6 Common Homebrew Myths with Denny Conn

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

Although Charles Dickens was talking about the French Revolution when he wrote those words, you’d almost think that he was talking about the flow of homebrewing information today. We have unprecedented access to homebrewing information and ingredients, which is a wonderful thing. But at the same time, we almost have an overload of information, and as anyone who has ever tried to hit every booth at Homebrew Con Club Night can tell you, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing!

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

“Hoppy” is too Broad

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Last month, I attempted to improve the quality of dialogue about sour beer by arguing that such a label is an insufficient and needlessly vague way of discussing the diverse range of beers that get lumped into that category simply because they are all somewhat acidic. In effect, “sour” beer is no more meaningful a term than “dark” beer.

Want to read more? Click…

HERE

Beer Profile: Against the Grain Coq de la Marche

Profiled by Maria Devan

This is a saison that uses spelt malt and a late hop addition.

Beer uses two kinds of hops. Bittering and flavor and aroma hops. Bittering hops are added at the begining of the boil and that usually lasts between 60 and 90 minutes. 60 minutes less bitterness than at 90. For late hop addition the idea is that the oils from hops are delicate and they boil off leaving mostly bitterness. So to add flavor and aroma without bitterness you need to add the hops later in the cycle. Flavor and aroma hops are called late hop additions because you do not add them to the brew kettle until just before the end. Some brewers do more than one hop drop let’s say at 15, 10 and 5 minutes before flameout. “With an earlier addition, the flavor/aroma contribution will tilt toward flavor. With a later addition, the flavor/aroma contribution will tilt toward aroma.” You can add hops at flameout too and you can stand them after flameout for a period of time before you start chilling your wort. All these different hop schedules will tweak the aroma and flavors just a bit and the oils that blend from the hops you add can create new flavors or exciting combinations.

Spelt malt is usually used in full bodied top fermenting beer. It is a distant cousin to wheat and imparts dry tart, earthy character and improves head retention.

The pour is sultry yellow with a big head of white foam that dwindles. The color has a little golden edge to it. A stream of bubbles, soft haze. Fruity with melon husks sweet grasses and light lemon. It’s fragrant with a soft flower petal and the nutty perfume from the spelt malt. It’s like the musk on this citrusy fruity beer. Sharp little bit of pepper. Drinks softly and very elegant. The malt sinks into a bit of crackery softness with a touch more flavor than you were expecting. the citrus becomes prominent in the drink but it’s heady with dry lemon. Sweet grasses and alight touch of sugar finish this one dry and with a subtle cheek from bitterness. It’s put together very well and has the perfect bubble. You don’t notice any bite and the malt is very lush to the palate. I think there is a little dry funk on this beer too but I can’t prove it.

This is a lovely, malty saison with a bit of nutty flavor from the spelt malt and a vivacious late hop addition gives it presence on the nose. What I like about this style of beer is that it has a hearty character. The fruit is not easy to name and has a quality that sometimes I think you can only define by a color. Cool green like melon, mixed with a peppery herbal , lemon, a touch of tartness – its’ all compliments and that’s balanced. The bittering hop is strong and could take you to the aspirin like bitterness in a DIPA like heady topper, but in this one it’s softer than that. It does have a sharpness. This is not a big IPA with lots of slick feeling to the body so a crisp sharp bitterness accents dryness. It lingers but not longer than the faintly nutty malt and with the light lemon in the aftertaste. Your palate is not all the way reset because of the spelt and the sugar. You want to pair this beer with aged or soft cheeses and a variety of artisan breads and sandwich boards, smoked turkey with melted cheddar and apples.

4

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

___________________________________Beer HERE

___________________________________________________________________

mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

Beer Profile: Sunner Kolsch

13901502_1876851642542507_180244250194020715_n

 

Profiled by Maria Devan

Morning! Sunner Kolsch. I will take an entire palate of this all for myself. I cannot believe how fast I drank this beer and I think that chugging got started because of this style.

Gives an elegant and very soft pour with a cream colored head of cottony cloud like foam. grainy, a bit of earth form hops and a barely perceptible fruity ester from yeast. banana.

On the palate the malt is soft and graceful. Fully breaddy. As soon as you swallow there is a faint little tang. It accents the steadfast malt so well and brings all the flavor together in compliment with a subtlety that is no trick. It’s simply an omission. Light sulfur. A touch of malt richness that shows the delicate complexity but does not bring it to you too powerfully. Restrained malt. As it lingers breaddy in the aftertaste you feel like you could drink the whole glass in one easy 13880271_1876851739209164_8709723232274528602_ngulp. Crisp clean no diacetyl. This one is actually quite hoppy or quite fresh as compared to some.

Hop herbal gives a wink at the finish and then as you drink and start to notice more flavor it’s like soft yellow grasses. Almost hay. Dry, soft not bubbly.

Bitterness that is understated at first but does last a little. That choice for carbonation really allows the malt to be expressive and expansive. Hop floral was always there and now it’s time to laugh because this was beer not bread and an ale. A not too sweet flower petal.

It’s as though you looked down and saw a golden flower. So you ate it and made it you feel hearty and then you laughed.

4

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

___________________________________Beer HERE

___________________________________________________________________

mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.