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November 21, 2008
13:53
The kicker
» ‎ The Beer Here - OregonLive.com

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The last line in the Rogue FAQ about its plans for the Green Dragon handily defines the company's go-you-own-way ethos: We cannot give you the secret to success, but we can give you the secret to failure: Try to...

13:40
Beer Review - Flying Dog K-9 Cruiser
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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K-9 Cruiser, the winter seasonal from Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, MD, is a well balanced, easy to drink winter ale.

K-9 Cruiser pours a clear copper color with an off-white head. Its aroma is of slightly sweet toffee with notes of light chocolate.

This ale’s initial flavor is of slightly sweet toffee malt with raisin and dark fruit flavors that appear at mid-tongue.

These flavors are joined by a well-balanced floral hop bitterness that seems to increase in intensity at the back of the tongue.

K-9 Cruiser has a nice prickly mouthfeel and a provides a nice alcohol warmth (this beer is 6.7% alcohol by volume) in the mouth.

This beer’s finish is fairly long and is dominated by dark fruit and raisin notes. A floral hop bitterness - this beer is 30 international bitterness units - that turns slightly piney reappears at the end of the finish.

I consider this beer to be medium bodied and medium to full flavored. It was purchased at Charlie’s Wine and Spirits in Sioux City and it is recommended.

-Tim Hynds

13:30
Better with Age
» ‎ Draft Magazine Feed

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Last night I went to a good friend’s home to share in a birthday dinner, an event worthy of the celebration of another trip around the sun. Along with the meal we all shared in some simply fantastic beers. Perhaps it wasn’t on purpose, but when the night was done and we’d looked back on the remains scattered on the table you couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of it all. As my good friend and brewmaster, Peter Hoey, celebrated another year we were able to also enjoy beers that have seen a few years themselves.

Before dinner we opened a bottle of Russian River Sanctification Batch 001, a 100 percent brett beer bottle conditioned with ale yeast. Vinnie Cilurzo no longer makes the beer this way and just to see the bottle was a treat. The beer was dry, light, and nowhere near as sour or acidic as new batches of Sanctification. It’s funny really, brett on its just isn’t all that sour, it requires other funky things like pedio and lacto-b to really add the souring characters many have grown to love. (not really sure what this means?) We sipped the beer, pausing for a moment here and there to discuss the details, but ultimately opting to just enjoy the brew.

Dinner was beef stew, Peter’s own creation, made with all the stew-fixin’s as well as an aged bottle of Bison’s Winter Warmer — one of the last beers made by Peter in his time at Bison (he wasn’t even around to see it bottled). For those who don’t know, adding beer to a stew or beef in general is a good way to tenderize the meat. The acidity of beer breaks down the beef and if allowed to sit long enough will result in a very tender bite. Yeah, it was good.

With the main course wrapped up it was time to get serious into the beer geekery. Peter spread out a plate of three cheeses, jam, crackers, and bread. The cheeses included an uber-creamy and buttery cheese that seemed made specifically for beer pairing, a stiff and pungent bleu cheese that called for a smooth barley wine, and Point Reyes — another pungent cheese that is as close to perfect as one can hope to experience. Peter took care of us.

The first two beers came out of the fridge and my heart leapt a little, Peter had grabbed a bottle of 1999 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot along with a bottle from 2000. Beers of this age need to be treated carefully when they’re opened and poured to avoid agitating the yeasts and sediment gathers at the bottom. With great poise Peter poured the beers into two glasses for each person. They both were rich with toffee notes, incredibly sweet with an added touch of brown sugar to capture the nose. The flavors were also similar, as one might expect, with no hop flavors to speak of yet they still maintained a shocking bitterness level. No, it wasn’t like the bite found in a fresh Bigfoot, but there was clearly a hop presence in the beers that had aged eight and nine years. Each had lost a lot in the body, becoming thin, but not anything a beer geek would complain about.

Pairing these with the pungent bleu cheese was a thing of beauty as the creamy and punchy flavors of the cheese were cut instantly by the sweet toffee flavors in the beer. If you haven’t tried a barleywine and bleu cheese pairing before, you really owe it to yourself to correct that oversight. I strongly suggest you pick an English barleywine or a well-aged American version as an overly hoppy selection can yield unappreciated results.

Next we had a choice to make. Peter had a couple bottles of Sierra Nevada Celebration that were seven and eight years old, but knowing what else was on the table we opted to try those another day. Instead we opened a bottle of North Coast’s Old Rasputin Millennium Edition imperial stout. As the name suggests, this is a bottle of the famous stout released to commemorate the new century and after eight years it was still every bit as good as it was fresh. The brew displayed bold coffee notes in the nose and flavor, along with a firm alcohol presence and subtle fruit qualities. Having this with the buttery brie cheese was a phenomenal experience as the cheese neutralized the acrid and acidic characters of the beer.

We had another Imperial Stout to get to before moving on: a bottle of New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk. Peter and I both shared this beer in Portland earlier in the year at the Oregon Brewers Festival. It was simply amazing to try on tap and we were both eager to experience it anew from the 22-ounce bottle. The beer was as complex as it was good, with woody and fruity notes found in the aroma and taste, overpowered only with the deep roasted coffee notes the dark grains contribute. The beer is simply astounding, a palate experience any beer enthusiast can appreciate. We certainly did.

At this point it was time for the star of the show, a beer Peter had picked up a few months back that is made by one of Sacramento’s foremost beer and wine sellers. He told me about this beer when he got it, but wouldn’t say anything more than it was a special beer for a special meeting. Knowing Peter as I do my mind began to imagine just what exactly he could have that caused such excitement. I thought of some rare Belgian beers, or some obscure collectors item, but nothing prepared me for what he pulled out.

The bottle was tiny, a shape I wasn’t familiar with and when I saw the label that read Anchor Old Foghorn I was perplexed momentarily. I took the bottle, unsure what exactly it was, and saw that it was a Jubilee Ale… from 1983! I was holding a 25-year-old bottle of Anchor’s celebrated barleywine! “You gotta be kidding,” were the only words I could muster. The bottle held only eight ounces of fluid and after two-and-a-half decades, the beer had stained the bottle from the inside. Peter went on to tell me it was a gift from Dale Corti, the famed food/beer/wine seller of Sacramento, a man with a palate that has impressed people from every industry. (He’s a man who can drink a wine blindly and not only tell you the variety, but the hill it was grown on. According to Peter, he is a master of olive oil, too). Hearing it was from his collection I knew the beer was properly stored and my mind began to race. Could this beer possibly be good?

We each got our samples and began to make our initial impressions. The aroma had lost a great deal, showing a faint sweet character like brown sugar and sherry. The taste, however, was shockingly intact, the same sugary notes clearly coming through and growing into the aftertaste. There were no hops in this beer, but that was clearly expected and okay.

Where could one possible go from here? We weren’t sure, but we weren’t done discussing life and were enjoying each other’s company enough to warrant further exploration. Peter generously pulled out a bottle of barleywine made at Sacramento Brewing Company several years back. As expected the beer was rich and creamy, with sweet caramel and notes of black cherry and raisin.

When it was time to wrap up I looked over the table to see what we had accomplished, and it was good. I then thought of the poetic nature of it all. Here we were celebrating another year of life, another trip around the sun for Peter, and here were beers that had been around for several trips of their own. Hell, one of these beers was nearly as old as Peter and I! I could imagine a much younger Fritz Maytag enjoying the beer as it was put into small bottles. I could remember myself in elementary school (I was seven in 83), the dorky and pudgy me that longed to be an astronaut. While so much has changed in our lives, it was great to see the constants — that a night with friends was just as cool now as it was then, that the same giddy excitement we had as kids over candy could still shine through with beer, and that when all is said and done the meaning of life Solomon espoused thousands of years ago remains true: to eat, drink and be merry.

13:18
Beer Review - Southampton Altbier
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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Southhampton Publick House’s Altbier is a refreshing beer, but an unremarkable alt.

Bottled by Southampton Bottling LLC in Wilkes-Barre, PA., (The Lion Brewery?) this alt pours a clear copper color with a medium height, off-white head. Its aroma is of slightly sweet, lightly roasted malt with some gravelly, noble hop notes.

Southampton’s flavor is of lightly roasted malt with slight touches of caramel malt sweetness at mid tongue.

A slight bit of ripe, green grape flavor also shows up at mid tongue.

The beer shows a bit of roughness a the back of the throat, where a slight hint of floral hop bitterness takes over. The beer finished on a dry note with a bit of roasted malt flavor and a very small touch of sourness.

This is a decent enough tasting beer, but I prefer my alts to have a little more body and malt flavors behind them. As is, this is a refreshing drink, but nothing special. I consider this beer to be light bodied and light to medium flavored.

This beer was purchased at the South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits.

-Tim Hynds

13:13
Porcelain Beer Cans
» ‎ Brookston Beer Bulletin

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Another interesting find while searching for images. There’s a contemporary Chinese artist, Lei Xue, who’s making art out of handmade bone china. He’s taking ordinary objects and creating porcelain versions of them. Lately, he’s been making beer cans that are hand-painted and resemble Ming Dynasty vases.

The title of this piece is “Teetrinken.” It’s amazing how he’s captured the crumpled, flattened look of them.

These porcelain beer cans littered in the corner were for an exhibition in Germany. I imagine they’re heavier than they look.

time savedtime saved
If you enjoyed this post or the Bulletin generally, please consider buying me a pint

13:10
We’re buying a beer for… Frightened Rabbit
» ‎ Draft Magazine Feed

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Allow us to vent for a minute. It has been, by any measure, a brutal week. The economy is in the tank, jobs are being lost left and right, the weather turned cold, and it gets dark at like 3 in the afternoon. Things have been better.

Luckily, four dudes from Scotland saved the day. Frightened Rabbit, a quintet from Selkirk, sprinkles its songs with lyrics about sex that are too earnest to be offensive on top of simple, guitar-driven indie rock. Plus, the lead singer has a charming Scottish accent. People will tell you “Fast Blood” is the hit, but for our money (what few dollars we have left, anyway), you can’t beat “The Twist.”

So boys, for giving us a reason to get out of bed Thursday and Friday, we’re getting you a beer. A Belhaven. Or whatever. Honestly, we’ll do anything. Because “we all need human heat.” And multiple pints.

13:00
Victory Golden Monkey (Tripel)
» ‎ The Beer Babe's Brew Reviews

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Not in the mood for hoppiness tonight, I felt my hand magically drawn towards the monkey-buddha on the label.
This one pours a nice golden color with a warm wheaty and fruity (bananas?) sweetness in its scent. Just what I wanted on this night. It pours thick with a white head, a few straggling bubbles coming to the surface minutes after pouring has stopped.
The taste is spicy, smooth and thick, with a taste that shoots up your nose while you're drinking it. I know that sounds dumb, but I can smell it even more as I swallow. It is a tripel through and through, and a really pleasant representation of one. Its delightful to imagine drinking this with banana creme pie, or something else that is rich in its sweetness. (Creme brulee?)
This is a treat, and I know its a little difficult to get around here (Thanks Tully's) but I'll be seeking it out again.
Interestingly enough, I accidentally found that Golden Monkeys are actually an adorable, yet endangered species. Should you be moved by their cute little blue faces, you can read all about them at The Nature Conservancy's page on them.
Also, for all you Victory fans out there who insisted, yes, I have gotten my little mitts on some Hop Devil, and you'll be seeing a review from me soon, the next time I get in the mood for something hoppy.

12:51
Back to brewing!
» ‎ CNYBrew.com

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Finally, we are going to brew this weekend! Because Nick and I are so low on brew and because I was able to come across some free high alpha acid hops while on brew tour, we are making an American IPA. I picked up the grains last night and I am going to be rocking the starter tonight.

This is currently a namless IPA, but I am sure Nick and I will come up with something good.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 gal
Boil Size: 22.89 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 8.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 98.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

50.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) 91.32 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 3.65 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 2.74 %
1.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine 2.28 %
5.00 oz Galena [13.00 %] (90 min) 59.8 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (45 min) 13.4 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (30 min) 11.2 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (20 min) 8.9 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (15 min) 4.7 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (1 min) 0.4 IBU

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [SYeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 54.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 17.11 gal of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.95 gal of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F

I am still up in the air about weather or not we're going to fly sparge or batch sparge. It will be a game time decision.

On another note, I would like to congratulate Joel (the picture was taken at a MNB brew night)from Monday Night Brewery was recently elected 4th ward dog catcher. With his political prowess, I am sure he will be moving up the ranks to city-wide dog catcher in no time!

Cheers

12:51
Back to brewing!
» ‎ CNYBrew.com

Tags: [edit]

Finally, we are going to brew this weekend! Because Nick and I are so low on brew and because I was able to come across some free high alpha acid hops while on brew tour, we are making an American IPA. I picked up the grains last night and I am going to be rocking the starter tonight.

This is currently a namless IPA, but I am sure Nick and I will come up with something good.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 gal
Boil Size: 22.89 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 8.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 98.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

50.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) 91.32 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 3.65 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 2.74 %
1.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine 2.28 %
5.00 oz Galena [13.00 %] (90 min) 59.8 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (45 min) 13.4 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (30 min) 11.2 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (20 min) 8.9 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (15 min) 4.7 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (1 min) 0.4 IBU

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [SYeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 54.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 17.11 gal of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.95 gal of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F

I am still up in the air about weather or not we're going to fly sparge or batch sparge. It will be a game time decision.

On another note, I would like to congratulate Joel (the picture was taken at a MNB brew night)from Monday Night Brewery was recently elected 4th ward dog catcher. With his political prowess, I am sure he will be moving up the ranks to city-wide dog catcher in no time!

Cheers

12:40
Holiday-ish beers, Round 5: two from Sam Adams
» ‎ Draft Magazine Feed

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Giving someone a bottle of beer for Christmas just looks cheap. Giving someone two bottles of beer, though, well, that makes you generous. Luckily, Samuel Adams offers a one-stop-shop for such bighearted gifting with its release of two brews: Chocolate Bock and Blackberry Wit.

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock is a limited-edition creation featuring the distinct taste of Cru Savage chocolate from Swiss chocolatier Felchlin. This isn’t your average Hershey’s: The dark nibs used in the brew are from super-rare, uncultivated wild Bolivian cacao beans. The beer is much easier to come by — it’s available in 750-mL bottles from Thanksgiving to New Years.

Tasting Notes: Pop this open and you’ll smell pure chocolate, all the way. The rich, creamy flavor is definitely chocolatey, too, though hints of honey, dark fruit and vanilla sneak through, too. A bit of coffee kicks in later. The velvety finish makes it good with holiday desserts; we’re envisioning it over ice cream with a slice of pecan pie.

First, a little history behind Samuel Adams Blackberry Wit: Months ago, the beer was pitted against the brewery’s Coffee Stout in the fourth annual Beer Lover’s Choice contest. Beer drinkers in pubs from San Diego to the Big Apple tasted, voted and ultimately chose Blackberry Wit the winner. A traditional wheat beer brewed with coriander and orange peel, the big draw is the addition of blackberries, sourced from a family-owned farm in Western Oregon. The beer won’t be available until January, but hey, a gift is better late than never.

Tasting Notes: Blackberries and a tinge of alcohol dominate the aroma. A soft mouthfeel with tingly bubbles is refreshing for a fruit beer, and the body is much lighter-tasting than most witbiers. Nice, light blackberry flavors and a kick of wheat at the end complement an appealing malt character and a bit of hop spiciness. The finish is both sweet and tart, but not overly so.

12:38
InBev lawyer named “Dealmaker of the Week”
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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A link provided to me by The American Lawyer’s website The Am Law Daily provides some insight into the behind-the-scenes wrangling that went on during InBev’s $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch.

InBev’s lead mergers and acquisitions lawyer for the takeover, Frank Aquila of Sullivan & Cromwell, was named the website’s Dealmaker of the Week.

-Tim Hynds

12:34
Weekend of 11/21/08 Retail Beer Tastings
» ‎ stlhops.com

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A few quick beer tastings to tell you about.

Today, from 4PM to 6:30PM the Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton will be having a tasting featuring Left Hand Warrior IPA, Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, 2008 Anchor Christmas, Schlafly 2008 Oak Aged Imperial Stout, and Schlafly 2007 Oak Aged Imperial Stout. More information can be found at their blog.

Mike at the Wine and Cheese Place in Rock Hill will also be holding a tasting today from 4PM to 6:30. He’ll be sampling these beers: Left Hand Warrior IPA, Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, 2008 Anchor Christmas, and Schlafly 2008 Oak Aged Imperial Stout. Once again, more information can be found at their blog.

Tasting is a great way to try before you buy.

If you’re a retail shop and want me to list your tasting, make sure to email me at mike@stlhops.com.

11:52
China approves A-B/InBev merger
» ‎ Draft Magazine Feed

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You have to love the globalized world. According to the Associated Press, one of the last holdups to InBev’s $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch was the Chinese government.

Apparently, China has a new anti-monopoly law (um guys, you know you’re a Communist country, right?) and officials were worried that the merger would violate the terms. However, the Commerce Ministry ruled A-B InBev wouldn’t reduce competition but the resulting company was banned from “increasing existing stakes in Chinese brewers.” (A-B owns 27 percent of Tsingtao Beer while InBev controls 28.5 percent of Zhujiang Beer.) So there you have it, soon even the Chinese will be drinking massive quantities of Budweiser.

11:50
Is Beer Recession-Proof?
» ‎ Beer Activist

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According to Nielsen research, 86% of consumers believe the country is currently in a recession, but alcoholic beverages are still seen as an affordable indulgence. “Historical, as well as more recent consumer trends, indicate that alcoholic beverages are much more recession-resistant than many other product categories,” says Richard Hurst, senior vice president, Beverage Alcohol, The Nielsen [...]

11:47
Green Dragon MK III, Lolo looking to open new Eastside pub
» ‎ The Beer Here - OregonLive.com

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It was business as usual at the Green Dragon last night, the second since Rogue bought the name and assets from former majority owner Ed Schwartz. It was a fine thing to sit in a cozy Eastside pub as...

11:29
Pike Brewing Company releases wood-aged stout
» ‎ Confessions of a Beer Geek

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Pike Brewing Company up in Seattle, Washington, is set to release Pike Entire Wood-Aged Stout on Monday, November 24, 2008.

Pike Entire is actually and interesting blend of three beers:
- Pike's XXXXX Extra Stout, original gravity 10.73, 7.00% ABV
- Pike's XXXXX Extra Stout aged 6+ months in oak Bourbon barrels
- Imperial Stout, original gravity of 10.98, massive 12% ABV
The blend contains 42.7% barrel aged beer and weighs in at a heft 9.5% alcohol. According to the PR sheet, "the taste is complex with velvety malt tones, a coffee aroma, and a palate and finish of bitter chocolate."

The pale and crystal malts, along with roasted barley, is balanced by a heaping dose of Yakima Valley Willamette, Goldings and Columbus hops in the boil, then finished off with even more Willamette and Goldings. Topping it off "are the underlying wood tones perfumed by the caramel sweetness of wood-aged Kentucky Bourbon."

Right off the bat I can say I probably won't care much for this beer, not only because of the hops, but because of the Kentucky Bourbon. I'm not a fan of bourbon or whiskey. Not even a little bit. With that said... I wasn't expecting to like their Auld Acquaintance Happy Holiday Ale, and I was very wrong about that!

As I (and hopefully you as well) have learned... Pike Brewing is different. They don't just release a PR sheet, they release a history lesson. And they've done it again with Pike Entire. This beerstory lesson comes straight from the press release:

Until the 18th century, malt was "kilned" over wood fires making most beers dark brown or black, and contributing significantly to the pollution in cities like London. The use of coal allowed brewers a little more control, but it was not until coke, a bi-product of coal, was introduced as a fuel that pale malt could be made. Pale malt yielded more sugar than black malt.

Because the Thames was polluted, soft water was drawn from wells, ideal for dark beers, but yielding unpleasant flavor to black beers unless they were blended with the paler beers made by country brewers who had access to hard water. These country brewers also bought dark beers from London and aged them in large oak casks.

After aging they sold them back to the London brew pubs as highly desirable, "stale" (aged) beer. Home brew houses then began to blend the black, pale, and stale beers and the result became known as "three threads", a corruption of "three thirds."

Ralph Harwood's Bell Brewhouse, one of London's original common brewers, was the first to market an already blended beer to other pubs called "Entire". It is believed that he blended his own black beer with purchased pale and stale. Since it saved publicans the chore of blending their own three threads, it became an immediate success and the beer style of choice that was sold by London's train porters. Ultimately the style became known as Porter.

As brewing moved away from the brew pub to common brewers, Harwood's creation became London's great contribution to beer. As the British Empire expanded, "Porter," later known as "Stout Porter," then simply "Stout," became the world's most widely distributed beer style.

I love Pike Brewing! As much for their ability to teach us about beer's past as for the great beers they make in the present.

To keep with tradition, but also to make a distinctly American beer, Pike acquired oak Bourbon barrels in April 2008 and filled them full of Pike XXXXX Extra Stout to be blended back. Pike Head Brewer, Drew Cluley, says the beer is "complex and chocolaty with a great vanilla wood overtone."

Come Monday, November 24, Pike Entire will be released in 22 oz. bombers, complete with wax-dipped caps. It will have very limited availability at the Pike Pub and in select bottle shops, primarily in the Seattle area. Only a few quarter-barrels are being released for sale on draft. The Pike Pub will tap its one and only quarter-barrel of Pike Entire on Friday, November 28.

So if you want some... you better skedaddle to Seattle!

11:25
Pike Entire Wood-aged stout released in bottles Nov. 24th
» ‎ The Beer Here - OregonLive.com

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Pike Entire is a blend of three beers: Pike's XXXXX Extra Stout, original gravity 10.73 / alcohol 7.00%; the same beer aged for more than half a year in oak Bourbon barrels; and an Imperial Stout original gravity 10.98 /...

11:21
Mild Ale 1940 1949
» ‎ Shut up about Barclay Perkins

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Back to another subject dear to my heart. Mild.

What happened to Mild during WW II and its aftermath? Funny you should ask that. I've been looking at just. It's much what you would expect. Gravity cuts and price increases. War, as they say, is hell.

Today it's time for another overload of facts. Many more than you need to know. But telling you much more than you will ever need to know is my speciality. That and OG tables.

Mild
Standard Mild remained 1034-1038º until 1940, when new wartime shortages and restrictions gradually began to chip away at gravities. By 1942 it was in the range 1027-1030º, where it stayed until 1949. Few Milds were above 1030º. The price rose from 6d in pre-war to 8d in 1940, 10d in 1942, 11d in 1943, peaking at 1/2d in 1948 before falling back to 1/- in 1949. That was still double the price of 10 years earlier, for a beer around 20% weaker.

Almost all the beers listed in the table were brown in colour. Anything below 30 is about the colour of Bitter, 30-40 is a darkish amber, 40+ is brown. Knock off 3 or 4 and you get the approximate EBC colour. 16 + 40 is around 100 EBC.

Some breweries introduced "Best Mild" after the end of the war, but this was only a few degrees stronger than ordinary Mild, in the range 1032-1035º. With such a small difference, it's no wonder most breweries eventually rationalised to just one.

Let's take a closer look at a couple specific examples, Whitbread's X Mild from September 1939 and their XX Mild from 1947.

Though the gravities may be pretty low, the grists have a decent percentage of malt, 90%, and just 10% sugar. With no dark malts used, the colour came from the dark No.3 brewing sugar. The biggest change in the grists is a move from a pale malt/ Californian 6-row malt combination in 1939, to mild ale malt, listed above as MA. I'm not sure what BS means. Another brew of X from April 1940 has a base of Californian 6-row malt, pale malt and mild ale malt but also includes 2% wheat.

The hopping rate of 1947 XX, at under a pound per barrel, may look pretty puny, but you have to take into account the low gravity. Pounds of hops per quarter is the best way of comparing hopping rates for beers of different gravities. By this measure, 1947 XX is more heavily hopped than Whitbread 1910 X Mild, which had just 5.38 pounds per quarter. The seemingly greater amount of hops in 1939 X, 8.27 pounds per quarter, might well not be all it seems. A quarter of the hops were 4 years old. Ironically enough, German Hallertauers.

With a higher finishing gravity, lower degree of attenuation and greater percentage of crystal malt in the grist, 1939 X must have had considerably more body than 1947 XX. Getting plastered on XX, with well under 3% ABV, must have been quite a challenge.

After the war, Whitbread usually used a base of mild ale malt for their Milds and Stouts. All their other beers had a pale ale malt base.

Barclay Perkins were still brewing three Milds in 1939, all party-gyled with each other.

The biggest difference with Whitbread is the 15% maize in the Barclay Perkins grist. Though, to be fair, they did use some amber malt, too. The Barclay Perkins Milds were not brown, but dark amber. The X also came in a darker version, obtained by adding caramel.

The XX is an example of a type of stronger Mild that disappeared forever a short way into the war. By 1943, the gravities of the three Barclay Perkins Milds had concertined together. XX was 1031.4º, x 1028.7º and A 1027.1º. It makes you wonder why they bothered making such marginally different beers. By 1945, just XX and X remained, at the same gravities as in 1943.

11:20
Pike Brewing Company Releases Pike Entire Wood-Aged Stout
» ‎ Barley Blog, The

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I don’t normally normally regurgitate press releases that I receive, but I had to make an exception on this one (an may continue the trend in the future). Pike Brewing is releasing what sounds like an incredible brew. It’s release will consist of a very limited run and is mostly available in the Seattle region [...]

10:22
A recommendation and three beers
» ‎ Knut Albert's Beer Blog

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The reluctant scooper is a blog worth following, both the contents and the layout impress me. A good introduction is a post on the Portland group and BrewDog. Alan has written about this as well, but this is a refreshing take on the issue. Speaking of BrewDog, they are not lying down to die, they are launching [...]

10:06
Vanilla Coffee Stout on Cask at The Tap Room
» ‎ stlhops.com

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I’ve been informed that Brennan Greene will be tapping a cask of Vanilla Coffee Stout at the Schlafly Tap Room tonight. Drew Huerter emailed me with some info about the cask:

Freshly ground Kaldi’s Coffee and split vanilla beans were added directly to the cask for a chocolately, aromatic and fascinating version of our Coffee Stout. Only two casks made, so it will not likely last for long.

Couple this cask with the cask of Bell’s Two Hearted being opening this evening at 33 Wine Shop tonight and it makes for a very good weekend for being a beer drinker in St. Louis.

9:54
Take the Sioux Brew Weekly Quiz # 76
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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This is the 76th of a weekly quiz on beer and all things beer related.

According to figures from the Brewer’s Association, what Midwest (IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, WI) brewpub produced the most barrels of beer in 2007?

Answer by posting a comment.

Remember, no Google cheating!

9:54
Wolavers honors organic farmers through beer series
» ‎ beernews.org

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[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is the #1 leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Also check out the new Beernews.org Board! Thanks!]

Wolavers honors organic farmers through beer series

(Middlebury, VT) - Wolaver’s will bring a new beer to market in January as part of its series honoring organic farmers. Pat Leavy’s All American Ale will honor a man that has chaired the Oregon Hop Commission and one that happens to grow his own organic hops. According to Max Oswald, Director of Sales and Marketing, this beer should be available in most places where Wolaver’s distributes: the entire East Coast (minus SC) and WI, IL, CA, OR, and WA.

PLAA is the second in the organic farmers series where Wolaver’s has named the beer in honor of the organic farmer who grew one of the beer’s main ingredients. The first was named after pumpkin farmer Will Stevens. Stevens grew his pumpkins at “Golden Russet Farm in Shoreham, VT, less than fifteen miles away from the brewery.”

Leavy first grew the hops (Fuggles, Goldings, and Magnum) that go into this brew in 2006. Per Oswald, “Prior to our partnership with Pat we were forced to use what organic hops were available and most came from Europe and New Zealand. Shipping made no sense and the varieties were very limited so we now are able to get some great hops just around the corner in Oregon.”

Next up will be a wheat based beer featuring raw organic wheat grown by Ben Gleason of Bridgeport, VT.

For more reading on Wolaver’s and organic beers, see the May article at NorthJersey.com.

9:45
Special pin of cask-conditioned Community Dark to accompany night two of the Purple People Party.
» ‎ Potable Curmudgeon, The

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