The Father of Homebrewing's "Top Five" Beers

A friend, Charlie, and myself.

With the (sold out) Great American Beer Festival looming in a couple of days I have been unable to contain my anticipation. I decided to go see what Charlie is up to...

Charlie Papazian is the founder of the Brewer's Association (which puts on the epic Great American Beer Festival annually in downtown Denver, a must-see event for anyone into craft beer) and writer of the foremost guide on homebrewing “The Joy of Homebrewing” (which single-handedly taught me how to brew). A highlight of my simple life was getting to meet this man at last year’s GABF.

Being such an iconic figure in brewing, he is often asked to name his favorite beer. While Charlie hesitant to name any specific beer, here are some picks he recently listed for his “Beer Examiner” column:

1. Best lager beer with a thick juicy barbecued-to-perfection steak - Kings & Vagabonds Czech lager (homebrew). Gordon Biersch Czech-style lager (Brewpub nearest you)


2. Best ale with hearty stew – Dusty Mud Irish-style stout (homebrew). Mountain Sun Old School Stout (Boulder, Colorado).


3. Best Belgian Trappist ale by a fireside - Westvletern 12


4. Best Belgian Trappist (style) with Lasagna - Leftmalle Dubbel-style (homebrew). Westmalle Dubbel


5. Best beer with Sushi – Lefthand Brewing Co. JuJu Ginger ale (Longmont, Colorado)

Note that (in addtional to legendary Trappist ales such as Westvletern 12), Charlie recommends primarily local brews (he resides in Boulder, CO). Papazian also notes that most Americans live within 10 miles of a brewery, and urges the reader to drink the beer that's made closest to where they reside (be it a brewpub or your own homebrew). Amen Charlie! You can read the full article here.

Help me brew

Homegrown hops from my front yard!

I am finally starting to settle in to my new home in Spokane, Washington. I've started to rent a house and, to my surprise, the previous tenant had quite the green thumb! Among other things, I now have spearmint and hops growing in my yard! I've finally begun to unpack my belongings and my brewing setup is aching for some fresh wort.

But I'm at a crossroads of brewing. I haven't brewed in so long (about 7 months) that I have an abundance of ideas and seemingly little time to implement them. Let's start with the basic ingredients I have on hand:

Grain:
50# American two-row barley malt (base grain)
5# Munich 10L malt (specialty grain)
5# Crystal 40L malt (specialty grain)
5# Carapils malt (specialty grain)

Hops:
1# of “Spokane” Goldings whole hops (homegrown, unkown AA%)
3oz Amarillo hop pellets (8% AA)
3oz Summit hop pellets (18%[!] AA)
3oz Saaz hop pellets (2.5% AA)
1oz Hallertau Select hop pellets (2% AA)

Yeast:
Whitelabs WLP001 California Ale Yeast (a very clean all-purpose strain, I usually use it for APAs and IPAs)
Whitelabs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast (cooler fermenting, maltier strain. I usually use it for stouts, porters, scotch ales, and English ales)

Here are some ideas I’ve been throwing around:

1) Harvest Pale Ale: Using the Amarillo (my personal favorite hop) for bittering and flavor additions and “wet-hopping” with fresh-from-the-vine goldings hops. The Goldings would be used for aroma hops and for dry-hopping. This would be a 5%-6% abv pale ale with a huge hop nose. I would shoot for 35-45 IBU.

2) Mild Ale/Bitter/”Blonde”/Golden Ale/Cream Ale: A milder, easier drinking beer that is quaffable enough to not scare my small group of inland NW friends away from the joys of homebrewing. I would still use the homegrown hops for late kettle additions and dry hopping. I would shoot for 15-20 IBU, 4.5-5.5% abv ale.

3) Winter Ale: A 2008 vintage of the winter ale I did last year . This year I would tweak the recipe and include fresh spearmint leaves late in the boil instead of (or in addition too) the juniper berries I used last year. Scottish yeast strain for 6%-7% abv and about 25 IBU.

4) Belgian Golden Ale (with apple juice): A high-gravity Belgian ale fermented with a fresh apple juice for added complexity and strength. I’d use a Belgian strain of yeast and shoot for a 7.5%-8.5% abv ale with 15-20 IBU.

I may try and re-use my yeast over the course of three batches. Start out with the mild ale, then use that yeast cake on the harvest pale, and finally finish off with a winter ale.

More on re-using yeast in a future post.

Dick's Best Bitter

The Beer: Dick's Best Bitter
The Brewery: Dick's Brewing Company of Centralia, WA
The Style: Extra Special Bitter

ABV: 5.5%

Brewer's Description: Wonderfully balanced "session beer" in the ESB style. A combination of 75 L and 120 L caramel malts give this ale a nice color, maltiness and body. This is then balanced and complimented in the kettle with Magnum hops which contribute its clean but detectable bitterness. Mt. Hood hops are then added for a lingering hop flavor and aroma. We ferment our bitter with Dick's house yeast for that classic English ale flavor.

Color: Poured into whiskey hotel glass, bright copper with steady white head. Bubbles continually rise from the bottom of the glass, as they do in champagne.
Aroma: sweet toffee, caramel, some biscuity malt notes, no hop aroma
Taste/mouthfeel: medium carbonation, medium mouthfeel. Sweet caramel malts up front (although not as intense as in the aroma) followed by a clean bitterness.
Finish: bitter, semi-dry finish, although little hop flavor is present.

Notes: Purchased at Huckleberry's Organic Market in Spokane, WA. This is almost a text-book ESB, although the balance is perhaps a little skewed towards the bitterness. As the ESB is an English-style pale ale, hops are usually utilized earlier in the boil and sparingly at the end (these are called "finishing hops"). This results in a beer with hop bitterness but little hop flavor or aroma. This ale would pair well with sheppard's pie or go great with steak and ale pie.

Cave Creek Chili Beer

The Beer: Chili Beer "Cerveza con Chili"
The Brewery: Black Mountain Brewing Company of Cave Creek, Arizona
The Style: Pale Lager (specifically: a Mexican-style lager with a Serrano pepper steeped in the bottle)

ABV: 4.7%

Brewer's Description: Golden, very low carbonation, pale lager with a whole chili pepper in the bottle.

Color: What looks to be a Serrano pepper is immersed in the bottle, as soon as the bottle was opened the chili rose to the top. Poured into gator pint glass, pale clear gold with aggressive effervescent bubbles. No head. Put chili to the side for later consumption.
Aroma: Hot chili aromas. Smells like Serrano, jalapeno, and perhaps some Anaheim.
Taste/mouthfeel: Medium-low carbonation. Some very faint sweet malt that is quickly dominated by pepper oils. The beer gives a pleasing "warmth" without feeling overpowered, sort of like a spicy bloody Mary.
Finish: Semi-sweet spicy finish, throat warming. No hops detectable.

Notes: Purchased at Wine and More in Tampa, FL. NOTE: If you do not like very spicy things you will HATE this beer. I have an incredibly high tolerance for hot sauces and dishes, I appreciated this beer. It's sort of like drinking a beer infused with pepper juice, if this sounds disgusting to you, I would not recommend this lager. This isn't something I could drink as a session beer, but I certainly enjoyed drinking one. This beer would make a very interesting marinade ingredient.

An update from your humble Beer Geek

Spokane Falls from the Monroe St. bridge downtown

I have recently (days ago) moved to Spokane, Washington(don't worry, I stopped at plenty breweries along the way) in pursuit of better career(and beer) opportunities. I've already seen a wealth of beer I could never get in the Sooner State. There are a couple of local breweries and the solid "Laughing Dog" brewery is relatively close in the Idaho panhandle. I will do my best to cover all the new beers and breweries I encounter. The grocery stores here are also quite stellar, so expect some new beer-infused food recipes.

I will miss my friends and acquaintances back in Oklahoma, you folks are exceptional! To all of you: keep hope alive. Oklahoma is one of the most repressive beer states in the nation, it is your challenge to expand beer culture in the state, one pint at a time.

Avery Karma Ale

The Beer: Karma Ale
The Brewery: Avery Brewing Company of Boulder, Colorado
The Style: Belgian (Pale) Ale

ABV: 5.2%

Brewer's Description: We believe in Karma. We suspect most of you do, too. It truly is a global concept. Very simply put, "you get what you give." Inspired by this principle and the wonderful farmhouse and pale ales of Belgium, we've created Karma Ale, a decidedly fruity and estery ale, intricate in body and nose, all driven by a unique Belgian yeast strain. Remember, good things DO happen to good people. Here's to being good!

Color: Poured into whiskey glass, transparent gold with minimal white head
Aroma: sour vinegar, apples.
Taste/mouthfeel: high carbonation, light mouthfeel. Flavors of pilsner malt, some light honey, apple esters, and cedar. Taste is not as sour as aroma would lead one to believe, but there is still a small amount of farmhouse "funk".
Finish: surprisingly bitter and dry finish.

Notes: Purchased at Publix grocery in Tampa, FL. I am not sure if the funky/sour/vinegar notes were intended in this beer or not. Regardless, I was not a fan of this beer. The beer tastes awkward and has little personality beyond a slightly off-putting aroma. It feels like it doesn't know if it wants to be a quenching, light belgian ale or a dry Flemish-style sour ale.

Stoudt's American Pale Ale

The Beer: American Pale Ale
The Brewery: Stoudt's Brewing Company of Adamstown, Pennsylvania
The Style: APA

ABV: 5.0%

Brewer's Description: This uniquely American beer offers a crisp, medium-body with a light amber color. It is assertively hopped with Pacific Northwest Cascades for a firm bitterness and delightfully floral aroma.

Color: Poured into whiskey glass, slightly hazy orange with minimal white lacing
Aroma: grapefruit peel and some lemon zest
Taste/mouthfeel: medium carbonation, assertive grapefruit bitternesss up front, very faint malt balance
Finish: bitter, ample hop resins, finish is medium-dry

Notes: Purchased at "Wine and Boos" in Tampa, FL. This was a very solid, if not incredibly outstanding, example of an American pale ale. Typical cascade hop aromas and bitterness (Cascade is the most commonly used hop in amongst craft brewers, although this is beginning to change due to the recent hop shortages) abound. Very drinkable beer, would go great with burgers and a summer cookout.