Craft Pittsburgh #13

CraftBeerMagazine Issue No. 13 - Winter 2014

INTRODUCING

HOPFARM BREWING COMPANY

Brooklyn Brewery’s

GARRET OLIVER plus

have you tried... • cooking with beer • home brewing • upcoming beer events1 CraftPittsburgh.com

The

Plaoce t Taste

to the seasoned pittsburgh craft beer drinker,

16 ever-changing American craft beers on tap rotation Weekly beer samplings Beeried Treasures Brewser's Infusions Aletails and craft cocktails Fresh and local homemade food ‘til midnight

bocktown.com/beer Download a QR Code Reader like Neoreader and scan the code with your smart phone.

Robinson Across from Target | 412-788-2333 | @BT_Robinson Monaca Next to Macy’s | 724-728-7200 | @BT_Monaca | bocktown.com

the calendar has begun to take on a familiar rhythm as oncefledgling city events become yearly traditions: Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week enters its third year, while Steel City Big Pour will celebrate its eighth anniversary this September. Local brewers mark the passage of time with eagerly awaited annual seasonals.

Numerous festivals, special releases, and other more esoteric beery events get bigger, better, and more popular with the general public each passing year.

As many things stay the same, so too is our city’s young beer culture rapidly maturing and evolving -- and nothing shakes up the status quo like the arrival of a new brewery on the scene. In this issue if Craft Pittsburgh, we meet Lawrenceville’s Hop Farm Brewing Company, a project many years in the making. Another newcomer is Four Seasons Brewing, who are rekindling Latrobe’s rich brewing tradition (expect an in depth look in our next issue).

With more local breweries-in-planning than you can count on two hands, the rush of new players into the craft beer community shows no sign of abating in 2014.

Pittsburgh Brew ‘n’ Chew, a new festival put on by Good Taste Pittsburgh brought Brooklyn Brewery’s world-renowned brewmaster Garrett Oliver to town. Oliver, editor of 2012’s Oxford Companion to Beer and author of The Brewmaster’s Table is considered a foremost authority on pairing beer and food. Mr. Oliver was very gracious with his time and gave Craft Pittsburgh an in-depth interview that spanned his take on our local scene, the rise of craft beer in America, and thoughts on what the future might hold for craft brewers and drinkers alike.

And as always, this issue is packed with great new ways to cook with beer, homebrewing tips, and techniques, and beer review recommendations from our talented stable of beer writers.

Become a part of Pittsburgh’s craft tradition by participating in 2014 -- try something you’ve never done like attending a new event, visiting a local brewery, or even brewing your own batch of beer. It’s a historic, liminal moment for our city -- enjoy it and get involved!

Cheers,

Slouch Sixpack

2

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 13

PAGE6

on tap specials

THIS ISSUE

6 Garrett Oliver 11 Hop Farm

Brooklyn Brewery

Opens it’s doors

the regulars

4 Upcoming Events 5 Unfiltered

14 16 18

Beer Review Home Brewing

PAGE11

Cooking with Beer

PUBLISHER

CRAFT MEDIA, LLC

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

TIM RUSSELL tim@craftpittsburgh.com

MANAGING EDITORS

SLOUCH SIXPACK slouch@aleheads.com MIKE WEISS mike@craftpittsburgh.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

ROB SOLTIS soltisdesign.com FOR INFORMATION ON CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL CONTENT OR PLACING DISPLAY ADVERTISING PLEASE CONTACT US AT INFO@CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM Craft Pittsburgh is issued quarterly by Craft Media, LLC. All information and materials in this magazine, individually and collectively, are provided for informational purposes.

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Craft Media, LLC., nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without expressed written permission from the publisher. Advertisements are subject to the approval of Craft Media, LLC. Craft Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertiser assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads

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3

CHECK OUT CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS, UPDATES & MORE EVENTS

january 30 Pour for a Cure february 1 Festival of Darkness

6 East End Brewing Beer Dinner 8 East Pittsburgh Brew Tour 28/1 Pittsburgh Winter Beer Fest

march 8 Hell With the Lid Off Barleywine Fest 15 Saints and Sinners Brew Tour 15 Irish Ale Trail Hike april 4 Brewer’s Ball 5 12

Laurel Highlands Brew Tour Beers of the ‘Burgh

4/25 - 5/3

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS PITTSBURGHCRAFTBEERWEEK.COM

25 Beer Barge 26 Reverse Keg Ride TBD Release the Firkins

may 5 Big Tap In june 6 Allegheny Libation Trail Brew Tour july 12 “Yinz Goin’ North?” Brewery Tour 26/27 juneNorth Coast Brew Tour

(Lavery, Erie, & Voodoo Brewing)

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 13

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2013 & HOW NOT TO BE AN OBNOXIOUS CRAFT BEER DRINKER IN 2014

By Melinda Urick

I

t’s the most wonderful time of the beer! Yeah, yeah, I know that pun has been used to death, and hopefully you didn’t drink your liver to death this year. I mean, there were two weeks in 2013 devoted entirely to the industry and was HUGE for both craft beer and Pittsburgh.

I dub 2013 the saturation of all things beer. I’m not mad. Because there was also a beer barge.

As mentioned, a few of the highlights from 2013 include WEEKS of drinking: both Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week and Big Pour Week, and their tastings and parties, were huge draws, which only reiterated that craft beer is here to stay. Bigger and better beer festivals and the addition of more local brewers equal year-round awesomeness (and probably the need for a month-long detox).

These events introduced us to some new favorites – the new kids on the block, if you will – with some AMAZING product. Also, HEYYYY homebrewers: You get a gold star from me in 2013; I like your style and creativity, and your inventive brews really are what is keeping this movement... err, moving.

Any misses? Sure. But that’s not worth a column of my time. We’ll say our RIP, for those restaurants who have decided to ignore the trend, thinking this “craft beer stuff” is just a phase.

There are various parts of the craft that I’m looking forward to be more of the same – without denying the unique aspect of the industry all as this community grows. Pittsburgh is finding its place as The Place to Have Good Beer, and we’re all a part of that swing. But for 2014, I’m looking for you to change, craft beer industry. Because, you’re all getting a little annoying.

Yes, YOU. This is what makes you The Most Annoying Craft Beer Drinker:

You cross-post all of your beers and check-ins to social media.

Seriously, stop it, braggart. You’re clogging my feed! Use the apps to track what you’re drinking and keep it there.

you won’t stop telling others what’s good on tap. You refuse to listen to the opinions or preferences of others. And you’re kind of an ass when they don’t like what you like.

You also judge a beer or brewery by its label or history.

All I am saying is, to give this beer a chance. I’ve evolved in both my tolerance and education of craft beer and its many styles; have you?

©TH E J U ST B E E R P ROJ E CT

You’re a snob. You’re so opinionated and Judgy-mcJudgerston, that

While we’re here: if you’re a brewer or distributor or craft beer-having restaurant owner, stop posting about personal shit on your company account. Now. Resolutions, I’ll refer you to my column from last year, which includes many reasons to be excited about craft beer locally -- all equally as important for 2014 as this community grows. Change, adapt, and reinvigorate, blah-blah-blah. And be sure to enjoy the beer in front of you.

Or not be afraid to ask for something different.

CraftPittsburgh.com

5

garret AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BROOKLYN BREWMASTER

OLIVER written by Slouch Sixpack, photos by Brett Casper

ON TRYING PITTSBURGH CRAFT BEER

Yes, actually, last night I had a Double IPA from Helltown, which was very nice. I was at D’s (Six Pax & Dogz). We were at Industry, and when we left there I’m like, “OK, take me to a beer geek bar.”

We were hanging out with Hootie until... well, we closed the bar. The Church Brew Works guys showed up, we had been there earlier, and those guys came down, and a bunch of folks.

ON GETTING INTO CRAFT BEER

It is very hard to explain to younger people that in 1984 there wasn’t any craft beer. You try to explain this to people, and they simply can’t imagine a world where there is Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Light, Coors, Coors Light, and there isn’t anything else… maybe the occasional Guinness tap. They’ve never seen that world, but it’s the world I grew up in. We all got into making beer, because we needed to have some beer. I’d spent a year in England, had been all over Europe, and I got back and was like “Oh no, I can’t drink this. This will not do.”

Christmas of ‘84 I got my first homebrewing kit and started making beer. I started with Brooklyn in 1994, so this will be my 20th year with the brewery.

ON CRAFT BEER CROWDS

Everything is broader than it used to be. It used to be that you were in a geek squad, a secret society, everyone had the same level of geekery and now the thing spreads out. A lot of the people who come to these events, beer is not the primary thing in their life.

And sometimes the ultra-geeky people (in which I include myself), almost want to pull the ladder up. But I think it’s great, one thing I like about this crowd is the spread of ages. Not everyone is in their 20s. You see older people, you see grandmothers. A wide variety of people. We used to think that craft beer was aimed at a particular demographic, and what we’ve found out is that anyone can enjoy it.

As long as you don’t talk down to people, you find out that grandma likes imperial stout. And why should you be surprised? She’s got taste, too. Why shouldn’t she like it? It’s a wonderful thing.

ON GOING INTERNATIONAL WITH CRAFT BEER

Brooklyn is based on traveling: Me, living in England. Steve Hindy in the Middle East, Eric and Robin Ottoway living in Africa and Italy, we were always travelers, as soon as it started, before I came on even, we were selling beer in Japan. It was right away. We’re the largest American craft beer exporter. It’s 30 percent of our business. Outside of NYC, the biggest market for Brooklyn Brewery is Sweden.

ADVICE FOR THE 7 BBL BREWER

When we started, there wasn’t any ocean to swim in. When we started, we went to a bar and they said “What the hell is that? It looks dark. Oh man, it’s bitter. It has this aroma. Get out of here, I don’t want this.” We became a distributor because no one would take our beer. No one would take Sierra Nevada either. Or Chimay, or Paulaner, or Westmalle. By the time we were done with the distributorship we had 200+ brands. We built that market from the ground up, ourselves, alone. There wasn’t any craft beer market. We made it. And now we get to be in it.

The great thing for people starting now is that the craft beer market is here. What I tell new breweries starting off, whatever it is that makes you want to be a brewer, do that, and don’t do anything else.

Don’t listen to anybody, don’t talk to anybody. Whatever you think you can do better than anybody else, that which makes you happy, go do that. Everything else, set aside. It’s a tough road to go down. It always is, but that’s why we’re still here.

No one has to say “We’ll start with a golden ale that has very little flavor to try to rope in the mass market people.” No. Why bother?

Is this what you want to do? When you look in the mirror, that’s the kind of brewer you want to be? If you’re doing it well, you’ll find an audience for it. That why I respect people like Cigar City. Tampa

was a wasteland for craft beer. I was there. To have a young bunch of people start a brewery and say “We’re not going to do anything even vaguely normal.” What people don’t realize is that it is a huge risk. People pour their whole lives into this thing. It’s the mortgage, the shoes on your kid’s feet, the college fund. It’s everything. So, it’s no joke. You better love it. I know a lot of people who woke up one day realized “These aren’t the beers I thought I would be making. I thought I was going to be an artist, and now I’m slinging this stuff with some weird fruit extract, and I wanted to be craft brewer. Now I’m a plumber making beer I don’t like.” Don’t be that guy. You don’t want to be that guy.

ON WEIRD BEERS

Look at Prairie Artisan Ales, Tulsa Oklahoma. All super funky stuff.

People are losing their minds for their beers. Can it sustain in the long term? It’s hard to say. One thing we don’t understand right now is what “normal” actually looks like, because we grew up in an abnormal time- for beer, for food, for a lot of things. We grew up in a mass-market era. In the 1800s New York City had the greatest beer variety, the biggest food variety, anywhere on the face of the earth. There wasn’t anywhere you could get more types of beer or more types of food. By 1965 it was all gone except for small pockets when it came to food, and almost no pockets when it came to beer.

They’d wiped out everything. There was one kind of beer. Food was bland. If you could go back and look at a supermarket in 1980, you wouldn’t believe it.

People think the pendulum will swing, but there is no pendulum.

This is the return to normality. The weird part was the part we grew up in. Now, we return to the normal part. Diversity.

Sours? I don’t know. We make some sours, and when we pour them for people who don’t consider themselves beer enthusiasts, they love them. The thing is, they don’t have the prejudice that even we have.

We warn “Get ready. This is really funky” and they don’t have that mindset. They are open-minded, and say “I like this!” and we say “Wait, really? Are you sure?”

You can imagine a world where music was muzak. That was all anybody heard, and suddenly here is rock and roll, jazz, punk rock, EDM, and people would lose their minds. Eventually, people are

fans of all these things and it is never going to go back to the other thing. The fact that you still remember when there was only one kind of beer. Well, they don’t live in that world. They’ve never even seen it. And they don’t care. Which is great, because sophistication isn’t knowing things. Sophistication is an open mind. For example: Berliner Weisse. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Berliner Weiss on taps everywhere in five years. There’s probably a couple hundred American breweries making it now.

We’ve been making sours for years, but we don’t release them to the general public. We bring to tastings and things like that. We haven’t managed to make them in a volume where we can release them.

The dark side about being a brewer people pay attention to is that suddenly everyone wants everything from you. If you can’t make a few thousand cases of something, you’re going to make so many people angry.

We try to stay outside the hype machine mentality. We pour those beers at events like this, for free. We’re not putting them out there and saying “Pay $70 and stand in line all day and you can only have 2 bottles.” Our thing is, here are the beers. We made them and you can have them. But you have to show up and have a conversation.

And if you haven’t met us, then you can’t have any. And that’s pretty much the way that those beers work.

Yeah, I have Brooklyn Kriek under our table. I only have a few bottles with me, and I’ve been pouring it for other brewers. And they have stuff too, believe me. We just put up 200 barrels of Kriek. That will produce a significant amount of beer. It will take a while, probably come out in first quarter 2015. But it’s in barrels now.

ON FRESH BEER

It’s always a concern. It means you’re going to end up throwing beer out. And that costs money. But it’s one of the things that keeps you honest. I promise you, every brewer has tasted their beer somewhere and said “this is old.”

It’s hard and it’s happened to me time and again. What it takes is building a culture inside the brewery that is allergic to old beer. It’s like you’re trying to get rid of oxygen in your process. You have to hammer on it every day.

HAPPINESS IS JUST A BREWERY AWAY.

Go online to find our tour calendar, tickets, and all the ways we craft the best tour experience for you.

PABREWTOURS.COM

412.400.7837 • info@pabrewtours.com

CraftPittsburgh.com

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 13

INTRODUCING

HOP FARM

by Slouch Sixpack

H

op Farm Brewing Company’s Matt Gouwens has picked a fitting time to debut Little Kulak, an imperial stout with notes of roasty smoke, toasted nut, and bitter chocolate. Blustery snow drives curious beer drinkers from Lawrenceville’s Butler Street into the welcoming confines of Hop Farm’s wood-paneled tasting room to sample and purchase growlers of Kulak and other offerings. A holiday tree in the corner twinkles brightly, ornamented with cans from Avery and Oskar Blues and also features prototype Hop Farm IPA, One Nut Brown, and Provision Saison aluminum receptacles. By late January, Gouwens will be the first craft brewer in the city of Pittsburgh to begin canning his wares.

The new brewery, open since late September, is the culmination of years of planning for co-owners Matt and Emily Gouwens. A homebrewer of twelve years and hop grower for eight, Matt got his taste of professional brewing through an apprenticeship with Paul Rutherford, head brewer at the awardwinning Iron Hill Brewing Company in Chestnut Hill. “He’s continued to be a great mentor since the apprenticeship. He doesn’t give me all the steps; He forces me to think and figure things out on my own, which is the sign of a good mentor in my opinion. As far as advice… invaluable. In turns of extending my network, he’s been a tremendous asset. He was here to help me set up the brewhouse after it arrived, helped put it in place, set up all the pipes, and he was here for first runs and all that. It was huge.”

The unassuming Hop Farm streetscape belies a large and impressive physical plant which reflects the meticulous detail and high aspirations Gouwens has for the brewery. Equipped with a gleaming new 10-barrel Specific Mechanical Systems brewhouse and PPM double-evacuation canning line, Hop Farm plans to produce 750-1000 barrels in 2014 and become a major player in Pittsburgh’s craft beer scene.

BREWING COMPANY

The Hop Farm moniker is a reference to the past eight years the couple have grown a wide variety of hops on their property in Indiana Township.

While each batch of Hop Farm beer contains some of their own home-grown humulus lupulus, Matt outlines negotiations with farmers north of the city they have contracted to provide fresh local hops to the fledgling brewery on a consistent basis. “Finding the local farmers to plant hops for us was an 11 CraftPittsburgh.com

arduous task. I talked to at least twenty different farmers. Probably more in passing. But finding a farmer to put in the infrastructure and just make the commitment was difficult. You’re asking them to commit land to an unfamiliar crop for potentially twenty to twentyfive years; in the short term, a minimum of three to five years.”

The Gouwens’ property currently hosts the Hop Farm “nursery” of about 125 plants spanning twelve varieties. He rattles off a number of them, including: Cascade, Chinook, Zeus, Crystal, Fuggle, Newport, Mt Hood, Centennial, Nugget, and Willamette, although they are in the process of weeding out some strains -- primarily low producers like Willamette and Fuggle. “Nice as they can be in a beer, convincing a farmer to put that acreage in for 500 lbs an acre when they could potentially yield 2000 lbs an acre for something more robust, it’s just a more attractive proposition.”

A bourbon barrel soaking in water sits in the middle of the production facility, the future home for an initial 55-gallon batch of barrel-aged Little Kulak. Like other local startups, Gouwens hints at future experimentation with sour beers, still a gaping niche in our market.

Hop Farm stands as the furthest outpost on the planned Allegheny Libations Trail, a collective of small-batch alcohol producers that have popped up near the river in the North Side, Strip, Millvale, and Lawrenceville. The group comprised of both established craft brewers like Penn Brewery and Church Brew Works, distillers Wigle Whiskey and Maggie’s Farm Rum, and cider makers Arsenal, as well as new craft brewers Hop Farm and neighbors Roundabout Brewery, plans to leverage the proximity of the local businesses to promote tourism, awareness, and community for Pittsburgh’s burgeoning craft scene.

Talk turns back to growing hops, and Gouwens outlines a plan to begin planting in Cranberry in March and April of this year: “We have so much going on, between beer festivals, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, planting hops, and…” he trails off, forgetting something. ”Running a brewery?” I venture.

12

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 13

THANKYOU 3 Rivers Six Pack

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OTB Bicycle Cafe

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PA Brew Tours

(412) 400-7837 pabrewtours.com 690 Chauvet Drive, Pittsburgh 15275 (412) 788-2333 500 Beaver Valley Mall Blvd Monaca 15061 5514 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh 15206 (412) 361-0915 (724) 728-7200 bocktown.com

Pistella Beer Distributors

Brews Brothers

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Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest pittsburghbeerfest.com

Caliente Pizza & Draft House

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D’s SixPax & Dogz

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Fat Head’s Saloon

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Four Seasons Brewing

19-29 Shingiss St., McKees Rocks 15136 (412) 331-1222 TonySavatt.com

140 North Ave., Pittsburgh 15209 (412) 821-4618 beersince1933.com

Wilson-McGinley

85 36th St., Pittsburgh 15201 (412) 621-4420 wilsonmcginley.com

Zoe’s Beer Distributor

4102 Clairton Blvd., Brentwood 15227 (412) 881-4002 zoesbeer.com

745 Lloyd Avenue, Exd, Latrobe 15650 (724) 520-4111 fsbrewing.com

Maggie’s Farm Rum

3212A Smallman St., Pittsburgh 15201 (412) 709-6480 maggiesfarmrum.com CraftPittsburgh.com

13

have you

TRIED?

By Hart Johnson

J.K.’S SCRUMPY | orchard gate gold 6% Cider - organicscrumpy.com

Confession time, I don’t “get” ciders. I’ve had a few really dry French ciders that were tasty, some of the oddball stuff Arsenal does is interesting, but if you ask me to describe Woodchuck or Strongbow my vocabulary sputters out at appley. This guy rises above the herd, the apples are pressed and fermented on the same farm they are grown and they have a fancy USDA Organic sticker right on the bottle. Pours a deep gold, some fizzy carbonation, zero head, as to be expected. Aroma is baked apples, an almost warming aroma, with hints of wild crabapple and oak. Up front the flavor is a bit sweet, reminiscent of liquid golden delicious apples and brown sugar. It dries out mid palate with tart and almost bitter apple skin notes. It has damn near perfect carbonation, well hidden alcohol, and a nice long lasting note of baked apples.

Kenyan coffee beans, and whole hops. The aroma is of big fresh ground coffee with burnt caramel and toffee. Slightly acidic espresso notes wrap around dark chocolate and burnt sugar with a bitter and slightly acidic finish. Big, bold, and delightful, this one’s recommended for coffee and beer geeks everywhere.

Recommended if you enjoy: Woodchuck Amber, McKenzie’s Hard Cider, Jack’s Cider Helen’s Blend

Recommended if you enjoy: Founder’s Breakfast Stout, Long Trail Coffee Stout, Bell’s Java Stout, Coffee

SHAWNEE CRAFT | session porter 5.1% Porter - shawneecraftbrewingcompany.com

Fairly new to the Pittsburgh area, Shawnee Craft is located in the former ice rink on the grounds of the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort in the Poconos (site of the 1938 PGA Championship!). The porter pours deep brown -- not quite black -- with fluffy, sticky, off-white foam. There’s heavily roasted grains, dark chocolate, and iced coffee on the nose. The roasted grains continue on the flavor front lending a slightly bitter note along with some herbal hop notes and just a hint of black licorice playing along. It’s fairly light bodied, yet still full flavored.

Recommended if you enjoy: Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper

Anchor Porter, Bell’s Porter,

TROEGS | javahead stout 7.5% Coffee Stout - troegs.com

It’s fairly hard to offend me with a coffee beer, even those that people say taste like watered down office coffee I generally enjoy.

Now, way over at the other end we have this here Troegs: Take a robust Oatmeal Stout and run it through a hopback full of espresso, 14

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 13

LAVERY | madra allta ipa 6.4% IPA - laverybrewing.com

Another canned IPA offering from the Erie brewery, this one proudly boasting a new “experimental” hop along with Bravo hops. Hazy orange in color, the aromas are of juicy oranges and candied tangerines jumping out of the glass with some underlying dank garlicky notes. The juicy citrus and tropical fruit hop character flows right into the flavor realm, finishing just beyond slightly bitter. Really hits every note I want in an IPA: big aroma, juicy flavor, and just the right amount of bitterness.

Recommended if you enjoy: Great Divide Titan IPA, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, Helltown Idle Hands

LAGUNITAS | hairy eyeball 9.4% American Strong Ale - lagunitas.com

American Strong Ale. If you’re keeping score on the at-home version of beer style bingo, American Strong Ale is you center square. They’re big, malty, and sometimes hoppy, but not quite a barleywine and not quite a double IPA. Just anywhere between. Lagunitas basically invented the style.

They took a beer, made it stronger and made it hoppier. You know, just

American it up. The Eyeball veers way off into the malt zone with deep mahogany color, big prune and plum malts on the nose, and barely any trace of a hop. It has a really rich, ripe fruity maltiness along the lines of a Belgian Double without the yeasty esters, and without falling off the cloyingly sweet cliff. There’s barely any bitterness to speak of with a finish that is almost chewy. As with almost everything Lagunitas does, this one is way too easy to drink to be as strong as it is.

Recommended if you enjoy: East End Gratitude, the HeBrew Jewbelation series, Great Divide Hibernation

ARCADIA | barrel aged shipwreck porter 12% Imperial Porter - arcadiaales.com

I could rant about the silly wax topped bottle, but I digress, I’m here to drink the beer not offer it fashion tips. This guy right here is a monster.

There’s a huge boozy aroma as soon as you pop the bottle. You could probably smell it across the room before I even poured it. Let this guy warm up a bit, maybe to 50-55F. Cold, you get just booze and light barrel notes. Once it warms up, the malt is set free, with an aroma of a caramel apple dipped in chocolate and bourbon, lit on fire, and beaten to death with an oak 2x4. Plenty of the expected vanilla and toffee barrel notes exist, but the fruity character keeps this from being just another beat you over the head barrel aged beer. Nicely done, but skip the silly wax.

Recommended if you enjoy: Founder’s KBS, Victory Red Thunder, Fat Head’s Barrel Aged Battleaxe,

CraftPittsburgh.com

15

BREWING FOR SPRING:

HELLES BOCK/MAIBOCK

By Brian Reed

A

nyone who has purchased beer at virtually any retail outlet over the past handful of years has likely been witness to the fact that seasonals continue to be one of the most prominent trends in beer. Once August 1st arrives (and, in some cases, earlier), shelves and displays are bursting with Oktoberfest and Pumpkin beers. By October, winter and holiday brews are in full swing. Industry folks knowingly refer to this phenomenon as “seasonal creep.”

Although a number of winter, fall, and summer beer styles are all well established in the collective beer-drinker consciousness, spring has represented an allusive time that many brewers have begun to tackle only now that the other seasons are figuratively bursting at the seams with new brands and old offerings alike; with limited success I might add.

The only style that comes to mind that has a true, lasting cultural and historical connection to spring and also possesses a flavor profile consistent with the transitional dichotomy of the season is a Helles Bock.

Also referred to as a Maibock, or even Heller Bock, the style is often described as either a Munich Helles brewed to Bock-like strength or a pale version of a Traditional Bock with a somewhat more pronounced hop presence. Either way, this rather pale, stronger, malty German-inspired lager beer represents the perfect transitional offering between the darker, richer beers of winter and the lighter, more refreshing ones of summer.

Why so many different names? Although subtle historical differences can certainly be argued, modern interpretations have become interchangeable and the BJCP styles guidelines have been created with enough wiggle-room to encompass the relatively slight variations. To understand Helles Bock, we must first address what a ‘Bock’ beer entails.

Bock beers hail from the city of Einbeck, Germany. Einbeck is located in the southern part of the northwestern state of Lower Saxony (got that?). Flashback to the 14th century, during which time the City of Einbeck was a member of the Hanseatic League—an influential, regional trade federation—which positioned Einbeck brewers (already renowned for their strict quality control) to produce some of the most widely distributed beer in Europe. As notoriety for Einbecker beer grew, brewers from other regions attempted to create their own renditions.

By the 17th century, Munich brewers were brewing a stronger, Einbecker-influenced version of their extremely popular warm-weather ‘Helles’ (meaning ‘Light’ or ‘Pale’) beer; making the Helles Bock a far younger style than many of the other traditional Einbeck-influenced styles. The term ‘Bock’, oddly enough, has its roots in Munich as well. The Bavarian accents of native Munich residents made them prone to pronouncing ‘Einbeck’ like ‘ein Bock’, which translates in German to ‘a billy goat.’ The moniker was shortened to ‘bock’ or ‘goat.’ That is why, to this day, the packaging for many bock-style beers are adorned or ornamented with images of goats.

The nomenclatural variation of Heller Bock is simply a subtlety of grammatical gender; the ‘es’ in ‘Helles’ refers to the beer (which is neutral in gener), while the ‘er’ in ‘Heller’ refers to the literal goat (which is masculine). Both are acceptable.

Many regions’ specialty beer styles have their origins in celebrations and religious festivals— Einbeck is no exception. For centuries Germanic monks had brewed stronger more substantial beers to sustain them during times of fasting. Maibock, (‘Mai’ referring to the month of May) 16

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undoubtedly has its roots in other spring celebratory and festival beers such as Lentenbock (a Lenten festival beer) or Fruhlingsstarkier (a strong spring beer). Either way, Maibock has come to be closely associated with May Day—a celebration held in late April/early May that has its roots in the Germanic, pagan festival of Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night).

Although a stronger, pale lager is certainly not a beginning brewers’ style, I would urge any brewer considering a foray in to lagers to take a stab at Maibock/Helles Bock. Remember: Lagers require lower fermentation temperatures and many lager yeast strains have higher pitching rate and oxygen requirements as well—as always, fermentation is first priority.

Pilsner or Vienna are typically used as the base malt, accompanied by Munich (~15-20%) for some toastiness and a bit of color (SRM = 6-11). Noble hops are the usual but other continental European varieties will likely do (IBU = 23-35). A decoction mash is traditional but arguably not essential.

Although a 90 minute boil is suggested for any beer with a Pilsner malt base, my advice would be to avoid an excessively hard or long (pfft!) boil (or a partial boil where concentrated wort is boiled) as high levels of kettle caramelization will effect color and potentially throw off the delicate malt balance. Softer water is preferred.

The January/February timeframe is a perfect time to think about brewing a Maibock/Helles Bock.

Not only does the icy cold ground water and cooler ambient temps allow you to chill your wort to lager pitching temps and keep it there more easily, but your brew will have sufficient lagering time before spring officially…springs!

HELLES BOCK/MAIBOCK Batch Size – 6 gallon Boil Time – 90 min.

OG – 1.070 FG – 1.015 ABV – 7.2% IBU – 30-35

*Assuming 72% efficiency

GRAINBILL

9.25 lbs. German Pilsner Malt 3 lbs. Vienna Malt 2.25 lbs. Munich Malt (10L) 1 lbs. Dextrin Malt (Carapils) *Extract Brewers: Replace Pilsner Malt with 7.5 lbs. Pilsner LME or 6 lbs. Extra Light DME. Crush and steep additional malts excluding dextrin malt (when steeped instead of mashed it can contribute excess unconverted starch). Steep at approximately 150 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove steeping grains and commence boil, adding malt extract.

HOPS

0.75 oz. Magnum (13.5% AA) – 90 min.

1 oz. Tettnang (4.5% AA) – 15 min.

MASH

Single Infusion @ 152 degrees for 60 min. *Decoction is desirable, but not essential.

YEAST/FERMENTATION

Favorite clean, German lager yeast (e.g. WLP860 Munich Helles, WLP830 German Lager, Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager) Primary Fermentation: 14 days @ 48-52 degrees Lager for 8-12 weeks *Substantial Diacetyl rest is strongly suggested

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Ingredients

GERMAN SOFT PRETZELS

By Mindy Heisler-Johnson

I

love soft pretzels. LOVE. If we go somewhere festival or sporting event-like and they are selling those awful Super Pretzels I get one with nasty gross cheese sauce every time. I love the chewy stick-to-your-back-teeth-edness, the salt, and most especially the doughy middle, aka the pretzel nuttin’. It’s such a shame there are so many bad, dried out, over baked pretzels around, so they kind of get a bad rap, but a good pretzel is a thing of glory to snack on. Also - perfect snacks for BEER! This dough is beer based, giving it some yeasty depth I love. I used Hart’s homebrew, a really crisp and hoppy session pale ale that has a low AVB and some nice bready malt character with some aggressive hoppiness. Really, any ale light in color will work. This recipe is very forgiving.

This will makes 32 knots - or pretzel nuttins - because that is the very bestest part of a pretzel.

Feel free to adjust the dough ball sizes and shapes for your personal taste. When I make these into a traditional pretzel twist I get 16 portions. The process is the same regardless of the shape.

I topped these with kosher salt. Also delicious: cinnamon sugar, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sea salt, dried herbs, parmesan cheese...whatever you can put on top that you think will taste good. They are also egg washed with a straight scrambled egg; This step is key to get even and shiny browning when they are baked.

Perhaps the most vital part of this entire recipe -- the step that makes the pretzel taste like a pretzel -- is the baking soda and salt poach that happens after the pretzels proof. VITAL. If you skip this step you are basically making rolls. Now I love rolls... Hell, I love just about any bread or bread-like thing you put in my face, but a roll is NOT a pretzel. This is the part that make it a German-style pretzel, a laugenbretzel; they are traditionally dipped in a lye bath.

I use baking soda. Lye isn’t something I have laying around my kitchen, but the effect is the same: DELICIOUS. 18

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Yield - 32 Pretzel Knots or 16 Full Pretzels • 2 cups Hoppy Pale Ale • 2 packages Instant Acting Yeast • 4 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar • 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt • 1/4 cup Melted Butter • 4.5-5.5 cups All Purpose Flour • 6qts Water • 1/4 cup Baking Soda • 3 Tbsp Kosher Salt • Rice Flour or Cornmeal for sprinkling trays • 1 Egg, scrambled for egg wash • Kosher Salt for sprinkling The beer needs to be warm. Warm it over medium heat to about 90 degrees. Once warmed add the yeast and brown sugar and set someplace warm until it foams. When the yeast is happy and foamy mix in the melted butter and salt. Add 4 cups of the flour and put on the mixer with the dough hook.

Mix until the dough is formed. Add additional flour as needed to get the dough to completely pull away from the side of the bowl, even the bottom.

Once there is enough in the dough let it mix for another 5 minutes, roughly, kneading it until the outside of the dough is smooth and elastic.

Remove the dough from the bowl. It should not stick to your fingers at all. Cut the dough into 2 equal parts. Then, cut them in half again, making 4.

Cut each piece into 4, making 16, then each of those in half again, making 32 dough chunks. Each piece will need rolled, shaped, and placed on parchment lined trays to proof someplace warm until they have doubled in size, 1-3 hours depending on the temperature. When they have about doubled in size, put the pot of water on to boil with the baking soda and salt and get a draining rack set over a half sheet tray set up. Preheat the oven to 375. Scramble the egg in a small dish to make the egg wash.

When the water starts to boil, gently take the pretzels off the trays and drop into the boiling water in batches. I use a soup pot so I can do 12 at a time. If you use a smaller one don’t overcrowd the water. Let them boil for 2 minutes then flip over for 2 more minutes on the other side. Then, remove with a slotted spoon to the rack to dry and drain off all excess water.

Sprinkle the parchment from the proofed pretzels with rice flour or cornmeal to stop the pretzels from sticking to the paper. When the pretzels have dried move them from the rack to the tray. They aren’t going to proof anymore, but leave an inch between them on the tray. Immediately, before putting each tray in the oven, brush each pretzel with egg wash and sprinkle with kosher salt. Do not egg wash the pretzels ahead - the salt will melt, it must go on right before they hit the oven. Bake for 22-26 minutes, until the outsides are a deep golden brown. Remove when done and let cool on the tray. Eat as soon as you can hold them in your hand without burning yourself.

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