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The Impalement Post
The Official eVersion of the Impaling
Alers Newsletter
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May 2001 Issue
Last meeting we sampled a fine selection of Mexican beers in preparation for National Homebrew Day (which is already over as you are reading this) to be held May 5th, coinciding with Cinco de Mayo . After tasting all of the samples we decided to brew Scottish Ale. Annual Club Campout There will be a work party heading out to Buck Lake on Sunday, May 20th to help prepare for the Aler's Campout which will be held there on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of July. We are going early in the morning and anticipate all work being completed somewhere around noon. Call Larry's (253-872-6846) for more information and to RSVP (we want to know how many to expect).
It's really quite simple to find. Take I-5 to Tacoma and get off at the Hwy 16 (Gig Harbor/Bremerton exit). Once across the Narrows, follow 16 to Purdy. Take the Shelton exit and go left over the small narrow bridge. Head West over the bridge toward Allyn. When you arrive at Allyn, head South on Hwy 3 (towards Shelton) to Pickering Rd. You will see signs to Jarrels Cove and several others, this is Pickering Rd. Left on Pickering Rd. and follow it to Spencer Lake Tavern (on the right) DO NOT stop here for a beer!! About 1000 ft past Spencer Lake Tavern turn right and watch for the mailboxes, and a sign of the Big lake. Go left here. Then finally look for the Buck Lake Campground sign. Come in and sign in as Felix's guest. Look for your area and have fun. There's camping, swimming, a nature trail bathrooms with showers and excellent fishing in the lake. Please, no skinny dipping if you are over 70 and all men over 50 must wear a shirt at all times so as not to scare kids and confuse babies. If you get lost the address is E641 Phillips Lake Loop Rd. The phone number of the caretakers (Jeremy and Kari) is 360-839-0262. Buck Lake members donate to have the lake stocked every year. When we have the campout, your donation would be appreciated. Please give your donation to Felix who will pass it on to the Fish Fund Member in charge. Thank YOU! If you get lost, just pull over and have a homebrew! Breweries North
Following up the Pilsner I was treated to remarkable Wit, soft yet bold at the same time. Complexity of flavor indescribable to the non-initiated. A trip to the brewery just to taste this beer would be warranted. Their ESB is very much in the English style, though with a bit more body reminiscent of NW beers. A great blend of Britain and Washington. Another beer worthy of acclaim. Next came a Vienna Lager. Ah, Vienna! This style always conjures up visions of beer wenches in low-cut dresses, selling cleavage and beer! Very soft, smooth malty lager light copper in color. The La Conner Porter was right up my alley. I would not call this a robust porter, yet I would hesitate to call it brown either. Just enough body to let you know it's a porter and plenty of roast and dark malt flavors and aromas. Finally came the Stout! Not a brew for the weak hearted, this is a stout-lovers dream! Creamy, chewy, opaque and delicious! I had few oyster shooters and a salad then said goodbye to La Conner and headed just down the road to Rockfish Grill/Anacortes Brewing. I have tasted a few brews from head-brewer Paul Wasik before and it was a pleasure to do so again. The day I was there, Anacortes was offering an Amber, IPA, Belgian Dubbel, Porter, Pilsner, Stout, Vienna and a Doppelbock. The Amber is loaded with hops! This is a nice hophead's ale, fresh, fruity and hoppy. Deep copper in color and highly drinkable. The IPA is a little more on the bitter side, still plenty of finishing hops, but with a bold maltiness to it, in nice balance to the hops. I loved the Porter, very robust, warming and heavy on the dark malts. By far my favorite beer of the day was Paul's Dubbel. This beer has matured a lot since the Issaquah brewfest. I would like to have stayed and finished the evening there along with the keg of Dubbel. I also tried the Stout, the Vienna and a Doppelbock that was astounding!! Sweet, hearty and pleasing, deep amber in color. Paul was kind enough to pull a Maibock from the tank (It's probably on tap by now) that was a to-die-for brew. I felt very privileged to taste this one. Thanks guys. Anacortes and La Conner will be stopping points again in the near future.
I did my obligatory stop at Skagit Brewing on the way back (It's so close to the freeway, how could I pass it up?) I'm still partial to their Golden Lager. I had a sampler of all their beers but could stay no longer. Three breweries is about all I'm good for in a day!! This makes a nice day trip. You can hit all three quite easily. They are all within about 20 minutes of each other.
For an Irishman, this must be some kind of cardinal sin. St. Patrick's Day was quickly approaching and I was trying to decide what to do on my birthday, the 14th, three days before the Irishman's holiday. I got a call from Mick, partial owner of Farwest Ireland Brewing Co. in Redmond, WA. I've met Mick several times, starting at the Great American Beer Festival a year ago, before I had any inkling that I would be writing this. I like Mick. He's a good guy with a good business sense, who is about to open the Eastside's premier brewery in Redmond, WA. He told me the mayor of Galway, Ireland (the sister city of Seattle) was going to make a stop at the brewery as part of his itinerary in Seattle for the St. Patrick's Day celebration, and it might be worthy of my attention. I told my wife about it and she said I should go and not be stupid enough to miss the opportunity to meet a fellow Irishman of some celebrity, plus the chance of writing about it. I told her in no uncertain terms that it was MY birthday and I would do whatever the hell I want, mayor or no mayor. Besides, Wednesday night is my bowling night, and my team has been doing very good. There's nothing quite like an evening of beer an bowling with the guys. Besides, I've even been bowling way over my average, helping us to advance. And I LOVE bowling, it's a lot of fun, especially now that I bought a new ball, the first one in twenty-five years. I told her I have much more allegiance to my group of friends on my bowling team than I do to some guy from Ireland I've never even heard of.
I'm hoping he never reads this, and realizes what a foolhardy Irishman I am, but what an intelligent wife I have for trying to talk me into going, (even though she wouldn't give up our daughter's volleyball practice for the same event and SHE claims to be Irish). Oh, well. Maybe next time, if he ever comes to town again. sometimes we get a second chance. But I'll probably talk Mary into going in my place, especially if it's on bowling night. National Homebrew Day at Larry's
Food was in abundance as usual. Brews were poured, quaffed, toasted, spilled, guzzled (simultaneously), tasted, tested and scrutinized all day long, and into the evening. Pete threw me for a loop with an extract beer of FINE quality. Dave and Loren decided just to bring the bar with them (a jolly good idea) and the brews poured there were great, as usual. We all took some of the load off of Terry for a while by bringing our own beer for a change...That reminds me, my keg is still down there, maybe. Remember, we will be having an in-club competition in which we will judge and score all Scottish ales brewed on National Homebrew Day. This will be some time in the month of June (probably a Saturday), the date to be announced in next month's newsletter. Be prepared to bring your beer, your taste buds and maybe a friend or two to show them the ropes!
Northwest Style Rye Ale Makes ten gallons 20 pale Mash in to 125F and hold 25 minutes Sparge 120 minutes with 176F liquor Boil 15 minutes before adding hops 1 oz galena pellets, 60 minutes Pitch large starter of Redhook Ale yeast Ferment 10 days at 68F, secondary five days at 62F What's Happening... The Elysian Brewing Company's Fifth Anniversary Sat May 13 $7 Manah / Stephen Gauci and Andrew Greenwald / Bebop and Destruction. Elysian is planning the summer brews. A batch of the Bete Blanche Belgian-style Trippel will be brewed this month and available in July. We just brewed a Belgian-style Lambic that we hope to cellar for 2 years with different fruit and plain versions aged. The Saison Elysée will be brewed throughout the summer and 22oz Bottles of Zephyrus Pilsner will be the nest seasonal available in stores in mid-June. Bottles of ESB, IPA and Porter are now available in Oregon. Ask your friendly retailer to stock the Elysian beers. You can find us online at http://www.elysianbrewing.com for more information on food, beer and a complete list of events or email us at elysian@earthlink.net. Burp! Dan Brittingham at The Duck Island Saloon in Seattle just decided to do a summer barley wine festival from July 16-22. Obviously their winter b-wine fest was a success. They had 10 different ones on tap over the week, 5-6 at any given time. This time he'll have a keg of the '98 Old Crusty, the one that topped all 41 other barleywines at the Toronado in February. Fish Brewing Co. in Olympia is working on an oak aged trippel for Bottleworks. The shop will be buying every bottle, leaving just a few kegs for the brewery's Fish Bowl Pub. This one was designed by assistant brewer Phil Roche. It will go into oak in a few weeks. Tom Chase tells us he doesn't even have the oak yet and he doesn't know if it'll be American or French oak, or what was stored in it previously. Hale's Ales now has a new wit, dubbel, and trippel. I would suggest you get out there in a hurry before it all goes away. Not bad for a first attempt. Pyramid News GET SOME SUN WHILE IT LASTS The sun has risen . . . Pyramid Sun Fest that is! Our tasty (if we do say so ourselves) summer brew hit the streets on May 1st to quench the thirst of good beer fans through July. Brewed in the European Pilsner tradition, Sun Fest has a fresh hop aroma and refreshing taste. A final round of "dry-hopping" in the brewing process gives Sun Fest its unique crisp finish. So unique and tasty, in fact, that judges at the Great American Beer Festival found Sun Fest to be a top choice in its category awarding it with a silver medal (1998, German Style Pilsener category). Try for yourself, while you can! Check out these bookmark-able links: Beer Festivals http://www.pyramidbrew.com/happenings/h_events.php A few notable (and potable) upcoming events: May 25th - 28th - Northwest Folklife Festival Pyramid is proud to return as a sponsor to one of Seattle's largest music festivals. For the entire weekend, enjoy a variety of music, arts, food and drink all in the spirit of the Folklife Festival. And when you're ready to quench your thirst from all the activity, visit one of the many festival beer gardens where you'll find a variety of Pyramid Ales & Lagers on draft. There's not much you can get for a dollar any more these days. Until now, where you'll find our 2000 Pyramid Snow Cap pint glasses on sale for $1.00! Stock up while you can. View these items at: BREWERS HANDLE Out with the stout, in with the soon-to-be on the Brewer's handle porter. It's one you won't want to miss. This unique brew features a full mouth feel and roasted chocolate flavor delicately balanced with Target, East Kent Golding and Willamette hops. The end result is a porter true to the English style - exceptionally smooth with a clean dry finish. You'll find this tasty authentic beer on draft beginning May 11th at the Seattle and Berkeley Pyramid Alehouse locations. Orter a Porter. HOPPY NEWS For all you hop fans out there. The Beverage Tasting institute recently awarded Pyramid IPA, aka Hophead Nectar, with a silver medal. Pyramid's bold hop character caught the attention of the judges at the recent tasting rating it amongst the top of the hop in the IPA category. Seek out some IPA and be your own judge. MALTY MORSEL Last month we introduced a special feature in Beer:30 called the "Malty Morsel". Consider it sweet little tidbit to leave you with. Be it a factoid, a quote, or a joke, hopefully it'll be something tasty enough for you to tuck in your back pocket to pull out at your own lil' Beer:30 gathering. This month's malty morsels: Did you know the name of the beer paid to stonemasons working in the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt was KASH, from which comes the modern name for money. Another name for beer in the Ancient World was BOOZAH, which survives today as both a slang name for a British pub and for a heavy drinker Rockfish/Anacortes Brewing Hey, if you missed the Tulip Festival, visit our lovely city in May for the Waterfront Festival. While you're there, stop by the beer garden hosted by the Anacortes Brewery located next to the music stage. See lots of watersports paraphernalia, enjoy some great eats and hoist a pint of your favorite Anacortes brew. The entertainment calendar for the month of May is as follows: Sat 5/12 - Popular Blues piano player, Annieville, with special guest Mark Whitman Sat 5/19 - It's the triumphant return of "Men without Pants" Sat 5/26 - Get loose with Jeff and the Jet City Flyers And don't forget the return of joint cover weekend, Friday and Saturday, June 1st and 2nd. One cover charge gets you into the Rockfish Grill, the Watertown Pub and the Brown Lantern for some outstanding entertainment: Friday, 6/1: Saturday, 6/2: Attend joint cover weekend and get 10% off your stay at the Cap Sante Inn. Well that's all the time for now. Stop by and see us in May! Cheers, |
Calling all Alers!!!!
I took a day trip up to the Skagit Valley for Northwest Brewing news last week and had
the pleasure to sip some very fine brews from La Conner Brewing, Anacortes Brewing
and Skagit River Brewery. I had never been to La Conner Brewing or Anacortes before
and it was certainly worth the trip. La Conner Brewing is a small brewpub, but very
comfortable. It has a hominess to it that makes you wish you had all afternoon to spend
drinking in the artwork on the walls and sampling beers. They had a really nice Pilsner
on tap, sweet with the flavor of malt and crisply balanced with czech hops.
After further investigation, I was informed that it was a gold medal winner in '98 at the World Beer
Cup. It is still deserving of that distinction it its present form. There were several WBC
awards from recent years proudly displayed behind the bar including a bronze from 2000
for Strong Ale, and a silver from '98 for Strong Bock. After tasting a sampler of La
Conner brews I must report that said awards were well-deserved.
How I blew off the mayor of Galway, Ireland to go bowling in Rat
City
Listening to my own words brought a new understanding of how ridiculous I sounded
and good sense nearly won out. My own strong feelings about what is important made me
opt for going to Farwest Ireland Brewing Co. and meeting the mayor, wearing the GREEN, of course. As it turns out, the next day when bowling time came around I
couldn't bear to let the guys down. I blew off the mayor to go bowling in White Center
(Rat City), Washington.
Well, we did it again! A rag-tag group of ornery brewers, families, friends and animals
braved the near-65 temperatures to worship at the alter of stainless, plastic, copper and
wood brewing equipment. All manner of brewing rigs from the most stripped-down, basic, do-it-yourself, only-what-I-need-to-make-beer, functional two tiers, all the way up to the customized,
souped-up, pumped-up, computerized, nuclear powered, turbo-charged,
chrome-and-stainless-gleaming-sleak-streamlined brewing contraptions were there to do their stuff, along with
a pilot for each.
I have been asked by several club members to post this
recipe for a rye beer we brewed a year or two back. I have had the best luck with this recipe using Redhook's yeast.
