Episode 96: Abita Amber – A little taste of Louisiana.

This week, we finish up our Amber series with Abita Amber Ale

News

A Manatee County, Florida man is in jail after deputies say he stabbed his three roommates late Friday night. A witness told deputies that the offender and the victims were drinking beer when he left to go to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw the stabbing. The offender fled the scene on foot, but he was found about 500 yards away passed out. Apparently he was upset with the brand of beer two of the victims bought. Luckily, all three victims had non-life threatening injuries. What I really want to know is what beer were they arguing over.

Abita Brewing Amber

• Tonight’s beer comes from a brewery that we haven’t really had a chance to talk to much about, and that is Abita Brewing Company, from Abita Springs, Louisiana, 30 miles north of New Orleans.
• The first began brewing in 1986 and is the oldest crafter brewery in the south east. It today produce over 80,000 barrels a year.
• They use spring water from the Abita springs to brew there beer.
• As I step into the beer geek in me with this next comment, Abita was one of the first breweries in the country to use a Merlin system for brewing which is a more energy efficient way to boil the wort.
• Their flagship beer, either the Purple Haze or the Turbo Dog, are both pretty widely available, and if I am counting right are available in 35 states.
• Tonights beer, the Amber, is actually not an amber ale at all, it is instead a munich style lager. It was the first beer sold by the brewery in 1986.
• Weighing in at 4.5% ABV, it is a rather straight forward beer in alochol content, one you would typically expect to be a session style beer.
• The pour is a light amber with a big creamy head that sticks around for a few minutes.
• The smell is a sharper hop smell, and it looks like it is going to have good carbonation as well.
• The taste is slightly sweet, slightly sour, and subtle hoppy. I guess I would compare this beer more to a malty pilsner.

Next Week

Who knows whats next. I am thinking that we may do a few shows on porters or stouts, maybe specifically Irish beers.

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Episode 95: Tröegs Nugget Nectar – This beer is a true gold nugget

Getting back to our Amber series we look at a very regional brewery and Tröegs Nugget Nectar

News

Tonight’s news comes from the state of Oregon, where if a group of state lawmakers gets its way, the tax on beer might go up 1,800 percent. Five legislators have introduced Oregon House Bill 2461, which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers. The aim is to increase revenue for the state; specifically, says the bill, to fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.

The last malt beverage tax increase in the state was 32 years ago, and it currently ranks next to last among states in such taxation rates. Opponents of the bill say the low tax rate is one of the major factors in making Oregon an attractive place for brewers.

They say passage of the increase would raise the price of beer, probably cost jobs, and result in lowered revenues for the state in the long run. This also could be the story across the nation, with more and more states considering raising the taxes. Look for higher prices in the future.

Tröegs Nuggest Nectar

• Tonight’s beer comes from Tröegs Brewing Company, a brewery that we may not have talked about for a while if at all.
• Tröegs is located in Harrisburg, PA and is not widely distributed. In fact, I am not sure if you can get this outside of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.
• The name Tröegs is actually a combination of the name of the founders, John and Chris Trogner, and the Dutch word for pub, kröeg.
• Established in 1997, Tröegs was founded in Harrisburg because John and Chris wanted to start a brewery in Colorado, but it had to much competition. It was a simple case of supply and demand, there was demand in PA, and not much supply.
• Tonight’s beer, Nugget Necatar weighs in at 7.5% abv and is advertised as one of the hoppiest ambers out there. Made with Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk Hops, it has an IBU of 93. They say this beer is their Hopback beer just turned up a few notches.
• We haven’t talked about IBU’s much on this show, but they stand for international bitterness units and is generally a way to tell about how bitter the beer is. The higher the number, the more bitter the beer. So 93, is pretty bitter.
• The beer pours a light amber with a nice white head that sticks around a while.
• The smell very hoppy. This is one of the most hop forward smells we have talked about in a long time. There may be a little malt back bone in this beer, but really it is very low.
• The beer is hoppy, but almost a slightly sweet hoppy. Some beers that are this hoppy can be almost undrinkable in my opinion, just overpowering, but this one is actually just about perfect, just up to the level. It is very drinkable and smooth.

Next Week

Alright, next week we have one beer left in the amber series, Abita’s Amber Ale.

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Episode 94: Rogue American Amber Ale – Salute the bottle

After a one week break to celebrate Pittsburgh we are back to our Amber series. This week its Rouge American Amber.

News

A 22-year-old man ran out of a Silver Springs Citgo gas station with two cases of Bud Light Sunday night, pulling a knife on a customer who tried to stop him. James Steven Buckman had little time to enjoy the beer, as Marion County sheriff’s deputies soon arrested him at his Econo Lodge motel room across the street. Thats right, he was camped out right across the street!

Rogue’s American Amber Ale

• Tonight’s beer is from the West Coast and is rather widely available.
• We have talked about Rogue in the past, but just to refresh some memories, they are located in Newport, Oregon.
• They are one of the bigger craft brewers in the country, and have a variety of beers out on the market, although as we have talked about on this show before, some of the beers are just re branded versions of the same beer.
• Tonight’s beer weighs in at 5.6% abv, and is made up of four types of malt, two types of hops, and their proprietary Pacman yeast. It won a gold medal in the 2006 World Beer Championship.
• The beer pours amber, again not a huge shock here considering the name of the series and all, with a nice creamy head on top.
• The aroma has some citrusy and hoppiness notes there, but there is some malt backbone there to give the beer some body.
• The taste is more of that same balance, just enough hops to give it a little bite and just enough malt to make the beer stick around in your mouth and want the hops to be there.
• This really is a very well balanced beer. I would say this is a great session beer, one that you an have several of and not be too overwhelmed. It is moderate in alcohol so you won’t get too drunk of several of them as well.

Next Week

Well next week we will be heading back to Pennsylvania and Tröegs Nugget Nectar, a beer that I don’t have but Jake does.

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Episode 91: Fat Tire Amber Ale – Peddling it way into our hearts.

We start a new series talkin’ bout Amber Ales. We start off with one of our favorite beers, Fat Tire Amber Ale. Ambers are a good bit lighter and hoppier than barleywines. A nice departure.

News

Police have arrested a Greenfield, California man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat. Police said they only learned of the deal after the 36-year-old man went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn’t made as promised. The man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking. Officers also arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with the man, but she’s under California’s legal age of consent and can’t legally marry.

Amber Ales

• We will be talking about Amber Ales for the next couple weeks, which I will admit is a bit of a catch all category. It is also one that many brewers produce and I would wager to guess nearly all brewpubs make.
• An amber ale tends to focus more on maltly flavors, but there can be some hoppyness depending on the brewer and the beer. The color is going to be, shockingly, amber.
• Expect to see ABV’s in the range of 4-7% for these beers.

Fat Tire Amber Ale

• Fat Tire is brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company located in Fort Collins, Colorado.
• Founded in 1991 by Jeff Lebesch, a home-brewer and electrical engineer, and Kim Lebesch a social worker and first sales person for New Belgium, the first two beers were the Fat Tire and a brown dubbel.
• Fat Tire was actually named for the owners bike trip through Belgium. The label of this beer features a big and employees receive a replica of this bike on their one year anniversary.
• Fat tire weighs in at 5.2% abv and is available is in quite a few states.
• The pour is amber in color with a nice little head that provides some nice lacing as you drink the beer.
• The smell is light and malty, although there is some nice citrus smell from the hops.
• The taste is balanced to malty in flavor, however there is some nice hoppyness there at times as well.
• This is a great beer to introduce people to good beer with. It isn’t too overwhelming, and it is a great session beer. I will admit, this is my favorite beer to drink with a nice slice of deep dish pizza.

Next Week

Another amber, which one we do not know, so stay tuned.

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