Microbrewed Adventures Read online

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  ORIGINAL BALLARD BITTER

  My attempt to recreate this beer is “Original Ballard Bitter.” Ingredient and process information for the original beer was found in various publications and information provided by the brewery. This recipe can be found in About the Recipes.

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  My intention is not to denounce the brewery. The Red Hook Brewery, founded by passionate beer people and one of the co-founders of Starbucks Coffee as the Independent Brewing Company, began brewing in August of 1982. Paul Shipman, who still leads the brewery, was there at its inception to introduce their original and legendary fruity, yeast-influenced Red Hook Ale. It was a phenomenal success among homebrew enthusiasts and worth a story in and of itself. But I yearn for the original Ballard Bitter.

  SECTION ONE

  Microbrewed: American Style

  CHAPTER 1

  Birth of Style

  I WAS TAKING THE F TRAIN from Manhattan to Brooklyn, on my way to the Park Slope Brewery Pub, in the autumn of 1994. Halloween had recently come and gone. Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins still glowered from neighborhood windows. The evening was cold, inspiring me to walk briskly through the Brooklyn neighborhood as I searched for the newly opened brewpub.

  My thoughts dwelled on a conference presentation given earlier in the day where the question was asked, “Why are certain areas of the country hotbeds of microbreweries and specialty beers?” An expert presented his reasoning, citing pseudo-facts about culture and demographics. I thought to myself, those reasons are academic bullshit things you say when you really don’t know.

  It was a longer walk to the Park Slope Brewery than I had imagined. I asked myself the same question. Could it be that specialty beer and microbrewery beer are especially popular in certain areas because of a handful of key individuals and their enthusiasm, dedication and persistence? I believe microbrewed beer’s success in certain areas is a result of people such as Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada), Fritz Maytag (Anchor Steam), Steve Hindy (Brooklyn Brewing Company), Paul Shipman (Red Hook Ale), Fred Bowman (Portland Brewing Company), Kurt Widmer (Widmer Brewing, Portland, OR), John Hickenlooper (Denver’s Wynkoop Brewery), Greg Noonan (Vermont Pub and Brewery, Burlington), David Geary (D. L. Geary’s Brewing Company, Maine) and others. Demographics and culture contribute nothing compared to the influence of individual acts of heroism, dedication and persistence. But in high-powered industrial economics, never is individual heroism an accepted explanation. It does not fit very well into the academic and economic models at board meetings and learned universities. Big-company marketing departments are uncomfortable with this.

  I was still walking. In what seemed to be a strictly residential neighborhood, I was looking around for a brewpub. There were no signs of beer anywhere. A Jack-o-lantern sat in a corner window of a building. I shaded my eyes from the overhead street lamp and peered inside. It was a bar, with gleeful pumpkins alit with flames. There was beer.

  I entered and was greeted by the warmth and glow of friendship and microbrewed beer. There was little doubt—this had to be the place. But where was the brewery? Steve Deptula greeted me with recognition and I was quickly confronted with a decision: California ale, porter, blonde, Kölsch (with 30 percent flaked corn), barley wine or pumpkin ale on tap. A pint of hearty ale soon graced my hand.

  Owner and brewer Steve explained the unusual circumstances of his business. Steve was a graduate of the “Complete Joy of Homebrewing” School of Brewing. The brewery pub was a complete do-it-yourself project involving a year and a half of renovation. Steve’s resources were limited, but his determination obviously was not.

  The beautiful mahogany bar, graced by the good cheer of local beer drinkers, was a testimonial to his accomplishment. The small brewery below was retrofitted with equipment. Steve proudly explained how, with limited resources, he had had to place the chilled aging tanks in the same room as the fermenters. How did he keep the fermenters warm enough for ale fermentation? An $18 space heater from Wal-Mart.

  The brewery has since closed, but not before pleasing thousand of beer drinkers and turning on countless others to the world of flavorful and passionately made microbrewery beer.

  THE 1980s were a turning point for American beer. Microbreweries and brewpubs began opening and new American beer styles were born—American pale ale, American wheat beer and American imperial stout.

  Raspberry wheat beers, American India pale ale, stouts and porter, rye ale, whiskey-barrel aged stout and several other creations continue to emerge as brewers continue to embark on their own microbrewed adventures. The flavors and diversity of American beer are unparalleled anywhere in the world, bringing a high degree of respect and creating a proud American beer culture for beer drinkers to enjoy.

  American Pale Ale

  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

  MICROBREWERIES STARTED popping up in the United States around 1981. This was the year I first tried Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I knew at once that the guys behind this brew were possessed with a passion for beer and excellence. It was the dawn of what was to become the most popular style of microbrewed craft beer, American pale ale, and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company of Chico, California, pioneered the way. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi, the founders of the brewery and originally homebrewers, sought to make a commercial beer that emphasized hops.

  Indeed not only were there more hops in their now famous pale ale, but they were the unique citruslike Cascade hops. These hops had never been used in large amounts—in any beer, anywhere in the world—except by homebrewers like themselves.

  In 1880, there were more than 2,200 registered breweries operating in the United States. In 1980–81, there were only forty-four.

  However, this was all soon to change. Homebrewers were indulging in their newfound passion for flavor and diversity in beer. With the fermentations of their efforts as inspiration, they were founding small brewing companies based exclusively on their love of beer. This passionate approach to professional brewing would become known as “microbrewing.”

  THE MICROBREW ADVENTURE was begun by homebrewers with the opening of breweries such as the New Albion Brewer in Sonoma, California (1976, closed in the early 1980s), the Boulder Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado (1980, still operating as the Boulder Beer Company), the Cartwright Brewing Company, Portland, Oregon (opened and closed in the early 1980s) and the Debakker Brewing Company, Novato, California (opened and closed in the early 1980s). Others that opened in 1981 included River City Brewing Company (Sacramento, California), William S. Newman Brewing Company (Albany, New York) and Thousand Oaks Brewing Company (Berkeley, California), all closing within a decade.

  I FIRST VISITED the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in 1986, five years after they had opened. At the time there only were a few dozen microbreweries in the United States. Beer choice for most beer drinkers was limited to dozens of brands of same-tasting American light lagers. I came away from my visit knowing that this brewery, with their original Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Porter and Stout, was getting it right for America.

  Cofounding brewer, Ken Grossman

  Founding brewer Ken Grossman. Courtesy Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

  Sierra Nevada was brewing four to six brews a week in their 17-barrel brewery, cranking out 35 barrels on any given day. Co-founder Ken Grossman, a student of chemistry and a bike mechanic, had run a home beer and winemaking shop before becoming a professional brewer. Steve Harrison, the company’s lead salesperson, had worked as a head clerk in a liquor store as well as at a retail service center of Sears. His first job at the brewery was part time on the bottling line and part time selling beer. Ken and Steve wanted to open a small business that made high-quality beer and do something they enjoyed.

  In 1986 they were planning and projecting for the future. High profit was not an original goal—survival was. They didn’t realize the size of brewery they would need in order to make money. In the beginning, the maximum they could brew was 30 barrels a week. At the time this seemed
like a gold mine, but the reality of maintaining beer quality, the increasing costs of packaging and selling beer and keeping and paying their employees well and the need to make a profit in order to reinvest in their growing business became evident as the demand for their beer increased.

  EVEN THOUGH they are brewing at a much higher level these days, their goal has stayed the same—to make great beer. Their equipment is larger and better and their processes have become more efficient, but the beer stays true. Their production is approaching 600,000 barrels at the time of this book’s publication, and their products have every bit of the “microbrewing” integrity with which they began in 1981. This is not only a tribute to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, but also to what passion for beer and brewing has done for our American beer culture.

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  1982 ORIGINAL SIERRA NEVADA PALE ALE

  While Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has remained true to its original character, there have been a few subtle adjustments over the years in order to facilitate distribution needs and brewery equipment changes. This original recipe is based on today’s flavor profile and what is known about its formulation and information published in the early 1980s, revealing original ingredients and processes used at their original small-batch brewery. The recipe can be found in About the Recipes.

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  American Wheat Beer

  Pyramid Wheaten Ale

  THE ADDRESS OF the brewery was 176 First Street, reached by taking Exit 30 off Washington Interstate 5, just above Washington’s border with Oregon. It could arguably be called the birthplace of American-style wheat beer. Someone should erect a historic landmark memorial, for there was brewed the original Pyramid Wheaten Ale at the Hart Brewing Company. In 1984, company founder and homebrewer Tom Baune and his wife breathed life back into a building that can only be described at the time of my visit in 1986 as a general store orphaned by the construction of the Interstate.

  The brew kettle, keg-washing equipment, fermenters, keg washers and bottling line were all salvaged, reconditioned or self-fabricated. Visiting with a small group of other brewers and aspiring brewers, I was surprised that such a remote brewery in an all-but-abandoned locale could and did resurrect the passion of beer and brewing. It was called sweat equity. We were all in awe of owner and jack-of-all-trades Tom Baune, not only for the establishment of such a brewery in such a remote location, but for the quality of his ales brewed in small handcrafted batches.

  Tom Baune, founder Hart Brewing Co. and Pyramid brand ale

  In the early 1980s, knowledgeable American homebrewers were aware of beers made with a combination of wheat and barley malt, called Weizenbier (wheat beer) in Germany. The recipes were available. The techniques were known. But one important ingredient was essentially inaccessible to American microbrewers: the wheat beer yeast creating the unique character of German-style wheat beers. Not to be deterred, American homebrewers and microbrewers followed the essential techniques for making German-style wheat beers, but substituted various English-style ale yeasts for the German variety. A new beer style was born: American-style wheat beer.

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  ORIGINAL PYRAMID WHEATEN ALE

  Today’s Pyramid Wheaten Ale is as vibrant as is it was in 1986, but not without its differences. The brewery’s recipe has been adjusted to accommodate large-batch brewing and the evolving preferences of wheat beer enthusiasts. Based on data and descriptions (as well as recollections from my own taste memory bank) published in their early years, this recipe for “Original Pyramid Wheaten Ale” is presented with confidence and for your enjoyment. Smooth, with a mild yet distinctive caramel character, the recipe for this refreshing beer for all sessions can be found in About the Recipes.

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  Brewed with a significant proportion of wheat malt, Pyramid Wheaten Ale was a smooth, subtly caramel-like, light-bodied pale wheat ale balanced with a floral hop character that made it distinct from most other heavily hopped Pacific Northwest homebrewed and microbrewed ales.

  Not only a microbrewery pioneer, Tom Baune pioneered diversity with creativity. Pyramid Wheaten Ale remains one of the best-selling beers of the successor to the Hart Brewing Company, Seattle-based Pyramid Brewing Company.

  Michael Jackson

  His World Is Beer

  ONE CANNOT EVEN BEGIN to have a discussion about beer styles without mentioning the world’s leading protagonist of flavor and diversity. Michael Jackson serves as an inspiration to all beer drinkers and brewers.

  As a thirtieth-birthday gift in 1979, my girlfriend gave me Michael Jackson’s World Guide to Beer. I had been homebrewing for nine years, and my beer world had yet to become global. This gift became a threshold for me. Michael opened up my world, and my life has never been the same.

  Michael Jackson in his London office

  In the early 1980s you could hear Michael on radio commercials describing the Cascade hops used in Henry Weinhard’s Ale. Perhaps these were the first beer commercials in the twentieth century pontificating on the basis of varietal ingredients. Michael Jackson has always been a beer pioneer.

  I tracked Michael down in 1981 and invited him to attend the American Homebrewers Association’s third national homebrewers’ conference in Boulder, Colorado. I did not have a clue what to expect, never having met him. Because of his radio presence in Henry’s beer commercials, I originally thought he might have lived in America. I was surprised when I learned he was from London.

  We’ve shared many pints and liters of beer at locations throughout the world since that time, but none so grounding as those enjoyed on his home turf, where he is most at ease. I don’t recall whether our London discussion took place at Michael’s flat or at his local pub, The Thatched House, then a classic, well-attended Young’s pub in Hammersmith, but it has cemented our friendship that has remained strong for more than two decades.

  I had been invited to judge at the Great British Beer Festival in 1981. As part of a panel of three, I helped decide the grand champion beers of England. Awed by my experiences at the festival, I stopped in London on my way home for a final two days and had a second visit with Michael. I asked him, “I was quite impressed with the variety of beers at the festival. Do you think in America we could pull off a ‘Great American Beer Festival’?” Michael took a good swallow of his pint of Young’s Ordinary and replied, “Yes of course, it would be a great start, but where would you find interesting beer?”

  The beer was one of our biggest challenges. In 1982 there were very few breweries making anything other than light American lager. I was helped by Tom Burns, brewmaster at the Boulder Brewing Company, and homebrewers Stuart Harris and Frank Morris. The four of us connected with twenty of America’s most flavorful and unique beers. The Great British Beer Festival provided the inspiration, and Michael encouraged and supported us. The rest is history. The Great American Beer Festival now brings together thousands of American’s finest beers for the world to taste every autumn in Denver, Colorado.

  Michael continues to travel the world in search of good beers. I do the same. Whenever our paths cross I make every effort to buy the beers, unless of course it’s at his local in Hammersmith.

  American Imperial Stout

  Yakima Brewing Company

  IN 1984 the Great American Beer Festival moved from Boulder to Denver, Colorado. Begun in 1982 by the American Homebrewers Association, it had attracted hundreds of homebrewers and a passionate group of professional brewers and brewing professors from the United States, Germany and London. There were almost a dozen microbreweries in all of America. There must have been a spark of excitement in 1982 that had ignited a tinder-dry landscape in Boulder, Colorado, and spread. The smoke from the smoldering passions of homebrewers and knights of beer drifted with the winds eastward and westward, eventually reaching both shining seas.

  This was to be the year of Yakima Brewing Company, its founder Bert Grant and his aggressively hoppy ales, and the birth of a new style of beer: “American-style” Russian imperial st
out. There he was, founder and legendary hop guru Bert Grant turned brewer-owner of a tiny microbrewery in Washington’s Yakima valley, where nearly all American hops are grown today. Bert was a self-induced hophead. “Hophead” was a name originally used in the 1950s Beatnik era and associated with the lifestyle of the time. But this was 1984, and Bert Grant turned its meaning an about-face 180 degrees. Never would microbrewed beer be the same.

  At the festival, the lines for previously popular microbrews paled in comparison to the excitement generated by Bert Grant’s Russian Imperial Stout. Proudly dressed in his Scottish kilt and bonnet, Bert offered thousands of servings of the rich, dark, heavily hopped, robust Grant’s Russian Imperial Stout. Conversion was rampant. It seemed almost evangelical. Lupulin and darkness ruled the festival. The world of beer would never be the same. Hop and stout groupies could not fulfill themselves. Bert was smiling. That year Grant’s Russian Imperial Stout took top honors in the Consumer Preference Poll. A style was born.

  A brief explanation is needed, for Russian imperial stout has had a long and royal history in continental Europe and Great Britain. Brewed for royalty in olden times and still brewed in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom, its original style was not characterized by massive hoppiness. Roasted malts and barley were added with gentle consideration for flavor balance with caramel-flavored malt. Often aged for several months to a year, European versions of Russian imperial stouts were characterized by nuttiness, high alcohol and sherrified flavors. These imperial stouts are an exquisite high point of the brewer’s art and offer an experience that is rare but worth seeking. But Bert Grant’s Russian Imperial Stout was something other than “Russian.”