Microbrewed Adventures Read online

  Charlie Papazian

  Microbrewed Adventures

  A Lupulin-Filled Journey to the Heart and Flavor of the World’s Great Craft Beers

  Microbrewed Adventures is dedicated

  to brewers worldwide

  who add their passionate spirit for flavor and diversity

  to every beer they create

  for the pleasures of their friends, family and

  beer drinkers everywhere.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Ya Sure Ya Betcha

  The Independent Ale Brewery/Red Hook Brewery

  Section One

  Microbrewed: American Style

  Chapter One

  Birth of Style

  American Pale Ale

  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

  American Wheat Beer

  Pyramid Wheaten Ale

  Michael Jackson

  His World Is Beer

  American Imperial Stout

  Yakima Brewing Company

  Matters of Beer Style

  Chapter Two

  Brewery in a Goat Shed and The King Wants a Beer

  Brewery in a Goat Shed

  Boulder Brewing Company

  Only a Brick Remained

  Jim Koch, St. Louis and Boston Beer Co.

  Message on a Bottle

  Anchor Brewing Company

  Irish French Ale in the High Country

  George Killian’s Irish Red

  The King Wants Homebrew

  Chapter Three

  In Quest of Fresh Beer

  Drinking with Our Eyes

  America’s First Brewpubs

  Beware the Puritanical State

  Drinking Deliberately

  Chapter Four

  The Bad Boys of Beer

  Rogue Ales

  Charlie 1981

  The Book with the Little Rose

  New Belgium

  Hop Whompus

  Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing and Left Coast Brewing Company

  New Frontiers on the Edge of a Continent

  Stone Brewing Company, San Diego

  Apples in a Big Beer

  New Glarus Brewing Company

  Changing How People Think About Beer, One Minute at a Time

  Dogfish Head Brewery

  Purposefully Local

  Flying Fish Brewing Company

  Beer in the Big Apple

  Brooklyn Brewery

  Psychographic Resonations

  The Magic Hat Brewing Company

  A Mindset for Sustainability

  Otter Creek Brewery & Wolaver’s Organic Beer

  Chapter Five

  On the Road with Charlie

  Noon Moons, Midnight Sun

  Bean Mead and Barley Wine Ales

  Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska

  Winter Warmer Tour

  In the Footsteps of the Revolution

  Beer in America’s Heartland

  Fargo to Cleveland

  Completely Joyous Tour

  Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas

  Raising the Drinking Age to 40

  The Lyons Brewery Depot

  Section Two

  Microbrewed: The World

  Introduction

  The Brewpub that Started a World Revolution

  London—David and Louise Bruce

  Extraordinary Times with Ordinary Ale

  Brakspear’s Brewery, Henley-on-Thames

  Chapter Six

  Unraveling the Mysteries of Mead

  The Secrets of Buckfast Abbey

  Brother Adam

  Minard Castle, Argyll, Scotland

  Chapter Seven

  Beer Heaven Is in Germany

  The Monastery at Andechs

  German Rye Beer

  Thurn und Taxis

  German Brown Ale

  Düsseldorf, the Altstadt. Altbier

  Weissbier in Bavaria

  Hopfweissbier Brauerei

  With His Royal Highness Printz Luitpold von Bayern

  Chapter Eight

  An Underground Beer Culture: France, Italy and Sweden

  My Paris—My Beer

  Frog & Rosbif

  Poetic Justice in Italy

  The Microbrewers of Italy

  La Baladin

  Birrificio Italiano

  Brifficio Lambrate

  The Piozzo Experiment: The Secret Life of Beer

  La Baladin, Piozzo, Italy

  Islandic Vellosdricke

  Gotland Island, Sweden

  Chapter Nine

  Flights of the Imagination—Eccentric, Creative and Wild

  The Netherlands and Belgium

  Long Days’ Journeys into Nights

  The Mad Brewer of Esen

  World-Class Belgian Breweries

  Belle Vue, Palm, Moortgat and Lindeman

  Three Breweries in a Day

  Chapter Ten

  Cerveza Real in Latin America

  Czech-Mex in Tijuana

  The Oldest Brewery in America

  The Brewing Soul of Cuba

  Chapter Eleven

  African Safaris

  The Zimbabwe Zephyr and the Beer Gardens of Bulawayo

  Hari Yemadzisahwira

  The Last Beer in Swakapmund

  Chapter Twelve

  Expecting the Unexpected: Russia, Asia, Fiji and Grenada

  The Hope of Global Warming

  Lessons from the Baltic Sea

  Wagging the Tail in China

  Bula! Vale Vakaviti

  Fiji Homebrew

  Matters of Homebrew

  Chapter Thirteen

  Seeing Beyond the Beer

  An Ultimate Beer Experience

  Kriek, Cassis and the French Caribbean

  The American Ark

  The Pride of a Brewer

  The Gaze from Above, upon the Beer Below

  Joining the BierConvent

  Section Three

  Recipes

  About the Recipes

  “Original” Ballard Bitter

  1982 Original Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

  Original Pyramid Wheaten Ale

  Bert Grant’s Planet Imperial Stout

  Felicitous Stout

  1981 Boulder Christmas Stout

  Samuel Adams 1880

  George Killian’s Irish Red Ale from Pellforth

  Masterbrewers Doppelbock

  Masterbrewers Celebration Light Lager

  Klibbety Jibbit

  Mile-High Green Chile Ale

  Puritanical Nut Brown Ale

  Telluride India Pale Ale

  John 1981—A Homebrewed Version of Charlie 1981

  1447 Belgium Zwarte Rose Ale

  Jeff Bagby’s Hop Whompus 2004

  Stone 03.03.03 Vertical Epic Ale

  New Wisconsin Apple/Raspberry/Cherry Beer

  65-65-65-6.5 India Pale Ale

  Flying Fish Baby Saison Farmhouse Ale

  Brooklyn’s Original Chocolate Stout

  Magic Bolo #9.1

  Wolaver’s Organic Oatmeal Stout

  Alaskan Winter Spruce Old Ale

  Sam Adams Triple Bock Homebrew

  MickViRay Papazian Pilsener

  Irish Cocoa Wood Porter

  Old Lighthouse in the Fog Barleywine Ale

  Original Dogbolter Ale—Goose & Firkin

  Beyond-the-Ordinary Ordinary Bitter

  St. Bartholomew’s Mead

  Castle Metheglin

  Andech’s Weekday Bock

  Pumpernickel Rye Stout

  Crazy Old Man Altbier

  Hans Weissbier

  Printz Helles German Lager

  Frog & Rosbif’s Brown Wheat Coriander Ale

  Poetic Brighella Italian-Belgian-German-Eng
lish-American Ale

  Piozzo Italian Pale Ale

  Vello’s Gotlandsdricke

  Zeezuiper Spiced Nederlander Strong Ale

  Switch and Toggles Preposterous Poorter

  Belgian-Style Cherry–Black Currant (Kriek-Cassis) Lambic

  Czech-Mex Tijuana Urquell

  Quito Abbey Ale—1534

  Vienna-Style Ouro de Habanera (Havana Gold)

  Zimbabwe Zephyr Sorghum Beer

  Swakapmund Cowboy Lager

  Zaltitis Baltic Porter

  Qingdao Dark Lager

  Fiji Homebrew—Vale Vakaviti

  Sparkling Mead—Tropical Champagne

  Monastic Bleue Strong Belgian-Style Ale

  19th-Century Leipziger Gose

  Glossary of Terms

  Searchable Terms

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other Books by Charlie Papazian

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Introduction

  I AM AT HEART a brewer. The romance of beer has been a significant part of my life since the early 1970s. My first homebrew was an amber beer brewed in the basement of a Charlottesville, Virginia, preschool and day care center. I never looked back. Our five senses help me turn the basic ingredients—hops, yeast, malt and water—into beer, but it is my imagination that permits me to experiment and create an endless variety of new and inspired beers.

  IMAGINATION IS A powerful factor that influences our view of the world—indeed, it is at the heart of how we interpret our senses of taste, smell, hearing, sight and touch. At recent judgings of beer I have begun cautioning myself about the extent to which we become separated from our imagination as we evaluate beer. As beer drinkers and brewers, we sometimes try to mimic machines too much.

  Refreshingly, among the most experienced and passionate of brewers, objective evaluation is mixed with stories of great beers and great brewers. These side trips lend proper perspective to most discussions. A brewer may say, “The character in this beer, though some may consider it a technical flaw, is a real, honest-to-God, traditional character that has beer enjoyment value and is found in some small, genuinely wonderful countryside breweries—and I like it. In fact, I am passionate about the beer’s character.” You can see the smile on that brewer’s face and his daydream expression as he imagines someday recreating the experience. The beer with its eccentric—not technically brewers’-perfect—character has warmth of heart, which is perhaps the real reason we all pay for beer. Simply by inhaling certain aromas, I can recall wonderful memories and moments of pleasure.

  I often enjoyed one of my favorite American-made British-style bitters on the rooftop of a popular neighborhood tavern. The view of the Front Range Rocky Mountains, and the warmth of the sun on early spring and late autumn days, brought cheer. The all-malt, full-flavored draft bitter is easily affected by sunlight, yet I loved the beer and being there, at that spot.

  Now, whenever I experience the aroma of an all-malt beer that is faintly and freshly sunstruck, I smile. I enjoy these technically destabilized beers, and often prefer them, because of the sunshine and warmth of heart they evoke. And I like the flavor! The memory is all mine, and there is no denying the power of where it can take me.

  To “capture the imagination” is to capture our five senses. This is why we buy beer, isn’t it? It’s not just that India pale ale has pleasurable hop-infested, lupulin-drenched bitterness. Not just that stout is black velvet with a full-bodied, creamy texture. Not only that pale ale is graced with the floral lupulin bouquet of Cascade, Goldings or Fuggles hops. Not just that barley wine ale or Doppelbock has a tantalizing 9.14 percent alcohol, nor that a Hefeweizen is accented with spice and fruity themes. Nor do the finest hops, malt, water and yeast really make a huge difference. No, I don’t really believe this is ultimately what we beer drinkers seek. We see a label, we hear the name, we see a designer glass full of beer and tantalizing foam, we smell, we taste, we observe…our mind takes us on a journey with first contact.

  The moment lasts less than a second, but we connect with our lifelong experiences. Will it be a good experience? Yes? I’ll have one. I’ll have another. I will remember the moment, perhaps more than the beer, but I will remember the beer.

  The beer drinker walks out of a store, package of beer playfully swinging at arm’s length. The door closes behind and you know for sure that if that beer has been well made, it will transform all those beery characteristics into an experience fully influenced by imagination.

  If you still can’t quite picture what it is I’m talking about, then sit down quietly with a beer and see where it really takes you.

  MICROBREWED ADVENTURES is essentially a book about imagination. I have been fortunate in being able to meet many of the world’s great brewers and to travel across the United States and the world tasting thousands of amazing beers. My jobs as the founding president of the American Homebrewers Association (1978) and the Brewers Association, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and author of the paradigmatic Complete Joy of Home Brewing (1984) have brought me beer opportunities of which I could never have dreamed. Sometimes I realize I am living the ultimate beer fairy tale, with every new beer a happy ending.

  I have collected many of these adventures and tastings to share with you. Each story inspired a homebrew recipe that can be found in the back of the book. In many cases it’s a recipe from a brewery that I have visited; in others, the recipe captures the flavor of the experience.

  My microbrewed adventure begins in 1980 with the pioneers of microbrewing. These were a small collection of homebrewers who were making beer with the flavor and character of a time past. As their friends cheered them on to their next batch, their beer improved. They were tiring of their jobs and began to dream of life as a brewer. Their enthusiasm and confidence grew. At the time, ours was a world of mass-produced light lager, with virtually no options. Velveeta ruled the world of cheese. Wonder bread sandwiched our lunch.

  The world of beer was about to embark on a new path. New Albion (Sonoma, CA), Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA), Boulder Beer (Boulder, CO), River City (Sacramento, CA), DeBakker (Novato, CA), Cartwright (Portland, OR) and Wm. S. Newman (Albany, NY) were among the handful of small breweries that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We called them “small breweries” until one day Zymurgy magazine small-brewery news editor Stuart Harris suggested that these tiny breweries were like “these new small computers called ‘micro-computers’” he used in his day job. The term “microbrewery” was born.

  The half-dozen microbrewers in 1981 were afloat in a sea of light lager when the American Homebrewers Association, founded in 1978, began to gain some momentum. A champion of beer styles, beer flavor and diversity, the AHA was the only beacon microbrewers, homebrewers and beer lovers had to turn to. I don’t recall whether we discovered them or they discovered us, but the relationship became one of mutual support.

  All-malt beer with distinctive varieties of hops and caramelized and roasted specialty malts provided the distinctive and traditional appeal of those original pale ales, porters and stouts. The microbrewed adventure was entirely distinct and different from what the forty-two existing American large and regional breweries were offering.

  Now there are more than 1,300 microbreweries in the United States and the numbers are growing worldwide. While many microbreweries have grown in size and are sometimes called craft breweries, they maintain their passion for flavor, diversity and adventure.

  The microbreweries of today, such as Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewing Company, Deschutes Brewery, Left Coast Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Company, Brooklyn Brewery, Boston Beer Company, Rockies Brewing Company and Boulevard Brewing Company, are among the thousand-plus micro and craft brewers producing an amazing array of choice. It’s hard to believe that just twenty-five years ago the American beer market was dominated by Big Beer and offered virtually no other options.

  Beyond America I have
discovered tradition and an equal passion for flavor, diversity and creativity. The second half of Microbrewed Adventures reveals many of my most memorable travel adventures outside the United States, tasting exotic, classically traditional and pioneering beers—Andech’s German Monastic Bock, Leipziger Gose, Brakspear’s Henley-on-Thames Ordinary Bitter, Goose and Firkin Dogbolter, Zimbabwe Zephyr Sorghum Beer, fifty-year-old Cornish mead, spicy Dutch Zeezuiper and legendary Belgian ales and lambics, to name a few. All my microbrewed adventures were invaluable lessons, serving as inspiration for a beer drinker and homebrewer gone “over-the-top.” I hope you enjoy…

  Ya Sure Ya Betcha

  The Independent Ale Brewery/Red Hook Brewery

  I ALWAYS SHY AWAY from the inevitable question that everyone loves to ask me: “Charlie, what’s your favorite beer?” I will always deflect the question with “It’s the beer that I’m holding in my hand” or “The locally made beer, and when I’m home that’s my homebrew.” One of the more memorable beers I’ve held in my hand—you could have called it my “favorite” at the time—was an American-made British-style bitter I enjoyed frequently on the rooftop of Boulder’s West End Tavern. It was called Ballard Bitter. Brewed by the Independent Brewing Company (now called Red Hook Brewing Co.), then located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, Ballard Bitter was a wonderfully complex hybrid of American and British beers. I perceived a predominance of American Cascade hop character combined with a mellow background of English Kent countryside hop flavor. You could taste a complexity of hops. Not only that, but perhaps you could see the hops in the ever-so-slight haze that was likely a combination of hops, yeast and full-malt ingredients.

  Gordon Bowker, co-founder of Red Hook Ale, introduces the brewery in 1982.

  Gordon Bowker, co-founder of Red Hook Ale. By David Bjorkman.

  Ballard Bitter was also blessed with one other “flaw” that I loved. It was called diacetyl—one of the textbook brewer’s deadly beer sins, producing a flavor and aroma reminiscent of caramel or butterscotch. Textbook brewers despise diacetyl in any amount whatsoever. I am not a textbook brewer, but I am a textbook beer drinker. I drink what I like. I like the soft integration of caramel-, toffee-, butterscotch-like flavor that diacetyl harmonically contributes to some styles of English and American ales. A balanced amount of diacetyl contributed to my enjoyment of Ballard Bitter. Yet despite good sales, this wonderfully balanced and distinct ale was eventually purged of its diacetyl by the brewery. Hop intensity was elevated and the brand renamed India Pale Ale–Ballard Bitter. The slogan on the bottle, “Ya Sure Ya Betcha,” remains, but it is no longer the Ballard I and thousands in my neighborhood enjoyed.