From the bottle, it pours clear and the color of sun-baked straw; golden and a little toasty. There is a little head retention and some foam lacing on the sides of the pint glass. The aroma is of malt and a hint of corn and spice, with a slight alcohol and ester edge to it. It has a fairly delicate mouthfeel, not a strong carbonation but just enough to tell you that the beer isn’t flat and make it feel alive.

The flavor is definitely malty, a little bit sweet, with a slight metallic tang on the finish. A slight hoppy bitterness at the end keeps the sweetness from being cloying, drying the flavor out quite a bit. There’s a bit of an alcohol and corn or grain (think Grapenuts) flavor, which I’m sure is from the malts used.

So, I remembered correctly! It’s a sunny, warming beer that I’d look forward to drinking in the fall and winter. Here’s hoping mine turns out even remotely this well.

Roots Brewing has released a chocolate habañero stout; a stout brewed with chocolate malt, chocolate wheat & five pounds of coco nibs in the mash, boiled for two hours during six pounds of organic free trade semi sweet chocolate syrup made by Alma Chocolate is added. After fermentation they dry hopped with 100 chopped habañeros. For those of you not in Portland, Alma Chocolate is a local chocolatier that makes fantastic, interesting, fancy chocolates.

On first pouring, this beer has a chili pepper aroma along with dark malt notes — just as you might expect — and a medium head that dissipates fairly quickly. This isn’t an oily Guinness, it’s more in the vein of a dry Irish stout. It is completely black, not even a hint of wan Portland afternoon light gets through this pint.

As it warms, the flavors definitely improve. On my first taste, this stout was dry, not very chocolatey, and I couldn’t taste the habañeros at all. Now that it’s been warming for a little bit, there’s a definite spiciness up front and in the finish. Swishing it around in my mouth makes my gums tingle with spice – both weird and interesting in a beer. If you’re expecting this to be a sweet chocolate stout like Young’s Double Chocolate stout, you’ll be disappointed. This has more of a cocoa nib chocolate character rather than a bittersweet chocolate flavor. The sweetness is more apparent after 30 minutes of warming, so come in for a pint and relax a while to let the flavors come out.

The spice level definitely grows over time, more of a nice slow burn that lingers than a sharp up-front heat. I can also taste the chilies in the finish, which give a slightly toasted note to the flavor.

All in all, this ended up being a pretty interesting stout. I’m not sure the habañeros were necessary, though the warm tingle on the back of my tongue is nice on a blustery Portland day. I almost want the chocolate to be more prominent or sweeter since it’s muted by the black malt of the stout and the chili flavors. However, this had the potential to be a really weird beer, and instead it was a tasty and interesting beer.

Keep up the experimentation, Roots!

Sometimes yeast doesn’t work out
I made 4 batches of kolsch intended for a friend’s wedding. Two of those batches used a different recipe from the others. All of them had the exact same character flaw when I went to bottle the beer. It all had a plastic, astringent flavor that at first I thought was a sanitizing problem. But four batches later, all with the same problem, it can’t be sanitizing that’s to blame. I’m pretty sure it was the yeast, the sole constant in the mix. I used White Labs Kolsch yeast each time, purchased at Let’s Brew – the same yeast that lead to an off-tasting and funny-smelling kolsch last summer. All previous successful kolsch attempts have used Wyeast liquid yeast smack packs.

A coconut porter that could use more coconut
The lone brew that did work out was a coconut porter, though the coconut notes are very subtle and add more of a mocha flavor and richness than anything. However, this did end up being a really great beer! I used Sparrowhawk Porter from Joy of Homebrewing as a base, then added 11oz of toasted Bob’s Red Mill coconut flakes (unsweetened) in the secondary fermenter and “dry hopped” the coconut for a week or so. I also used dry malt extract instead of corn sugar to prime the bottles, and the result is a really creamy, smooth beer. I’ll definitely try this again, perhaps with a brown the next time.

Back in the saddle
I’ve spent enough time feeling sorry for myself, and it’s time to brew again. I think a wit or other Belgian style is up next, which will be delicious in the fall!

Now I wish someone would tell the breweries that we don’t need so many types of IPAs, and that maybe, just maybe, they could bring an interesting specialty beer or two instead of the same stuff they bring every year. If I can buy it in a bottle at New Seasons, do you really need to have that as your OBF entry? I think not.

Behold: My glorious Brewatorium!

I’ve always brewed on my stovetop, relying on the electric burners to make my beer turn out great. But after a couple of beers that were darker than I’d like, I decided to put some money toward a propane burner that I could use outside. I found a propane cooking burner at Outdoor Warehouse for $55, but the propane tanks were all $70. I figured I might try the Blue Rhino propane tank exchange program at Fred Meyer, which is $54 for a first-time empty tank, and $24 for refills. That still seemed a little steep, so I checked their shelves and spotted a 20# propane tank for only $38. Woah! The 11# was $75, so I decided the clearly returned 20# tank with a dent in it was a real steal. I filled it up at the U-Haul 4 blocks from my house for $16 (5 gallons). Nice!

We’ll see how the beers turn out, but so far I’m pretty excited. The liquid boils much more quickly, which I think will result in less carmelization for lighter beers. Plus, it means I’m outside for brewing in the spring and summer! No more steaming the house up on nice days. And I can play fetch with the dog while it boils. Everyone wins, everyone’s happy! Later this week I’ll try the Kolsch again, since it came out far too dark on the stovetop. Here’s hoping the propane burner solves that problem.

I’m brewing a couple of batches of Kolsch for a friend’s wedding in September, which is fun and I’m excited they want my beer. When I brewed this Kolsch for my own wedding, I foolishly sanitized the bottling bucket and failed to rinse it absolutely clean. That batch was undrinkable as it had the distinct taste of Star San. Not wanting to experience this again, I figured I should get started just in case something goes wrong.

Well, so far it’s much darker than I want it to be. The lady at Let’s Brew convinced me that 1lb of dry amber malt wasn’t that dark, since they didn’t have the 2lbs of extra light malt I needed. Stupid me! I mean, seriously, it looks like a dark amber or a light brown ale right now, and it’s 90% wheat and extra light malt extract.

This has also convinced me to buy a propane burner for brewing, rather than continue to use my stove top. The burner and range top got super hot yesterday, which makes me think my beers are carmelizing and all becoming darker than they should be. So my next Kolsch batch will be brewed al fresco. Here’s hoping it all turns out alright!

The #5 is a “Belgian Farmhouse Bitter”, according to the bartender. Of course, he also tried to give me change for a $20 when I only gave him a $5, so his judgement may be questionable The #5 is slightly hazy, but fairly clear, with a golden/reddish color. A small head remains on the beer after pouring, and the foam is lacy on the glass. It has a medium to creamy mouthfeel. The aroma is definitely tart and tangy, which made me expect a really spicy farmhouse style ale. But on tasting the flavor is more of malt with a slightly bitter finish, not of spices and citrus. The bitterness isn’t one of strong hops so much as it reminds me of tonic water. More crisp and refreshing, which is good because this beer could be too sweet or heavy without some bittering.

I have high hope for Upright Brewing after this! It’s a very interesting first taste for a new brewery, and I’m glad they were brave enough not to release yet another NW-style IPA into the world just to win popular tastes.

In addition to blabbing about homebrewing, I served a kolsch, brown, Irish stout, ginger wheat, and brown coriander wheat. The beer’s all gone, so I guess I got it right

I’m sure video of the presentations will be up in the next week, so I’ll post that when it’s ready. So thanks for letting me speak, for listening, for drinking my beer, and having an awesome time!

History of Beer

Check out this great timeline showing the history of beer, with entertaining illustrations and commentary. Maybe the facts aren’t all 100% true, but then again, what about history ever is?

Mehana Brewing doesn’t have a pub attached to the brewery, there’s just a small tasting room and gift area. Local grocery stores carry their bottle beers, and they sell kegs to lots of restaurants and bars on the island. I tracked down the tasting room just so I could get a sense of their full range on tap. Their beers tend toward the lighter ales and lagers, though they did have a seasonal porter. They definitely tweak their styles to suit local tastes, which is pretty cool. Though I tasted all of the beers at the brewery, I bought some bottles so I could give real reviews of their two best-selling varieties.

Mehana’s Humpback Blue Ale is a kolsch-style ale, a light amber-colored beer with a malty nose and a fairly smooth mouthfeel. The flavor up front is a little metallic, but with a nice cereal note that isn’t too sweet. Unlike beers in Oregon, Hawaiian beers are mildly hopped, and the Humpback Blue is no exception. There is a strangely tart note to the beer, much like I’d expect in a sorghum or gluten-free ale, that’s coupled with a slightly bitter edge in the finish when the beer has warmed a bit. All in all not bad, but not my favorite kolsch.

Roy’s Private Reserve is brewed special for Roy’s Restaurants, but it’s also available by the bottle. It’s even lighter than the Humpback Blue, but with a finer bubble and more “refined” qualities. It has a sweet malty aroma with a lot of cereal in it – that Grapenuts smell I associate with well-malted beers. The flavor reminded me of a Belgian golden, but without the Belgian yeast taste in the finish. It had some honey notes to it, and a hint of spice that I didn’t expect.The Roy’s Private Reserve seemed like a Japanese take on a Belgian beer.

All told, Mehana is doing pretty good work. They weren’t my favorite beers, but it’s interesting to taste localized versions of familiar styles. If you’re in Hawai’i I definitely recommend checking them out!