NYC Craft Beer Fest – Winter Edition Preview

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Nick Ladd

Winter Harvest – December 1

I love winter beer. I love beer festivals. When you combine the two, magical things happen. December 1st is the NYC Craft Beer Festival – Winter Edition which fulfills the festival half of the equation, but seems a bit light on the ‘winter’ half of the equation.

Gauging from the beer list that has been published, it looks to be pretty similar in size and scope to The Brooklyn Pour I attended in early October. I count 109 different beers or ciders from 64 different breweries. Frankly, for a festival billing itself as ‘featuring winter seasonal beers’, the list is very light on winter warmers or other body-warming styles of beer. The list is dominated by flagship brands with relatively few options to try things out of the ordinary or not readily available. Judging from the brands represented it seems that most are being brought by distributors and not the actual breweries themselves; a lost opportunity for breweries to win over the types of rabid beer lovers that attend these events. Mediocre list aside, there are a handful of gems on the list:

Dark Horse – Reserve Special Black Ale
Founders – Breakfast Stout – Commonly available, but oh, so delicious.
Heavy Seas – Loose Cannon – Not a Winter beer, but still outstanding.
Great Divide – Hibernation – One of the best winter warmers out there.
Maine Beer Co. – Peeper Ale – Not a Winter beer, but a great American Pale Ale.
Sly Fox – Christmas Ale – Solid winter beer.
Victory – Storm King – Classic Russian Imperial Stout

Originally scheduled for early November, Hurricane Sandy forced a change of date and venue. The organizers will be holding a supply drive for those in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens.

I’ll be there with a full review after the event has come and gone.

Founder’s Harvest Ale Review

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Nick Ladd

2012 Founder’s Harvest Ale

When it comes to fresh (wet) hopped beers, I am a very difficult consumer to please. The majority of wet-hopped beers I’ve tried have a distinct ‘dirty’ flavor that I do not enjoy. It is a flavor that is hard to describe, but one I chalk up to the massive amount of raw plant material that tends to go into these beers. For lack of a better word, I tend to call it chlorophyll-like. Some people like this flavor, but I tend to enjoy bright, clean hop flavors. Founders managed to impress me with this beer by avoiding a lot of the flavors I find rough or harsh in wet-hopped beers.

Beer Data:

Purchased: 11/3/12 at Bierkraft ($16.50 / 4-pack)
Consumed: 11/3/12
Bottled: 10/4/12
Alcohol: 6.5% ABV

Commercial Description from Website:

This liquid dream pours a hazy golden straw color with a white, two-finger head. Your first sip rewards you with a super juicy hop presence bursting with fresh citrus, then finishes to introduce toasted malt undertones.

Tasting Notes:

Aroma: Sweet orange peel and tangerine dominate the nose. There is a touch of pine resin and light grapefruit as well. Aromas are clean and defined; not dirty at all. The hop intensity is somewhat subdued compared to other IPAs. Very light malt sweetness. 8 / 12

Appearance: The golden appearance alludes to the fact there isn’t going to be a ton of darker caramel malt or toasty flavors in this beer. Clear, but not brilliantly so. White persistent head. 3 / 3

Flavor: The hop flavor is lighter than what the nose foreshadowed. Grapefruit flavors are much more apparent on the palate along with some light tropical fruits (pineapple). The bitterness is firm, but moderate for the style. There is a light toasty / crust-like malt character. No caramel or alcohol flavors. There is a hint of dirty chlorophyll-like flavors. 14 / 20

Mouth Feel: Very light, crisp, and dry body. Medium carbonation with a slight amount of astringent bitterness. 3 / 5

Overall Impression: Harvest is an enjoyable light and clean IPA. The hop flavor is balanced and doesn’t overwhelm you, making it quite sessionable (if that is possible for a beer of 6.5% ABV). Founders managed to avoid much of the negative flavors which I get in a lot of wet-hopped beers. If the hop intensity was dialed up and the roughness of the bitterness toned down a hair, this would be an outstanding beer. That being said, this beer is very good. 7 / 10

Score: 35 / 50 (Very Good)

Note: Evaluation done according to BJCP Scoring System. This beer was reviewed as a Category 14b American IPA.

From the Cellar: 2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Nick Ladd

2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot was one of the beers that originally showed me the interesting evolution a well-crafted beer goes through as it ages. When fresh, Bigfoot is brash and hoppy, making no excuses for its intense bitterness, citrusy hops, and big alcohol. As it ages, the hops become more integrated and nuanced while allowing the complex malt to sing. The interplay of slow micro-oxidation with the malt and alcohol begins to create wonderful fruit and sherry-like notes that turn this beer into something very different than its fresh self. Straight off the packaging line, or with a couple years age, this is a delicious beer. Drink some fresh, but stash away a few to drink slowly and see what time can do to a well-crafted beer such as this.

Availability: Winter
Bottled: 2010
Alcohol: 9.6% ABV

Commercial Description from Website:

Our award-winning barleywine boasts a dense, fruity bouquet, an intense flavor palate and a deep reddish-brown color. Its big maltiness is superbly balanced by a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness.

Tasting Notes:

Aroma: Big rich malt hits you first–reminiscent of thick dark caramel, molasses, biscuits, and toasted bread crust. There is a lot of fruit in here as well: prunes, light apricot, and a hint of lychee. The aroma is heavy and complex with plenty of oxidized sherry-like notes. Very little alcohol is apparent as are a hint of piney hops. 11 / 12

Appearance: Hazy somewhat muddy brown color with some rust-like hues. Upon pouring, a tightly bubbled tan head forms that persists until the end–quite impressive for a high alcohol beer. 3 / 3

Flavor: The flavor follows the aroma with superb rich malt and sherry-like flavors. There are more hops apparent in the flavor, but they are a shadow of their former self with some pine-needle like and slightly citrusy flavors. The hops are very apparent in the firm bitterness that is present. 17 / 20

Mouth Feel: This beer has a big sticky mouth feel that finishes just on the sweet-side of dry due to the big bitterness still present in the beer. 4 / 5

Overall Impression: This beer manages to be complex in different ways at both a young and well-aged stage in its life. At either age, it is not a subtle beer. The flavors are intense, the alcohol is big, and the overall impression makes you want to sit back and take your time sipping and dissecting the layers of flavor present in the beer. This is truly the best example of an American Barley Wine that I can think of. 10 / 10

Score: 45 / 50 (Outstanding)

Note: Evaluation done according to BJCP Scoring System. This beer was reviewed as a Category 19c. American Barley Wine.

Fall 2012 Brooklyn Wort Recap

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Nick Ladd

The Fall 2012 edition of the bi-annual The Brooklyn Wort was held this past Saturday, October 27th at Public Assembly, a venue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Wort is an attempt to combine two of my favorite things: a homebrew competition and a beer festival. Local homebrewers sign up and pay an entry fee to serve 5-gallons of their beer to the public and have it judged by both professional brewers and industry insiders. There is a $1000 purse at stake, with a portion awarded by a professional judging panel and a portion awarded based on the popular vote of festival attendees.

Ticket prices include pretty good tacos from Cemita’s.

From the general public’s perspective, this event looks like a lot of other beer festivals. You choose one of two sessions to attend and pay a $35 entry fee to sample twenty-five different homebrews and eat a light meal (two tacos from Cemita’s Mexican Sandwiches and Tacos). You are given a tear sheet of tickets to give to each brewer in exchange for a sample as well as an empty slip to register your personal vote for the best beer.

Crowded…

First impressions are important. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the venue there was a large slow moving line that took nearly 20 minutes to get through. Within the venue, homebrewers were set up in two different rooms, both of which were way too small to accommodate the crowds on hand. Getting to the actual tables in order to receive a sample required quite a bit of maneuvering through the oversold crowd. Do not attend this event if you are claustrophobic or short on patience. When I showed up for the second tasting of the day, there was still a considerable number of people lingering from the first session, which significantly exasperated the problem.

Overcrowding and comfort aside, the most important part of a beer festival is the quality of the beer. In many ways I think the quality of the homebrew being served very much echoes the quality of homebrew in general. Homebrewing is still very much in its nascent stages with the quality improving every year, which means events like this are often a mixed bag. Of course, in a lot of ways you could say the same thing about a commercial craft beer festival. I managed to taste 22 of the 25 beers being served. Of these 22 I rated:

5 Great – Would drink well next to solid commercial beers.
5 Good – Comparable to an average commercial beer.
7 Below average. Some technical flaws or balance problems. Comparable to a handful of bad commercial beers.
5 had serious infections or off-flavors. I ran into some seriously phenolic beers, beers tasting like DMS (rotten cabbage), unintentionally sour beers, and beers with big diacetyl problems.

I had a great time chatting with the actual brewers and hearing their reasoning behind recipe formulation. I loved that many brewers were looking for genuine, unabashed feedback on their beers, and that many brought in their recipe sheets. When people ask my opinion (we all have one), it is difficult to tell whether they really want to hear what you are perceiving or simply want a pat on the back. I try to read people, but tend to give my opinion when asked (good or bad). Carefully articulated, honest feedback is the only way to become a better brewer. If you ask for my opinion, you should be willing to take it–good or bad. I expect the same treatment for every beer I make.

My top five brewers and beers:

Rye Rye My Darling (Rye IPA) – Steve Hanson
Trois PA (Pale Ale, 100% Brett) – Jonathan Moxey
Judie Tuzke (Best Bitter) – M. Messenie & T. Lee
Prunus Maximus (Porter w/ Plum & Chili) – Marco Trauzzi
The Blushing Goddess (Saison w/ Hibiscus) – Peter Durning

A Visit to Peekskill Brewery’s New Digs

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Nick Ladd

Peekskill Brewery’s New Building

Excited things are happening at Peekskill Brewery. An expansion that relocates the brewery and pub to a new building just a few short blocks away is nearing completion. This expands both the brewery capacity, as well as as creating an even better place to enjoy Peekskill’s tasty beer and food. Several weeks ago, Peekskill’s Brewmaster Jeff O’Neil led a tour of local homebrewers through the under construction brewery and answered a ton of questions. Special thanks to Jeff for his hospitality and insight into the brewery’s plans!

The Building

Peekskill is currently renovating an old concrete and stone building (I’d guess about 100 years old) that will contain 4 floors (plus a roof deck and cellar) of beer goodness. The main brewhouse and fermenters will share the first floor with a generous bar and dining spaces. Grain is dropped into the first floor mashtun via a wet-mill located (and on display) on the second floor, which also features an additional bar and dining spaces that look down into the first floor through a opening in the floor. The third floor contains one of the brewery’s most unique features, a stainless steel coolship, as well as other additional, flexible space. The fourth floor is planned for a future banquet and catering space and the roof features a beer garden, which overlooks the Hudson River.

The Brewery (and Coolship!)

Jeff O’Neil on the New Brewing Deck

Upon entering the brewery you are greeted with what appears to be a fairly conventional set-up for a brewery of this size. Peekskill has installed a new, two-vessel, over-sized 15 barrel brewhouse which will be double-batched into jacketed 30 barrel unitank fermentation vessels. There is a walk-in cooler behind the bar which contains serving tanks for draft beer. The brewery is designed for a maximum annual capacity of about 3,000 barrels, of which about half will find its way into the local market (including NYC). What you can’t see from the first floor is the brewery’s most unique feature. A large stainless steel coolship lives two floors above the brewhouse on the third floor. A coolship is essentially a long shallow stainless steel pan that is used to cool the wort after the boil. Before the advent of modern heat exchangers, brewers would transfer their boiled wort into a coolship vessel in order to maximize the surface area of wort open to the air and expedite cooling.

Future Location of Coolship

Very few modern breweries have these vessels, and those that do are using them almost exclusively for the production of spontaneously fermented beers. I asked Jeff how he envisioned Peekskill’s use of the coolship:

Primarily, it should really help us to run clear worts to fermentation. When we cast out a kettle full, the wort will only be 10″ deep. The trub dam will catch a lot of hot break and hop material and we’ll also be able to do late-hopping at a lower temperature than is possible in a traditional whirlpool vessel. This should help us to express a different character from late-hopping than we could otherwise.

Almost the entire lineup of beers will find their way through the coolship. Additionally, I asked Jeff about Peekskill’s plans to actually start fermentation in the coolship:

We will try all sorts of fermentations in the ship. Most beers will just be up there for 30 minutes or so after the boil, but we will do many others where we begin primary fermentations in the coolship, and then drop them into cellar tanks for maturation. We’ll do this with with an eye toward those styles, which would have traditionally been made in open tanks. Some yeasts perform very differently under these conditions than they would in a “unitank.” I’ll certainly try some truly spontaneous stuff, but time will tell how that pans out.

In addition to the new brewery, Peekskill has a new 4-head bottle filler designed for corked and caged bottles. Currently, the plan is to sell all bottled product via the pub as brewery-only releases.

The Cellar

Below grade and out of sight, the building features an expansive cellar. Here, Jeff expects to have space for 60 or more wine barrels to be used for wild beers. The cellar offers the perfect space for wild beers since it is physically separated from the main brewery, alleviating fears of cross-contamination. Additionally, Peekskill has additional room on the third floor for clean barrel-aged beers.

The Beers

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that prior to my trip up to Peekskill, I had never sampled any of their offerings. After spending an hour or so in their tap room, I can honestly say that they are making some of the best beers from New York that I’ve sampled since moving here. I was especially impressed with their hoppy beers; I tried both their Double Standard (IIPA) and Eastern Standard (IPA). I asked Jeff to explain a little bit about their hopping program for these beers and whether he was doing a large whirlpool charge, running it through a hopback, multiple dryhops, etc.

We do all of those things that you mention and more, and are always trying to squeeze even more hop character out of every brew. In my experience, a truly HOPPY beer has many layers. We take a lot of care through the entire process to hit very specific time, temperature, and pressure parameters in order to get that expression.

Visiting the Brewery

Peekskill is working to get their new doors open as soon as possible; hopefully within the next couple months. Peekskill is only about an hour up the Hudson Line from Grand Central Station, making it a great day trip destination from NYC. The brewery itself is a very short walk from the Peekskill train station. I highly recommend heading up there to sample their lineup of great beers. Once they start doing brewery-only bottled releases, you’ll have even more reason to visit. Stay tuned for their grand opening dates.