the troops … evangelize.

So it goes with the sibling Portland International Beerfest and Seattle International Beerfest (SIB and PIB). For me, the settings, selections, and vibe cannot be matched by any other NW beer festival on the annual calendar. I’ve been attending this festival for the past 4 years, and it just keeps getting better. The people that put this thing on get access to beers that you will not find at any other beer festival in the Northwest. Since I’m in central Oregon, I’ll probably be meeting up with some friends at the PIB which is July 13 - 15. The location in the the North Park Blocks in the Pearl district. Here’s the description to give you a flavor:

Mark your Portland Oregon Beer Festival Summer calendar! PIB IS AN OVER-THE-TOP BEER FESTIVAL celebrating the world’s most legendary brewing styles and the nations that made them famous. Come taste over 100 world-class beers from more than 15 countries.

Of those legendary brewing styles, here are my picks for what’s pouring (most content shamelessly pinched from their site for the readers’ and author’s convenience). Take the time to read the descriptions. There are some amazing gems in here.

* - indicates beer is on draft

• Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2005 - Brewed just twice and very rare, this beer treads the boundary between port, wine and beer. This version (the 2nd) is VERY different…almost 5% stronger than the 2003 batch. It is a unique ale aged in used wine and Grappa casks, merging all the complex aromas of a vintage red wine, along with wood and the taste it picked up from its former contents. This beer is named in fond memory of Bon-Chien, the late brewery cat who went to kitty heaven in June 2005.
• Allagash Curieux * - If you don’t try this beer, quite simply, SHAME ON YOU. Nevermind that this Bourbon-barrel-aged beer has never been on tap out west before, or that it’s nearly impossible to find even in the bottle. No, that shame would be that you miss out on one of the greatest artisanal big beers ever brewed in the United States. Everything in this beer is evident–the style, yeast, wood, and bourbon…but none of these overwhelms the others. Incredible balance in a big, sexy, exotic style. Top 5 of all time!
• Ivan the Terrible Bourbon-Barrel * - This beer was a lot of work to get, and we are very excited and proud to have it at both events. It is a special version of their Ivan the Terrible (robust Imperial Stout), never before poured in Oregon or Washington. These kegs were aged on “wet” Kentucky Bourbon barrels prior to kegging. Take this bad boy to the cigar bar!
• Aecht Schlenkerla Helles * - A non-rauch bier from an all-rauch brewery in Bamberg Germany. First time on tap in Seattle & Portland. (One of Hermann’s favorites)
• Baron Pils * - This brewery is just south of Seattle, and they focus on German-style beers. NOT ALES! Support good Lagers in the Pacific Northwest!
• De Proef * - All beers. This is a brewery in Western Flanders, and its brewmaster has created many beers for others. This is his baby, and he’s a machine.
• De Regenboog’t Smisje Calva Reserva - Good Lord! OK, get out your note pads & try to keep up. First, this barley-wheat malt blend was kicked up with dark candy sugar, white candy sugar, coriander, & Grain de Paradise. Then comes the good part. After 6 weeks of primary maturation, it was given another 6 months of solitary confinement in a Dupont Calvados cask for bad behavior. Punishment should be this good. It was released to its bottle on probation with white candy sugar & champagne yeast for another fermentation.
• Dilkelacker Dunkel * - This is the lighter side of dark. Very rare to find this lager brewing style in a keg. A total gem, and a very under appreciated style. If you like things like nut-brown ales from England, this is in many ways the lager cousin from germany. Alt-dunkels in general are an exercise in subtlety.
• Flyer Tuck * - PIB & SIB are proud to announce their first “proprietary beers”, made exclusively for our events–available no where else. At PIB this year, it will be the first time Flyer’s will ever be poured in Oregon state publicly. Based on a beer brewmaster Tony Savoy made while at Snipes Brewery, Flyer Tuck consists of 100% Belgian Pils malt, 66 lbs of Belgian candi sugar, 100% Saaz hops, orange peel, and dried woodruff added the last 15 minutes of the boil.
• Hercules Double IPA * - Great Divide … love their stuff. Another hop powerhouse, but with tremendous malt character to balance this brute of a beer. Not sure what’s more amazing: how much the hops dry out the sweetness of the high alcohol, or how much the malt balances the powerful bitterness of those 75 IBUs. A great study in “big balance”.
• Hitachino XH aged in Shochu cask - Get in line to be among the first in the Unites States to try this incredible beer from Japan. Never before imported, this version of “Extra High”, aka XH, has been aged in Shochu casks for nearly a year. Shochu is a spirit distilled from witbier. The primary style of XH is Belgian Strong Dark. Extremely radical.
• J.W. Lee’s Harvest (Lagavulin barrel-aged) - Remarkably complex English Barely Wine, heavily influenced by “doing time” inside a very smokey single-malt scotch barrel. We should all serve such sentences of incarceration.
• J.W. Lee’s Harvest * - Are you ready for this? At long last, the ultimate “cellarable” English barleywine comes to us in kegs. This is a 2006 vintage (from a beer that’s been known to age well for over 10 years). If you like caramel, butterscotch, and pretty much all things good–oh, and rediculous balance in breweing, DO NOT pass up this beer, regardless of how drunk you are. At least pretend like you remember this for the rest of your life…you should.
• Jan De Lichte - Jan De LichteFrom the incredible Glazen Toren brewery of Belgium, we are proud to introduce this beer to Oregon & Washington for the first time ever. At 7%, Jan De Lichte is really more of an “Imperial Wit”, being about 20% stronger than most examples of the style. Check out the cutting edge of Belgian extreme brewing.
• Kerkom Bink Bloesem - This is one of the must-trys of the event. Amazingly, this is brewed with pears & honey, but is not a mead. It really is without brewing style classification, as it gets fermentables from fruit, grain, and honey combined. Somewhere between a blonde & Flemish brown, colorwise.
• Klosterbrauerei Ettal Curator * - At 9% abv, Klosterbrauerei Ettal Curator is one of the biggest versions of a classic Bavarian-made doppelbocks found anywhere in the world. Again, another first-time premiere on tap for Oregon & Washington states.
• Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier * - Mönchshof Schwarzbier - “the Black Pils” - is a brewing wonder and a brew-lover’s dream. Supremely drinkable, dry and beautifully hopped, yet loaded with dark malt flavor.
• La Rulles Estavale * - A west coast US debut, all we know of Estavale is that it is a very hoppy Belgian-style summer-seasonal ale, brewed with Cascade, Amarillo, and Warrior hops. Yet again, the influence of American brewers is played out in a great beer from Belgium. (These are the hops typically used in my IPA’s)
• Mahr’s Ungespundet - A very old-style unfiltered lager. A boutique beer from a boutique brewery in Bavaria. This beer is hard to find…even in Germany. We are lucky to get it. Perhaps the smallest German brewery represented at our festivals.
• Meantime London Porter * - The Portland debut of this incredibly flavourful cask-conditioned big porter.
• Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Stout - From Denmark … and it has the word ‘Mikkel’ in it to boot! How can this not be on the list? Get this beer right away as soon as you enter. It will be one of the first to sell out at both events, guaranteed!
• Spaten Optimator * - I’ve had it before, but I love it! The Grand Master of strong, dark lagers. Think chocolate. The higher alcohol masks most of the hops used. This is both a world-class dessert and cigar beer. In a nutshell, a German can of malt whoop-ass.
• Reserve Signature Ale (w/ Tomme Arthur) * - Tomme Arthur is the brewmaster for Pizza Port’s Lost Abbey brewery in San Diego, and their stuff is awesome. Pretty much exclusively Belgians, so get your taste buds ready!
• Sick Duck (Vintage Rum Barrel Aged) * - PIB & SIB are proud to announce their first “proprietary beers”, made specifically for our events, and available no where else. At PIB, this is the first time Flyer’s Brewery beers will be poured in Oregon state. This special version of Sick Duck, their monster Impy Stout, will be aged on French Oak and Pyrat XO Reserve, a 15 year old Caribbean rum. The brew is a Double Mash totaling 1325 lbs of malt for 7 bbls, 7.5% of which is oats. Hopped in 4 additions w/ Centennial and East Kent Goldings.
• Spaten Premium Bock - Helles bock for hell. Rarely will you find a beer this seemingly mild & sweet that packs such a big engine under the hood…if you know what I mean.
• St. Feuillien Tripel * - Finally, our favorite least-known Belgian Tripel comes to us on draft!
• Uerige Doppel-Sticke - This is simply one of the top 5 must-try beers. For starters, you can’t even get this beer in Dusseldorf Germany where it is made. Next, this may be the most highly hopped beer EVER produced in that country. So what does it taste like? Well, somewhere between an English and American barley wine, with a dose of German lager qualities, lies this gem.

So I think that’s enough to work with! I can’t think of any other beer fest that pulls off so many different, hard-to-get beers with so much thought, organization, and style than the PIB and SIB. Each year keeps getting better, and this year looks like it will be an epic one. Make your reservations now. Prost!

I believe that “next month’s session will be done on time” was the quote from last month’s session? What’s even worse … I can’t lie and throw down the perfectly believable excuse of having a hard time finding milds here in Bend, OR. I had just gone off about my recent trip to Seattle where I purchased several Milds for the occasion. Whatever … time for The Session.

As stated above, this month’s Session is The Mysterious Misunderstood Mild This time I’m off to the CAMRA site for reference. They describe a Mild as mostly focussed on malt flavors. Most beers in this category fall in the low alcohol ranges of 3.1% - 3.8% ABV. Hops are typically not the focus here. The BJCP guidelines has this style as a subsection of the English Brown Ales to give you an idea of where they fall in their breakdown of beer styles.
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I learned homebrewing on a simple infusion system. It was essentially two plastic buckets with a form-fitting insulation sleeve that would be lowered over the bucket to keep it from bleeding off heat when the grain was sitting in with the strike water. My buddy and I settled into a pattern switching off between brewing an all-grain beer on his equipement, then brewing an extract beer on mine. When I moved I lost access to the all-grain system, and I now find myself in a position of not having brewed all-grain beer in over 2 years.

I think that it is due time to add a couple of hours to my brew days again. I’m going to go with a classic 10 gallon Gott or Igloo cooler infusion system. I’m going to build my own instead of paying the margin to someone else for the pre-assembled product. This will involve decisions about how to do the false bottom, and conversion of the spout.

While making these decisions, I’ll be shopping for two cheap 10 gallon coolers. Anyone who has a line on some, or has opinions about the valves/false bottom, please weigh in via comments or by emailing brewer at brewerman.com.

Good brewing!

My wife and I went to Seattle for a long weekend to see The Stooges. I couldn’t wait to see Iggy Pop go ape shit on stage. That guy is a machine, and he didn’t disappoint. Most importantly, he didn’t feel the need to play Lust for Life which, albeit a good song, I could really give a crap if I don’t hear ever again. In addition, Mike Watt from the Minutemen and Firehose was playing bass for them, and that was an added bonus.

On to the beer … we made time to hit some of my favorite old haunts from when we used to live there. First off was Bottleworks. What a great store. They had good info on some changes in the local beer scene. Most significant (to me) was information on Pike’s changes. I’ve written about Pike a couple of times before, so readers know its significance to me. Anyway, it would appear the new (original) owners of the brewery have hired and enabled a new Brewmaster who’s focused on bringing back quality. I was pointed to the Tandem Double Ale, available in bombers, as a prime example of not cutting back on ingredients to save cash. I asked how it was, and they gave it the thumbs up … into the basket it went. I’ll be doing a review of all the Bottleworks purchases as I consume them.

Complete purchase list:

• Lazy Boy Brewing - IPA
• Speakeasy - Prohibition Ale
• The Pike Brewing Company - Tandem Double Ale
• The Pike Brewing Company - Old Bawdy 2006 Barley Wine
• Anchor Brewing Company - Small Beer (for the Mild Session)
• Basserie Dupont, Tourpes - Biere de Miel
• De Proefbrouwerij - La Grande Blanche (Belgian Imperial White)
• Schlenkerla - Helles Lagerbier
• Baron Brewing Company - Helles Bock

Grand total: $69.46

After putting the beer in the car, we headed to Bob’s Homebrew Supply. Bob’s is my old homebrew shop, and it’s the best one in Seattle as far as I’m concerned. This is mostly because he’s got his shit organized and easy to find, but it also doesn’t hurt that he likes King Crimson and Zappa. I have plans to do an IPA recipe that I haven’t brewed in quite a while, and needed some yeast that my homebrew shop doesn’t carry.

I caught up with Bob about the brewing news in the region. He showed me the flyer for the upcoming Cascade Brewers Cup homebrew competition (formerly Cascadia Cup). I noticed that the flyer has a small logo for herestobeer.com on the bottom right corner. He mentioned that some people who entered were not aware that herestobeer.com is an Anheuser Busch marketing site, and had they known that, they wouldn’t have entered. I’ll probably be posting more on that subject at a later date, as I’m still sorting out how I feel about them.

We also made it to Brouwer’s Cafe after seeing The Stooges. This restaurant is epic. If you can get there when it isn’t crowded, it is a great place for a pint or five. It was started by the Bottleworks people, and they have about 60 handles and 200 bottles to choose from. They manage their lines well, and I’ve had many good beers there. Here’s what they had on draft the night we went. That night I had the Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide, and my wife had the Duchesse De Bourgogne from Verhaeghe. Both tasted so very good.

On the way home, we decided to stop in Olympia to go to Fish Brewing Company’s pub. I keep several of Fish’s beers in my cellar at any given time. For example, right now I have a 2001 Old Woody and a 2005 Poseidon Imperial Stout. Their food was awesome. I had the blackened tuna tacos, and ordered a very smooth and tasty Detonator Dopplebock that paired well with it. My wife had some really crisp, well-seasoned fish and chips where they used panko bread crumbs. This was a fantastic. I happened to bump into the brewery president while I was there. He had just returned from two weeks in Guatemala, and was lobbying for us to go to the Slurp that evening, which sounded pretty interesting:

The Slurp features live music and a live auction, and, of course, all the shellfish you can eat. Proceeds from the live auction will benefit PCSGA’s Shellfish Habitat Rejuvenation Fund. Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association partners with Mother Nature to protect and restore shellfish growing areas.

Wish we could have hung around to support what sounds like a fantastic fund. Unfortunately, there was not enough time, as we had to get back to the pets. We hauled back quite a bit of good beer, good memories of the show and larger bellies from the excellent meals in Seattle. Can’t wait to go back for The Police in June!

Cheers!

So I’m all pumped for my first participation in The Session, and fate conspires against me so that I don’t get it done in time. Without going into excuses, I’ll forge ahead and make the entry. Let it be stated, however, that next month’s session will be done on time, dammit!

The theme for this month’s The Session is The Day Of The Dubbels. Now I’ve had a decent share of Dubbels, but I was hard-pressed to put into words what the style is. So I went over to the BJCP site to learn how they describe a Dubbel.

In short the BJCP described a Dubbel as a malty, rich-fruit-estered (raisin, plum, cherry aromas), softly-alcoholic Belgian brew, with minimal, if any, hop presence. The style guideline describes a dark amber to copper color range, with hues of red. I’ve seen some pretty chocolaty-red dubbels though. It sounded like this is really a beer that showcases malt and yeast … with a little bit of alcoholic warmth.

There’s also the idea of gravity (a measure of “stuff” in the beer) that some use to help identify what may be considered a Dubbel. If you consider the BJCP style guidelines, they specify Dubbels as having a gravity range between 1.062 and 1.075. Some beers reference gravity right in the name such as the classic Rochefort 8 or Maredsous 10. This number refers to an older Belgian system of referring to gravity. An 8, for example, described a beer that has a specific gravity of around 1.080 (gravity - 1 * 100).

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So part of the thing that I first wanted to have when I decided to do this blog was the ability to publish my recipes without having to copy/paste HTML into a post. The minimum requirements for the solution were:

• All my recipes are in one section of the site
• Readers have ability to pull down the BeerXML version of the recipe
• Use XSLT for HTML output (minimize changes when decide to change how recipes are displayed)
• Wanted to be able to go straight from my brewing software to the site

I’m a software developer, and I thought, I’ll just build something. I always think that, then immediately think, I’d rather be at the pub. I deal with programming all day, and the last thing that I want to do is come home and deal with it some more. This site was supposed to be about beer, not programming.

Since I had recently switched to BeerSmith which exports to XML, I thought it would be a snap to find some plugin that would allow me to upload recipes straight to the site and be done. I found Ben Belchak’s BeerXML Plugin for WordPress. It almost fit the bill perfectly. So I downloaded it and tinkered until I had what I needed. I’d say it’s about 90% there, so I feel it’s good enough to lift the curtain on it.

So here’s the new Beer Recipes section. Feedback is welcomed on the recipes, formatting, missing features, or whatever.