beer styles

Today we are basking in the post-Hickenlooper glow of beer politics and brewing a special brew to recognize our own local hero.  The General is a molasses-enriched porter that honors the legacy of Gen. John A. Logan, for whom our lovely hood is named.  Special guest brewers for the day are Michael, Brad and Sam, making for a day with far too many cooks in the kitchen and a higher than normal ratio of beers consumed to beers brewed.  

The malt bill is:

We didn't use any caramel malts because we want the leftover sweetness of the molasses to come through as much as it wants to.  More to come.

Just for kicks, we've started a list of all the beers we've brewed and served at Revolution.  See for yourself.   Everyone has been pretty welcoming of all the new styles so we'll keep cranking them out until someone says uncle.  Next up is a bourbon barrel aged version of our Eugene Porter and Institutionalized, our barleywine. 

We just tapped a fresh batch of Coup D'Etat our french-style saison.  It was our first beer in the Repo Man soundtrack series of brews and now it's back again, because who doesn't like a nice dry saison in summer?  Also on tap is numero cuatro, Hombre Secreto, an American Pale Ale with a secret identity.  It was hopped exclusively with Ahtanum hops, which are one of the more mellow American hops without too much citrus or pine flavor.  Hombre is a double agent of sorts as our 'replicale' beer brewed for the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.  Each year, every brewery that wants to brews pretty much the same beer with a twist.  This year we all used a different hop, and if you want to try them all then head over to next weekend's Oak Park Microbrew Review, which is quickly becoming one of the better beerfests in Chicagoland as well one of the greenest.

This weekend the brew crew is headed to Madison Wisconsin for the Great Taste to debut the Sodom, which we'll tap on Wednesday the 18th at 6pm.  I wish there was tons of the Sodom to sell, but after putting some away in bourbon barrels and filling a few kegs for the Three Floyds pub, there's not a lot left so come and get it while you can.

Things are getting interesting in the basement as we fill the joint with wooden barrels.  We already have 6 bourbon barrels aging away and now we have 12 wine barrels.  A few weeks ago we brewed a black belgian ale with our wit yeast and yesterday Jim and Matty transferred it into some french oak barrels that we previously full of cabernet sauvignon.  We also loaded the barrels up with 400# of sour Michigan cherries from Piedt Farm, a regular at the Logan Square Farmers Market.  This yet unnamed batch will sit for many moons and acquire lots of character and charm before we put it on tap, but I thought all those inquiring minds out there would want to know what's bubbling below.

Here's a short video of the boys adding the cherries and relaying the tale of purchasing that funnel at Farm and Fleet.  No ma'am we're not making a beer bong with it.....

Not everybody does you know.  Some people want malty beers, some people just want balance and some people really just don't want much flavor at all (and they might just be happier with a vodka tonic).  We hear all sides of the issue at the bar and on our Facebook site that Michelle has been updating regularly (unlike this blog which has become a little stale since the opening craziness).  Generally, I land with the hopheads in my tastes although I will admit to a bit of hop-induced acid reflux here and there that makes me think twice about that.  You know, I really shouldn't polarize things too much, but I do and I can't stop myself.  When someone comes in for the first time, I often ask what kinds of beer they like before making a recommendation and if they don't blurt something out, I ask if they like hoppy beers.  Sure, there is a great spectrum of hop-a-licious-ness out there, with every palate having a different tolerance for bitterness and aroma, but that just seems like too touchy-feely of a way to dissect beer.  Big bold hoppy ales are the quintessential American craft beers whether you like them or not.  They feature a unique domestic ingredient and thirty years ago they really didn't exist, around here at least.  I wasn't around for the recording of Live at Leeds, but I doubt the birthplace of pale ale had anything like a double IPA to enjoy after the show. 

Fortunately for the 23% of you who also enjoy the pine, grass and citrus aromas of humulus lupus (the wolf!) we are now pouring Samadhi, a double IPA that brewer Jim concocted.  I don't have the recipe sheet near me at the moment, but I had one on tap today and enjoyed it to the point that I really didn't need to know which hops were used in it.  Did I become one with the brew?  I'll leave that heady question to you to decide should you walk down that road.  If you don't, then maybe you'll enjoy Bad Man, a old rye ale going on tap later this week.  It's the ying to the yang.  We're putting most of that beer into bourbon barrels, but we'll have some for about a week during the Craft Brew Conference.

-Josh,
Chairman of the Party

Today we tapped our newest house brew, Bottom Up Wit.  It's a departure from the rest of our beers as it has little hop flavor and is comes out out hazy from the special yeast we use and all the wheat in the recipe.  It's a refreshing beer that we plan to keep around all year, although I think it is best suited to the warmer months.  We grind up coriander seeds and throw them in to boiling kettle near the end of the 90 minute boil with some dried, bitter orange peel for that spicy flavor you expect from a witbier.

Barrels become gallons and pounds become ounces, and you can pretty much just adjust recipe percentages and see how it comes out. We went out of our way to cross every 'T' today with our brewhouse calculations and document every aspect. Having been out of professional brewing for many years, I'm a bit rusty but have a couple good Excel spreadsheets that I rely on. Jim on the other hand is sharp as a tack and likes to do everything longhand showing his work like my fifth grade math teacher wanted me to.

First up we brewed Cross of Gold which will be the lightest colored regular offering but it won't be no slouch. It's an American Golden Ale, sometimes called a Blonde Ale. BJCP Style 6b if you are wondering. And while I'm mentioning the Beer Judge Certification Program, here's a plug for their neat iPhone app which I just downloaded. Jim and I used to brew a Blonde at Goose Fulton, but they don't make it there anymore in the age of 312. Our recipe has some similarities to that one and is intended to be dry but with a noticeable hop aroma. Goose used the "clean with a touch of spicy" Mt. Hood hops, but were going with more of a classic American microbrew aroma with some late Cascades and a delicate dry hop to be determined. It's pretty low on the bitterness side and will be around 5.5% alcohol by volume. Today's batch came out of the kettle at 13.5 degrees Plato, a touch higher than we wanted because the basement system's efficiency was a little better than expected.

Our second batch of the day was Iron Fist Pale Ale our soon-to-be have-it-around-all-the-time standby. It clocked in at 16 Plato and Jim was real happy with the color. Here he is adding some Summit hops with a smile:

Jim also came up with the fun name for this one, which he was quick to point out is also a Motorhead song. Mickhail Burton gets credit for naming Cross of Gold and Quenchers' IPA Fest gets credit for getting us tipsy enough to decide to name a beer after a famous speech from 1896 (by a prohibitionist no less). Well with many folks suffering these days from a new economic malaise, the name makes sense to me. On many levels. Sure the speech was made in Chicago, that's just gravy. The connection he makes between cities and farms still stands out to me still today as does the way he makes monetary policy real for the working man. A few years ago I made it through reading William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis, which is all about Chicago's growth being connected with nearby farmland and natural resources. Good for a long summer vacation read for all you farmers market going policy wonks out there.

Rod's Fucking Golden Ale has a good ring to it too, but somehow it just isn't as timeless.

A few days ago, Morgan Wolaver, founder of Wolaver's Organic Ales stopped in the Handlebar for lunch. He's in town for the Organic Trade Association's All Things Organic trade show. Morgan pretty much pioneered organic beer and it turns out he is a real nice guy to boot.

Many years ago, when I brewed Wolaver's line of organic beers while working at Goose Island Fulton (they also brew Whole Foods' Lamar St. organic beer). Initially all of Wolaver's beers were contract brewed by 3-4 regional breweries, but they are now all made at the Otter Creek Brewery in Vermont, which Wolaver's purchased a few years ago. I can understand the initial logic of wanting to brew beer locally to keep it fresh, but it sounds like their new production strategy is working better. They have focused n building their presence in the home New England market and have just recently returned to Chicago after leaving for a period. It is also nice to hear a positive story of a contract-brewer making the transition to making their own and managing a brewing plant.

I tasted their Brown Ale, which was clean, smooth and drinkable albeit not very brown in color. I didn't check the dates, but it tasted fresh, especially for an import form the eastern seaboard.

There seems to be a much wider availability of organic base and specialty malts available these days form places like Briess in Chilton, WI. However, the variety of organic hops still available to brewers is still disappointing. The Seven Bridges Cooperative's website notes that they only had 4 varieties for sale in 1997 and now have several dozen. Unfortunately, I could only see one American hop variety available (Cascade). At the Revolution, I'm sure we'll make some organic brews, but I just couldn't imagine doing without all the great aromas and flavors of American hops.

I know few people will probably read this in time, but this Saturday, May 5th Handlebar plays host to the 2nd Annual Three Floyds Brewing Gumballhead Kick Party. Starting at 2pm, there will be a ceremonial tapping of the first keg of 3F's summer ale: Gumballhead. Much lighter in body than their Alpha King Pale Ale, Gumballhead packs a citrusy punch of American hops. It's the taste of summer round here if you ask me.

"When I say Cinco, you say Drink-o"