Microbrewed Adventures (8 page)

Perhaps it was the bubbles rising in my second India pale ale (alongside another glass of water) as I gazed hypnotically into my glass. “Drink Deliberately” floated to the surface of my mind like the creamy head on my nourishing ale.

We all have our priorities. I had chosen to come down off the mountain, not having reached the top, to try again another time. I don't regret most of the choices I've made in my life. My priorities continue to evolve. I often think about how lucky we are in America to have so many choices, though most of us don't exercise our opportunity to choose. Beer? Beer is one of those wonderful things in life. Does it dismay me that I've observed so many mindless choices across so many bars and dining tables? No, although I wonder why people bother to make a mindless choice of what beer to drink when there are so many wonderful options.

I suppose at any given moment it's all about priorities. There are so many wonderful beers…if people would only take a moment to think about their priorities.

For now, I choose to live deliberately, and when it comes to beer I'll take that moment to drink deliberately.

That day in Telluride in the mid-1990s, I was lucky. I could drink Archie's India Pale Ale after a long day's journey. But if I hadn't been so fortunate and had found myself trapped on top of the mountain with my own ingredients and equipment, I'd have brewed a simple but most excellent batch of my own…

W
HILE THE MICROBREWS
of today owe much to the pioneering work of the brewmasters of the early 1980s, they have contributed their own personality and twists to America's growing lexicon of beer. There are now more than 1,300 microbrewies across the country, offering thousands of choices from Dogfish Head's Raison d' Etre to Rogue Ales' Morimoto Imperial Pilsner and Stone Brewing's Arrogant Bastard ale.

No longer simply content to brew world-class German-style kölsch, bock, Altbier, pilsener, Dunkel, and having perfected English-and Belgian-style stout, porter, India pale ale, gueuze-lambic, barley wine, mild, Tripel, Dubbels and Kriekbiers, today's brewers continue the adventure beyond all boundaries. They are always on the frontier, with beers aged in sherry, bourbon, port and wine barrels, infusing hops at the point of serving, using indigenous and exotic sugar, spicing their beers with the perfect balance of cocoa, coffee, coconut, exotic fruits and herbs. Today's brewers maintain their reverence of classic styles while creating new balanced beer flavors that offer even the avowed non–beer drinker new opportunities to indulge in a vibrant and convivial beer culture.

Rogue Ales
Charlie 1981

J
OHN MAIER
,
brewmaster at Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon, has brewed more than 30 million pints for Rogue. So states John's short bio, but I beg to differ. John has brewed more than 30 million pints of Rogue Ales for
beer drinkers
!

Article 2 of Rogue Ales's “Beer Manifesto” reads, “We hold that beer is worthy of passion.” Agreed.

Rogue Ales is a unique and “beer-alive” brewing company, owing much of its growth in popularity to John Maier's creative skills.

I don't quite recall the very first time I met John. It was probably in the mid-1980s. He began his beer journey in 1981 brewing his first batch of homebrew from my book
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
. Entering numerous beer competitions, he saw his newfound passion rewarded with several top honors at homebrew competitions. In 1987 he took a job as assistant brewer at Juneau's Alaskan Brewing Company.

It was in the year 1988 that I truly recognized the talents of John Maier. The American Homebrewers Association was celebrating its tenth anniversary at their annual conference. I was wearing only a white toga and a wreath of hops. The celebrations were beginning. I was roasted and then twice pied in the face by hooded “pie terrorists.” Speeches were made to embarrass me further. It was all in fun, and the buildup to the final ceremonies awarding the winners of the American Homebrewers Association's National Homebrew Competition. I had the honors of presenting the top award, best of show and Homebrewer of the Year. It was to John Maier.

When he came to accept his award John whispered to me, “Charlie, it was your recipe for barleywine ale, right out of your book.” In his acceptance
speech, he encouraged all by reminding us that quality beer needs passion and anyone can make great beer at home using simple techniques.

Rogue Brewmaster John Maier in a mountain of hops

In 1989 John became the head brewer at Rogue Ales. I visited the brewery a few short years after it had opened. There was that ever-present sparkle of passion and excitement in John's eyes and a small grin while he juggled brewhouse, fermentation and packaging activities. They had just received new bottling equipment and were in process of fine-tuning its operation. Since then the beers of John Maier have continued to roll off the conveyers at this small coastal-town brewery.

Would a professionally trained brewmaster with neither homebrewing experience nor passion for beer be capable of what John has achieved? I think not. I can't keep up with the proliferation of beers Rogue offers to the beer drinker. Go to their website (www.rogueales.com) and count them yourself. John brews more than 30 actively available beers, among them Chipotle Ale, Chocolate Stout, Dead Guy Ale, Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Imperial India Pale Ale, Mocha Porter, Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Santa's Private Reserve and Rogue Smoke.

One of John Maier and Rogue Ales's award-winning and briefly popular beers was “Charlie 1981,” brewed to commemorate the 2001 Association of
Brewers' Annual Craft Brewers Conference. Confronted with a bottle of Charlie 1981, bearing my likeness on the label, I was taken by surprise. John had commemorated his first batch of homebrew (1981) using the book that had started his career.

Charlie 1981 was a bottle-conditioned strong ale with a unique balance of hops and malt that rewarded John and the Rogue brewery with honors at several international competitions. Intended to be a once-only brew, Rogue rebrewed Charlie 1981 once again in 2002, but there are no long-term plans to brew this widely acclaimed ale.

The
Book with the Little Rose
New Belgium

W
HEN I AM DEVELOPING
a new beer and have certain ideas of what it should be, I don't brew test batches by aiming at the ‘center of the target.' I like to brew test batches that explore the areas of ingredients and process so I learn what is happening all around the central idea I am ultimately trying to brew.”

These are the words of Peter Bouckaert, head brewer and brewmaster of New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, makers of the very popular Fat Tire amber lager. Peter is Belgian, with experience and friends at several breweries in Belgium. Now he has relocated to Colorado, bringing with him special skills and an attitude that admires both the obvious and the not-so-obvious world of brewing's science and art.

Speaking English with a Flemish accent, Peter confides, “It is so nice, yes, that in America there are so many people experimenting with all aspects of brewing. The large brewers in Europe are not doing this. The homebrewers, microbrewers and craft brewers are all important to helping us all understand and explore all these interrelationships and very new ways of doing things. If you have many brewing projects that you and others may be working on, it is very valuable to be able to take little pieces of knowledge from each project and fit the pieces together to achieve a new beer.”

Others have often said that there are so many good beers in the world, but so little time to try them all. Peter is one who realizes that there is so much to learn and do in creating beers, but so little time to brew them all. He pos
sesses a wealth of knowledge and experience, gained from delving into matters of brewing frontiers.

We discuss the addition of herbs and fruits to beer. There are secrets Peter won't tell me, but he makes me realize that not all herbs and fruits can be treated equally, explaining, “It all depends on the chemical nature of the flavor and character you are trying to finally end up with in your beer.” You need to understand very specifically the chemical nature of a cherry's or a raspberry's flavor. For example, raspberry flavors have ketones in their makeup. If they are fermented, certain other flavors are derived from the fermentation and aging process of these compounds.

How do you maintain the red color of cherries? “This is something I know about through experimentation and discussion with colleagues,” Peter says with a smile. “I can't tell you too much about this because now we consider it is confidential.” He leaves me with the thought that the answer is both process and ingredient related.

“You have to treat spices the same way,” he says. For example, if you use kaffir lime leaves, the flavor compound that you want to perceive in the final beer is related to citronellal. He explains that this is chemically described as an aldehyde. If this is acted upon during the fermentation process, it can be broken down into alcohol, and this in turn can be broken down into esters. All have the elements of citrus character, but at each stage the flavor and aroma threshold can increase or decrease dramatically. So you have to be careful about how much you add, as well as when you add it. Every spice and herb is different. “If you are seeking a desired final balance of flavors then it is nice to be able to understand these things,” Peter adds.

There are many creative beers brewed at the New Belgium Brewery. The tasting room/pub is worth a visit, for some of the most interesting and experimental beers are available only on site and at the brewery. One beer that is available nearly everywhere is their well-known Fat Tire. But New Belgium also has unusual beers such as their 1554, which intrigues me as a beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Its recipe is based on references to a Belgian-style black ale, brewed as far back as 1447 and quite popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“Zwart bier,” or black beer, is virtually unknown in today's Belgium. Phil Benstein, one of the brewers Peter works with at New Belgium, came across a reference to black beer at the Colorado State University library. Further research led Peter to other references in the 1903 book
One Hundred Years of Brewing
, but he could not find any Belgian brewers who knew of this historic beer. On one of his frequent journeys back to Belgium, Peter enlisted the help
of a Belgian friend and historian, who uncovered a book published in 1554 referencing black ale and a 1447 book called
Het Boeck mette Rooskens
, translated “Book with the Little Rose.”

The idea to recreate a historic version of this black ale was proceeding at the brewery, using malted barley, hops and selected spices. The beer, label and packaging were ready to be introduced to beer drinkers as “1554.”

Book with a Little Rose
Book with the Little Rose. Courtesy of Peter Bouckaert, New Belgium Brewing Co.

Through good fortune and lucky circumstances, Peter found a copy of
Het Boeck mette Rooskens
in the city archives of Brussels. It was handwritten on parchment, dated September 27, 1447. Written in old Flemish, in stylistic cursive, the book deals with legislated city laws, of which about 32 pages concern
“swart ofte zwert bier”
beer-related matters. Peter believes that Brussels at the time was a small town of perhaps 15,000 people and 1,000 breweries.

Peter recalls, “Everyone was making beer at the time and there were rules in each town that governed what could be used and how you could make beer. Some references to black beers used oats while others may have used barley and wheat. Some reference hops and others reference gruits, the mixture of herbs and spices that were used more often than hops to flavor beer.”

Peter admits he is not a historian, but he certainly values the historic as well as modern-day creativity involved in the mystical process of making craft microbrewed beers. When he can find time, or someone to help translate the difficult old Flemish, Peter plans to learn more about his Belgian brewing roots and perhaps some old wisdom that can be applied to his modern brewery, to brew beer for all of us beer drinkers to savor.

Had he found the “Book with the Little Rose” soon enough, we might be enjoying 1447 rather than 1554.

Hop Whompus
Oggi's Pizza & Brewing and Left Coast Brewing Company