New Brewers, New Brews

Last week, a dear friend and colleague treated me to the second annual U and Brew event at the Campus Club, showcasing a variety of local breweries and beers and highlighting hops research underway at the University of Minnesota. I won the least inspiring of door prizes – two orange beer koozies from Indeed Brewing in Minneapolis – but that’s alright: I also got a keepsake sampling glass from local brew mag The Growler, a bellyful of spicy sausage and soft pretzels with coarse brown mustard, and the joy of sampling five new (to me) brews. In order, I imbibed the following:

• Lucid Brewing’s Foto IPA (Minnetonka, MN) – nicely hopped and refreshing; this is definitely a hop-forward beer, but it’s not overwhelming for a guy like me, who’s no longer a hophead.
• Bad Weather Brewing Company’s Windvane Minnesota Red Ale (Minnetonka, MN) – Beautiful balance between hops and malt; you taste both, together and separately, if that makes sense. Tasty, tasty beer – and also quite refreshing for a beer this autumnal in color.
• Badger Hill Brewing Company’s MSB (Minnesota Special Bitter) (Minnetonka, MN) – Easy drinker; to me, like an English session ale malted and hopped like an Oktoberfest. I’d bring it to a party for something new and flavorful that everyone could enjoy.
• Excelsior Brewing Company’s Big Island Blonde Ale (Excelsior, MN) – This was the peer-pressure choice; everyone was trying it and saying how good it was, and I thought, “Lawnmower brew.” Light, easy-to-drink blonde ale with a hint of lemony citrus in the finish. 
• Pour Decisions Brewing Company’s Infidelity “Burton Ale” (Roseville, MN) – A good malty English-style ale. I didn’t know what a Burton ale was, but apparently this fits the bill: sweeter and darker than an English pale ale. I enjoyed it.

Indeed Brewing Company and Fulton Brewing Company (both in Minneapolis) were also represented, but I had only six sample tickets, and wanted to save the last for seconds on my favorite of the five I tasted. It was a tossup between Lucid Foto and Bad Weather Windvane, until I heard Bad Weather had just launched in March. I spent my last ticket and told them they had the best beer in the room. The young brewer thanked me, and confided that he liked Lucid Foto quite well himself. Turns out Lucid, Bad Weather, and Badger Hill use the same facilities. It’s a small and burgeoning brewing scene, by the looks – lucky us!

End of Summer Recap

Summer has fled, and with it, the last of my light, effervescent English Bitter. The time has come for more robust brews: Oktoberfests, doppelbocks, strong ales, porters and stouts -- and for and end-of-summer recap. In addition to numerous impromptu weekend brew sessions in recent months, we grew our membership to 15 and provided a variety of brews to sample at Catholic Man Night with Archbishop Nienstedt in August. The men in attendance were highly complementary of the selection and brews themselves, and I believe we are on tap to do something similar in November

A gathering of Catholic men for Catholic Man Night in August.

Archbishop John Nienstedt speaks on
the topic of "Jesus Christ, Defender of the Family."

Another first for the club: we supplied a homebrewing sampler and Introduction to Homebrewing prize package for the Silent Auction at the St. Michael Catholic Church Fall Festival. The winner, St. Michael parishioner Joe Donlon, received a locally brewed sampler -- two bottles each of Honey Nut Brown Ale and Cream Ale by Karl Becker, two bottles of my English Bitter, and a large bottle of Mike Engel's Scottish Light Ale -- plus the opportunity to brew two cases of the ale of his choice with Bottomless Pint Brewers -- we supply the ingredients, the equipment, the bottles, everything. (We said we would even brew it for him, but it turns out, Joe is interested in brewing and was looking forward to trying it out without the expense of buying equipment and bottles.)

Our first Silent Auction prize package...

The Fall Festival was pleased with the results of this first BPB foray into the Silent Auction -- now all we have to do is brew great beer for Joe! The date for his brew session (the next club session) has been set for Saturday, Oct. 13, at Butch Nielsen's house -- we'll likely start in early afternoon. Anyone who wants to brew is welcome, so come on out!

Homebrew V: English Bitter

A little more than a month ago, I embarked on my first solo brew. Prior to this, I had always done so with at least one other person brewing, and while the second set of eyes was certainly handy to avoid errors, the coordinated chaos of a group brew session (sharing sanitizer, aerators, wort chillers, etc.) meant that I hadn't really "locked down" the homebrewing process in my own mind.

Since we're headed into summer (and on the heels of my previous post "In Search of Small"), I opted for what I hoped would be a sunny-day-on-the-deck session brew: the English Bitter extract kit from Midwest Supplies.

It's a very simple and straightforward ale, so brewing went smoothly. Fermentation ramped up a bit slower than past brews, and then diminished rapidly once it peaked -- but I suppose this is not surprising for a session beer.  (In fact, I hit my starting gravity number right on, and when I took a second hydrometer reading after I transferred the ale to the secondary, it had already finished.)

After two weeks in the bottle, the pour was a bubbly, with a thick white head. A somewhat thicker layer of sediment appears at the bottle of these bottles than past brews, but if you pour carefully, it stays put, and the appearance in the glass is deep straw in color and crystal clear. (The photo does not do this justice.) The aroma is hoppy, but not staggering; hops predominate the flavor, but do not dominate or overpower. I'm going to describe the malt flavor as "biscuit," but I'm assuming in this case that the biscuits in question are English cookies or crackers, not Southern comfort food. If you get a little of the sediment in your pour, you might mistake this for a pale wheat ale; otherwise, this is an easy-drinking and refreshing "small" pale ale that, at 3 to 3.5% alcohol, can be enjoyed in multiples while remaining coherent.

I would recommend this for new brewers as an easy kit, and to beer-lovers who are used to American pilsners and pale lagers as a great first step into the world of ales. You definitely get that fruitier and more complex ale flavor, in a beer that is just as easy to drink as a Leinie's and as refreshing as a Rolling Rock.