by Kev

It is still awfully warm for this time of year, but the weather is starting to look more like Novembeer. A little rain is just what we needed.  Thanksgiving will be here before you know it and I, for one, can hardly wait. It is one of the only times during the year when I get to see my entire family and have some good times with them and thus, one of my favorite holidays.

It is still the perfect time for outdoor lagering as the temperatures have remained constantly between 38 and 58F. I am just about ready to rack my Bavarian Pilsner and re-pitch to the same fermenter with a nice Doppelbock.

All of next year’s red wines (I have Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah this time) have reached 0% sugar and are aging nicely.

Coming up on Thursday (the 15th) it will be time to elect new club officers. Please try to be at the meeting to help us select the best of the Alers to serve in their new capacities!!

There is a traditional saying at Brews Brothers meetings where elections are held and I will offer it as a warning...

“Be present or be president!”

I intend to resign as your scribe this year. I’ve had a lot of fun serving the past few years but other responsibilities just make it impossible for me to make time to do the job anymore.

I’ve learned a lot along the way.  I did figure out how to use this damnable machine they call a computer and I’ve also learned that computers hate me (the feeling is mutual). Several mouses (mice?)  have become flying objects during fits of rage over corrupted files and screen freezes (usually just as I was finishing an article but had not yet saved all of it).

The Great Canadian Beer Festival

The Great Canadian Beer Festival is fast approaching! If you did not get tickets you are S.O.L. They sold out in the first few days. I attended this event last year for the first time and really enjoyed myself. I have been to quite a few festivals and other beer functions this past year and this one is hands-down my favorite of them all. For those of you who did get tickets, we’ll see you in Victoria!

http://www.GCBF.com

Stout, Chocolate & Belgian Beer

If you have not yet visited the Celtic Bayou and Farwest Ireland Brewing, this would be a great event to attend. Tom Munoz has been turning out some very fine beers at this new brewery.

Plenty of Time for Barleywine!
K. Fawcett

It’s that time of year again when the weather is starting to chill off a bit and the ol’ glass of barleywine in front of a raging fire is just what the beer doctor ordered! You may find a fine selection of barleywines at Bottlewerks and other specialty beer outlets or head out on the town to your local brewpub where barleywine can usually be procured without a lot of trouble.

Big Time Brewery and Ale House (4133 University Way NE) will tap into the “Old Wooly” also on December 1^st.

Elysian (1221 East Pike) “Cyclops” is presently on the handle along with the “Bi-frost”, a strong seasonal winter warmer.

Hales Ales (4301 NW Leary Way) will be tapping a barleywine sometime around December 4^th and they also have a Wee Heavy on tap right now.

Maritime Pacific (1514 NW Leary Way) will not have a barleywine available but they do have their Christmas Ale which weighs in at a hefty 9%.

Pacific Crest (10845 East Marginal Way S) has their “Oktobercrest” and the “Old Man Winter”, a dark seasonal ale on tap now.

Elliot Bay Brewery and Pub (4720 California Av SW) has their Noale, a dark wheat, on tap now and will be offering the “Portside” barleywine coming up in January.

Pike Brewery and Pub (1415 1^ST Av) will not have a barleywine this year but they do have their “Old Acquaintance” strong ale and Rock Bottom (1333 5^th Av) will have the “Old Thumper” barleywine in January.

   Up North, The Rockfish Grill and Anacortes Brewery (320 Commercial Av, Anacortes) will have their “Old Pal” barleywine coming in late December and their Christmas ale, Noel Lager, on December 1^st.

La Conner brewing (117 First St, La Conner) will have the “Old Curmudgeon” barleywine near the 1^st of January and right now have their Tannenbaum strong ale and an Imperial Stout on tap.  Both the stout and the strong ale are available at Bottlewerks. Skagit River Brewing (404 S 3^rd St, Mt. Vernon) still has their Imperial IPA and now the Trumpeter Imperial Stout.  Plans are also in the works for a high-octane Amber Wheat .

Further North, at North Fork Brewery (6186 Mt. Baker Highway, Deming) you will find barleywine on tap 24 hours, 7 days (I have tasted Eric’s barleywine several times recently and it is top notch! Hard to find a better one!) and their latest seasonal is a Scotch Ale. Eric is also doing a pilot batch of Belgian Dubbel and (hopefully) will have some on tap soon.

Boundary Bay Brewery and Alehouse (1107 Railroad Av, Bellingham) still has the “Reef Netter” dry-hopped amber, a Harvest Ale and the Winter Ale called “Cabin Fever”.  There is some barleywine put away but no scheduled date for it has been announced.

Orchard St Brewing, (709 West Orchard Dr) has their Jingle Ale, a dark seasonal with a few holiday spices added.

At the other end of Western Washington, Young’s Brewing (5945 Prather Rd, Centralia) has Dick’s Winter Ale a 7% brew based on IPA but with a bit more caramel malt and (in the brewer’s own words) a “shitload” of Tomahawk hops!  Also try Dick’s Barleywine from last year. Dick’s beers can often be found at Bottlewerks and other selected outlets around Western Washington. Call or drop in to Young’s Brewing for details.

Port Townsend Brewing Co. (330-C 10^th St, Port Townsend) has a dark Winter Ale on tap. Some barleywine has been put away but no plans for bringing it out have been announced yet.

So now you have no excuses! The winter ales and barleywines are there for you, all happy in their casks and bottles, just waiting to be tapped!

Fish Brewing Releases Vintage 2001 Oak- Aged Beers

Poseidon¹s Imperial Stout and Leviathan Barleywine

OLYMPIA, WA.  The Fish Brewing Company, brewers of Fish Tale Ales and Leavenworth Beers, is pleased to announce the arrival of the latest Vintage in our award winning Artist Series of oak-aged and bottle conditioned beers. With little fanfare, but much anticipation, the Vintage 2001 Leviathan Barleywine and Poseidon¹s Imperial Stout have been bottled and will soon appear on the shelves of specialty beer and wine stores throughout the Northwest.

Recently named by the American Brewer as one of the Top Ten Cult Beers of North America, and by the Malt Advocate as Domestic Beer of the Year, Poseidon’s Imperial Stout is one of the most sought after bottles destined for the cellars of beer collectors. The 2001 Vintage Poseidon has been aged more than six months in French oak barrels which previously held one of Washington State¹s finest Cabernets. This year¹s release is huge in character with a very full body, a heavily roasted flavor, with hints of wood smoke, dark cocoa, and a dry nuttiness, balanced by a firm backbone of dark malts.

The predominant flavors of the 2001 Leviathan Barleywine are rich creamy malt and loads of Cascade hops for bittering and throughout the finish. In early tastings, the 2001 Leviathan also displays a remarkable sherried McCallan Whisky character imparted by the Hungarian oak wine barrels it was aged in. Like earlier vintages, this year’s Leviathan Barleywine has a warming alcohol strength, which will allow it to be aged for years to come.

In March of 1999, the Mighty Fish Brewers debuted the first batches of Leviathan Barleywine and Poseidon¹s Imperial Stout in its oak-aged Artist Series. Each year, a single Vintage of these beers is brewed to 10% alcohol by volume, racked to wine barrels in April and then aged for more than six months in the Brewery¹s barrel cellar. In November, each barrel is hand-bottled into 750 ml champagne glass and allowed to bottle condition for several weeks before being released in early December.

This year, a total of 200 cases, each of 2001 Leviathan and Poseidon will be allocated to Fish Brewing¹s favorite beer and wine specialty retailers.

A very limited number of 3-liter jeroboam bottles, hand signed by label artist Dennis Lyon, will also be made available to the public. Based on previous Vintage releases, the 2001 is expected to sell quickly, with many enthusiasts buying several bottles of each style to lay down in their cellars for years to come.

New Beer for Pyramid Brewery

Pyramid is asking the public to help name their new beer. In their own words:

“We're getting close to unveiling a tasty new beer. Our inspired brewers are in process of developing a Pilsner for year-round distribution. This new style will be hand-crafted with fresh Northwest ingredients, and is sure to quench your beer-thirst with a crisp and refreshing brew inspired by traditional European Pilsners. Our Pilsner will give you another option for all those different beer quaffing occasions that we know and love.”

The suggested new names for the beer are Fastwater, Boathouse, Big Rapids, and Coastline.

E-mail to: info@pyramidbrew.com to cast your vote or suggest another name. I said they should call it “Whitewater” Pilsner, in line with the hobby in which so many Northwest folks participate but that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong...

I was asked to do an article about beers on tap in West Coast ski areas this month. We are fortunate to have some great skiing in Washington State (that is, when there’s snow in the mountains.) and also some of the best selection of brews to drink while powder surfing or falling on our collective faces.

I am first a Crystal Mountain rider. All other ski areas in our state come second to Crystal (in my opinion). They also seem to have the most variety when it comes to craft brewed beer. I spent many apres-ski hours haunting the area near the fireplace at Snorting Elk Cellar in years past. This small, loud pub is one of my favorite places to hang out in the hills. Recently they have begun to serve quite a selection of beers.

That said, here are some of the selections being offered at ski areas in Washington this season...

Crystal Mountain has several good places to find a beer. At Sourdough Sal’s (for you old-timers, the former “Rafters”)  you will find Fish Wild Salmon pale ale, Dick Young’s Dick’s Danger Ale, 3 handles of Pyramid; Hefeweizen, IPA and Snow Cap,  New Belgium Fat Tire Amber and Blue Paddle Pils, Hales “Crystal Mountain ale” (Mike Hale has provided Crystal’s house brew for ten years or so), Deschutes Mirror Pond, Bud and Bud Light (of course) and a rotating handle that will feature winter seasonals and selections from some of the smaller breweries including (but not limited to) Snoqualmie, Grants and Leavenworth.

The Silver Creek Deli (main floor in the same lodge) will feature Bud and Bud Light,  Hales Crystal Mountain Ale, Red Hook ESB, Pyramid Hefeweizen & Snowcap, Alaskan Amber and Deschutes Black Butte Porter.

Snorting Elk will also tap a fresh cask-conditioned ale après-ski on Thursdays.

While skiing at Crystal, drop into North Back Country for a real treat (if it’s open) or take the double chair at the top of chair nine up to High Campbell. (If you’re a real hearty one, you can hike off of Campbell into South Backcountry) Both are worth a look.

At Mission Ridge, just outside of Wenatchee at the Lost Prop, a full service restaurant and bar in the Hampton Lodge base area the handles will pour Bud, Pyramid Hefeweizen, Deschutes Obsidian Stout (poured on Nitro),  Hales Drawbridge Blond, Fish Wild Salmon Pale, Mission Ridge Amber (a beer contract brewed by Pyramid, this beer can be found at Mission, Stevens Pass and  Schweitzer Mountain.) and a final handle will start with a winter seasonal and finish with a spring seasonal.

The Mountain Roost (a mid-mountain restaurant) will feature Bud Light, Pyramid Snowcap, Deschutes Mirror Pond, Mission Ridge Amber and Leavenworth Whistling Pig.

At the summit of Stevens Pass on Highway 2, there are three lounges which feature on the tap handles: Pyramid Snowcap, Hefeweizen and Stevens Pass Amber, Deschutes Black Butte and Obsidian Stout, Pike Pale Ale, Naughty Nellie and Kilt Lifter, Mac and Jack’s African Amber and Porter, Hale’s Stout and Bud Light. They also rotate in a few seasonals and serve Thomas Kemper root beer in one of the outlets.

Mount Baker Ski Area has built a beautiful new wood bar at the lower lodge where the taps are pouring Miller Lite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pyramid Hefeweizen and Snow Cap, Full Sail Amber, Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard (Yeah, man! Why isn’t this one everywhere? Leave it to Baker!), Pike Kilt Lifter, and a tap to rotate popular local NW brews including Happy Cow and Rogue Mocha Porter, among others.

After writing an article a few months back about cask-conditioned ales and posting a recipe for homebrewers to follow, my mailbox has been stuffed with inquiries from all over  North America, mostly from other homebrewers wishing to learn more about cask-conditioned ale. Cask ales are still growing in popularity and not just at the local brew pub. It seems lots of homebrewers wish to produce it at home. The process is really simple, just like bottle conditioning. You are only making a large, bottle-conditioned beer (the cask being the large bottle).

I have grown to love these ales in the past few years and I am now regularly priming about one out of every two kegs with fruit or gyle. Fellow Aler Dean Anderson has begun using gyle for priming and he states he is very happy with the results. 

The soft carbonation produced when priming a beer with its own wort is really hard to duplicate in any other manner. I wrote a short article about converting a corny keg to pour cask ale via gravity by laying it on its side and making a few modifications. But there is an even easier way to do it. One of the simplest ways is to install an extra long pouring line from your corny to the cobra head. Make certain the hose is longer than the height of your keg. then all you have to do is place the keg up on a table or other suitable structure and pour your beer from below the level of the bottom of the keg. The beer will naturally siphon. When it begins to air-lock, simply pull the relief ring on top of the keg to allow air in.

Keep in mind that the keg will pour a substantial portion of it’s volume of beer from it’s own pressure if you leave a sizable headspace in the keg when priming. (I usually fill a five gallon keg with only about four gallons when doing a cask ale).  Most of my cask-conditioned beers will pour nearly half of the keg before it is time to begin allowing air into the keg (or applying co2, at which point it is no longer a cask-conditioned ale).

Making homebrewed cask ale is fun. If you have not done it, give it a try. It’s like the “next step” for the curious homebrewer.  Save some wort from the batch you are brewing (I save it in 1-liter plastic soda bottles and store them in the freezer) when it comes time to prime your keg, just thaw out the saved wort and pour in with the beer when filling the keg. Keep it at room temperature or a little less for a week or ten days and voila!, cask-conditioned ale, crafted by you in your own home!

You can also prime kegs with fruit (I have found raspberries to do the best job), honey or any fermentable sugar. Gyle and fruit seem to work best, though.

Good luck and good brewing!!