Next meeting: Thursday, September 20th, 7:00 pm

Be sure to make it out to the next club meeting. We will be tasting a few wines, homebrewed Berliner Weisse, and some Scottish ales. And don’t forget to bring YOUR homebrew!!

September 2001 Issue
Buy your new Alers t-shirt!

by Kevin Fawcett
with contributions from [your name could be here!]
Web-enabled by Nancy West Johnson

Beer, lovely beer! Cool and refreshing, stimulating, relaxing, full of vitamins and anti-oxidants!! A beverage to be enjoyed with food, with family, with friends, at the club, at home, with pool, darts, football, baseball, conversation...

Ah, yes! Where would society be without beer? Without fermented beverages in general?

All the great villainies of history, from the murder of Abel onward, have been perpetuated by sober men, and chiefly by teetotallers. But all the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have all been given to humanity by men who, when the hour came, turned from tap water to something with color to it, and more than oxygen and hydrogen.

- H.L. Mencken
(found in “Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers“)

Yes, the dancers, dreamers, writers, artists, musicians, chefs, craftsmen (craft persons?) and inventors all need a little inspiration as fuel for their creativity. As Graham Kerr used to say: “Time for a short slurp!”

Well, I have been no slouch in helping to perpetuate the tasting of such beverages. No other time of year is ever as busy around the old home brewery. Berry wines are now being assembled, the primary fermentation of Golden Plum wine and champagne is nearly complete, a new batch of mead is in the fermenter, the grapes for this years wine projects are on the way soon and last years Cabernet and Merlot have just been blended and bottled while BEER is being brewed at least once per week again!! With fall comes outdoor lagering time for me and I have several batches in the planning stages already.

While we’re thinking wine and mead, Duane has informed me that a friend of his has frozen raspberries available for $2.50 per lb. If you would like to reserve a few pounds of raspberries for yourself, either contact Duane via e-mail or call him at : 360-886-8339.

I will tell you from first-hand experience that raspberries are great in wine, mead and beer. One of my favorite recipes is for Raspberry IPA. I read an article in “Brew Your Own” magazine recently that states IPA and ESB are not suited to the addition of fruit!? Don’t believe everything you read. Blueberries, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, plums and apples all go extremely well in meads and wines also. Realistically, just about any fruit can be fermented or used as flavoring in fermented beverages. Harvest time is one of the best times of year for experimentation!!

-Kev-

Oktoberfest

Novembeerfest!

The Brews Brothers annual Novembeerfest competition is coming up. It will be held at Larry’s Brewing supply again on Saturday, Novembeer 3rd and (if necessary) on Sunday Novembeer 4th. 

Entries will be accepted from 9/24 through 10/28 at Larry’s or you may send them to Jim Hinken, Competition Bro, at 24211 4th PL W, Bothell, WA. 98021.

There will be a fee of $5 per entry. Be sure to include a completed recipe form (found on the Brews Brothers Web site) for each entry and AHA labels for each bottle (No gluing or tape! Rubber band all labels to bottles). Bottles must be brown glass only (preferably 12 oz) with no engraving or identifying marks. Use a marker to black-out any codes or writing on caps.

All beers will be judged in accordance with BJCP standards and all regular AHA rules apply. Rules are also on the Web site.

For those who are interested in helping, Novembeerfest is in need of volunteers to serve as stewards and judges. Contact Jim Hinken if you wish to help out. jim.hinken@verizon.net

Recipe Corner

Last summer while I was up visiting friends in Bellingham I was offered a homebrew made by a friend of Chad Petersen. This guy is a fairly new homebrewer, but he jumped right into making all-grain beers. He was trying to develop a "new" style that he calls "Black IPA." The original recipe calls for 11 lbs of pale malt and 1 lb of chocolate malt, with enough hops to make it a real IPA. He pitched a starter of NW Ale yeast from Boundary Bay Brewing.

The beer was quite good and very refreshing. It was kind of unexpected because of the dark color contrasting with the lightness in body.

When I first tried to replicate this recipe it was ruined by a batch of bad yeast. The next time, I didn’t have enough chocolate malt so I had to make some substitutions. The basic recipe above is exactly as he did it for five gallons. Below is my altered recipe adjusted for ten gallons.

24 lbs pale malt
1 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb black patent
2 lbs crystal 40

Infusion mash @ 152 F

I added 1 oz of chinook to the first wort as it entered the kettle.
1 chinook, 1 cascade--60 minutes
3 cascade--30 minutes
2 cascade-- at knock-out

Good sized culture of Wyeast German Ale (1007)

This came out very much like the original homebrew that I had tasted but with a few extra flavors. The black malt and chocolate give it a character that has similarities to both porter and English brown ale, but the amount of hops make it reminiscent of an IPA.

Very different, and VERY good!

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In my year and a half as scribe for the Impaling Alers I have tried to keep editorializing and the discussion of all issues political to a minimum. I just felt this wasn’t the place for it. But some issues or events can change our way of thinking permanently. Such is the time we face now.

On Tuesday September 11, we were violently attacked on our own soil by a faceless enemy who’s intent is to disrupt the entire infra-structure of our way of life and cause fear and anxiety amongst our population. We have all seen the television pictures, heard the words of those who were present and mostly just stared in shock and disbelief. Seeing our own commercial aircraft being used as missiles to kill innocent Americans was one of the most horrifying events in our History. We cannot help but grieve for the loss of thousands of human lives and be angered at the horrid suffering many of them must have endured.

Now we are posed with the dilemma of how to respond to this threat and how to avoid such scenarios in the future. I feel I am not alone in wondering if this is only the beginning of something which may escalate into a much larger conflict.

Here we stand, poised on a precipice, facing the most delicate decisions ever to be made in regard to foreign and domestic policy. This is indeed a turning point in world history. It is a time to hope, yes even to pray that our leaders are up to the task of choosing the right path to follow.

Most all Americans remember where they were when they heard of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the landing of men on the moon, the explosion of the space-shuttle Challenger or the beginning of the Gulf War.

All will remember this day, September 11, 2001. And a new slogan is likely to rise from the aftermath...Remember September.

Donate to the Red Cross

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Best Brewery?
Kevin Fawcett

Is Bellingham becoming the center of the known craft-brewing Universe? Does Bellingham have the highest percentage of GREAT microbreweries in the area? Have I flipped my lid?

Yes and no! On a trip North to the home of Western Washington State College and also the home of several microbreweries I found what I consider to be the finest beer I have yet tasted in Washington. Said beer can be found at North Fork Brewing, Pizza and “Beer Shrine” on Mount Baker Highway just out of Deming. Be looking closely or you just might miss it. It’s not a huge place and the sign is easy to overlook. It’s on the left if you are headed toward Mt. Baker.

Here is nice cozy little pub with a HUGE bar (probably three feet wide at most points) reputed to have been manufactured from the wood of an old basketball court.

English-style ales are the main fare here and nowhere are they done better. I fell in love with their ESB immediately. Deep copper to almost brown, just the right body, plenty of malt flavor, properly bittered and balanced in a manner that will melt your memories of all other beers in this category. Sometimes it takes a half pint or more to dial-in on a beer’s flavor. Such is not the case here. You will be fully involved with flavor of the finest beer around as soon as this one touches your lips and tongue.

North Fork’s other beers are no less spectacular. You will not be served anything that is less than superb in this pub. The IPA is fantastic! Not a beer that is overloaded with hops as some IPA’s are (my own included). This one is true to style, well balanced and a pleasure to quaff!

There are about five regularly offered beers on tap here as well as a few specialty items. After a sampling of the regular brews, I was treated to a truly spectacular Barleywine. Deep maple in color, full of the flavors of grain and hops with a nice throat-warming finish that speaks of the 10 ½ % ABV. An extremely CLEAN tasting beer!

The owner and original brewer is Sandy Savage. Unfortunately, Sandy is just now recovering from back surgery. He has trained his new brewer well. Eric Jorgensen is now brewing on the three-barrel system and turning out some very fine products. It is interesting to note that they use an open fermentation for all of the primaries, then transfer to Grundys for a closed secondary. Eric is real nice guy who is happy to show you the operation and explain his brewing techniques. He says they use Special London (1968) yeast in all of the beers. I have had good luck with 1968 in Porters lately. I think I’ll try it in an ESB!!

I got there at 3:00 PM and was planning to move on soon but found myself still standing at the bar several hours later when I heard that a cask-conditioned ale was being tapped at 5:00. It was well worth the wait as I had already been informed by several locals who insisted that I stay and try it. Who am I to argue?

The food is great here too. I had an all-veggie pizza that was delicious! It’s a long haul from Seattle for a beer, but if you happen to be driving through Bellingham, don’t miss this one. I will state again that it is one of our finest!

Next stop around town was just north of Bellingham in Ferndale, home of the Whatcom Brewery. Brewer Lloyd Zimmerman has the ultimate backyard brewery here. He is in the process of trying to move the operation down the road to “downtown” Ferndale where he intends to run a nice little pub. That is, if he can ever extract himself from all the red-tape that Washington has so faithfully provided to craft brewers every time they wish to make a change. Good luck, Lloyd. You deserve a break! Lloyd was kind enough to show me the brewery (5 barrels) and offer me a nice ESB. Deep gold in color with lots of bittering hops (and plenty of hop flavor). A truly refreshing brew! Lloyd is a great brewer and another nice guy. I hope he gets his pub opened.

From Ferndale I drove just few miles back South and stopped at Orchard Street Brewery, another of Bellingham’s jewels. They have about eight or nine ales and lagers on tap, none of which will disappoint the pub-crawler. I thought the pale and the stout were some of their finest brews but I was knocked out by the Raspberry Wheat, a concoction best described as a homebrew served in a craft brewery. This one tasted like it was made with an American-style yeast. No evidence of the banana or clove flavors usually associated with hefeweizen yeasts. I was reminded of one of my own raspberry wheat beers, the only other time I have ever tasted this style.

Orchard Street also pours a Lager, Golden Ale, Stock Ale (very much like a red ale, lots of caramel), Porter and an IPA. All were very good beers.

I've visited a few alehouses lately and I just can't say enough about Jeff Lawrence down at the Whistlestop in Renton (340 Burnett Av). Jeff is a real friendly type, usually works behind the bar during the daytime and serves EXCELLENT food. Jeff keeps a healthy supply of local and not-so-local ales on tap. This time I was treated to a Rogue Brutal Bitter (a traditional favorite of mine) and the new Blind Pig Dunkelweizen from Leavenworth. This one is cloudy like a glass of chocolate milk, sweet and hoppy, very drinkable. 

Jeff says he has his customers close their eyes before he serves it to them, then has them taste it before peeking. Everyone LOVES the flavor but they get a bit squeamish when they see the beer! I thought it was one of the most original beers I’ve tasted lately. Based on the classic dunkelweizen style, with a lot more hop character and NO clarity whatsoever. More homebrew, I thought. A great beer.

The Impaling Alers were responsible for 24 awards given at the Fair this year. The winners are:

Dean Anderson-- 2nd, doppelbock, 2nd, American pale, 3rd, sparkling mead
Tom Barnes-- 3rd, herb and spiced mead
Roger Bauer--2nd, barleywine, 2nd, bavarian dunkelweizen, 3rd, bavarian weizen
Kevin Fawcett--1st and best-of-category, IPA. 2nd, American pale. 3rd, smoked beer. 2nd, blond ale. 2nd American wheat. 3rd, bohemian pilsner. 2nd, cream ale. 3rd, doppelbock. 2nd, bavarian weizen. 2nd English brown
Tom Sader--3rd, experimental amber. 3rd lambic
Rich Sandberg--3rd, fruit beer
Dan Snelson--1st, bitter/English pale
Brian Thatcher--2nd, barleywine/Imp stout. 2nd, strong Belgian. 2nd, Belgian/French ale. 3rd, IPA

The Alers made another good showing this year! Let’s keep entering those beers and make an even bigger impact next year!

Congratulations to all!