cooking with beer • home brewing • upcoming beer events • cocktails • have you tried...
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CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
table of contents editor’s notes upcoming events style profile - wheat beers pgh beer ladies brew u lupulin powder full pint living color ipa under construction - threadbare cider house the hoppy couple - insurrection aleworks allusion brewing - hoppily ever after craft cocktails - coffea arabica var. boozea collection - jim mickinak have you tried... brewer sit-down - marcus cox cooking with beer - full pint stromboli home brewing - making tinctures what’s brewing? - gunga galunga
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5. 6. 8. 10. 13. 16. 18. 20. 26. 28. 30. 32. 38. 40. 42. 44. 46.
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PUBLISHER
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EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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Mike Weiss mike@craftpittsburgh.com
COPY EDITOR Kristy Locklin
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Brian Meyer, Beth Kurtz Taylor, Joe Tammariello, Brian Conway, Amanda Stein, Mindy Heisler-Johnson, Hart Johnson, Ian Mikrut, Kenny Gould, Jack Smith, Ben Emminger, Kristy Locklin
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CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
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Craft Pittsburgh is issued bi-monthly by P•Scout Media, LLC for readers of legal drinking age. 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 P•Scout 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 P•Scout Media, LLC. P•Scout Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertisers assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads.
editor’s notes
THE DIRTY
30 • CraftPittsburgh is officially the big 3-0. Well, kind of, it’s not 30 years old, but this is the 30th issue. As a print magazine living in a digital world, it’s an accomplishment I’m both proud of and humbled by. Without you, our readers, advertisers, and contributors, this simply would not have been possible. From everyone here, we thank you. • Seeing this is our 30 issue we thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of our past covers. Enjoy.
Cheers,
Rob Soltis
PIT TSBURGH
upcoming events Check out CraftPittsburgh.com for even more events and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. March • Mondays Free Play Cornhole @ Copper Kettle - 4pm-9pm • 4 13th Annual Hell With The Lid Off @ Kelly’s Bar • 10 Park on Tap @ Allegheny Commons Park • 20 Rhinegeist Kick Off Event @ Hough’s - 7pm-9pm • 25 Aresenal Cider House Grand Opening @ Trax Farms • 25 Wine & Whiskey Fest”alcular” @ Convention Center • 25 Epic Food Truck Rally @ Voodoo Homestead • 27 Pittsburgh Drinks - Book Release Party @ Spirit • 30 Rusty Rail Snowboard Giveaway @ Hough’s - 7pm-9pm
April
GRAND OPENING
• Mondays Free Play Cornhole @ Copper Kettle - 4pm-9pm • 1 Pancakes & Booze Art Show @ Spirit • 8 TRASH Homebrew Competition @ Helicon Brewing • 9 Bach & Brews @ East End Brewing •9C ash in a Sick Day w/ SweetWater @ Local Bar + Kitchen 4:20pm-6:30pm (see ad on page 22)
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style profile Words Brian Meyer
WHEAT
BEERS
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Sometimes what we call a style of beer isn’t really a style at all.
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Take, for example, wheat beers, these hazy, light-colored beers are all made from roughly 50-percent wheat grain, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Beyond these general guidelines beers made from wheat fit into a pretty diverse category, and, as such, many drinkers can be confused due to their love for one wheat beer, and utter hatred of another. Before we get into what a wheat beer is, let’s take a quick look at what a wheat beer is not so we can dispel a few myths before diving into this sundry collection of beers.
Another myth that I contributed to at the beginning of this article, and that’s the color of a wheat beer. Most wheat beers you find will be light and hazy in color, there are some that are dark and even fully opaque. This is just another example of not judging a beer by its color, or its style.
Wheat Beer Myths
The vague term “wheat beer” can basically be split up into four key subcategories. This may be over-simplifying things, but beer is meant to be fun so we’ll keep things relatively simple. By looking at wheat beers this way, you can start to see how they’re all connected and how they are all unique.
The first, and probably most important myth about wheat beer to quell, is what grain is used in a wheat beer. On the surface, you would assume that a wheat beer is made entirely with, well, wheat. While this sounds true, the fact is that these beers typically use around 30- to 70-percent wheat, with the remainder of the malt bill being barley, which is the primary grain used in most beers. This isn’t to say that there aren’t beers brewed with 100-percent wheat malt, but this is uncommon for not only flavor reasons, but for brewing science, as well. Without getting into the science behind it, just know that nearly every wheat beer you’ve seen has at least some barley malt in the grain bill with the wheat.
There are more myths surrounding wheat beers, but this isn’t meant to tell you what a wheat beer isn’t, so let’s look at what a wheat beer IS.
Wheat Beer Styles
Weissbier
The first in this list of wheat-centric ales is the Weissbier, or more specifically Weißbier. This wheat beer comes to us by way of Bavaria and, like all beers in this group, relies heavily on malted wheat for its grain bill. While you may not be familiar with this beer’s true name, you’ve probably heard of a style of Weissbier that’s very common in the U.S.: the Hefeweizen. Hefeweizen beers are unfiltered, yeasty beers that often tout rich, foamy
On the trail or in the woo ds, we’re here fo r your post ri de ... refreshments .
heads and straw-colored hazy bodies. Hefe actually means “yeast” and refers to the leftover yeast in these beers, which give them their signature hazy appearance. Weissbiers often feature predominant banana, clove, and apple notes thanks to the strains of yeast used in their fermentation. The esters from fermentation give these flavors to the beer, and it’s these flavors that many of these German beers are most noted for. There are more than just Hefeweizens in this category however. Filtered Kristalweizen, Dunkelweizen, and Weizenbock are all in the Weissbier family.
Witbier
While the Weissbier originated in the Bavarian region, Witbiers hail from Belgium. While very much like Weissbiers, these are often hazy and unfiltered, but unlike their German counterpart, the Witbier commonly obtains its primary flavors from spices rather than solely grain and yeast.
Made fresh everyday, be sure to try the one with peanut butter. Really!
In Belgium during the 14th-century the use of hops was outlawed, which as you can imagine was a major blow to the brewing culture found there. In their place, spices and botanicals were used to give a unique flavor to the beer being produced. The Witbier we know today is the result of this experimentation and while modern Witbiers do indeed have some level of hops in them, the spices and botanicals used in those days are still found in abundance. Known as gruit, the mixture of coriander, orange, hops, and bitter orange became the go-to spice for wheat beers at the time. While the exact mixture found in gruit changed from brewery to brewery and across the span of history, this basic flavor profile remained, giving these beers a very low bitterness and a somewhat fruity profile. These are the beers often found in bars with slices of orange on the rim of the glass, and are incredibly easy to drink, making them perfect for those just starting to experiment with the world of craft beer.
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Berliner Weisse
Heading back to Germany we find a very unique entry in the world of wheat beers. The Berliner Weisse is a sour beer that is often found at a low 3-4% ABV. While sour beers are somewhat popular today, this style was handsdown the most popular style of beer in Germany during the 19th century, with some 700 breweries in and around Berlin producing their own version. Much like Oktoberfest beers, to be a true Berliner Weisse, the beer must be brewed in Berlin city borders, but also as with Oktoberfest-style beers, this rule is rarely followed in a strict manner, and only enforced within Germany, meaning it’s totally normal to find a Berliner Weisse brewed by a Pittsburgh brewery, which many of them have done.
Lambic
The last major type of wheat beer is one that is rarely included in a list of wheat beers, even though it’s a style that is growing in popularity. Lambic beers are a very unique type of wheat beer that are produced using something called spontaneous fermentation. This means that Lambics are brewed, then instead of adding a metered amount of yeast, they are left in something called a coolship to cool down, and to catch wild yeast that’s just floating through the air.
Overall, wheat beers are a complex and engrossing style of beer with a wide range of flavors and sub-styles included in its family tree. While most people think of Witbiers when they say they like wheat beer, the style goes so much deeper than this one type, and by exploring all the flavors and characteristics that wheat has to offer, it’s use as a key brewing malt is easy to recognize and appreciate.
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This gives Lambics a funky, wild flavor that can range from Belgian-esque to tart and sour. Lambics are often brewed with fruit, and much like their Berliner Weisse sibling, often come in at lower ABVs.
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we love pgh Words & Photo Beth Kurtz Taylor
Pittsburgh
B eer Ladies
So, I have to admit, I lurked for some time on the Pittsburgh Beer Ladies Facebook page. I saw meet ups come and go, read about the adventures of beer-loving women in the area, but as a single, working mom, I seldom made time for myself. Now I am an empty nester and finally made it to my first event last month. I have this to say, “What was I waiting for?” When we last visited the group in 2012, it had 175 members and was celebrating a first anniversary. The addition of a Facebook page allowed the group to expand to the over 1000 members today. There are still monthly meet ups to share a meal and a couple of brews, but it has expanded to more than that. Brewery tours, road trips, pontoon boat beer outings, glass making classes (followed by beer!)…this group increasingly finds more ways to gather around a pint. Eleven women came together last summer to travel to the eastern part of the state for a beer road trip. They visited Pizza Boy, Tired Hands, Dock Street and Troeggs breweries and stayed in an AirBnB. Most did not know each other before coming to the group, but the commonality of enjoying craft beverage consumption unites them. The group is also known for its impromptu gatherings. A new spot opens and a member wants to try it out so she posts a time and date on the page. Generally a few beer-loving ladies will show for a small gathering.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
I joined about 20 women on a Sunday afternoon at Hop Farm in Lawrenceville on my first excursion. It appears that my behavior of following the page for a while, then finally attending, seems to be a pattern. Women may be hesitant to show up for the first time, especially if coming alone. Let me assure you, they are a most welcoming group. When you enter a new setting and immediately share a passion with the people involved, it is a great icebreaker. Plus, there are people of all ages and from different backgrounds. There were women that were newer to craft beer consumption to a few that were homebrewers.
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Debbie Stueber, an active Beer Lady and part of the start-up team of Brew: The Museum of Beer, commented on the ease of entrance into the group. Her assessment is that craft beer drinkers tend to be a bit more creative and often fid they have interests other than beer in common. “Craft beer is not mainstream…it’s kind of out of the box…So what I’m trying to get at is I can talk to you about craft beer, but I could talk to you about a ton of other things too.” The Facebook page itself is a great source for female imbibers. Going out of state? You can source ideas for great brewery visits or bars with extensive tap
lists. Have a beer related event or fund-raiser? You can post it on the page. On a daily basis you can find the Pittsburgh’s latest beer news from brewery openings to where to find rare beers on tap. Women in Pittsburgh were not the first to have this brainchild for gathering like-minded beer lovers. Girls Pint Out is a national nonprofit started in Indianapolis in 2010 and will soon expand to have a Pittsburgh chapter. Erica Song discovered the group while traveling in Texas and investigating starting a chapter here on the home front. There was some initiative toward a chapter a few years back, but she was unsure as to what happened to that group and forged ahead to revitalize the Pittsburgh group. As this is a national organization, women can reach out to chapters in other cities when traveling for bar/brewery suggestions or even meet up with the locals. There may even be events with other city chapters such as craft beer exchanges Their first event has yet to be posted, but you can follow them on Facebook(facebook.com/PittsburghGPO) and on Instagram and Twitter (@ PittsburghGPO). So if you’re a woman who appreciates a well-executed IPA, porter, stout or lager and your friends prefer wine, check out these groups! What are you waiting for?
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CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
CLASS IN A GLASS Words Kristy Locklin
“They’re more open to trying different things than the previous generations,” says Nils Hanczar, who has worked for Mellinger Beer Distributor in Oakland for 15 years. The store hosts free sampling events, allowing patrons to taste everything from pricier, more potent microbrews by Tröegs, Victory and Southern Tier to fizzy, yellow macros such as Genesee, an old-school brand that is making a big comeback on local campuses. “It’s $9.99 a case,” Hanczar, 38, says with a laugh. “Even the kids who try the craft beers say, ‘We really like this, but at the end of the day, we’re on a budget.’” Recent changes to Pennsylvania liquor laws also are giving craft brews a boost and student wallets a break. Mellinger, along with the more than 1,000 other distributors in the state, can now sell beer in any quantity, including four-packs, six-packs, growlers and 32-ounce bottles. Mellinger employees regularly get together to share and trade suds. This unofficial “beer school’ helps them expand their own palates, while offering customers a wider variety. A red, neon sign at nearby gastropub Fuel and Fuddle says “No crap on tap.” It’s a tenet the restaurant has prided itself on since opening its doors in 1996.
Owner Brandon Smith, who started working at Fuel as a waiter in 2000, admits that while the draft selection was good back then, the tap selections didn’t rotate very much. Now once a keg is kicked another seasonal elixir is put in its place. “More people want good beer, interesting beer, local beer,” he explains. “They want quality over quantity. You can buy a few two-dollar Miller Lites or one Tröegs Nugget Nectar.” Many local students were indoctrinated into the world of craft brews by joining Fuel and Fuddle’s Beer Cult. Members are issued a “Beer Bible” that includes 100 different selections of varying styles and price points. Once a prospective member crosses all of the brews off the list, their name goes on a wall of honor next to the bar. The bible selection changes each summer, when 10 to 20 of the least popular beers are removed and replaced by a new brew. Smith says that while he still sells large amounts of budget brands such as Miller Lite, Budweiser and Yuengling (Fuel and Fuddle has sold at least two kegs worth of the lager each week for the last 20 years), customers are willing to take a chance on a $12 snifter of Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. Isaac Fields is one of those customers. The 22-year-old University of Pittsburgh senior is halfway through his Beer Bible. The diversity of the cult’s selection has helped him expand his palette and develop a love of sour beer, a style that uses wild yeast to give it a tart flavor. That love turned into curiosity, which led to Fields and his fraternity brother, James Cappelli, 21, giving homebrewing a whirl.
CraftPittsburgh.com
Natty Light is the cheap beverage of choice for most college students, but many are supplementing their beer diets with craft brews.
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Once a term, the Brewmeisters work together to create a beer using ingredients and equipment purchased through yearly membership dues. The club has produced everything from a porter and a stout to a saison and a red ale. “What I think is different with our club – and I’m in 6 or 7 different clubs – is that we have a sense of community,” Moore says. “Everyone is interested in beer. Everyone is passionate about it. It’s fun to geek-out over beer.” In addition to making their own beer, the Brewmeisters frequently venture off-campus to visit local breweries.
They’re currently working on a Vienna Lager from a kit James got for Christmas. “It tastes all right,” says Cappelli, a chemical engineering major. “It needs a few more days to ferment.”
New president Chip Gaul, 28, says that in addition to homebrewing and bar-hopping, club members will continue to host tasting sessions featuring different styles.
While many folks are self-taught brewers, 71 University of Pittsburgh students currently are getting a crash course in beer from Chemical Engineering Professor Robert Parker.
“Especially given the sizable international community at school, the club will emphasize beers from countries/cultures represented in the student body,” he says.
The new, elective course, ENGR 1933 – Engineering a Craft Brewery, challenges students with designing and operating a craft brewery by “applying concepts from mass and energy balances, fluid dynamics and heat transfer and reaction engineering to study the unit operations required to convert grain, water, yeast and hops into beer.”
Gaul, who experimented with wild yeast beers while working for RJ Rockers Brewing Company in South Carolina, also wants to introduce that style, as well as kombucha and cider, to the club. The Brewmeisters are open to collaborations, as well.
“This isn’t a class where you drink your way to an A,” says Parker, an avid homebrewer. “It’s a rigorous technical course that happens to have beer.” Parker and his colleague, Professor Dan Cole, a mechanical engineering and materials science faculty member at Pitt, spent a year developing a syllabus and addressing legal issues to make the course a reality.
Not all students develop a love of beer in college; for some the seed is planted earlier. “It definitely started with my parents,” says Evan Wagner, a 2016 Duquesne University graduate. “For as long as I can remember they always drank craft beers and tried to avoid light beers.”
In addition to mastering brewery logistics, the budding engineers will analyze beer itself through blind taste tests where each student is given a flight comprised of four, 3 oz.-pours of the same style. The pupils record their thoughts on the flavor, aroma, appearance, mouthfeel and finish. Holding their taster glasses up to the light, they examine the liquid before putting their noses in to take a whiff. The scene looks more like a laboratory than a frat party.
Upon turning 21 while at Washington & Jefferson College, Wagner followed in their footsteps, keeping his mini-fridge stocked with bourbon barrel-aged imperial stouts and Belgians.
While the engineering field is predominantly male, more women are taking an interest in it … and in beer. Of the 71 students in the class, 16 are female.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
“Where there are opportunities for community partnerships, we’re in,” he says. “An example that I’m hopeful for is to brew a coffee stout/porter using beans from a Pittsburgh roaster. Or, perhaps, there’s a yeast floating about Phipps Conservatory that may fancy an unfermented bucket o’ wort.”
While students will be extracting sugar from grain, making a tea-like liquid called wort, no alcohol will be produced on campus; that will be done off-site.
“Brewing appeals to engineers because there are a lot of gadgets involved and engineers like gadgets. There’s also an element of cooking to it,” says Cole, a longtime homebrewer who celebrates his wedding anniversary each year by whipping up a new beer with his wife.
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Outgoing club president Andrew Yancey, 27, a finance major from Richmond, Virginia, was excited to move to a city with such a burgeoning beer scene. And, he says, while being a member of a professional organization might be a better investment in a student’s future career, the Brewmeisters have more fun.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Stephanie Moore walked into Caliente Pizza & Draft House in Bloomfield wearing a T-shirt that read, “Real women drink craft beer.” She ordered a Founder’s Lizard of Koz. The stout, which is brewed in Michigan, tastes like home to the 27-year-old Detroit native. In addition to her MBA studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, Moore takes beer very seriously. She is marketing director of the school’s Brewmeisters club. Founded about six years ago by two Japanese students, the organization now boasts 75 members.
When his roommate enrolled in a Beer 101 course—similar to the one now offered at Pitt—Wagner sat in on a beer-making demonstration and caught the homebrewing bug. Although his job as an ICU nurse at Mercy Hospital keeps him busy, he tries to brew a few times a month using all-grain recipes or experimenting with non-traditional ingredients such as jalapeño. “Sometimes they turn out to be awesome,” he says, “sometimes they are just plain terrible and go right down the drain.” His successes and missteps help him teach others about the brewing process. The 24-year-old works part-time a Copper Kettle Brewing in Greenfield, where novices can go to brew a single batch of beer using onsite equipment, ingredients and guidance. “I definitely think making the move to craft beer is a sensible one,” Wagner says. “There’s a great craft beer community right in our city and almost everyone I’ve met in it is extremely helpful and willing to help you navigate through the sometimes overwhelming amount of beer information out there … There really isn’t a negative to jumping into craft beer, so hopefully we’ll see you around some breweries and bottle shops soon.”
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What is Lupulin Powder? Words Kenny Gould
On a Wednesday afternoon in early February, a line formed outside Brew Gentleman’s Braddockbased tasting room. The day before, Brew Gentlemen announced the release of a new beer: Prototype: KEEF.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
The company made the beer on their half-barrel prototype system, meaning that only a single keg got produced. But that wasn’t the draw—people waited in line because this beer was brewed exclusively with Citra and Mosaic lupulin powder.
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What is lupulin powder, exactly? If you’ve ever seen a whole cone hop, and noticed the sticky yellow substance on the bracts, you’ve noticed lupulin; it contains most of the hop’s resin compounds and aromatic oils. Many hop processors have now begun separating that substance from the leaf to create lupulin powder, brewing’s newest hip ingredient. “Using the powder rather than pellet or whole cone hops, you get a more intense, more complex hop
character,” said Rob Dillman, assistant brewer at Brew Gentlemen. This is because the powder is free from the polyphenols found in vegetal material, which often give hoppy beers an overly bitter, almost aggressive flavor. In addition to making a more rounded beer, Dillman also noticed that the powder contributed complexity. “Rather than just getting bitterness upfront and then fruit, you get different layers,” he said. There are other benefits to using powder over hops as well. Typically, brewers use about half the lupulin powder per batch as whole cone or pelletized hops. This means less storage space in the brewery. The powder also falls out of solution much more easily than vegetal matter, meaning that beers produced with lupulin powder are often cleaner and more readily drinkable than their leaf-made counterparts. And the process used to create lupulin powder also produces “debittered leaf,” a stripped-down version of the hop that goes well in lightly hopped beers like pilsner, kolsch, gose, gueuze, and Berliner weisse. One of the downsides that Dillman noticed when working with the powder was that it was slightly more expensive than hops. Additionally, many brewers are saying that after making a beer with it, they think they’ve used too much—the powder works too well. And unlike more traditional hops, the powder sits on top of the beer rather than falling to the bottom; in order to circulate the powder and distribute the flavor, hop companies recommend that brewers “rouse” the beer, which means pushing CO2 through the bottom port in order to mix everything up. Although it’s an extra step in the process, the beer actually finishes more quickly, because all the hop flavor gets pulled into the beer almost instantly.
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It’s hard to pinpoint the first brewery to use lupulin powder, but many credit Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Company, which began making a beer called “Hop Hash Double IPA” back in 2014. “We scraped all the hash out of the Yakima hop pelletizers we could get our sticky fingers on to concoct the dankest double IPA out there,” they wrote on the company webpage. However, the trend didn’t catch on until the fall of 2017, when many hop companies began offering breweries their hop contracts in lupulin powder rather than whole cones or pellets. Lupulin powder takes on the same flavors and aromatics from the hop which it was derived -- for instance, Mosaic hops makes Mosaic lupulin powder—so it’s a simple exchange. “Zach was getting hops and YCH (Brew Gentleman’s hop supplier) said, ‘We have lupulin powder available and we’ve been testing it, do you want to try some?’” Dillman said. “So he ordered a small amount and that’s what we used in Prototype: KEEF.”
In the near future, drinkers should expect to see lupulin powder sneaking into beers across the country. That includes Pittsburgh: although Dillman hasn’t seen anyone else in Pittsburgh using the beer, he expects that it’s only a matter of time. “We love the way this beer turned out,” Dillman said, referring to Prototype: KEEF. “We want to use lupulin powder and do more experiments with it.”
CraftPittsburgh.com
Other breweries using lupulin powder include Vermont’s Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Boston-based Trillium Brewing, which collaborated on a lupulin-infused Double IPA called Pow Pow, and Asheville-based Burial Brewing and Brooklyn-based Other Half Brewing, which made a beer called I Left My Wallet in a Bed-Stuy Juice Bar, also a Double IPA. Both beers came out within the last three months.
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You’ve never seen a tap CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Full Pint Brewing Company has partnered with Pittsburgh arts collective Red Fish Bowl to design tap handles for Living Color, an 8.1% West Coast-style Imperial IPA.
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Each handle is custom-painted by a local artist and one dollar from the sale of every pint goes toward Red Fish Bowl to support local artists and musicians. “Art isn’t just for wine anymore,” jokes Full Pint co-founder and brewer, Sean Hallisey. The partnership between the two parties goes back at least three years, when Full Pint began donating beer to Red Fish Bowl’s annual South Side
art crawl. This new endeavor allows Full Pint to directly contribute to the local arts scene while increasing their brand presence and visibility. “There’s a wonderful simplicity to it,” says Tom Marshall, Full Pint’s sales and marketing manager. “It’s supposed to spark conversation. You see it on tap and your eyes are drawn to it; your mind starts asking questions.” Each venue that serves Living Color gets a tap handle painted by a local artist specifically tailored toward that venue’s aesthetic. One of the artist’s involved in the project, Sean Coffey, decorated the Full Pint Wild Side Pub in Lawrenceville and designed a large Full Pint logo sign now at the Full Pint brewery in North Versailles. In addition to a custom handle, each venue has the option to partner on a launch party to celebrate the tapping of the beer. The first was at Pints on Penn in November and featured acoustic performances and live painting. Two weeks later over 250 people came through Belvedere’s for a raucous tapping party that included more than 20 visual artists and performances from six local bands that ran until last call.
handle like this before Words Brian Conway Photo Chris Boles
The cost of the donation to Red Fish Bowl is included in the price of the beer, so the bars themselves don’t take a loss. Over $1,000 has been raised as of mid-February. Some of the money has been used to design custom album artwork for Pittsburgh blues-rock band Manic Soul, while the proceeds raised from Piper’s Pub and James Street Gastropub alone helped fund a tour of Nashville and Knoxville for psych-rock band Different Places in SPACE. And what about the beer? Boles calls it a “slammable” IPA despite it’s 8.1% ABV, an appropriate description, but one you probably won’t see on Full Pint’s website anytime soon. Hallisey, the brewer, lovingly describes it as a resinous California-style IPA with a “stinky bouquet of hop aroma,”
dry-hopped with lots of Simcoe and Columbus hops with a little bit of amber malt to give it some backbone and hue. (After all, what good craft beer doesn’t exhibit the artistry and passion of its brewer?) This isn’t the first time Full Pint has taken inspiration from Pittsburgh art. When they released their HOPism IPA last January it was a nod to Popism, the title of Andy Warhol’s 1980 memoir. The brewery celebrated with a launch party at Ace Hotel Pittsburgh complete with on-site screenprinted posters. This time, they’re upping the ante by having local artists paint these one-of-a-kind handles for a beer that benefits local artists. Marshall hopes that the unique tap handles will inspire customers to engage in a larger conversation about the provenance of their beer and what it supports: “There are people who want to ask questions, want to know what they’re buying and want to know where their money’s going.” Check out Living Color and Red Fish Bowl at James Street Gastropub April 8 at 8 p.m. for Paint Jam II.
CraftPittsburgh.com
Chris Boles, Red Fish Bowl art manager, calls the arrangement a “nice little triangle” that benefits all parties involved: Full Pint gets exposure for its beer, the artists get exposure to a new audience, and the bar gets an influx of new, craft beer-swilling customers connected to the local arts and music scene.
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under construction
Threadbare CIDER HOUSE CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Since opening to the public in 2012, Wigle Whiskey has continually grown and expanded at an exceptionally rapid rate.
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As the most-awarded craft whiskey distillery in the U.S. the past two years, it’s hardly surprising to see the company making a big move following the opening of their Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden in 2014. With Threadbare Cider House, Wigle is poised to enter another market that’s ripe for the taking in the craft-alcohol industry while doubling-down on the Spring Garden area. “We had been thinking about doing a cider house and wanting to do it,” Co-Owner Meredith Grelli said. “It had been on our minds for a few years and when we saw this we thought it was such a great opportunity.” Having run out of room at their barrelhouse down the street, at first Wigle was just looking for more storage space. The large, blue warehouse on the new property gives them much needed storage and new office space
while the adjoining building sparked the Threadbare expansion in full. The site itself is about an acre in size, which will provide plenty of parking for customers to enter the 7,000 square foot Cider House directly from Spring Garden Avenue. The high ceilings, original exposed brick and wood floors provide all of the rustic aesthetics you’d associate with cider. For a company that distributes nationally across eight states and is readily available on liquor store shelves and bars in the area, this latest expansion finally feels more like a premier destination. The multiple floors and size alone will provide plenty of room for large-scale events. “It increases our footprint quite a bit. We’ve never had a space this large. So it allows us to get all of the production we anticipate needing for a pretty long time in here as well as a full kitchen and seated dining room area,” Grelli said. True to the Wigle brand, there are plenty of historical ties as well. The building was originally a post-Civil War tannery that went on to become the second-largest in Pittsburgh. And much like Philip Wigle’s influence on the company, Threadbare will call upon another American legend
Words Ian Mikrut Photos Mike Weiss
to channel in John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman, who spent time residing in Pittsburgh. Grelli explains how Chapman created the cider frontier moving from Pittsburgh to the west. And though the orchards he produced weren’t ideal for eating, they were really great for cider making. “Everything we do we try to tie or base it in regional taste of place and history. So we have both elements we felt we needed to create the kind of business that we wanted to,” Grelli said.
“Last year in the spring we had these tasting sessions where once every two weeks we’d get the team together, and we’d get five, six different types of cider from different regions in the world and sit down and taste them. And we really liked the French ciders,” he said. “And with those you have a little bit of a funky flavor going on, but you’re still tasting the apples. There’s a little bit of residual sweetness, so the yeast strains
CraftPittsburgh.com
At this point Threadbare is in the midst of developing what that taste of place will be. For Innovation Lead Michael Foglia, that’s meant trials with different yeast strains, temperature controls, flavor profiles, fermentation and narrowing down to specifics and production methods for the next phase of testing.
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that we really enjoyed in trialing the past couple months have been ones that protect the apple flavor. Where you know you’re drinking an apple cider.” Secondary attributes that Threadbare has been playing with are looking for those flavor notes, other than the obvious apple, to draw out and bend in different ways. There’s also the hundreds of whiskey barrels lying around to consider that will surely come into play as well. “Cider is really, really interesting to make because in some ways it seems a lot less complex than making beer or something like that,” Foglia said. “But in terms of control of the inputs you’re getting, I feel like you have a little less, you just have to recognize that you’re control to influence isn’t total. It’s something you need to be aware of as you’re making it.” The size of both buildings and the site as a whole will essentially make the Threadbare space Wigle’s headquarters. Though the original home in the Strip District and Spring Garden Barrelhouse will operate as-is, non-production staff members will have offices at the Threadbare site while the warehouse solves any storage concerns for the whiskey side. With a planned opening this July, expect Threadbare Cider House to add greatly to the list of reasons to visit and drink on the North Side, while taking a refreshing step outside of the craft beer realm.
Threadbare Cider and Mead 1254 Voskamp St PGH, PA 15212
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Check out threadbarecider.com for the latest on cider development and opening date updates!
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BRAND NEW
Inspired by the Pacific Northwest, this unexpected dry-hopped lager gets its light, citrusy twist from Tettnang Mandarina hops.
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CraftPittsburgh.com
hoppy couple Atmosphere
Chill, rustic, and cozy is how I would describe Insurrection AleWorks. I believe that it is a place for everyone: beer-lovers, people looking to mingle, and even families. Probably the best part is that it is fairly roomy and includes some outdoor space. In the summer, two giant garage doors open onto a patio with tables and chairs. But in the winter this space is still accessible given that they put up some temporary walls and heaters to keep out the cold. This space allows for a versatile experience no matter the weather.
Food
Even though we planned to indulge in various types of cheeses while we were at Insurrection, I went ahead and added insult to injury by ordering one of their mac and cheese dishes. This one in particular was a bit spicy and was made with poblano and banana peppers along with nothing other than Pittsburgh’s own Parma Sausage. Wow. Kicked you in the taste buds and it, of course, was very filling. I also ordered their Ham Sandwich which was basically a smoky pork extravaganza. This sandwich had ham, applewood-smoked bacon, and applewood-smoked mozzarella. More cheese! Everything I tasted was top-notch!
INSURRECTION
AleWorks
1635 East Railroad Street, Heidelberg, PA 15106
Joe Location
Insurrection AleWorks is located just a few miles south of the city in a small neighborhood called Heidelberg. Close enough to the city that it’s easy to get to with an Uber, but more importantly it is also close to a lot of antique shops. Being a giant horology nerd, I find myself dipping into random mom and pop antique shops and flea markets to see if I can’t find a hidden gem of a wristwatch. My suggestion is to hit some of these nearby shops before heading to Insurrection for a tasty beer and a bite to eat. Geez. I’m old.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Beer
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So we know I like sours and I don’t see that changing any time soon. That said, the Pink Yoga Pants (4.5% ABV) was something I had to try. This sour, which is Insurrection’s interpretation of a Gose, is made with pilsner malt, wheat, and oats along with fresh-cracked coriander and pink Himalayan salt. This was one of the more unique tasting sours I have had to date and wanted to keep drinking it the whole time we were there. But, I needed something else to write about, right? With that in mind I also tried their Rustic American Ale called Opland (6% ABV). This was more of a farmhouse-type ale consisting of slightly sour notes at the onset with a hoppy finish. Also very good.
Amanda Location
If you’re anything like a typical Pittsburger, you don’t travel through more than one tunnel unless absolutely necessary so if you find yourself in the South Hills, I would recommend taking advantage of the trip by stopping into Insurrection. A few miles down the road from Insurrection in either direction are 99 Bottles and the Pittsburgh Bottleshop Café, both offering a long list of draft and bottled beers. About five minutes down the road in Carnegie is Apis Mead and Winery and a newer restaurant, Bakn, which I’ve heard nothing but great things about. A restaurant serving mostly bacon-themed food? Sign me up!
Beer
Insurrection’s draft list can be limited at times since they’re a small operation like most local breweries, but they certainly have high-quality offerings. I had the Mr. Frank Double IPA (8% ABV) which has a mix of Centennial, Equinox, Mosaic, Moteuka, and Huell Melon hops. I also had the Heavy Things American IPA (6.5% ABV) which is single-hopped with Citra. Heavy Things packs a fresh, crisp, and citrusy punch while the Mr. Frank was a well-rounded, smooth, heavy hitter of an IPA. Both were great pours.
Atmosphere
Your first steps into Insurrection will lead you to their lounge area with leather couches and chairs – a nice quiet space to relax and catch up with a few friends. Further back is their main dining space complete with a bar and table seating, all within view of their brewery operation so you can see where the magic happens. We were there early on a Sunday afternoon and it was quiet at first but certainly picked up the pace eventually. They had a few sporting events on the TVs at the bar but we particularly enjoyed their soundtrack which was classic rock hits that afternoon.
Food
You may have picked up from previous articles that I love cheese. Well, that’s an understatement. Insurrection is a cheese (and charcuterie) lover’s dream. They have an impressive selection of various local (and not-solocal) cheeses and meats so you can build your own platter. We selected
the Cypress Grove Psychedillic Chevre, Sartori Reserve Rosemary & Olive Oil Asiago, and God’s Country Gridley Gruyere for our cheeses (though I could have ordered ten more) and the Parma Prosciutto and Parma Genoa for our meats. You can also choose from a few pâtés and antipasto sides. The tray came with a tasty brown mustard with a bit of spice and sliced bread that was perfectly soft with a crisp crust. I could eat here for every meal!
Summary
We are starting to feel a bit like broken records, but that’s Pittsburgh: filled with awesome places that serve incredible beer and food. We suggest planning an afternoon in Heidelberg and Carnegie and stopping by all of the places we mentioned. As always, cheers!
CraftPittsburgh.com
The Hoppy Couple is one part Joe Tammariello and one part Amanda Stein. Amanda is the charitable creative type, while Joe is the nerdy eccentric type. Together we make a perfect brew, har har. We don’t consider ourselves beer experts, but we spend a good bit of our free time exploring the city of Pittsburgh and sampling all of the food and drink it has to offer. We also try our hand at brewing beer from time to time at our home in Swissvale. We hope that our points of view will pour a well-rounded pint of our experiences with Pittsburgh’s local craft beer scene. Say “Cheers!” if you see us out!
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hoppily
ever after
Words Kristy Locklin Photos Mike Weiss
When discussing names for their home-brewed beers, Robert Buchanan and cousins John Bieranoski and Nick Bieranoski repeatedly alluded to themes from classical literature. Now, as they strive to make Allusion Brewing Company a reality, they hope to add another exciting chapter to Vandergrift’s storied history. “We want to bring a brewery to an area where there aren’t a lot of options like this,” John says. Located about 40 miles outside of Pittsburgh on the banks of the Kiskiminetas River, the town was founded in 1895 as a planned industrial community for workers of the Apollo Iron & Steel Company and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gently curving streets, lined on both sides by stately Victorian and Queen Anne-style houses, follows the topography of the land.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
“The housing stock is old, but most of the properties have been kept up,” says Marilee Kessler, a Howard Hanna Realtor and member of the Vandergrift Improvement Program, or V.I.P, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the town back to its former glory.
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She sites low taxes, a walkable downtown area, parks, riverfront activities and renovations to landmarks such as the Casino Theatre as boons to Vandergrift’s revitalization efforts. V.I.P, a volunteer group that’s made up of business owners and residents, sponsors an arts festival, Christmas parade and farmers’ market in order to raise money to help upstarts like Allusion wade through a sea of red tape and grant applications. “V.I.P’s goal is to grow the downtown area and increase the tax base by bringing in new businesses and new people from outside of the region and even outside of the state,” V.I.P. member Mary Jo Riddle says. “Because of the popularity of craft breweries, Allusion met our mission.” The brewery’s future home is a V.I.P.-owned property on Grant Avenue. Constructed in the early-1900s, the humble facade only hints at the
grandeur inside. Once a JCPenney department store, the three-story structure boasts cathedral ceilings, exposed brickwork and tile floors. Cinemax recently used the location during the filming of its crime drama Banshee, bringing a bit of Hollywood magic to the old steel town. “It seems like a good time for this community,” says Cindi Conte, a Vandergrift native and director of operations for The Whistling Duck, a new Grant Street tenant that sells furniture hand-crafted by local and regional artists. Allusion hopes to furnish their brewery with The Whistling Duck’s “rustically elegant” décor and, through a grant from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund, make environmentally friendly improvements to the building. Each time the Allusion business partners step inside the empty shell, their minds overflow with ideas. They envision a five-barrel, stainless steel brewing system taking center stage on the main floor, customers raising pints around long, farmhouse tables, party-goers filling the upstairs banquet room with laughter and music, and a bustling kitchen cranking out good food while barrels of ale fill the cavernous basement, aging to perfection. Perfectionism is one of the reasons why Robert, 39, a North Hills resident, and the Bieranoski cousins didn’t want to take the easy route and set up shop in a bustling, craft beer-saturated section of Pittsburgh. “We’re not in a rush because we want everything to be perfect,” says Nick, 27, a Kiski Area High School graduate. “We want to provide for this town a place where you’re happy to come in, smile and say ‘This is my hometown. Allusion is part of this community!’” On a recent Saturday morning brightened by sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures, the Allusion crew gathered in John’s garage on the outskirts of Vandergrift to brew a stout. Delightful smells of chocolate, cinnamon, malt and hops—some of which were grown by John’s father – filled the neighborhood. Bubbling pots, industrial-sized Igloo coolers, beakers, scales and a network of hoses make the garage look more like a mad scientist’s laboratory, and the Allusion guys admit that isn’t too far from the truth.
Even when the Grant Street brewery is up and running, they’ll continue to use the residence as a test kitchen for more boundary-pushing concoctions. “We want to provide a style that everybody likes. We want to have sessionable beers,” explains John, 42. “Our goal would be to have five or six staple beers like an IPA, a brown ale, a pale ale, a porter, a stout and then reserve the other three or four taps for experimental beers.” All three of the partners started out as homebrewers and joined forces in 2013. Each brings something unique to the team: Nick has a chemistry background. John is an experienced artist and businessman. Robert spent 15 years in restaurant management and has strong ties to the ‘burgh’s beer community. He’s designed bottle labels for Hop Farm Brewing Company and added Sistine Chapel-inspired artwork to Voodoo Brewery’s ceiling. Right off the bat, they began producing better-than-average suds that they’d share with friends and family members. Some of those initial brews earned four-star reviews on Untappd, an app that allows users to log and rate beers and share the information on social networking sites. Robert’s wife, Monica, and John’s wife, Lorissa, serve as Allusion’s notso-silent business partners. Beer aficionados in their own right, they offer encouragement as well as constructive criticism during brew days, helping the guys tweak recipes or invent new ones. They sip the wort – the sweet, tea-like liquid extracted from the mashing process—and are pleased, but never complacent. “Brewing is a science and an art,” Nick says. “It’s an artful science.” In February, Allusion hosted a free tasting event at the Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Department #1 to give community members a taste of what’s to come and to raise capital for the brewery. A GoFundMe page was set up last year. Depending on the size of the donation, investors can earn everything from an Allusion pint glass to a sixtel keg of beer each month for a year.
Alex Chaffins, a freelance graphic designer from Vandergrift, created Allusion’s crowd-funding flier and the tasting invitations. The 29-year-old believes the brewery will attract a more youthful demographic to the town, which is a goal near and dear to his heart. “I’ve lived in other places and when I came home, my town wasn’t my town anymore,” Alex says. “It was a ghost town. Young adults and kids were simply drifting away.” Through his company, Irie Productions, he organized two Pokemon Go events in the borough, which drew thousands of people and raised hundreds of dollars to spruce up Vandergrift. Some of the festivities were held in Allusion’s soon-to-be home. A “summer blowout” is scheduled for later this year featuring an inflatable ninja warrior obstacle course and food trucks. Funding for these extravaganzas comes from local business donations. The Allusion family feels it is important to give back to Vandergrift’s economy. At last month’s tasting they sold T-Shirts made by their Grant Street neighbors Tees-N-Tops, they frequent neighborhood joints such as AJ’s Restaurant & Lounge for business lunches, and they plan to serve vino from nearby Wooden Door Winery, as well as spirits distilled in Pennsylvania. A portion of the proceeds from one of their beers will go back to V.I.P., so the organization can assist existing businesses and attract new ones to the area. “It takes a community to build a brewery,” Nick says with a smile. For more information on Allusion Brewing Company, visit:. facebook.com/AllusionBrewingCompany Gofundme.com/allusion-brewing-company
Through The Cincinnati Insurance Company, we can offer the right coverage for your brewery, including: • tank collapse and leakage • contamination and adulteration • product recall expense • liquor liability and excise tax bonds • processing water loss expense • key employee replacement expense For program details, please contact your independent agent: Steve Wanovich 412-835-5660 x110 steve@piersonandscott.com 321 Castle Shannon Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15234
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craft cocktails
Coffea Arabica var. Boozea Cocktails are like, a thing now. It’s now a basic requirement to be a “good” restaurant or a “nice” bar to have pretty solid cocktails. That’s really awesome. That’s really awesome because when cocktails became like, a thing, it loudly sounded the death knell of the snotty speakeasy-style cocktail bar. I think it’s pretty fair at this point to say that the whole mustache/monocle/ password/walk-under-a-ladder-through-a-false-wall-in-a-bathroom-stallin-the-back-of-a-vegan-barbecue-truck/whatever scene is dead as an artisanal doornail. Why would people still tolerate the holier-than-thou bullshit that came with getting a cocktail in the early days? (By “the early days” I mean 2008-2012. This is the hipster idea of what constitutes “the early days” after all.) Basically what I’m trying to say is that nowadays, cocktails are a means, not an end.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
One of the cool things about cocktails being like, a thing, is that people are feeling more comfortable with new ingredients. Bartenders are also more confident than ever that if they explore a new ingredient in a cocktail and put it on their menu, it will get ordered. The public is driving the profession to experiment because of their curiosity and willingness to try new things.
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There’s one ingredient though, that’s not new, but I think gets unfairly overlooked. Coffee doesn’t show up in nearly as many cocktails as I think it should. Coffee is up there with vanilla in terms of being one of the most chemically and economically complex things we humans consume on a regular basis. The story of good coffee is absolutely bonkers.
Words Will Groves Photos Mike Weiss
Good coffee only grows between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and only above roughly 900 meters above sea level. Good coffee takes about five years from the planting of the tree to bear a full crop of fruit. Good coffee trees produce about a pound and a half of coffee every year. Good coffee has to be picked from these trees by hand. Good coffee has to be sorted, washed, fermented, washed again, dried and sorted again. All of these processes require a lot of labor as well as specialized equipment and lots of water. Good coffee is then bagged and shipped across half the world to a roaster. Good coffee has to be roasted extremely carefully so that it tastes great. Coffee roasting is a lot like baking in terms of the importance of precision. But unlike in baking, 15 or 30 seconds can noticeably change the character of a coffee. You’re probably not going to ruin those cupcakes if you overcook them by 15 seconds. You may have noticed that I used the adjective “good” pretty constantly in that last paragraph. When I say “good coffee” what I mean is coffee that is ethically purchased, impeccably processed and roasted with care, preferably by a local roaster. You’re reading this magazine, so I assume you drink local beer and spirits. Why wouldn’t you also drink locally roasted coffee? There are lots of similarities between the local booze and local coffee scenes. (The preponderance of white guys with beards is only the most noticeable.) So with all that said, why don’t people pay attention to using coffee in as many cocktails as they should? Well, for one it’s a hard ingredient to use in interesting ways. Coffee is fidgety and doesn’t typically play well with other ingredients. Everybody’s default coffee cocktail is the White Russian. In a bar, that drink only gets ordered by 23-year old guys who learned everything they know about drinking from the movie The Big Lebowski. At the same time, though, it plays into coffee’s stereotypes. Let’s see if we can expand the oeuvre a little while still playing to coffee’s strengths.
Coffea Arabica var. Boozea • 1½ oz bourbon, rye, or American whiskey such as Big Spring Spirits American Whiskey • 1 oz Maggie’s Farm Coffee liqueur • 1 oz cold brewed (or hot brewed and chilled, Japanese-style) Commonplace Kunjin PNG coffee • ½ oz brown sugar-cinnamon syrup (I lovingly call this stuff “Pop-Tart syrup” because it tastes like the inside of a Brown SugarCinnamon Pop-Tart. Brown Sugar-Cinnamon is the best Pop-Tart flavor. You can disagree if you want, but I know I’m on the right side of history here. Also, it’s my column. Get your own cocktail column that no one reads.) • 2 dashes Fee Bros. Black Walnut bitters (Bittermen’s Xocolatl Mole bitters would also be just fine.) Build cocktail over ice in a double old-fashioned glass. Stir briefly. Do not garnish.
Pop-Tart Syrup • 2 cups dark brown sugar • 2 cups water • 6-8 cinnamon sticks Combine in a saucepan over extremely low heat. Stir to combine. Leave over very low heat until the syrup smells and tastes like Pop-Tart filling. (Approx. 30-40 minutes.) I think this is a pretty darn solid cocktail that incorporates coffee. It adds some richness from the brown sugar, plays to the coffee’s nutty or chocolaty notes with the bitters and the whiskey adds a pleasant vanilla undertone. Coffee is notoriously hard to work with in a way that is coffee-snob approved, but I think making the drink be about the coffee that’s in it is the best place to start. Playing to a particular coffee’s strengths and weaknesses can really make an impact on your finished drink. Possible applications for coffee cocktails? Brunch obviously. Breakfast if you’re that kind of person. Mid-afternoon eye-opener. After dinner instead of or in addition to dessert. The possibilities are endless! Stay caffeinated, my friends. Full disclosure: I work for Maggie’s Farm Rum. Even fuller disclosure: This coffee liqueur is kind of my baby. I developed the recipe. I love coffee, and obviously I think pretty highly of booze, so I’m stoked to get to combine them.
CraftPittsburgh.com
Fullest disclosure: Sometimes I crunch up tortilla chips, put them in the little bit of salsa left in the jar and eat them with a spoon.
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collection
A “Rolling” Rock of Ages Collector Jim Mickinak showcases his immense collection of Rolling Rock Breweriana Words Ben Emminger Photo Buzzy Torek
This pledge is synonymous with the famous extra pale lager showcased in a green bottle or can, but for years, the Latrobe Brewing Company’s credo was a message and blessing from the namesake town. For years, Latrobe and Rolling Rock were mentioned hand in hand, almost inseparable. You were hard-pressed to find city residents who didn’t know someone who worked at the brewery or claimed the beer as their go-to choice. Everyone had some memory or connection to Rolling Rock, and as a Latrobe citizen myself, I can remember the love affair that was, and what it meant to my father when we’d travel and he’d proudly order, “A Horse,” to showcase where he came from. The relationship between Latrobe and Rolling Rock ended in 2006 when Anheuser-Busch purchased the brand for $82 million and ended production at the Latrobe Brewery. Like a bad breakup, there were fits of anger, sadness and heartbreak among Latrobe’s citizens. The Latrobe Bulletin, the city’s daily newspaper, even ran a mock obituary for the beer, stating, “Family and friends will be received at any local tavern.” While the marriage might be over between Latrobe and Rolling Rock, there are some citizens who keep the memories preserved. No one, however, has a museum that matches that of Jim Mickinak. Located in the neighborhood of Lloydsville, the 71-year-old Mickinak has curated what he states, “Has been classified as the largest Rolling
Rock collection in the world.” When he flips the switches at his “After Hours” bar, you are transported into this magical, neon world of Rolling Rock nostalgia. Over 2,000 pieces are showcased in this establishment, including the original charter from the brewery. Everything is displayed in beautiful cases, which were constructed by Mickinak and members of his contracting company. It is almost too overwhelming to see so many items with the Rolling Rock brand. Tap heads, trinkets, glassware, neon signage, cans and displays are everywhere the eye can see. If there is a specific item you were looking for, then it probably sits atop a shelf or in a display case at the “After Hours” bar. For years, Mickinak states that he and his wife, Lorraine, ran the “After Hours” bar every Saturday night and opened their doors to friends and family alike, but in their later years they have limited it to only a handful of events per year. Even executives from the Latrobe Brewing Company would bring clients down to showcase his massive collection. “They’d even send designers down to study the original advertisements I have, you know, for inspiration,” says Mickinak. As Mickinak and Lorraine walk through the building and point out multiple pieces, it becomes very clear that this collection is one for the ages. “You definitely cannot see it all in one day,” says Mickinak about the abundance of items he has acquired over his 22-year journey in Breweriana. Mickinak adds that he and Lorraine are members of multiple Breweriana associations, including North American Brewers Association, Eastern Coast Breweriana Association, American Breweriana Association and Olde Frothingslosh, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America. As they turn into the next portion of the bar, Lorraine jokingly asks, “What would you call someone who does this?” Laughing, she answers, “Nuts.”
CraftPittsburgh.com
“Rolling Rock, from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you.”
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CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Originally, Mickinak says that he had no intentions of collecting. The original desire was to install a bar to have at his residence for his friends and coworkers to enjoy a drink or two during parties. The 32-foot wooden bar that sits in the middle of “After Hours” was purchased from the Brownsville Eagles over 20 years ago. After some cleaning and refurbishing, Mickinak began to transform the bar and surrounding area into a hangout adorned with typical bar accents. Naturally, being from Latrobe, those accents were Rolling Rock in nature, thus beginning the obsession.
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The dominant beer displayed in Mickinak’s museum is far and away Rolling Rock, but he also showcases a variety of other western Pennsylvania breweries. Located at the one end of the bar sits a display showcasing various items from Loyalhanna Brewing Company, another Latrobe production that sat directly across the street from Rolling Rock in the early 20th century. Mickinak states that his collection of Loyalhanna Brewing Company memorabilia is also one of the largest in the world, giving this establishment another added pinch of remarkableness. There are also various signs, light displays, cases and other pieces from a number of other Pennsylvania breweries of yesteryear. This nonRolling Rock collection also includes one of Mickinak’s favorite items: A beautiful Anchor Brewing sign adorned with gold leaf accents and intricate metalwork.
The collection even spills outside, with signs from the brewery hanging near some of Mickinak’s other buildings, as well as a standing horse statue and a stoplight that used to indicate when the “After Hours” bar was open to guests. The largest of the bunch, a metal cutout of the famous Rolling Rock horse head logo, is showcased proudly at the corner of Mickinak’s driveway. He states that it is one of two that were originally hung on the siding of the brewery. Lorraine is also an avid collector, but her memorabilia are more on the non-alcoholic spectrum. Displayed prominently in the one corner, “He finally gave me room for my collection,” she laughingly states, is a tribute to all things Latrobe. Over the years, Lorraine has acquired various pieces from the city, including fire chief helmets, police badges, vintage medicine advertisements and various items from Greater Latrobe High School. While sitting down after the tour to enjoy a cold beer, a Rolling Rock of course, Mickinak remarks on what he plans to do with his collection once he becomes too old to continue collecting. With his sons having no interest in carrying on involvement in Breweriana, Mickinak plans to sell off most of his items to other collectors vying for their piece of Rolling Rock history. “That day hasn’t come yet, though,” he adds before taking another sip. The last topic discussed before parting ways was Mickinak’s opinion on the origin of “33,” which has become the stuff of legends in Latrobe and to anyone who has enjoyed Rolling Rock over the years. While there are many stories, Jim believes that the “33” was a mistake by the artist, who accidentally centered a union writer’s badge number and included it in the artwork. Lorraine, however, believes that “33” was an editing mark indicating the end of a paragraph. While other stories exist, from “33” meaning the number of words in the pledge to the temperature at which Rolling Rock is brewed to the number of steps at the original brewery, Mickinak agreed on one thing: the legend will never be fully known. While Latrobe and Rolling Rock will most likely never reunite, the fact of the matter is that both are integral in each other’s history. Mickinak’s collection is a testament to those good times, and properly preserves that relationship down to the very last glass. When you leave the museum, you undoubtedly leave a little smarter, a little more interested and little thirstier, too. Jim and Lorraine are still collecting and continue to place want ads in the paper looking for Rolling Rock and Loyalhanna memorabilia. To reach them, whether to inquire about Breweriana or ask about the “After Hours” bar, you can contact them at 10easyst@comcast.net or by calling (724)-539-7941.
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CraftPittsburgh.com
have you tried... Words Hart Johnson
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CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
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1. RHINEGEIST hans
2. S TILLWATER extra dry
I’m gonna be forthright here, I got a free variety six-pack of Rhinegeist from these guys. Thumbs up emoji. Out of the IPA, Porter, Cider, Lager and Blonde I chose the Vienna Lager because my German teacher in 8th grade thought that Hart was a silly name and therefore should call me Hans as an equally silly German name. Cool story bro dot gif. So anyway, Rhinegeist, if you know them, they’ll be all over Pittsburgh in March. If you don’t know them, they’re gonna be all over Pittsburgh in March. Vienna Lagers typically skate a wide line between the crisp and balanced Munich lager and the richer, maltier Oktoberfest lagers. Hans lands itself right smack in the middle of those. Dark gold in color, toasty Munich and Vienna malt aromas erupt out of the glass with the German hops taking an aroma backseat. Incredibly balanced on the palate, the presumed malt sweetness is balanced with Huell Melon hops adding herbal and ripe fruit hop flavors. An incredibly well-balanced lager, perfect for enjoying the last minutes of sunlight on that first warm spring day.
Somewhere in the past 10 years, American breweries got the memo that you can’t dump a mountain of coriander into a “Belgian Ale” and call it a saison. You gotta try, maybe just a bit, to get a proper yeast strain for the style and coax that stubborn pile of single-cell organisms into creating the that dry, yet fruity, bliss that is saison. The past few years have seen an explosion of dry, earthy, true-to-their-Belgian-roots, American saisons. Stillwater Artisanal has been a stalwart of the movement, brewing the hop forward Stateside Saison since 2010 and expanding their range to 30ish saison-influenced beers in their catalog. Extra Dry is their “Sake” style saison, brewed with sake rice along with malted barley. It’s a beautiful straw golden beer that stinks like a Juicy Fruit gum wrapper got into a knife fight with a gang of dried mango. Extra Dry lives up to the name, incredibly dry on the palate, some light fruitiness from sake rice, more dried mango and then the earthy hop bitterness comes out and wipes your palate clean. After the hop warfare is over, some mouthwatering papaya and sweet pineapple flavors linger for a few seconds. A deep, complex, crushable 4.2% ABV beer.
Recommended if you like: Great Lakes - Eliot Ness, Oskar Blues - Beerito,
Recommended if you like: Dancing Gnome - Shifting Clocks, Dupont - Avril,
4.8% Vienna Style Lager - rhinegeist.com
Rivertowne - RT Lager, Roundabout - Tres Anos, Duck Rabbit - Marzen 38
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Photo Tim Burns
4.2% Saison - stillwater-artisanal.com
Yards - Saison, Epic - Straight Up Saison, Victory - Helios
3. M INDFUL putin’s revenge coffee 8.5% Baltic Porter - mindfulbrewing.com
There are things you never forget: first kiss, where you where when Milli Vanilli lost their Grammy and your first Baltic Porter. Baltika #6 took every notion I had about “dark” beer and flipped it into a licorice, caramel and coffee booze smoothie. Still one of those styles that if I see it on a brewery list, I’m gonna try it. This coffee-ified Putin though, I’m not gonna forget the coffee flavor and aroma of this for a while. Brewed with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee and I don’t think I’ve ever had a more in your face coffee and yet well-rounded coffee beer. The aroma is that 6:15 a.m., right when the water hits the grounds, slaps you on the back and gets you out of bed COFFEE. This beer is business. So below all the coffee, Putin’s Revenge is a drier, roastier take than all those imports I remember from my youth. Full of dusty cocoa powder, heavily caramelized sugar and semi-sweet chocolate malt flavors. But seriously, just sit back and smell this and think of that Folger’s jingle. Recommended if you like: Baltika #6, Green Flash Cosmic Ristretto, Boulevard Early Riser Porter, Alesmith Speedway Stout, Grist House Double Vice
4. F AT HEADS hop juju
9% Imperial IPA - fatheadsbeer.com
HOP JUJU YOU, YOU GOT WHAT I NEED. AND YOU SAY IT’S JUST A BEER AND YOU SAY IT’S JUST A BEER, HOP JUJU YOU, YOU GOT WHAT I NEED. Yeah, so working Hop Juju into song lyrics is a thing I do now. Can’t help it. Fell deep into the OMG IS HOP JUJU HERE YET hype-train and now I’m just sitting around trying to work Juju into every song that has “you” in it. Hop Juju is a slippery slope, friends. Part 5 or maybe 6 in the post-holiday IPA arms race, you get your Nugget Nectar, you get your Hopslam, you get your Mammoth, you spend deep-winter in a deeplupulin-induced coma/hibernation. True to Fat Heads’ form, the label doesn’t so much sell the beer to you as it does dare you to drink it with a “reckless use of hops”. It’s a bold move, Cotton, let’s see how it plays out! It’s bigly aromatic, boasting a yuge grilled pineapple and mango aroma. Incredibly juicy on the tongue, orange, papaya and pink grapefruit with little residual sweetness, just the right amount of bitterness on the finish and holy cats 9%. Stop me before I try to turn this beer review
Valentine’s Days are just around the corner, bring on the February spring beers! And keep your damn pumpkin beers in October! Recommended if you like: Spoonwood - Rye Demise, Helltown - Reaper’s Harvest, Arcadia - Sky High Rye, Knee Deep - NE Auburn Pale Ale
6. R IVERTOWNE/SLY FOX glove dropper 6% Blood Orange IPA - myrivertowne.com
If there’s one thing Pittsburgh and Philadelphia people can agree upon, it’s that our hockey team is better than yours and dagnabbit I’ll punch you in the face if you disagree. So it’s nice to see Sly Fox and Rivertowne set aside our regional differences and property tribute the greatest player both teams lost. Jaromir Jagr. Sure, you guys can spin this however you want, stadium series, East vs. West, but the proof is right on the label. You made a 68-IBU IPA and slapped that right on the jersey there. Good on you both for recognizing the power of the mullet. Much like Jagr’s career, many citrus IPAs tend to leave fake, bitter taste long after their welcome has been worn. Rivertowne was wise to not incorporate that and instead goes after the bright, juicy and slightly sweet flavor of blood oranges and complements that with some new school American hops that lend a clean, complementary hop-finish that Recommended if you like: Flying Dog - Bloodlines, Troegs - First Cut, Green FlashTangerine Soul Style, Fat Heads - Jungle Juiced Head Hunter, Stillwater - Nu Tropic
Follow Hart on Twitter @MoarHops
Recommended if you like: Brew Gentlemen - Mammoth, Bell’s - Hopslam, Great Lakes - Chill Wave, Destihl - Hoperation Overload, Sole - GoodGood
5. B ELLS smitten
Hi everyone, I’m Hart Johnson. You may remember me from memorable Internet musings like July 2012’s “LOL PUMPKIN BEER IN JULY” and January 2015’s “LOL SPRING BEER IN 3 FEET OF SNOW”. I’m here to say I’m over it and I’m embracing seasonal creep. I’ve had enough of hanging onto drinking old ale and barleywine into late March because holy crap stop snowing. It’s not hurting that The 2017 Al Gore Spring In February is upon us, but I’m ready for spring. Show me your spring beers, show them to me in January, make me think of sunshine and green things when the world is gray. You might be able to argue that Smitten is in fact a Valentine’s Day beer, but I’m seeing right through you, Hallmark Employee. This label screams spring. Seasonal arguments aside, this is a damn fine pale ale, classic American pithy grapefruit hops throw up them pithy grapefruit hop flavor gang signs, the rye malt lends a bit of sweetness and a luxurious full body. Hey, if Al Gore was right, 70 degree
CraftPittsburgh.com
6% Rye Pale Ale - bellsbeer.com
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brewer sit-down
MARCUSCOX CP: So you were born and raised in Melbourne, Australia?
MC: Correct. This is the first time I’ve moved elsewhere. I’ve traveled relatively extensively in the last 10-15 years, but never really stuck around somewhere. CP: Did you move to the states just to work here? MC: No, it’s all about my wife’s job. She’s been at the short end of it for quite a few years. When we first met I worked in hospitality, and then at some point relatively early on I ran into brewing. Which is kind of worse in a different way in the sense that you can’t leave until it’s done. She’s been very flexible, so I’m returning the favor. She got a job at Pitt, she’s a professor there. And I’m tagging along for the ride. It kind of worked out perfect, I applied to one job. And [Mindful] were pretty eager to hire me so it worked out well in the end.
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Age?: 43
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Brewing background?: I come directly from a brewery in Melbourne called Thunder Road Brewing Company. We built the brewery in Melbourne probably about seven years ago from scratch. We had a lot of success there, pretty good east coast distribution which is where most of the population is in Australia. We don’t have the dual coasting as much. We did pretty well at a couple of the beer awards there, and we sold a lot of beer. Probably about a million-and-a-half liters a year. So pretty decent. And prior to that, my first brewing job, this is my third, for about five years at a small brewery called Three Ravens.
It had been on a boat and it got the shit kicked out of it. But it still turned up for $15 a six-pack, our dollar must have been doing pretty good. And it was just fine. Then more locally the first beer that I kind of hooked up with was Mountain Goat Brewing, just around the corner from where I grew up.
Guilty Pleasure Beer?: I got a bit bored before you turned up [for the interview] so I had a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, but it didn’t really do much for me, but it was pretty interesting. Somebody told me when I came to the states a few years ago when you take a Natty Light, and you take a chug off the top and hit it with orange juice, that goes pretty well. Pretty messy. Favorite music to brew to?: I prefer not to. I like to be able to hear everything—the pumps, the bubbles. A general rule: silence is preferred. Maybe it’s because I’m a little bit older and deafer. Favorite Pittsburgh bar?: Kimmie’s. I’m gonna go with something that’s not craft beer. I catch the T. There’s a pretty dicey dive bar down there that still has its Christmas lights up. It works out ok, it’s two bucks a drink. So Kimmie’s. If you weren’t brewing?: I got too old for hospitality. Probably too old to work in a kitchen. I probably would have worked in kitchens and burnt out by now. It’s not similar work.
I used to homebrew when I was too young to buy alcohol. And when I started brewing a couple years after that, in my early twenties, there wasn’t a lot of craft beer around in Australia.
Who or what is your spirit animal?: I’m not the most people-friendly person in the world. And on occasion I’m not the nicest person. And I had a whole bunch of guys I used to hang out with who would call me the Jackal. So I’d probably go with the Jackal. It’s one step above the Hyena. That’s going back a few years from when I was a bit more youthful and probably angrier.
First craft beer?: We didn’t have a lot of craft beer that was locally made. So going back almost 25 years, it was Sam Adams Boston Lager.
What do you drive?: Back in Melbourne I rode scooters. I’ll pick something up here when the weather clears.
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CraftPittsburgh.com
cooking with beer
Full Pint IPA
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
STROMBOLI 42
IPAs are difficult to cook with. Naturally, hops are made more bitter when boiled, so just about any kind of reduction makes them intolerably bitter, low and slow is rough on an IPA. I have had some luck using them in quick-cook things, but it’s a tricky balancing act to make sure you don’t end up with a wicked bitterness
that can be so sharp it distracts from whatever it was you’re eating. On the other hand, a nice, crisp IPA can be absolutely awesome in a beer batter and perfect in bread dough, where the baking and frying don’t seem to amp up the bitter the same way a reduction does. I prefer to use IPAs that are heavy on the aromatics —tropical fruit, citrus, brightness—Full Pint IPA was perfect, even with it getting slightly more bitter when cooked it kept that brightness. It worked especially well with the spices in the salami and smelled awesome while baking. Stromboli is a thing more people should make more often. It’s stupid easy, freezes well, reheats like a dream and can be filled with just about anything. Seriously. Anything. It’s a pizza-style dough rolled up with deliciousness
and baked golden brown. Usually served warm with dippy sauces because this is the kind of thing that screams for dippy sauces. Think pepperoni rolls with more stuff. Brilliant, right?!? I made two kinds—salami and aged provolone and pepper bacon and cheddar. Both will be made again. Lunch meats are also perfect in these. The dough has a slight zip from the beer at the end and bakes to a nice crisp, golden brown. You can bake them all the way through if they are all going to eaten fresh. If you plan to freeze slightly underbake them, like threequarters of the suggested time, so they can finish browning up when you reheat. This recipe will make four Strombolis Built of Two or eight Personal Strombolis. And yes, it also makes a bomb pepperoni roll!
Words & Photo Mindy Heisler-Johnson You need to warm up the 18oz of IPA first. I put it in a metal bowl and put it over low heat on my stove, stirring with a wire whisk until it hits around 90°, it only takes a couple minutes. Drink that other half a beer while you do this. When the beer is warmed (nothing over 105° or you’ll murder the yeasts!) add the yeast, sugar and salt and stir until everything is combined. Wander off for a few, give the yeast some time to start bubbling a little. When the yeast is activated and happy add the butter and 4 cups of the flour. Mix with the dough hook until it starts to ball up and make a dough. Gradually add more flour, a half cup at a time, until the dough is creeping up the hook a little and pulling away from the sides and bottom. Let it knead on the mixer until the outside is smooth looking—three to four minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to sides and bottom. The dough should be firm, not sticky, but pliable and nice to work with. Dump it out of the bowl and knead it a few turns by hand, only adding flour if you need to in small quantities to make sure it isn’t sticking to the counter. When you have a nice, smooth dough ball put it back in the bowl. Cover it up and let it think about its life choices until it has tripled in size. This can take a minute, but be patient. More beer, maybe a movie. At some point during the beer & movie marathon make sure you get your filling ingredients prepped! When the dough is all puffed up, punch it down. Not nice, but necessary. Get it out of the bowl and divide into either four (Big Stromboli) or eight (Not As Big Stromboli) chunks, ball up each chunk and set aside. Heat your oven to 375°, get your toppings stuff all together, fetch a rolling pin or similar type device - let the dough rest for 30 minutes or so is what I’m driving at.
• 2-12 oz cans Full Pint IPA (18oz is for the recipe. Other 6oz is for the baker!) • 1 package instant acting yeast • 1½ Tbsp sugar • ½ Tbsp salt • 4 Tbsp softened butter • 5–7 cups all purpose flour • 1 lb-ish Meat – I used a hard salami, sliced and julienned • 1 lb-ish grated cheese – I used an aged provolone
Sprinkle MORE cheese on top of each stromboli and bake until golden brown— around 22-25 minutes. Let them cool a bit before trying to cut into them less you create a river of molten cheese. Which would be very sad. Enjoy with your favorite dippy sauces. Because dippy sauces.
CraftPittsburgh.com
Full Pint IPA Stromboli Dough
(Quantities after this are for The Big Stromboli, use half for Not As Big ones) After it’s rested flour the first dough ball a little bit and use the pin to roll it out into a half inch thick rectangle, approximately 12” long x 8” wide. Place a nice layer of the fillings everywhere but on the bottom inch. Roll up like, well, a big fat roll. Place seam side down on a parchment lined tray and tuck your ends to prevent the escape of precious, precious, cheese. Repeat until you are out of dough balls.
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home brewing Words Jack Smith
extract brewing redefined
Making Your Own Tinctures
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Coffee. Citrus zest. Chocolate. Tree nuts. Cherries. Vanilla. Coconut. Basil. Cinnamon. Lavender. Papaya. Oak.
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Imagine a beer with all those flavors! OK, that’s gross. But imagine being able to add any of those flavors and myriad more to any beer you brew. Or any beer you buy. Now we’re on to something! You’ve probably added ground coffee or cacao nibs to your boil or fermentor. Maybe you’ve aged your beer on oak cubes or vanilla beans or added a can of fruit to the secondary. These are great ways to flavor a beer but they all have one major downside: you commit to a full batch of flavored beer with a predetermined level of whatever flavor you’re adding. If you add too much or too little or if the flavor combination just doesn’t work that well you’re stuck with a whole batch of gutwrenching sorrow. That’s where tinctures come in. Simply put, tinctures are flavor extracts made by soaking something flavorful in alcohol. Clear, flavorless liquor is typically used. Ron Swanson says that clear alcohols are for rich women on diets. Obviously he’s not into making tinctures or he’d change his tune. Vodka is the perfect solution. I have used everclear because it is cheap and very high proof. Because it’s cheap, though, it tastes lousy - harsh, bitter, and solventlike. Go with a moderate-quality vodka. To make a tincture, put some flavorants in a mason jar and add enough vodka to cover. Put
a lid on the jar and let it sit for a week or two, swirling the jar once a day. Strain the liquid from the solids and store indefinitely. Done. What kind of flavorants? Anything you can imagine, really. Cacao nibs. Coffee beans. Dried fruit -- cherries, mangoes, raisins, plums, whatever. Oak cubes or chips. My favorite: fresh citrus zest. Always struggle with how much and what kind of zest to add to your witbier? Should you add it to the boil or the fermenter? Forget all that. Make several tinctures—grapefruit, blood orange, cara cara orange, etc. Then add them in various proportions to the finished witbier. If you’re making one tincture, might as well make a dozen and give yourself some options!
Saved by the Buoyancy of Citrus: Lime Zest Saison
Now that you have a homemade tincture or twelve, how do you use them? Easy! Grab a measuring syringe with 0.1ml increments and draw up a couple milliliters of tincture. Add 0.5ml to a glass and fill said glass with beer. Taste it. Does it need more? Add more. Less? Dilute with more beer. Repeat until you’ve found the right balance of flavor and aroma from the tincture. You’re looking for harmony between the additive and the base beer. Like tuning a guitar string, you’ll know it when you hit the right note.
Grainbill
Having an arsenal of homemade tinctures opens the doors to producing herb, spice, or fruit beers on demand and in any quantity. If you compete with your homebrew, now you have the ability to produce several flavored beers from one base beer. Now get experimentin’! The recipe below is just a stepping-off point. Use your noodle and let’s see what flavors you come up with! Hint: don’t use noodles; they don’t taste particularly awesome in beer.
Batch Size: 5.25 gal. Boil Time: 60 minutes OG: 1.052 FG: 1.006 ABV: 6.0% IBU: 25 SRM: 4 Difficulty: Medium for all-grain (step mash), Easy for extract *Assuming 65% brewhouse efficiency
4 lb US 2-row 3.5 lb wheat malt 8 oz Crystal 10L 1.5 lb table sugar * Extract Brewers: Replace the 2-row with 2.5 lbs extra light DME. Replace the wheat malt with 2 lbs wheat DME. Your beer will be a little darker than the all-grain version because it’s hard to make a pale yellow beer with extract, but it will still be delicious. Steep the Crystal 10L in a grain sack for 30 minutes at 150° F, then drain your sack, top your kettle up with water, and add the malt extracts plus table sugar and boil as per usual.
Hops
30 grams Styrian Golding (5% AA) @ 60 min. 20 grams Sorachi Ace (11% AA) @ 0 min.
Mash & Boil
Dough in at 132° F and rest for 30 minutes. Increase temperature to 152° F and rest for 30 more minutes. If you do not have the ability to
heat your mash tun, you can add boiling water to ramp your mash temperature—just dough in a little thicker than you normally do. One quart per pound is a good target, and add enough boiling water while stirring your mash to raise the temp to 152 after the initial rest. After both rests, do a mashout if that’s your thing then sparge & lauter as you typically do. Boil for 60 minutes. Add the table sugar before you achieve a boil.
Yeast/Fermentation
There are a handful of saison yeast strains available to homebrewers. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. The DuPont strain (WLP565 or Wyeast 3724), will provide that classic Saison DuPont flavor and aroma, but it’s notoriously finicky—requiring a lot of oxygen up front and constant ramping of temperatures throughout fermentation, sometimes even requiring manual agitation to rouse the yeast to ensure it completes. A more user-friendly option is French Saison (WLP590 or Wyeast 3711). The flavor and aroma profile produced tends to be a little less complex and a bit softer, but the yeast is very easy to work with. Fermenting straight through at 70° F with average oxygenation is all it takes.
Packaging Additions
Make a lime zest tincture following the process described above. Pour yourself four, 3-oz. samples of saison that’s carbonated and ready to drink. Add 0.6ml of tincture to one sample, 0.4ml to another, 0.2ml to the third one, and leave the fourth as a control. Taste them and see if any are in the ballpark. If they’re all too high or too low, start over and try with different amounts of tincture. Once you have determined your favorite, scale it up to your total volume. If you use 0.4ml in 3 ounces, then you’ll need 85ml in five gallons of beer. I’ve learned the hard way this doesn’t scale linearly, so start by adding a third of that—about 30ml—to your keg. Stir it in, taste a sample, and add more if necessary. If you’re bottling, the amounts are different but the idea’s the same. Or, leave your beer supply alone and just add some tincture to your glass each time you serve some. You can keep your bottle of Mexican macrobrew with a lime wedge crammed in the neck; I’ll be over here drinking thunderjugs of this bright, refreshing lime saison. I’ll probably order some Pad Kee Mao from the local Thai carryout tonight, and this beer will compliment it perfectly. For dessert I’m thinking about making (read: asking my household’s resident excellent baker to make) some ginger-lime cheesecake. Do you think this beer would go well with it? I submit that it would.
CraftPittsburgh.com
Suggested Pairings
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what’s brewing?
Gunga Galunga Words & Illustration Mark Brewer
CraftPittsburgh | issue 30
Insurrection AleWorks has an American Pale Ale on tap called Gunga Galunga
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A name chosen from Bill Murray’s line in the movie Caddyshack, Gunga Galunga is hopped with Citra and Galaxy hops while fermented with Insurrection’s own house yeast. Due to the fact that this brew is unfiltered, it appears opaque and light-yellow in color. On the nose you can smell fresh hops and lemon peel. It has a light body and on the first sip you’ll notice the effervescence of small bubbles in your mouth. Initially you’ll taste the malt although it will finish with a bitterness from the hops as the IBU’s are 80 for this beer. On the back end of Gunga Galunga is a slight lingering taste of lemon which only sits in the mouth briefly until all taste dissolves and you’re ready for the next sip. Insurrection AleWorks is a small brewery located in Heidelberg on 1635 East Railroad St. They specialize in small batches of tasty beer including sours and hoppy ales all of which are naturally carbonated. Most craft breweries force-carbonate their brews rather than opting for the time-consuming method of natural carbonation. Insurrection AleWorks has a small list of delicious food choices for you to pair with your beer selection(s). They are open each day with the exception of Monday. Mark Brewer is the author & illustrator of Brewology, An Illustrated Dictionary for Beer Lovers
CHEERS TO CHOICES
Introducing the soon-to-be-released can variety pack from Southern Tier Brewing Company. Overpack’d features 5 remarkable beers, three of each, for what we think is a heck of a 15 pack.