Weisse Weisse Baby

Review of Westbrook's Weisse Weisse Baby podcast
  [link to podcast page]

Westbrook Brewing released their Weisse Weisse Baby Berliner Weisse style beer last month, and it has finally made its way to New York. We picked up a 750ml bottle of WWB at Good Beer ($9.99 retail) this week and gave it a try.

Berliner Weisse is not a very common style, but we've had the opportunity to enjoy a number of them, both in Germany and in the U.S., both commercial beers and homebrews. Two of our all time favorites were a Strawberry Berliner Weisse at Dieu Du Ciel brewpub many years ago, and one we helped brew in the the Brooklyn backyard of our beer pal Bill "Salty Dog" Coleman ages ago. I think that's when he coined the name Brooklyner Weisse well in advance of another better known brewery from that borough!

Westbrook's 4% a.b.v. version of the style was assertively tart, refreshingly sour, and brightly effervescent, with ticklish, prickly carbonation. It poured out with a rich white foamy head that dissolved quickly into the beer, leaving only a meager residual head. Its color was a medium straw hue, expectedly hazy.

Weisse Weisse had a slight lactic note in the nose, with a hint of fruitiness and a slight cider quality, with some wheat malt notes as well. The flavor achieved a level of sourness that was deliciously balanced, melding with the somewhat cereal-like wheat malt flavor, and only a hint of hop flavor and bitterness, if that. This will definitely be found in our fridge on a regular basis once we enter that long stretch of 80+ degree weather known as summer in the city!

A difficult style to master, Berliner Weisse is at once both mild in all beer characteristics and tart/sour. Berliner Weisse is made with wheat malt (about 50% of the mash), and the wort is never brought to a boil. Since the bittering agents in hops aren't fully activated in sub-boiling temperatures, there are other ways one can get some bitterness out of the hops: one is to add hops to the mash -- useful when doing a decoction mash; another is to add the hops in a separate boil kettle, used when doing an infusion mash.

The sourness in the beer comes from lactic acid. Lactic bacteria is generally among the wild organisms naturally existing on the grain husks. Since the wort isn't boiled, many of those organisms (bacteria and wild yeast) can survive the brewing process, and, thus, figure into the fermentation, and can radically influence the characteristics of the beer. Berliner Weisse is not entirely spontaneously fermented, like lambic -- ale yeast is pitched into the cooled wort to ferment the beer, though it may be competing with some wild cousins.

Big Alice At MBAS Meeting

  [link to podcast page]
Big Alice Brewing podcast

Big Alice Brewing's brewers were the guest speakers at the Malted Barley Appreciation Society on May 8, 2013 at Mugs Alehouse in Williamsburg. You can get the long story about how they got into brewing on their website, but the short story might begin with a homebrew contest hosted by Heartland in 2011. Kyle and Robbie entered two of their homebrewed beers into the contest -- a light Belgian ale and a dark Belgian ale. And while they didn't fare well with the judges' panel, one of the beers won the "people's choice" award, which gave them the encouragement to start talking about brewing professionally.

Kyle and Robbie.

In 2013, they applied for licensing and started up Big Alice Brewing in Long Island City, joining fellow tiny Queens breweries Rockaway and Bridge and Tunnel, and the not-so-tiny Single Cut. They brew on a .333 barrel Sabco system. That's just ten gallons! When planning the enterprise they thought, "we don't need to brew huge quantities, but we want to be able to play around with recipes a lot, and have other people pay for our hobby."

Their concept is to brew unique one-off recipes using organic and local ingredients as much as possible, often incorporating seasonal ingredients in the recipes. Rather than offer one consistent product, they will brew something different each and every time! Operating a ten-gallon system certainly allows for unlimited experimentation. They plan on making 72 different batches this year.

Kyle, Felice and Robbie.

There's got to be some serious hurdles for a brewery that brews a different style each batch, including having to design, print and register a unique label for each 48-bottle run of 25-ounce bottles. The labels alone could be very costly. So they devised an interesting answer to their labeling issues. They have the same exact label for all their beers, except for a blank space in which the batch number is indicated. To find out what kind of beer that batch actually is, one must refer to the brewery's website.

So, batch #0001 is a red ale brewed with Cinderella Pumpkin in the mash, and fermented with Belgian ale yeast. Batch #0002 is a Belgian I.P.A. with the addition of citrus fruit in the fermenter. #0003 uses barley, wheat and rye in the mash, and Flame Raisins, and is fermented with multiple Belgian yeast strains.

Even their sales concept is one of a kind. They operate a community supported agriculture model (CSA) for sales, selling "subscriptions" to their brewing projects direct to individuals, offering 2 bottles per month for six months. Their plan is to sell two-thirds of their production through "beer shares", 30% of which has already been sold to individuals who have been early supporters of the brewery. They're going to release the other portion of beer shares to the general public very soon. They hope to sell another third of their production through retail outlets.

One of the beers they poured at the meeting -- their second batch -- was a Belgian style I.P.A. featuring a unique ingredient: Buddah's Hand. The Buddah's Hand, which is a Far Eastern citrus fruit, is introduced in the fermenter, and imparts an exotic citrus quality to the beer. They also poured a wheat malt based coffee stout (50% wheat), which was dark, rich and roasty, utilizing Gorilla coffee beans ground up and added in the fermenter. 

Wheat malt coffee stout.

By the way, the brewery is named for the iconic Ravenswood No. 4 electrical power station which is located in their neighborhood. The plant was built in the early 60s by the Allis-Chalmers company -- thus nicknamed "Big Allis" -- and was the world's first million-watt generating station. The brewery's homepage has a very comical comparison of Big Allis to Big Alice!

Big Allis.

The brewhouse.

Setting up the system.

This is what nano brewing looks like.

Brooklyn Brewery's Scorcher #366

  [link to podcast page]
Brooklyn Brewery's Scorcher #366 podcast

The most recent Brewmaster's Reserve release, which was launched on Monday May 13, 2013, is a rarity -- a repeat recipe! Well, not exactly a total repeat. Garrett and company have brought back the sessionable pale ale known as Scorcher, which was originally released in 2004. But this time around, he's using an entirely new hop strain which has been under development for some time.

Garrett, Brewmaster.

"HBC 366” is a new variety cultivated by Jason Perrault of Perrault Farms in collaboration with Gene Probasco. Beginning in 2001, he crossed some Warrior hops with a “wild” hop. According to the hop-master, “The brilliant coloration of the leaves combined with a nice growth habit and exceptionally formed cones with abundant lupulin (the repository of all those aromatic oils), resulted in a strikingly beautiful plant.” And one that adds very distinct citrus/pine aroma and flavor to the Scorcher.
 

Full house.

At 4.5% a.b.v., Scorcher is designed for a scorcher of a summer day. It's got the color of a Helles, the hop character of an I.P.A., but, with is lower a.b.v. it's gentle on your mind, so to say. There's plenty of malt character, with the use of Pale Ale Malt and Crystal Malt, to balance it's unique hop qualities. There's a nice crispness to this beer, with a tangy note in the middle, finishing with a distinctive hop bitterness from the use of Willamette hops in the boil.

Eddie of Mugs with B.R.

The Scorcher #366 is the first commercially released beer to use this new hop, which you can expect to see more of in the near future, but hopefully with a less clinical, science-project-like name! Maybe "Wild Warrior"? Or better yet, Hopsquatch!

Scorcher #366.

More Beer In Battery Park

For the last few years we've looked forward to the opening of the Victory Beer Garden in Battery Park as a sure sign of the approach of warm weather. I was happy to find it open already on a warm Friday afternoon (May 10, 2013), and serving up Victory's German Helles, Headwater Pale Ale, Hop Devil, and Summer Love.

Victory malty Helles.

This year I had to enjoy the first visit to the beer garden solo, as B.R. was busy giving an address to the 11th annual Canadian Brewing Awards in Victoria, B.C.

After some relaxing book reading with my Helles, I decided to stroll through the park a bit and enjoy the perfect spring weather. To my great surprise, I stumbled upon Table Green in the middle of Battery Park -- another open air beer garden!

It's reported that the company, which also operates in the Chelsea Market, opened next to Castle Clinton in July of 2012, but we totally missed it. They have three local beers on draught -- currently it's Captain Lawrence Kölsch, Empire I.P.A., and Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner. They also have local wine on tap, and offer a menu of light food.

Wine taps left, beer taps right.

While the Victory beer garden is tucked away in a nook by the Staten Island Ferry station, almost out of sight, nestled by tall thick green hedges, the Table Green garden is wide open and offers a view of N.Y. Harbor, with the Statue of Liberty visible in the distance. Though Tavern Green might be catering more to tourists waiting for their boat to Ellis Island or the statue, with beers priced at $3 more than at Victory's spot, it's definitely a sign of progress to have more places in the park to relax with a brew on a beautiful warm spring evening!

Table Green.

Statue of Liberty to the right, gargantuan cruise ship to the left.

Brasserie St-Germain: Page 24

  [link to podcast page]
Brasserie St. Germain: Page 24 podcast

Brothers Stéphane and Vincent Bogaert founded the St. Germain Brewery with Hervé Descamps in 2003 in a former joiner's workshop on the route d'Arras in Aix-Noulette, France, very near Lens, and not far from Lille and the border of Belgium. Prior to opening the brewery, Stéphane worked in the pork industry, and Vincent and Hervé were involved with microbrewing/brewpubs. [To get to the English version of the brewery's website, confirm your age on the French site, then click the British flag in the upper right corner of the page. We found that the age checker doesn't always work on the English homepage.]

Public entrance.

The 20 hl (17 bbl) brewery, which produces about 6,000 hl (5030 bbl) of beer per year, is named for the patron saint of the town, which was also home to the long established, well known regional brewery Brasme before it closed in 1986. The brand name, Page 24, is a reference the the writings of Hildegarde de Bingen, a 12th century German Benedictine abbess and saint who wrote about mysticism and herbal medicine. In one particular text, she described the beneficial attributes of drinking beer -- on the 24th page.

Tasting room, with dried hops overhead.

Nord-Pas-de-Calais, where Aix-Noulette is located, is a rugged and beautiful region with a rich brewing tradition. When Stéphane, Vincent and Hervé began there, they had a vision to use locally produced raw ingredients, just as brewers there had done for centuries, and they continue to use locally grown hops to this day. Due to their desire to variate their recipes, they've been trying to get a few of the area's eight producers to grow some different hop varieties. They also use other local agricultural specialties -- rhubarb and chicory -- in two of the beers in their extensive portfolio.

Hé biloute! That's très Ch'ti!

The most sessionable of their beers is the 4.9% Blanche (Wit), and the strongest is the 8.9% Malt & Hops (Bieré de Garde), with most of their brews averaging around 6% a.b.v. Their first products were the classic styles of Blonde and Wit, but after a while, their customers were asking for some more distinctive styles. So, two versions of Bieré de Garde were created -- the Hildegarde Ambreé and Blonde -- as well as many other northern French specialties.

The brewery operates a well appointed tasting room with a cheerfully rustic wood bar, displaying a restored vintage beer delivery truck and a collection of vintage beer bottles and memorabilia, giving it the feel of a tiny brewery museum. They also operate an extensive bottle shop in the space, where the public can buy individual bottles, cases, crates, gift-packs, small kegs and glassware four days a week. About 15% of the brewery's sales are from the brewery shop. Most of the shop's customers come from within 30km of the brewery, but people do travel from further south in France to buy their distinctive regional suds, which are not that widely available outside of the northern region. 35% of sales come from regional supermarkets. And, of course, a few of their beers are available in the U.S.A.! If you find yourself in southern Belgium or northern France, drop in for a tour!

Find Page 24 on Facebook

[Photo credits: B.R. and Ryan of Shelton Bros. Importers.]

Line 'em up.

Tasting room bar.

Grain.

Boil kettle.

Brewhouse computer.

Primary fermenters.

Secondary fermentation.

Bottling line.

Kegging line.

Barrel aging.

In the warehouse.

Warehouse.

B.R. gets beers shipped just to her!

Stéphane in the shop.