California Trip - Craft Brew Sampling

The 50/50

I haven't had a chance to brew for a couple weeks so this post is a little different than most. We recently went to California for a family vacation, so I figured I'd do a quick little write-up on some of the things we were able to sample on our trip. Vacation is a great time for enjoying good food and good beer.

First up was Slater's 50/50 in Anaheim Hills. It's essentially a gourmet burger joint/craft beer sports bar. My niece waits tables here and we'd heard good things about it, so we decided to give it a try. I'm not positive, but I believe they have about a dozen+ beers on tap with the rest in the bottle.

Slater's 50/50 is known for their flagship burger, The 50/50. What makes it unique is it's made from 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon. They have a few different designer burgers in addition to The 50/50 and you also have the option of designing your own custom burger. We decided to split a couple so that we could try more than one. If you go, keep in mind these burgers are huge and very filling and could easily be shared unless you're absolutely starving. We ended up splitting a 50/50 and a Peanut Butter and Jellousy between three people.

The 50/50 is topped with an egg (sunny side up), avocado mash, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle mayo served on a white brioche bun. My two younger kids had sliders made with the 50/50 patties and didn't care for them as much as the grown-ups. It has a different texture than a 100% beef patty, and I think that's probably what turned the younger ones off. The 50/50 patty is really good and the combination of beef and bacon definitely add complexity...kind of like peeling back the different layers on a complex beer. The burger was cooked beautifully but the egg was slightly overcooked so it wasn't runny.

The Peanut Butter and Jellousy

Next up was the Peanut Butter and Jellousy burger. This is a 100% beef burger topped with thick cut bacon, creamy peanut butter, and strawberry jelly served on honey wheat bun. We ordered this one because it seemed like it was just weird enough that it had to be really good...and it didn't disappoint. Like the 50/50, the patty, bacon, peanut butter and jelly combined for some really complex flavors.  This one ended up being everybody's favorite. The addition of the crispy bacon added a texture that was missing from the 50/50. I think I may try to recreate this one at home.

I washed the burgers, fries, and dessert down with a Stone Levitation, a Magic Hat #9, an Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, all of which were fantastic. Long story short, the food was good and so was the beer. I'd definitely recommend this place if you're in the area. The only downside is it's in a strip mall and it really feels like you're in a strip mall, so the atmosphere is a little lacking. Service was good, but I could tell our waitress really didn't know a lot about beer; living in Utah I'm kind of used to that, so it wasn't a big deal to me.

Next was a brew pub in Laguna Beach named Ocean Brewing Company. It's located in a touristy area of Laguna Beach. I'd never been here before nor heard of it. I was hoping I'd stumbled across Laguna Beach's best kept brewing secret but I was a little disappointed. After sitting down I cracked open a menu that seemed to focus more on cocktails and wine than on beer...kind of odd for a place with "Brewing Company" in their name. Red Sunshine was one of their "house beers" and they claimed it was award winning but they didn't mention which awards. It arrived and was decent but not great. It had nice lacing and nice body but I suspect it was a little old because it didn't have much hop flavor/aroma (it's described as an Amber Ale). I've definitely had worse beers but I've had much better. We were meeting family later for dinner so we only ordered an appetizer. Food was like the beer, we ate it but it was so-so at best. Long story short, don't make a special trip to go here but if you're in the area it's better than going somewhere that only serves Bud/Miller/Coors.

Our last stop was Newport Beach Brewing Company. This one by far had the best atmosphere of all the places we visited. I'd never been there before but I believe I've sampled their brews at GABF. Speaking of which, several of their beers have won GABF medals. I order a flight of their beers and all were very tasty but my favorite was their Just Peachy Barrel-aged Blonde Ale. It wasn't as tart as some sours I've enjoyed (e.g Russian River Supplication), but it was very nice and the complexity really came out as it warmed up a bit. I'm usually not a fan of Blonde Ales, but the added complexity from the barrel aging was really nice on this.  No single flavor was especially dominant, but they blended well and complimented each other well. Food was great as well. I had the NBBC Patty Melt which was really tasty. It's described as an Angus patty grilled and topped with sauteed, jalapenos, onions, apple wood bacon, swiss cheese on grilled sour dough. Because of the jalapenos, it's best enjoyed by those that like spicy food. Long story short, beer, food, and atmosphere were great.

And now for some beer-porn.  Below is a variety of beers I picked up at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Newport Beach and Total Wine in Brea.  Both stores have a pretty good craft beer section including tons of beers that aren't available in Utah.

From left to right:

• The Beast Grand Cru Ale - Avery Brewing
• Saison du Buff - Collaboration between Victory, Stone, and Dogfish Head Breweries
• Smoked Porter with Chipolte Peppers - Stone Brewing
• Duchesse De Bourgogne - Brouwerij Verhaeghe - Flanders Red Ale
• Punkin Ale - Dogfish Head Brewery
• Damnation - Russian river Brewing
• TBA Ale - Collaboration between Bear Republic, Fat Head's, and Stone Breweries
• Three Philosophers Belgian Style Blend - Brewery Ommegang
• Farmhouse Summer Ale - Flying Fish Brewing

From left to right:

• Tartuffe - Herretic Brewing
• Evil Cousin Heretic Brewing
• Autumn Maple - The Bruery
• Grand Cru - Rodenbach
• Aged Pale Grand Reserve - Petrus
• Theobroma - Dogfish Head Brewing
• 11.11.11 Vertical Epic - Stone Brewing
• Hope Stoopid - Lagunitas Brewing

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Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown)

L to R, Oud Bruin, Flanders Red #1, Flanders Red #2

I've been on a Belgian kick lately and today I'm brewing yet another, an Oud Bruin, aka Flanders Brown. This is a sour style but it is not as sharply sour as a Flanders Red. The BJCP guidelines describes it as follows:


A malty, fruity, aged, somewhat sour Belgian-style brown ale. 

The Oud Bruin is less acetic and maltier than a Flanders Red, and the fruity flavors are more malt-oriented.

An “old ale” tradition, indigenous to East Flanders, typified by the products of the Liefman brewery (now owned by Riva), which has roots back to the 1600s. Historically brewed as a “provision beer” that would develop some sourness as it aged. These beers were typically more sour than current commercial examples. While Flanders red beers are aged in oak, the brown beers are warm aged in stainless steel.

With the exception of the yeast, this recipe is based on the Oud Bruin recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I'm using White Labs Platinum Strain WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend. This yeast seems very similar to Wyeast's Roeselare Ale Blend (3763) so it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out compared to my Flanders Red. Unlike Wyeast's Roeselare, White Labs does not specifically recommend that a starter not be used. However, I'm going to assume it's best not to use a starter; the reason is the various components in the blend tend to grow at different rates and at different stages, so the proportions can get out of whack with a starter. The yeast data is as follows:


WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2012 release)
Blended culture used to produce the classic beer styles of the West Flanders region of Belgium . A proprietary blend of Saccharomyces yeasts, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus, this culture creates a more complex, dark stone fruit characteristic than WLP 655 Belgian Sour Mix.
Optimal Temp: 68-80F
Flocculation: Low-Medium
Attenuation: 80-85%+
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High

Like most sours, this one is going to have to age for at least 6 to 12 months, so it's going to be a while before it's ready to bottle.  The recipe as I'm making it is:

9.75 # Weyermann Pilsner Malt
4.00 # Weyermann Organic Dark Munich
0.75 # Weyermann Caramunich
0.50 # Weyermann Organic Wheat Malt
0.50 # Dingemans Aromatic
0.50 # Dingemans Special B
2.0 oz Briess Black Patent
2 vials of WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend (no starter)
1.2 oz East Kent Goldings (60 min)

Mash at 152F for 60 minutes. Because of the extended fermentation period, I'll be fermenting this one in the basement utility room rather than in the fermentation chamber.  Temperatures in the utility room tend to vary a little bit throughout the year, but tend to stay in the low 70's.

Brewing Notes
No issues during this brew session. I ended up putting this into my ferm chamber at 71F. I'm going to leave it in there until the krausen falls, then I'll move it to the utility room for aging. Speaking of krausen, I checked the brew last night and there was still no sign of fermentation (approx 30 hours since pitching). I expected to have a little bit longer lag time since I didn't make a starter. I just checked this morning (9/18/2012) and I've got about two inches of krausen, so things are looking good.

Update 9/19/2012
I opened the ferm chamber this morning and it smells very funky.  It's kind of hard to describe, but it's basically the normal sach fermentation smells (yeasty, bready) combined with a very dominant funky sour smell.

Update 10/9/2012
I forgot to post another update, but right after the last update (9/19) the yeast started giving off a lot of sulfur. That's not uncommon with a lot of yeast strains, but it was definitely one of the strongest sulfur-smelling fermentations I can remember. This lasted for about three to four days then it diminished substantially. Given the long aging time, the yeast will have plenty of time to clean up after themselves so I'm not really concerned about it, but it was surprising how intense it was. One other update, this brew was moved to my utility room on 9/30 to clear up space for a Special Bitter.

Update 11/30/2012
I took a little sniff of this one today and it seems to have some very complex fruity aromas going on. It definitely doesn't smell as sour/tart as my Flanders Reds. Fermentation has slowed quite a bit but there's still a layer of foam about 3/4" thick on top. It looks more like krausen than a pellicle but I suppose it could be a mix of the two. My Flanders Red #3 has something similar going on. I'm probably going to let this go until after the first of the year before taking a sample. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be awesome.

Oud Bruin 2/27/13

Update 4/6/2013
I finally pulled a sample of this one today. It read 10.8P on the refractometer. The aroma is complex, malty with a hint of roast, some brett character, and some dark fruits coming through. Flavor is very similar to aroma. The tartness level is significantly lower than the both Flanders Reds #1 and #2. There's a lot of brett character in the flavor as well (reminds me of Brett brux Trois in my funky Saison). It's still pretty young but I'm hoping this one develops more tartness as it ages. I know oak isn't appropriate in an Oud Bruin but I might consider inoculating this with some oak cubes from my Flanders #2. They shouldn't add any oak character at this point but I'm hoping it'll help increase the tartness level a bit.

Update 5/27/2013
We had people over for a pre-Memorial Day BBQ yesterday and one of my friends brought a bottle of La Roja from Jolly Pumpkin. I've been a little disappointed with the tartness level so far, so we pitched the dregs from the La Roja into the Oud Bruin.

Update 7/12/2013
Took a gravity reading last night and it's down to 10.5P. Tartness level seems higher than last time but still much lower than my other sour beers; kind of like a gateway sour beer for those new to sours or those that prefer a less acidic tartness. I'm definitely picking up some dark fruit character out of this beer. I get a hint of a cinnamon-like aroma in the nose...one second it's there, and the next it's gone.

Update 3/4/2014

This beer went into a keg today. I'll be force carbing it this week then I'll fill two bottles to ship off to NHC. This one took a while but I think it's turned into a pretty good sour. The tartness level is nice and the malty complexity is much more noticeable than my Flanders Reds. I'm interested to hear what the judges have to say about it. I'll do a formal tasting myself once it's carbed.

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Abbey Ale 9/2012

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had a chance to brew for the past few weeks, so I figured I'd take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend.

I've been on a Belgian kick lately so today I'm brewing an Abbey Ale. I emailed this recipe to myself a while ago and I honestly can't remember where I found it. If I remember correctly it was described as a dubbel, but when I entered it into Beersmith I found it didn't quite fit the style guidelines, so I'm just referring to it as an Abbey Ale. Here's the recipe as I'm making it today. Maris Otter isn't a typical choice for a Belgian ale, but it's my favorite base malt.

7.00 # Crisp Maris Otter Pale Malt
1.50 # Briess Dark Munich
0.25 # Briess Carapils
0.50 # Briess Crystal 80L
2.00 # Amber Candi Sugar (15 min)
0.50 oz Target (60 min)
0.27 oz Willamette (10 min)
0.27 oz Liberty (5 min)
White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale yeast in a 1L starter
1 Whirlfloc
5.2pH Stabilizer

90 minute mash at 150F, 90 minute boil
Start off fermentation at 65F then ramp up to 72F over a few days.

Brewing Notes
The brew session went smoothly. Assuming I entered everything correctly, my efficiency was slightly higher than 90% with this batch. I ended up using a bit more hops to help balance out the increased efficiency.  I made the wort on Sunday and pitched the yeast on Monday afternoon.  This morning (Tuesday) I'm seeing a nice dense krausen.

Update 9/19/2012
This one got kegged on 9/16.  I didn't sample it before it went in the keg and I forgot to take a gravity reading so I'm not sure of the ABV.  I'll have to take a gravity reading once it's conditioned and on tap.  I do know that it smelled awesome when it was fermenting; definitely some banana aromas.  I've seen some reviews of this yeast where they indicated the flavor profile in the finished beer was less intense than expected based on the heavy banana smells coming out of the fermentation, so it'll be interesting to see how this one tastes.

Update 11/30/2012
I never got around to measuring the final gravity on this one, but I'd guestimate it's at least 7% but probably closer to 8% ABV. That said, it's very easy drinking so this is one that can really sneak up on you as a friend of mine found out when I took some to a Halloween party last month. It's got some great Belgian character, very fruity from the ester profile, and a beautiful copper/amber color. I'll definitely brew this one again but I might cut down on the grain bill slightly to try to reduce the ABV a bit.

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My 2012 Beehive Brew-off Results

This weekend was the 4th Annual Beehive Brew-off.  I volunteered to steward both days and it was a great experience and it was really cool to see what happens behind the scenes of an event like this.  Thanks go out to all the judges and other stewards.  Special thanks go out to Jamie Burnham and Mark and Kileen Alston for their support of such a great event.  There were almost 600 entries this year, nearly twice the number of the inaugural event!

I had eight entries this year.  Before the competition I ranked them from strongest to weakest based on my own observations as follows:

1. Tie between Saison 05/2012 entered as a Saison (16C) and Funky Saison 06/2012 entered as a Belgian Specialty (16E)
2. Smoked Porter entered as a Robust Porter (12B)
3. English Special Bitter (8B)
4. Bucksnort Brown entered as an American Brown (10C)
5. Sloppy Seconds IPA entered as an English IPA (14A) 
6. Jack's Punkin' entered as a Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer (21B)   
7. Sweet Stout (13B) 

I didn't place on any of my entries which I'm a little bummed about, but still did pretty well for the most part.  Here the judges' scores in red, an overview of the judges' comments in grey, followed by my comments in blue.

Scoring Guide
Outstanding - (45 - 50) - World-class example of style.
Excellent - (38 - 44) - Exemplifies style well, requires minor fine-tuning.
Very Good - (30 - 37) - Generally within style parameters, some minor flaws.
Good - (21 - 29) - Misses the mark on style and/or minor flaws.
Fair - (14 - 20) - Off flavors, aromas or major style deficiencies. Unpleasant.
Problematic - (0 - 13) - Major off flavors and aromas dominate. Hard to drink.

• Saison 05/2012 - 39, 38; Nice subtle spiciness, highly carbonated, slight tart, finishes balanced, finishes dry and refreshing, very very carbonated.  I'm pretty happy with this score and the comments. The only thing I'm a little confused by was the carbonation comments since this is supposed to be a highly carbonated style.  I plan to let this one age and enter it again next year.  
• Funky Saison 06/2012 - 43, 39; Great brett character, aged appropriately, spices blend well.  I really liked this one and I'm happy with how well it did especially considering how young it is for a brett beer and for a Saison.   I plan to let this one age and enter it again next year.
• Smoked Porter - 43,43; Really good robust porter,a little dark but other than that it is spot on, I finished it.  I really liked this beer as well.  I was a little surprised that it scored so high but still didn't place.  I thought it was good but I still think both the Saisons are better.  It's a Smoked Porter, but most of the smoke character was subtle to begin with and had dissipated since it was brewed, so it was too subtle to enter as a Smoked Beer. 
• English Special Bitter -30, 33; I really like this beer, but it doesn't have the bitterness or the hop flavor to match the style.  You may have entered it in the wrong category as Extra Special Bitter.  I agree with the first comment on this one, but I'm surprised it didn't score a little bit higher.  My efficiency was higher than expected on this brew and it could have used more hops to balance out for the higher efficiency.  Also it was a little older so it has lost bitterness since being brewed.  The base malt is Maris Otter which results in a very malt-forward beer so that could be contributing as well.  It would probably be a better idea to enter a younger beer before the hop profile is diminished.  The second comment kind of pisses me off because I didn't enter it as an Extra Special Bitter, I entered it as a Special Bitter.  Regardless, I think the comments are fair.  
• Bucksnort Brown - 35, 33; This is a good flavored beer with a couple of flaws.  Look at exposure to oxygen during mashing and transfer.  Full fill, a little too high.  This is the brew we did for our Big Brew Day.  I didn't care for this one too much right after it was kegged when it was a bit green, but I really like it now.  Both judges made comments indicating it was oxidized.  I didn't detect this at all when I had it on tap, so I wonder if it could have happened when bottling from the keg. I usually use oxygen absorbing caps, but I ran out and I think this beer got a regular cap.  The comment about the fill is a little odd...I use a bottling wand or my counter-pressure filler on all of my beers, so the fill is pretty much identical.  All of the other judges on my other entries said the fills where appropriate, so I'm not quite sure what the judge was thinking on this one.
• Sloppy Seconds IPA - 25, 28; Just not a English IPA, no hop aroma, too sweet, too malty, would make a great Scotch Ale.  Wow...I'm 99.9% positive my bottle got mixed up with another bottle.  Both judges commented that there was no hop aroma and that it tasted like a Scotch Ale.  I just poured one for myself and it has unmistakable hop aroma and it's on the dry side.  I was actually afraid that this one didn't have enough malt character especially for an English IPA.  From what I can tell, Citra dominates the hop aroma so I was expecting to get dinged for using an American hop in an English IPA, but there's definitely a lot of hop aroma there.  I knew it wasn't the best example of either an American or an English IPA, but the comments are so far off on this one that I can't help but think that somehow my bottle got switched.  There's probably someone out there that's reviewing their Scotch Ale scoresheet and wondering why the comments say their beer tasted like a hoppy IPA.
• Jack's Punkin' - 37, 37; Aroma is fabulous!  Beautiful color.  I would cut back on the cinnamon to let the other spices come through.  I was surprised this scored as well as it did.  I thought it was a little bit too rich/malty, and I thought that was going to count against me.  Both judges commented on this brew having too much cinnamon.  This kind of made me laugh because I purposely added more cinnamon to this batch compared to a batch I'd made a couple years ago.  That said, I think the comments are spot-on.  There is a slight harshness in the aftertaste on this brew and I think it is related to the amount of cinnamon I used.  I think it could use a little more hop bitterness too...but this could be due to it being an older brew.
• Sweet Stout - 28, 25; Sweetness is a little high for the style.  The quality is good and drinkable still.  I didn't expect this one to do all that great.  This one actually won my brew club's stout meeting earlier this year.  It went to the national club-only competition and scored very similarly to these scores.  I agree it's way sweet.  In fact it's so sweet and filling that I don't like drinking more than six ounces at a time.  One of the reasons I entered it was because I was tired of having it sitting around taking up space in my beer fridge.  I personally like some of the other stout categories a lot better, so I doubt I'll be making another sweet stout anytime soon.

All in all it was a good time and I got some good feedback on my beers that should help me dial things in and make some better beer.

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Salsa Recipe

My fermentation chamber is full so there's no room for brewing another batch this weekend. Instead, I'm making up some fresh salsa with heirloom tomatoes and jalapenos from our vegetable garden. I found this recipe last year by googling for "World's Best Salsa Recipe" and I gotta say it's pretty darn good plus it's pretty easy to make.

Ingredients

6 large heirloom tomatoes of different colors (or a blend totaling about 4 lbs-5 lbs), washed,cored and quartered

4 jalapenos, chopped finely

1 sweet onion, quartered

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp. table sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp kosher salt

Juice of 3 fresh limes

2 large bunches of cilantro, stemmed and chopped

Combine everything but the jalapenos in your food processor. Pulse until not quite pureed. Pour into a large bowl, add jalapenos, and mix well. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, then refrigerate. I usually wait at least a few hours before serving so that it has enough time for the flavors to blend. This is a great summertime snack to enjoy with a pint of your favorite refreshing lawnmower beer.

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