Brew Day: (Cranberry?) Cream Ale

This was originally planned as a festival beer. The cranberry was supposed to be the draw. Well, we all know how that turned out, but I opted to go ahead with the brew, and may or may not add the cranberry to it. We'll see.

7 lbs Domestic 2-row
2 lbs Vienna
8 oz Crystal 15°L
8 oz Carapils
2 oz Maltodextrine
1 oz Tradition (5.8%) @60min
1 oz Liberty (4.5%) @5min
Fermentis Safale US-05
Mashed 75 min @150°F

And, if the spirit moves me... some frozen or dried cranberries in the secondary (not exactly the season for fresh), and 4 oz cranberry extract at kegging.

I was originally targeting a higher mash temp, closer to 154°F, but I've had problems overshooting in the past, so I was a little more cautious this time. It seems to have worked against me, however, and I wound up with a mash of around 146°F. So I added and added and added hot water, near boiling, and got to maybe 150°F. Maybe for the best... should be a little more fermentable, maybe balance well with the maltodextring sweetening it up.

I also currently have a bit of a conundrum in transferring the wort into the fermentor. I have a simple, copper imersion chiller, and over Christmas added a ball valve and diverter tube to my kettle. The ball valve so I could finally transfer into a carboy for primary (rather than pour the wort into a plastic bucket), and the diverter to pull wort from the side of the kettle and avoid trub in the fermentor. Well, the immersion chiller makes a neat little pile of trub in the center of the kettle difficult. So does the diverter, for that matter, disturbing the whirlpool. The end result was more trub in the fermenter than I would have liked.

As it happened, I listened to the Basic Brewing Radio on a trub-in-the-fermentor experiment the next day. Had I listened to it beforehand, I mightn't have worried so much. At any rate, fermentation took off overnight (between 8 and 16 hours later), and she's bubbling happily away. We'll see how it turns out. O.G. was 1.058.

Homebrew and Beer Festivals

A 78 year-old law that has been largely ignored for decades is now keeping homebrewers out of Illinois beer festivals. I won't speak to any specific festival or homebrewer group, but, suffice to say, I'm not happy. Update 4/19/2012: Since the local paper has now run a story on the subject, I think I can go ahead and say that I'm talking about the Peoria Jaycees International Beer Festival, and my own homebrew club, the Homebrewers of Peoria. The statute in question, the Liquor Control Act of 1934, lays out all the licensing requirements for making and selling alcoholic beverages of any kind, but provides the following exception in Article II, Sec. 2-1:

...nothing herein contained shall prevent the possession and transportation of alcoholic liquor by the possessor for the personal use of the possessor, his family and guests, nor prevent the making of wine, cider or other alcoholic liquor by a person from fruits, vegetables or grains, or the products thereof, by simple fermentation and without distillation, if it is made solely for the use of the maker, his family and his guests...

Further exemptions are made for medicinal and religious uses of alcohol.

So hombrewing of any alcoholic beverage (shy of distillation) is totally legal without license in Illinois, provided it is purely for personal, familial, and guest consumption. So, to the letter of the law, serving homebrew at your average beer festival is, probably, illegal. The real question at hand is, should it be?

I've only heard two arguments against serving homebrew in a semi-public venue such as a beer festival. The first is some vague notion of sanitation. Homebrew is, viewed by the government, a largely uncontrolled substance that could contain anything. We're brewing at home, in our filthy, non health-inspected garages. Lord only knows what we're putting in there! And if someone gets sick from drinking our dirty, dirty beer, the festival organizers could be held liable. Oh noes!

Make no mistake, sanitation is important. However, bad sanitation doesn't lead to toxic beer. It may lead to bad beer (sometimes on purpose), but the simple fact is that nothing harmful to humans can grow in the alcohol and preservative (hops) rich environment of beer. That's why people drank it in the middle ages instead of plague infested water. Sure, there are plenty of allergies that could be related to beer; gluten, yeast, nut, etc. But anyone with such allergies should know to ask before they drink, and homebrew is no different from commercial beer in that instance. Indeed, homebrew is probably safer in that case, since the actual brewer is right there to field any questions about the beer they're serving.

The second argument against serving homebrew at public events stems from the very definition of homebrew: unlicensed alcohol. This can be attacked in several ways, from homebrewers circumventing licensing requirements, to serving untaxed alcohol, to robbing commercial brewers of sales.

Let's think about just how big a contribution homebrewers may be to beer festivals. BeerFestivals.org lists nine scheduled beer festivals in Illinois for 2012. I'll be extremely generous and assume that, 1) being early in the year, only about a fifth of festivals are scheduled and listed, for around 50 total fests, and 2) every single one of these festivals is pouring homebrew. And, in another likely overestimate, I'll say 20 unique homebrewers at each festival bring five five-gallon kegs apiece. That's 1,000 (!) people serving 25,000 gallons (!!) of beer. Keep in mind, I've overestimated everywhere I could, and this is probably off by an order of magnitude at least.

The current tax on beer is $0.231 per gallon.... actually, I'll assume that some portion of that beer is over 7% alcohol and taxed at the next higher rate of $1.39 per gallon, so let's call it an effective tax of $0.50 per gallon. Add to that 1,000 homebrewers buying a $500 liquor license, and that's about $512,500 in lost revenue for the state. In a state with a budget deficit of around $8 billion. Or, about 0.0064% of the deficit. That is pennies, and will probably cost the state more than that just to process and enforce.
 

Is the availability of homebrew driving down demand for commercial beer at festivals? Hard to say. You're likely paying the same token or ticket for a sample of homebrew as commercial, so it's not like it's free. (The brewer does not see any of that money, by the way, so we're not selling our beer.) I would argue that, while a given attendant may drink one less commercial sample for each homebrew they try, overall attendance will be higher when homebrew is being served, increasing sales across the board.

I don't have any numbers to back that up, and the truth is probably more complicated, but there's obviously a balance point somewhere and commercial losses to homebrew are not as drastic as those big brewers might assume.

I hope this hasn't seemed to ranty. There's just no reason to keep homebrewers out of beer festivals. We love to share our beer with as many people as possible, get feedback, and improve our craft. The more outlets for this, the better. Most independent, local breweries are started by former homebrewers. Letting us into festivals could even lead to more good commercial beer on the market!

Illinois is just the latest state to get hit with this. Overeager liquor control boards across the country are noticing that the homebrew laws (usually written just after the end of Prohibition) are needlessly strict and haven't been enforced. Oregon went through this last year, Wisconsin is in the process. The laws on the books were much more strict than Illinois' (forbidding the very removal of homebrew from the home in which it was brewed), and, being much more beer-friendly states, the laws were changed. I have no such high hopes for Illinois.

Third Coast Old Ale

Brewer: Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Style: Old Ale
ABV: 10.2%
IBU:
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle poured into an oversize snifter

From the brewer:

Third Coast Old Ale focuses on malt, offering notes of burnt caramel & other earthy malt flavors. Designed with vintage aging in mind, the malt aspect is matched to a heavy complement of hops. Sharply bitter at first, this will fold into the malt character over time and balance out the maltiness.

It's worth noting that this is the winter 2011/2012 vintage. Pours rusty brown, with pretty red highlights at the edges of the glass. An offwhite to tan head settles out to a thin film but doesn't go away. Sticks to the side of the glass when swwirled, more like wine legs than beer lace. The aroma is great, banana bread up front, cinnamon raisin bread behind, both fresh from the oven. Caramel sweetness round it out nicely.

Very sweet. All the flavors from the aroma are present, with some darker sugars adding complexity, brown sugar and maybe slightly burnt caramel. There's a hop bitterness trying to balance it out, grapefruit and earthy, but comes across a little too aggressive. It is a little young though, this kind of thing will probably mellow with age. Just a tad boozy, too, though that, too, should calm down after a while. Temperature helps, too. I thought I was serving it plenty warm at about 50°F, but there was definite improvement as it approached room temperature. Nice and viscous, thick and mouth-coating, with a light but appropriate amount of carbonation.

It's decent now, but I feel like it could be phenomenal after a few months (years??) in the bottle. This came in a sixer, so I'll definitely be revisting it over the coming year.

My score: 3.5/5
Beer Advocate: 91/100
Rate Beer: 100/100
Pintley: 3.8/5

Old Rasputin

Brewer: North Coast Brewing Co.
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9%
IBU: 75
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle poured into an English pub glass

I've done this beer before, but it's such a mainstay that it's worth a rereview from time to time. But first a little background.

From the brewer:

Produced in the tradition of 18th Century English brewers who supplied the court of Russia's Catherine the Great, Old Rasputin seems to develop a cult following wherever it goes. It's a rich, intense brew with big complex flavors and a warming finish.

A beer brewed in London for export to Moscow had to endure a long, largely over land voyage through potentially sub-zero temperatures. This meant a higher hopping rate (hops act as a preservative, lengthening the shelf-life of the beer), and a higher alcohol content to prevent freezing. The hops, in my mind, is what makes it a "Russian" Imperial Stout, as opposed to just a plain old imperial stout, or any number of aged or double, barreled or bourboned versions.

Now, on to the review.

I have a rule. If I have to spend more than 30 seconds trying to decide if something is black, or just a really dark brown, it's black. This is a jet black beer, no light is getting through. A rocky, latte colored head occupies a full third of the glass before settling down to a persistant finger with some light, sticky lace. There's a little bit of piney/earthy hop aroma up front, but that's quickly overpowered by darker smells as the beer comes to temp. Definitely some coffee, like a nice, dark roast, with notes of vanilla and chocolate to boot.

The taste is chocolate malt and licorice, with dark coffee behind, bitter and maybe just a little burnt. That bitterness does have a hop contribution, and tends to linger. In the mouthfeel, this beer is silky smooth and lightly carbonated to perfection. Goes down with just a slight warming in the throat and chest, but otherwise betrays no hint of alcohol. Very easy drinker.

This is a very easy beer to recommend. Big and bold, with lots of complexity and just the right touch of hops to balance it all out. All this for two bucks a bottle, and brewed year-round. A steal!

My score: 4.5/5
Beer Advocate: 95/100
Rate Beer: 100/100
Pintley: 4.2/5 

Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock

Brewer: Dark Horse Brewery
Style: Doppelbock
ABV: 7.5%
IBU:
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle poured into an oversize snifter.

Picked this up because I wanted to add coffee to a bock I was brewing, and this is the only commercial example I could find.

Deep brown in color with lots of ruby red highlighting. A solid finger of a nice tan head with decent retention and minimal lacing. The coffee is right up front with a rich, lightly roasted aroma. Behind that is lots of sweetness, malt and brown sugar.

Lots of coffee in the flavor too, with a slight vegetal background. Caramel, honey, and nut follow, a little like the cheerios. Some bitter astringency, but mellows with warmth.

Overall, not bad. A little one-dimensional. I think the coffee overpowers the traditional bock flavors a little. We'll see how mine turns out. 

My score: 3/5
Beer Advocate: 85/100
Rate Beer: 91/100
Pintley: 3.6/5

Trippel Belgian Style Ale

Brewer: New Belgium Brewing
Style: Belgian Tripel
ABV: 7.8%
IBU: 25
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle poured into an oversize snifter.

Guess I'm on kind of a Belgian kick lately.

Pure gold with a pinky finger of pure white head. Leaves a fine lace clinging to the glass. Aroma is sweet spiciness, coriander and clove, banana and citrus. No alcohol but just a little perfumy. And that distinctive Belgian yeast character is behind it all.

A nice, full spice flavor, clove and coriander as in the aroma with just a touch of pepper. Citrus comes of as just slightly acidic, in a nice, quenching way. Some small, light malt character. Just a little taste of alcohol and just a little warmth in the gut. Light to medium bodied and high in carbonation. Finished with a champagne like dryness. Crisp.

Nothing necessarily jaw-dropping, but a really solid beer and very easy drinking. Would buy again.

My score: 3.5/5
Beer Advocate: 87/100
Rate Beer: 95/100
Pintley: 3.6/5

La Trappe Quadrupel

Brewer: Brewery de Koningshoeven
Style: Quadrupel
ABV: 10%
IBU:
Serving Type: 33cL bottle poured into a St. Bernardus chalice

One more Trappist beer for good measure. Enjoyed with some carry-out dynamite sushi (thanks, honey!). Pours a deep, murky brown with more red tones than most other quads I've had. A solid finger of white, big-bubbled head betrays my not quite clean enough glass. Aroma is big and malty, with raisin and fig and a little bit of spice (cinammon?).

The spice on the tongue comes through more peppery, and the sweetness just a touch tart (though still with plenty of dark fruit). Carbonation is nice and prickly on the tongue, does a good job of cutting through the almost cloying sweetness. Medium bodied, with a lingering spice at the back of the tongue.

Pretty good overall, though a touch overboard on the sweetness. The other elements all help hold that sweetness in check, but only just. The spiciness, however, adds enough depth to force me to give it a rare half-star rating.

And how does it pair with sushi? Suprisingly well, actually. The sweetness counteracts the wasabi while the carbonation and spiciness of the beer accent it. The sweetness also plays well with the savory flavors in the soy and fish.

My score: 3.5/5
Beer Advocate: 91/100
Rate Beer: 99/100
Pintley: 4.2/5