Playing with the Darkness

It has been almost two months since I brewed the 2.0 version of Experimental Dark Matter, my dark smoked ale which I can never decide if it is a mild or a porter. The recipe for this version of EDM, new name pending admittedly, was as follows:

• 3lbs light DME
• 0.5lb chocolate malt
• 0.5lb caramel 120 malt
• 0.1lb peated malt
• 0.5oz EKG @ 60
• 0.25oz EKG @ 15
• 0.25oz EKG @ 1
• Wyeast 1782 Scottish Ale yeast

The vitals for the brew were:

• OG - 1.052
• FG - 1.016
• ABV - 4.8%
• IBU - 21

Ah yes, but how did it taste? Well last night I pulled a bottle from the cellar and gave it a try.

It certainly looked as I wanted it to, pitch black with just a merest hint of crimson at the edges. The head was about the same colour as the original EDM, but not as creamy, perhaps something a touch of wheat in the grist would solve? I had been forewarned that using excessive peated malt would make the beer too smoky, but the nose of this one was not smoky enough for me. If you grew up in the Highlands or the west coast of Ireland, where peat is the fuel of choice for many, you get used to the smell of peat smoke and I wanted more of that smell than I got. The dominant force on the nose was chocolate, dark bitter chocolate, backed up by earthy and oaky notes.

Drinking the beer again brought the chocolate flavours to the fore, though there is a subtle but noticeable touch of booziness to the beer and a light, almost nutty, roastiness. The spicy bitterness of the East Kent Goldings cut through the sweetness nicely so that the beer is not cloying. 

Overall, this version of EDM was good, very similar to the original and definitely something I will enjoy drinking, though I might prefer to make it for spring or autumn, and add a touch more of the peated malt.

British Sedition

In the current edition of Brew Your Own magazine there is an interesting article about the birth of a new beer style, at various times the style in question has been called Black IPA or Cascadian Dark Ale or in my ever so eloquent term when I first had the style, "crap". Having got together an eminently qualified collection of experts, it was decided to set the parameters for the new style, which at the Great American Beer Festival will be known as "American Style India Black Ale". The parameters for the GABF are as follows:

• Color = 25+ SRM
• Original Gravity = 1.056–1.075
• Final Gravity = 1.012–1.018
• Bitterness = 50–70 IBU
• Alcohol by volume = 6–7.5%

In terms of mouthfeel and so on, the parameters have been set as follows (and I have taken these directly from the Brew Your Own website):

Aroma – Prominent Northwest variety hop aromas – resinous pine, citrus, sweet malt, hints of roast malt, chocolate and/or Carafa®, can include mild coffee notes, dry hopped character is often present.

Appearance – Deep brown to black with ruby highlights. Head varies from white to tan/khaki.

Flavor – A balance between citrus like and spicy Northwest hop flavor, bitterness, caramel and roast, chocolate, or Carafa® type malts. Any roast character should be subdued. Black malt is acceptable at low levels but should not be astringent. Any burnt character is not appropriate. The finish should be dry with caramel malt as a secondary flavor. Diacetyl should not be present. The main emphasis should be on hop flavor.

Mouthfeel – Light to medium, hop bitterness and tannins from roast malts combine to create a dry mouthfeel. Resinous character from high levels of dry hopping may create a tongue coating sensation.

Comments – Some brewers prefer to cold steep the dark grains to achieve a very dark beer without the tannin contribution of adding these grains to the mash. The use of Sinamar® color extract to enhance the color is common.

The article itself, which you can read here, then goes on to explain how ASIBA is different from a hoppy stout or porter, but I personally am unconvinced. Therefore I have decided to try an experiment with an upcoming homebrew project. I am going to take one of the clone recipes provided with the article, leave the malts alone by and large, but substitute the hops with British varieties such as Challenger, Target and Northdown. As of this moment I am undecided as to whether to stick with an American yeast or use a British ale strain of some kind.

If I discover that indeed ASIBA is significantly different from a traditional porter, then I would like to believe that I will have developed a new beer style to revolutionise the world of brewing, the British Style American Style India Black Ale! I am sure the world waits with bated breath.

The Meaning of Beer

I have been reading with interest various posts on other blogs about the terminology we use when talking about our favourite libation; whether than be craft beer, micro beer, real beer or any other of a legion of terms. One post in particular got my attention with the term "imitation beer" to describe beer made with various additives and industrial processes. All this hair splitting though got me thinking about the ultimate basic question for us tipplers, what is beer?

A simple enough question you might think, but it is really a fundamental one.

According to dictionary.com's sources, the noun "beer" has three main descriptions:

• an alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermentation from cereals, usually malted barley, and flavored with hops and the like for a slightly bitter taste.
• any of various beverages, whether alcoholic or not, made from roots, molasses or sugar, yeast, etc.: root beer; ginger beer.
• an individual serving of beer; a glass, can, or bottle of beer: We'll have three beers.

We can forget about the last definition there for the sake of this post. The second definition is certainly interesting, especially given that once upon a time both ginger beer and root beer were alcoholic and it is pretty much only since Prohibition that they became soft drinks.

The first definition is interesting for several reasons. Firstly it acknowledges that while malted barley is the dominant cereal used in brewing, it is not the only grain. Naturally we immediately think about wheat, rye and oats for use in beer, but there are plenty of historical accounts of the use of rice and maize - both during the Colonial era in America, and more recently in the United Kingdom. Indeed I can think of at least one Czech brewer that makes a corn beer, a well respected "micro-brewer" no less. Clearly the definition was not written by a hop maniac, as so many of the revered beers of the craft brew world are somewhat more than "slightly bitter".

If this were a case of international politics, we would probably stand aghast at the imposition of a given country's perception of beer on other brewing traditions, yet this is exactly what happens with the near sanctification of something like Reinheitsgebot. For some reason we have it in our collective heads that beer must only be made with barley, hops, yeast and water, but that immediately raises problems for beer lovers everywhere, especially those convinced that Westvleteren is the greatest beer to ever exist, after all it uses an adjunct of sugar.

One of the comments I found most interesting in this post refers to the processes undertaken by macro brewers, specifically "all that science tweaking a molecule here and a compound there", as though the application of science is in some way evil. Now consider what many breweries do by using water stripped of the natural minerals local to an area and then adding various salts to mimic brewing waters for certain beer styles. Is this not the exact same thing, as such all beers that add gypsum to burtonise their water should have to label their brews as "imitation Burton ales"?

I tend to the opinion these days that if a beer is accepted as such by the majority of drinkers then who am I to say it is not really beer? I may not like most of the beers from multinational brewers, but they are still beer.

Brewer of the Week

A couple of years ago, Mrs Velkyal and I went to Ireland for a long weekend as it was a public holiday back in the Czech Republic, and close enough to my birthday to be considered a treat. It was there that I met various other beer bloggers, The Beer Nut, Barry from The Bitten Bullet and Saruman of The Tale of the Ale. That weekend is lodged in my memory as one of my favourite trips ever. The highlight for me though was fulfilling a long standing ambition to go to Galway out on the west coast, in a part of Ireland that bears a striking resemblance to the part of Scotland I grew up in, it was like going home. The fact that we spent most of the day in the magnificent Sheridan's on the Docks and I delighted in my first Galway Hooker made the day even more memorable. This week, Fuggled talks to the maker of that most wonderful of beers!

Name: Aidan Murphy
Brewery: Galway Hooker

How did you get into brewing as a career?

I always had an interest in beer ever since visiting Germany as a school boy and seeing the variety available there. I studied Food Science in university and followed this up with a masters in Brewing and Distilling. Following this I got my first job in brewing in the Isle of Man at Okells Brewery.

What is the most important characteristic of a brewer?

I think having a passion for what you do is the most important. If you love good beer you will work hard to make sure its right.

Before being a professional brewer, did you homebrew? If so, how many of your homebrew recipes have you converted to full scale production?

No. Have never home brewed.

What is your favourite beer that you brew?

Our Irish Pale Ale. I love hoppy but balanced beers.

If you have worked in other breweries, which other beer did you enjoy brewing, and why?

I always enjoy brewing new beers. So any beer I’m doing for the first time is always the most exciting.

Of the beers you brew, which is your favourite to drink?

Our Irish Pale Ale, Galway Hooker. I love hoppy but balanced beers.

How important is authenticity when making a new beer, in terms of flavour, ingredients and method?

I think it is of moderate importance. The most important thing is the flavour and purity. If I brew an mild and something thinks it’s more like a porter, that is of little importance to me. The important thing is if they like it!!

If you were to do a collaborative beer, which brewery would you most like to work with and why?

I believe all the microbreweries in Ireland are great so I would be happy to work with any of them. It would just depend on who it best fits with at that particular time

Which beer, other than your own, do you wish you had invented?

Sierra Nevada. I think this is an iconic beer for most microbrewers.

A Homebrew Log part 2

I mentioned on Monday that I had swapped some homebrew samples with James from A Homebrew Log. In addition to the IHP Pale Ale which was the original cause of the swap, we traded some other beers, in my case I gave him a 22oz bottle of Gael 80/-, LimeLight and a 12oz bottle of Black Rose. Coming the other way were 12oz bottles of James's Cider, Chili Lager, Apple Ale, Peter McCotton 80/- and Imperial Walker Texas Ranger Stout.

Last night I decided to try the ales from the collection, leaving the lager and cider to chill down in the fridge for a day or so, to be written about at some later date (probably a rare weekend post). First up was the Apple Ale, the recipe for which was inspired by a German drink called Graff, 80% cider, 20% amber beer.

As you can see from the picture, it is a nice golden colour, bordering on a light amber, topped off with a loose white head that thinned out rather quickly. I had no idea what to expect with this, other than a prevalence of apples on both the nose and in the mouth, and so it turned out to be. Behind the apples though was a very gentle sweet maltiness which added body to the liquid, I can't work out whether to call this a beer or what! On a hot, hot day, and yesterday is Charlottesville was a bloody hot, hot day, this chilled down was beautifully refreshing and something I plan to brew in the future, though possibly as a candidate for mulling in the depths of winter.

Following the Graff was Peter McCotton 80/-, an export ale in the Scottish style, which to look at was very similar to my Gael 80/-.

This one was definitely a beer! A deep ruby beer which had a very loose light tan head. The nose was very much coffee to the fore, with a slight toastiness in the background which kind of made me think of breakfast. The roasty notes from the nose played on through to the drinking, so be followed by a smooth gentle caramel flavour which rounded out the beer nicely. With the coffee and roastiness it would be easy to see this as a very toned down stout, but without the cloying feeling you sometimes get with stouts and porters. The finish was long and dry,

Having had stout in mind, it was time to move on to the big beast.

Imperial Walker Texas Ranger Stout is an 8.5% ABV brute of a beer which is very dark indeed, with just the merest tinge of crimson at the edges. Even before I got the glass to my nose I could smell the coffee, big walloping dollops of coffee, with an almost milky background and as the drinking wore on a distinct boozy glow. As with many a stout, coffee and chocolate dominate the flavours, espresso and dark chocolate respectively. In the depths of winter, this would be a great beer to come home to and sip by the fire, a lovely drop indeed.

So, 3 good beers from Fredericksburg and well done James!

IHP Pale Ale a la A Homebrew Log

The plan was simple, trade homebrew with a fellow homebrewer and blog about them. The original plan was to swap American Pale Ales brewed for the International Homebrew Project which I organised back in January and blog about them. Well, James from A Homebrew Log and I met a couple of weeks ago to swap beers, and last night I popped up his version of the IHP recipe.

As ever, I use my version of Cyclops.

• Sight - amber, volumous rocky white head and lots of carbonation
• Smell - grapefruit hoppiness, but not extreme
• Taste - a nice balance between the hops and a smooth sweet maltiness
• Sweet - 2/5
• Bitter - 2.5/5

A very, very nice pale ale indeed! A nice smooth body with a long dry finish which was just perfect to end the day with. I could certainly, and happily, drink large volumes of this! One of my criticisms of pale ales at times is that they are thin and the hoppiness often makes drinking it like puckering up and sucking a lemon, James's beer is most definitely not in that ball park.

Originally I planned to drink this alongside my own version of the recipe, which I am calling Copper Head Pale Ale, but like a doofus I gave the remaining bottles of my version away. So this post ends a few paragraphs early, but you can read what James has to say about the Pale Ale and my Scottish 80/- ale here.

On Wednesday I will be writing about the other beers James gave me, and if they are as good as the pale ale, then it should be a fun Tuesday night's drinking preparing for a Wednesday's posting!

Brewer of the Week

For the 400th post on Fuggled, I decided to go almost back to the beginning for my Brewer of the Week, to the makers of the beer that got me into properly made beer, and the beer that even today is still one of my favourites. The beer was Bishop's Finger from Shepherd Neame in Faversham, Kent.

Name: Stewart Main
Brewery: Shepherd Neame

How did you get into brewing as a career?

I was born and bred in Edinburgh, which, in its time was one of the main Brewing centers in Britain. There were 18 breweries in the city in the 1940/50s, so the industry was a fairly large employer, indeed my father, mother, both grandfathers and various uncles worked in the brewing industry. I started at Drybroughs Brewery in Craigmillar in January 1973 in Quality Control . I did an HNC Biology then a BSc in Brewing at Heriot Watt University and over the years gained experience in every department . Did my Master Brewer examinations during my time at Drybroughs and moved south to Burtonwood Brewery in Warrington in 1986. Hook Norton Brewery followed and now I am happily brewing at Shepherd Neame .

What is the most important characteristic of a brewer?

A number of skills are needed to make a “complete “ Brewer . A complete understanding of the science behind what is happening in the mash tun , copper and fermentation vessels, so that the effect of time, and temperature means something to you, otherwise you cannot control the process. Microbiological understanding and therefore the importance of hygiene is paramount. Good interpersonal skills and man–management ability is key to building a strong team around you. The love of the product comes near the top of the list!

Before being a professional brewer, did you homebrew? If so, how many of your homebrew recipes have you converted to full scale production?

Never did any home brewing, although I remember my father having a go when I was young. Plastic dust bins in the lounge etc. I never encourage home brewing. Far rather people went out to the pub, drink my beer and keep me in a job!.

If you did homebrew, do you still?

Over the last couple of years I have started to make my own liqueurs. Bramble Gin, Sloe Gin, Coffee, Orange, Lemon and Galliano . Always looking for something new. Make very acceptable Christmas presents.

What is your favourite beer that you brew?

Spitfire is a favourite. The aroma in the Brewhouse as the combination of pale and roasted malts mixes with our pure well water in the mash tun is amazing. The fact that the tun is made of oak and of 1914 vintage and we are Britains oldest brewer always makes it special and actually makes me feel quite honoured and proud.

If you have worked in other breweries, which other beer did you enjoy brewing, and why?

This is easy. Burtonwood Dark Mild will always be my favourite. A classic dark Northern mild, only 3.0% abv but packed full of fantastic roast, black malt flavours. It had a good bitterness for a cask and was not sweet. Happy memories of a fine cask ale, sadly no longer brewed. The first brew I ever put through our Pilot Brewery was based on this beer, it was called Old Faversham Dark and I continue to brew it from time to time. Now a favourite in the South!

Of the beers you brew, which is your favourite to

A great, naturally conditioned bottled beer, 1698. 6.5% abv packed full of fruity, malty, flavours. The higher alcohol just fills it with character. Goes fantastic with, strong, mature, cheddar cheese.

How important is authenticity when making a new beer, in terms of flavour, ingredients and method?

I create a lot of new beers both in the Main and Pilot Brewery and I really believe that using the best malts and hops produces quality beers. There are a huge range of malts and hops to choose from, you are only limited by your own imagination. I do believe in telling people what malts and hops go into the brew, it makes the drinking far more pleasurable.

If you were to do a collaborative beer, which brewery would you most like to work with and why?

It could never happen, but I would have loved to have brewed with Campbell, Hope and King in Edinburgh. My grandfather was a Cooper there, and my father and uncle also. It was right next door to Heriot Watt University in the heart of the city. A truly traditional old Brewery now sadly no more. Closed in the 1960s by Whitbread. Over the last few years I have collaborated with quite a few American brewers, brewing their beers here at Faversham for the Wetherspoons cask beer festival. American IPA type beers and others more English in style.

Which beer, other than your own, do you wish you had invented?

Have never wished I had invented anybody elses beer. Over nearly 40yrs in brewing I have created very many beers and am proud of them all. Each has its own special place in my memory.