Sacramento Beer Week: Wednesday Feb. 24th... Townhouse Lounge, Rubicon Brewing Company

Beer week approaching it's Mid-point offered a host of good deals and many food pairing events. Wednesday I decided to play it fairly low key and check out an easily accessible beer showcase at the Townhouse Lounge of Sudwerk Brewing Co. Beers. As the night progressed however a change of venue would lead me down to the Rubicon Brewery for some libationary vindication of sorts. Not the most eventful night in store, but a night of beer appreciation nonetheless.

The Townhouse Lounge

The Townhouse Lounge is located on 21st st. between O and P streets in Midtown Sacramento. The place itself is fairly small, but the sign outside has a retro appeal as if something out of the 1950's. For beer week they were showcasing Sudwerk Brewing Co. (Davis, CA) by offering $2 bottles of a choice assortment of their beers. Also, a small table was set up with fliers and a tin bucket full of Sudwerk beer bottles alongside logo imprinted plastic keg cups. They were offering a tasting of each of the beers featured for $2, or so I thought... in actuality it was free, even better!! They only had four types of beer presented and none were anything you couldn't pick up at your local store. They had their Marzen, Hefeweizen, Helle's Lager, and Pilsner. If I had to rank then on a scale of 1-10: Marzen 7.5, Hefeweizen 6, Helle's Lager 7, Pilsner 6. Middle of the road brews, however I have been told that the brewery itself produces some pretty outstanding beers that are available at their brewhouse in Davis...

Rubicon Brewing Co.

In search of some beer with more character, Rubicon Brewing Co. seemed like the safe and fairly reliable choice. Located a stones throw from the Townhouse Lounge on 20th and Capitol, this Brewery/Restaurant has become a staple in my beer adventure repertoire. For Beer Week, Wednesday at the Rubicon featured a Beer and Sausage pairing with all of their house beers being matched up with various Morrant's Old Fashioned Sausages. Arriving at the Rubicon it was pretty obvious that the beer and sausage event had been well exhausted... no matter, it wasn't this event that had caught my attention anyhow. Instead, it was a guest tap from Lagunitas Brewing called Ryan's Folly, an imperial double IPA. Supposedly brewed with Sacramento Beer Week in mind, this beer is amazingly good!!! The malt character is slightly nutty and sweet with just the right amount of heaviness. The hops are perfectly bitter and fairly aromatic. A fairly dark beer with a little mahogany highlight and a thin cream colored head this beer is aesthetically pleasing as well as tasty!!!

On to Thursday...

Sacramento Beer Week, Entry #1: Tuesday, Feb. 23rd... Pyramid, Hoppy, and Streets of London

So beer week officially kicked off on Monday, February 22nd... and since I had school obligations I did not partake until Tuesday Night. Either way I had some fun and now have a few things to Blog about. First stop was the Pyramid Ale House, then over to Hoppy Brewing Company, and the end of the night was spent at the Streets Of London pub. All places were participating some way in the Beer Week festivities.

Pyramid Ale House

So the initial journey was to the Pyramid Ale House on K street in Downtown Sacramento. They were offering $2.50 pints of all their house ales along with a free Pyramid logo glass if you were to purchase a pint of their new Fling Pale Ale... All week they are selling 5 5oz. samples of their most popular beers for $3.30. Overall not bad pricing considering you get 25oz. of beer!! The sampler contains their Audacious Apricot-weizen, Haywire Hefeweizen, Crystal Wheat Ale, Thunderhead IPA, and the new Fling Pale Ale.

To make a potentially long story short, the Fling Pale Ale is easily the best beer on this sampler and maybe the best beer they make. I ordered a pint of it and got the free glass by the way... The Weizen's they make have always struck me as sub-par... without being overly critical I would say that I could only use the Haywire as a palette cleanser while drinking the other beers. The Apricot version is a much better concept and much better beer. Not the biggest fan of fruit infused beers, I have an appreciation for this beer in the amount of flavor it balances between the apricot and the beer it self. The IPA is OK... I would not rank it up there with the best. Hops are underwhelming and there was virtually no aroma. The crystal wheat was very refreshing and drinkable with the slightest bit of hop at the end. Very flavorful malt and hop combination on this beer!! Overall, the Fling Pale Ale is worth your time to try...

Hoppy Brewing Company

At the Hoppy Brewing Co. some of the best, if not the best, beers are made in Sacramento. Everything they brew is magical!! The special on Tuesday for Beer Week was just 2 dollar tacos during their Tuesday Night Trivia. I had already eaten at Pyramid so... the beer was all I was interested in. A compatriot of mine, Andrew, had tagged along for the ride and we decided to do the Trivia challenge which happened to center on... yep you guessed it, BEER! The questions ranged from trivia about styles of beer to the brewing process of beer. Out of 20 questions we got 16 of them right, which was enough for a second place tie! We enjoyed a pitcher of their Hoppy Face Amber Ale, which is really just a dark IPA!! It was really good... needless to say I suppose! We finished our beer and headed out!!

Streets of London Pub

So we made a last ditch effort at partaking in the beer festivities and went to the only bar we knew would be open... Streets!! Here they were featuring a new release from the New Belgium Brewery, their Ranger IPA. Along with the purchase of a pint you received the glass as well (see picture, taken by Andrews I phone). I will give an impromptu review of this beer. It is really pretty good!! Slightly heavy malt base, good hop aroma, clean finish, bitterness is well balanced with the malt. For an IPA it is heavier than I generally like but a damn good one nonetheless!! I may have to pick up a sixer or two of this at BevMo...

All in all a good start to Beer Week, off to more adventures... I will post all of my Beer Week experiences as it progresses!!!

Anniversary Ale Clone... Recipe and Rationale!!

As summer approaches also does my desire to start making beer!! Over the last few weeks I have been wrestling with the idea of making something familiar and tasty.

Sierra Nevada Brewing co. is a pinnacle of Northern California brewing and represents a distinct taste and style that has become synonymous with the west coast. Of their many fine ales (and at least one lager I know of) one of my favorites has always been the Anniversary Ale IPA. Although not explicitly labeled as an IPA, anyone who has had the pleasure of drinking it knows that it couldn't be called anything else!!

After a couple of visits to the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA, I realized that the tour pamphlet that I brought home with me had every beer that is regularly sold by the company within it. Not only that, but each page had a caption that spells out the exact ingredients used in each beer. The wheels began to turn...

Below I have formulated a preliminary recipe. With the help of some online calculators I have settled on some proportions for the ingredients and have acquiesced a fairly clear picture of the IBU and Gravity potentials. As an amateur homebrewer I am typically limited to extract brewing and have substituted the Two-Row Pale malts normally used in making this beer with Pale liquid extract... Although I do not expect this to be a dead ringer for the Anniversary Ale, anything comparable will suffice.

Original Recipe Concept

6lbs. of Light Pale Malt Extract

½ lb. of Munich malt

½ lb. of Caramel malt

½ oz. of Chinook hops (11-14%), ½ oz. Centennial hops(9-11%)

(60 minutes)

½ oz. of Cascade hops (4-7%)

(15 minutes)

½ oz. of Cascade hops (4-7%)

(5 minutes)

½ tsp. Irish Moss

Wyeast American Ale 1056

Dry Hop: ½ oz. Chinook hops (11-14%), ½ oz. Centennial hops (9-11%), ½ oz. Cascade (4-7%) hops in the secondary carboy

Potential gravity: 1.050

(5 gallon batch)

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/gravity.html

Potential alcohol: 6.9%

Potential IBU (prior to dry hopping): 51.2 -67.2

http://www.rooftopbrew.net/ibu.php

Note: These numbers are calculated for a 5 Gallon batch, I may decide to do a smaller batch... and if so the proportions may be altered. These numbers look ideal and I will be shooting to replicate these potential results!! Also, the IBU calculation is prior to the addition of Dry hops. I figure this will alter the number somewhat... but the aroma should be amazing regardless!!!

... There will be more posts regarding this recipe once I start brewing, perhaps April or May!!!

Beer Review #2: Samuel Adams "Noble Pils", Spring Seasonal

For my second review posting I have decided to look at a beer I was skeptical of at first but am quickly becoming a fan of. The Sam Adams Noble Pils is distinctive in its production as it is claimed to have been brewed using all five Noble hop varieties. These include Hallertau Mittelfrueh, Tettnang Tettnanger, Spalt Spalter, and Hersbrucker Hersbrucker. The Noble hop variety from Bohemia in the Czech Republic is Saaz. This is also a spring seasonal, replacing the White Ale normally released. It apparently was chosen during a contest and overwhelmingly voted in.

http://beernews.org/2010/01/samuel-adams-noble-pils-replaces-white-ale-as-spring-seasonal/

Brewed by:

Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

ABV: 5.2%

Before the first drink there is an apparent hop aroma that hits the nose upfront. It has a light golden color and is fairly transparent. The head was thick during the pour but quickly diminished into a thin band. Light to slightly medium body, somewhat uncharacteristic for a pilsner. The real character of this beer is definitely the hops. It comprises the overall flavor as well as the aromatic nature of the beer. The mouth-feel seems slightly heavier than one might expect. There is a characteristic malt base that is ubiquitous across most Sam Adams beers ( Boston Lager and oktoberfest come to mind). The hops are not bitter but there is a light citrus aroma and flavorful balance between the hops and malt that work exquisitely well. A dry finish that is not too sweet yet you get a hint of it in the after taste. The earthy malt is very bright at first, somewhat crisp with the initial sips and smooth going down. As a pilsner it is not nearly as dry or one dimensional as others I have come across.

Although this is a lagered Pilsner one might experience the upfront hops and think European style pale ale. Overall, very good and drinkable and one of my go to beers. Summer is coming fast I suspect and this beer won't be around for long, so stock up now...

Chimay Grande Reserve Ale

This is a pilot review and I have decided to write about a very well known and very good Belgian... Chimay Grande Reserve Ale. This Dark strong ale comes in at 9% ABV. A dark reddish brown color with a thin head. This beer is flavorful yet not over the top. If you had no preconceptions about the strength of the beer itself you would not think it was strong. Many heavier ales with high alcohols tend to exhibit their strength in the taste. Grande Reserve is not at all like this. It is smooth and easy to drink. There is a dried fruit character and it is not sweet or real heavy. The body feels medium and it is relatively dry yet aromatic. This bottle (750 ml) in particular had slightly less flavor that others I have tasted. Overall it is one of the best Dark Belgians one can spend about $12 (bevmo) on and not feel guilty about the expenditure. After the bottle was finished... needless to say so was I. Even though you can't taste the alcohol, believe me it's there!!!

Brewed by:

Bières de Chimay (Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont)

ABV: 9%

Note: The glass I poured into as you can see is not the traditional Chimay goblet, it is the Samuel Adams Boston Lager perfect pour glass. Somewhat of a novelty, yet the construction of this glass is very similar to the Belgian tulip style glass. In all honesty I do not own a Chimay goblet... this glass was the best I had and worked just fine.

In the future I plan on doing a linear tasting of different beers I have become fond of using a regular 16 oz. pint glass and the Samuel Adams glass to determine if it exhibits any taste benefits...

Homebrewing, Ultimate IPA!! Recipe and Brew Log

Homebrewing is one of the funnest things someone who enjoys beer can do... Extract brewing is relatively easy for someone who is just beginning. Note: I consider myself a novice at best... Given that I am a scientist as well, I conceptualize the process of Brewing a scientific endeavor in some respect... I consider the recipe as an Hypothesis, If I put all these things together then they will make a good beer... Brewing is the experiment... Drinking is the testing... and ultimately the data is self evident and the hypothesis (recipe) can be modified and re-tested as one deems necessary...

This IPA recipe was formulated a while ago, and this beer was made and consumed already... however, it happened to be a successful project. This was a joint effort with one of my fellow compatriots S. Joe Griffin... below is the final recipe formulation and some pertinent data, and below that is a PDF version of the brew log available for download if one were so inclined...

Enjoy...

The Ultimate IPA!!!

7lbs. Pale Liquid Malt Extract

3lbs. Briess Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract

1lb. Crystal Malt (77° L)

½ lb. Carapils Malt

1oz. Nugget hops 13.7 %

1oz. Chinook hops 11.5%

1oz. Cascade hops 7.8%

(60 min. boil)

1oz. Nugget hops 13.7 %

1oz. Chinook hops 11.5%

1oz. Cascade hops 7.8%

(30 min. boil)

1oz. Nugget hops 13.7 %

1oz. Chinook hops 11.5%

1oz. Cascade hops 7.8%

(15 min. boil)

1oz. Cascade aroma hop 7.8%

(Last 1 minute of boil)

3oz. Cascade hops 7.8% for Dry Hop in Secondary Fermenter

Hop Totals= (3oz.Nugget; 3oz. Chinook; 7oz. Cascade)

½ tsp. Irish moss (last 15 min. of boil)

Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast packet

The Ultimate IPA

First post !!! Welcome... Sacramento Beer Week!!!

This is the first post... Welcome to the forum!! It is still a work in progress, however there will be more soon. A little about myself... My name is Brian James and I am 24 (for now) and am currently a graduate student at Sacramento State. I am an Archaeologist by trade and a beer drinker by common sense and logic! This forum hopefully will prove to be of use to any who are willing to read it!! And if a few of my fellow beer aficionados and compatriots want to get in on this then it can only make for a better experience for all!! On to the beer...

Sacramento Beer Week is coming up at the end of February (22nd-28th) and things are looking pretty good for the downtown Sac area. Here is the website for details

http://www.sacramentobeerweek.com/

hope to see some familiar faces out there!!!