Red Meat & Scotch

Michael Jackson, a legend and hero for beer lovers across the globe, once famously said his true love was not beer, rather Whisky.  (and yes, without the “e”)  This should not be too much of a surprise.  He has authored a number of books on the spirit.  I too must admit I love the water of life, though I’m not sure I would place it above beer.  Regardless of the rank, I strongly believe beer and Whisky go hand in hand.  Whisky is basically distilled beer, right?

I started drinking Single Malts about 10 years ago as a way to lighten my load while backpacking high up in the Colorado mountains and still have something enjoyable to consume around the campfire.  (Laphroaig 10 goes nice with a fire by the way.)  The more I read and learned about Whisky the more interested I became.

And then one day at work a friend tipped me off to a gathering he and his friends had called Red Meat & Scotch.  The concept of this event is that each person brings a bottle of Whisky and a steak, and everyone has a great time while learning about different malts

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without having to spend a fortune in the process.  Since that day in 2005, I started a tradition with my friends and we have taken turns hosting Red Meat & Scotch events twice per year.  Each party comes complete with distillery maps of Scotland, flags, tasting notes (Jackson and others), Whisky poetry, Single Malt coffee table books, and pictures of Highland Cows.  They are always enjoyable, and always require a designated driver – usually a very forgiving spouse.

The most recent gathering we had was quite special and unique.  One of our friends is on the board of a kidney foundation, and they happened to be holding a silent auction.  Twenty of us decided to go in and bid on a private tasting offered by Diageo.  (A major beverage concern that owns, among other brands, Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and a number of distilleries.)  Well, we won the auction, and last Friday night my wife and I hosted the lucky 20 in our basement for an evening with Diageo Master of Whisky Robert Stickler.   By this time we were all pretty knowledgeable about the spirit and made sure he knew that so he could tailor his presentation accordingly.  Robert did an excellent job.  Wearing traditional attire and packing along bricks of peat, staves of oak, and a freshly distilled 160 proof spirit for us to sample, he did not disappoint.  As much as we though we already knew, we all learned something from the event.  And we all loved his enlightening toasts.  Here is a list of what Robert brought with him:

Dalwhinnie 15 (Highland) – very drinkable
Singleton 12 (Speyside) – surprisingly complex
Carhhu 12 (Speyside) – the base for all Johnnie Walkers
Cragganmore 12 (Speyside) – floral, fruity and rich
Talisker 10 (Isle of Skye) – peat smoke, salt and sweetness
Coal Ila 12 (Isla) – a good example of an Isla

And after we all thought Robert was done, he surprised us all by pulling out his private stash of Bushmills.  That’s right, Irish Whiskey to follow up all of the Scotch.  I thought there might be a bit of a let down, but Robert did not disappoint.  We started with the Bushmills Malt 10, then moved to the 16 Malt, 21 Malt and finished with the brilliant Bushmills 1608 (to honor the year the distillery was founded).

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The mash used to make the 1608 contains crystal malt, which is unique, and a dram does have a nice oaky sweetness to it.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the Bushmills selections.  Irish Whiskey is triple distilled as opposed to the double distillation that is the norm in Scotland, so it tends to be a bit cleaner and smoother, but the Bushmills’ malts are very complex nonetheless.

My favorite of the first batch was the Singleton 12.  Maybe because this malt was new to me.  But I was pleasantly surprised by the complex nose with hints of fruit and nuts, medium body, and wonderful flavor of sweet fruit, brown sugar and a touch of coffee, topped off by a long elegant finish.

If you are a beer lover thinking about branching out, get some friends together for your own Red Meat & Scotch party.  Don’t be afraid to allow Irish whiskey, American Whiskeys, and especially micro distilled Whiskies.  Also, if you are interested in having a private tasting by a “Master of Whisky”, shoot me a note and I’ll provide you with Robert’s contact information.  He will not disappoint.

Klamath Basin Brewing Co.

Klamath Falls, OR
1320 Main Street
541-273-5222
http://kbbrewing.com

If you drive around Klamath Falls long enough you can’t miss “The Creamery” marked by a large powder-blue neon cow.  This is the location of the Klamath Basin Brewing and Creamery Pub.  The creamery is long gone, but you can still see the bricked-in remains of the loading dock portals – and their menu still offers a modest selection of ice cream treats.  (for my designated driver and wife)  I visited the brewery with family while on vacation in Northern California and Oregon.

The Pub and Brewery offers a large, open seating area inside, but we decided to take advantage of the beautiful July weather and sit out on their patio and enjoy the hanging pots of annual flowers.

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I am a variety nut, so the first thing I ordered was their sampler tray. ($9.00)  This included eight regular offerings plus three seasonals.  (Actually one seasonal was their standard Butt-Crack Brown, but nitrogen dispensed.  This counts as a different beer if you ask me since the method of beer carbonation and how it is dispensed has a significant impact on its flavor.)

Favorite Brews

Well, it is not really a July staple, but my favorite was their Cabin Fever Stout.  Smooth, black and lightly hopped with the right balance of chocolate and coffee flavors rounded out by a slight fruitiness.  This was my “post sampler” nightcap.  A close second was their Drop Dead Red - a strong red ale with subtle complexity.  Different grains step up at different times including caramel and just a touch of roasted malt, and it finishes slightly dry.  An excellent interpretation of a style that can, at times, be a touch bland.

Worth Noting

This area of Northern California and Oregon in the Cascade Range is known for its volcanoes and geothermal activity.  According to head brewer Corey Zschoche they use 185 F geothermal water to heat their domestic water supply, for building heat, and to heat their water for mashing.  They still use natural gas to boil the wort, but as far as he knows they are the “only brewery in the world that uses geothermal energy in the brewing process.”  (I need to confer with my beer loving Icelandic friend Beggi who is a thermal energy buff… but regardless, this is very unique.)

While in Town

Make sure and visit Crater Lake, which is less than one hour north.  This lake fills a large  caldera that was formed around 7,700 years ago.  The setting is very unique and stunning.  It is the deepest lake in the United States, and its pure water creates the deepest blue you will ever see.  The area also offers countless opportunities for camping, hiking and spelunking.

Colorado Brewer's Festival

The 21st annual Colorado Brewer’s Festival was last weekend, and I must admit that I was a bit nervous about this year’s new format.  Apparently the Old Town Fort Collins merchants had grown tired of the wildly successful and crowed CBF.  Rowdy and intoxicated attendees were causing problems and, surprisingly, their business was down over CBF weekend.  The merchants claimed attendees were not patronizing their stores and were scaring off other would-be shoppers.  So this year the event was moved a couple blocks from Old Town across College to Civic Center Park.  There were also other changes.  Instead of an entry fee and individual drink tokens,

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there was a single ticket charge, which allowed the attendee to drink as many 4-ounce samples as he or she desired.  There were two sessions on Saturday, noon to 3 pm and 3pm to 6pm, and one four hour session on Sunday starting at noon.  And ticket sales were limited to keep the crowd down.   The group I was with attended the Saturday noon session.  I must admit that I was not ready to move on after 3 pm.  People with the early session tickets were allowed to stay in the Civic Center Park area, but could not longer sample beers at the brewery booths.
With all of that said, the new format was better than I had feared.  Laporte Avenue and Howes Street are lined with mature trees and

provided a nice atmosphere.  I still prefer Old Town, but it was better than expected.  And the crowd was noticeably smaller than in the past.  Lines at the brewery sample stations were almost non-existent which was very nice.  There were still bands playing during the event, but a bit out of the way.  Not quite as nice as the central band location by the pond in Old Town.  Still the event offered 58 beers from 32 breweries (basically the same as last year) and a nice atmosphere to sample many of Colorado’s finest offerings.  If the event moves back to Old Town, I would be fine with that, but we’ll be back next year regardless.   Whether or not you would like the new format probably depends on if you like festivals with big, rowdy crows or a quieter setting with no lines.

I sampled around 20 beers, so I cannot report on them all, but one beer of particular note was Odell Brewing’s St. Lupulin.  The name screams “hop bomb,” but that is not the case.  St. Lupulin weighs in at a sturdy 6.5% abv, but packs only a modest 46 IBUs.  To compare, Odell’s IPA contains 60 IBUs.  According to the representative, the concept of St. Lupulin is to focus more on hop flavor and aroma and be less bitter.  This is a fine line to walk, because hop aroma accentuated beers still need a solid IBU backbone to avoid being one-dimensional.  But Odell created a very nice balance for those seeking flavor and aroma and a smooth, balanced malt/hop backbone.  It is a seasonal summer ale, and I was surprised how refreshing it was, especially given the relatively high alcohol content.  Give it a shot if Odell is distributed in your area.

One final note.  There are always vendor booths lining the streets of CBF, and this year was no different.  As my friends and I saw an interesting tent for a new company called BrewClick, we wanted to check it out.  Interestingly enough I stumbled across an old friend, Julie Hull, who I had not seen in years and is now working there.  It was good to catch up with Julie and I promised that I would hit their website.  Their portal includes beer news, brewery profiles as well as other interesting beer related information.  I asked them for a paragraph to include in my blog.  According to Brew Click’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kris Erlewine:

“BrewClick.Com is an Internet portal designed to collect
highly-targeted consumer preferences for beer and to match those
preferences with specific offers from Breweries, BrewPubs, Liquor
Stores, Distributors, Bars and Restaurants. By completing preferences,
consumers are able to receive offers that exactly match their
interests. Vendors are able to effectively market on a one-to-one
basis.”

I figured I would learn more so I signed up for their “Local Hops”.  If you are interested you can learn more about their services at brewclick.com.

Bozeman Brewing Company

In February Tom Ciccateri, the 2005 BDOTY winner, was back in Denver as a judge for this year’s national Beerdrinker of the Year Finals. Tom knew I spent five years at MSU and visit Bozeman regularly, so he was excited to show me a picture on his camera of the Bozeman Brewing Company tap house. I was embarrassed to say that I had never been there. We joked as to whether or not my title should be revoked since I had not even visited the lone tap house in my second home town!

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The tap room for Bozone, as it is affectionately called, is located on 504 N. Broadway in Bozeman, a bit off the beaten path. When I am in Bozeman, usually over MSU Homecoming weekend, I spend most of my time on campus in meetings, or downtown. The brewery is on the exact opposite side of town as the campus tucked away in an industrial area on the north fringes. But a visit to the brewery and adjoining tap house is well worth the bike ride.

The Bozone tap room is like being in a large living room with a bar and numerous tap handles at one end. It is open from 4 – 8 pm, and like all other Montana tap rooms, patrons are limited to 48 ounces of beer.

I was very lucky to get a private tour of the recently renovated brewery from brewer Tucker Kalberg. Bozeman Brewing purchased Spanish Peak’s old equipment after they dismantled in the 90s. For years they produced beers on this seven barrel system. Faced with high demand they were required to upgrade their entire system to a new 20 barrel system that also employs a number of 40 barrel cylindrical-conical unitanks for fermentation. Their facility is quite large, and they still have adequate room for further expansion according to Tucker.

The first beer I tried was the Pinhead Pils. (6.3% abv) It was very pale in color with a nice firm head. It was a clean Pilsner with a noticeable presence of alcohol, and it finished with a barely detectible note of diacetyl. (so does Pilsner Urquell) Pinhead had a nice hop balance from start to finish. I noticed that it was a very high alcohol Pilsner, and then I also noticed that all of their offerings were quite strong – all over 6%. This may be the Bozone way of “getting around” the 48 ounce per person limit.

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Tucker said once per year they make a special wet-hop beer made with “C” hops all grown locally in the Gallatin Valley. A celebration of the fall harvest and local ingrediants. This beer sounds very unique and like quite a treat – especially for hop lovers. I’ll have to visit next fall when it is on tap.

I won’t go into details about the other beers, you’ll have to visit yourself and try them out. Don’t worry about too much about not being able to sample them given the limit, they do offer flights of beer (four 4 ounce glasses of your choice), and if you still don’t get a chance to sample all of their styles, just take home a couple growlers, or come back the next day. There is no better place in the States to visit than Bozeman. So hang out and stay for a while. With that said, I have one final note. When I woke up on Friday morning it was snowing. (It will snow in July too) The locals wanted me to make sure and point that out. Tourism is great, but rich immigrants wear on the natives. Bozemanites love harsh winters and are doing their best to chase the flat-landers back to their warm weather states!

Montana Tap Rooms

I am back in the Big Sky for an 18 day tour through God’s Country. Every state has their own unique liquor laws, and Montana is no different. As a way to promote the craft brewing industry, the state legislature passed MT Law 16-3-213. This ordinance allows breweries to serve beer at a tap room without an expensive liquor license as long as nobody is served more than 48 ounces, and as long as they close by 8 pm. Most of these tap rooms are open from 4 – 8 pm and give their guests a three-punch card to keep track of the beer consumed.

One of my favorite tap rooms is Carter’s in Billings on Montana Avenue. It has a nice atmosphere with indoor seating right next to the open brew house. Space is tight because oak barrels full of sour and wild beers take up a good portion of the seating area. Carter’s is right next to the railroad and Mike (owner/brewer) just added on a small deck out the back door next to the tracks to accommodate more thirsty guests. Trains and brewing seem to go together.

Mike does not discriminate against nationality in his extensive list of offerings. He serves a Dort and Kölsch (Germany), Bitter and Mild (England), Farmhouse and Saison (Belgium), as well as great American styles like his Black IPA. In addition to the draft selections, patrons can also buy 750 ml bottles of Carter’s Saison for six dollars to

[caption id="attachment_340" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Carter's Saison at Walhalla"][/caption]

take home. This is a real steal. I just finished his 2009 vintage, which is partially fermented with brettanomyces and is a bit drier than previous vintages that I have had. It is a very nice, floral and complex Saison. I recommend purchasing a couple bottles since they are so reasonable. Drink one now and lay the others down to see how they mature over the years.

The picture I’ve inserted is from Walhalla – my property on the Yellowstone river. As you can see I was “roughing it” and did not have the proper glass to drink the Saison in, but the peace and tranquility of the open space and river made it taste just fine none the less. 

After my stay in Billings, I headed to the mountains with my brother to do some hiking. Con has a plot of land at the base of Black Butte Mountain in the East Rosebud river valley. After a cup of coffee and some socializing with the locals that live in the area, including famous Native American artist John Potter, we headed up into the Beartooths for a hike up to Elk Lake. As a reward after finishing up the seven mile hike, we though we'd treat ourselves to a couple of drafts.  So we packed up and headed toward Red Lodge to visit the Red Lodge Ales tap room. But most roads out of the Beartooths lead through Roscoe, and Roscoe is home of the famous Grizzly Bar. As we passed, we had to pull over. It is hard to drive by without stopping. Con and I had a quick Bent Nail IPA. Two beers cost us $3.50 – that is how you know you are in Montana! And for another $15 you can buy your own “Where the hell is Roscoe” t-shirt. It is a tiny blip off the road, but every good Montanan knows where Roscoe and the Grizzly Bar are.

[caption id="attachment_338" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Grizzly Bar"][/caption]

 

After the quick stop we finally made our way over to the Red Lodge Ales Brewery. Since I was last there a year and a half ago they moved a couple miles out of town to a new and much larger facility. The old tap room was a bit tight, especially since dogs often outnumber the two-legers. The new location is very open with a glassed-off view of the new 20 barrel system and bottling line. Strong demand required them to expand from their old seven barrel system. Most of the interior was made out of scrap material off of an old family barn and the decor has a nice retro/modern feel. Outside there is also a patio and grass court where people can eat, drink and play frisbee under a beautiful mountain backdrop. Red Lodge Ales is technically not a tap house. They have a tavern license which allows them to serve more than three pints and stay open later like a more traditional bar.

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I sampled their Maibock, which was honey colored with a big malty flavor and a pleasant dry finish. A nice, clean, strong lager. I also enjoyed a pint of their nitro tap Porter. The nitrogen pour made this a very smooth beer which tasted sweetish – almost like lactose had been added in the boil. I also detected a hint of vanilla. Dark, smooth and tasty. Stop by if you are in the area. Red Lodge is about an hour south of Billings, and the brewery in on the right before you get into town.

Stay tuned for more to come from Bozeman…

Horse-Drawn Wagons and Another Pro-AM

On Friday, April 16th the Wynkoop Brewing Company made history.  For the first time in almost 100 years, the Koop delivered kegs and cans of beer to LoDo bars via horse-drawn wagon.  Now it is not uncommon to see draft horses pulling meticulously decorated wagons with massive oak kegs in Bavaria, especially during Volksfest season, but here in the states this is rare.  The Wynkoop wagon is a bit more modest than what one finds at Oktoberfest, but it truly fit in with the western heritage of Colorado.  Local historians say beer has not been delivered like this in Denver since 1915.

Brewers Andy Brown and Charlie Berger rode on the wagon pulled by two beautiful 2000 pound Clydesdales.  Cans of their flagship amber ale, Railyard, and kegs of Wixa Weiss, B3K Schwarzbier and Pilsner were slowly delivered to Scruffy Murphy’s, the Wazee Supper Club and other fine LoDo establishments.

Don’t feel sad if you missed it – this was not a one-time gimmick.  If you want to witness history you can see it again every 2nd or 4th Friday of each month.  Get to the Brewery before 6 pm so you don’t miss the action.  Heck, get there by 4 pm and warm up.

In other news, I was back in rubber boots and gloves at the Wynkoop to brew another Pro-Am beer with head brewer Andy Brown.  Actually this time we had a little help.  None other than the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Wynkoop Holding Company, Lee Driscoll.  It is great that the big boss is involved and interested enough to show up on brew day.  And what a brew day it was.  Andy and I concocted a Quad based on a beer I took first place with at a BJCP certified competition.  For an 11-barrel batch we used over 1000 pounds of base malt, plus additions of Munich, Cara Munich, Special B, and over 150 pounds of dark Belgian candy sugar.  The original gravity was over 25 plato!  (over 1.100)  To attain this density we could not sparge the beer.  The mash was conducted in a 20-barrel mash tun with 12 barrels run off, which were then boiled down to 11.  This beer will have plenty of time to mature before September’s GABF – and it will need it.  Wish us luck!

I’m off to Montana soon and hope to keep you up to date on beer happenings in Big Sky Country.  Aufwiedersehen.

Just a Beer, Please...

With all of the double, imperial, quadruple, wet hopped, continuously hopped, torpedo hopped, oaked, brett fermented, extreme, spiced, double digit percentage alcohol beers on the market these days, it can be easy to forget that sometimes people need “just a beer.”  There are seven taps in by basement.  I like keeping one or two of the above-mentioned beers around at any given time, but for the most part, people that come over to visit want to drink something that I’ve brewed, and they usually want to have more than one.  So sometimes I simply need to brew an enjoyable beer that can be safely consumed one after the other.  Ideally this beer is something that I can crank out relatively quick.

Recently I brewed such a beer – an Ale that I call the “Red Loin.”  Despite the red designation, it does not fit, nor is it intended to fit, into any particular style guideline.  Last month as my beer supply was getting dangerously low, I just started jotting down a recipe off of the top of my head for something to get on tap as a standard offering.  The recipe is pretty arbitrary as you can see below.  I enjoy brewing these spontaneous beers, because when I shoot for something specific, I am often disappointed. (It is hard to duplicate beer, especially those from the other side of the globe.)  But I almost always enjoy the results of a randomly brewed beer for which I had no pre-conceived notions.   Here is the recipe if you are interested:

89%     Weyermann Vienna
5%     Crisp “Light Crystal” (15L)
3%    Crisp “Medium Crystal” (45L)
1%    Crisp “Dark Crystal” (75L)
1%    Castle Special B (145L)
1%    Roasted Barley (~500L)

60 min boil – Northern Brewer (enough for 20 IBUs)
40 min boil – Northern Brewer (enough for 17 IBUs)
20 min boil – Willamette (enough for 8 IBUs)
Knock Out – Willamette (I used 1 oz for a 6.25 gal batch)
Dry – East Kent Goldings (I used 1 oz for a 6.25 gal batch)

Wyeast 1028 – London Ale

Mash: 122 degrees for 20 minutes, 154 for 40 minutes, and 168 for 10 minutes.

O.G.:  1.055
F.G.:  1.013
Alcohol: 5.5% abv
Apparent Attenuation: 75%

The percentages given above are by total grist weight.  Use your own calculations to achieve the listed IBU for your system and volume.  I open ferment in an 8 gal enamel pot, but you can ferment any way you desire!  And that is not a typo above; I used Vienna as the base malt.  Normally I would have used Marris Otter, but I wanted this beer to be different.  Vienna is a great alternative, because it has a bit more character than a standard 2-row malt, and like Marris Otter, it adds a touch of color.  Though seldom used, I believe it makes a great base malt.  Maybe it gets no respect because it is caught between Pilsner and Munich malt?

The Red Lion turned out very nice.  It pours a dark copper/light red color with a solid off white head.  It has a pleasant earthy hop aroma with a touch of yeast character, a soft, round flavor that is fairly mild with nothing dominating, but a solid hop backbone along with a range of malt flavors.  And it finishes with a smooth malt note and a subtle dry hopped EKG finish.  Overall it is a very easy drinking beer with good character.  Perfect to have on tap for when friends come over to visit.  If I were to change one thing I would probably darken it up a touch.  You can achieve this by adding a bit more Special B or roasted barley to the mash.  Play around with it!

Speaking of all of those over-the-top beers that I mentioned above in the first sentence, do any of you have recommendations for my upcoming snow cave camping trip later this month?  It is a bit of a hike (through the snow), and relatively cold, so I am looking for something strong and compact that will warm me up around the fire.  (And it has to compliment Laphroaig 10.)  Please provide any suggestions – I’m always looking to try new beers.