A Place to Gather and Talk
Time to celebrate! For Tempest’s eighteen-month anniversary, I opened a 2013 Brett-Saison from Boulevard, and compared it with the notes I scribbled last November on a 2014 Brett-Saison a friend brought over for dinner. File these notes under cellaring –– another means of marking time.
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This is going to be quick ‘n’ dirty, because I’m swamped with trying to get a condo ready to sell and planning for a brand new house but I wanted, in the wake of the last post, “Murderer’s Row…“, that one brewery which SHOULD have been included in that list was left out.
And I apologize.
I recently wrote a post about the sour/brett/barrel program that’s being driven to dizzying heights at Engine House 9, in Tacoma, Washington, by their visionary brewmaster, Shane Johns. In that post, in an attempt to contrast what a miraculous development that program is, in a city which seems least likely to spawn it (or support it), I did a little, quick, 270-word scene-setting which, apparently, caused the earth to tilt off its axis and threatened to wipe out civilization. Those 270 words – less than 10% of the post – became the focus, with all the high praise for E9 being dead lost in a tsunami of static. So, here it is without the craziness and obfuscation:
E9 absolutely belongs in Murderer’s Row and, in fact, should have been mentioned prominently, right next to de Garde Brewing and Breakside Brewing and those others who are both hitting their top gear and changing the face of Northwest beer.
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HERE
Beer Term ‘O the Day: Strike water. The water initially mixed (mash-in) with malted grains (grist) to form the mash. There are several programs that will calculate the volume/ temperature of the strike water required to hit a specific mash temperature.
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James Visger lives in Clarksville, TN, he’s a BJCP beer judge, has a lovely wife named Jami, and is president of The Clarksville Carboys but not Snarksville Flyboys. Their president was caught in a Venus Flytrap and was last heard, in a tiny little voice, saying, “Help me! Help me!”
Editor’s note: In today’s piece, Sal Colleluori interviews Nathan Zeender, of DC’s Right Proper Brewery. Some of the techniques Zeender refers to are a bit esoteric, so check out our home brew article if you’re looking for more detail into the specifics of brewing.
The resurgence of craft beer brewing in the United States has given brewers a newfound sense of adventure in executing their craft. Some have decided to make beers that push the boundaries of taste and flavor, while others have simply attempted to recreate primary styles that have been the mainstays of European breweries for hundreds of years. However, Washington, D.C.’s nascent Right Proper Brewing Company has combined the art of beer making with a keen sense of history; their brewers simultaneously create beers that are accessible, while recreating and reconstructing historic beer styles.
Right Proper’s operation is teeming with history beyond just its beer. The brewery is located in the old pool hall of Frank Holiday, a “center of African American community†and the location where one of jazz music’s most famous musicians, Duke Ellington, would find his inspiration.
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There are some things in life that people simply have to experience first hand. Riding a roller coaster. Catching a wild brook trout. Running a mile for time. Dating someone out of your league…this is what life is all about. If you’re a baseball fan, you have to see a game at Wrigley Field. If you eat food, you have to try the spicy fried chicken at Gus’s Fried Chicken in Memphis. You just have to. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced that chicken.
Likewise, if you’re a beer drinker, there are certain beers you have to drink. At least once. We’ve thought long and hard about what those quintessential beers are—the ones that everyone should try—and we’ve come up with a hearty list of 100 that define the American craft beer scene. Some of these beers would be considered the best beers in the country, if not the world. Others can hold their own, but earned a spot on this list because of the role they played in the craft beer movement. Is this a definitive list of beers everyone should try? Dear Lord, no. If you truly love beer, you should try them all. Even the bad ones. At least once. But this list will get you started.
Here’s the first round from the master list—we’ll be counting down all week. We hope you’re thirsty.
100. Dale’s Pale Ale
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This is a straight up good IPA. Pours clear and orange. Cream colored head that lasted well. Leaves sheets of shimmering lace.
Nose is candied orange peel with a splash of lemon. A malt that is not too sweet on the nose. As succulent as this is I am not seeing the nose run all over the place and I like that.
Taste follows the nose except for a permeating herbal from hop that is a perfect counter point to the sweetness of the orange peel. Bitterness underlies the drink rather than comes out over the top of it. Bitterness is firm but not sharp,clean and does not linger. This shows off a creamy biscuit with a faint caramel in the aftertaste. Lovely.
4.5
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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY, is a great beer writer, and should be a beer judge. Really, Maria, you’d make a great one.
Beer Term ‘O the Day: Aromatic hops: Synonym for finishing hops. When hops are added during the final minutes of the boil, less of the aromatic oils are lost to evaporation and more hop aroma is retained.
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James Visger lives in Clarksville, TN, he’s a BJCP beer judge, president of The Clarksville Carboys and general beer troublemaker. In a GOOD way!
Rip open a little package of baker’s yeast from the supermarket, peer inside, and you’ll see your distant cousin.
That’s because we share a common ancestor with yeast, and a new study in the journal Science suggest that we also share hundreds of genes that haven’t really changed in a billion years.
Edward Marcotte, a biologist at the University of Texas at Austin, knew that humans and yeast have thousands of similar genes. But, he wondered, how similar are they?
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