Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew

You may have noticed that I’ve been on a ginger beer kick lately, so when I saw Hitachino Nest’s Real Ginger Brew I had to try it. I’ve had their white, red rice, and sweet stout before and thought they were pretty decent if a bit pricey.

On pouring, the Real Ginger Brew is not as light as I’d expected, having a more copper color that was a bit hazy. The haze didn’t reflect a wheaty taste. On pouring there’s a bit of head, much like a soda, but no head retention.

It has a surprisingly tart aroma followed by coriander and citrus. The initial taste also has a tang like a Flanders Brown, slightly fruity and tart. The ginger flavor is present, but more savory than spicy, and there’s no real ginger hotness. I noted a definite metallic taste that all the Hitachino Nest beers have. The carbonation is a little rough, like a soda, though it calms as the beer warms.

On warming there’s a noticeable alcohol aroma and flavor, and the taste of the beer becomes more savory than tart. It’s an interesting beer, but I’m not sure I’d pay over $4.50 for it again.

Salvaging an experimental brew

Last spring I made a low-gluten mostly rice-based beer after my arthritis attack and month without gluten. I didn’t love the flavor once it carbonated in the bottle, since it was a little more bitter and not as malty as I generally like my beers. Which makes sense, since it had practically no malt in it. Still, not quite a Pabst replacement.

Many months later a friend mentioned that they’d had beer with ginger syrup in it that made a good ginger beer, so I tried some homemade ginger syrup in the rice beer. Gross! The sweet syrup and the funky bitter flavor of the beer didn’t go together at all.

But now, nearly a year after brewing it, I figured I’d give it one more chance. This time I added 2oz of unsweetened homemade ginger concentrate to a pint of the rice beer. Success! The ginger has a pleasant bite and heat, and the lemony zing suits the rice notes in the beer. And the beer changed a bit, carbonating more fully, turning a bit more tart than bitter.

I think this could become a very suitable hot day beverage indeed! The lesson here is that you never want to toss out a beer unless it’s 100% undrinkable no matter what you do to it. Beer changes so much over time, and sometimes it might just need a little help to become a better drink. Cheers!

Ginger wheat beer in the making

Inspired by Caldera’s ginger ale at the 2008 Oregon Brewers Festival, I thought that a wheat beer brewed with ginger would be a swell idea. I emailed Caldera’s brewer about their recipe, and he replied that they added ginger chips at flame off or hopback. Since I use neither a hopback or propane burners, I consulted a couple of other recipes and decided that 5oz of ginger in the final 20 minutes of boil should suffice.

The wort is chilling in the kitchen sink at this moment, and I’m hoping that I added enough ginger. The recipe was simple enough that if I need to increase the ginger for next time it’s no big deal – it’s only 6.6lbs of bulk light/wheat malt, 3/4oz of hops, a vial of liquid yeast, plus however much ginger I want to use. The ingredients cost roughly $30, so that’s a $3.60 6-pack. Nice!

I based it on “Lovebite Weisbier” in the Joy of Homebrewing. I’ll pitch the hefeweizen yeast before I go to bed, and we’ll see what the fermentation fairy brings in the morning!

Hopworks Inaugurator (Cultivator) Doppelbock

Who doesn’t love a beer released on the eve of Obama’s inauguration? How could it fail? What better way to celebrate than with a new beer offering from Hopworks? Of course, I didn’t have an opportunity to attend the release part on January 20th, but I did stop by for a pint a couple of days later.

Inaugurator is dark like a brown ale in the glass, mostly opaque but allowing just enough light to shine through that it’s not pitch black like a stout. Imagine a medium-roast coffee in a glass, if you will. The initial head subsides pretty quickly, leaving no foam or lacing on the glass.

As you might expect there’s lots of malt in this beer, with a hint of dry chocolate on the back of the palate, along with a slight tang in the finish. The tang is almost reminiscent of black cherries. Luckily for me, there’s just enough hops to cut the sweetness, but not so much that it ruins the malty flavor. This beer is smooth, rich and not too heavy. Some might consider it a sweet beer, and it’s certainly sneakily boozy, but it would be surprisingly easy to drink all night.

As an inaugural doppelbock, I’d say it’s dark, smooth, and a little surprising just like our new president.

Old Lompoc Pagan Porter

There are more benefits to playing a team sport than getting exercise and meeting some nice folks. Sometimes you get really lucky and the spouses of your teammates do awesome things, such as brew for Old Lompoc. I’m lucky enough to be invited to Amber Swope and Jon Berry’s annual holiday brunch – already an awesome spread, replete with bacon, cheeses, and of course their famous dutch babies – that always features a selection of beers from Jon’s experiments at home and at Old Lompoc.

This year’s runaway favorite (for me) was his Pagan Porter, served on nitro in their amazing retro-styled basement bar. I love a porter in general, but I love porter variations even more. I have to admit, the Lompoc Vanilla Porter was a close second, and I’ll look forward to the taste-off again next year. Perhaps there will even be a new contender.

When I heard that Pagan Porter was on limited release at Old Lompoc, I had to get another taste! I wasn’t able to make it to the release party, but I had to catch a glass or two (only served in glasses, not pints) at Hedge House the next day. On nitro, it’s smooth, creamy, and velvety-delicious. On regular Co2 it’s still awesome, but not quite as smooth. Maybe next time the Lompoc locations will serve it on nitro? Please?

As one might expect, there’s a definite bourbon flavor and aroma to this beer. Aging the beer in fresh bourbon barrels for six months will do that! It’s the perfect beer for bourbon lovers, or for people who want to love bourbon but just don’t. It’s all the things I thought hard liquor would be like when I was a kid – delicious, sweet, exotic, a treat.

On the tip of the tongue the flavor is sweet, a little fruity (like a fruit cake – yeasty, malty, a little tangy and mysterious), quite oaky, with a hint of caramel. Chocolate notes appear at the back of the mouth, a happy medium between sweet and dry cocoa. As the beer warms, the chocolate flavors are more present at the front of the mouth, developing as a rounded flavor with the bourbon notes. What impresses me is that this beer isn’t too sweet and sticky. There’s so much potential to take it over the top and make it a gut bomb, like a cream-filled donut. But it’s no barley wine and I’m glad for it. The slight tang up front and the hint of bitterness in the finish balance the sweetness and richness of the bourbon flavors, making the beer rich and flavorful but nicely balanced.

Perhaps I’m biased because I know the brewer – he’s the man who makes sweet malty elixir and fresh hot dutch babies, after all – but this is in my top favorite 5 porters. I’ve never had another porter quite like it, and I think it raises the bar on porter variants brewed in Beervana. Fantastic work, Jon! I look forward to next year’s experiment.