The Beer Road

Microfestivus 2010 Offers A Chance To Try Cask Ale

•August 12, 2010 • Comments Off

At this year’s Microfestivus, chances are looking good that Heavy Seas Brewing (Baltimore, MD) is bringing a cask ale version of their IPA Loose Cannon. Now since I always write here on the blog that the best feature of any beer festival is the chance to try something the beer curious person hasn’t had before, I’m not only hoping that this will happen, but if you’re going to the festival, you’ll put this at the top of your try list. Fine, you say. But you say you’ve had Loose Cannon before. After all, it’s on tap no fewer than three places here in Roanoke, and easily found on store shelves too. So what’s the difference here? What is a cask ale anyhow? Truth be told, when the term “cask ale” is used in the beer world, we’re talking more about a process than an actual product. And while this process is growing somewhat in popularity in larger cities here in this country, most people have likely not had the opportunity to try a beer produced by it.

In the craft beer world, there is a constant and understood commitment to the quality of the beer. It’s a given. It’s at the center of the definition of the craft beer movement itself, and is the primary attraction for most of us who seek out craft beer to begin with. It can show up, for example, in a craft brewer’s use of the best ingredients, and also in the absence of ingredients that would take away from the beer’s overall quality – even if using them meant less expense to the brewer. Consideration is sometimes even given to keeping the brewery’s geographical distribution area limited, knowing that the further the beer goes from its source, the older it gets, and the less fresh it is. But there is one particular corner of the craft beer world which has an even sharper focus on what goes into the beer, or actually, not what goes into the beer, in order to produce a “truer” product. It is the production of cask ale, or what can be called “real ale”, and the definition of and difference between these beers and others – let’s say what you buy in a bottle or get from a keg in your local bar – is actually pretty simple.

To oversimplify, in the production of cask ale, the beer benefits from two things that would normally occur with the production of your usual bottled product. One is that the beer is allowed to continue to ferment within the vessel from which it will be served. This means there is an additional introduction of yeast to the beer, and a secondary fermentation is allowed to occur from within the very cask that will be taken to a bar or restaurant. Another difference is that real ale is never pasteurized, which of course is one of the last steps in the production of most bottled beers. This all means that the beer itself, up to the point it is served, is a living, breathing product that is still maturing in the vessel, still becoming the product that you’ll drink. Again, to oversimplify, freshness is the goal here.

Still another is the way it is served. Your draft beer in your favorite pub or restaurant is of course served from a keg, which means that to push the beer through the tap lines from the keg to the tap, compressed gas is used – usually nitrogen – a method those who produce real ale would say takes away from the flavor due to the introduction of that gas into the beer (that very same gas also adds to the carbonation level of the beer you end up drinking). To serve cask ale, no such gas is used to push the beer out of the vessel.

Some critics of cask ale will say that the beer seems flat or isn’t cold enough. It is true the lack of nitrogen from the tap lines and the fact that carbonation is not added at the brewery means the beer definitely is less bubbly. And the temperature at which cask ale is kept to mature at is not ice cold – after all, we’re talking about a living product here, and cold temps would kill off the yeast working to produce the beer we’re looking for by this method. But those who enjoy cask ale will tell you that cask ale is able to retain the wonderful flavors a beer is meant to have to begin with – and is missing the techniques and ingredients which can detract from it.

With any luck, Heavy Seas will be able to bring their good Loose Cannon in a cask to the festival. If so, make sure to add it to your “To Try” list. Due to the different way cask ale has to be dispensed, the specific temperatures the cask has to remain at while stored at a bar, and the fact that the living ale will not live forever – living beer has less a shelf life than something that’s been pasteurized and bottled – most places cannot, or will not, invest in having a cask ale on premises. It’s somewhat understandable for restaurants and bars which might not sell through the beer quick enough to keep “alive” long enough to enjoy. So take advantage of the opportunity at Microfestivus – a chance to try beer produced with perhaps the freshest production process around.

Posted in Events.

A Fork In The (Beer) Road – The Hoppy IPA

•August 4, 2010 • Leave a Comment

I remember the night well. I had been down this particular road before, here in one of my favorite local restaurants. The food is great, the atmosphere relaxing, but the beer – the thought always was “well, there is Newcastle in a bottle”. Sure, there’s that IPA on tap, and it’s from a brewery in Baltimore. I enjoy supporting regional breweries whenever possible, right? But I had ordered it once before, and couldn’t quite get past the flavor. I wasn’t ready then, not quite ready for the full on release of hops that I all too quickly dismissed and over simplified as “bitter”. That particular evening though, I just couldn’t go back to any old standby.

So while enjoying what was most likely a usual favorite dinner off of the menu, I took the chance on something different and ordered Heavy Seas’ Loose Cannon again. Maybe that night, I was simply “ready”, because something had certainly changed. Before, the beer was so different from what I typically enjoyed before – so foreign, too bitter, at least I thought. True, hops are the little plant with the big job of balancing out the sweetness in the malted barley beverage that is to become beer. Just as a lot of folks who taste a highly hopped up beer for the first time, I had tried the Loose Cannon before and had only gotten the bitterness. That night, I “got” something different. Hops offer not only bitterness, but different flavors to the beer. I could feel out the citrusy and pine like flavors which the hops imparted to the beer, and was enjoying doing so. Now, don’t get me wrong. According to the brewery, the beer has a ton of hops added to the boil, then is basically filtered by using additional hops, and has even more added at the end of the brewing process. It has a big hop flavor to it. But as my taste buds started to wrap themselves around the flavor possibilities of a beer like this, my own personal beer road was taking a distinctive and wildly new turn. I was enjoying a well hopped up American IPA which months before I could not have imagined caring for one bit. And although I feel there is definite room for both hopped up and maltier beer in one’s glass, I assure you I have not looked back.

This got me thinking about different kinds of “forks” in one’s own beer road. I write often in this blog about the beer curious – those folks who are just getting into craft beer for the first time. A well hopped beer such as the Loose Cannon isn’t the first stop for most of the beer curious, with the definitely present bitterness which at first sip is often the only flavor one can make out, as I once did. I would recommend to those people though – keep trying them. This summer has been my own personal Summer of the IPA, and I’ve tasted more than I probably care to actually count. Quickly, you realize a number of things those self described Hop Heads have going for them. One is sheer availability. There are a TON of IPAs out there. Stores can sometimes seem as if they dedicate whole aisles to the style. Another might be a little surprising to the IPA-uninitiated. While there are many out there available, once you acclimate yourself to what at first may be the bracing bitterness and begin to taste the flavors inherent in hops, you realize each and every IPA can have a slightly different flavor profile. After tasting several, I began to figure out which flavors I cared for the most – more of a headstrong citrusy flavor – as well as a decent balancing malt backbone. Others feature spicy or grassy flavors. Some are said to have even tropical fruit flavors, and commonly, a pine like taste is used to describe them. The differences in flavor seem endless; some with a bit more this, others with a bit more that.

To the beer curious, all I would recommend is to remember to keep tasting, and to keep the option open of a hoppier beer. An acquired taste? For many, at least at first, that is a given. Few pick up something along the lines of a Green Flash West Coast IPA and “get it” from the get go. An IPA such as that can sometimes be described as having a “coarse” hop taste, and can leave your palate nearly unable to taste much else, at least anytime soon. But many feature a variety of flavors that can open up a new world of flavors in beer. A recent discussion thread on beeradvocate.com about the best IPAs out there ran for pages, and what was so interesting was the countless beer and brewery names as everyone seemed to have different a different favorite. This is a good thing. Those Hop Heads know. They aren’t (necessarily) all that crazy after all, it turns out. They only act like it when they find another IPA to try. Hopefully, after this particular turn in my own beer road, I’m well on my way to joining them.

So what’s been on my summer reading….um, tasting list? Here are some of my personal favorites so far: Great Divide Titan IPA, Terrapin’s Hopsecutioner, Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Firestone Walker’s Union Jack, Stone Brewing’s IPA, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, Bear Republic’s Racer 5. Soon, I hope to start including quick snapshots of each of these, and more, on the blog.

Posted in The (Beer) Road Less Traveled - Getting Into Better Beer.

A Microfestivus Victory – Latest Festival Update

•July 26, 2010 • Leave a Comment

In case you’re one of the people who have already bought their Microfestivus ticket online at the pre-event reduced rate, congratulations, you’ll be happy to know that your ticket value has just increased. The latest brewery added to the event this year is well respected and nationally known Victory Brewing of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. This is, of course, good news for anyone attending the event. Because either way, Victory is known for churning out a multitude of very good beers, which means anyone holding a tasting glass in Elmwood Park August 14^th and makes it by Victory’s booth is coming out on top. In addition, Victory’s appearance may also make Microfestivus history. As far as I can remember, Victory has never been represented at Microfestivus, and the official site of Roanoke’s area beer festival does not name it in the list of previous breweries to attend.

Featured beers from Victory may include their big flavored American IPA, HopDevil, as well as their Storm King Stout. A third, a seasonal brew, will most likely be their Witbier, Whirlwind. If you’re planning your tastings at Microfestivus, I’d recommend leaving a beer like HopDevil towards the end. It isn’t that the huge hop flavors in this type of IPA are not worthy of trying. But for those just getting into more hopped up beers, this may be a solid gauge of how far your tastes have come. For those already self acclaimed hopheads, this one, as you may already know, will remind you of just why you love the beers you do. Because within this beer are more of the sharper edged, coarser, and what’s often described as spicier hop flavors than many IPAs. Todd Alstrom, Co-Founder of beeradvocate.com, writes HopDevil “…is an absolute hop assualt on the palate…A spicy, stinging and salty plethora of citric nuances literally overwhelm the senses…”

As for Storm King, those who may have only tasted Guinness will want to take a sip of this, and not because one is necessarily “better” than the other. Again, I’m talking to the “beer curious” – those of you interested in getting into better beer, perhaps unsure of what’s out there and what to try. Chances are darn good you’ve had a Guinness – maybe you enjoy one from time to time because you simply enjoy it, maybe it’s only been the one time when you smartly steered clear of the green colored stuff and had one for your friend’s St. Patrick’s Day party. Either way, you knew you were drinking a “stout”, but did you know there is more than one kind of stout? Ah! There are at least three to four officially recognized types of stouts, and the Storm King, according to beeradvocate.com, is an Imperial Stout, or Russian Imperial Stout. Either way, I have been a fan of Storm King for some time now, and these kinds of beers can be complex, with deeply roasted and chocolate like, or cocoa like flavors, combined with some of the “dark fruit” like flavors that I personally care for in darker beers.

So if you’re familiar with Victory beers and going to Microfestivus, I’m sure you’ll make your way by their booth, I definitely will. In case you’re not, this is another great benefit of beer festivals – a chance not only to taste good beer, but to introduce yourself to fine breweries such as Victory. The brewery has a faithful, devoted following, and not without good reason. And if you do find the two or three beers at the festival good and flavorful, you’re in luck afterwards as well – Victory can be fairly easy to find in stores. Roanoke’s Wine Gourmet on Franklin Road stocks several of the brewery’s beers – I recall seeing HopDevil, Storm King, and their Whirlwind as well as many others (don’t miss their Prima Pils Pilsner!). So put that ticket away somewhere safe – the festival is in just over two weeks, and you definitely do not want to miss out on this world class bargain.

Victory Brewing Website

Posted in Events.

Hocus Pocus! Brewery Collaborations And At Least One Of Their Magical Results

•July 22, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Put on your fantasy/science fiction cap for a second. Summon to your thoughts an image you might have had, perhaps as a child, of a medieval wizard working on a new potion or spell. Sure, sure, go ahead and include the robe, pointy hat, and long white beard – why not. Imagine our wizard at work, in the middle of the night, stirring a bubbling, smoking cauldron as grey clouds swirl around a full moon outside the castle tower. He works for hours, tossing in different odd ingredients as the liquid in the cauldron pops and fizzes. At last, he shouts with exalted joy. The wizard is done, as lightening flashes throughout the sky. But from his work comes not a potion not to make someone fall in love with you, or cause you to be invisible. Produced instead is an elixir that simply quenches your thirst like no other drink ever has, and one that tastes like nothing you’ve ever put your lips to before. (Remember, this is a beer blog.) But imagine what would happen if not one wizard but several got together to put their magical minds together. What kind of beer might come out of those alliances?

From time to time, this actually happens in the craft beer world, without the pointy hats or robes of course. And I can promise you, I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about bat wings or eye of newt in our beer. But occasionally brewers, wizards of beer making as they are, from different craft breweries do get together to collaborate on a new beer, with interesting and delicious results. Like those odd concoctions that come together in fantasy stories, these beers often seem to bend the rules of the “norm”, or what’s expected in the beer world as we know it. A recent collaboration between three nationally well known breweries – Dogfish Head, Victory, and Stone, yielded an ale which in which rosemary, sage, and thyme were used.

More recently, four regional Virginia breweries got together to produce their own interpretation of a beer that definitely blurs beer style definition lines – the Black IPA. Arguably, it might be the perfect style for such a magical collaboration between brewers. In a recent article from NelsonCountyLife.com, it was reported that brewers from Blue Mountain, Starr Hill, Devil’s Backbone, and South Street Brewing joined forces to produce the beer, which will debut at the Brew Ridge Trail Music Festival in Roseland, Virginia on August 21^st. Still not officially recognized as its own beer style, even the name “Black India Pale Ale” seems somewhat confusing. After all, “Black” and “Pale” are difficult to imagine being used together to describe anything. IPAs at their “darkest” usually glance along the edge of being orange-ish red. But Black IPAs, color wise, are exactly that, a black or deeply brownish color, from the heavier roasting of the malt being used. There lies the center of the confusion – traditionally, IPAs do not use heavily roasted malts, but pale colored ones. And the taste? What you generally get is a medium bodied, smooth and flavorful beer in which both the bitterness and citrus flavors of the hops that are typical of some IPAs are present (bitter orange, red grapefruit), while running alongside them are the more bitter flavors from the malt, which can run from a simple, one dimensional roasted malt flavor to that of coffee, cocoa, and even dark fruit flavors. It’s an interesting blend of one beer style to a malting process that’s usually reserved for styles that are on the complete other end of the spectrum. As far as where they truly belong, style wise? Well, the argument is currently raging in craft beer fan circles between traditional minded enthusiasts who say they should not have their own style distinction and those who just can’t seem to get enough of them and don’t care about labels. Either way, Black IPAs currently seem to be growing steadily in popularity.

Looking for proof, and can’t wait until the Brew Ridge Music Festival? One very good Black IPA that I recently tried is the Cap’n Krunkles Black IPA from Terrapin Brewing, which I picked up at the Wine Gourmet here in Roanoke. But if you do go to the festival and try the collaboration from the Virginia breweries, make sure you glance up at the sky occasionally – there just might be some swirling clouds above you as you raise your glass to taste it. If you do, don’t worry. It’s just another way to recognize the interesting and amazing work being done by good brewers everywhere, and a testament to what happens when they get together for the sake of our taste buds.

Brew Ridge Trail Music Festival Site

Blue Mountain Brewery, Devil’s Backbone Brewing, Starr Hill Brewery, South Street Brewing