In a recent article I espoused the view that a good brewery is consistent in their brewing process; that is, from one batch to the next, I’d expect a brewery’s flagship porter to taste EXACLTY the same.  But inconsistancy (intentional) is also necessary…at times.

My thunder for this post was a bit stolen in the comments section in my previous post by Sean Inman and Big Tex, but hey…great minds think alike, right?

So when is inconsistency a desired quality?

Special releases (including certain seasonals).  Dark Lord, the yearly special release that hails from 3 Floyds comes to mind.  In order to get this beer, an individual has to stay awake into the wee hours of the night to purchase special tickets.  Then, they must travel to Munster, Indiana as the beer is only sold by 3 Floyds at the brewery on that day.  Then the individual must wait in hour all day, just to buy a limited quantity of the beer.  Now, if this special Dark Lord kept a consistent recipe, I doubt that the hype surrounding it nor the anticipation of drinking it would be so intense.

I noticed that come of the older bigger craft breweries in the past few years–noting the trend in the craft community that values these intentionally brewed anomalies–have brewed outside of the boundaries of their classic lineup to include specialties.  Boulevard’s Smokestack series comes to mind.

But, not all special releases should be different year in, year out.  For example…for the most part, when I pick up a bottle of Dogfish Head’s Aprihop, I want it to taste like last years Aprihop.  And let’s face it…it would be pretty awful if Spaten suddenly through a curveball in their Oktoberfest recipe.

On a side note, sometimes the fluid nature of special releases ends up being a bit of a bummer.  For example, I recently heard that 3 Floyds was aging this year’s Dark Lord on Whiskey barrels.  If this is the case, I doubt I’ll be heading to Dark Lord Day 2011.  I’m not a huge fan of bourbon aged stouts.

What special releases do you most look forward to?  Personally, Jolly Pumkin’s Perseguidor gets me going.

I hate being sick.  You may be thinking, “Well, who likes it?”  That happens to be a very good hypothetical rebuttal. Perhaps you won’t begrudge me the aphorism in this case.  I really hate being sick.  Worse than the actual sickness is the crepuscular feeling of normal health slipping away into the darkness of a cold.  So, perhaps you have the prescient notions of day and nighttime non-reality associated with cold medicines that hold you into disparate pieces… okay, begrudge me a little hyperbole as well.

Ladies and Germs (pun intended), I feel the incipient sickness furtively lurking around my metaphorical door.  For this reason, I’m taking two courses of action.  The first preemptive response (although that is truly a non-sensical two word phrase) is to call in my legions of sleep.  Secondly, I will bring in good homebrew full of b-vitamins and grandpa’s cough medicine as a tactical weapon to clear the way for my waves of sleep.

Like I said, I hate being sick…but I sure like this solution.

I’ve come to terms with it and duly admit that in terms of depth, variety, and creativity, American beer is possibly the best in the world.  You can have whatever you want.  However, I do believe that most American breweries do have a deficiency is classic styles, which seems to be why our categorical distinctions are strangely expanding and blurring simultaneously.  It’s getting hard to pin down several American styles, while some are now, it seems, enjoying neoclassic ensconcement. Granted, our American Pale Ale can be a lot of things, but it certainly is now becoming iconically American.

Now that we have my confession and reservation, I’m going to say it.  Italian beer is underrated.  Say what you want, think what you want, but some of the craft Italian beer is stunning.  I had Nora the other night and loved it. The range on Beer Advocate is the typical operatic undulation of scores on this one.  You know the people I’m talking about: the ones with the Pliny the Elder bottles as their pictures.  I can’t imagine why they would excoriate a beer like Nora… Wait, yes, I can.  I suppose there just aren’t enough Columbus hops on the nose.  To be fair, there are some good raters on BA, so I’m not simple dogging that site.

At any rate, and without doing a full review, the Cedar spice on this beer was amazing.  I felt like I was sitting a humidor without the actual cigar smoke.  Now, I don’t know what all else was in there, and I’ve been cellaring my bottle for well over a year, so keep that in mind.  Bottom line is this: Italian brewers are making some great beer, and it’s nice to step out of the U.S. scene to enjoy some seriously good beer.  Please do yourself a favor and buy some of those Italian beers with that sexy bottle and lovely label design.

However rare, and contrary to the song, it’s been raining (and will continue to) in Southern California.  I’m not used to it and now consider myself spoiled on account of the fact that I’m from Indiana, a place that gets plenty of rain.  But it was too late, and I was too committed about my outside brew day to turn back.

I’ve been planning another extreme beer for several months.  It’s a truly huge beer with a huge amount of effort.  Because there are so many grains involved, I decided to brew three beers in one day.  First runnings were for the big boy, second runnings for a mid-size boy, and the third for a small boy.  It ended up being an 11.5 hour brew day, but I’m actually pretty happy about the time I made.

The most miserable part really hinged on the fact that the rain was relentless and I was soaked during the deal.

However, I woke up the next morning to some vigorous action and realized that it was all worth it.  So, while I wasn’t singing in the rain, I certainly can say I’ve brewed in it.  Maybe it’s up there with getting vodka for an airlock after an ice storm…I’m sure there will be more stories like this to come.

How about you?  Do you have any bad weather brew day stories?  I think I’ve got some mental scars.

It’s that time of year.  All of us state, without equivocation, that the year flew by.  Sure, there were minor moments of existential crisis throughout the year, which made time seem to drip like honey in that moment.  By-in-large, however, the year raced like a car in the red. My year was a strange one.  I had two jobs, then I had one job, then I had no job, then now I have a job.  I’m also in the planning stages for a brewery.

I could rattle off my top 10 or 20 beer list for 2010 (a worthy endeavor) but I’m going name highlights for the year instead. No particular number in mind, just ones I can think of.  Here goes nothing:

1. Brewing- I’m pretty certain that I came pretty near to exceeding my alloted limit of beer brewed for a two-person household this year.  Just for reference, that’s 200 gallons (brewed 5 gallons at a time).  Personally, I really like where I’m at with brewing and seeing my process and knowledge vastly improve over the past year.  To that point, I’ve made the switch over to almost exclusively drinking my homebrew.  I drink occasional bogeys, but I’m happy to say that I love drinking my own beer.  My brews have also gotten in front of a ton of people, and it’s been inspiring to see them enjoyed.  Some of the people enjoying them may be part of the future plans for a brewery.

2. Brewery- This very week I’m trying to finish up pricing and planning for a nano-brewery.  Between making early acquaintances, lots of phone calls, and a good deal of looking into equipment, it’s been a fairly positive progression over the last few months.  My fondest hope is to be pouring my first brews about a year from now.

3.  Fellow Bloggers- There are a ton of blogs out there.  A ton.  Somehow, we’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the really good ones.  2010 was great because we actually spoke, face to face, with some of our blogger friends.  There is no reason to think that we won’t meet some more in 2011.

4.  Beer Gatherings-  Perhaps Dark Lord was the social beer context of the year.  I tried a lot of great beer there.  People were more than generous.  Other gatherings include, mostly, simply hanging out with friends.  I did have a couple of beer parties this year, not least of all my b-day, which involved exposing my friends to some great beer (including Black Tuesday).

There are so many more things I could add, but why hog all the limelight?  What are your highlights from 2010?

Mike’s recent articles chronicling his adventures in drinking through some of his cellared beer led me down the contemplative path that considers what makes a brewery good at what they do. Mike noted that the beers that did not stand the test of time were flawed from the beginning, as time in the bottle allowed imperfections (i.e. bacterial infections) to dominate the beer. Thus, a good brewery crosses all there T’s and dots all their I’s to insure that their brew is contaminate free. Of course, even a brewery known for excellence is not immune to mistakes…brewers are human, after all.

That being said, I feel that one trait that is paramount to a “good” brewery is consistency. Consistency is, for the most part, fundamental to any and every industry. If you order a Big Mac from a McDonald’s in Pasadina, you expect it to taste like that Big Mac you ordered from the McDonald’s while on vacation in New York, right? Consistancy.

About a year ago, I had a certain brewery’s flagship double IPA (DIPA) and found myself thoroughly enjoying it.  I am not a huge hop head, so for me to relish each sip of a IPA, particularly those of the Imperial variety, the brew must be beautifully balanced.  I am not too picky when it comes to hop variety; that is, I like a variety of hops from Cascade, to Citra, to Saaz.  What I need is a suitable malt backing to make the bitter and fruity/piney notes from the hops palatable, but at the same time I don’t want a super sweet DIPA.

The DIPA in question nailed it.  Nice robust lemony and grapefruity hops with a silky roast caramel malt backing.  It is important to note that the beer was only a few months old.  A couple of months ago, I was able to score another bottle of the DIPA, it was also only a few months young.  Upon pouring it, the beer seemed noticeably thinner.  Upon tasting it, I nearly spit the brew out.  It was VERY thin, and lacked any noticeable sweet profile.  My wife, who had also enjoyed the brew with me in the past concurred.  This tasted like hop flavored vodka.  Disgusting.

I wondered…did the brewery try to cut corners?  You know, use less malt but mash at lower temperatures to keep the ABV intact?  Was it just a bad batch?

As a homebrewer, I know that consistency is not exceptionally easy.   Several of my recipes I find so enjoyable I try to occasionally replicate the results.  Sometimes the results are spot on, sometimes not.  The more technical equipment I get, the easier it is to achieve consistency.  For example, upgrading from an analog dial kitchen scale to a precise digital scale helped me nail hop profiles.

What do you think…Is consistency a big deal for you?  My next article will deal with how inconsistency can be a good trait for particular breweries.

From the onset, let’s establish that unwanted lactobacillus can leave a bad tastes in one’s mouth.  The unexpected sour and pucker of an accidentally infected beer is a real punch in the mouth, especially when the style is not particularly conducive to the beer.  That being said, let’s address the merit of the organism itself and scrunch our tightly wrinkled faces in its sour glory.

Cooking has some amazing connectivity to beer.  Many of the yeasts, bacteria, and maillardization processes that have profound effects on the flavors we love are common in both.  Lactobacillus is no exception to the rule.  I’ve compiled a brief list of things many of us love in order to draw attention to the beauty this bacteria offers.

• Sour beers of all sorts- For those of you who love sour beers, you can thank this bacteria for having a major impact on the brew.  Many ciders also have it.
• Fermented foods- Pickles, Kimchi, doughs of all sorts have this bacteria.  Great breads (sourdoughs) and pizza doughs (I’ve seen it argued that it is indispensable to a great pizza) both contain this bacteria.  If you like the Ethiopian flat bread known as injera, then you know how important it is.  Yogurt is another one.
• Aged foods- Many great salamis of the world have lactobacillus in them.  Like sharp cheddar or other cheeses?  Thank you, lactobacillus.  Even some chocolates have small amounts.
• Health foods- So called Probiotics such as kombucha are known for having this puppy.  Benefits include positive impacts on gastrointestinal health, anti-tumor, anti-cancer.  It also aids in respiratory health, helping treat pneumonia and bronchitis.  It lowers allergy risks like hay fever, helps with IBS, prevents yeast infections, and is even linked to boosting overall immunity health.  It can even help in treating high cholesterol.

How about a sour beer and some other lactobacillus foods! Not that you need any more reasons than the taste—but you have them anyway.

Well, that makes two beers in a short amount of time that had an infection.  I’m not going to continue defaming (not that I really have already) breweries, but it seems to me that I’ve figured something out about cellaring beer. Most of my cellared beers are a series of great/world class brews that will stand the test of time.  A couple brews were gambles to see what would happen.  A few of the brews were decent breweries that had made something interesting.

Okay, here is what I’ve figured out.  The difference between a good brewery and a not so good brewery can become evident over time.  I’m not talking about a brewery that has the occasional infection (it happens to the best of ‘em).  Take, for instance, Bell’s Brewery.  I think they make some really good stuff, but they had a bad batch last year or so, which they promptly recalled.

The craft breweries I’m talking about are those who, I think, already have a palpable but not necessarily pin-downable difference of the start.  With some beers, one may be “not sure what exactly it is about it, but it’s a touch off.”  Then, you might cellar one of those products. After a while, the off-ness takes root.  The hinted at becomes all to evident.  They weren’t really ever, methodologically speaking, good brews.

So, don’t waste too much time using precious money and cellar space unless you are certain the brewery is up to snuff.  However, I’ve had brew after brew of wonderful beers that blossomed…remember not to let a few bad apples ruin the bunch.

In the past, we’ve written on the topic of cellaring beer.  I’ve written a few reviews about beers I’ve cellared as well.  I’ve had some pretty good results in the past.  This Christmas and New Years has provided me the opportunity to drink a few of my cellared products.  There is real enjoyment and merit behind aging these beers.

I’ve got some friends coming into town on Thursday and I’ve gone over my cellar list (yes I keep an excel spreadsheet) and am going to crack a few of these beauties.  I have to say that I’ve only had one bad cellar experience and it wasn’t self-inflicted.  It seems to me that a lactobacillus infection happened at the brewery.  Not that I mind lacto at all.  In fact, I love it.  However, it was not style or type conducive.  The bacteria takes a while to do its thing, so I imagine the beer would have been fine fresh.  At any rate, it can’t be helped that a brewery mess the bottle up.

Otherwise, I have to commend the idea of cellaring beer to you.  Beers often develop in interesting (and rarely unsavory) ways.  My current oldest bottle is over 12 years old and I’m holding on a bit longer.  However, and depending on style, the beers can become beautiful.  More often than not, you will be in for a real treat.  Besides, it’s a great test of one’s patience.

Perhaps I’ll offer up a few reviews of cellared beers to you.  However, I’d love to hear about your cellar experiences.  What has been good, bad, or ugly.  By the way, the beer I had that turned bad was Cocoa Loco by Arcadia…didn’t hold up well at all.

I’ve made no secret of my future brewery aspirations.  My goal is to be brewing commercially in a little over a year from now.  If you read this site, you know this and my friends know this as well.  So, Christmas came and we were going to be out of town.  My awesome friends hung out with me the other night and gave me my gift.

I went to my friend’s house and saw some beer bottles on the table.  I thought, I’ve never seen that brew label before and it looks really interesting.  Being curious I took a much closer look.  Lo and behold, there was a label with our future proposed name for our brewery. Apparent mental slowness on my part made me get kinda pissed that the name for the future brewery was stolen.  How can this be?

It dawned on me, slowly, that, in fact, my friends had designed a very cool and authentic looking label that donned the new beer bottles sitting on the table (pics to come).  One of the best X-mas present I’ve ever gotten happened just this year.  Happy Holidays indeed!