News
Well once in a while we can bring you a story of not just beer and not just food, but a combination of the two. This week I found an article about a brand new food product that combines the lovely goodness that is beer with the salty joy that are chips in, you guessed it, beer flavored chips.
Also in breaking news, as of yesterday. InBev bought AB.
Kölsch
- The style originated in Köln, Germany, however it has increasingly become a popular style in the US, often times showing up at brewpubs. Technically however, any beer brewed in Köln can be called a Kölsch.
- This type of beer is a top fermented ale and generally pours a very pale color, almost with a light beer appearance. Generally it is about a medium on the bitterness scale, although some versions can be more bitter. This style generally weighs in at between 4-6% ABV.
- Some of the beers we are going to be talking about over the next couple weeks may not be the easiest to find. A lot of this style is made at the local level and at brewpubs, so if you are in there ask for a Köslch.
Summertime (Goose Island)
- Tonight’s beer comes from sweet home Chicago and Goose Island Brewery. We have talked a bit about Goose Island, mainly because it’s based in Chicago were I am and because I can get the beers rather easily, however their distribution is picking up and you should be able to get these beers rather widely throughout the country at this point.
- Just for quick background, Goose Island was founded in 1988 by John Hall, it currently has three locations, two brewpubs in Chicago and a production brewery where it bottles.
- Summertime weighs in at 5.00% ABV and is generally available from April until September.
- It pours a lighter golden color and has a subtle hop aroma, nothing too strong. There is a little bit of a citrusy smell here as well, but nothing too strong.
- The beer is a lighter beer in flavor, but still gives a little crispness that is not as strong as a pilsner. This is a great thirst quenching beer that I enjoy having around on hot summer days.
Next Week
Who knows what we are going to do next week. The only thing that I can promise you is that it will be another Kölsch, and we’ll be going over some of unique history of this beer so tune in!
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Erin and Jacob are closing on a house today, so welcome to our third clip show.
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We finish up our brown ale series with Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown.
News
The news story this week comes from the Lehigh Valley, one of the many places Jim has lived courtesy of Sam Adams. The have recently opened the Sam Adams PA brewery, located right outside Allentown, PA. The brewery has had several different owners over the years including Strohs, Pabst, and most recently Diageo, who SA bought it from for $55 million.
Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale
- Brewed at the Samuel Smith Old Brewery in Tadcaster, England, the beer is one of the best, if not the best, brown ale on the market.
- The Old Brewery at Tadcaster was founded in 1758 and is both the oldest brewery in Yorkshire and the only surviving independent brewery in Tadcaster.
- The beer has a minerally essence that can be detected due to the use of local water in brewing. Brewing water for ales and stouts is still drawn from the original 85 foot well.
- The beer itself weighs in at 5% ABV, so a pretty good evening drinker, and comes in a brown bottle with a gold foil cap.
- The pour is dark brown with a white head with some brown highlights around the edge.
- The smell is a lot of malt; think of caramel, and maybe some butterscotch there as well.
- When you taste this one it is mainly malt with only a little bit of hops. Think of a nice biscuity flavor, a little bit of a buttery flavor too boot.
Next Week
That is it for the brown ale series. And to be perfectly honest, I am not sure what we are going to talk about next week. It may be an amber series, it may be an IPA series, who knows. It will be something summery though, so tune in.
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Another week another Brown Ale. This week we look at one that is widely considered the best domestic offerings, Brooklyn Brown Ale. Sorry that Jim cuts out in the intro, don’t worry we haven’t changed it on you.
News
Anheuser Busch (AB) has bought shares in Crown Beer International…in fact it bought all of the shares that International. Crown Beer International has been doing very well in India lately and the company is responsible for 60% of the beer in India. The question is, will this effect the Inbev/AB deal that could or could not go through in the future?
Brooklyn Brown Ale
- For those of you who don’t remember, Brooklyn Brewing Company is located in, you guessed it, Brooklyn, New York and was opened in 1987 by Tom Potter and Steve Hindy.
- A lot of what I have learned about beer has to be looked at through the lens of Brooklyn and their current brewmaster, Garret Oliver. His book, the Brewmasters Table, was one of the first beer books that I ever read and probably the most influential.
- This beer was also originally dry hopped, which we haven’t really talked about much on this show. Dry hopping is the process of throwing hops in the fermentor with beer and letting the flavor come out through fermentation.
- Weighing in at 5.5% ABV, Brooklyn Brown is described as having a blend of 6 malts.
- The beer pours a dark brown with a small head.
- The aroma is chocolaty and malty, with a lot of roast notes here. Not as strong as a porter or stout, but just shy of it.
- The flavor is what you would expect from the smell, malty and roasty, however there is also a hop presence here that makes itself known.
Next Week
Next week we wrap up the brown ale series with a trip over the pond to a British brewer and Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale.
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Beer number two in our brown ale series is Indian Brown Ale.
News
Well there is big news in the beer world this week. InBev, the worlds second largest brewer, made a bid of $65 a share for a total of $46.3 billion dollars to buy Anheuser Busch. This is a deal that we have talked about before on YNB, but up until last week, it was all speculation. If the deal would go through, it would be the 3rd biggest purchase of an American corporation by a foreign corporation. Initial reports suggest that either this may be blocked by politicians, InBev may have to raise their offer to $70 a share, or AB may try to buy another corporation to make itself less appealing to InBev. We will keep you up to date when things happen.
Indian Brown Ale
- Opening in 1995, Dogfish Head, whith a slogan is Off Centered Beer for Off Centered People, has been a rockstar in the brewing world since.
- Owner Sam Caligone is also involved in a hip hop group called The Pain Relievaz.
- Dogfish head is available in most states, however some in the Middle of the country may be tough to find. For most of our listeners though I think that you should be able to get a hold of these products.
- This weeks product, the Indian Brown Ale, weighs in at a heavy 7.20% ABV, which is a little bit heavier than most Brown ales, but that isn’t too shocking coming from Dogfish Head.
- The beer pours a dark reddish brown, with a decent size head that has ok head retintion.
- The aroma on this one is a sweet one, think of things like caramel. It almost smells a little too malty and sweet for a brown ale, but just appreciate that for what it is.
- The taste is almost like that of a porter or a stout, almost kind of chocolately. There is also some sharp hoppyness to this beer.
- This is a great beer for spicey foods and BBQ alike. For the spicey foods, it can almost wipe away the spiceness, and with BBQ it melds very nicely with the other flavors.
Next Week
Alright, next week we are going to move just a little bit up up the coast and head to Brooklyn and look at, Brooklyn Brown Ale.
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We start a new series this week with Newcastle Brown Ale. As with our other series we start with a widely available easy to drink beer. For the record this podcast was edited on a ferry traveling between Bainbridge Island and Seattle, WA.
News
The news this week is not good for a craft brewer in upstate New York. F.X. Matt Brewing, who contract brews Saranac, and Brooklyn beer among others, had a fire that caused 10 million dollars worth of damage. The fire was started by some careless welders who lit a plastic conveyor belt on fire. No one was injured during the fire that took 15 hours to get under control. Amazingly, brewing commenced just five days later, although the canning operations were destroyed and the bottle operations damaged.
Brown Ale
- The brown ale has been around for quite a while, in fact up until the late 1600’s, just about all beers were brown. In the late 1700’s however, newer malts became available and the pale ale became all the rage.
- As the pale ale became popular with the middle class in England, the Brown Ale became strong with the working class, who saw the more expensive pale ales as a “yuppie” beer if you will.
- Brown Ales tend to be maltier and sweeter than other beers, with the color ranging from reddish brown to dark brown.
- Some beers will have a slight fruity taste, while others tend to be drier with nutty characters.
- All have a low hop aroma and bitterness.
- Generally speaking, these weigh in at around 4-7% ABV
Newcastle Brown Ale
- First brewed in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter in Newcastle, England, it is considered a northern England version of the beer, which tends to be a little lighter than the Southern style.
- This beer is actually a blend of two beers, a lighter amber ale and a stronger brown ale, something that is a sort of throwback technique in regards to brewing.
- Weighing in at 4.7% abv, this is just about the same as an average light beer in strength.
- This beer is not too complex in regards to its flavor. It is a very lightly sweet beer with solid carbonation and some subtle bitterness.
- Also this beer tends to be better on draft, since the bottle is clear.
Next Week
Next week we will continue in the Brown Ale series and will talk about, Dogfish Head and Indian Brown Ale.
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Well for the last couple months we have looked at some serious beers. We have talked about Dubbels, Trippels, and Quadrupels. Beers that were deep, complex, full of flavor and generally high in both alcohol and body. Well, we are taking a break from that tonight and looking at Miller Chill and Bud Light Lime. Call it a bit of a pallete cleaning show.
News
A Japanesse brewer may soon have your brew. Sapporro Breweries is going to brew a pilot batch. about 100 bottles of beer, made from barley that is grown from seeds that spent five months on the international space station in 2006. The brewers say that they are really looking forward to seeing what the beer tastes like. Our guess, it that it will taste EXACTLY like normal beer. But hey, who knows, maybe space does strange things to barley and whoever drinks this will end up being 37 feet tall.
Miller Chill and Bud Light Lime
- Miller, based in Millwaukke Wisconsin, best known for Miller Lite and of course the ever popular Miller High Life.
- Anheuser-Busch (AB) on the other hand is best known for Bud Light and the ever popular Budweiser.
- So what about the beer. First up, Miller Chill. It weighs in at 4.10% ABV, and comes in a green bottle. It is billed as Light beer brewed with a hint of salt and lime. So, in other words, if you want to make this beer at home, grab a Miller Lite, through in a lime and a pound of salt.
- When I had this beer I couldn’t believe the salty taste. I really didn’t expect that from a beer, however, I guess it did say that on the label and all.
- Bud Light lime, which weighs in at 4.2% ABV, is a newer product. In fact, I just tried it tonight for the first time.
- The taste isn’t nearly as bad as Miller Chill. It is described as Light beer with Lime flavor, and that pretty much hits it on the head.
- This tastes a lot like a lazy mans Cornoa, the lime being pretty prevelant but not too over powering. I can see this being a decent beer on a hot afternoon, although you can’t really drink more than a couple.
Next Week
Alright, next week we will be back to our good beer, starting our brown ale series. Not really sure what beer we will start with, but it will be a brown ale.
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Episode 59: Victory V-12 - Like a finely tuned sports car
We are about twelve hours late on this one, which happens to be a number in our beer this week, Victory V-12. This is the last of our belgians, so if you are ready to be done with them, we are too.
News
Well here is something new and different, how to share a beer with mans best friend. A company in Australia decided to brew a beer that would be safe for dogs to drink, in other words non-alcoholic and without hops. The beer has a beef flavor and a beer smell and is apparently quite popular with the creators dogs. Jim will try to get a hold of some of this beer whenever it comes over…and when he gets a dog.
Victory V-12
- For those of you who may have just tuned in for the first time, Victory is based in Downingtown, PA and puts out many great beers, including Golden Monkey, Hop Devil, and Prima Pils, all beers that we have talked about of this show in the past
- One of the things about Belgian beers in the US is that there are only a few really good companies that make them, including Victory. If you have enjoyed this series of beers, you may want to give Ommegang Brewery, New Belgium Brewery, and Weyerbacher Brewing Company.
- Victory’s Website describes this beer as heady with a aromatic fruity start and taste, this amber ale features hints of pear and apricot in its well-nuanced flavor.
- The beer weighs in at 12% ABV and is the strongest beer that we have talked about in the Belgian series.
- This one pours a deep copper with a nice size head at first but that quickly disappears.
- This beer has a sweet smell to it, think of a malty sweet though, with a hint of some citrus and fruityness there as well.
- The taste is a rich malty sweetness that is balanced not as much by hops but by the yeast in this one. Of course you can tell the alcohol is there as well, but it is hidden rather well
Next Week
We are going to have a quick break in the action with a pallete cleanser show of sort, so tune in a find out what we will be talking about.
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We get back into the belgian series with St Bernadus Abt 12. Pay no attention to the fact that I call it Episode 57 in the open, we got screwed up because of the brewing show.
News
Well the news this week is more an alert to a new market trend in the craft brewing industry, cans. For a long time, there has been a stigma against cans in the craft brewing industry, many people just viewed them as a way to serve the masses with bad beer. Part of that may be due to the fact that usually that was all that was in cans; bad beer. The trend may be changing in the market however with several craft brewers adapting new cans, including New Belgium Brewing Company, 21st Amendment Brewing Company, and one that has been canning for a while, Oskars Blues Brewing Company.
St. Bernardus Abt 12
- A quadruple, or quad for short, is the strongest of the beers styles that we have covered.
- These beers are usually very malty and rather complex. It is best to think of this as a kind of wine, although don’t necessarily expect those types of flavors.
- The style itself is more of an “inspired by Belgian” kind of thing as opposed to a traditional Belgian kind of thing.
- Tonights beer, Bernardus Abt 12 comes from the St. Bernardus Brewery located in the village of Watou in West Flanders, Belgian.
- Tonights beer, the Abt 12, weighs in a 10.5% and carries it weight rather well.
- This beer pours like it has a ton of great darker ruby malt, with a nice of white head that actually stuck around for a few minutes on mine at least.
- The smell is all over the board with this one, coco, anise, dark cherries, a very complex smell to say the least.
- The taste seems just as busy and complex as the smell, although not overwhelming. This is a balanced beer on the surface that gets deeper with all sorts of flavors.
- A quick word about the alcohol on this one, it is there, but not nearly as recognizable as past weeks. Just be aware however, it will jump up and bite you!
Next Week
Well next week we come to the end of our Belgian Block. I refuse to call it a series any more because it is just been so damn long! We will be doing one more Victory beer, V-Twelve, and then we will be DONE with them. So tune in and enjoy!
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A bit of a departure this week, and a little longer show. We’re looking at brewing basics this week. If you’ve ever wondered how beer is made this is your show.
Ingriedents
- Beer is made essentially of four ingredients: Malt, Hops, Water, and Yeast.
- When we refer to malt, we generally are referring to malted barley. Malted barley is a process where by the barley is made to germinate, or grow, and then the growth is halted by hitting it with heat.
- Malted barley can come in all types, from Crystal Malt, which can give beer a lighter flavor; chocolate malt which is a darker more roasted flavor, caramel malt which actually has a bit of sweet flavor.
- Hops are what give the beer their bitter flavor and aroma. We have talked quite a bit about hops in this show. The hop is actually a flower, and is a very distant relative of marijuana.
- One of the biggest hop production sections of the US is the Pacific Northwest and have a distinct difference in flavor from English hops.
- Water is the fourth major ingredient and make a tremendous impact on beer. Depending on where the water comes from, it could have various minerals that effect the flavor.
- Today in the US, most of the water used to brew beer is filtered at the brewery in order to give it a consistent flavor that most consumers will expect.
- Finally, there is the yeast, the living part of the beer.
- The way yeast works is that is eats all of the sugars in the wort (we will cover what wort is later). Once the sugars are eaten, they become alcohol and produce CO2.
- Now different yeasts also produce slightly different flavors. For example, yeasts used in wheat beers tend to produce a clover and banana flavor.
Brewing
- First, the grains to be used in the beer have to be weighed and measured out. This is really where the beer is created. You can think about this step as getting the ingredients together, a little of this, a little of that, all used to balance the flavor.
- Once we have the grain, it must be milled. Milling will crack the malted grain to expose the starches inside. The starches, or sugars, are what the yeast are going to later eat and turn into alcohol.
- After the grain is cracked, it is loaded into a large vat called a mash tun, and mixed with hot water for form what is called the mash.
- The mashing processes helps to break down those starches into more simple sugars so that they can be digested by the yeast. This process can take an hour or so.
- After the mash is cooked it is pumped into a lauter tun, or a giant strainer of sorts, and the sweet syrupy goodness, or wort, is drained off. Once that wort is drained off and into the brew kettle, the grain is typically sprayed further to collect more of the sugar if possible, a process called sparging.
- Now that the wort is in the brew kettle, it is brought to a boil and the hops are added. Now depending on when in the boil you add the hops, they will do different things to the product, such as add aroma and add bitterness. Ones added to the beginning of the boil are typically for bitterness while ones added at the end are for aroma.
- Once the wort is has boiled according to the recipe, it is strained and cooled down and sent to a fermentation vessel. Here yeast is added, and depended on the yeast and the temperature that it is fermented, you will have a lager or an ale.
- Well that is brewing in a nutshell. There is much, MUCH more that you can learn about brewing, and if you think you may enjoy giving it a shot yourself, try the Basic Brewing Radio and Video podcast, one of the best ones out there for home brewing.
Next Week
Next week we are done with the brewing and back to the beer, so make sure to tune in try to remember all that you learned today. We’ll continue our Belgian series with either St. Bernardus Abt 12 or Victory Twelve.
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