Rogue and Voodoo Doughnut collaboration

Breweries have been collaborating in order to create unique, and usually limited, craft beers for some time now, but what seems to be a more and more frequent occurrence are breweries teaming up with different non-beer industries. For example, Dogfish Head is gearing up to release a cider-esque ale that is a collaboration with Deltron 3030, which is one of the few music related collaborations that DFH has created. It is a great way for brewers to gain some outside influence in order to create recipes that may otherwise have never be imagined.

One of the most interesting inter-industry collaborations that I have read about lately is between Rogue and Voodoo Doughnuts who are both out of Portland, Oregon. Voodoo is no stranger to the foody scene, and you probably have seen there (in)famous maple-bacon doughnut on the Food Network or Travel Channel. This unconventional, meat-covered doughnut is the inspiration behind the Rogue/Voodoo collaboration that has been creating quite a stir in the craft beer community.

Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale, which is listed as a brown ale on Rogue's website, pours a very warm amber color that is close to a light brown. A thick and creamy head settled down to about a half inch and was present throughout the entire pint. Immediately after I poured the beer, before even bringing my nose to the glass, strong maple syrup aromas with a prominent smoke profile were noticeable. It really was eerily close to the scent of a pancake breakfast with a side of bacon. There definitely is a salty/meaty element to the aromas as well, which actually blends nicely with the scents of sweet maple syrup and smoked malts.

I really like smoked beers, so the initial sip was really pleasant. Up front there is a lot of maple syrup sweetness and a considerable amount of smoke from the malt, but also probably a bit from the bacon as well. The syrup and smoke is very prominent through out the flavor profile, but a meat quality definitely comes out in the middle and through the finish. The best way I can describe it is literally like eating a piece of chewy bacon covered in syrup. It may sounds pretty off putting from my description, but the flavors the bacon instill really do add another level of complexity to the smokiness.

Voodoo's Maple Bacon doughnut
wikipedia.com

I drank about a pint of the Bacon Maple Ale, and that was about as much as I could do. It was not because I did not enjoy it, because I actually really did, but it seems more like something that would go well with a pork dinner or even a pancake breakfast as opposed to just being enjoyed without food. This beer has gotten very mixed reviews. Some say it is brilliant example of an ale using non-conventional ingredients, while others write it off as some sort of Frankenstein beer experiment gone wrong that makes you feel like you are drinking bacon.

Either way, I would definitely recommend this ale as worth trying, especially for beer enthusiasts who enjoy a good smoked ale. It is definitely something far from the norm of the usual craft brews, and who wouldn't want to try a beer that actually had a doughnut or two thrown in it?

New England Series: Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale

Organically brewed ales and lagers are an increasingly available option at liquor stores and bottle shops. While it may seem silly to some to worry about whether or not pesticides were used in the ingredients, it is also important to realize that along with "organic" often comes environmental consciousness, sustainability, and support of local business and industry. At the end of the day, however, beer is enjoyed based on the way it interacts with your senses, so organic or not, it still needs to taste delicious.

I was in the mood for something on the darker side of the spectrum since I have been favoring the lighter Belgian ales lately. I saw Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale and it seemed like a good choice to mix things up a bit. Based out of Portland, Maine, Peak Organic focuses on brewing craft beer with quality ingredients from sustainable, local resources. It is a comforting to know that people actually care for the well being of not only our environment but also the importance of small-scale industries.

state-maps.org

Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale pours a very light brown with an off-white, creamy head that sticks around for quite some time. Scents of toasty and nutty  malt and caramel sweetness are present with slight hints of chocolate and bread. The taste starts off with toasty malts and strong notes of nuttiness. A very prevalent bitterness appears in the middle and holds out through the finish. Some of the toasty flavors come through in the finish, but it is primarily the bitterness. There is also a slightly off putting metallic flavor that appears in the middle and lingers on to the after taste, which may be due in part to the bitterness overpowering the malt flavor profile.

The beer is drinkable, but seems to be lacking prominent flavors. Honestly, it smells better than it tastes because there is almost a watery quality to it that makes it taste like it is lacking depths of flavors that should be present. I would not rush out to buy this beer again, but I can appreciate what Peak Organics is doing up in Portland in regards to supporting sustainable business ethics. Though I am not won over by this beer, I would not hesitate to try another another Peak Organics brew...

UPDATE: America Brown Ale (HB#6) now in bottles

This is going to be a pretty pitiful post, but better than nothing. The day before I left for Massachusetts (3/28) I finally got around to bottling the American Brown Ale. It had been sitting in buckets for about 5 and half weeks, which is a week and half longer than intended. Because the beer was dry hopping in secondary for the extra 11-or-so days, the hop aromas are very strong, which I am very pleased with. However, the extra time in the fermenter also resulted in more of the sugars being eaten up by the yeast, so the final gravity was 1.006, which is about .012 points of what it should have been. This is not the end of the world, but it does mean that I will have a higher ABV than intended, and the beer will have less sweetness and a much lighter body, which may not be characteristic of the American Brown Ale style. For what it is worth, the un-carbonated sample tasted quite good so that is a good sign of things to come.

UPDATE: American Brown Ale (HB#6) now dry hopping in secondary

Hops waiting in secondary

This past Monday (2/27/2012) I got around to transferring the hoppy brown ale I brewed into secondary fermentation. Two ounces of Centennial hops were added in order to soak for two weeks to create much more prominent hop aromas. It has been a week since the transfer and I will be ready to bottle in about one more, so this one is getting close to done.

The green looking foam is
the dissolved hop pellets.

As far as the style/name dilemma goes that I was having, I think it has been settled because of the larger than anticipate volume I ended up with. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a final gravity reading before pitching the yeast, but I did a rough calculation and found that the original gravity would have been around 1.062 instead of the anticipated 1.071 because of the extra gallon of water that didn't boil off. This means that there is a smaller concentration of sugar in relation to the volume, so the beer will subsequently be lower in alcohol (there is less sugar by volume for the yeast to convert into alcohol). An original gravity of 1.062 puts my brown ale within the parameters of an "American Brown Ale," so that is what I will refer to it as now. If all goes as planned from here, which clearly it has not up to this point, I should have a beer around 6.2% ABV (instead of 7.1% ABV) that will still hold up strong with malt and alcohol in balance with the eight and half ounces of hops used that will surely be on the forefront. 

Homebrew #6: Imperial Brown Ale/Double Brown Ale/India Brown Ale

BJCP.org

It was rather difficult coming up with the title for this post. Putting a style to my most recent beer I brewed was not an easy task. I went with a fairly renowned recipe called "Janet's Brown Ale" that I found in the book Brewing Classic Styles. It is classified as an American Brown Ale because of the prominent hop profile compared to the malt forward English version. However, I noticed the recipe created a beer with a ~6.8% ABV and 63 IBU, which is outside of the BJCP style guidelines (which are what are widely used for brewing competitions) for American Browns which states an alcohol percentage of 4.0-6.0% ABV and 25-60 IBUs. So where does that leave the ale that I brewed?

In the American craft beer world stronger, hoppier ales are often times given the label "Imperial," though historically the term was reserved for typically (though not always) dark ales, like stouts, that were brewed specially for royalty, particularly in Russia (thus the popular style: Russian Imperial Stout). The BJCP has categories specifically for Imperial IPA, Imperial Stouts, and Imperial Porters, but there is no explicit Imperial Brown category. They do mention Imperial Brown/Double-Brown under the "Specialty Beer" category which is more or less reserved for situations like I am in where there is a twist on a classic style that puts it outside of set guidelines. The term "double" (not to be confused with a Belgian Dubbel) is often times used interchangeably with "imperial" to describe a traditional beer style that has a higher alcohol content and/or a stronger hop profile.

So at this point I have tried American Brown Ale, but my homebrew does not fit the guidelines. Imperial Brown is tempting, but I like to maintain some sort of historical accuracy and, unfortunately, this ale will not reach the palette of royalty (as far as I know?). Double is tempting, though I feel the alcohol content being only 6.8% ABV does not earn my homebrew such a title, since the beers I think of when I hear "Double" are usually in the ~10% ABV range.

from growler-station.com

India Brown Ale seems to be a fairly prominent term that some craft breweries have taken to (check out Boulder Beer Co.'s Flashback). I assume this title came about because India Pale Ales distinguish themselves from regular pale ales through the use of more hops and higher alcohol content. Thus it seems to make sense that an India Brown Ale is a brown ale, but with more hops and a higher alcohol content. The theory is sound, but again, this title does not really jive with the history behind the name "India Pale Ale" (see my post on Homebrew #3 to get a brief idea of where the term IPA came from). Boulder Beer Co. seems to skirt around the issue by calling their Flashback an India-style brown ale.

I still can't decide what to refer to this beer as since it seems too hoppy/alcoholic to be an American Brown Ale, not majestic enough to be an Imperial Brown, not alcoholic enough to be a Double, and nonsensical to be labeled an India Brown Ale. Debates, like this one I am putting myself through, have been pretty common recently when trying to describe beers like Odell's Mountain Standard, which some refer to as India Black Ales while others refer to it as Cascadian Dark Ales. I won't go too deep into this anymore since this post is getting long and I haven't even started to write the recipe, but my point is that in the end they are just names. Unless you are planning to enter a competition, it really doesn't matter, and even if you are entering a competition, you can just enter under the "Specialty Beer" category.

Here is the recipe I put together in BeerSmith. Like I said I took the grain bill and hop schedule from a recipe in Brewing Classic Styles, but I tweaked the amounts and also added in another malt (mainly just because I had some available).

All the grains and hops for the mash

Brew day: 2/10/2012

Grains:
10 lbs 6.9 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row), US
1 lbs 1.4 oz   - Cara-Pils/Dextrine
1 lbs 0.3 oz   - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
13.9 oz          - Wheat, Flaked
6.5 oz            - Chocolate Malt
5.6 oz            - Brown Malt (this is the grain I added to the recipe)

*This recipe called for hops during the mash, which I have never done nor heard of before. Usually hops are added during the boil, but I tossed in 1.05 oz of Northern Brewer hops for the 60 minute mash in*

Mash tun all wrapped up to help
maintain temperature.

Mash Schedule:
Mash In:  17.7 quarts of water at 169.7*F. Hold at 154*F for 60min
Sparge 1: 3.2 gallons of water at 168*F for 10 minutes
Sparge 2: 1.65 gallons of water at 168*F for 10 minutes

Pre-boil volume: 7 gallons (about .15 higher than anticipated)

All the hop additions weighed out
(including the hops in the mash)

Boil:

1.31 oz Northern Brewer    60 minutes
1.05 oz Northern Brewer    15 minutes
1.55 oz Cascade              10 minutes
Super Moss                     10 minutes
Cascade                            0 minutes

Post Boil Volume: 6.1 gallons

kettle boiling out in the snow

*I had a hell of a time with the wort chiller. It was snowing so the hose was all frozen up. I thawed it out with boiling water, but the nozzle connected to the hose must have warped from the ice and wouldn't screw all the way in to my wort chiller. I ended up having to stand in the snow with my foot over where the wort chiller and hose connected to keep the water from spraying into my kettle, which can cause contamination. It really bummed me out and I subsequently forgot to take a gravity reading before I pitched the yeast. I am in the process of figuring out how to estimate the original gravity based on all the data I have.*



Cooled wort down to 67*F and pitched two smack packs of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast.

The bucket is now fermenting at 67*F.