Wicked Good Beer

With the House’s annual Halloween Party less than a week away, we’re all getting excited.  Halloween is such a fun holiday, & we at the House always try to step up & put on a good show.  This year, we’ll be celebrating by tapping 7 pumpkin beers, some never before seen at the House.  The costume contest is always a good time, with some cool prizes up for grabs.  And starting October 22^nd, we’ll be giving away a Rogue Dead Guy Ale glass when you order Dead Guy on tap.  With each pour of Dead Guy, you can be entered into a drawing for a Rogue Dead Guy homebrew kit, so you can clone your own Dead Guy in your homebrew laboratory! 

All this Halloween talk got me thinking about some beers blessed (or cursed) with creepy names that are also scary good, to boot:

Night of the Living Stout, by Full Pint Brewing, an homage to Pittsburgh’s zombie heritage with really cool label art.  We’ll also be tapping this strong, roasty stout at our Halloween party!

Pumking, Southern Tier’s perennial favorite, is considered by many to be the standard-bearer for imperial pumpkin ales.  Legend has it that the ‘Pumking’ name refers to a wicked pagan harvest spirit, & this devilish ale will be making an appearance during our party as well.

Nosferatu , from Great Lakes Brewing Co., has been categorized as an imperial red ale or a stock ale, depending on the source.  Named after the original film vampire, this beer has a “bite” from the use of pungent Simcoe hops.

Hobgoblin’s brewery – Wychwood – should tip you off that this is a beer with something sinister in mind.  This dark English mild won’t turn you white, but it’s enough to cause some mischief.

Ichabod, from New Holland Brewing, is an ale brewed with pumpkin & spices.  Taking its namesake from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this is one pumpkin ale to lose your head over!

The Beast, a big Belgian-style Grand Cru from Avery Brewing, is seductive & mixes truth with lies, namely in how smooth it is despite its 16.8% ABV.

Maudite might not sound frightening to us English-speakers, but translates to “the damned” in Quebecois.  Unibroue named this Belgian-style dark ale after a folk legend in which eight lumberjacks make a deal with the devil, & are depicted on the label rowing to the underworld.

Witch’s Wit caught a lot of flack for Lost Abbey from the Wiccan community due to its label, which depicts a witch-burning.  Far from soulless, the beer inside will still cast a spell on you.

Honorable mentions go to Helltown (makers of Insidious, Mischievous, Sinister, Devious, & Extra Sinful Bitter), Fantome, Reaper Ales, Surly Darkness, Three Floyds Dark Lord & Zombie Dust, AleSmith Evil Dead Red, Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer, Duvel, Lucifer, about a hundred other devil-themed beers, & plenty others I’m not thinking of.  So grab a good brew & let the dark side come out & play for a spell.  See you October 27^th for the party, & don’t forget your costume!

The Other Barrel

Oak & barrel-aging has become a standard in American brewers’ repertoire.  What was probably a given in the days before stainless steel packaging has turned into an artisanal statement among today’s craft brewers, & for good reason.  Aging the right beer on oak or bourbon barrels can contribute so much flavor: vanilla, caramel, whiskey, tannins, nutty, toasty.  Delicious.  Brewers often choose bold, robust styles that the wood can compliment: the original Bourbon County Stout from Goose Island remains a standard-bearer of the style to this day, & aside from imperial stouts, brewers age barleywines, Scotch ales, double IPAs, & other strong styles in wood to elevate the beer to that next level.  Whiskey barrels seem the perfect match to many of these rich, full styles, & represent a hallmark in American experimentation.

But there exists a whole other dimension of barrel-aged beers, one with a history much longer than the bourbon-barrel behemoths.  As I sat down to write today’s blog, I sipped on a glass on Stillwater’s Barrel-Aged Stateside Saison.  The beer I enjoyed was complex, tart, earthy, spicy, hot, challenging, & quite different from, say, a Bourbon County Stout.  My attention shifted to the vast world of barrels used in brewing outside of American oak.  In Belgium, for instance, barrel-aging a beer brings about an entirely different character than the ones we American beer drinkers are used to: dryer, more sour, more vinous.  The barrel’s previous inhabitants have so much influence on the product – in the case of the Stateside, French Chardonnay.  This saison shared a lot of characteristics with a dry wine or even champagne.  A barrel’s resident microflora – bacteria, yeast, other ‘critters’ – can develop, really altering the fermentation process & characteristics of the beer once it’s exposed to them.  So much of lambics’ & Flemish sours’ personality blossoms in the barrel from its contact with these benevolent little beasties.  And, as the barrels are not airtight, oxidation plays a part in transforming the flavors over time, contributing notes of sherry, dark fruit, even a pleasant ‘mustiness’.

While the more ubiquitous robust oak character will probably remain the dominant one in American brewing (no complaints here), more & more American brewers are using oak to add sour & wild components.  Russian River’s excellent wild ales all use barrel-aging.  Jolly Pumpkin stores 100% of their beers in barrels, which are host to their resident strains of critters.  And locally, Helltown has been cultivating sour ales in French wine barrels since about the time they opened (can’t wait to try these!).  These beers are slow in the making, take some care, & are acquired tastes, so they’re not the cheapest & definitely not ‘crowd-pleasers’.  But for many who venture into this ‘alternate dimension’ of barrels, the unique appeal of these beers is hard to shake & can be deeply rewarding.  So take some time to consider the other wood, & you might find something beautiful you never knew was there.

Old School Pumpkin Beer

Being early fall, pumpkin beers are on a lot of beer-drinkers’ minds & palates lately.  The House just got a “second wave” of pumpkin ales in this past week, including some perennial favorites (Southern Tier Pumking, Dogfish Head Punk’n, Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin) along with a few newcomers (Elysian The Great Pumpkin, Evil Genius’s varieties).  Even the more “softcore” among us gravitate to the rich, spicy, warming flavors, which are really more evocative of pumpkin pie & the spices used than actual pumpkin: nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, ginger.  Locals East End even brewed a beer last year that openly embraced that irony, brewed with all the seasonings & no pumpkin, & named “Nunkin” to reflect that assertion.

Pumpkin ale wasn’t always this way, a spicy, sweet, cozy beer.  18^th century colonists in America used pumpkins as a pure source of starch & sugars (of which there are plenty) in their beer, taking the gourd as a substitute for barley when supplies were low.  Flipping through The Oxford Companion to Beer (thanks once again to eternal source Garrett Oliver), I came across an old recipe for pumpkin ale – from 1771, to be exact – that made no mention of malts at all.  It’s full of old timey English, which referred to pumpkins as “pompions”:

RECEIPT FOR POMPION ALE

Let the Pompion be beaten in a Trough and pressed as Apples.  The expressed Juice is to be boiled in a Copper a considerable Time and carefully skimmed that there may be no Remains of the fibrous Part of the Pulp.  After that Intention is answered let the Liquor be hopped cooled fermented &c. as Malt Beer.

This “ale” is essentially pumpkin juice, fermented & hopped, closer to a cider than a beer.  One wonders how this kind of drink would stand up nowadays, served alongside the modern, evolved form of pumpkin ale.  It would be interesting, no doubt, but probably something worth a few sips, a few “hmm”s, & then headed for the dump bucket.  As fun an experiment as this trip to the past would be, I’m sure folks are happy that pumpkin ale is where it is today. 

In honor of 21^st century pumpkin beer, we’ll be tapping no less than seven on Oct. 27^th for our Halloween party, some of which will be brand new to the House.  In addition, there’ll be other festivities, like prize giveaways & a costume contest.  So come join us for an old school good time while celebrating the new!   

Wet-Hopped Beers: The Last True Seasonal?

Fall is a great time for beer.  Of all the “drinking festivals”, Oktoberfest is probably the most beer-friendly (at least “good-beer”-friendly).  Millions the world over raise liter after liter of strong, hearty lager to toast Prince Ludwig.  Pumpkin ales are among the most heavily-anticipated seasonal beers of the year – who doesn’t love that warming, spicy note to prepare us for cool weather?

Lately, though, it’s become clear to beer lovers that the “seasonal” moniker is being applied more liberally than ever before.  Brewers & distributors seem to be in a race to get their time-sensitive beers on the shelves, a mixed blessing of what’s become a very competitive market.  We at the House are certainly not absolved of this practice, having tapped our first pumpkin ale on August 1^st.  Beermakers & sellers definitely play fast & loose with the definition of “season”, to the frustration of some – Sixpoint Brewing decried this year’s early appearance of pumpkin beers.  Many brewers use frozen pumpkins or puree, making a harvest-time irrelevant.  And thanks to temperature control technology, Oktoberfests no longer have to be stored in caves over the summer, & saisons (French for “season”) can be brewed year-round.  Like most foods, beer styles are pretty much available all the time, whenever the craving strikes.

And we at the House have no problem with that!  We’re all for having a broad selection of styles & taste available to the thirsty faithful.  However, there is a big exception when it comes to this whatever-whenever availability, & one that’s especially exciting to those in the know.  This time of year is when hopyards harvest their cones.  Many are shredded & turned into pellets or just frozen whole, but lucky are those that get picked & immediately sent to the brewery for used in the freshest of the hoppy beers: the wet-hopped harvest ales!  Using fresh, or “wet” hops even before they are air-dried, gives pale ales & IPAs a fresh, bright, inviting aroma & flavor.  Southern Tier & Great Divide make some great examples, & Sierra Nevada even brews fresh-hopped beers for each of the Northern & Southern Hemisphere harvests.  As the hops have to be used as freshly as possible, these beers are truly time-sensitive beers that reinforce the concept of “seasonal”.  Defy modern beer & food consumption with a truly season-appropriate beer; these things can’t be rushed, so stay tuned at the House for arrivals as they come in!

What the Firkin?!

Like Mardi Gras & Super Bowl Sunday, the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich is one of the world’s great parties.  Literally, tons upon tons of beer & food are served to tens of thousands of revelers every year for two weeks, this year starting on September 22nd.  The House will take its own part in this worldwide feast just 3 days before, on Wednesday, September 19^th.  To help us celebrate, we’ll be joined by Penn Brewery’s Pete Vicinski, who’ll pour Penn’s classic Oktoberfest lager from the first firkin ever tapped at House of 1000 Beers!

What’s a firkin?  It sounds like a dirty word, but it’s not.  A firkin is a barrel, denoting a measurement equal to 72 pints.  Specifically in the beer world, firkins are used to serve beers that are cask-conditioned.  Normally, kegged draft beers are often filtered of yeast & served with carbon dioxide (or nitrogen) forced into them, which gives them their head & fizz.  Instead of being force-carbonated, cask-conditioned beers are put inside a barrel with the yeast still actively working, fermenting the beer & creating natural carbonation in the process.  Think of when you get a beer that’s bottle-conditioned (the kind with the yeast at the bottom) vs. one that was force-carbed.  Cask-conditioning is, simplistically, bottle-conditioning writ large. 

Tapping a firkin is the most exciting part!  The firkin is placed on its side on the bar, the bartender holds the tap in hand by the firkin’s mouth, & with a mallet in the other hand, gives the tap a good whack or two to drive the tap into the firkin, usually shooting a few squirts of beer in the process!  (See the photo above)  A spile is placed in the top to release air, & the beer is poured by gravity right off the bar, like a picnic cooler – firkins are also called “gravity kegs”.  Because the yeast is still active, the beer is considered to still be “alive” & should be consumed within about 48 hours or risk spoilage.  The beer that comes from cask-conditioning is smooth & velvety in texture, with unique flavors produced by the still-active yeast.

So let us pull a pint for you this Wednesday as part of our Oktoberfest “pre-game”, & be part of a first for the House.  Prost!

Photo used from John Hoyston’s Beer Here blog

R.I.P. Tom Pastorius

Beer drinkers in the 'burgh collectively shed a tear today.  Following the exuberance & celebration of yesterday’s Steel City Big Pour, it was announced in an obituary that Tom Pastorius died peacefully three days ago.  The founder & long-time president of CEO of Penn Brewery, Pastorius was an icon in Pittsburgh beer culture & introduced so many in the area to interesting, flavorful craft brew.  Though Pastorius’ influence in the company began to dwindle in the past several years, he was still recognized as the face of the company & a progenitor of good beer in Pittsburgh, with an emphasis on authentic, quality German lagers & ales like those he’d experienced in the halls & biergartens of their country of origin.  Though he may be gone, the spirit of his labor can still be tasted in the crisp snap of a Kaiser Pils or the rich, malty warmth of a St. Nikolas Bock.  There was a feeling of joy that so many felt on hearing the news that, after a short period of outsourcing, the brewery returned home to the old E&O building on Vinial St.  For more history on Penn Brewery & Pastorius’ work, visit www.pennbrew.com .  Farewell to Tom, we now drink to his legacy.

National Dog Day

Today marks the 9^th annual National Dog Day.  Why today?  Search me!  But who needs a reason to celebrate the loving companionship between a dog & their owner? 

When it comes to beer, cats have been more traditionally tied in with the life of a brewery – in the old days, a good mouser was vital to the preservation of grain from invasive rodents.  But all it takes is a quick look at the shelves of a good bottleshop to realize that the canine is celebrated widely among brewers.  There’s the famous Flying Dog Brewery, with each of its beers’ names following a dog motif, & especially well-known for Ralph Steadman’s expressive dog-inspired label art.  There’s Thirsty Dog, with its dog-themed double-entendres, like the bawdy “Old Leghumper” Robust Porter, with label photography to match.  There’s Laughing Dog, which also uses funny dog puns (have you tried their imperial stout, The Dogfather?).  Scotland has its boundary-pushing iconoclasts, BrewDog.  And aside from names, some breweries have dogs as their “patron saint”:  Lagunitas’ beers depict a bust of the brewery dog on every bottlecap & many labels, & Jolly Pumpkin’s “Bam” series was named in honor of their resilient pup.

In tribute to your favorite tail-wagger today, swing by the House & take a look at some of our canine-inspired brews.  We’re currently pouring Flying Dog’s Underdog Atlantic Lager, Dogfish Head’s (it’s a fish, but close enough!) 120 Minute IPA & Sah’tea & Great Divide WOLF-gang Doppelbock (okay, maybe that’s a stretch…).  Or take a walk through our shelves & “adopt” a few beers to take home with you!  Just please – alcohol & hops can be toxic to dogs, so it’s best not to share your brew with your buddy.  Happy Dog Day!