Hello All,
I survived the Strong Ale Festival! The event was a huge success. AleSmith walked away with the people’s choice and the brewer’s choice award for the J.P. Gray’s Wee Heavy–which was served on a beer engine. Over 250 people showed up throughout the evening despite the rainy weather. The kitchen made up a smoked bratwurst, red cabbage, sauerkraut pizza with a mustart suace on a wholegrain beer crust for the night which was awesome.
Lots of raffle prizes were given away and everyone had a good time. Bottom line is that it went well enough to start thinking about the next festival–real ale fest with beer engines in the Spring. Check out the Fest T-shirts as well.
Lots of updates and reviews in here this time. I reviewed the beers from the Strong Ale Fest. I also have started some new sections since I am now talking about a new brewery. In What’s Brewing I will mention new beers being brewed, brewhouse topics, ingredients, etc… I will also be doing an On Tap section that will highlight special beers on tap at the Port.
And since I am making changes, this is a fine time to give me any suggestions you might have on what you like/don’t like or how to make this newsletter better–other than having it come out more often. Next month I start my third year of the AlEmail. Thanks to all who have been here since the beginning and to all who have jumped on along the way.
I wish you all a merry christmas and bery happy and suds filled new year!
Cheers
Tom
CONTENTS:
STRONG ALE RESULTS
WHAT’S BREWING
SO CAL BEER PAGE
BEER DESCRIPTIONS
PUB UPDATES
ON TAP
WEB SITE
RECIPES
MEAD
STRONG ALE RESULTS
We collected over 150 votes from the Fest for our People’s Choice award and here is how it finished:
1st place AleSmith J.P.
Gray’s Wee Heavy
2nd place Stone Brewing Company Turbo Arrogant Bastard Ale
3rd place San Diego Breiwng Company Red Star Stout
Honorable Mention Ballast Point Navigator Barleywine
And then we took votes just from the brewers in attendence for a Brewer’s Coice award. The hands down favorite was:
AleSmith J.P. Gray’s Wee Heavy
The voting wasn’t even close for this one. It was a great beer. Tomme Arthur from Port Solana finished second with his Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout. If you weren’t there to see the trophies, we gave away Hercules action figures mounted on a wood base. Congrats to all the brewers and breweries that won!
I would also like to extend an enormous THANK YOU to eveyone who participated in the event and helped to make it a success and to all who showed up on a rainy night. I owe a huge THANKS to the staff at Port Carlsbad, especially the bartenders who did a great job of making the festival run smoothly. And a special thanks to White Labs Yeast for helping sponsor the event! To those who could not come–plan to be there next year!
WHAT’S BREWING
At Port Solana we are two beers into our trilogy of Belgians. The Grand Cru is now aging in secondary. It is a big, fruity beer with lots of raisin and banana notes. The alcohol is over 9% by volume giving it a nice warmth as it goes down. This beer will most likely age for a few weeks and go on tap mid-late January. In the meantime enjoy the Dubbel Overhead Abbey Ale on tap at both Ports.
The final beer in this run will be the Trippel Overhead. A light, golden trippel with plenty of candi sugar and alcohol. Brewer Tomme Arthur predicts this one will be over the top. It will be brewed in early January for release in late February or early March. I will keep you posted.
While the White Labs Trappist Ale Yeast is floating around, Skip at AleSmith decided to brew his gold medal Belgian Ale from the old P.B. Brewhouse. Look for that to be a late Winter release.
Up at Port Carlsbad we will be adding a Pale Ale to our regular rotation of beers. If all goes well, I will get to brew the inaugral batch using my own recipe. Brewdate should be in early January for release by the end of the month. Believe me, this you will hear more about as it happens!
SO CAL BEER PAGE
A great Southern California Beer and Brewing site! Check out:
http://members.aol.com/socalbeer
and
http://members.aol.com/scbeernews
The pages are packed with all kinds of info on beer, brewing, pubs, breweries, homebrewing, etc… He has event listings and all kinds of good info on the So Cal beer scene. This should be a regular stop for any beer-nut web surfer!
BEER DESCRIPTIONS
I thought I would jot down some of my hazy memories from tasting all of the beers at the Strong Ale Fest.
AleSmith’s J.P. Gray’s Wee Heavy – Served on a beer engine from a traditional English Firkin (a type of keg used for real ale). This was a great beer. Easy to drink, not too sweet with a nice caramel flavor and a creamy finish. The only down side is that the keg was emptied.
Baja Brewing Co.’s Baja Belgian Trippel – This beer benefitted from its extended aging from this Summer. Clear and fruity, this light-bodied offering was almost too easy to drink. A warm alcohol flavor and a subtle maltiness lingered in the finish.
Ballast Point Brewing Co.’s Navigator Barleywine – The strongest beer at the fest. This beer still had tons of hop flavor in it. A nice caramel/brown sugar flavor was there to balance it out. Too bad you can’t get this in bottles, because this beer will age very well. Let’s hope they throw a keg or two aside for next year!
Del Mar Stuft Pizza & Brewery’s Belgian Holiday Ale – Made with White Labs Trappist Ale Yeast this beer had a big spicy-clove aroma and flavor. Lots of specialty malts–mostly Belgian, gave this beer a complex grain/malt flavor.
Hang Ten Brewing Co. brought two beers, both served on nitrogen:
Barneywhine – This light colored barleywine went down like cream from the nitrogen tapping. A definite alcohol warmth that will mellow with time. Subdued hops and very little crystal malt. A very interesting barleywine Toes Over
Imperial Stout – This beer was nearly a year old at tapping time. The nitrogen took the bite out of the roast flavors leaving the beer with a very chocolatety finish.
La Jolla Brewing Company’s Blitzen Holiday Ale – This is basically a double recipe version of their Red ale. I listed it as an old ale, but it has a nice roastiness that would be out of style. Not what I expected, but a very good strong ale.
Port Carlsbad’s Elfin Holiday Ale – I’ve been drinking this one for the last few weeks and it just keeps getting better. The spices mellowed perfectly so that neither the cinnamon or vanilla is overwhelming at all. Not too dark, with just a little mix of crystal malt for color.
Port Solana also brought up two beers:
Old Boneyards Barleywine – Hoppy and fruity. This was a nice middle of the road offering in comparison to the other barleywines at the fest. Unfortunately this was the last keg, but don’t worry, we’ll brew more. Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout – A big bad Imperial Stout. Sweet at first with a slight bitterness right at the end. British Chocolat and Roasted malts add deep color with a biting coffee-like flavor. And yes, it was named after the dog on the Simpson’s.
San Diego Brewing Co.’s Red Star Stout – Very different from the other two Imperial Stouts at the fest. A huge, hoppy, bittersweet flavor dominated this complex beer. Lots of roast character and plenty of color. Look for the Old 395 barleywine from SD Brew Co. in February!
Stone Brewing Co.’s Turbo Arrogant Bastard Ale – The extra maltiness in the Turbo version was enough to balance out the obscene amount of Chinook hops in the normal version. Wish this is the one that was available. Too bad they only had a five gallon keg at the fest!
PUB UPDATES
A couple of non-Strong Ale Fest related updates here.
Callahan’s Pub in Mira Mesa Mall is nearly finished with its renovations. The brewery is not up and running yet, but Charles at San Diego Brewing Co. is working hard to keep the house beers flowing. The best new feature is the addition of about 15 guest handles to the bar. No local offerings on tap, but a good selection of West Coast micros is there for the sampling–including Sierra Nevada Celebration. The place looks great and has certainly become much more beer-friendly. They still have wing nights on Wednesday as well.
Ballast Point Brewing Co. is brewing its new Yellow Tail Pale Ale today (Tuesday) for release in mid-late January. Salesman Mike Mellow already has 8 accounts lined up for the new beer so keep an eye out for it in the new year. In the meantime look for the Navigator Barleywine to be released soon to bars around town including the Port, Porter’s Pub and San Diego Brewing Co.
New brewer Andy Schwartz at Del Mar Stuft Pizza has his new IPA on-line and it is very good. A mix of Columbus, Centennial and Cascade hops, this one has a great hop flavor without an overpowering bitterness. I tried his new stout at 3 days old and it is going to be good as well. Andy is a friendly guy so go down and try his beers and say hello.
Rumors floating around indicate that Baja Brewing Company is selling its brewing equipment, but keeping the restaurant open. If I hear something concrete I will pass it along.
ON TAP
A quick run-down on some of the seasonal and specialty offerings available at the two Ports:
Solana Beach:
Dubbel Overhead Abbey Ale – a great Belgain dubbel. Dark brown, fruity and 6.5% alcohol. Check out the rad surfing monk T-shirts from the release party.
Ale Nino – A seasonal fill-in for the 101 Nut Brown. This one is a little stronger, though slightly lighter in color.
Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout – One of the biggest Imperial Stouts I’ve ever had. Its thick and chewy and goes down smooth. With 10.5% alcohol by volume don’t drink too many pints.
Also on tap are: AleSmith’s Wee Heavy, Redhook’s Winterhook, Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale and the Elfin Holiday Ale from Port Carlsbad. Look for the Yulesmith from AleSmith coming soon–perhaps the finest beer I have drunk all year.
Carlsbad:
Elfin Holiday Ale – A nice copper-colored ale spiced with vanilla and cinnamon. The spices blend effortlessly with the beer making this one easy to drink.
Carlsbad has a great selection of holiday beers right now including:
Anchor X-mas, Pyramid’s Sno Cap, Full Sail’s Wassail, North Coast Brewing Co.’s Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, Widmer Winternacht and the Dubbel Overhead Abbey Ale. Sierra Nevada Celebration jsut came back as well! Also Mendocino’s special Eye of the Hawk Ale will be coming to both Ports.
WEB SITE
Our web site is starting to come together. Check it out at: www.pizzaport.com Any comments or suggestions would be welcome! I am going to start posting back issues of my AlEmail on the web site.
RECIPE
I am passing along a beer and a mead recipe this week. The beer is a variant on my Pale Ale recipe. The mead is tasty combo of cranberries and blackberries.
This is designed to be like Sierra Nevada. As usual, I brewed this one as
an all grain. I will pass along the grain and an extract version.
Tom’s Pale Ale
9# Great Western 2-row
.75# 40L Crystal
.5# 60L Crystal
.25# Carapils
1 oz Chinook (pellets or flowers) pellets at 10.6% AA – Boil 1 hour
1 oz Cascade 15 minutes
1 oz Cascade Knock Out
California Ale Yeast
I mashed as close to 152F as I could. Pual and I made 1 barrel of this and tried several different yeasts including White Labs Burton Ale and British Ale both of which should work great in this beer.
Extract:
8# Pale Malt
.75# 40L Crystal
.5# 60L Crystal
1.25 oz Chinook pellets – 10.6% AA – boil
1 oz Cascade – 15 minutes
1 oz Cascade – Knock out
California Ale Yeast
MEAD
One note before I start the recipe, Port Carlsbad has the three Honeyrun Fruit Meads available: Cranberry, Blackberry and Cherry. The recipe below comes out much like the Cranberry one. Quite good. The tartness of the fruit balances the slightly sweet finish. A nice alternative to beer once in a while. I drank nearly a whole bottle of the Cranberry at the Port X-mas party.
This mead is a great fruity drink. A bit of a kool-aid character to it when it is young, but it has aged beautifully. The blackberries add a bit of color, though not too much flavor. Recipe is for 5 gallons.
Crackberry Mead (cran/black berry)
14 pounds Light Honey – Wildflower blends work well
2.5 pounds Cranberries
1 pound Blackberries
2 packs Cote Des Blancs Yeast
I boiled the honey for 5 minutes and then added the frozen fruit and let it
steep for 15 more. I tied the fruit up in a big steeping bag and left it
in a plastic bucket for a two-week primary. The fruit really kicks the
yeast into high gear. Transfer to secondary and age. Sparkaloid may be
used to help it clear. Finish should be off-dry.
Thats All Folks!
Tom