New England Series: Woodstock Inn Brewery Red Rack Ale

There is nothing like a good red ale, be it the traditional style with the focus on the malt or the new age, ultra hoppy version. Oddly enough it is a lot harder compared to many other styles to find red ales...anywhere. They are obviously out there, but not in as much abundance as styles like IPAs and stouts. When I do come across one, I always find myself fighting the urge not to get it. When filling a mix 6-pack at the Craft Beer Cellar the other day, I saw Red Rack Ale, which I assumed was a red ale. I was looking for New England breweries, and this one just so happened to be brewed in New Hampshire so I thought, "Why not?" After some quick google work, I found out the Woodstock Inn Brewery in North Woodstock, New Hampshire is a small, seven-barrel brewery that operates in an inn style hotel. I do believe they brew larger batches at Shipyard's facilities as well because the bottle says brewed at Shipyard, but I don't think Shipyard actually owns them or anything of that nature.

Red cross roughly
marks N. Woodstock

Red Rack Ale poured more on the dark orange/red side of amber rather than the true brick red you see in many other red ales. A creamy head sat atop for a while and sank down a bit and became rather rocky. Bubbles seemed to be coming from all over the bottom of the glass, racing to the top. The aroma was rich with malt sweetness and caramel. Earthy and grassy notes with some hop bitterness linger in the background. In line with the scent, the flavor immediately fills your mouth with caramel sweetness until a strong bitterness accompanied by an earthy/grassy/herbal element enters in for the finish. Though being labeled a red, the bitter element gives the feeling that you are drinking an ESB (extra special bitter) with a malt profile somewhat resembling that of a red (but without the breadiness that is usually prevalent).

This ale was very drinkable and would make for a good choice if looking for a beer to session. Not that it matters all that much, I wouldn't necessarily say Red Rack Ale is in line with the red ale style (which the brewery ascribes it as), though it definitely had some of the sweet malt elements that red ales exhibit with a bit of the hop elements from an American styled red. All in all, I am glad I got to try this beer from such a small New England brewery.

UPDATE: How the Red Ale (HB#2) is stacking up after three weeks in bottles

It was hard to get a good picture of
the color. The flash made it look like
a stout and no flash was too dark at
night. I ended up shining my iPhone
light from the back which lit it up a bit.

It has been just over three and half weeks since I bottled the Red Ale (HB#2) and over the past week or so, the flavors have really developed, though I'm still not sure if it is where I would like it to be yet...

At exactly two weeks, I opened a bottle and was really having high hopes of tasting a bready, malty, and sweet Irish Red, but that wasn't really the case at all. There was a lot of subtle malty flavor, but it was all over powered by a harshness that was pretty unpleasant. Since it wasn't even that great, I decided I wouldn't write about it until it started to taste okay.

At exactly three weeks I opened one and poured it into a glass. It had a really great red color and much more of a sweet malty aroma than at the two week point, though still very subtle. I was relieved when I tasted it because the dominant harsh flavor had mellowed out a lot. Now their is a prevalent sweet maltiness with some very subtle fruit flavors. The finish is full, though I am hoping it will develop more of a breadiness. All in all though, I am really happy with where the red is right now, especially with how "ungood" (I won't say the b-- word) it tasted just a week ago. I ended up drinking a few more and it really is a half decent beer, especially with food.

It is still possible that the flavors will develop more in the coming weeks, but I would assume it is getting clsoe to the point of being stable. I really don't know though.... We will have to wait and see.

Tasman Red: my first encounter with a "Red IPA"

I was walking through the liquor store the other day and saw some bombers that looked new to me. Upon inspection I found out they are brewed by Boston Beer Co. as part of a specialty release of Sam Adams bombers. Today I picked up the Red IPA which they call "Tasman Red" for $4.99.

I have never officially seen the term "Red IPA" before on a bottle of beer, which really caught my eye. On top of that, red ales and IPAs are among my favorite beer styles, so hearing them both together got me all giddy. In my mind I was expecting something along the lines of Grand Teton's Pursuit of Hoppiness. I started searching around the internet because I couldn't remember exactly what style Pursuit of Hoppiness categorized it self as, and it seems that hoppy red ales are referred to as "American Reds." From reading a lot of recipes and drinking an assortment of beer, it is becoming apparent that the word "American" in front of a style (i.e. IPA, Brown, Amber, Red) usually means that it has more bitterness from more hops. However, after mentioning all of this I think it is important to point out that the Tasman Red is brewed with hops from Tasmania, which do have similar flavor profiles to American hops. Maybe the fact that they used Tasmanian hops instead of American hops is why Sam Adams went with the "Red IPA" label as opposed to "American Red?"

This picture does not does not
do the color any justice at all.
You can sort of get a sense
of the color at the bottom
of the glass.

The pour did in fact have a red glow to it, though more amber red than brick red, and produced a head that was pretty thick and very creamy (my "dirty" glass probably didn't help the head's retention). The nose was definitely very hoppy with strong pine notes and some citrus if you inhale deeply. Clear aromas of caramel also come through in the malt profile as well as hints of toffee.

The most prominent flavors of this beer are absolutely the Topaz and Galaxy hops from Tasmania. The bitterness engulfs your whole tongue as if you just ate raw hops and really is, I would say, the star of the beer. Like the nose, the hoppy tastes come through largely in pine notes but also with a level of citrus. There is also an apparent caramel flavor and breadiness from the malts, which really warm up the beer. The breadiness fills up your mouth, but the finish is still dry and hoppy.

All in all, I would say Sam Adams was successful in creating a Red IPA. Tasman Red has the hop profile of a super bitter IPA, while at the same time capturing the caramel, roasty malt, and bready flavors of an Irish Red Ale.

UPDATE: Red Ale (HB#2) now in bottles

Bottling day set up

I realized very late last night that today was bottling day for the Red Ale (HB#2). In a hurry, I filled my plastic tub with water and Oxyclean, and I soaked as many bottles as I could find, which happened to be just enough. Today was a long day that started with de-labeling and scrubbing the bottles and ended with transferring and bottling. The process was more or less the same as the Foreign Extra Stout (HB#1), so I will not go into too much detail on the bottling process.

Cracked bottle

Great amber red color

We did have a few bottles break on us when being capped. The broken bottles, on top of only having 4.5 gallons of beer (instead of the usual 5 gallons), produced only thirty-six 12 oz bottles and three 22 oz bottles. It is a little under the typical forty-eight 12 oz-ers, but like I said, the volume was a half gallon less than usual (because some was lost on brew day when transferring from the kettle to the carboy), so it was expected.

The gravity reading was spot on the target at 1.013, so everything seemed to have gone as planned. In two weeks, this beer should be ready to drink....but I will probably crack one open in a week just to see how it is coming along.

2011 Boulder Brew and Music Festival

Boulder Beer and Music Festival 2011

A couple friends and I got tickets for the Boulder Brew and Music Festival at the Fox Theater this past Saturday. To be honest I didn't expect much since I had been to the GABF not too long ago with all of the nations best breweries, but the small size and atmosphere really created a festival that I would most definitely go back to next year.

At GABF, I would sample a beer or two from a brewery and move on to the next. I felt like I needed to try as many beers from as many places as I could, which left no time to go back and try ones again that I had liked. The Boulder Brew and Music Festival had about 15 breweries, most local but a few out-of-staters, which was a great chance to go around a try everything once and then go back and try the ones you liked again. It was also a good chance to meet some of the brewers and talk with them without feeling like you were holding up a line.

Walking into the Fox, I was most excited for Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, which was definitely one of my favorites at GABF this year. Needless to say I had my fill of the stout and was even able to talk to the owner for a bit. (He has a tap house in Denver that he runs with his wife and one other bartender. They brew 3 barrels at a time, which is not much, but he said they have been getting great business and plan on bottling soon.)

I also spent a lot of time at the Grand Teton taps drinking their imperial red, IPA, and coffee porter and talking to the guy behind the taps, who I learned was "in the family." Grand Teton's Pursuit of Hoppiness is still one of my favorite reds to date, and their IPA and coffee porter were right in line as well. Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time remembering the name of the IPA.

Odell's had a few bottles of Mountain Standard, which is a really hoppy Double Black IPA. I was lucky enough to get to try it, but it was gone by the time I went back for seconds. I will most definitely be looking for this in liquor stores.

Alaskan Brewing Company, whom admittedly I am not a huge fan of, really surprised me with their Winter ale. It had a great spice to it and a bit of a hoppy finish. It had me going back for more. They also had a White ale that was a little too flowery for my liking, but my roommate Zach decided to have the guy pour a mixture of the Winter and White which actually was quite the concoction. The spice of the Winter toned the floral notes down on the White and actually created something with a good balance of spice, citrus and flowers. Not sure how the Alaskan guys would feel about it though...

Last, I want to mention some cider I had that was like something I have never tried before.The Colorado Cider Company had a cider with hops in it on tap, and it was one of the most delicious (non-beer) alcoholic beverage I've had. It had the usual really crisp, dry, and carbonated flavors of a good cider mixed in with just enough hops to put some bitterness on your tongue and make you realize you are drinking something very unique.

This was only the second year of the Boulder Brew and Music Festival, but judging by the turn out I would say there will most definitely be a third, and I will be there.

Homebrew #2: Red Ale

*I am new to this blogging thing and am trying to figure out the best way to record all this information in an interesting and concise way. So, I'm going to try out different formats and things to see what works best*

I really love red ales. It started with Sam Adams Irish Red and evolved from there into a infatuation of searching for new and interesting reds to try. For this second homebrew I really wanted to make something along the lines of my favorite reds (Pursuit of Hoppiness, Hop Head Red, Jamaican Red), which tend to be a little hoppier then traditional dry, Irish reds. That being said, I still decided to go to Hop To It! and use one of their recipes, since I am still learning and don't feel ready to make my own recipes yet (but I did use about 1/2 lb more malt, since that is supposed to help increase ABV). So I spent another ~$40 and came out with ingridients for what was described to me as, more or less, a traditional Irish red.

Ingredients:
-6.5 lbs Light liquid malt extract (I used 7 lbs)

-Specialty Grains
        -6 oz CaraRed Malt
        -6 oz Medium Crystal 
        -4 oz Extra Dark Crystal Malt
        -2 oz Roasted Barley

-2 oz U.S. Kent Goldings hops

-Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Again, I followed the procedure fairly closely, but I tweaked the water volumes because the closer to 5 gallons your boil is, the better it will turn out (from what I've been reading online and in recipe books). Also, I only started  with 1.5 gallons on the Homebrew #1 (Foreign Extra Stout) and it was not enough water to cover the whole steeping bag, so I wanted to make sure I had at least enough to submerge the specialty grains.

Procedure:
-Heat 3.5 gallons to 160 degrees
-At 160 degrees, remove from heat and steep specialty grains

We tied the steeping bag to the spoon with fishing line so the bag wasn't
 sitting on the bottom of the pot. I'm not sure how necessary this is, but I didn't
want the speciality grains to be burning against the bottom of the hot pot

-After 30 minutes, remove speciality grains and let drip dry
-Add extract

-Once extract is dissolved, bring volume to about 4.5 gallons
-Return to heat and bring to boil
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S. Kent Golding hops and boil for 50 minutes
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S Kent Golding hops and boil for 10 minutes
     *five minutes into the boil, I added the SuperMoss

Total Boil Time = 60 minutes

Post Boil:
-Cool wort down below 80 degrees

Wort being chilled via wort chiller

-Aerate
-Take gravity reading

The glass instrument sticking out of the top is the
hydrometer, which is used to measure gravity. We  were right on
the money with the target starting gravity of 1.051

-Pitch yeast (Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale)

Quick Notes:
Brew Date: 10/20/2011
Starting Gravity: 1.051 (which was what the recipe set the target at)
Target Final Gravity: 1.013
Target ABV: 5% (but I'm hoping a little higher since I used a bit more extract)

And that is it. I don't feel like I need to add every little detail of brewing since each post would be more or less the same, but if their are questions or confusions, just post comments and next time I will address them.

Oh! And I wanted to point out a near disaster Chris and I had. We use a propane burner while brewing since our electric range isn't strong enough, and I assumed 1 tank could do 2 brews, but boy was I wrong. When trying to bring the wort to a boil (at 4.5 gallons), it plateaued at 199-201 degrees for about an hour and half and showed no signs of going up. I thought it was the burner messing up, but Chris was smart enough to realize that we didn't have enough propane. So I ran out to a gas station I knew sold propane at 11pm and bought a tank right before they closed. Had I not been able to get more propane, this whole batch would have been a throwaway. (I'm not sure what effect a super long and slow rise to boil has on beer. Hopefully nothing negative!) Lesson Learned: Make sure your propane tank is full, and maybe even have an extra one on hand!