Norway or No Way!

On Saturday March 11, 2012 a courageous band of homebrewers set out to attempt to replicate two different beers devised by one of the most reputed international craft brewers we know, Nøgne Ø of Norway.

Because they were using the state-of-the-art HRMS system at Bitter & Esters, it made the daunting challenge a little bit easier.

The morning crew brewed a clone of the Nøgne Ø porter.

While the afternoon group took on the Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew. 

For now, the photos tell the story better than words, though not as well as the finished (or Norwished) product will in a few weeks!

It ain't brewin' if there ain't beer!

Grind over matter.

Run of the mill.

Charlie says, relax, have a homebrew.

B.R. inspects the kettle for Kjetil.

Hop salad.	Kind cones.
Mash mash mash...	mash mash mash...
get your mash on...	stir your mash pot!
Flavor hops, added with flourish.	Get those grains outta that pot!
Spent.	Wort up.

Cask Beers At DBA Brooklyn

Friday night, on the way home from the Brooklyn Brewery, where we enjoyed the cask Irish Stout, Mary's Maple Porter, Ama Bionda and others.

We had both cask beers on offer, the Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale and the Adnams ESB --  both British brewers.

The fact that we saw Alex Hall of the Gothim Imbiber and Wander Start Brewery and his lovely wife Felice there was a sign that we were at the right place for cask ale!

Brew Like Kjetil

Bitter and Esters host the latest installment of the Brew Like a Pro Series, cloning a beer from the reputed Nøgne Ø brewery of Norway. You can sign up HERE, and get more info HERE. Beer Hear! will definitely be attending this one!

What's Bob Drinking Now?

Pretty Things has been a favorite brewery for a while, now. St-Botolph's Town is in regular rotation in the fridge, and Jack D'or also makes regular rounds at our table.

When we saw the latest new pretty thing in the cooler at Good Beer, LOVELY SAINT WINEFRIDE, it was a given that we'd be trying it before long.

L-St-W is billed as a "brown lager brewed using a decoction method to mark the end of winter." Good timing, then, as the temperature is to climb to near 60-degrees this week!

The beer is a very dark brown color, as viewed from a wide goblet. The color reminds me of Turkey Pond in Concord, N.H., which has a slightly iodine color just on the top, super dark brown just inches below the surface, and then quickly brown to black. St-W has a modest, tan lace along the edge of the glass.

There is an assertive, bold, long lasting and consistent mild roast aroma -- it's strong without being acrid or burnt. There seems to be some real fruitiness, but from hops and not yeast? You don't expect that from a lager, unless it's fermented a bit warmer than usual -- and as their website notes, it was fermented a bit warm, "as low as 53-degrees" which might account for the dry frutiness, á la a Steam Beer or Kölsch.

The flavor is also roasty, and extremely chewy!  It's very malty, mildy roasty and bitter. And, again, not acrid bitter, but rather hoppy bitter. Perhaps the decoction mashing added a hint of darkened caramel flavor, mixing about the hop bite.

Of course, decoction mashing means that a portion of the mash is brought to a boil and then re-added back to the main mash, in order to step up the temperature to help activate different enzymes to convert starches to various sugars.

At 7% abv, it's not quite a session beer and not quite a 10-ounce pour, but it's a richly flavored solid dark-brown beer best savored with relaxed patience and prolonged enjoyment. Let St-Winnie bless your tankard!

What's Bob Drinking Now?

On a recent trip to New Beer, I came across a 22-oz bottle of Sprecher Dopple Bock. I was in the mood for something malty, and at $5.75 it seemed like a good choice.

The bottle had a very simple but classic old world look, with the neck having a thick coating of gold colored wax, further adding an air of dignity.

I've had beers from this German-centric Glendale, Wisconsin brewery in the past and have enjoyed them all, such as their Bavarian Black beer.

This Dopple Bock (I think that "doppel" is the correct spelling, though) poured out with a modest tan head and a dark brown color, as you'd expect. It had a bit of an oxidized note mixing with tangy malt aroma.

But then the first taste -- zing! Sour! Yes, this one probably spent a bit too long in the warehouse. I have no idea how old the bottle was, but the Sprecher website doesn't have any pictures of this beer in the 22-oz format, so, it could be "vintage."

I have to say, I wasn't disappointed with the beer at all. Knowing full well that this is not the way it's supposed to taste, I'm quite fond of sour beers, and coincidentally almost bought a Jolly Pumpkin. The sourness was really pleasant, not harsh or over aggressive. And there was still ample maltiness in the flavor, and reasonable body in addition to some bitterness.

When I gave the glass to B.R. to try, not telling her what it was, I asked her, "What do you think that this Sprecher is?" She tasted it and gave me a look. I said, "No, it's not supposed to taste like that."

"Oh," she said, "you mean it's not supposed to be a bad attempt at a Flanders Red?"

When we visited with the Barcade boys a few weeks earlier, they had brought a doppel bock from the Climax brewery and it was very similarly soured. And I enjoyed that, too! And a few years ago I was treated to a glass of Blue Moon at a midtown bar (the best thing on the menu) that had gone wonderfully off (I had a second!) -- I guess that I really take that old adage to heart, "if life gives you sour beer, pretend that it's a rare, expensive Belgian import!"

Mary's Maple Porter Cask

Last week we featured an interview with Mary Wiles of the Brooklyn Brewery, and spoke about her role as the brewery's Quality Control Manager. We also spoke with her about the beer named in her honor, Mary's Maple Porter, and the maple syrup from her upstate New York farm, with which the beer is made.

Can you guess which is from the cask?

Recently we were able to try both the regular version of the beer along with the cask version!

Don't expect to see this sight too often.

The cask version had a mildly roasty brown malt nose and an almost Ringwood yeast-like aroma -- a somewhat buttery nose. And in the after-taste, it was a bit sweet, yet still roasty, with a mild licorice note.

The standard version of the Porter had a hint of maple sweetness in the finish, mixing with a mild roastiness in the aftertaste. The non-cask beer had a more perceivable bitterness than the cask, while the cask beer seemed slightly sweeter and more full bodied, as well as a bit more tangy.

Also, it almost seemed that there was a touch more maple flavor in the standard carbonated version of the brew, and a more complex maple aroma in the cask edition -- interesting!

At one point we combined the cask and standard versions, and the combination of both yielded an expected balanced profile, however with the addition of a vanilla note in the aroma and flavor of the melding.

Either way, cask or standard, this is a beer in its own class and category. Drink it while you can! You probably won't drink a more interesting beer associated with a Budweiser brewmaster any time soon -- until the imperial bourbon barrel/maple aged x-ray moondust bud-lime-light fermented with 10000 year old yeast from China beer comes out. Hey -- I'd try that!

Mary's Maple Porter

At a recent Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster's Reserve release party for Mary's Maple Porter, we spoke to Mary Wiles, the nameskate of the beer and a 30-year Brewmaster veteran of Budweiser who now works for the Brooklyn Brewery. Mary's upstate farm provided the 50 gallons of pure, organic, grade A maple syrup that goes into every barrel of the beer!

B.R., Mary, Bob. Photo: Juren David.

What does a quality control manager of a brewery do? For one thing, they taste a LOT of beer everyday! And what kind of maple syrup does a maple syrup maker prefer on her flapjacks? All is revealed in this week's podcast!

Check out the Brooklyn Brewery blog about the beer.

On a technical note, the podcast will be hosted HERE for the next few months. It will return to WFMU in July 2012. To understand why, check the previous podcast and blog.