Beer Blotter: Seattle based. World focused.

Midnight Sun XXX was Amateur Hour's top pick.

**Let me take a brief moment to apologize on the delay for our Hopfest in review article. We are working on something epic with two writers. For now, Erik provides a taste of our day.***

Every now and again, I run across a beer that’s so interesting, so tasty and so different than my normal preference, I become mildly obsessed with it, and spend most of my time trying to track it down. At Brouwer’s Hopfest last weekend, I found just such a beer.

Midnight Sun Brewing Co’s XXX Black Double IPA was my favorite beer of the festival. Before you ask, yes, I had a Wisdom Seeker and a Blind Pig and an Ace of Spades, and all the standouts. I even had a few very limited Firkins and a cask beer or two. Those were all exceptional, don’t get me wrong, but the XXX stood out for a couple good reasons.

Having spent most of the morning in a blissful hop-induced delirium, the surprise of XXX’s sweet, almost stouty malt profile was like taking a sip of lemonade on a hot day. The mouthfeel was almost as creamy as a good porter, but it finished strong with a not-to-dry, but fully developed hop bite.

Again, touting the wisdom of our very own Timperial Stout, balance is king. He taught be that over-emphasizing one flavor can lead to an underwhelming experience. I’m going to state my almost assuredly unpopular opinion that Russian River’s Blind Pig is a one-trick-pony. Sure, it’s an impressive trick, but drinking what is essentially hop extract got old after about 8 ounces.

Midnight Sun, however, has crafted a beer with such depth…such complexity, that one schooner wasn’t nearly enough. Unfortunately for me, I have to wait until January when they begin shipping it down to Washington, where it will be exclusively available in 22oz bottles for only a few months.

Amateur Hour falling in love with Consecration at Apex in PDX.

**Amateur Hour is our new (first) column, written by wordsmith Erik Baldwin. When Erik is not writing, he’s playing in Seattle band, The Beats, Man. After a way too long and irritating departure – Erik is back to talk about his journey to beer.***

Most people start to realize at some point that beer with flavor is preferable to the alcoholic bilge water your grandfather drank. What they don’t realize, however, is that there is more to flavor than just hop intensity and bitterness.

I can’t tell you how often I hear from people who jump on the microbrew train and constantly tell people “I’m really into hoppy beers”. Well, friend, I’ve got some news for you. There’s more to life than Pales and IPAs.

Here are a couple styles that usually don’t have an over-developed hop profile that I’ve been experimenting with lately.

Saison

This antique Belgian style originates in Wallonia (The French-speaking half of Belgium) and is typically known as a “farmhouse ale”. That is to say, the farmers pretty much kept it to themselves for a long while. It’s a lighter, low ABV style that goes down nice and easy after a hard day plowing the barley fields. You could call it the Gatorade of beer, but even I would cringe.

Look for a bubbly, smooth golden brew with strong yeast flavor and hints of peppercorn and citrus. Outstanding examples include Dupont’s mysteriously smooth-yet-bitter Avec les Bons Vœux and the always impressive and delightfully spicy Double Mountain Bon Idée.

Sour

Now, before I get ahead of myself, I have to admit, I’ve become completely obsessed with sour ales. The depth and variety of sour beers increases everyday, and brewers keep finding ways to make them better and more creative. So what’s the story?

The sour style is at its heart a “happy mistake” that Belgian cellar-dwellers stumbled upon ages ago. At some point, an unhappy brewer realized his batch had been inoculated by wild yeast floating around his caveau. He was in luck, though, because it turns out wild yeast turns the Belgian red or brown ale into a delicious, effervescent delight of a beer.

Expect sours to run a range from bright, golden strong ales to deep, rich browns and ambers. Most have a shockingly flavorful front, full of berry and wine notes. Some are much more tart than others, so experiment a bit and find out where your taste lies.

Some outstanding examples include Cascade Summer Gose, which, incidentally has salt added at some point during the boil, and Russain River Consecration. Now, I could write an entire post about Consecration alone, so I’ll save the majority of the details, but let me just say this: it is brewed with red currants and aged in oak Cabernet-Sauvignon barrels, weighs in at 10% ABV and drinks like champagne.

So, who needs IPA anyway?

Next week: IPA: the world’s greatest beer.

Home brewing is coming to Beer Blotter. Join our discussion.

I don’t anything about home brewing. Its a fact.

Ok, well its a partial fact. Subjectively, many would say I know nothing about home brewing – and I would never argue. The extent of my knowledge comes from a half-cocked reading of Charlie Papazian’s Complete Guide to Home Brewing. Good book, little absorption without action.

So its time to take a numbskull, absolutely overdue step and put together a system. How do I do it? Where do I go?

Well people like to talk about the internet these days. Apparently its a resource. We start and end the bulk of our daily research at the world wide web, without knowing the reliability of our sources. But this is a reader powered world. Content produced by bloggers is tangible and it makes sense. So I decided to trust my instincts and start with a Google search bar.

Here are some quick flash in the pan ideas, my research and my proposed result. In the end, I’d love it if you would share your feelings about these proposals in our comments below.

What is Home Brewing?

There is a must read: the aforementioned Papazian brewer’s bible – The Complete Guide to Home Brewing. Get the book, read it and then begin your search for additional questions online.

Charlie is a teacher. In that respect, he knows exactly how far to push you before you begin to ask questions. His writing is simple, basically scientific, and practical.

But what really would help is a starter system as you peruse the book. If you have a friend that has a stove top system, I would implore you to read a chapter and then go and dabble. Translating the words into tangible actions will make the experience better – I can almost guarantee.

Once you have a better understanding of brewing basics – peruse the web for answers. The Home Brewers Association has a nice website; so does Basic Brewing Radio, who offers a podcast. All it takes is Google and a search term.

How Do I Build My Own Brewery?

Lets not get too excited. Building a “brewery” is not simple. I thought it might be – I was a bit rambunctious.

Take it slow and do not over invest if you do not have to do it. Do not simply think about how much beer you can make – but the cost of ingredients, how it will be fermented, where it will be fermented and how it will be stored. Answering these follow up questions will dictate the type of system that you build.

For me – the converted sankey keg system was the perfect size. This system will allow us to brew 12 gallons a beer each brewing session.

Converted kegs are relatively easy to construct. Homebrew Heaven, in Everett, Washington took our old kegs, cut the tops, added gauge portals and spigots and returned them to us in just a week. Oh yeah – and we got a nice lid for the kettle.

There are three main types of converted keg systems:

(1) 3 Tier System (Gravity Based With No Pumps)

(2) RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System)

(3) HERMS (Heat Exchange Mash System)

Each system has its pluses and minuses, based mainly on the battle between cost and ease of use. You can read more about it at this nice online debate.

The optimal type of keg system is wholly dependent on you, your budget and your stress level. For us, we have decided to go inexpensive, and easily alterable. Thus, we will be building a wooden three tier structure that can easily be obtained, built, modified and tossed out if we decided to upgrade.

A gravity system allows us to focus more on the brewing process (ingredients, temperature, variables) and not the equipment (pumps, hoses, etc.). Though it would be nice to be afforded all of the convenience, love and sex appeal of a single level RIMS or HERMS system – we are going basic.

How Do I Build My Brewing Structure?

Well, lets assume that I want to make a 3 tier structure. I do, so this is easy.

We need to first determine whether or not we will be able to weld this sucker. If so, great. If not, no big deal – wood exists. There is a growing misconception that only metal racks will suffice. Unfortunately, metal racks mostly require welding (or good tools to bore holes/cut pieces), are extremely heavy and get really hot. A wooden structure can solve most of these problems, as it is lighter, more easily fastened and dammit – more appealing to most.

But what about the fire hazard? Do not worry about the heat. Find yourself a nice diagram and you will see that heat is projected upward. Get yourself a nice burner (see below) and you will see that it is mostly shielded, keeping heat inside.

To add extra protection, you can fasten sheets of 3/4 inch plywood below the burners to prevent heat from escaping towards your structure. You can also add a sheet of metal to the bottom of your burner that can be spaced off the plywood using washers. This allows a nice air vent between the wood on your structure and your burner’s bottom.

What Type of Heating System?

There are systems (like HERMS) that do not require gas/propane heat sources. If you go that route, you likely do not need to read this article. You probably are more ambitious than me.

Again, we aim to keep it simple. If you are using a normal gas/propane heating system, you want to make sure you have adequate burners. Lets discuss some of these options.

Bayou Classic is the leader in outdoor propane burners. They make systems from anywhere between 25000 BTU (British Thermal Unit – measurement of heat) to north of 200000 BTU!

Other burner outfits like King Kooker make similar products, but they do not seem to be as well received by the brewing community (though there are always those who swear by them).

There are some that say that the 185000 BTU SP-10 made by Bayou Classic is sufficient. There are some that say that the King Kooker 17″ stand will do the trick.

But there is clearly a consensus that the Bayou Classic Kick A Banjo Cooker is the best burner on the market. Kicking out a mind-bending 210000 BTU from a 10 inch cooking surface, the Banjo Cooker can get your pot boiling in half the time of more conventional cookers and even has a 30 PSI regulator that makes high pressure brewing a reality.

For those of you ambitious folks, the Kick A Banjo Burner can be purchased as the burner only for roughly $25.00-40.00 out on the web. You can buy these burners if you intend to weld the burner into your upscale brewing rig. For us, the stand-alone version with the add on regulator does the trick at $70.00-80.00 a piece.

Get 1, 2 or 3. If you get three – awesome. If you can only afford 2, ditch the mash tun burner and turn out a quickly boiled liquor tank and kettle wort. If you can only get one, best to use it on the liquor tank so that you can get your sparging water to boiling temp in no time.

How Do I Make a Beer?

Once you have your system screwed together, your new converted kegs cleaned and ready to roll, and your burners fired up – we need to make beer. Well, I already told you that I am not an expert so I’m on that same road with you. Luckily I have been traveling down that road for some time and found a few nice guides to help you make a tasty beer.

The Brewing Network – This is a collection of beer brewing recipes, tips, techniques and how to’s. Its definitely the location of my primary resource – once we begin brewing. Its repertoire includes the Jamil Show (read below), Brew Strong and Sunday Meet. Check out the podcast on developing your own yeasts!

Beer Recipes.Org – Amazing mass of beer recipes from around the world. Not much else to say here – there are a ton.

Beer Recipator – This website is very useful if you have to convert a lot of things for batch size, metric units, etc.

Homebrew Chef – Sean Paxson makes awesome food with amazing beer. His food recipes are unmatched and if you get the opportunity to eat at one of his beer dinners – do it. Sean also publishes interesting beer recipes that both look good and can be easily understood. Check out the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA clone recipe he published. Yes, please.

The Jamil Show – The Jamil Show is probably my favorite read on brewing recipes. Its also the source of the 120 Minute IPA recipe above. Each week award winning homebrewer and author Jamil Zainasheff, along with co-host Jon Plise, covers a specific beer from a well-known brewer – and tries to clone it. Wow – cloning Nogne Porter?!

Remember, your local homebrew shop has a ton of recipes as well. Check them out when you go to pick up your ingredients.

I hope that you all foray into homebrewing soon. Please let us know if you have any additional information that might help us as we begin our own journey. Leave any comments below!

Ninkasi Believer: Ripe for the BBQ

If you’re going to a BBQ with a goodly number of beer nerds, and you don’t want everyone to think you’re a stooge, your first order of business is to become less of a stooge. Here’s how.

Choose the right beer for the circumstance. BBQ’s demand a crisp, refreshing beer that won’t make you sluggish in the sunshine. Disregard stouts and porters; daytime drinking of these black, grainy monsters is best left to the experts. Also, avoid beers with high ABV like trippels and imperials. It’s early in the day, after all. Passing out in direct sunlight can lead to nasty consequences.

Consider a summer seasonal, like Deschutes Twilight. It’s a fairly light, well-rounded pale sporting good hoppy front flavor and subtle maltiness. At 5.0%, it’s not going to ruin your horseshoes game, either.

If that’s still a bit stoogey for you, you’re probably ready to graduate from my column. Nonetheless, I’d recommend a red ale. Oft touted as “the epitome of balance”, reds offer a combination of sweet malt flavors and sharp hop tones.

One of my new favorites is the Ninkasi Believer Double Red Ale. The list of things that make this beer outstanding is ridiculously long. Impeccable mouthfeel, perfectly roasted malty front, tangy, not overly bitter hop finish. It’s everything you could ask for. My one gripe about this beer as a BBQ beverage is that it’s 6.9%, meaning you can’t pound them all afternoon and expect to put on a good show at the volleyball court.

So take it from me, fellow amateurs, there’s no excuse for stoogeyness. Not, at least, as far as your beverage choices are concerned.

Schlitz in a can: Everyone has to start somewhere.

**Amateur Hour is our new (first) column, written by wordsmith Erik Baldwin. When Erik is not writing, he’s playing bass for Seattle band, The Beats, Man.***

For your average 18 21-25 year old, beer is more of a tool than a beverage. Its single reason for existing is to “enhance” the already chaotic experiences of being young. That is to say, it’s less about the drink than the drunk.

Macro-breweries are more than happy to oblige, with offerings priced somewhere between the shrapnel in your pocket, and what’s available between the couch cushions. I drank the Schlitz, the High-Life, and the PBR, and I loved it. It was easy. Soon enough, I even believed these beers were my preference. I sought them out, debating weather the extra 35 cents was worth it for Olympia over Rainier, scoffing at my snobby friend who sprang for a sixer of Henry’s.

The years went by, the hangovers became easier and more frequent, and I saw more and more friends drinking beer from glasses instead of cans. Wild, fearsome beers that smelled of yeast and grains, and lacked the familiar uriney hue that all my favorites shared. It was difficult to watch these people shell out 4, 5 or even 6 dollars on a single beer while I happily plopped down two bucks a pop to get just as drunk as they were.

They’d make me try their micros, talking up one characteristic or another. “It’s hoppy, but not overly bitter” they’d say, or “I’ve never tasted a stout this chocolaty”. Clumsily trying to decipher the relentless, overpowering flavors of these beers, I’d inevitably succumb to the objections of my underdeveloped palate. I didn’t know hops, I didn’t know malt, I didn’t know body or balance.

Then I moved in with Timperial Stout, the cellar-dwelling beer-meister responsible for shifting my paradigm. Everyday, watching him imbibe new and unfamiliar brews made me realize how much more there was to beer than a buzz. Our cupboards and fridge were flooded with IPA’s, Porters, Imperial this’s and Trippel thats. Sampling, tasting, and comparing, I cobbled together an appreciation for the subtlety of craft beer, and began to develop respectable preferences.

I started off slowly, of course, experimenting with rich, malty German bocks and lighter blond Belgians. Spaten Oktoberfest at Feierabend in Seattle was an early favorite. The wonky label and European origin made me feel like a real beer drinker, and the ridiculously mellow, smooth flavor made it easy to put away a liter or two in a sitting.

Things got really serious for me a couple of years back, when I tagged along to Sour Beer fest at Brouwer’s. Initially, the idea of weirdly fermented, out-of-control yeast strains contaminating my beer was slightly off putting, but oh, was I wrong. I’d never experienced a beer that didn’t taste quite like beer before. The sour ales had an odd, kombucha-like tang that I found immediately irresistible. The doors to beerland had been thrust open before me, and I was finally ready to stumble through, glass in hand.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy an ice cold Coors now and again, I’m no elitist. It’s just that my interests have shifted from quantity to quality.

I’m trying to learn as much as possible about the endless stream of delicious and clever beers brewed by maniac geniuses across the globe, and every now and again I’ll bring you an update on my progress, maybe make an amateur’s recommendation for an amateur’s palate. I might even start liking Porter this year.