A Loss of Words

( A salsa judge at the World Championship

Chili Cook-off in 2010. )

There are fewer words here than there used to be. I'd bet on that continuing. And this is not a surprise to me.

In April of 2010 when I gave my 18 month old winemaker's journal (blog) a shot in the arm I was full of ideas and energy. It was a birthday present to myself. "Go do something", was the idea. And I did. Over three plus years I have achieved some of what I initially set out to do. I tasted, sampled, wrote, took photos, networked, laughed, sighed, sponged up information, provided education to others and did a fair bit of traveling. I changed courses many times and for many different reasons. I still do most of these things and with gusto! The early goals I didn't achieve have been superseded by so many others, some I have nailed, some I haven't; and some just not yet. Some weeks I wrote a lot and some weeks I wrote less. I wrote, shared, read, shared, commented, debated (argued), shared and along the way I have learned so much!

I continue to enjoy all of the experiences this journey affords me, and most of all I genuinely appreciate the many people I continue to "meet" along the way. I have never met some of these people in person (yet), but there are things we have in common so we get each other enough that we have a great dynamic in a networking context. I continue to carry on relationships with some of the people I've met while others are more often a friendly face in the more business-y realm of food & beverage events. All of them are part of the "family" however weird that ends up being in one city or another. I still look forward to these days.

But I just don't write about this stuff anymore and I don't spend much time on social media plugging my work and keeping tabs on the beverage media. Why? Well, it's complicated I guess.

Late last year (2012) I felt my drive to write about and share my experiences waning. I reformulated my approach, a natural and not unexpected reaction given the 2+ prior years, and kept plugging away. But I wasn't digging it. The idea of throwing a bunch of words together, using a euphemism here, and sharing them as a way of expressing my experiences secondhand just wasn't resonating anymore. Things change and I know myself well enough to know that when I lose interest in something there is nothing good in trying to keep it going. So I won't.

From some reflection I came to realize that my goal of "go do something" was never intended solely to mean blog about my life nor that it should necessarily create something new and permanent. So setting aside some of the activities I picked up while out "doing something" when they no longer interest me is not a crime. It isn't even failure. It is quite the opposite actually. Here is what I am keeping:

• I have more time for dates with friends (yes this is you Margot) where we get to sit around the table eating, drinking and socializing. We all want to do this and we all love it.
• I still make a shit-ton (I saw a joke this week that in the UK that is shite-tonne, he he!) of beer, mead, cider and wine and I share it with friends, all the time!
• When I travel I can strike a better balance of food/beverage visits with other things of interest. Some of it is just baked in. Portland, Oregon and the Oregon Brewer's Festival anyone? Week after next.
• With other aspects of my life (work, family, community) being as dynamic as they are for anyone else my life isn't as harried. I know I can't do everything and I can balance all of what I am doing better now.
• I am less structured and more open to just exploring things. That is what I get out of bed for.
• When I see you I'll have stories. They weren't on the blog so we'll have something to talk about for sure!

It is OK to miss the words. I'll miss my words too, but not because I regret changing my priorities but because when blogging was my priority I really had fun sharing my days with all of you. It is good to have memories that make you smile. I have fun doing lots of different things and following my interests is keeping things plenty exciting so I am sure to keep racking up good memories. See you on the trail!

Cheers!

Jason

Now Hear This – Kid Rock Helped Me Make Better Beer

( Us from the night in question. )

Where: Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean onboard the Carnival Destiny cruise ship

When: April 2012,  late at night

What: Me joking that I could create a lime-infused ale that is better than Bud Light Lime, not that that is really that hard…

I’ll be honest, I struggled to find what I personally consider worthy beer options at the bars while on the Kid Rock Cruise. If you are a Chillin’ The Most cruiser and are reading this, take no offense. I make my own beer and over the years I have lost my taste for the big three brands (Bud, Miller, Coors), but I believe people should drink what they like. Drink freely my friends.

During one of the evenings on the cruise Margot and I sat outside enjoying both the warm night air and the people watching. The people watching on the cruise was epic by the way. I hit the bar and decided on a couple of Bud Light Limes. As I was drinking my beer I remarked “hey this isn’t so bad” and began talking about how I might craft something similar at home. Margot was goading me on, asking me to express how I really felt about Budweiser and got it all on video, but the video isn’t SFTB (safe for the blog) so you’ll just have to imagine it.

As I thought about it over the remainder of the weekend I figured a basic American ale containing both wheat and corn would be a solid blank slate to layer on some lime. Having worked with citrus flavors in my home fermentations before I knew that a multi-phased approach would work best. I added dried lime peel to the hot wort just before I chilled and strained it, and then fresh lime zest after I transferred the beer to the secondary fermentation container. Finally, lime juice was added at bottling to help bring it all together and lock a solid zip of lime into each bottle.

My plan worked. The beer was brewed on July 4^th, 2012 and we set about enjoying it about a month later. We actually used the same beer base to make a lemon shandy, a beer that went on to take a first place in a brewing competition later in the year. But I digress.

Everyone who tried the lime ale had positive words for it, and some people drank every bit of it in sight each time I chilled some down. It is a light-bodied beer and early on the effect of the corn was not very apparent. We just drank the last of the batch this past weekend and just like when I’ve brewed with corn in the past a rounded, sweetness developed with age. In the first few months after the beer was brewed the lime complex in the beer was potent, adding considerable tartness and crispness to each sip. Nearly a year later the lime was much mellowed, but still present.

Skip to the current day. I brewed a fresh batch of lime ale on my birthday last month, nearly one year to the day I hatched the plan in the first place. The recipe for the beer (provided below) has been slightly modified, but the first dose of lime (dried peel) was added at the same time and the fresh lime zest will be as well. At bottling however I will be using more lime juice, and all of it freshly squeezed rather than bottled. 

Getting an earlier start on the second batch means it will be conditioned and ready to go for the summer drinking season, where I expect it will be consumed even more quickly, meaning I won’t be able to say I finished the last of it ten months later.

As for Kid Rock, he needs to get his ass to my house to try the creation he inspired. If you are reading this Bob (I’m dreaming, but one has to do that now and again) the invitation is open and we can retreat to the basement with openers and straws and see what comes of it!

And with that I’ll leave you with a video from the sail away show from the Kid Rock Chillin’ The Most Cruise #3. I can still hear my favorite Kid Rock songs reverberating across the sand and sea while I stood in the sun enjoying the simple things in life, like when and where.

 ( This video is not my own, but it kicks ass so I shared it! )

Cheers!

Jason

Ancient Fire Lime Ale 2013

SRM: 4.6

OG: 1.050

IBU: 14.5

Mash time: 30 min

Boil time: 45min

4lb Pilsner Dry Malt Extract

1lb CaraPils

1lb Flaked Wheat

1lb Flaked Corn

1oz Hallertauer hops (45 min)

0.5oz Cascade hops (5 min)

0.0oz Cascade hops (post boil, 5 min)

1oz dried lime peel (post boil, 15 min)

Zest of 6 limes (secondary, until bottling)

Lime juice (amount TBD, at bottling)

Maurivin brewing yeast, 1 liter starter

Home-brewing Is Messy & Noisy But Is So Worth It!

I've been home-brewing nearly ten years now and several things have been constant during my experience. The mess and the noise. I am going to cast these ideas specifically in terms of making beer,  something I am doing a lot of in 2013, but my experiences with making mead, cider and wine are very much the same.

Home-brewing is messy. I make more of a mess and spend more time cleaning up than I do actually brewing. I brew with extract, although I have switched to a partial mash technique and dry, versus liquid, extract in the last year or so. Dry malt extract is a funny substance. It is a fine powder so it kicks up dust pretty easily which means I usually end up with a small coating of it near my scale and vessel I am measuring into. Even a small amount of moisture, steam for example, turns the dry malt extract sticky, and if you don't get any excess wiped up quickly it dries and is oh so fun to clean up!

Wort, unfermented beer, is another messy character. Having blended water, malt & hops together this should be no surprise. Spilling wort in the wrong place can create a nice mess and having a boil over during the initial brewing can be a real pain to clean up. I watch my brewpot like a hawk and I haven't had a boil over in almost 3 years now. That last time I did have a boil over I had to wait until it dried so I could de-clog my burner. That was a huge buzz-kill on that brewday! I've never taken any pictures of these types of messes so I can't share the visual. If you've ever experienced it firsthand you know what I'm talking about!

Cleaning in general is the part of home-brewing that will always consume a huge amount of time. Equipment is cleaned & sanitized before you use it (the pic above is a table full of cleaned equipment) and then again afterwards before is it put away for the next brew session. That means lots of time at the sink, the application of several kinds of cleansers and sanitizers and a fair bit of both hot and cold water. My cleaning work always takes a toll on my hands and until the day is done I can't put anything on them because it would transfer to the equipment that I am trying to get or keep clean.

None of this is really a burden and I am not complaining about any of it, but a bit of honesty in pursuit of homemade beer can at least ensure folks new to the craft know what to expect. With experience you can mitigate the effects of the mess and manage the cleaning so that you can enjoy standing around the brewpot in the sun with a tasty homebrew.

Less of a labor-inducing issue but still constant is the cacophony of sounds released by home-brewing. Propane burners, boiling wort, air locks & blow-off tubes are just some of the sounds. For folks that use pumps and more sophisticated brewing rigs I bet there are other sounds I am not accustomed to from my low tech approach.

The last several high gravity (more sugar) beers I have made required a blow-off tube that was terminated in a pitcher of water. And boy did they make a racket! One of them is still going along albeit at a reduced pace from 10 days ago when it was brewed. I went down to the basement at one point and didn't initially know what the gentle pounding on the ceiling was. It was the CO2 being expelled into the pitcher from the fermenting beer on the floor above!

I took a short video of that recent brew on the second day of fermentation. If you watch closely you can see the bubbles being expelled into the pitcher, but with the sound on and the volume up you can also hear the noise it makes. Luckily you can really on hear it in the adjoining rooms on the same floor and as I mentioned from below in the basement.

Now that I've carried on a bit about some of the joyous challenges of home-brewing you might be wondering what I have been making and what is on the future brew schedule.

So far in 2013 I have made the following brews:

• English Barleywine
• Double IPA
• Belgian Style Braggot
• Moylan's Kilt Lifter Clone (a Scotch Ale)
• Stout Braggot (currently in a used whiskey barrel)
• Maple Wheat Wine
• Belgian Dubbel

The Belgian Style Braggot and the last three above are still fermenting and/or aging.

Over the winter I also created three mini-batches of braggots (mead/ale hybrids) that also contained fruit or cider. All three have been bottled and two of the three have sampled well. My primary takeaway was that a light ale based braggot with fruit, like raspberries, is a nice beer; but the honey might not be best used in this way. The cider-based versions have a sour tinge to them, something that might not find a happy home in a broad audience. Interesting experiments nonetheless.

We are switching over to brewing lighter beers for Spring over the next month or so, which includes:

• Orange Wit
• Lime Ale
• Double Pilsen Ale

We are also going to need to fill our two new barrels again soon so we have a Russian Imperial Stout (our first ever) and a Smoky Chocolate Ale on the schedule for that purpose.

( One of our one-used whiskey barrels from Balcone's Distillery in Texas. )

As you can see we are quite busy with the home-brewing right now!

All of the work is worth it, especially when you get to share your homebrew with friends. I usually forget all the hard work in between brewing sessions so I don't grow anxious about my next one.

Cheers!

Jason

Session-able Beers

After I selected a couple beers to enjoy while I was working on bottling several batches of wine, mead and beer it occurred to me that part of my selection criteria might make for an interesting blog post.

Two of the bottles I picked out were filled with the Ancient Fire 2012 Mild English Ale. This beer was my first attempt at this style, a Mild and in sub-category 11A of the BJCP style guidelines for those familiar with the BJCP program, a style that when made correctly should have an ABV of 2.8% to 4.5%. Mine came in somewhere between 3.75% and 4% when it was finished. That alcohol content potentially qualifies it as a session beer, a term that is warmly debated in some circles, although before I claim victory for that designation to be applied to my beer let's explore what a session beer actually should be more broadly.

I like the definition of a session beer from the folks over at the Session Beer Project.  It is packaged neatly as a set of bullets and covers both objective AND subjective concerns about a beer you might find in your glass. They say that a session beer should be:

• 4.5% alcohol by volume or less
• flavorful enough to be interesting
• balanced enough for multiple pints
• conducive to conversation
• reasonably priced

I've got the first bullet covered with my Mild. The next three are subjective and all I can say is that my English Mild is somewhat interesting, easily quaffable by the pint or three and has in fact inspired conversation amongst several kinds of people including some in my brew club as well as others that are typically light American beer drinkers. The last bullet applies only in that I made the beer myself and it does turn out to be pretty cheap in the homemade, small-batch context. Would others call it a session beer? Maybe. I do.

Where did the term session beer originate?

The term originated in Britain and was quite literal, meaning a beer that could be drunk in sizable quantity during a session, e.g. a social event, workday break, etc., without the onset of intoxication. The honest origin is that alcohol was taxed so creating lower alcohol, but flavorful and drinkable, beers was more advantageous for brewers. Many of the contemporary British beers commonly associated with this definition do in fact contain alcohol of less than 4% ABV, although such beers are harder to find being made in the US. Historically even the premium ales (the next step up in British beer parlance) would have likely topped out around 4% ABV, but would have been considered too strong for a session beer. The Fullers line of pub beers, including the Chiswick Bitter (3.5%) , London Pride (4.1%) and ESB (5.5%) are a close approximation of the classic session, premium and strong tiered British beer scale.

Why did I select my Mild for my "work" beer? Well, mostly because of the lower alcohol content, but also because the flavors are mild and won't wreck my palate so that I can't properly taste the products I am bottling. At bottling time a solid taste is the last line of defense in making sure what goes in the bottle is as good as it can be. A last minute adjustment, sugar or acid perhaps, might be called for based on how the product smells and tastes. And a beer that won't overpower my senses, and who really wants to drink water while they do this work anyway, is a solid fit here.

When you are out and about what beers might you find that would fit all five of the bullets above, making it a true session beer?

You may find the Fuller's beers at some bars, including the British Beer Company, but both the bottled and kegged versions for import to the US are generally above the 4-4.5% ABV mark. Guinness on draft is typically about 4.3% ABV, but I personally don't find it interesting enough for a "true" session beer.

The beers from Notch brewing, brewed in several locations in New England, range from 2.8% to 4.5% ABV for the bottled versions and in the high 3's for their cask series. I've had the Notch Session Ale (4.5%) before and do think it is an interesting beer, although it is right at the cutoff for the alcohol content.

There are others session-able beers out there and at beer bars and brew pubs that serve cask ales you might actually find more than one version to try at any one time. Check the beer menu at any new bar you visit, most will have the ABV noted making it easy to find something session-able if desired.

Cheers!

Jason

Session Beer References 

• Session Beer Project
• Beer Advocate
• Brew Your Own Magazine
• Notch Session
• DINGS Beer Blog

Ancient Fire Cellar Update

I'm going to end the year with the type of post that was the genesis for this blog, a cellar update. I shared a year in review, the Top 10 Ancient Fire Moments of 2012, last week and while that highlighted all types of adventures Ancient Fire, what's bubbling away or aging in the cellar is the passion and the heart of what I am all about.

There is definitely lots going on at Ancient Fire these days. I'm going review the home fermentation projects of just the last few months and also share hints at where we will be going in 2013.

( Grenache grapes from Central Valley, CA. )

The Fall harvest netted two batches of local Concord grapes, Vermont blackberries and juice/grapes from the Central Valley in California. Several different fermentations were undertaken including my first pyment (grape/honey wine), a blend of French Colombard juice, Muscat grapes and orange blossom honey. The Concord grapes will be made into two Rosés, a red pyment and the leftovers were already made into a spiced holiday wine similar to a Swedish Glogg or German Gluewhein. I also fermented the remainder of my wildflower honey for use in meads, some of which will be infused with tea and other spices. A Syrah/Grenache (CA) blend will hopefully produce a straightforward dry red wine that I can enjoy with a range of foods in a year’s time. The remainder of the Colombard and Thompson seedless grapes were used to make a white blend that will be our house wine in 2013. The Central Valley Cabernet Franc is going to be used in both a red pyment with the remainder bottled on its own.

We didn’t brew any beer again after the Stout/Porter experiments and my fresh hopped ale at the end of the summer, but we have plenty of plans for new brews in 2013.

Two days ago I brewed two barleywines, my first ever, both of which should be in prime drinking form for Fall/Winter 2013. I brewed in the snow as you can see from the picture to the left. I'm the Postal Service of brewing I guess. These are big beers (lots of malt) and the blow-off tubes are already outgassing like mad.

In 2012 I already have plans for a Scotch Ale, an Imperial Pilsen style ale, a Belgian Dubbel, a Belgian Wit and a Weizenbock. I would also expect a new edition of our Lime Ale to be made just before the summer party season kicks in. Two braggots are also on the docket, one a Belgian/Saison style and the other with some form of black or dark brown ale as the base.

The most recent cellar enhancement project at  Ancient Fire was the installation of wine racks to store the growing cellar of commercial wines. The short video below captures the current inventory and shows off the new storage space. 

All of the carboys (containers in the pool) are the conclusion of the 2012 production, including all of the libations described above. My cellar is more organized now which makes "shopping" in the basement all the more fun!

The only wine I plan to make in 2013 is strawberry, and only if the local crop is worthy. This decision is based on a couple of factors. First, I've got lots of wine inventory, both commercial and homemade to drink, and I'm saving my resources for a new special project late in the year.

Ancient Fire cider is going to make a big comeback in 2013. I've made cider in five different years, but it has been a while (2009) since I made one I was happy with. The 2012 cider that was a blend of local sweet cider, pears and ginger smells like a chemical lab and is likely going to be dumped. I can't say what went wrong there, but I plan to get back on track with cider when the season comes around again next year. The picture to the right is fresh cider flowing out of a tote that my brewing club purchased in 2011. I made a couple decent ciders from it. 

The rough vision is to source cider from several orchards including both dessert blends and traditional cider styles. Leading up to cider season I also hope to acquire several once-used whiskey barrels that will be used to age some of the cider. And don't be surprised if a cyser (apple/honey blend) also makes an appearance. Other ideas include a second attempt at an apple/pear blend, hopped cider and fruit/ apple blends. Definitely lots to look forward to!

In the meantime I've got lots of blending and bottling to do which why I've been furiously cleaning bottles this past week. The stack of bottles in my garage was the largest it had ever been, but thankfully it has almost been converted from dirty to clean or recycled bottles.  I've developed a special relationship with my dishwasher this week, let's hope it doesn't get tired of my willful (mis-) use of it and walk out on me!

Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone finds a delicious beverage in their glass tonight. Raise that glass high and make a joyful sound. We've earned it! Be safe and see you in 2013.

Cheers!

Jason

Why Sake?

There are several reasons to drink Sake, but I don't know too many people who have been motivated by even one of them to try it.

For folks that don't know anything about Sake here is some motivation:

It's new to you. And with so many styles the newness lasts at least a little while. Richard Auffrey, a local food/beverage writer and Certified Sake Professional, has compiled a list of the different styles in an article entitled Types of Sake. I personally like the Nigori style where some of the lees are left in the finished product creating a creamy texture and leaving lots more to ponder in the glass. You might like a sparkling Sake or any number of the other styles served Nama style, e.g. on draft. Sake infused with fruit flavors might do it for you or you might be interested in how organic sake is different from other types. Junmai and Ginjo are the two styles I have most often enjoyed. The progression in quality between the two  is a great segway to the next point.

( A mural on the outside of the SakeOne kura in Forest Grove, Oregon. Look how happy they appear! )

Sake is a fermented beverage with a special process (they use a mold to convert rice starch to sugar!) and a long history. Some of the process, see Sake Brewing, is reminiscent of beer brewing (heating the rice) while other aspects are like wine, clearing and aging for example. Quality in Sake is governed by a number of factors with the primary one being how much of the rough, outer portion of the rice is polished away before it is used to make Sake. Learning how it is made and some of the traditions of its long history is akin to studying terroir, place names and famous wine-making families.  There is ALWAYS more to learn!

( The apparatus used to mill the Sake rice at SakeOne in Oregon. )

( The koji grow room at SakeOne in Oregon. )

I believe I had my first taste of Sake about 20 years ago. I was out with friends at an Asian restaurant and somebody asked if I had ever had it and then suggested we try it when I and others said we hadn't. I don't remember the experience in any detail, but I do recall thinking it was similar to white wine, Riesling in fact, and that it was a good match with the food.

Once you get a taste of Sake there is wide world of possibilities, and so many more reasons to drink it, and not just from the different styles. I am learning firsthand that Sake is a phenomenal agent in food pairing, and not just with Asian cuisine as you might initially think. I've not ventured far off the Asian cuisine/Sake pairing playbook quite yet, but as I gain more exposure to the different styles I am feeling more confident to try new pairings. My guide is again Richard Auffrey who has written many posts on Sake and two in particular on food pairing that really lay out the potential here. For Sake food pairing basics check out Sake & Food. Reading the more in depth article, The Science of Sake & Food Pairings, you will find notes on the chemical compounds in Sake and food that are working together to create delicious pairings, as well tips on how the different styles can be generalized in their food pairing roles.

I've explored some of that world of possibilities in 2012 and my new Sake experiences are steadily filling in my knowledge of the styles and have provided me with opportunities to try Sake in different settings.

In April when Margot and I headed to Miami before shipping out on the Kid Rock Cruise we dined at Tony Chan's Water Club, a well known Chinese restaurant in town. I was very excited because I was taking my wife out for her first sushi experience, something I had only started to enjoy in the previous year. Having done my research I knew the Water Club had Sake on the list, and when I got to ordering I selected the Kuromatsu-Hakushika Junmai Daiginjo (in the photo on the right) which I knew to be of the highest grade (thanks Richard!) and a style I had yet to try. The pairing of the Sake with the different sushi bites served to both enhance the fish and to cleanse the palate for an optimal transition between each piece. Much richer than the sushi, the Three Cup Chicken gave me the opportunity to see how Sake would pair with an entree. It did well, but the richness of the sauce overpowered it a bit. Margot loved the sushi (so did I!) and I happily finished my Sake before taking a stroll along the marina at sunset.

My second sake experience this year was a visit to SakeOne in Forest Grove, Oregon during my trip for the Wine Bloggers Conference (#WBC12). I didn't come in early enough to take the pre-conference excursion to SakeOne, rather I planned trip for Margot and I on the first of our three post-conference vacation days. The tour of the kura (Sake brewery) was very similar to the many winery and brewery tours we've taken before and while my one attempt at brewing Sake was not successful, I was familiar with the process enough for there not be any surprises during the tour. I did catch a video of a the top of a batch fermenting. If you look real close you can see some gentle bubbling.

The highlight of the visit was the post-tour tasting. The selections at the tasting bar included the full product line from SakeOne and a number of imported products, including some highly sought after Sakes. Sidenote: SakeOne was created by a company originally launched in 1992 as an importer partnership with the Murai Family and the Momokawa Brewing Company of Japan. Within 10 years a new kura had been built and the company renamed itself SakeOne and began producing Sake from Californian rice and local water. For a more in depth review of the company,  history and products check out SakeOne - Craft Sake In Oregon. The products available for tasting reflect this history and the ongoing partnership with the Murai Family whose products are among the retail and tasting room offerings.

( A wall of Sake at SakeOne! )

SakeOne uses the Momokawa name for their line of traditional Sakes. We tasted the Silver, Organic Junmai Ginjo, Ruby and the Ruby Nama style for our opening flight. The most notable aspect of the flight was how the Ruby served from the bottle differed from the Nama version. The Nama style was much bigger and bolder with more acidity and fruit all around. The lack of pasteurization really does give you some idea of what is sacrificed in pasteurization to be able to stabilize the product for transport and longer shelf life.

The next Sake was the G Joy Ginjo Genshu, a more robust  and spicier style made specifically to appeal to the American palate. I really like this Sake, but that is not to say that I prefer it to the other styles I tasted, I just think the purposeful crafting of this style resonates with me. I could see this as my house Sake to have on hand for casual sipping and cocktails, and in fact I do have a bottle open right now for just those purposes!

( My "house" sake! )

We then transitioned to the Nigori style, coarsely filtered and often milky colored and thicker, sampling both the Momokawa Organic Nigori and the Murai Family Nigori Genshu. The texture and viscosity of Nigori Sake will differ from producer to producer and the Murai Nigori Genshu was considerably thicker than the Momokawa. Both were very smooth, sweet, a little starchy and offered a lot more fruit (tropical fruits were predominant) to the palate. The combination of the texture, sweetness and additional fruit made me swoon.

( The bottle is full, the unfiltered rice has settled. )

Our final flight was from the Moonstone product line, Sakes infused with fruit extracts. The Moonstone Sakes are a blend of the house brewed Junami Ginjo style sake, except the coconut lemongrass which is a Nigori, and all-natural fruit extracts with flavors of plum, raspberry, coconut/lemongrass and pear. Margot found her sweet spot here, and the Moonstone Plum was her favorite. I tasted the Plum, Coconut Lemongrass and Pear. All of them taste well enough of Sake, but with the added fruit flavors they come off as much more of a cocktail, and that is alright by me! It could be said that this would be a good way to introduce someone weary of Sake to the beverage, but I think the flavors in the mouth mask the natural Sake flavors too much for it to be used as an instructional tool. These beverages are sippers, cocktail Sakes and perfect for socializing.

( What an exciting experience. And we ordered some to have shipped home! )

My most recent Sake experience was in celebration of Sake Day, a 35 year old celebration of the beverage and the start of the annual Sake brewing season in Japan. Kanpai! That's a toast equivalent to cheers in English.

( Richard showing off the Momokawa Nigori Sake on Sake Day. )

For Sake Day Richard (I guess you could say I like this guy, huh?) organized a Sake and food dinner at Thelonious Monkfish, a sushi and Asian fusion restaurant, in Central Square, Cambridge. Richard was going to be pouring six Sakes paired with three small plates of Asian-inspired appetizers. You can read more about Sake Day and the local event directly from the man driving the Sake cart himself in his pre-event post, Celebrate Sake Day on October 1st.

Knowing Richard would have a diverse selection of Sakes to try I made sure I could attend, and I was not at all disappointed. The Sakes were poured in the following order:

• Murai Family Tokubetsu Honjozo
• Wakatake Junmai Onikoroshi
• Manabito Kimoto Junmai Ginjo
• Yuki No Bosha Junmai Ginjo
• Momokawa Organic Nigori
• Moon Rabbit Sparkling Sake 

The first two Sakes paired nicely with spicy tuna on rice, pairing best with the Wakatake Junmai which I found to be moderately rich and full.

( Spicy Tuna on a Crispy Rice Ball )

Richard explained that the term Tokubetsu means that something special was done to make this Sake, perhaps a special type of rice or a process element that is not typical to the other styles of sake made by the same kura. As a Honjozo Sake it is made using the four classic ingredients (rice, water, koji, yeast) and has had neutral brewer's alcohol added to it during the finishing.

( The dumplings, which would be good fried as well! )

I focused my attention on the next two Sakes paired with the two different dumplings (Chive and Shrimp respectively), finding both to be worthy partners. The chive dumpling offered a blend of leafy green and savory flavors that were happily met with hints of sweetness and spice in the Yuki No Bosha Junmai Ginjo Sake.

Food pairings were a hot topic during dinner. Richard conjectured that blue cheese with Sake would be a much more interesting pairing than I would have actually thought. The umami (savory, earthy flavors) in both the cheese and the Sake are what would make this work. When we got to the Momokawa Nigori, Richard mentioned fruit as a good pairing, and I dug into the fruit salad to confirm that. I added that making a fruit salad with some of the same Sake in it, an adult fruit salad if you will, would be a nice bump to a great utility dish served in multi-course meals. Richard continued the dessert thread and suggested this Sake would also pair well with coconut cream pie. I would agree wholeheartedly and all I can say is that we are clearly dangerous people to dine with!

( The fruit salad was pretty AND delicious! )

The final flight also included the Moon Rabbit Sparkling Sake, another style I had yet to experience (other than Sake force carbonated on tap). This Sake is sweet with plentiful carbonation and tasted much like sparkling Moscato. Something about this Sake being sparkling tells me that there is much more to explore here. From some basic research it looks to me like most sparkling Sake trends sweet, but if there are any drier versions out there I could so many pairing possibilities for just the sparkling type alone!

I hope my adventures have provided ample motivation for those of you who haven't tried Sake to get out and find some. Fine wine merchants, and especially those in urban areas with Asian and international influence, will often carry Sake including many that would be excellent for people who are just starting their education with this beverage. And don't hesitate to try different food pairings. The Japanese say that "Sake does not get into fights with food", and with that advice in mind any fear of failure should be much reduced.

Cheers!

Jason

Brewed Inspiration – Visiting Allagash Brewery

( Happy birthday honey, sorry the weather sucked! )

One day in Maine. What do you do in Maine on a cool, rainy day right after Labor Day? Well, you make the best of it. When Margot and I scheduled the day off, Margot’s actual birthday, we envisioned a warm, sunny day hanging out on a nearly empty beach (kids back in school, suckers!) enjoying the last remnants of summer. Nope. Low clouds, mist, rain, cool winds and no real motivation to hang on the beach. The beach was empty though!

( I still find this natural beauty worth any amount of time I can get with it. )

We did stroll on the beach during a lull in the rain, Long Sands on York Beach to be exact. Very empty and with the tide out we got to walk almost the whole length and back. We’ve walked those steps in the rain while on vacation here before, and like I said we had to make the best of it. We mocked the birds who were clearly weary of the silly humans, peered into the tidal pools between all the rocks, watched the surfers and shot the shit while we walked along. It really is the simple things in life.

From there we headed off to Portland angling for some tasty fried seafood and a jaunt through the shops adjacent to Commercial Street. The rain came back in force, but luckily that was in between getting to PortlandLobster Company for lunch and heading out after demolishing more than our share of fried delights. The shops were fun but not a big draw. This day sounds pretty freaking exciting doesn’t it? And where is the inspiration I refer to in the title? Keep reading.

( Sweet! )

Our final stop was the Allagash Brewery. I’ve been drinking Allagash beer for about 10 years, or at least as long as we moved to NH (2001) and I started seeing their beers on tap and in the stores. First came the White and then the Tripel for me. I’ve taken down my share of their Dubbel as well. But until this day I hadn’t stopped in to check out their tasting room and retail shop. Why? Who the hell knows, I just hadn’t. When a beer is so readily accessible it is sometimes easy to forget to head to the source I guess.

I won’t say I LOVE Belgian beers like they are all I drink. But I do very much appreciate Belgian and Belgian-styled beers. When I got to Montreal I find the concentration of Belgian-inspired beers to be a magnet for me. I've made several Belgian-style beers over the years and enjoy them so much they never last very long.

Allagash makes Belgian-styled or Belgian-inspired beers, in New England no less, and that is the key reason why I have become a fan of their products. Visiting now was timely for Margot and I. We are planning on making a Belgian Dubbel in October and feel that we need some inspiration. We also have a return trip planned to Montreal before we brew. That ought to cap off our need for experience before we fire up the brew pot!

( The day's tasting selections. )

The flagship beer at Allagash is the White. A Belgian-style wheat beer brewed with coriander and orange peel, this style of beer has become pretty common lately. The macro-brewers have gotten into the game, admittedly this style of beer is a straightforward way to introduce a bit of character to people’s drinking habits, but nothing brewed in those large volumes is going to touch the complexity and nuance of the Allagash offering. This was the first beer in our tasting and oh the memories it brought back! Smooth, creamy with just a little spice and tartness in the finish.

( Pouring the White for the tasting participants. )

Next up was the Tripel. This is another of the Allagash beers that I can readily buy at home. I’ve taken down my share of 22 ouncers of this high ABV (9%) beer before, and it really does pack a punch. But it tastes so good! Honey, island fruits and grassy notes all wrapped up in a light bodied, cloudy ale with a smooth finish.

From there we ventured next to the Curieux, the Tripel aged in Bourbon Barrels. The difference here is both the strength (11%) and the wood aging notes including vanilla, coconut and of course bourbon. This shit (used for emphasis) is incredible! If you like the Tripel and like how wood aging affects beers, this is the Allagash beer for you! I am thinking that buying only one to take home was nowhere near enough!

( Could you load that right into my jeep. I'm looking for LARGE format here! )

The last beer of the pre-tour tasting was the Fluxus. Fluxus isn’t a single beer, rather a slot that gets filled with a different beer each year brewed in commemoration of the first Allagash sale in July of 1995. This year's beer is a Golden Strong Ale brewed with green and pink peppercorns. Another ringer for me. I love the Golden Strong style (that is what I made in May) so this was a real treat. Another one in the basket to bring home!

The tour wasn’t actually hugely notable for us. This might sound arrogant (it is really experience though) but when you have toured as many breweries and wineries as we have AND make your own, a tour of a brewery doesn’t typically offer much unique or interesting. We didn’t get to see the Coolship (an open fermenting vessel for wild yeast fermentations), but I did ask our guide if there had been any analysis of the yeasts that have been found working away on the Coolship brews. The answer was yes and that there were some interesting, but non-public findings. None of the Coolship series beers, released randomly and typically without notice, were available for purchase which just means I have to plan to go back!

( Yeah I know, the safety glasses are hot! )

Since the Dubbel wasn’t being poured but was available for purchase, that and some of the Black Ale (Belgian styled Stout) also came home with us. A sit down with the Dubbel is going to be necessary before we finalize the recipe for our upcoming brew.

Our final act in honor of Maine was to use the lobster meat we bought at the Harbor Fish Market to make colossal lobster rolls. Damn good I tell ya!

So how’s that for one day in Maine including an inspiring trip to Allagash Brewing that will reflect it's influence on of our homemade beers creating future enjoyment for us and our friends?

Cheers!

Jason

Tales from the Cellar – July 2012

It’s been a while since I shared a cellar update, actually more than 8 months have passed since the last one! Time sure flies. And we have been busy.

On the production front Margot and I have shepherded a number of 2011 wines/ciders/meads into the bottle since November, including:

• Cellar Craft Amarone (made in early 2011)
• Cellar Craft Red Mountain Cab (also made in early 2011)
• Mosti Fresco Zin
• Mosti Fresco Riesling
• Mosti Fresco Guewurztraminer
• Apple/Cinnamon Cyser
• Cherry/Currant Mead
• Maple Cider
• Maple Dessert Wine
• Still Cider
• Sparkling Cider
• Strawberry/Riesling

Several of the newest wines are offering some excitement, but over the years we have gotten more patient both from experience AND from having some aged supply to drink while new wines are aging. The still and sparkling ciders have been a bit underwhelming, but the group of us who bought the cider were a little suspect of the quality of it after getting it home and going. The feedback on the finished product has been similar from the others in the group. I’ll figure out how to turn them into punch or something so it doesn’t go to waste!

The brewing schedule (to the right is a pic of Margot and I making the Hefeweizen in March) is also in full swing and by the end of 2012 we will have likely made more beer this year than in any prior year since we started in 2003. Here is what we’ve made so far this year:

• Pliny the Braggot (hopped malt/honey beverage)
• Dark & Hoppy (American Stout, dry hopped)
• Hefeweizen
• English Mild
• Cherry Saison
• Big Belgian
• Oaked Red Ale
• Honey Brown
• Lime Ale
• Summer Shandy

Most of the beers have been shared around with friends and the feedback has been a huge honor. The simpler beers, the mild and the Hefe in particular, have been big hits at parties. The Big Belgian (big as in 8.5% ABV) just created some fans this past weekend. This might be an annual beer for me. The more specific beers like the Saison and Dark & Hoppy have plenty of appeal, but do need some background for drinkers new to the styles.  The Lime Ale and Summer Shandy are awaiting their debut at a summer party in a little over a week. If we are lucky to get a great summer day I predict these beers will kill it with the guests!

We’ve also been in the ring against the other contenders from the homemade beer and wine communities several times since last November. The results have been mixed but no less exciting.

We picked up nine medals from the annual WineMaker Magazine Annual Competition including:

• Concord Rosé (G)
• Strawberry (G)
• Purple Plum (S)
• Dandelion/Chamomile (B)
• Maple Dessert (B)
• Gewurztraminer (B)
• Raspberry Fortified (B)
• Apple/Cinnamon Cyser (B)
• Orange Vanilla Mead (B)

From homebrew competitions we also took Third Place for our English Mild and Second Places for our Maple Cider and Orange/Vanilla Mead.

( Margot picking up one of the medals at the WineMaker Magazine Conference. )

The competition feedback has been phenomenal. Several beers have garnered positive judging comments about their fit to the style and suggestions for us to consider in attempting to make them again. With feedback we have been given we’ve already amped up our meads with more honey and more fruits, herbs or spices depending on what we are making. Some of the feedback has also been pretty quirky, like being told a hopped braggot isn’t stylistically accurate. Really? The style category is wide open on this. The only requirement is that it be equal parts malt and honey. Most people go brown or black with it, but I went pale ale and hoppy. Deal with it!

So that brings us to what is on deck for the rest of the year. I’m on a mead tear that started last year. This year I have gone big and have 15+ styles planned. Most of the batches will be small, 1 gallon, but that is more because I am going nutty with herbs and spices most of which I haven’t used this way before. Margot is about a week away from embarking on Stout and Porter experiments, both of which will result in three styles of beer and some with flavors. I expect I will make some more beer in the Fall, I’m just not sure what yet. Maybe another Belgian and another IPA to use some of the wonderful American hops I have been able to acquire. Wine is likely going to take a back seat for 2012, but the basement is so full of stuff that will be drinkable over the next year I doubt I will miss making more!

With all of that I am staying plenty busy. I will take a break next month to travel out to Portland for the Wine Bloggers Conference where I hope to learn more about the regions wines, beers, distilled spirits AND food!

Cheers!

Jason

Beer Flaw Education with Throwback Brewery in Hampton, NH

( Look at all the serious beer lovers working those flawed samples over! )

I recently attended a beer flaw seminar at Throwback Brewery in Hampton, NH. I hadn’t yet visited the brewery so the class became a two-fer for me, a first visit AND additional education about beer flaws.

The seminar was organized with a short social hour at the beginning over beers and pizza. I ran into several members of BFD, the brew club I belong to, and met several new craft beer fans, including members of the Throwback team. I enjoyed tastes of four different Throwback beers including, Minime, Campfire, Maple Wheat Porter and the Rhubarb Wit.

The Rhubarb Wit was my favorite, and I think the heat and humidity might have also had a part in that. The beer was crisp and refreshing with a hint of fruit. I found the Campfire a bit too smoky for my palate. The Maple Porter was familiar from my own maple beers in how the maple is really subtle and you have to focus to pick it up. Minime is a session IPA which is a pretty cool concept. It drank well, again most likely due to the weather, but it didn’t seem much like a true IPA as it was. 

All of that said, let me put my feedback into context. Experimentation is the lifeblood of a brewer so me being mixed on any beer is truly a personal assessment. With small production comes pretty frequent rotation at the taps so my recommendation is to visit Throwback with some frequency to check out the regular and specialty beers.

The seminar was assembled in two flights of four samples, with PBR used as the control beer and the base for the doctored samples.  

So what did I learn? PBR is a pretty neutral beer and for this type of application it works. I also learned that some flaws are easier to spot than others, mostly due to their prominent orthonasal (smell through the nostrils) identification, where some are a combination of orthonasal and retronasal features in concert with tastes.  Acetaldehyde (green apples), Diacetyl (buttery) and Trans-2nonenal (corked) are all dead give-aways from just the nose. DMS is still escaping me and combinations of flaws that have acetic, sour, buttery or sulfury aromas are hard to discern without more practice.

And practice we must. Both the positive and negative organoleptic properties of beers, wines, ciders and meads are learned; and continuous learning is the only way to keep your skills fresh and sharp. I wasn’t at all disappointed that I only picked out four of the eight flaws, and that was because the experience I gained in trying brought me farther along.

Thank you to Annette Lee and Nicole Carrier from ThrowbackBrewery for hosting this session. They were inspired by a similar session they participated at a recent homebrewers conference and clearly they knew the value of sharing it. 

Thanks also go out to Ryan and Sean of 2beerguys and Andrea Stanley from Valley Malt for providing technical descriptions of the flaws and where in the brewing process they might be expected to show up.

I also met Brian from the Seacoast Beverage Lab blog. If you are looking for a local beer blog to follow, head on over to Seacoast Beverage Lab.

Cheers!

Jason

Prone to Experiment

( Pinot Noir fermenting.)

I get asked all the time “when are you going to open your own winery?” Well, I’m not sure, and maybe never.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, launching your own winery is capital intensive, weather dependent with dynamic cash flows. You start (and start over if you work in another industry like me) poor and can’t expect to do better than be comfortable in the long run. Oh, and you work all the time. Those are the truths and realities that every small winery owner has shared with me when I ask about it. There are options in bringing investors on or ramping up production of average quality plonk and trying to grab market share with it, but neither offer the owner anymore true benefits and of course come with their own headaches. All of this amounts to a potentially scary leap, but one that I would take when and if the time was right.

The bigger reason, and it is one I have come to more recently, that I haven’t made this leap yet is because I tend to be very “creative” in my beverage making. I am prone to experiment, and that isn’t as bankable as developing a line of products that you can make consistently and develop a following for. That’s not to say my tendencies aren't bankable, but the path to growth is more difficult when you are mixing it up all the time. Right or wrong many potential customers want to become familiar with your products so that they may return to them frequently, and distribution channels are going to look to place orders for successful products consistently. With my experimental bent that isn’t going to be so easy.

( The krausen on a Wit beer. )

I’m not bothered by any of this. Why? Because I have fun doing what I do without the commercial hangups. Here is a perfect example. Every Spring I pick dandelions in Vermont. This year I have two experimental batches going, one a wine and the other a mead. Both batches were made with new or modified recipes so they are by no means sure things. The safety of the small batch is on my side, and I learn a lot this way; so I keep doing it. It is worth noting that dandelion wine isn’t as commercially viable as other types of both standard and non-standard wines due to labor intensive processes, and it isn’t a fan favorite either.

This wide open experimentation is simply me riffing on the inspiration I get form a variety of sources. Commercial tastings are great source of inspiration; new styles and flavors tend to stick with me. Any time spent with the homebrew club I joined in 2011 is guaranteed to expose me to new techniques, styles and provide lots of opportunity for feedback on my own creations. Tastings held at home or at friend’s houses provide even more opportunity to engage new people on what they like to drink and how they go about discovering new beverages. I am particularly excited for the WineMaker Magazine Annual Conference in a few weeks. We can drive this year which means we can cart along a whole lot of bottles to share. The feedback I will get, much of it brutally objective from people who are more talented than I, will be worth much more than the wine I will see disappear from my cellar.

( Dry Creek Chardonnay undergoing lees aging and battonage. )

This year will be littered with experiments, meads made with tea, hops and herbs, new styles of beer that we’ve (my wife is on the beer tangent with me) never made before and some wine, but what exactly hasn’t even been considered. Another great example can be found in the preceding sentence. I will make more beer and mead in 2012 than wine. My experimentation is taking me away from wine for a bit, something I couldn’t do as easily in a commercial setting. I am finding significant learning opportunities in these projects, both in the process of making them but also about how they are perceived when I share them. That learning is just too good to pass up by making the same things as I did last year.

( A room full of fermenters. More experiments that need attention! )

My thanks go out to all the people who ask me about going pro, and when this is the immediate reaction to tasting my wines it really does feel good, but I don’t think it is going to happen anytime soon. What I can tell you is that I am developing a treasure trove of information on how to successfully make good beverages at home, how to use them in your dining and entertaining and a lot about what people like and don’t like in a beverage. No matter what I end up doing I expect the knowledge I can develop from all of that will be a huge asset.

Cheers!

Jason