Past Newsletters
Vol. 10 No. 4
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Harbor City Brewing Company | Main Street Brown Ale |
| Harbor City Brewing Company | Full Tilt India Pale Ale |
| Otter Creek Brewing Company | Oktoberfest |
| Otter Creek Brewing Company | Pale Ale |
Harbor City Brewing Company
The Harbor City Brewing Company, located in Port Washington, Wisconsin, was established in 1996 in a former ice cube / block production plant. To help convert this former ice palace into a quality-conscious microbrewery, Harbor City worked closely with the New Belgium Brewing Company of Ft. Collins, CO. Yep, the same folks responsible for Fat Tire Amber Ale.
In less than six months they had a fully functional, highly controlled brewing facility with a 20-barrel brewhouse and four 40-barrel fermentation vessels. Harbor City’s brewer Jim Schueller, along with the help of New Belgium’s owner Jeff Lebesch, collaborated on the recipes that would become the basis for their five-beer lineup. The lads settled in on Harbor City Harvest Wheat, Mile Rock Amber Ale, Raspberry Brown Ale, and our favorites, the two you’ll enjoy this month, Full Tilt IPA and Main Street Brown Ale.
We were impressed with the entire line up as well as the artwork on each label which was commissioned from Bob Stewart and features some of the most recognizable and most photographed parts of Port Washington, including Port Washington’s harbor’s lighthouse and the downtown area.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (262) 284-3118 or check out their web site at www.harborcitybrewing.com.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 13.3° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.3° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: N/A
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Main Street Brown Ale is a true-to-style English Brown Ale. This Brown Ale pours a brownish color with red highlights. Look for thin beige head and a slightly opaque appearance. Note a very subdued hop character underneath a prominent caramel, chocolate, and roasted malt aroma. This beer offers a complex malt character, starting off with hints of caramel and butterscotch and then quickly moving towards a fuller, roasted flavor. It’s a quick but wonderful roller coaster ride that finishes with a mild hop bitterness. So put your hands on your hips, tilt your head back and repeat this sentence out loud with us like ya mean it! “Perfect with Mango Ginger Habanero Shrimp!”
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 14.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: N/A
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines “full tilt” as “at high speed.” We didn’t quite make the connection until we began to quaff this fine IPA and feel its effects! DO NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to solve any math related word problems while consuming this beer! We found it slightly hazy, sporting a deep golden hue. Note a HUGE grapefruit-like, bitter hop nose with hints of pine. You might also pick up a slight caramel malt aroma. As the nose would indicate, the flavor also offers grapefruit-like bitter hop and pine notes. Look for a minimal amount of caramel malts to balance out the hops. Perfect with Spicy Basil Chicken or Hot and Sour Lemon Grass Tiger Prawns.
Otter Creek Brewing Company
The Otter Creek Brewing Company is located just down the road from Middlebury College in the quaint New England township of Middlebury, Vermont. - population 8,183. It was conceived by founder/brewmaster Lawrence Miller in 1989. Test brewing began at Otter Creek shortly after Thanksgiving 1990 and the first batch of unfiltered draught Copper Ale was rolled out on March 12, 1991.
Larry had become an enthusiastic homebrewer while attending Reed College in Portland, Oregon, a city responsible for birthing dozens of exceptional breweries. Inspired by both his homebrewing hobby and his academic studies, Larry traveled to Europe after graduation to learn more about the science of brewing. There he researched German and Belgian beer styles and studied old world brewing [and consumption!] techniques... at breweries as well as numerous back alley beer halls!
Completing his “research” in Europe in early 1989 Larry settled in Middlebury, Vermont where he devoted himself full-time to planning his new brewery. Middlebury was chosen for the brewery site as much for its quality of life as for its excellent water. Otter Creek uses clear Vermont water along with the best domestic malts and hops available to ensure freshness and consistent quality.
Larry brews seven different beers, three are year 'round, the others are seasonal or specialty brews. The lineup includes a Copper Ale, Pale Ale, Stovepipe Porter, Mud Bock Spring Ale, Summer Wheat Ale, Oktoberfest, Hickory Switch Smoked Amber Ale, and A Winter's Ale. This month, we are proud to feature the brewery’s Oktoberfest and Pale Ale.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (800) 473-0727 or check out their web site at www.ottercreekbrewing.com.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.3° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.5° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 19.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.7%
One of Otter Creek’s five specialty beers, the brewery’s Oktoberfest is only available from August through November. An excellent interpretation of the German Maerzen style lager, our panel really enjoyed this beer. We found this amber / copper colored lager to offer a thick, creamy, off-white head. Immediately note a nose dominated by a sweet caramel maltiness. We also picked up a slight toastiness and a hint of nuttiness. Look for a distinct and complex sweet malt flavor with a dry, mild hop finish. Celebrate this Oktoberfest mit Sauerbraten oder Kartoffelbrei mit Jägerschnitzel!
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 2.8° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 23.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.8%
Otter Creek’s Pale Ale is a filtered, golden-amber ale brewed with pale malts and huge doses of Cascade hops. Immediately note a big, almost exotic raw hop character in the nose which dominates any malt undertones. We found the body to be much more balanced than the nose would indicate, offering both a sweet maltiness balanced nicely with a slightly citrus, floral hop character. Note a slightly sweet, dry, clean finish. Consider pairing this up with a Pork Tenderloin in Garlic Sauce or Spicy Italian Sausages with peppers and onions and you won’t be disappointed!
Ask Murl
Dear Murl,
I’ve got a bet going with me mate that there’s a beer going by the name of “Piss” beer and we’ve got a month of the beer club riding on your answer! He says “No Way” and I know betta. I used to live in Melbourne and I’ve had the stuff before. But he wants to see it in print. Thinks it’s not official unless you say so. So what’s it going to be fuzz butt?
Pearle Ropert
Stockton, CA
Yo Pearle!
Wassup with the Fuzz butt comment? Okay so you got me. My butt is in fact fuzzy. But I’ve been told by many a lass and one Lassie too, that it’s a pretty fine behind! See us Aussies have that long crimped llama fuzz butt thang going on and I’ve gotta tell you…It’s a babe magnet. Did I ever tell you about that time I was dating the French Poodle twins? All I’m gonna say is that the Fonz went to school at the Murl Institute of Babeology if you get my meaning. That’s right baby.
So, from Kangaroos to Asparagus then is it? Stockton is where they do the biggest [and most likely the only] Asparagus Festival in the country isn’t it? We set up a table in the Beer and Wine tent every year up there woofing everything from deep fried Asparagus to Asparagus Ice Cream to Asparagus Margaritas! Check it out next year.
I did some homework and found out that there is in fact a beer that runs by the name of “Pi55” [www.pi55.com] and you already knew that it’s Australian, didn’t ya. Some excerpts from their web site illustrate that the boys at Piss have a pretty good sense of humor:
“Aussies have been on the piss, getting pissed, drinking piss, drinking more piss, and, most definitely, taking the piss for nearly 200 years. Our Piss is all natural, cold filtered and preservative free. And, just in case you missed it, Piss takes aim at the propensity of big business to use notions such as 'tradition' and 'technique' to win customers in slick marketing campaigns, while at the same time endeavoring to create the most cost effective products possible, products of the mass market. The Pi55 Beer Co. was established in 1999, after a year of product trials at our pub, the Great Britain Hotel, in Richmond, in inner suburban Melbourne. A conservative title by any measure, we were in fact prohibited from registering Piss as a company name - an ambitious response on the part of the regulator, given that we've not been prevented in any way from labeling our beer or selling it.”
Unreal.
Woof!
Murl.
Food For Thought...
Otter Creek Potato Salad
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup Otter Creek Oktoberfest
- 6 cups cooked potatoes, peeled and cubed
- ½ cup onions, chopped
- ¾ cup celery, chopped
- ½ pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
- salt & pepper to taste
Blend mayonnaise, sour cream, and beer. Toss lightly with potatoes, onion, and celery. Garnish with crumbled bacon. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill for three hours or place in slow oven (275 degrees) for 20 minutes for a warm potato salad.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Coach: What's up, Normie?
Norm: My nipples, it's freezing out there.
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