Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tasting: Budweiser American Ale


I have only read one good review of this beer, and several ambivalent reviews. I think it would be properly classified as an Amber Ale. I have 2 favorites in this category: Deschutes Green Lakes Amber Ale, and Firestone Double Barrel Ale, and this beer is nothing like them.

Tasting: Chilled to ~40 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 3/3 Beautiful copper color, nice off-white head, champagne-like bubbles.
Head: 3/3 Light, thick head that lasts.
Aroma: 2/3 Very light hops, and maybe some malt?? .
Flavor: 2/3 Very dry, somewhat watery, some yeast bitterness, and light hops, no malt.
Mouth feel: 1/3 Very light body, somewhat overly carbonated.
Overall: 1.5/3 Not very ale-like, very light in flavor, aroma, and bitterness, a few weird flavors that are very subtle, but definately there.
Buzz: 0/3 No buzz after 22 oz.

This is not a bad beer, but it isn't a good beer either. It is the best Budweiser I have had, but not as good as some of the Michelob beers like Amber Bock. A bit more gravity wouldn't hurt, but this is a very drinkable beer.

After purchasing this beer, but before posting this review, I read a couple interesting posts on Beervana discussing whether or not this should be considered a "craft beer".  As you can see in my comments, I do not, for the following reasons, repeated here:

Craft brewers and craft beer generally avoid the use of adjuncts unless it is used traditionally, like adding Belgian sugar to a Trippel, and don't use ingredients that the style doesn't call for to change the appearance or flavor or the beer.

After tasting Budweiser American Ale (as an example) 3 things made me suspicious::

1. The head retention was much better than I have ever seen on a light-bodied ale.

2. The body was much lighter than the color would normally permit

3. There were some very subtle off-flavors that I haven't noticed in an ale before.

These could all be in my head, but the above, combined with the fact that the label does not claim "using ONLY the finest malts, hops and water" or something equivelent tells me that the beer has been engineered with adjuncts and ingredients to position it where Budweiser thinks it will be best received by macro-beer drinkers.

If any of the above are true, this is NOT a craft beer in my opinion.  It doesn't mean it isn't good beer, but the whole point of craft beer to me is to work to get basic ingredients to do what you want in the beer, accepting that there are tradeoffs, and trying to achieve the best balance with what you have.  I think adding chemicals to aid with head retention, or rice to thin an ale changes it into something else, and would be analagous to using acrylic paint to touch up an oil painting.  It may look great, but it is no longer an oil painting.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Force Carbonation

Brew 8 has completed fermentation and lagering, it doesn't taste that great yet, but hopefully it will come around during bottle conditioning?? I am trying to force carbonate for the first time. I used a carbonation chart which tells what psi to apply to the beer at what temperature to achieve the desired level of carbonation. Pilsners typically have 2.4 volumes of CO2 and I am keeping it at 40deg (F) so I applied 12.5 PSI and will hope for the best.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Fischer's Biere D'Alsace Amber Ale


Tasting: Chilled to ~40 degrees (f) from a large stemmed glass.

Appearance: 3/3 Beautiful copper color, nice off-white head, champagne-like bubbles.
Head: 1.5/3 Light head thins quickly.
Aroma: 2/3 Light malt, and fruity, grape-like smell no discernible hops on the nose.
Flavor: 2/3 Sweet, malty, hint of fruit, no discernable hops or very light bitterness slight musty aftertaste from the english hops.
Mouth feel: 2.5/3 Light body with light malt lingering on the palette.
Overall: 2/3 Not very beerlike, very light in flavor, aroma, and bitterness, but I really enjoyed it. This would be a great beer on a hot summer day.
Buzz: 2/3 This beer has a serious kick considering how light the body is, at 6%.

The alcohol percent exceeds many beers with heavier body which makes me suspect some other fermentables are used. Fisher's is owned by Heineken.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Great American Beer Festival


I don't know if I will ever attend the Great American Beer Festival or not, 3 days seems an awful short time to enjoy all the Beer that America has to offer.  A very special congratulations to AlesSmith for being the second San Diego brewery in 2 years to win small brewer of the year:

Here are the categories with the most entries submitted:
  1. Category: 46 American-Style India Pale Ale - 104 Entries
  2. Category: 4 Fruit or Vegetable Beer - 87 Entries
  3. Category: 12 Experimental Beer - 82 Entries
  4. Category: 17 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer - 79 Entries
  5. Category: 44 American-Style Pale Ale - 76 Entries
Making beer is not about winning contests, and I am sure that some of the best beer being brewed in the US wasn't even submitted for review this year, but I am still very interested in which breweries are doing well, and which beers are well reviewed.  I naturally root for San Diego and Oregon brewers.  Here is how they did (see the entire list of results here):

Category: 5 Herb and Spice or Chocolate BeerCategory: 5 Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer - 72 Entries
Bronze: State Beach Blonde, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 7 Specialty Beer - 21 Entries
Silver: Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

Category: 10 Session Beer - 33 Entries
Bronze: Blonde Bombshell, Cascade Lakes Brewing Co., Redmond, OR

Category: 12 Experimental Beer - 82 Entries
Bronze: Le Pelican Brun, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Paciic City, OR

Category: 13 Gluten-Free Beer - 10 Entries
Bronze: Chinquapin Butte Golden Ale, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 14 American-Belgo Style Ale - 36 Entries
Bronze: Big Wednesday, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA

Category: 15 American-Style or German-Style Sour Ale - 34 Entries
Gold: The Dissident, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 18 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer - 27 Entries
Bronze: Cascade Kriek Ale, Cascade Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 19 Aged Beer - 38 Entries
Silver: Vintage Speedway Stout, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 22 International-Style Pilsener - 22 Entries
Gold: Session Premium Lager, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR

Category: 23 German-Style Pilsener - 44 Entries
Silver: Party Pants Pilsener, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 25 Munich-Style Helles - 30 Entries
Gold: Himmelbrau Helles, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 41 English-Style Summer Ale - 34 Entries
Gold: Surfer’s Summer Ale, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Paciic City, OR

Category: 42 Classic English-Style Pale Ale - 48 Entries
Gold: Full Sail Pale Ale, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR

Category: 45 American-Style Strong Pale Ale - 71 Entries
Bronze: Organic IPA, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, OR

Category: 46 American-Style India Pale Ale - 104 Entries
Bronze: Hop Head, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Category: 47 Imperial or Double India Pale Ale - 50 Entries
Gold: Hopnotic 2X IPA, San Diego Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Hop 15, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Category: 48 American-Style Amber/Red Ale - 65 Entries
Gold: Dry Hopped Red, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
Bronze: American Amber, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

Category: 50 Bitter or Pale Mild Ale - 42 Entries
Gold: Drop Top, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 51 Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter - 43 Entries
Gold: Bachelor ESB, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 53 Irish-Style Red Ale - 31 Entries
Silver: Ragtop Red, Rock Bottom Brewery - La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

Category: 67 Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout - 19 Entries
Bronze: Port Truck Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 68 Foreign-Style Stout - 28 Entries
Silver: Black Bear XX Stout, Alameda Brewhouse, Portland, OR

Category: 70 Sweet Stout - 19 Entries
Bronze: Cow Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 72 Imperial Stout - 44 Entries
Silver: Night Rider Imperial Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 73 Strong Scotch Ale - 38 Entries
Gold: AleSmith Wee Heavy, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Silver: Way Heavy, Pizza Port San Clemente, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 74 Old Ale or Strong Ale - 40 Entries
Gold: AleSmith Decadence Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 75 Barley Wine-Style Ale - 55 Entries
Gold: Treblehook, Redhook Ales Brewery, Portland, OR
Silver: AleSmith Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
 - 72 Entries
Bronze: State Beach Blonde, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Brew 9:Winter Warmer with Notes on Batch Sparging

Brad and I went in on our equipment for the first few brews, to reduce our exposure in case we didn't want to continue, and to help us get started faster. I bought the burner and pot for our first extract, he bought the Carboy and the rest of the equipment.

As we continued to brew, I slowly added to my equipment list until I had everything to brew all-grain, and now he is doing the same. Two weeks ago Brad and I brewed a Winter Warmer at his house, using his equipment with the exception of my Mash/Lauter Tun as he is still building his (more on that once it is done). We only had two vessels so I assumed that we could batch sparge, but the results were terrible efficiency.

After re-checking the procedure, I now realize that batch sparging still requires 3 vessels:
  1. A mash/lauter tun (holds the grain over a false bottom)
  2. A Hot liquor tank (maintains clear water at 170 degreees)
  3. A boil kettle, or a runoff vessel capable of holding the total volume of Wort.
The reason you can't do it with two vessels is because you actually have to sparge 3 times to get decent efficiency:
  1. After the mash is complete, add enough water to increase temp to 160, then recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.
  2. Add half the remaining sparge water (heated to 170), recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.
  3. Add the remaining sparge water (heated to 170), recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.
On low gravity batches, if you are willing to accept very low efficiencies, you can reduce the number of steps. Since we only had 2 vessels we added all our sparge water to the mash and drew the wort of in one large batch sparge. While our target gravity was 1.088, we only achieved an original gravity of 1.070, a huge difference! There was no way we could have achieved 1.088 with that equipment unless we lowered our yield to 4 gallons, and boiled off an additional gallon to thicken the wort.

What we did instead, once we realized our beer would have too much bitterness for the gravity we achieved, was boil 2 lbs of Dry Malt Extract (DME) into 2 quarts of wort and add it to the primary to boost the gravity to somewhere near our target and hope for the best.