I’ll be in Germany all this week and not updating, but I’ll have plenty of European beer stuff to talk about upon my return. -Mark

Brewing against the grain
By Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish.

Barley is the grain brewers use to make beer. Some historians and sociologists have even suggested that primitive hunter-gatherer tribes settled down and became agrarian so they could more readily grow barley, and thus produce nourishing, life-saving beer.

The famous, and increasingly annoying, German Reinheitsgebot purity law stipulates four permissible ingredients in beer: water, yeast, hops and barley. Barley is the brewer’s grain.

Or is it? Without a doubt barley yields the optimum fermentable sugars for beer, but many styles replace part of a brew’s barley with other grains, each of which lends distinct characteristics.

Hefeweizen and Witbier, from Germany and Belgium respectively, use wheat. This gives the beer a lighter body and a crisp, quenching quality, and smooth mouthfeel. The greater amount of proteins in wheat also results in a thicker, more voluminous head.

Paulaner and Weihenstephaner (don’t pronounce, just point to the bottle or tap handle) epitomize Hefeweizen. For a great American example, try Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat. The finest witbier example is still Hoegaarden. With Allagash and Ommegang producing excellent American versions.

Oatmeal stout, a classic English style very popular among American indie brewers, replaces a portion (up to 35%) of darkly-roasted barley malt with flaked oats. The result is generally a black brew that’s considerably sweeter than the Irish stout to which most people are accustomed. The oats impart a distinct silky palate and hearty texture to the brew. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is the classic example. Another favorite of ours is Flying Bison Oatmeal Stout, brewed just down the thruway in Buffalo NY.

Rye is less common, but growing in popularity as a brewer’s grain. The inclusion of rye results in spicy notes and a drier finish, with less malt sweetness and a light body. This makes rye a good choice when a refreshing, aggressively-hopped beer is desired.

Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Righteous Ale epitomizes a great American rye beer. It’s powerful and bold in hop finish, with spicy grain and citrus dominating the palate.

Finnish Sahti uses rye and juniper berries in a beer unique and hard to find in any place that isn’t rural Finland. It’s generally homebrewed by Finn farmers, but the craft beer movement has spurred a degree of commercial production and distribution outside the home market.

Vermont’s Otter Creek Brewery once produced a limited run of a sahti-like beer called Helsinki Gold, and Chicago’s Goose Island brewery also produces an example, but your best bet for tasting this style is attending a homebrewer’s competition; there’s always some yahoo going of the deep end with stuff like this. Or a ticket to Finland.

Other grains can be used in brewing as well, and that’s part of the joy of experimentation.  We know one homebrewer who uses Quinoa, which we thought was the capital of Ecuador but is actually a grain.

And, not to ignore the elephant in the room, mainstream American lager is produced with tons of corn and rice as alternatives to Barley. The lightness of body that these other cereals impart still defines beer to the majority of Americans, and it is not unheard of for craft brewers to pay homage to the American giants by creating light lagers using corn or rice.

Sometimes it’s amazing, what you have to do to go against the grain.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.

For the first time in, I dunno, maybe a decade, Genesee is actually going to try to build awareness in its hometown.  The brewery will sponsor numerous events this summer, including Zoo Brew, and Taste of Rochester.

It’s not really craft beer news, but it’s kinda nice to hear. Genessee has been the J.D. Salinger of breweries, hiding its brand in their fortress on the gorge and basically gifting public perception to regional rival Labatt. What’s really heartening is that North American Breweries, new owners of both Genesee and Labatt USA, are leading with Genny here in Rochester.

Why get excited over some corporate sponsorships? Mayb e because it’s a clear signal from N.A.B. that a piece of my hometown history, circling the drain for 20 years, might make a recovery after all.

-Mark

Time for a Strawberry Wit, Custom-style
By Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish.

The Tap and Mallet over on Gregory Street has had a house beer since it opened in 2007. Until now, that beer was McBane’s Best Bitter, classically profiled English-style ale.

With an eye to keeping things fresh, Tap owner Joe McBane decided to go further afield when envisioning the Best Bitter’s successor. He called the good people at Honeoye Falls’ Custom Brewcrafters and told them to get cracking on Mc Bane’s Strawberry Wit.

The new beer, released last Thursday, couldn’t be less English.

There’s nothing stodgy, upper-crusty, or reserved about the Strawberry Wit. It’s a Belgian-style witbier at its core: translucent pale yellow in color with a sweet estery finish that does a prickly dance on the tongue. The wheat malt and flaked oats used to brew it impart a light, quenching character.

“I worked with all traditional ingredients,” says brewer Jordan Sunseri. “Belgian pils malt, raw wheat, tettnang hops.” But the tradition pretty much ends with the addition of a ton of strawberries with a brewer’s curiosity on what was going to happen.

“We weren’t actually sure the strawberries would react. This is the most fruit we’ve ever put into a beer,” Sunseri explains. “We used no additives or enzymes, we just let the beer be what it decided to be.”

Oh, they reacted all right. The yeast gorged itself on the berries’ fermentable sugars, creating a flavor profile that’s surprisingly restrained for a beer with the name of a fruit in its title.

A hint of strawberry lingers in the aroma, and it’s not difficult to detect that well known fruit flavor in the finish, but instead of a cloying, sweet, overly fruited brew, the drinker discovers tartness, a dry complexity, with almost peach-like notes.

For a fruit beer, this is beyond the norm. Generally, brewers whack you in the tongue with flavor extracts and unfermented sugar. To find this beer so restrained is refreshing to say the least.

It also points to a bit of a sea change in how Custom Brewcrafters is doing business. The original business model of brewing individualized beers for bars and restaurants left the company with a middle-of-the-road portfolio of ambers and brown ales. While economically sound for a while, the brewery was eclipsed by those craft brewers that innovated and tried new things. It also left custom brewcrafters with an identity crisis.

“I always thought our beer line was neglected,” says Head Brewer Jason Fox, who relishes the freedom to explore, innovate, and do crazy one-off beers. Sipping a glass of the brand new (and very good) CB’s Hefe, Fox talks about his Signature series beers, bigger, badder, with more variety of flavor than CB’s is known for.

While Custom brewcrafters still makes the beers its customers signed up for, this new attention to the beer that wears the company’s own brand means the company recognizes the importance of beer lovers, not just beer consumers, in its future plans. “The only rule is it has to be fun.” Fox adds

A sunny day, the deck of the Tap and Mallet, and a cold glass of McBane’s Strawberry Wit definitely qualify.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and former commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.

It’s gonna be a kick-ass Beer School this Thursday. Tori Perez from Brewery Ommegong is going to present beers from the Cooperstown, NY brewery, as well as some from the frozen wastes of Belgium.

Tori does a mean tasting, and Ommegang’s beers are possibly the most authentic Belgian style ales produced in the USA (probably because Belgian brewer Moortgat owns the brewery).  She was in a couple of years ago, pairing the Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence with cracked pieces of Belgian chocolate. A little bit of luxury that made everyone stop for a second and savor how great beer can be.

Come on down to Monty’s Korner in Rochester on June 11 at 7:30 pm for the tasting. Oh, and bring seven bucks. Belgian beer ain’t cheap. -Mark

No one can accuse Tap & Mallet owner Joe McBane of timidity.

When the Sheffield, UK native opened his beer bar in Rochester, New York, he commissioned as his house beer a best bitter that wouldn’t be out of place in any English pub. For it’s successor, McBane abandoned English tradition and reserve, embracing Belgian yeast and, well, strawberries.

McBane’s Strawberry Wit, designed by McBane and brewed at Custom Brewcrafters, comes in around 5% alcohol by volume. It is intended as a light, refreshing summer beer in which the strawberry flavor is subtle, not overwhelmingly sweet. That’s a gutsy flavor profile to present to the American craft beer palate, with its focus on high gravity and hop-heaviness. However, it should go perfectly with the Tap’s new expanded deck and a liberal dose of sunshine.

Strawberry Wit launches this Wednesday, with a ceremony at the Tap and Mallet on Gregory Street. The brewers are going to be on hand as well, doubtless quaffing as much of their fruit-infused libation as possible. Think I’m going to join them.

-Mark

New company North American Breweries is pouring $10 million into their Rochester HQ brewery High Falls Brewing, which falls into line with my anticipation that they’d use the place as a source for domestically produced Labbatt Blue.

I did not, however, expect them to change the name back to The Genesee Brewery, nor did I think they’d express any interest in reviving the Genesee Beer brand. That’s a ballsy move.

Standard American Lager from any manufacturer exists within a tight style spectrum; all brands look and taste pretty similar. As the documentary Beer Wars demonstrated, even extremely brand-loyal beer consumers have difficulty picking their brand out of a range in blind taste tests.

With such similar products, the only way the large lager manufacturers can differentiate their product is by positioning and hyperexpensive image advertising, battling for the same saturated market which, incidentally is stagnant, or reaching up to 2% growth at best.

Does NAB have the scratch to go toe-to-toe with Coors, SAB Miller and InBev/Anheuser Busch?  Probably not. But they don’t have the production capacity or enormous costs of those companies either. It looks like the smart play for Genessee is to use the Yuengling model as a case study, drive loyalty in the home market, and position via product pride.

Genesee Beer, the beer that saturated bars and supermarket shelves back in the ’70s, is hard to get nowadays. Let’s hope that NAB’s decision opens the tap lines once again.

-Mark

Monty’s Krown, on Monroe Ave in Rochester, has another one of their Victory Brewing Company mini-fests this Saturday. That means brewery reps, some free schwag, and plenty of offerings from one of my favorite American indie brewers on tap. See you there.

-Mark

Well boys and girls, it’s another month, another trip though the open-ended keg that is the Rochester beer scene.

Let’s begin our odyssey at Lovin’ Cup, at RIT/Park Point. Their Brew-Ha-Ha tasting takes place Wednessday, June 10. They’re doing Saranac Beer, which has been doing some interesting things lately, suh as a Rye Pilsner that’s nice on a hot day.

The following Thursday we have Beer School at Monty’s Korner. Join Loud Tom and myself in welcoming Brewery Ommegang’s Tori Perez as she takes us through a flight of Belgian beers by Ommegang and various Belgian Brewers. It’s a bit more expensive than most Beer School events at $7, but this is expensive, amazing beer, and it’s totally freakin’ worth it.

Our friends at the Tap and Mallet can’t shake their pig roast fetish. The next installment of “Hog Heaven” will take place at the Tap on June 14. Expect tons of beer and delicious, falling-off-the-bone pork.  Tickets can be purchased at the bar.

Sorry I’ve been updating the blog so infrequently lately. Sometimes I just need to step away from beer writing, enjoy drinking beer without overanalyzing the stuff. Worry not, something that pisses me of is bound to happen soon. -Mark

Vacation for beer lovers
By Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish.

Vacation season is about to kick off. Millions of Americans will travel thousands of miles to the same ol’ boring beaches, ho-hum theme parks and passé natural wonders. Yawn.

Instead, we would suggest combining a love of travel with a love of beer and becoming a beer tourist.

That’s right, the indie beer industry is catching on that beer geeks like the stuff so much that they will happily make pilgrimages to their favorite breweries, no matter how distant or preposterously remote. An increasing number of small brewers are forming partnerships with hotels and Bed-and-breakfasts to provide all-inclusive, uh, ‘beercations.’

Unsurprisingly, Dogfish Head, of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was at beer tourism’s forefront, combining luxury accommodations, outdoor activities and beer into what the brewery calls ‘The 360 Degree Experience.’

Guests stay two nights at the tony Inn at Canal Square. They get a tour of Dogfish Head Brewery, a $50 brewery gift certificate, kayak tour, boat cruise and various other sundries. Of course, they also get two evenings of drinking themselves incoherent on Dogfish Head’s super strong beer.

For the self-reliant beer-loving vacationer, Montreal’s Dieu Du Ciel Brewery rents a four bedroom apartment directly over the brewpub for nights, weekends and longer.

Although lacking the personal amenities of a fancy hotel, it gives visitors a base of operations in one of the most European of North American cities, and easy access to a fantastic brewpub. Just stock the fridge, wash the dishes you use (as the brewery requests), and go.

Later in the year, Cooperstown’s Brewery Ommegang offers the Bed & Brew Package in partnership with the Cooperstown Inn. As well as the full brewery tour (of one of the most beautiful brew houses we’ve ever seen) and VIP dinner and beer reception, vacationers enjoy proximity to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Cooperstown’s rustic, laid-back charm.

Packages don’t begin until October, but a vacation in the fall means explosions of color as the foliage turns, and the snappier weather compliments the strong, warming Belgian ales of Ommegang

These beer getaways do more than offer a great time in a restful setting. They serve as a hands-on demonstration that beer can be part of a life well lived; a small but tangible luxury that adds to one’s quality of life. They also give beer pilgrims a way to get from brewery to bed without weaving crazily all over the road and maybe slamming into a local.

Of course, it’s usually no big deal to book your own hotel near the brewery of your choice, but a bed/breakfast package usually gets you more personal contact with brewery personnel, tasting of experimental or as-yet unreleased beer, and a bunch of free stuff.

You might not even have to steal the hotel bathrobe.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and former commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.