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In 2002, the off-centered folks at Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales unveiled a unique apparatus that is now known as the “Randall.” A Randall connects to the tapping system of keg allowing ready-to-drink beer to flow through a vessel holding ingredients which infuse flavors and aromas in the beer just prior to drinking. While the device was originally created to add fresh hop flavors, it has since been used to infuse everything from strawberries to bacon.

The January/February 2015 Zymurgy magazine (access this issue instantly online starting 12/23/14!) walks homebrewers through the process of making their own Randall at home. We took a look at a few ingredients that can be added to your Randall to bring the homebrew experience to the next level!

1. Hops

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What’s the healthiest libation for ringing in the New Year?

Beer, says Charlie Bamforth, a professor of brewing sciences at the University of California, Davis. Though it’s been blamed for many a paunch, Bamforth says it’s more nutritious than most other alcoholic drinks.

“There’s a reason people call it liquid bread,” says Bamforth.

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Break out a pint glass, it’s time to knock back some state pride. We pulled data from BeerAdvocate and sifted through it all to find the highest rated beer every state has ever produced. To be included, each beer needed to receive at least 50 reviews. Some of these you can find in bottle shops, some you have to head to the brewery at a certain time for, and some will never even be brewed again, but each is worthy of some praise.

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Shadow Farm, a 53-acre farm in Lucketts, Va., announced the development of Lucketts Mill Hopworks, the State of Virginia and the mid-Atlantic’s first commercial-scale hops production and processing facility. The East Coast craft scene is just insane right now with the West Coast craft brewing invasion, so the timing for such a move is impeccable.

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By Ken Carman

I started the 12 profiles and the Professor added some of Maria’s, but I’m afraid we all got so caught up in the season we only got 4 in. So we decided to recommend and comment on some interesting brews to try this season and at least one ghost of Christmas Past. Links will be provided to PGA articles if available…

1. Hoppin Frog’s Frosted Frog: Barrel Series

The actual Frosted, in my opinion, is nothing more than a good, but not that interesting, brown ale platform on which to build a great barrel aged beer. Mr. Karm and his brewers do NOT disappoint. There have been several, all fascinating.

2. McGuire’s Christmas Ale is, unfortunately, somewhat a ghost of Christmas past. Yes, they still brew it, as they brew many fine beers that former head brewer, Steve Fried, never brewed. But all I have been able to try: and I’m not there every year by any means, have never come up the the simply spiced ale Mr. Fried used to brew. It’s all you would expect from the typical spices. When we were there a few weeks ago the Pensacola version, brewed by his former assistant Mike Helf, wasn’t up yet. Tom and Gary’s version in Destin was on tap but we simply didn’t care for it. It was as if someone took a Scotch 60 or 80 and added the usual spices. Problem: they didn’t mesh well in our opinion. Close to sickly sweet.

This ghost haunts me still.

Continue reading “The 12 Profiles of Christmas: Santa’s in a HURRY”

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours orange with with bright clarity and remnants of golden sunshine hues to make the color sharp. I did not pour a fat head with this one but I was taking a photo and that could change when I do a pour that doesn’t necessitate me doing it slowly and carefully while trying to hold a camera. Off white head that fell to a thin ring and film on top.

Nose is bold and fruity with orange and with an herbal that seems vegetal and crisp to me. Grass and a light spice faintly in the shadows. As the beer comes up to temp there is a twiggy scent that’s a bit piney. The malt is faint on the nose except for a light, light caramel.

I was not expecting the wild bonanza of fruits in this beer! Taste is pine needles, succulent fresh orange, a bit of bitter pith from grapefruit. An overall citrus character that has something sweeter and more tropical in the background but it remains elusive. A taste like hemp seeds. This beer is perfectly balanced. The malt is a light and dry biscuit that never lets the caramel run away with itself. The beer itself is dry and the mouthfeel is the lighter side of medium. In the middle of the drink is a vegetal quality that really makes this beer crisp and refreshing. The finish is perfectly dry. The citric tartness and that woody pine needle take you to the swallow where there is a decent bite from bubbles and a bit of stickiness to coat the throat. The bitterness seems tame at first because of the sweetness of the mosaic hops and while it does become more prominent as you drink, it does not linger too long. Aftertaste is dry pine needles, citric tartness with some bright orange peel and a surprising caramel that has come forward albeit softly to a sassy and brisk flourish.

I loved this and think this is one of the best pale ales I have had.

4.5

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.”

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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Going by advertising alone, beer makes everybody better looking, funnier, and more charming. It surrounds you with interesting people and exciting times and will quench your thirst on a hot day all at once. But anyone who’s ever tried to recreate the magic of a beer commercial knows the result is too often soaked in fried food, antacid and shame.

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No, it’s not marijuana. It’s a close cousin, known as Humulus lupulus, better known as “hops.” You know it as a key ingredient in beer, but its fat, resinous flowers are also prized for their flavor and their medicinal properties. We’re just starting to unlock the biochemical secrets of hops, and discover why this plant is so magical.

Looming hops shortages spell potential price increases for users both large and small, and people are beginning to panic. We’ve been using and trading hops for centuries, and not just for brewing beer — but it’s only now, that we’re in danger of running out, that we’re starting to understand the history of hops and its relationship with people.

Hops History

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Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

It’s that time of year again –– time to dust off your steins and head to your nearest purveyor of fine lagers to celebrate Craft Lager Day.

But where to go to find a decent lager outside of a well-stocked bottle shop? After all, not too many craft breweries outside of regions with historically high rates of German immigration feature lagers in their lineups. For starters, lagers suffer from an undeserved image problem on this continent. On top of that, lagers are notoriously difficult to brew. The clean fermentation profile of lager yeast leaves nowhere for faults to hide.KansasCity BierCo (Logo) And from a purely monetary perspective, lagers tie up fermenters for much longer than ales –– weeks if not months longer.

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Venture through a dank railway tunnel, then turn on to a small industrial estate in south east London and you’ll find yourself at a fine example of a British brewery. But there are no rambling roses or tumble-down ancient buildings crying of English tradition here. The Kernel brewery is little more than five years old and the beer produced in this urban hideaway combines old traditions with new thinking – and a little experimentation.

“We rely on that process of hypothesis, experiment and result,” says brewer Toby Munn. “We can create our own little experiment and do all kinds of different things, which is fun.”

Munn shows off the fermentation tanks, where yeast gradually turns sugars into alcohol over several days, and a room full of barrels and large French “fouders”, which were previously used in wine-making.

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