Capt Keith's Beer Blog

FINALLY, they decided to release some of the cellar….. Jake and Asa have been holding back mountains of great beer for a LONG time and it looks like they’ve planned a fun week around Valentine’s Day. So, mark your calendars and come try some exceptional vintage beers. See the line up below which includes Real Ale Sysphus ’07,  Stone ’08 Double Bastard & Sierra’s Ken & Jack’s Big Barleywine which most of you know is a collaboration between Ken Grossman – owner of Sierra & Jack McAuliffe – who started (New Albion Brewery in 1976 – dude was a pioneer of American Craft Beer for certain.

The crew down in Austin have another beer week starting up this week.  This time they are unveiling a plethora of Barleywines for central Texas’ drinking pleasure.  Each day they will be tapping a new big Barleywine, some of which have been cellaring for quite some time.  Austin’s General Manager Ted Rowell (and his team Sam, Joe and Andi) are not afraid to lay kegs down for months and often years to make sure the brews are in their prime when they are tapped.

On Monday they kicked things off with Great Divide from Denver, CO.  Their Barleywine, Old Ruffian, is a an American Style interpretation with big doses citrus hop additions that sometimes lead to the beer being called “over hopped”, if there is such a thing.  The keg being tapped is of the 2008 vintage, so the hops should have faded a bit to let the caramel sweetness of the malts catch up.  As of today they still had plenty left, so head on by to see what you missed.

Tuesday’s tapping is Brooklyn Brewery’s Monster Ale.  Garret Oliver decided to take his Barleywine in a more traditional direction, so this one is an English Style Barleywine.  This brew can have quite a bit of alcohol heat in the nose, but that disappears when you take a sip.  This malt forward recipe results in molasses and berry flavors with very little hop flavors or aromas.  They have 2007 and 2011 kegs to tap, but they are only 5 gallons so they are sure to go quickly.

Wednesday will host Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot.  Probably the definition of American Style Barleywine, this brew is a big hoppy monster.  Chinook, Cascade and Centennial hops come together to give Bigfoot its wonderful hoppiness.  They will tap a 2007 for tasting and a fresh one to be poured into the Brewery Night Glass.

Stone Brewing Co. will be represented by Old Guardian, another American Style Barleywine on Thursday.  Commonly referred to as the “OG”, this bad boy is from the 2010 vintage, so be ready for tons of flavors, both from the grains and the malts, to fight for dominance in your mouth.  The Hop recipe for this brew can change from year to year, and sometimes from batch to batch, but it never disappoints.

Friday’s tapping is one of my favorites, Avery Samaels 2010.  Technically this one is an English Style Strong Ale, but it fits right in with the Barleywines.  Caramel, Raisins and Molasses all come together in the aroma as well as the flavor and let the hops take a back seat.  Be careful, this one clocks in over 14% ABV!!!

On Saturday Harpoon Brewing Co. will contribute with their Leviathan Barleywine, not to be confused with their Barleywine from the 100 Barrel Series.  This beer calls itself an English Style Barleywine, but it has enough hops to put it somewhere between English and American Style.  The malt bill is nice and complex with enough hops to bring it all into balance.

Sunday is the day of $3 Texas Pints so why not tap a Texas made Barleywine on Sunday?  It will not be included in their special, but this is a great local barleywine.  Old Tree Hugger considers itself an American Style Barleywine, but has the malt complexity to compete with those of the English Style.  Plenty of caramel flavors and dark fruits, this 13.5% ABV brew hides its alcohol well so watch out!

There are plenty of Barleywines to be had down in Austin this week, and many of them will be available beyond their tapping days as these big beers are served in small pours.  So if you are able to make it by don’t be afraid to ask about some of the previous days tappings.  Enjoy!

Tickets are on sale now for a very unique opportunity to meet Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. He will host a beer dinner at my new Gastro-Pub, The Meddlesome Moth on February 21st at 6 PM. See the flyer below and call to secure your tickets immediately. We sold 40 tickets in the first 10 minutes they went on sale.

Back Story: Twenty Years ago, I had my first Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and it was the beer that changed me forever. I think we all remember the brew that changed the way we think about BEER (and brewing.) Back then their Pale Ale seemed to like a hop bomb yet it is relatively mild in comparison to some Pale Ales and IPAs in today’s market.

I have been in the craft beer business since the early 90′s and have always felt Sierra sets the bar for craft beer. I have had the pleasure of meeting with Ken several times before and I know him to be a very humble man. His story is extraordinary – pioneering the craft beer movement, starting his brewery on a tiny budget in a storage warehouse In Chico, CA and growing it to the Sierra Nevada we know today.

Come meet the legend and enjoy our Chef prepared beer dinner with some fantastic limited offerings.

Cheers!

We will release the Edge of Darkness on Wednesday the 11th in San Antonio. My friend Rusty Woodland will be there with me to make a toast. This is the beer we helped create at  Sierra Nevada beer camp #12. It is a robust brown ale that has been wet hopped as well as dry hopped. We released a few kegs at the Fall Beer Festivals, both in Fort Worth and in Austin. The beer was well received. There are only a handful of kegs left and we have only two in SA, so this will likely be your only opportunity to try this unique brew.

We will feature Edge of Darkness and other fine Sierra Nevada brews during Brewery Night, so come and prepare to lift a glass with us and then take it home with you.

Cheers Keith

This is our 4th year in a row to host the Fort Worth Beer Festival. Each year the crowd has grown in size and last year was the biggest yet. If you have not attended this annual event, let me explain how it will work.

You do not have to pay to get in the event.

You pay for a Tasting Card so that you can sample 10 of the 25 beers we are featuring. The cards identify which beers are in the various tents. Each time you try a beer, we will pour 4 oz and then punch your card. For a $5 bump in price, you can sample from the UR Not Worthy Tent. That was Marc’s idea – to include a grouping of beers that are very rare on draft and that he has been saving for all of you! In this tent, you’ll find beers like Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Avery Beast Grand Cru and some Vintage North Coast Old Stock.

If you find a beer you like, you can buy a full pour with tickets or 4 punches of your tasting card.

A big tent will be set up with tables and chairs to take a load off or just sit and eat some killer beer food. We’ll fire up the Brat and Pretzel tent just before 2 PM. Expect beer brats and German pretzels with spicy mustard and seasoned kraut. Perfect fall beer food for an outdoor event.

As the doors open, we will tap the bung on some Real Ale Oktoberfest. We have a limited supply so get there early. Also, I will be on hand to tap the first keg of Sierra Nevada Edge of Darkness from my beer camp. Come see us and let’s raise a glass to some great weather with friends and the best beer selection ever presented at an outdoor venue in the history of Fort Worth, Texas.

I was invited to BEER CAMP by Steve Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewery. Steve is the ambassador of Sierra Nevada. Sounds like a great job and guess what – he looks pretty damn happy.

As I have mentioned before, getting to Chico from Dallas is not that easy. But once we get settled, its nice to be there. Six of us were there to brew beer with Scott Jennings, the director of their Pilot Brewery.

Beer from the fermenters

Scott has been with Sierra for 9 years now. He seemed genuinely happy to see us and to show us how his brewery within Sierra Nevada worked. I must say, it is state of the art & he has some great beers fermenting, which he allowed us to try. The Pilot Brewery that he runs is where they tweak ideas for new recipes.

Fish bowl with Steve and Scott

In the “Fish Bowl”, we all met up to discuss our project. Steve tells us about the history behind Sierra Nevada.

It is a cool story and I will share some tidbits with you, other than what you may find on your own History of Sierra Nevada.

From 1980 – 1989 they had only a 10 Barrel Brewing System. The original kettle is an odd looking fabricated piece of used dairy equipment that Ken made himself. That kettle is still used to this day by the boys at Mad River Brewing Co. At first, the beer was sold in bottles only.The three original beers were Pale, Stout and Porter, which are still around today and excellent examples of each style. The first kegs were used in 1983 and were the old style Golden Gate kegs. They bought them from AB for about $15 each – a fraction of the cost of new kegs. The head brewer is Steve Dressler and he has been on their team for 27 years.

Early days at Sierra

In 1981: New Albion was producing 450 barrels annually, Sierra – 1500 barrels, Anchor Brewing – 25,000 and Yuengling 200,000. Today Anchor does around 100k barrels and SN is doing around 1M barrels. In 1989 SN moved into a new building and bought a 100 Barrel system. In 1998 they bought a 200 barrel system and expanded creating an east side and a west side. Today, they have 800 barrel fermenters, 50 of them. The daily brewing schedule requires the use of over 100,000 pounds of grain.

Sierra has a 9 acre organic hop field next door – for their Chico Estate Harvest Ale. They grow two row barley on 30 acres near their rail station. The brewery  uses about 4 rail cars of grain per week. At any time they have almost 1M pounds of grain on hand.

Grain Hauler

Let’s talk about Green living for a moment. I learned that 99.6% of all solid waste is recycled at SN. That their hop field is watered with their treated water from brewery production. The trucks are biodeisel. Their rooftops have 10,000 solar panel systems to feed the energy to their fuel cells. They have a farm that the local university uses to train their students on animal care and land management. The cattle on the farm are fed the spent grain from the brewery and the beef is used at the SN pub. All in all, SN is about 92% self sufficient and definitley setting a good example for sustainability. We don’t learn this from their marketing plan – it’s just how they think the brewery should be run. They’ve created a pretty incredible work environment. The group seems pretty darn humble and every person I encountered seemed genuinely happy to be there.

The Beer that is coming to Texas very soon will be called The Edge of Darkness. The campers decided to do a robust brown ale that was 6.5% abv – using Pale Two Row malt, Caramel Malt 60 and 120 L and some chocolate malt for color and flavors.

Rusty adds the grain

Mashing the grain

Testing the PH levels of our wort

The hop bill was HUGE – this is something Sierra is known for and they encouraged us to dig through their hop storage and use whatever we wanted. Scott was careful to keep us in the right direction and not let us pick anything too far out there.