Homebrewing update

The 19th Hole Red Ale I brewed with a friend was a modest success. We used the Brewer's Best red ale kit, and followed the directions closely since it was the first time homebrewing for both of us.

It ended up with a nice flavor. If I were designing the recipe from scratch, I might like a little more robustness. But it turned out as a nice session ale, so I can't complain. I would have liked a little more carbonation as well. We used the priming sugar included in the Brewer's Best kit. It lent some carbonation, but not as much as you would expect in a typical commercial beer.

As first attempts go, we were pretty satisfied with the result. The 5-gallon batch yielded 48 12-ounce bottles. The Brewer's Best kits are more or less idiot-proof.

Next, we're going to try our hand at brewing a stout using Charlie Papazian's recipe for Cushlomachree Stout from his Joy of Homebrewing book.

We're also planning to add a pound of flaked oatmeal for a little more body and creaminess. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Getting started homebrewing

After months of hemming and hawing, a friend and I finally took the plunge and got all of the equipment needed for homebrewing.

Many of you have been homebrewing for years. I resisted for a long time, figuring I'd leave it to the professionals. If you can buy perfectly good beer, I figured, why spend more than $100 for brewing equipment that might yield a lesser product?

But at some point, it's fun and satisfying to do something for yourself. So we went down to the new Durango Brew Supply, where the fellas helped us choose a five-gallon brewing bucket, a glass carboy, a siphon hose, a hydrometer, a capper and all the other gadgets needed to brew at home.

For our maiden voyage, we chose to brew up a simple Brewer's Best red ale kit. It comes with all the needed ingredients: malt, malt extract, hops and yeast, and even a little bit of equipment, like a cloth that functions as a giant tea bag, that turned out to be helpful.

19th Hole Red Ale is now finishing secondary fermentation in the carboy. The original gravity was a little low for some reason, so it looks to be heading for an ABV of about 4.2 percent.

We're considering going all-grain for our next batch. I'm looking around for a good oatmeal stout recipe, so if anyone has one for a five-gallon batch, or can point me to one, I'd appreciate it.

'Tis the Saison

Who says that summer brews must be tasted in season? While it is true that darker, heavier elixirs do fit well with the coming of ski season, certain styles of beer exhibit such unique and exotic combinations of flavor components that it is a delight to experience them, regardless the time of year. This is certainly the case with the humble saison, or Belgian/French farmhouse-style ale.

Traditionally brewed in a simple fashion for consumption during the warm summer months, saison is characterized by a fruity, citrusy yeast character, accented by modest hop and alcohol flavors. High attenuation by the yeast, (meaning that the yeast has consumed most of the available sugars in the beer and turned them to carbon dioxide and delicious alcohol), tends to leave a comparatively thin body, high carbonation and tart, dry finish.

Farmhouse ales were traditionally brewed for consumption on warm afternoons while working the land. This was at a time when slaking one's thirst with a funky-flavored, but bacteria-free, fermented beverage was a lot safer than drinking water from the nearby canal or irrigation ditch. 

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a local beer tasting hosted by the Mesa Verde Mashers homebrew club in Cortez. One of the members had visited the West Coast, and brought back an ‘A’ list of domestic and imported saison-style beer for our consideration. I had also recently received a bottle of New Belgium Brewing Co.'s latest release in their “Lips of Faith” series, Prickly Passion Saison, which billed itself as a saison-style farmhouse ale brewed with juice from prickly pear and passion fruit. Intrigued, I brought it along to be opened at the event.

The bottle lineup looked like this:

Manzanita Lazy Saison (San Diego)

De GlazenToren (Belgium)
DeDottignies (Belgium)
Fantome (Belgium)
Baudelaire (link to a review by the San Diego Beer Blog)
PrettyThings Baby Tree (USA)
Ovila(Sierra Nevada)
DuPont (Belgium)
De Prouef (Belgium)
OmmegangHennepin (USA)
St.Feuillien (Belgium)
Lost AbbeyBrother Levonian (USA)
New Belgium Prickly Passion Saison (USA)

The review of these could consume pages. Instead of this, I would suggest consuming the imported De Prouef and St. Feuillien. These seemed to best find the elusive balance between sweet, sour, and astringent components of the overall flavor. Many of the domestic products were very good as well, with Lost Abbey and Ommegang being stand outs. If any of the Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Saison bottles survive, they would be worth picking up as well.

And for the Prickly Passion Saison? As with most of New Belgium’s brews, this one is very clean in body and appearance. Many of the earlier bottles that were tasted contained a lot of yeast in suspension, making for a cloudy liquid in the glass. This one was translucent, with a very refined malt body forming a base for the yeast and fruit juices.

Perhaps it was the strong flavors that came before it, but the prickly pear was almost absent, and the passion fruit was very delicate, almost more of an aroma than a flavoring. As a stand-alone drink, I think that the Prickly Pear Saison would be quite enjoyable, and is a fine place to start if exploring the world of saison.

A big THANK YOU to Dion and the Mesa Vera Mashers for hosting this excellent event!

Townsend wins Ska homebrewing competition

Catching up on some news, a fellow by the name of Seth Townsend won Ska Brewing Co.'s GABF Pro-Am Homebrew Competition with his Organic Dubbel.

Townsend won "Best In Show" and also took top honors in the Belgian Strong Ale category.

As with past winners, Townsend will have his beer entered in the Pro-Am category of the Great American Beer Festival – the nation’s largest beer competition and festival. The beer will also be brewed on a commercial scale for release as part of Ska’s popular Local Series, which is distributed around Durango and Southwest Colorado. Townsend will have the chance to participate in the commercial scaling and production of his recipe for the Local Series.

Last year's winner, Clancy Calhoun of Aztec, N.M., brewed a tasty Schwarzbier, a dark German-style lager. The nice thing about competitions like these is the winning beers tend to taste good.

Ska has its own roots in homebrewing: the three co-founders all got their start as homebrewers.

“Homebrewers have the kind of DIY spirit that drove us to keep growing and improving," Ska President and co-founder Dave Thibodeau said in a news release. "We really respect that. That’s how a lot of craft breweries — including Ska — came to be."

Townsend is understandably excited at the leap his homebrewing career has just taken.

“My goal this year was to earn a spot in the GABF Pro-Am, so I focused on homebrew competitions that were selecting beers to enter it,” Townsend said. “The best part of this is that I’ll get to work with one of my favorite breweries, right here in Colorado. Honestly, I can’t think of a more fun brewery to be collaborating with to scale up my Organic Dubbel. I think it also shows that organic beer can stand up — and out — in a crowd.”

Chris Swersey, GABF's competition manager, had this to say about the Pro-Am category: “Because so many professional brewers began as homebrewers, the GABF Pro-Am competition is a great reflection of craft brewer unity at all levels. The Pro-Am serves to keep professional brewers and homebrewers in touch with each other, and serves as an exciting competitive forum for both AHA and BA professional members. But most importantly the Pro-Am is fun.”

Complete judging results for Ska' competition can be found here.

Make beer

Ska Brewing Co. is once again hosting a homebrewing competition that serves as a preliminary round for the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition.

The entry deadline is May 9, and beers must be received between April 25 and May 11.

Previous winners include Clancy's Black Beer, a schwarzbier brewed by Clancy Calhoun of Aztec, NM, and a "Merlo" Stout that was aged in oak barrels.

Entries will be judged May 20-21. If the winner joins the American Homebrewers Association, his (or her) winning beer will be sent to Denver to compete in the Great American Beer Festival.

Good luck to this year's entrants. Now get brewing!

Lingerie and home brew at the White House

The above topics are not necessarily related.

• Ska Brewing Co. will host a lingerie show Friday night: "Bottom's Up! A pre-Valentine's Lingerie Fashion Show and Gift Boutique."

Basically, you can drink beer, look at pretty ladies in lingerie and perhaps buy something for your own pretty lady. I'm just wondering if Ska Head Brewer Thomas Larsen will be strutting down the catwalk. Sigh ...

The event is 7-10 p.m.

• Steamworks Brewing Co. has its tasty molé stout on tap. This one is an imperial stout (10 percent ABV) that uses molé made in Steamworks' own kitchen.

This is one of my favorite Steamworks beers: a full bodied and flavorful stout with a bit of spice. I'd recommend giving it a try.

• Carver Brewing Co. recently tapped an organic English-style IPA. I can't wait to try this one, once my death-cold releases its vise grip on me, and beer sounds good again.

• Many of our founders were home brewers — Ben Franklin, George Washington and Samuel Adams among them — but it's another thing to see home brewing in the White House in this most uptight of times.

Yet, one of President Obama's chefs brewed a honey ale for the Super Bowl. It was served alongside beers from a Wisconsin craft brewery and Yuengling, an old-school Pennsylvania brewery.

Whatever you think of the guy's politics, it's pretty cool to have a president who has a brewery in his kitchen.

Homebrewing Modus Hoperandi

The homebrewers among you might be interested in this gentleman's attempt to clone Ska Brewing Co.'s Modus Hoperandi IPA.

It doesn't surprise me that he wasn't entirely impressed by the result. Modus, which uses four different hop varieties, strikes me as a difficult beer to clone. The teeth-kicking hop flavor of that particular India Pale Ale is unique.

Recipe for Ska double red

An alert reader noticed that the recipe for the beer I brewed last winter with Ska Brewing Co. in Durango has been reprinted by Brew Your Own, a homebrewing magazine.

If you're interested in how to brew a double red ale based on Ska's Pinstripe Red Ale, click over. I've posted the recipe on this blog before, but it's been organized in a more coherent fashion by Ska's Bill Graham. Scroll down to the recipe headed "Ska Brewing Company Kingpin Double Red."

I originally named it Soggy Coaster Imperial Red Ale, but I kind of like the name change.

Review: Clancy's Black Beer (Ska Brewing)

The latest release from Ska Brewing Co. will not likely inspire jealous envy in beer geeks across the nation. Clancy's Black Beer was not brewed with a truckload of hops. It was not aged in oak barrels. It does not boast a double-digit percentage of alcohol.

No, Clancy's Black Beer is simply a very well-executed Schwarzbier.

This release is the result of the 2nd annual Snowdown Homebrewing Competition, won back in February by an Aztec, N.M., oil worker named Clancy Calhoun. His winning entry was a Schwarzbier, a German-style dark lager.

For his victory, Ska brewed his recipe for release as the 16th beer in the brewery's hallowed Local Series. The beer will also be entered in the Great American Beer Festival's Pro-Am Competition.

So what is a Schwarzbier like? I'll defer to the Brewers Association's style guidelines, written by homebrewing god Charlie Papazian:

"These very dark brown to black beers have a mild roasted malt character without the associated bitterness. This is not a full-bodied beer, but rather a moderate body gently enhances malt flavor and aroma with low to moderate levels of sweetness. Hop bitterness is low to medium in character. Noble-type hop flavor and aroma should be low but perceptible. There should be no fruity esters. Diacetyl should not be perceived."

And this closely describes Clancy's Black Beer (5.4 percent ABV, 19 IBUs). Ska Head Brewer Thomas Larsen says it was brewed with 100 percent Tettnang hops, a noble variety. The malt bill is heavy on two-row and dark Munich malts, enhanced with Caramel 120, chocolate and DehuskCarafa III malts, finished with a pinch of Carapils malt.

It pours black, with a substantial light tan head of foam that lingers long. Malt dominates the smell and taste, with a bit of chocolate and perhaps some nuttiness. It is medium-bodied, with little discernible hop taste. The effect is rich, heavy, dark and a little sweet.

This is a welcome entry in Ska's Local Series, available for less than $5 per 22-ounce bottle at Durango-area stores. While it's not the rarest style, it's uncommon enough that you can't simply pick up a sixer of Schwarzbier at the ol' beer store. It expanded my beer horizons.

Clancy, and Ska, have done well. A-

Dry-hopping Soggy Coaster Imperial Red

I met Thomas Larsen, head brewer at Ska Brewing Co., on Monday to dry-hop my Ska collaboration beer, Soggy Coaster Imperial Red Ale.

Dry-hopping just means adding hops when fermentation has more or less finished. It doesn't bitter the beer substantially, but it does add some floral hop aroma. Since aroma and taste are so closely linked, I'm hoping it adds a little complexity to the beer. Many pale ales, IPAs and imperial IPAs are dry-hopped.

With Thomas' help, I threw in just over three ounces of Willamette hops (pictured) into the 10-gallon batch. The hops float on the surface of the beer until they become saturated. They then sink to the bottom.

This is the result of Beer at 6512's collaboration with Ska. The brewery invited me and Jeff Hammett of Beer N Bikes to brew beers under Ska's aegis. We each chose a style, recipe and name for our beers, then brewed it on Ska's equipment with Larsen's help. They will go on tap at Ska later this month.

Dry-hopping was the last step in actually brewing Soggy Coaster Imperial Red. All that remains is about a week of settling, then it goes into carboys and finally kegs. I can't wait to drink it.

Calhoun wins Snowdown homebrewing competition

Clancy Calhoun of Aztec, N.M., won the Snowdown Homebrewing Competition last weekend at Ska Brewing Co.

Calhoun's "Best of Show" entry was Clancy's Black Beer, a classically styled schwarzbier. Schwarzbiers are dark, malty German-style lagers.

"I just named them all after me just in case one of them won," Calhoun said.

Calhoun will now brew his beer with Ska for release in the Durango brewery's Local Series. It will be entered in the Great American Beer Festival's Pro-Am category in September.

A BPAmerica oil worker, Calhoun brewed his schwarzbier with half Pilsener and half Munich malt. It was hopped with Hallertauer, a traditional German hop variety.

Last year's winner, Chris Vest, brewed a "Merlo Stout" with Ska.

Calhoun said he has been homebrewing for 25 years. "My goal of brewing is to put Aztec on the brewing map," he said.

Good luck with that, Clancy.

In any case, a schwarzbier should be an interesting Local Series offering. Most Local Series beers use some sort of special or experimental ingredients, but it sounds like Calhoun's schwarzbier is brewed to style. Still, it's not a style that's readily available in bars and liquor stores, so I'm looking forward to trying it.

Snowdown Homebrew Competition returns

Several of you have asked whether the Snowdown Homebrew Competition will be returning later this winter. It is. Here's the release from Ska:

Ska Brewing is proud to announce the return of the Snowdown Homebrew Competition for 2009. The event will take place on January 30th at the Ska Brewing World Headquarters in Durango, during Snowdown —Durango’s annual winter festival.

The event is also a preliminary for the 2010 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am category, and will be an AHA/BJCP certified competition. Entry opens December 15th, and closes on January 15th. Beer entries must be in Ska’s possession no later than January 18th. The Snowdown Homebrew Competition’s website is here.

The winning recipe will be brewed in a Ska Local Series batch, to be sold at the brewery and in liquor stores around Southwest Colorado. The homebrewer who submits the winning beer will also help oversee large-scale production of the brew at Ska’s state-of-the-art brewing facility in Durango. In addition, the professionally-brewed version of the recipe will be entered into the Pro-Am category at the 2010 GABF in Denver. GABF is the nation’s largest beer festival and competition.

2008 marked the inaugural Snowdown Homebrew Competition, and according to Ska co-founder and President Dave Thibodeau, its success ensured that it would become an annual event. “Last year Chris Vest of the Mesa Verde Mashers won this competition with Merlo Stout, which went on to become a very popular release in our Local Series (#12).” Thibodeau also notes that this is not Ska’a only collaboration with homebrewers. “We started out as homebrewers, and we strive to keep that spirit alive, even in a professional craft-brewing operation. Between this event and our recently announced beer-blogger collaboration, we hope to support the homebrewing community and stay close to our roots.”

Homebrewers to convene at Ska

Homebrewing clubs from Cortez, Pagosa Springs and Montrose will meet Oct. 24 at Ska Brewing Co. to taste, brag and chat about homebrewing.

It's free, and there should be a lot of good beer. The Autumn Homebrew Hoedown is intended to be a simple meet-up, with beer enthusiasts sampling brews and discussing homebrewing.

All are welcome. The hoedown begins at noon at Ska HQ, 225 Girard St., in Bodo Industrial Park.

Review: Merlo Stout (Ska)

Mmm ... oak.

Ska Brewing Co.'s twelfth Local Series release, Merlo Stout, hit the shelves Aug. 25 in 22-ounce bomber bottles.

Merlo Stout is the creation of Chris Vest, a 50-year-old Cortez man who realized the dream of every homebrewer in having his beer brewed by a commercial brewery.

Vest's stout won the Osiris Homebrew Competition in February. As his prize, Ska brewed Vest's beer for a limited commercial release.

Merlo Stout was aged in oak barrels to mimic the merlot taste in Vest's original recipe. Commercial brewers are prohibited from mixing wine and beer.

Stout, of course, is the king of dark beers. Just about every craft brewer makes a version, but they can differ greatly. There are dry stouts, like Guinness, and imperial stouts like Great Divide Yeti. There are chocolate stouts, oatmeal stouts and coffee stouts. Others too numerous to list.

This is the first time I've heard of a merlot stout.

Merlo Stout is big - 9.6 percent ABV. It pours very dark, with a small, tan head that was actually less robust than I expected.

A strong oak taste is most prominent at first. Initially I was disappointed. I had been expecting a stronger fruity wine note. It tasted almost more like a strong ale rather than a stout.

Ah, but give it a chance. As the glass warmed, that wine note I had been looking for emerged. Malts came into play. My mistake was in serving the bottle straight out of the refrigerator - much too cold.

Take your Merlo Stout out of the fridge at least 10 minutes before you want to drink it. Trust me, this will allow those flavors to come in from the cold.

Given Merlo Stout's strong alcohol content, drinking it with a meal isn't a bad idea, either. Such a beefy stout surely pairs well with all sorts of dishes.

Merlo Stout is deep, complex and tasty. I was hoping for a stronger fruity wine taste, which would have balanced the big body nicely. Nevertheless, an interesting and fairly innovative Local Series beer from Ska. B+

Ska to release "merlo" stout

Ska Brewing Co. will release what promises to be a very interesting beer on Tuesday, Aug. 25: a barrel-aged "merlo" stout.

The recipe comes from a Cortez man, Chris Vest, who won the Osiris Homebrew Competition during the Snowdown festival in February. The prize: Ska promised to brew his beer for commercial release.

Vest's stout originally used the red wine merlot in the recipe. Unfortunately, the feds prohibit commercial brewers from mixing beer and wine (I know, dumb, huh?). So Ska instead aged the stout in oak barrels to get what they say is a similar taste. Ska also renamed the beer "Merlo Stout" to appease the feds.

Merlo Stout is big - 9.6 percent alcohol by volume, according to a news release.

Ska Head Brewer Thomas Larsen said the stout's aromas of "coffee, earthy hops, alcohol and a hint of smoke jump from the smooth blackness of this complex stout. For such a strong stout, the light body makes for a surprisingly quaffable brew.”

Merlo Stout also will be entered in the 2009 Great American Beer Festival's pro-am competiton.

Ska didn't mention it, but if Merlo Stout acts like other imperial stouts, it should age well. You might want to buy a couple of bottles and put one in a corner of your refrigerator for a few months.

Merlo Stout will be released in 22-oz. bomber bottles as part of Ska's Local Series, so it should be in liquor stores around Durango. If you're from outside the area, you're out of luck. And for those who live here, it won't last long.

Ska to host homebrewers event

Homebrewers will gather at Ska Brewing Co. on Friday, July 31, to drink, tour and be loved.

The event is a rally for the American Homebrewers Association. AHA members get in free, while nonmembers can pay $33 that - wait for it - also gets you an annual membership to the AHA!

For homebrewers, this should be great fun. It's too bad it's not more open to the general public.

Osiris's Homebrew Competition Crowns Winner

Chris Vest took home "Best of Show" at Osiris's Homebrewing Competition last weekend.

Vest's Merlot Stout will be brewed with Ska Brewing Co. for release in the Durango brewery's Local Series.

Orion Kingman came in second with "Soaring Saison," while Patrick Schneider took third with "Quest for Utopia Rauchbier."

The event was a preliminary battle for the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition.

Homebrewers often toil in obscurity, so it's awesome that the Snowdown event brought the brewers out of their caves.

Soggy Coaster didn't have the chance to try any of the winning beers, but he loves the sound of "merlot stout." Yummy.

Full results here.