Odell Brewing Set To Release Woodcut #2

Woodcut #2 will be released this Monday, April 20th at 2:00 pm in the tap room at Odell's in Fort Collins. Woodcut #2 is a strong golden ale aged in virgin oak barrels. This 11% ABV limited edition beer will be available in hand signed and numbered 750 mL bottles. I can't wait to try this beer! Woodcut #1 sold out very quickly so be advised, if you want to get your hands on some #2, don't delay. For more info visit: www.odellbrewing.com

Sour Beers May Be Catching On

Last night, I attended a meeting of the Brewnion Colony Homebrewers club. There were many fine beer, mead and cider samples passed around for all to enjoy, including two Belgian-inspired sour beers. Today, I came across an article in the Chicago Tribune that explores this unique style and how It's gaining favor with American craft brewers. Here is a quote from the article:

"In the beer geek population, sour beers are the Holy Grail," said Lauren Salazar, New Belgium's sensory specialist. "They're difficult to produce. They're impossible to control. But in the end, you end up falling in love with them."

Here's a link to the full story.

Colorado Beer Events 2009

Spring is here! It's time to put on your festival hats and get out and about! I have put together a list of events (festivals, beer dinners etc...) of interest to Colorado brewers and beer lovers. This document contains links that you can follow for complete information about each event. I will update the list and add new events periodically, so check back for updates. If you would like your event listed, just let me know! See the list here.

"Beer Wars" One Night Only

April 16, 2009 - "Beer Wars - Brewed in America" will be showing at a theater near you. This special screening will feature a live panel discussion after the film with Ben Stein. Ben will be joined by several of the country's leading independent brewers and industry experts, including Sam Calagione - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery founder, Rhonda Kallman - founder of New Century Brewing Company and co-founder of Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams), Greg Koch - founder of Stone Brewing Company, Charlie Papazian - Brewers Association president, Maureen Ogle - historian and author of Ambitious Brew and Todd Alstrom, Beer Advocate founder. For more info visit: www.beerwarsmovie.com

Beer Tasting and Evaluation by Joe Schiraldi

The following article appeared in the most recent email newsletter from Left Hand Brewing Company in the "Brewer's Corner" section. I enjoyed reading it, and thought you might also. The author has graciously granted me permission to post it here. Thanks Joe.

You may or may not be aware of the existence of the Beer Judge Certification Program. Its purpose is to promote beer literacy, promote the appreciation of real beer and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. Founded in 1985, the program has administered exams to 5000 judges worldwide, has judged 500,000 or so beers and sanctioned almost 4000 competitions. This August, Left Hand Brewing Company will sponsor an exam in our tasting room. If you haven’t been aware of this then I’m sorry but the chances for you to be able to take the exam are very slim. We are four spots away from reaching our 25 examinee limit. On alternate Mondays we have been conducting study sessions here at the brewery as well. Every two weeks we will be discussing technical aspects of brewing, the frailties and challenges of beer judging using human beings as the testing medium and of course tasting many different styles of beer through the whole gambit of beer diversity. The exam consists of 70% written material and 30% tasting. The scope of knowledge required to score high enough for National ranking as a beer judge through the BJCP is daunting to say the least. We have our work cut out for us.

Like many simple things in life, beer tasting and evaluation is easy until you allow human beings to get involved. Suddenly, all bets are off. When tasting beer we are hopelessly constrained by the fact that we are offering an opinion of what we taste. Depending on what philosophical schools of thought you cater too it can be said that anything that involves the senses is to be regarded only as opinion. There are many variables involved in how a beer tastes. Even when drinking bottles from the same six- pack there can be differences. A high oxygen content, bacterial infection or storage conditions can radically change the way two bottles from the same batch taste. These defects however are the easier elements to evaluate when tasting beer. Determining whether a beer exemplifies a particular style or, the degree to which it exemplifies that style when compared to other beers is another matter altogether. Accepting your personal variability is the first step to becoming an effective beer judge.

First, lose the ego. Admit that you are a human being subject to the frailties and weaknesses of the human condition. Remember that your pallet is just that, your pallet. What you do to it before tasting beer affects its performance more than anything else. That is why one judge does not a judging panel make.

There is a difference between casually enjoying and tasting beer and sitting in a controlled environment with controlled administering of beer samples for the purpose of evaluating which is the better example of an American IPA. These two environments should never be confused with one another. The first difference is distraction. With recreational beer drinking we are most certainly distracted from the taste of our beer either by conversation, a strikingly beautiful member of the opposite sex or the cologne the gentleman next to you is wearing. In a controlled tasting environment these outside distractions should be eliminated. So how do we have fun fooling our pallets?

One of my favorites is to put two samples of the same beer in a tasting flight say of Pale Ales or whatever. If the tasters do not know that two of the samples are the same beer, I guarantee you will get two different evaluations of the same beer. Why is this? For one thing ask a person a question and they are compelled to answer. If you ask me what the difference is then there certainly must be one and my ego takes over. I must give you an answer. If I fail to give you the difference you’re asking for, then I’m just not an intelligent and educated person. My mind’s defense systems take over and there is suddenly perceived difference. Secondly, fatigue certainly comes into play. Drinking a lot of beer makes the samples at the end of the tasting have less taste. The more flavorful and robust the beer the bigger the fatigue factor will be. Consider that next time you judge 14 IPAs for style conformity. This is much like that first bite of spicy food. It is the hottest. You build a resistance to the heat with subsequent bites. The same holds true for beer. What are some more fun tasting games for those just wanting to get an understanding of the madness?

We can look outside of the taster to affect the taste of beer. Temperature has a major influence on how a beer tastes. Try drinking beer from the same bottle but served at different temperatures. You are drinking two different beers.

There has been a resurgence lately of food and beer pairing. Why is this? The answer is simple; food affects the way a beer tastes. Proof positive once again that it is easy to change the beer taster pallet, that objective (Not!) tool of evaluation. Try tasting beer with different foods. Soon you will be much more concerned with your choice of beer at a meal.

The serving vessel has a huge influence on how beer tastes. There are many kinds of beer glasses out there designed…nay engineered to bring out the best of the beer that they serve. Try drinking the same beer out of different glasses and see how much of a difference it makes in taste as well as presentation. Belgian breweries devote a lot of time and energy developing glasses specifically designed to serve their beer.

These are some of the basics to hopefully turn you on to the fun and exciting world of evaluating beer. The scope of this discussion far exceeds the space allotted here. There are some important things to remember. As human beings, we really stink at evaluating anything objectively. Machines do a much better job at this. One person’s opinion is like putting all your money into mortgage backed securities. Diversification is much better. Be sure to invite lots of friends.

Joe Schiraldi
VP Brewing Ops
Left Hand Brewing Company

Video: 1930's German Brewery

Brewers, check out this excellent video that shows the workings of a German brewery in the 1930's, including decoction mashing and the use of a coolship.

RMMS 2009 - Part 1

The 14th annual Rocky Mountain Microbrewing Symposium Was held February 20, 2009. Once again, the event was hosted by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The Symposium was founded by Dr. James Mattoon of the UCCS Center for Biotechnology & Bioinformatics. Dr. Mattoon helped host the event, and along with Jeff Biegert of New Belgium Brewing, introduced many of this year's outstanding presenters.

This year's sold-out symposium was a great success. The presentations were informative, breakfast and lunch were tasty and fortifying, there were dozens of excellent beers to sample, and the camaraderie among attendees was second to none. When a group of 120 brewers and allied trade professionals get together in one room, knowledge is shared, ideas are born, friendships are strengthened, and a good time is had by all. Thank you Chris Stubbs, RMMS Coordinator and the event organizers for another great year.

The morning session got rolling with Andy Parker and Matt Thrall, the wood experts from Avery Brewing. They discussed how Avery Brewing Company approaches barrel-aging beer. During their talk, Matt and Andy shared what they have learned about barrel-aging, and discussed some of the successes and failures they've had along the way. They talked about different types of barrels for aging beer: wine, whiskey, port, etc., how to care for barrels, sources of equipment, blending aged beers, and different types of bacteria that can be found in (or added to) barrels.

Andy and Matt shared some aged beer samples with us. Among those samples was Avery's recently released Brabant. Brabant was aged for 8 months in zinfandel barrels, and inoculated with two strains of Brettanomyces. This beer is dark, slightly tart, and immensely complex. It weighs-in at 8.65% ABV.

The next session was on beer stabilization, presented by Mustafa Rehmanji of International Specialty Products. He discussed the importance of stabilization in the production of beer. He explained that drivers for beer stability include:

* Increased competition from imports
* Expanded brewery distribution range
* Consumer expectations for better quality and product consistency
* Need to reduce costs from returns of beer

Mustafa talked about the benefits of clarification of wort in the brew kettle, and how it can simplify and reduce the cost of downstream processing before filtration. He discussed some of the causes of haze in beer such as oxalates in malt, tannins and over sparging, and the importance of proper temperature control prior to and during filtration. He compared and contrasted the benefits of various beer stabilizers and presented research to support his discussion.

Doug Odell of Odell Brewing Company was up next with a talk on pilot brewing and recipe development. He talked about the 5 barrel pilot system at Odell Brewing. They use the pilot system for testing ingredients, developing new recipes and training employees. Odell Brewing connects with home brewers through the GABF Pro-Am Competition and a CSU brewing class gets to brew their own recipe on the system each semester. Also, the brewers at Odell's get to use the pilot system to express their brewing creativity and produce single batch brews for the tasting room. Having an ever-changing variety of beers available in the tap room helps keep customers coming back to discover "what's new."
















Doug walked us through his new recipe development process. He explained how employees do a blind tasting of commercially available examples of the target style. From this tasting, they discuss the qualities of each brew and decide how the new Odell recipe will fill a niche within the style. After an initial pilot brew of the new recipe, all of the beers (including the new Odell beer) are blind tasted again, and recipe adjustments are made if needed. This level of refinement would be difficult and costly without a pilot brewing system.