Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen

Oh my gosh, a beer review!  Yes, I am going to keep going through the beers I've tasted, even if we have gone a while without a real review.  I've been promising to do the Aecht Marzen review for quite a while now, so here we go.

Rauchbier is German for smoked beer.  Part of the brewing process is making malted barley.  To do this, the barley seeds are germinated partially.  This process converts the starches stored in the seed to sugars, which are intended to be used by the plant during the growth process.  However, we need them to make beer (alcohol comes from yeast eating sugar), and thus have to halt the growth of the plant.  This is done by drying the germinating seed out so that growth can't continue, usually by kilning.  The end result is malted barley.  However, back in the old days, they didn't have kilns readily available.  Seeds were either dried out by sunlight, or over an open flame.  Seeds dried over a flame would absorb some of the smoke, and these flavors would come out in the beer after it's brewed.

At some point in history, people decided it was better to dry out barley in ovens or kilns that don't use actual wood burning fire.  For the most part I'd agree with that, as smoke profiles can really dominate flavor.  We wouldn't be able to discover the different flavors in every beer if they all tasted like smoke!  But there are still a few breweries that use this process in their brewing, and it can have some tasty results.  Aecht's Rauchbier is one such beer, which Dan and I have affectionately dubbed "bacon beer".

The beer pours a deep brown with a tan head.  I poured it into a mug, which just seemed fitting for this German-style brew.  The head was big, foamy, and bubbling.  It actually looked like it was churning around the edge of the glass.  It had great retention, and stuck around for quite a while.  The head also left good chunks of lacing all over the glass as I drank it.

The aroma was very unique, and one of the areas where this beer really stood out.  It smells like a campfire.  There's scents of bacon, hints of roast... it's a sharp smell, similar to other smoked foods like bacon or smoked cheese.  Other aromas really don't have room to come out with this strong scent, it just dominates the nose.  It's a mouth-watering smell though, so who's going to complain?

The taste at first has a bit of coffee-like bitterness and a strong roast character at first.  There seems to be some sweetness in there somewhere, but it's dominated by the smokey flavors.  It's actually pretty mellow, neither the sweetness or the bitterness is all that strong.  There's a tangy sensation I noticed around the edges of the tongue as well.  The smoke flavor really stays in the mouth for a while afterwards.  It's a hard flavor to describe, but overall the beer is meaty.

The mouthfeel is thick, but has a high level of carbonation as well.  The beer feels like it's still in your mouth, even after you swallow.  It's really just that substantial.  It's wet, and crisp, but I don't think refreshing is the right word for it.  Drinking this is more like eating a meal.  The beer doesn't coat the mouth like some do though.

Overall I can't see putting a lot of these back at once, just because the flavors are so strong.  You almost need something else to wash it down.  Drinking it actually made me hungry.  I think it really was meant to be paired with food.  Putting it down reminded me of one of those Christmas gift baskets with the different kinds of meat and cheese in them.  I ended up grabbing some aged Irish cheddar to go with the beer and it was phenomenal.  I really loved this one, and I'd definitely go back to it again in the future.

- Adam

Bottling Day

Again I apologize for the lack of updates.  My computer is now fixed, our beer has been bottled, and I'm now engaged.  Basically it's been a busy few weeks.  Last thursday we bottled our first brew, and it's now conditioning in the bottles to build up carbonation.  We tasted a little bit and the hop profile was a lot more dominant this time, so we'll see how it turns out after carbonating and chilling.  It was still tasty.

The bottling process is fairly simple.  After sanitizing all your equipment, you just boil some water and add the proper amount of sugar, mix it all in the bottling bucket, and siphon the beer onto it.  After that's complete and all the sugar is mixed throughout the beer evenly, you use a bottling wand to get the beer into the bottle.  It's basically just a tube with a stopper at the bottom that is held down by the pressure of the beer on top of it.  When you put it in the bottle, the stopper raises, and the beer can flow out.  Then it's just a matter of filling the bottle, capping it, and putting everything away.  Three weeks or so later, the beer is ready to enjoy!  We'll be sure to let everyone know how it turns out, but we're pretty excited about it.

- Adam

Secondary Transfer

Yesterday was the second big day in the brewing cycle. We transfered the beer from the primary fermenter to what's called a secondary. The majority of the beer's fermentation is done now, but in the primary it was sitting on all sorts of nasty stuff, such as yeast and excess proteins that are created during the process. The beer tends to stay cloudy unless it is removed from all this gunk, and so although not necessary, it's generally considered good practice to move it to a secondary. This is a large (5 gallon) glass bottle, in which the beer sit for two weeks to clear up and allow the flavors to smooth out more. From this container, the beer will be transfered to a bucket for bottling, and immediately put in the bottles, where it will carbonate over a period of 3 weeks.

In order to get the beer from one container to the other without disturbing it too much or exposing it to much oxygen, we use a siphon. The beer flows smoothly and slowly through the siphon tube to the other container, without stirring it up much and causing oxidation. If the beer was overexposed to oxygen, it would cause bad flavors to develop. In addition we made sure to sanitize the bottle and everything that would come in contact with our beer, as infections can still take hold and ruin our work thus far.

We also sanitized a shot glass, and snuck a small drink of the beer to taste test. It was rough, and a little on the bitter side, but definitely drinkable, even warm and uncarbonated. We took this as a good sign... if we can see ourselves being able to drink the stuff at it's worst, it should be pretty tasty when it finishes. A lot can happen in 2 weeks, so hopefully the flavors will smooth out, the bitterness will subside some, and we'll have a killer beer.

- Adam

Brew Day

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of reviews in the past couple of weeks.  My computer's video card has died and so right now I have limited access until I can get it repaired.  However, it's been a busy time on the beer front.  Friday of this past week was Brew Day.  Dan and I split the cost of a home brewing kit, and spent this weekend making our first batch of beer.  As such I thought I would talk a little about the brewing process.

We bought an extract kit, which is pretty much the simplest way to brew beer short of the kits where you drop in a carbonation tablet or a Mr. Beer kit.  We wanted to actually experience the process, and have good tasting results, so we went with something a little closer to the full brewing experience.  The kit contained dry malt extract (DME), a can of liquid malt extract (LME), ale yeast, bittering and finishing hops, steeping grains, and priming sugar.  The generic process consisted of cleaning and sanitizing the equipment, boiling 3 gallons of water and setting it aside to cool, rehydrating the yeast, bringing another 3 gallons to 170 degrees and steeping the grains for 20 minutes, bringing the pot to a boil, adding the malt extract, bringing to a boil again, boiling the bittering hops for 60 minutes, adding the finishing hops for the last 10 minutes, cooling the liquid to 80ish degrees, straining into the fermenter, pouring in the yeast, and adding our boiled water until we hit our target gravity for the beer.  All in all, it doesn't sound all that complicated.  Without knowing how it's going to turn out, I'd say almost anyone could handle going through the process.  It gets more complicated as you start developing your own recipes, or move into making the malt from grain yourself rather than using malt extract.

The hard part for us now is the waiting.  The beer is going to spend at least a week in the primary fermenter, then we will transfer it over to the glass carboy for another 2 weeks to settle.  Finally we will mix our priming sugar with the beer in a bottling bucket, and bottle it to sit for 3 weeks while carbonation builds up in the bottles.  In total it will be 6 weeks from the day we brewed our beer until it's finally ready to drink.  We might sneak a taste along the way between now and then, but chances are it will be a little nasty at any point before the time is up.

I'll continue to update on the brewing process as we continue our journey into home brewing, as well as posting reviews of what we try.  I still have quite a list of beers to get through!

- Adam

St. Patty's Day

This year, Dan, Julia, and I decided to spend St. Patty's Day at Stewart's Pub. We've had quite a few good brews there, and they put together a special menu for the day that included Irish food, 5 different kinds of stouts, and 10 kinds of car bombs. Mix that with an Irish band and Irish dancers, and you've got a pretty good night. It was extremely busy and loud, but we did eventually manage to get a table. Despite having been there a few times within the last year, it wasn't until last night that I realized that Stewart's is where I had my first beer. The only reason I realized it was because we sat on the other side of the bar from where we usually end up, and I noticed a particular gaming table that sparked the memory for me. Putting 2 and 2 together, I'm pretty sure that their Highlander Stout is the brew I tried that struck me as so bitter and hard to get down.

By the time we got there, they were sold out of the Irish Cream Stout, leaving the Highlander Stout, Coffee Stout, Vanilla Stout, and Peppermint Stout to choose from. I started the night off with the Coffee Stout, which tasted exactly like it sounds. Julia got the Vanilla Stout, and the sip I tried of it had a much lighter body and was significantly sweeter. With my meal I decided to go back to the Highlander Stout for a second try (take a look at my first blog entry for a bit of background). I was blown away. The body was smooth and creamy, with a nice balance of malty sweetness and roasted bitterness. There was just a hint of alcohol in the flavor, but nothing significant. I'm pretty happy about it, as it really shows I've grown since then. Let that show you all that just because you think a beer is too strong at first, doesn't mean you'll never be able to appreciate it.

- Adam

Stewart's Wind Blown Blonde Kölsch

As Adam has said before, we are pretty fortunate to live so close to more than a few great brew pubs, the closest of which is Stewart's Brewing Company. This was my second trip to Stewart's. During my first visit I tried their Irish Red and their 2008 Barleywine, both of which I enjoyed. This time around I was in the mood for something light and drinkable, and the Wind Blown Blonde sounded like just the beer I was looking for.

The Wind Blown Blonde is a Kölsch, a slightly obscure style, which is usually served in a Stange or what has come to be called a Kölsch glass. A tall, narrow, straight-walled glass, it is also referred to as a "pole" or "thimble." It would seem the style takes its name from the German city of Köln (Cologne) where it was first, and for many years, exclusively brewed.

The beer had a pale golden color to it. It was completely clear, and there was no head to speak of. In fact, I hardly recall seeing more than a few bubbles in the glass.

The smell was mainly of grain. It had a very tight nose, i think, due to the narrow glass and substantial lack of carbonation. There was a definite breadiness to it, though, and a bit of oats (almost the smell of a box of Cheerios). The sweetness came out as I sniffed more, but there was no clear scent to distinguish there.

The taste was sweet, slightly fruity, and had a bit of a honey component to it. As I sipped more, I was reminded of the meade that I have at home, but only by the sweetness that first hits the tongue. The sweetness moves smoothly into a grainy, wheat flavor, which I enjoyed. There was a mild to medium hop flavor on the back of the tongue.

This is where this beer really grabbed my attention. The sweet flavor at first, moving to grainy, and finally to that light hoppiness reminded me of Leffe Blonde. Not Leffe by itsself, however, but with a cigar. Adam, and I discovered this combination a while back, and noticed how much more enjoyable Leffe was when changed by the flavor of a cigar. This has since become a recurring experiment for me, to see exactly how the flavor of a beer is changed by smoking a cigar, which will be obvious in my review of Brooklyn Brewery's Monster Barleywine (coming soon, I promise).

The light carbonation and watery feel of this beer gave it a very thin mouthfeel. It wasn't undercarbonated like I would expect from the look, though.

Overall, I enjoyed this beer. It was light and refreshing, and exactly what I was looking for. I had a second glass, which came with some head on it (about half a finger). Given that this reminded me of the altered flavor of Leffe, I am curious to see what a cigar would do to this beer. I suppose I'll just have to go fill a growler of it and find out.

-Dan

Brooklyn Local 1

Having somewhat trashed the Local 2, I felt it was only fair to give Brooklyn a shot at some redemption.  For those of you who haven't perused the archives of this blog, one of my first reviews was of the Brooklyn Brown Ale, which was easily one of my favorites of our trip to the Outer Banks (during which we tried 19 different beers in a week).  It's drinkability and flavor were through the roof, and drove me to try many different brews from Brooklyn.  This brings us to the Brooklyn Local 1.  It's somewhat of a related beer to the Local 2, being a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.  My assumption is that they're brewed with the same strain of Belgian yeast, but I have no proof of that to back it up.  One interesting fact I found on the Local 1 - it's carbonated completely by it's own fermentation.  The beer is bottled flat, and the yeast and sugar are added so that the beer carbonates itself during it's refermentation.  More info on it can be found here. 

Belgian Strong Pale Ale is possibly my favorite style.  At least, Duvel, my favorite beer is one.  As such, it's got a lot to live up to for me.  So many times when I have a Belgian Strong Pale, I have to look for ways in which the beer differentiates itself from Duvel.  Because that single beer epitomizes the whole style for me, I find it necessary for other beers within the style to justify their reason for existence.  Fortunately, Brooklyn's Local 1 stood out to me in a way that no other beers in the style have.

The beer poured a hazy amber color with reddish highlights.   There was a 2-3 finger foamy and firm white head that had incredible retention.  It left great lacing on the glass as it progressed, even until the very end.  The bubbles streaming quickly to the top of the glass provide a champagne-like look that's quite attractive to the eye.

The smell initially struck me as very similar to Duvel.  There's a musky hay smell with apple and banana.  Grass, flowery hops, sweetness and spice.  The smell is strong and fairly complex, but very pleasant.  It has a natural and refreshing quality to it.

The taste initially is sweet and tangy, with banana and a hint of spice around the tongue.  Underneath a touch of orange sits pleasantly on the tongue.  Towards the back of the throat, a nice bitterness takes over that's not too strong, mostly rounded, but still has a bit of edge to it.  The aftertaste seems a bit watery, but that could just be my mouth watering.  Refreshing and very well balanced.

In the mouth the beer feels airy, with a light body and a high level of crisp carbonation.  It's wet and refreshing, with a little bit of warmth in the mouth after swallowing, and in the throat as it goes down.

Overall, it's light and easy to drink, despite the high alcohol content.  The flavor of the alcohol is very well hidden, and only the warmth it leaves really belies it's strength.  It's fairly similar to Duvel, but the citrus flavors make it stand out, and it seemed a bit sweeter and lighter.  It's a taste that would be hard to get tired of.  I think as I drank I was reminded of standing out in an open field in summer.  There's a raw wildness to it that's hard to put my finger on.  A great Belgian Strong that stands well on it's own.

- Adam