MBR and CheeseUnderground Literacy Network Tasting

I've mentioned this before, and I promise tomorrow we'll get back to Big Beer Week(s), but I wanted to give it one last shout-out before the event tomorrow.

Madison Beer Review (me) and CheeseUnderground (Jeanne Carptenter) are getting together to present a beer and cheese tasting. The event is free of charge. It is at The Malt House starting at 6pm.

You read that correctly. Beer and Cheese Tasting. Free.

Yeah. That's how we roll around here. Jeanne has very generously offered to donate the cheese and The Malt House is donating the beer.

Jeanne is going to give a brief talk about artisnal cheese and what makes artisnal cheese just so damned ... artisnal. You'll get to taste some damned mighty fine cheeses, as well (menu below). Then I'll talk about beer styles. I will try to be brief. But, anyone who's heard me speak will probably attest to my rather long-windedness. But I will try to keep it brief. Then we'll taste some beer and some cheese.

Why are we doing this you ask? Nobody just hands out free beer and cheese right? Well, this event is part of a series of events to raise awareness about the Literacy Network.

Literacy Network serves primarily low income adults and families in need of literacy services by offering programs specifically tailored to the needs, goals, and different learning styles of the individual students: One-to-one Tutoring for ESL and Basic Literacy; Small ESL classes; Community Literacy; Family Literacy and English in the Schools; Integrated English and Civics Education; Workplace Literacy.

All programs are free of charge.

Since their programs are free of charge, so is ours. Of course, a $5-10 donation per person to Literacy Network might be a nice thank you.

What can you expect?

Saxon Creamery Saxony
Uplands Creamery Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Marieke Aged Gouda
Marieke Foenegreek Gouda

Tyranena Bitter Woman
Central Waters' Peruvian Morning Coffee Stout
O'So Dominator Dopplebock
Furthermore Knot Stock

Big Beer Week(s) - Pearl Street Brewery Dankenstein

Dank, from Urban Dictionary:

1. sticky, hairy, stinky, and highly potent marijuana.
2. Adjective meaning good.

Could you use that in a sentence please?
1. I got an oz of dank nugs for 280.
2. That burrito was dank as fuck.

-enstein: of or related to Frankenstein; a monster

Pearl Street Brewery Dankenstein
BeerAdvocate (). RateBeer().
Appearance: served at 47.9 degrees, a little cooler than I generally prefer IIPAs, but we'll see how it goes and it'll probably warm up towards the end of this review; whisky-soaked coloration and crystal clear; a fine, stiff, thick head that leaves a white sticky lace on the side of your glass (man, that sounds dirty)
Aroma: loads of hop complexity, not much malt in the aroma, though there is some in the back if you're looking for it; the hop aroma is mostly pine-y and resin-y, a bit of pepper and spiciness in there, with a lot of orange
Flavor: bitter is the first noticeable thing; malt comes through in the body, and there is a pretty strong alcohol burn in the back; the hops are sticky and flavorful with all of the aromas coming through in the flavor - citrus, pine, resin, pepper
Body: strong and syrupy, with a long, alcoholic finish
Drinkability: I'd say you can't drink more than one in a sitting, but I've done it, more than once; and, yes, I was worse for the wear the next day
Summary: this is a big beer that won't be for everyone; it is sticky and highly potent, with big hop flavors that are slightly out of balance with the malt-iness; this reminds me, probably more than the Ale Asylum, of the Dogfish 90 in its syrupy hoppiness; where the Satisfaction Jacksin is a good IIPA even for those who don't typically like big, hoppy beers, this is a great beer, but is a slightly more "advanced" hop-head beer

There is this dichotomy in the IPA/IIPA universe. There's a balance theory where the big hops are proportionately balanced by big malt bills for an all-around flavorful beer that happens to be really big. Satisfaction Jacksin, and the Titletown HopMonster are both good, Wisconsin, examples of this. Two Brothers' Hop Juice, Bells' Hopslam, and Great Lakes' Lake Erin Monster are all in this vein.

There is another side of IPA/IIPAs where any idea of balance is thrown out the window, the malts take a backseat and it's all about hops and alcohol, and as much of both as you can get. Dankenstein is one of the few Wisconsin IIPAs to attempt this; we are not a people that traditionally embrace unbalance. Three Floyds Alpha King/Alpha Kong, Dogfish Head 90/120, and Stone IPA/Ruination are all in this vein. In my own personal universe, I can respect balance and I really like balanced beers; but these big, unbalanced hop bombs are some of my favorite beers made in the world.

So, try a few different IIPAs and see if you like them and what you like about them. You will quickly find that people have pretty strong preferences and phrases like "best ever" and "undrinkable" get thrown around a lot. Make up your own mind, each of them has their proponents and opponents so don't feel bad taking a side and putting down a flag. And, best of all, enjoy the ride.

Hey Barkeep! What Is A Beer Dinner, Exactly?

It's been a while since we've run "Hey Barkeep!" here, but this was a great question and rather than respond in the comments, I thought I'd promote it to a full post.

What is a beer dinner exactly? I just moved here recently from Iowa. Are they expensive? What can we expect at them?

Well, I'll take the questions in order:
- A Beer Dinner is a generally a 4-5 course prix fixe menu hand crafted by a chef to pair with specific beers.
- You can expect to pay anywhere from $40-$75 per person, depending on venue and brewery.
- What can you expect? Well, I'll just go through the last Old Fashioned/Harvest/Titletown Beer Dinner that I went to, as it is fairly typical, cost was $45.

Salt Cod Croquettas and Aoli; Titletown's St. Norbert Pilsner

A tender croquette of ground salted cod, breaded and pan fried (I think? Maybe baked or lightly broiled?); the aoli was a classic garlic dipping sauce and it was accompanied by micro greens; it paired very well with a nice, light classic pilsner; neither over-powered the other, but both were light, yet full-flavored

Marinated Pork Skewers; Titletown's HopMonster

A big hoppy, full bodied, full flavored IIPA, paired with bite-sized pork skewers that had been marinated in rich, but not hot, spices; this was a full-flavored bomb of a plate with rich, decadent Indian spices, like cardamom, and cumin, but not hot spices; the beer competed nicely by providing plenty of malt body to go with a giant, citrus, American hop IIPA

Braised Beef With Prunes And Potatoes; Titletown's Railyard Ale

Amazingly tender braised beef was served with figs, and prunes, and small potatoes to emphasize the earthy fruits and strong flavors in the beef; the beer, a nice caramel-y, sweet Alt, is a rare style that holds up well to strong flavors, yet won't make you full

Dunbarton Blue Roelli Cheese, Shullsburg, Wisconsin; Titletown's Procrastinator Dopplebock

A cheese rarity - the cheddar/blue hybrid, provide a great creaminess and strong, but not overpowering, tart bleu-cheese flavor that really showcased the creamy texture and dark roastiness of a well-crafted, full-bodied dopplebock.

As you can see from the meals advertised in the comments, there are a lot of these that occur throughout the winter at various restaurants around Madison, indeed around all of Wisconsin. Indeed, Brasserie V holds them on almost any special, and most non-special, occasion. There are a lot of talented chefs in Wisconsin and there are a lot of talented breweries, so it is great to see them pairing up to show off their abilities and make a case for beer as a sophisticated, food-quality beverage.

In my opinion, the prices on these things can be a little stiff to attend too many of them. So, it would be nice to see restaurants work beer pairings more into their menus by way of suggestion and knowledgeable staff, and by regularly stocking these beers that match so well.

Quasi-Press Release Friday: Upcoming Beer Dinners At The Old Fashioned

So, normally, I don't publish this kind of material without an "official" press release. I don't really see my job as a PR flack for companies too cheap to hire their own PR flack. But, sometimes events are too awesome to wait around for someone send me a press release about it, and I feel like I just need to tell you about it so that you can plan your week around attending it.

The Old Fashioned, in conjunction with Harvest, is doing two more dinners over the next couple of weeks that you are going to want to attend. I went to the one this past week with Titletown, and it was phenomenal. Unlike other beer dinners that I've been to, you definitely don't leave hungry and you definitely aren't getting taster-glasses of beer. It is a full dining experience.

Harvest's chef, and the folks at the Old Fashioned, did a fantastic job of pulling together food that thoughtfully complimented each of the beers - from a simple pilsner to a big, hoppy IIPA to a dopplebock, to an Alt.

Next week is a beer dinner for Potosi Brewing Company. And the following week is Red Eye Brewing Company. So, give Old Fashioned a call and pray to God that they have openings, because these dinners promise to be worth every dime you'll shell out.

Press Release Thursday - Small-Scale Hop Production Workshop

This program just keeps growing. From meeting in coffee shops with three dudes that thought hops was code for "pot", they're now showing people how to grow pot, er, hops, at the Monona Terrace. It's great to see so many Wisconsinites are interested in growing hops. It doesn't require a ton of land, they can be a little finnicky, but prices are good, it's a great use of open land, and it stabilizes our own prices and access to a key ingredient in the production of beer. Plus, sometimes you might get free beer out of the deal. How sweet is that?
----------------START PRESS RELEASE----------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Introduction to Small Scale Hop Production workshops have filled up despite added space and dates to accommodate overflow attendance. Interest is still growing as over 250 currently registered.

The two workshops will be held at the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI on February 27 and March 6, 2010. A Hops Production Technical Workshop will be offered April 24 for attendees of the first class.

MAZOMANIE, WI (February 22, 2010) – Gorst Valley Hops of Mazomanie, WI has closed out registration for the two upcoming Introduction to Small Scale Hop Production workshops despite the addition of the second workshop and a change of venue to the Monona Terrace to increase class capacity.

“We are absolutely delighted by the interest in our courses.” stated Gregg Baimel, Gorst Valley Hops Director of Business Development. “Since the publicity we received in January, we’ve been fielding 5 to 10 contacts a day asking for additional information on growing or to register for the workshops. We love the enthusiasm and are doing everything we can to educate those interested in growing hops. For that reason we added the second course, increased the capacity and are looking at future dates for additional courses. We are also planning to roll out a web-based course in the near future.”

In addition to the workshops offered in Wisconsin, primary instructors James Altwies and Daniel Dettmers have just completed a second session in Michigan and will be leading a course on March 20th hosted by Cornell University and the Northeast Hops Alliance at the Saranac Brewery in Utica, NY. Much like the effort started in the Midwest, New England is working to restart a hop production industry to support their craft brewing market.

Daniel Dettmers, GVH’s engineer says, “The energy and enthusiasm at these courses is fantastic. The first courses were filled with brewing enthusiasts, homebrewers and those dreaming to put an acre or two to profitable use. They were not necessarily people from the mainstream agricultural community. Now our workshops are filled with farmers who have decades of experience growing corn, mint, tobacco, soybeans and other crops that are more common to the upper Midwest. The shift in the audience shows us that the prospect of growing hops in this region as more than a niche crop is gaining acceptance.”

To help speed the flow of information, the Gorst Valley Hops website (www.gorstvalleyhops.com) is in the process of a major redesign. The new website will offer access to a vast array of information from the history and chemistry of hops to growing and drying processes. The website will also continue to offer back copies of the GVH newsletter, All Hopped Up, and be a resource for those curious about hop production as well as seasoned growers. GVH Director James Altwies further explains, “To meet the rising need for education and training, we will be offering a web-based adaptation of the introductory workshop. Participants will be able to log into our website at their convenience and receive a self-directed version of our popular Introduction to Small Scale Commercial Hop Production course. ”

In addition to the introductory workshops, GVH is planning an intermediate level course, Hops Production Technical Workshop, for April 24th at the Monona Terrace. To attend, participants should have participated in one of the introductory workshops or have extensive knowledge and some experience with hop production. Registration information will be on the GVH website soon.
GVH will also be speaking at the American Homebrewer’s Association’s 32nd annual National Homebrewers Conference June 17-19, 2010 in Minneapolis.

Gorst Valley Hops is committed to providing high quality pelletized and leaf hops to everyone from craft brewers to home brewers while maximizing environmental stewardship through sustainable growth and processing of our product and that of other hop growers throughout the upper Midwest. Gorst Valley Hops can be contacted at:

Gorst Valley Hops
608-334-8012
www.gorstvalleyhops.com
info at gorstvalleyhops.com

Big Beer Week(s) - Capital US Pale Ale version 2.0

A little birdy whispered into my ear that Capital might be changing the recipe on the US Pale Ale. Really? That sounds interesting. A General Beverage rep was quoted as saying that the hops in the recipe have gone up "on a 1 to 10 scale, from a 3 to a 6 or 7." What? Not 11?

I sent my best buddy Kirby Nelson, Brewmaster of Capital Brewery, an email asking what was up and he was kind enough to respond.

Those rumors are true and yet that has been the case since this beer’s beginnings. Understand we don’t pilot brew per se, any ideas we come up with we produce in our brewhouse (except for the occasional Dane brew) and 1,200 pounds is the minimum amount of grain we can use. So we will end up with about 40 ½ bbls on the average of any trial we do.

I find this to be relatively fascinating. No pilot batches. New recipes are all or ... well ... all. Minimum batch size: 40.5 bbls. And it better make it into a bottle.

We have always prided ourselves on selling every “trial” we have done. So whenever I formulate something I tend to approach the first brew on the conservative side, knowing the flavor profile we are after and tweaking/evolving the brew as we feel it needs it. And to be honest at the risk of sounding arrogant (which I am) the majority of the brews we do are usually pretty much as I want them out of the chute. You do something long enough you better know how to hit what you are targeting without a whole lot of fucking around.

And, not to poke a sleeping liger, but "Capital Experimental"? Nailed that one, eh.

With U.S., we did a brew basically for the hell of it and served it at our retailer appreciation party. And all of the attendees seemed to really enjoy it. So we decided to release it. The first brews got the majority of their hop character from dry hopping, which I am not a fan of (although I am very proud of the Hop Bazooka I invented to disperse the hops in a horizontal tank). So over time I replaced the dry hopping with post boil additions.

I found this pretty interesting at first blush. Not a fan of dry-hopping. I didn't really think it was something you could be a "fan" of. I mean, it's a technique for deriving aroma from hops without isomerization of the alpha acids and causing increased bitterness. But, it turns out, dry-hopping is a mess and steeping, or whirlpooling the hops, is equally effective at deriving the desired aroma and flavor without increasing bitterness or causing such a damned mess.

I was very happy where that was heading (even though I recall some fuck [ed note: I think he's referring to me] saying after reading Robin’s review in the Isthmus [ed note: Robin Shepherd, beer writer for The Isthmus] that the approach I took towards this product made for really boring beer).

My stance on this hasn't really changed. I still contend that the biggest problem that I had with the first incarnation was that the body was too thin. A thin body, combined with less-than-aggressive hopping, makes for a boring beer. Not that that is a bad thing. Kirby and I have talked about this - not every beer needs to be a flavor monster that leaves the kids moaning in perpetual orgasm. But, it's also not really worthy of spilling bytes of data writing about, either. But, even still, I thought the body was a little thin for what he was going for.

Then last years Cascade crop was a bit of an anomaly in that the alpha acids were about 30 some per cent higher than normal. So to keep the same bittering the amount of post boil hopping had to decrease, moderating the hop flavor.

In other words, the hops became more bitter, so he had to decrease the amount he used. Good for the pocket-book, but makes recipe consistency difficult. But, this is where the light-bulb comes on.

Although this beer sells okay, it is far from being one of our best sellers. And with the audience for Pale Ales really enjoying elevated hopping levels we decided to continue the evolution. The OG has been boosted and a bit more specialty malts added to the grain bill. The bittering has been elevated via post boil additions and the dry hopping rate is being increased.

So, basically, they kept the increased-bitterness hops, but went back to the original hopping schedule. The "specialty grains" he's referring to are caramel grains to add a bit of complexity and robust sweetness. And the body was increased to support the increased hoppiness. This man is speaking my language.

And to make things more interesting in a couple months we will be into the ’09 crop of Cascade (the only hop used) which has the alpha acid level back to the low 5’s, giving me the ability to jack the post boil amounts but if we are happy with where it is before then I will probably not take advantage of this opportunity.

So, it's an evolving process that could have the hop profile even more up-front, depending on where the balance for this beer levels out. Kirby and Carl invited me out to the brewery to try a bit of the new recipe (and the new Hopbock) before it went out to the canning facility. And while what I had was relatively young and straight out of the fermenter, it is much more in-line with what I like about Pale Ales.

To me, Pale Ales are about balance and flavor. One component shouldn't shine more than another, but each should be present and accounted for. In this case, you have a nice malty body that is noticeable and flavorful, and a Cascade hoppiness that provides a citrus nose and slightly pine-y flavor. The bitterness is fairly moderated, but the hop flavor is more present here, which is more pleasing than just plain bitterness.

The other thing we, Kirby and I, talked about was the point. That is to say, what's the point? This beer is not about being showy; it's a work-day beer. A beer you buy by the six or twelve pack and just keep around. I've been talking about this a lot lately, with Dave's BrewFarm Select in particular. To me it is far more difficult to make a beer that has the flavor and complexity to hold up to scrutiny, but that is subtle enough, is moderated enough, that it can be ignored. Stone cannot be, will not be, ignored. Even Sierra Nevada Pale is big enough to warrant attention. Imperial Pale Ales, if you will. Hopalicious is, to me, a slightly more moderated version of Stone's Pale with a slightly hoppy balance that is quenching and enjoyable. The US Pale is more malt-forward and overall balanced.

Is it a Pale Ale? An IPA? Fuckin’ swill? I’ll leave that to the great beer rating minds of our times to tell me……………

Indeed.

Big Beer Week(s) - Ale Asylum Satisfaction Jacksin

This week and part of next week we'll be looking at some "big" beers. 4 of the 5 are "Imperial" beers and the 5th is a sneak peek at the new, re-designed, Capital US Pale Ale. So, for the next two weeks, we'll contemplate the meaning of "imperial" and what it means to be a "big" beer.

The Imperial India Pale Ale, along with the Imperial Stout, are two stalwarts, The Who and The Beatles of the beer world. If you look at the lists of the Top 100 beers in the world, by far the two largest genres of beer are Imperial IPAs and Imperial Stouts. For example, of the Top 10 of BeerAdvocate's Top Beers on Planet Earth, eight are Imperial Stouts or Imperial IPAs. Indeed, number one, Pliny the Younger, is an Imperial IPA. Then, six of the next nine are Imperial Stouts. You can do the same analysis with RateBeer's Top 50: 8 of the top 10 are Imperial Stouts; 15 of the top 20 are either Imperial IPAs or Imperial Stouts.

So, clearly these are the royalty of the beer universe. But, why?

That's a good question, really. Maybe you have a better answer than I do. But, I have a theory and it's a rather cynical theory, but bear with me. My theory is this: the vast majority of people have no idea what they're talking about. But, if you get enough people who have no idea what they're talking about together and ask them a collective question, such as to rank things, the collective group will often, unwittingly stumble on the right answer. This is called "collective intelligence" and we see it all over the animal kingdom from bacteria to beer geeks.

In this case, I'd argue that the answer is "mostly right" as it is pretty hard to argue that any of the beers in the Top 20 of any of these lists are unworthy of the title "great" or "amazing" or "phenomenal" or even "one of the best in the world." Of course, to call a particular beer #1 is only a label, the reality is that any of those top 20 could easily be #1.

But, there's also a pretty noticeable lack of subtlety in either list. If you look at the Top 20 of either list you'll find that the only non-Imperial, beers with "Imperial" in their style definitions fall in to one of two categories: Westvleyteran, and sour. In the case of BeerAdvocate's list there is one English Barleywine, though at 13.5% ABV, one would be hard pressed to make a case for subtlety there. And, in the case of RateBeer's list there is Kuhnhenn's Raspberry Eisbock, which is also above 10% ABV, and not exactly subtle.

Where are delicate Belgian blondes, complex porters, velvety dopplebocks, quenching helles lagers, or the perfect dunkelweizen? Well, I would argue, nuances of texture, body, and light complexity are simply too difficult to make a case for. Put another way: these lists are the collective thoughts of non-expert, mostly mid-20s, mostly male inputs. So, what these lists should really be are "The Top 100 Beers For Mid-20s Males." If you were to poll a similar collection but reversed the male/female percentages, or a collection of "experts", or a collection of 50-year-olds, I assure you the lists would be very, very different. I put "experts" in quotes because I do believe that some people are far more experienced than others; some people, through their experience and/or superior senses, are simply better tasters than you or I.

A few years ago I would have been tempted to rail about availability. But, it seems as if availability (or even lack of availability) is hardly a pre-requisite. Many of these beers are only available in particular regions of the US. But a not-insignificant number have pretty general, national, availability.

So, what do you think? Why are these things so dominant in the Top 100 lists?

Ale Asylum Satisfaction Jacksin - Imperial IPA
BeerAdvocate(B+). RateBeer(89).
Appearance: crystal clear burnished copper with a foamy, pale head; one interesting thing about IPAs is that they can sometimes be cloudy because the filters don't capture all of the hoppy floaty bits before they get into a bottle; that is definitely not the case here; a gorgeous looking beer served at 56.4 degrees
Aroma: citrus and floral hoppiness with a strong malty, sweet presence that is very promising
Flavor: hoppy; very, very hoppy; not overly, intensely bitter - this is not a Ruination clone by any stretch of the imagination - but it has great bitterness and strong hoppy flavor; the malt is present, but the hops are really the star here
Body: piney and resiny, the body itself is somewhat medium, but the finish is long and lip-smacking; if you let the beer dry on your lips and then lick it off it's like a treat that you've saved for later, reminiscent of hard candy or something
Drinkability: Rather than an amped up Hopalicious or even Ballistic, this beer reminds me most of New Glarus' Hop Hearty, with its strong hoppiness, but great all-around drinkability
Summary: The marketing copy on the neck of the bottle calls this "slightly punishing" but if this is punishing, I must be a masochist because I really like this punishment. It also says that this is "unfiltered" which, given its sterling clarity, I find to be a stunning statement, next time I see Dean or Otto I'll have to ask them how they get such amazing clarity without a filter; for a so-called "big" or "over the top" style, this beer is surprisingly approachable, it has a fine balance of hops and malt; yet, I wonder how this beer would fare in a "Top 100" list because it isn't a brash, showy beer; which is another reason to question the mob-mentality of these Top 100 lists.