A love letter to Japanese craft beer

While most of my beery pals are off enjoying beery things in San Diego at the National Homebrewers Conference, I'm stuck here in rainy St. Paul. On the up side, I'm enjoying the fact that a horrible schedule and a limit to entry numbers meant that I have absolutely nothing invested in the AHA competition this year. Instead, I'm enjoying my still really insanely good brown porter, my really awfully good English cider, and my pretty good if not quite perfect IPA in relative peace.  And looking forward to that open-fermented Helles, which is now kegged, carbonated and ready to go on tap next, along with a nice schwartzbier.  A lagery July is in order then!

Meanwhile, Mark Garrison has written a nice love letter to Japanese craft beer.  A few interesting points deserve mention, though the full article is definitely worth a read.  First, it's early days yet for the craft beer scene in Japan. Despite the back and forth in the US over whether the term "craft beer" really means anything anymore, it clearly did in an earlier era when the scene was getting off the ground.  So it does in Japan, where beer lovers complain in similar terms about the "big 4" of Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo.  Moreover, while craft beer bars are popping up, Garrison reports that a shocking 40% of all craft beer gets to customers through mail order.  That's dedication!

Second, the Japanese craft brewers tend to be also sake-makers (as is true with Hitachino Nest, widely available in the US), so despite the fact that it's still early days in the movement, the quality is quite high. And the brewers tend toward a very Belgian-like relationship with spices and flavorings such as ginger.  My only reference point for this is Hitachino Nest, but if half the brewers are doing this half as well as they are, Japanese drinkers don't know how good they've got it.

An interesting parallel

I don't know much about wine, really.  I do like reading some of the discussions about wine, and I've even posted about it too.  The wine writing for Slate I particularly like because Mike Steinberger often right to the heart of debates in the wine world.

The most recent article is here.  I love it because it's so very parallel to debates in the beer world, but it gives me a bit of perspective since I have no particular axes to grind about wine.  His newest article is about the debate over ever-increasing alcohol and fruit-bombiness in wines.  Steinberger's preferences are pretty plain -- enough is enough.  But in the end, his call is for variety instead of limits.  Sure, let the high-alcohol fruit bombs fly, just so long as there are other choices available.

It's a great point and one that is definitely germane in the beer world, where people like me are always carping that "special" beer is often equated with "high alcohol and over the top flavor".  So I end up championing the more subtle, if no less wonderful, beers that I think get overlooked.  But the point should really be about variety -- let's get a range of different flavors on the bar there!

A couple of points:

1. It's very clear in the wine world that the preference for bigger, bolder, more alcoholic has been driven by the Robert Parker palate, and the ratings systems that tend to favor the wines he likes (and thus the bigger, jammier wines).  It's less clear in the beer world, where just don't have any one central voice or palate driving preferences.  It does seem clear that even more democratic, mass-rating sites like Beer Advocate and Rate Beer tend to reward the bigger, bolder beers in the same way though.
2. Steinberg makes the very good point that actually even in blind tastings, even people who think they prefer more restrained wines actually prefer the bigger ones!  That is, wine makers go big because they are rewarded for it in the market.  Again to the beer world: clearly people do go for bigger and bolder.  
3. Is this an effect (see point 2) driven by those first getting into craft beer, as some have suggested, or is it a general preference? I'm not really sure. Another idea though is that it depends not just on palates but on how much.  I see this all the time in judging at homebrew competitions.  Judges too tend to go for bigger and bolder, even within a given style.  I think that's often because they are taking small sips, rather than drinking the beer as they would in a bar.  To me, a perfectly legitimate question is not just "which do I prefer" but "which would I want to have two of?"

Dave's Brew Farm!

Been meaning to go forever.  Very long, trying month or so beforehand.  But Halvo rented a sweet bus for the SPHBC faithful, and off we go.  I can barely stand up from fatigue.  But I managed to snap a few pics, which become sparser as the evening wears on.

Thanks a million to Dave and Pam for hosting us in the LaBrewatory tap room.  Great spot, and great beer.  Here's the day in pictures.

The bus is cool.  Sort of too classy for the Saint Paul Homebrewers, but we'll take it.

It isn't the nicest day as we get started.  On to Wisconsin.

The entrance of the tap room at Dave's BrewFarm.  Everyone's lining up for beers
before the fun begins.  The beer tasting flight is the way to go.

Dave talking about the beers.  Pam looks on with patience. They are really
nice people.

Some of the new equipment.  Dave is getting ready to push his local (ie, in-house)
production a bit this year.  He says he likes the water on site. I have to agree.

Two growlers to go for me.  The single-hop lager with Perle was great.  I took the Harukazi
on faith since it wasn't one of the tasting flight beers.  Really nice, like many of the BrewFarm
beers it was Belgian-y without being over the top.

Let's capture the moment in pictures.  Best SPHBC president ever.

Open fermenting lager

An actual brewing post!

I've been experimenting a bit lately with open-fermenting lagers. It was a suggestion from Kris (lately of PDBC) that I thought I would try.  He's right, many of the classic German lager beer producers historically did open fermentation in lined tanks. Some still do. Not that I'm an expert, but many have told me this, and New Brewing Lager Beer has a few good passages on it. Good enough to try even though it goes so strongly against the "keep it closed, keep it clean" mentality that's been hammered into my head.

Very simple open fermenting.  Just skim the head.

While I don't have lined tanks, I do have a handy plastic fermentation bucket which fits just about as well in my beer fridge as my glass carboys do.  Just put the lid on loosely without locking it down, and let it ferment nicely during primary before transferring to glass for the longer, colder secondary stage.

What does this do?  I suppose it allows theoretically for better uptake of oxygen during the aerobic phase of yeast growth and development.  But to my mind really the key is that it allows easy access to skim the foam head and braunhefe that develops daily during the very active, high krausen phase of fermentation.

And why does that matter?  Well, try some.  Seriously.   Intensely unpleasant, mouth-coating, lingering bitterness from hop residues accumulate in that head.  What I do is sanitize a long-handled stainless spoon in Star-San, then just skim off this very thick head about once a day during active fermentation.  (By the way, braunhefe refers to the brown-tinged scum that comes up as well -- you can see it in the picture.  The brown color apparently comes from degenerated yeast cells.  The color gets less and less pronounced each day, but the head remains quite bitter.)

And the result?  I have to try it a few more times before I'm ready to have a firm opinion.  At least, I'm convinced of the importance of skimming the very bitter head from my lighter, more delicate lagers.  So far, the helles shown in the picture (now lagering happily) is really good.  If anything, the schwarzbier I made before that might be too clean though.  This technique does seem to reduce overall perceived bitterness in the finished product, and I have yet to nail my adjustments for that.

Good beers cheap: Grimbergen

Trip to Dave's BrewFarm this weekend.  So much fun, even though I was running absolutely on empty from the start.  By the end, the only thing keeping me up was the accordion player behind my chair at the German restaurant... but that's a story for another post.

A second in an occasional series that I always meant to be a little less occasional.... And I've been meaning to do this one for some time too.  One thing that beer nyerds -- excuse me, craft beer afficionados -- tend to fetishize is the Trappist style of beers.  There's the great photos in the brewing books of Rochefort's grand cathedral of a brewhouse, the pictures of monk-robe clad brewers there and at Westvleteren.  And of course the history and lore of Westmalle, the crazy deco ruins of Orval, and so forth.

And there is the fact that many of the classic abby styles of beer are very straightforward, simple recipes that are for many homebrewers awful hard to replicate.  It shouldn't be the case, but there it is.  It seems like there's magic in there somewhere.  (I actually think it's just proper yeast handling, but then again I've never made a dubbel that would hold a candle to Westmalle's, so I should talk.)

Hiding out at Thomas Liquor.
Good beer, budget price.

Anyway, three things should be kept in mind.  One is that, gorgeous as they often are, the Trappist appellation doesn't come cheap.  Chimay has wide availability I guess, but pick up a (small, 330 ml) bottle of Rochefort and it's going to cost you.  Less than it did a few years ago admittedly, but it will cost you nonetheless.  Second, while the Trappist beers are produced actually in the brewhouses of the Trappist monasteries, they are often produced by lay brewers rather than the monks themselves.  Third, there is a whole range of often really very nice "abbey" beers that fall in the same style range that are worth trying.

The abbey beers are affiliated, or licensed by, Belgian abbeys -- just not the Trappist ones.  Generally brewed off-site, this takes some of the "magical" aura away from them I guess.  Still, they can be gorgeous.  Maredsous in particular is one of my favorites.

For some reason, it recently hit me that Grimbergen (produced for the Abdij von Grimbergen by Alken-Maes) was becoming widely available around here, and way cheap by Belgian beer standards.  Like about half the price of cheap Trappist.  The Blonde and the Dubbel are the two I see in bottle shops, so I decided to pick them up and give them a formal tasting.  So here with it:

• Grimbergen Blonde (6.7% abv).  Light golden in color, with a dense white head.  Really full carbonation, but not as outrageous as some Belgian beers, and less central to the overall character as with some Belgian blonde beers in particular.  Bouquet is somewhat restrained, slightly fruity and spicy.  It smells a bit like cut apple, with moderate acidity and ester coming through the carbonation.  In flavor, the spiciness comes across as white pepper along with some restrained sweetness from the alcohol.  Full, prickly carbonation.  There's a hint of apple-like pils malt in the flavor too -- almost like a Chardonnay -- and a little hop bite at the end.  The alcohol to me seems a little to forward for a 6.5% beer in this style.  The yeast-derived spiciness is nice but just a touch high and and there's a little harsh, astringent note at the end that mars it.  Overall, a really nice beer, though not outrageously good.  
• Grimbergen Double (6.5% abv).  Very pretty brown with red highlights, and astounding clarity.  Lowish tan head.  It has a sweet malt aroma, with a prominent caramelized sugar character that's classic for the style. Faint hop.  Fruity esters -- fig, plum.  Full carbonation gives way to hop bite and tannin, then a hint of fruity/spicy Belgian yeast character.  In both the flavor and aroma, there's a floral rose petal note and black pepper, both driven up by full carbonation.  The finish seems hoppier than the initial taste -- this is definitely more bitter than some dubbels.  Really good.

Overall, these beers stack up well.  They are not as good as some of the best in the style -- in particular, there's a bit of a harsh tannic bite in both that I don't see in the best examples.  On the other hand, the dubbel in particular I think is still really good, and at about $2.50 in these parts, well worth having around.  Scenario: you're having a party.  You're known as the "beer guy."  Friends expect you to stock impressive beer, but you're unwilling to throw down $6 per bottle for Trappist beers only to see some fools pop the cap and swill from the bottle.  What to do?  Grimbergen, baby.  That's what.

American pilsners, v. 2

Pilsners get no real love from American beer geeks.  Maybe a bit at the high end -- the ones that aim for the more aggressively hopped German or Bohemian styles.  But even that's a bit of a stretch for American brewers who for better or worse often saw themselves as moving away from the dumbed down mass-market American versions of the style.

Don't get me wrong, I like a PBR now and again, but they are beers to throw down not to savor.  So it was a surprise to find that some of the new American "pilsners" are really kind of tastier versions of this easy-drinking end of the style.  Really for BJCP judges, these would be maybe premium light lagers rather than pilsners proper.  Full Sail's Session Lager is already a favorite of mine in this category, but in tasting a bunch of beers labeled as pilsners, a couple of others stood.  Call them surprisingly tasty not-quite pilsners.

• Red Hook Rope Swing (US, 5.3%)  They call this a "summer pilsner."  It's a really nice easy-drinking beer, though it poses a bit of a conundrum.  It's somewhere between a pilsner and an English-style summer beer.  The beer has a light golden color, with a slight haze and solid carbonation.  In the aroma it has a light fruity ester and almost an orangey hop note -- both very "English" -- along with the clean malt.  It doesn't scream "pils malt" but at least it's a very clean 2-row malt.  Similar profile in the flavor with a clean malt flavor, a hint of orange and pear-like ester, then a quick hit of bitterness.  The floral hop flavor stays into the finish.  This one is not dry as pilsners often are, but has a touch of sweetness without being heavy.  It's a really nice, complex beer but not a traditional pilsner at all.  The website lists the hops as Saaz, but I would have thought Goldings for sure.  Red Hook also say it's 25 IBU and 12.7 Plato, with malts listed as pale, carapils, Caramel and Munich.  Not by far the best as a pilsner beer, but it's a lighter beer with a lot of character.  I'll have to look for this again!

• New Belgium Blue Paddle (4.8%) A summertime seasonal from New Belgium, very refreshing beer and a bit of a surprise to me.  It's one of the lighter of the US pilsners in gravity.  Given this and its very light color, I thought this would be a little low on flavor.  The aroma didn't have very much going on; a faint malt note and that was about it.  But in the mouth there was a nice complex maltiness -- fat German pils malt, a bit of graham cracker like graininess, and a dry finish with a bit of a hop bite.  Again, not the number one pils, but an interesting beer.

By the way, a quick note on two continental pilsners that don't really fit established guidelines either.  Or at least not BJCP categories.  I'm not in favor of ever-proliferating categories like the Brewers' Association seems to be, but I also think that a lot of American homebrewers and beer judges don't really recognize that there are beers that are similar, but not quite the same as, some of these established style.  Two examples here too:

• Steigl Goldenbrau (Austria)  I love this beer.  It's marketed as simply a "lager" by the Steigl brewery, though they add that it's 12 degrees Plato (about 1.048, ie, classic strength) and lightly hopped.  Probably best considered as a helles by BJCP categories, unless you want to add yet another category - Salzburg style lager or something.  Full golden color and clean pils malt aroma with just a hint of sweetness.  Fat, full, dry malt profile that I just can't get enough of.  The touch of bitterness emerges at the end, just drying out the finish.  I think this one is drier and more pils like than the Steigl pils maybe, though I actually like that beer better.  It's an exceptionally lovely, delicate beer.  Which of course means the morons rate it a "B" on BeerAdvocate and a 28 on RateBeer.  I guess it's not a "craft beer."

• Karlovacko (Croatia) 500 ml.  Maybe this would be called an example of an Adriatic Pils or some such?  Just say it's in the Bohemian tradition I guess.  But this bottle has the flavor that almost all of the Croatian pilsners have.  I drank a lot of this stuff when I was there -- about 20 years ago now...good lordy I'm old.  Karlovac is inland a bit, not far from Zagreb.  Did I tell you the story about ingratiating myself with the traveling New Zealand national rugby team at the Zagreb bar since I was apparently the only one around who could figure out the local currency system? Another time maybe... Anyway the beer.  Not everyone will like it but it is typical of the area.  The aroma features pils malt and clean hops with more than a touch of sulphur.  A touch of the "green bottle aroma" which is actually kind of a feature of the beer, even locally, and not entirely unpleasant.  Flavor has the same malty/lagery/sulphury profile as the aroma.  The really full carbonation dries it out a bit.  Maybe 35ish IBUs, but the bitterness seems rounded rather than sharp.

American pilsners, v. 1

Hey all.  Warmer weather is rolling around.  I'm brewing a Munich style Helles as I write, just for something light and malty.  Father-in-law drank me dry on a pretty reasonable pilsner I had just the other week too.

Over the last many months I've been taking notes on a few of the craft brewed American pilsners that I've seen on the shelves.  Pretty scattershot, but it seemed as if there were quite a few new ones that I hadn't tried along with a few old standbys that I have.  It was also interesting to go through some of these beers with a group studying to take the BJCP exam for the first time as well -- it's one thing to suck a few of these beers down at a picnic, and its another to stop and think about them.  So here's my notes on a few, pulled together out of the chaos...call this the first in a short series.

GERMAN STYLE PILSNERS
There are a few American beers that aim squarely for the aggressively hopped, dry German style.  I love them, it's kind of fun to see other homebrewers and craft beer drinkers come back to them and realize how good they are.  While the brewers may put their own spin on it, and in some cases add an "American" twist too, these beers are very much within an established style.  Recognizing that "passion is not an ingredient," these are very good, clean, and refreshing without being boring in the least.

• Victory Prima Pils (US, 5.3% abv).  Snappy aroma - floral with a touch of citrus.  Fluffy and very long lasting head.  This beer is bitter to the level of the classic German pilsners, in the same range as the Schell's. This is one of the more aggressive German style pilsners available to American audiences.  Maybe 40-45 IBUs?  The clean malt makes it seem like more, actually.  The boatload of hops give it almost a soapy finish that some people really don't like.  Really nice beer, though it's lacking some of the malt presence of my favorite continental versions.

• Schell's Pils (US, 5.3%)  Bitter!  Really sharply bitter, at the level that German-style pilsners should be, I'd guess maybe close to 40 IBU based on this bottle, though it seems less on draft.  Pretty floral hop aroma, with a bit of vine-like greenness.  Clean pils malt in the aroma as well, though not the fat, pillowy malt of some German examples. I think I like the draft better -- this bottle is fresh, but has a bit of a steely tang in the finish that mars it a bit.  Not sure if this is from the water or just the hop bitterness contributing this.  I served this one to folks in the beer judging class we're doing and had them judge it blind.  They liked it less than the Victory, but the bitterness of both beers surprised them.

A couple of others worth mentioning that I liked very much but which were new to me.  The Left Hand looks like it's a year round brew.  The Full Sail was a one-off in a series, if you didn't try it you'll just have to take my word for it.

• Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (US, 5.5%) Very light color, straw rather than gold.  Slight haze. Clean malt flavor with a bit of depth to it.  Sharp bitterness, and floral hop on the finish.  This one is not a favorite, but it is a nice change of pace, the floral note is pronounced and makes it really stand out.  For the record, this one is very American in ingredients as well. They list ingredients as Weyermann pilsner malt along with American 2-row, and American versions of German hops -- Magnum, Mt Hood and Sterling.

• Full Sail "LTD Edition Lager" (US, 5.6%)  This was apparently #3 in their limited series. Full Sail's "Session" beers -- the lager and the dark -- are two of my favorite easy-drinking everyday lager beers.  This one is aimed squarely at the German pilsner style.  This can get lost in all the description so I'll say it clearly -- this one is REALLY GOOD.  Full gold color, relatively deep in color actually.  White head that settles quickly.  Full, rich, malty aroma even as soon as the bottle cap comes off.  Clean but fat lager malt with a hint of floral hop.  Maybe even a bit of American hop sharpness?  In the flavor, the bitterness sneaks up.  It comes a second after you expect it.  Very firm bitterness -- it's listed as 35 IBU, and I guessed about 40 based on the bite in the finish.  It has a bit of sweetness actually but the hops and carbonation make it finish dry. A little "soapy" in the finish from the hops.  Interesting that it tastes American -- the malt is fat but not "Euro."  Seems like I was right on that; website lists 2-row (presumably American), 35 IBU and Sterling hops.  Really nice beer.