Past Newsletters

Vol. 3 No. 2

Brewery	Beers Featured
Avery Brewing Company	Ellie's Brown Ale
Avery Brewing Company	Redpoint Ale
Riverside Brewing Company	Old 119 Saison

Avery Brewing Company

A microbrewery in the truest sense of the word, the Boulder, CO based Avery Brewing Company is family affair spawned by homebrewer Adam Avery who also managed to convince his father and sister to join him in his brewing venture. Adam oversees the brewing and packaging operations at the brewery while his father Larry runs the administrative side of the business. Sister, Angie is chartered with sales and marketing. Established in late 1993, the brewery has since expanded from an 800 to a 3200 barrels/yr. capacity to meet the growing demand for their full-bodied product line. Adam brews with a 7 Bbl. brewhouse, (3) 30 Bbl. and (1) 20 Bbl. fermentation tanks, and (1) 30 Bbl. bright tank. This month we bring you Avery’s brown ale and amber/red ale. Other products brewed at Avery include: Fourteener ESB, Out of Bounds Stout, Razzy Wheat Ale, and their newly introduced Avery India Pale Ale. Adam is considering a Scotch Ale as a fall seasonal. For more information about the brewery and tours, call 303-440-4324.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (303) 440-4324.

Ellie's Brown Ale

Serving Temperature: 50-55° F
Original Gravity: 16.0° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 23.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.7%

Ellie’s Brown Ale label features president/brewmaster Adam Avery’s 4 year old chocolate Labrador retriever and was created to appeal not only to the taste of beer drinkers but to their lifestyles as well, in this case, to dog lovers. The beer’s name and label recently underwent a facelift as Elle Magazine threatened suit to the beer with the same name claiming that some of their readers might confuse the two products. It could happen. I’ve often mistook my dog for a woman’s lifestyle magazine. In any case, the extra letter was added to appease Elle and avoid that favorite American past time of being sued. Ellie’s Brown Ale is brewed with a combination of two row pale, munich, caramel and chocolate malts. Adam adds cluster hops at the beginning of the 60 minute boil primarily to add bitterness. Cascade and fuggles hops are added at the middle and end of the boil respectively for their aromatic contributions. A proprietary English yeast strain is used.

Notes From the Panel:

Note a very pleasant roasted character in Ellie’s nose (it should be wet too if she’s healthy!). No hop character is evident as appropriate for an English Brown Ale. Look for good head retention in this brown, clear, medium-bodied beer. We found a very rich maltiness and a complex caramel and roasted combination in the flavor profile of this very nicely balanced beer. Overall, a very flavorful and sweet brown ale, almost too much so for an English Brown. More of an American Brown in flavor and English brown in its malty balance. Bottom line? We loved it!

Redpoint Ale

Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 14.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 24.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%

Another lifestyle-designed beer, this one more for the beer lovers seeking adventure and exploration, Redpoint Ale’s label features the El Dorado canyon just south of Boulder. The formation is called "Potato Chip" and the route the climber is on is called "French Fry". Redpoint Ale is an American Amber/Red Ale brewed with a combination of two row pale and caramel malts. Adam adds a healthy dose of cascade hops at the beginning, middle and end of the 60 minute boil. A proprietary English yeast strain is used.

Notes From the Panel:

Immediately note an intense caramelly malt character and a slight roastedness evident in this very clean nose. Note good head retention in this very red, clear, medium-bodied beer. Redpoint starts very malty, but quickly shows its complex flavor profile as the very nicely balance of cascade hops kicks in. Overall, a truly excellent example of an American Amber/Red Ale.

Riverside Brewing Company

Founded on August 19, 1993, The Riverside Brewery became the first brewery in the Inland Empire to open since prohibition. The brewery is located in the historic Riverside Arlington Heights Fruit Exchange building in downtown Riverside, CA. Attached to the brewery and bar is a 120 seat restaurant, a beer-garden style patio and a more intimate sidewalk patio. Riverside produces their award winning ales and lagers by combining both American and European malts and hops with three different proprietary yeast strains. Brewmaster Daniel Kahn took 6 medals in the last three years at the Great American Beer Festival and has produced two World Champion beers at the World Beer Championships. The brewery brews a different seasonal beer each month under it’s rotating "Old 119" tap handle and we feel very fortunate to be able to bring you their superb interpretation of a Saison, a very unusual and difficult style of beer to brew.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (909) 784-BREW.

Old 119 Saison

Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 24.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.0%

Riverside’s Saison is brewed with a 80% two row pale, 11% light carastan, and the remainder, carapils malts. Magnum hops are added at the beginning of the 60 min. boil for bittering while cascade hops are used at the end of the boil for their aromatic characteristics. Daniel dry hops his Saison in a big way with both Ultra and Czech Saaz hops and uses a proprietary yeast strain propagated from bottle conditioned Belgian beers solely for use in brewing this beer.

Notes From the Panel:

Note a very fruity, complex yeast estery nose with some spicy notes evident. This beer smells Belgian! Look for good head retention in this pale, clear, medium-bodied beer. We found this Saison to have a very nice pale maltiness with some spicy characteristics in its flavor profile. Riverside’s Saison finishes dry and overall, is an excellent American interpretation of an unusual beer style.

Ask Murl

Dear Murl,

I am a lay person just discovering the wild Microbrew Frontier! You may have covered this in a past issue of The Brew Harvest Review, but I did not see it as I am a new subscriber. Would you please explain "original gravity" and "initial bittering units" to me? Thank you in advance. You are welcome to my house any time for a lobster dinner, but be sure and bring your own bowl!

Best regards,
Bill Marsh
Tewksbury, MA.

Oh Billy, Billy, Billy...

Caddyshack. Ted Knight. Remember? "Oh Billy, Billy, Billy"... Man, I crack me up sometimes. Before I get into answering your question, let me just clarify a thing or two here, Bill. Are we talking East or West Coast crustaceans (I like the claws, though they’re tough to eat with paws) and as you’ve suggested it to be a B.Y.O.Bowl affair, am I to assume that I’ll be asked to eat on the floor as well? Let us hope not. Original Gravity refers how much the earth pulled you toward it before (bold and italics) you started drinking beer as opposed to how much more it pulls you now! Actually, it refers to the amount of sugars in the bittersweet liquid solution (called wort) obtained by mashing the malted barley and boiling-in hops before it is fermented into beer. What it tells you is potentially how high and full-bodied the alcohol content and body might be for that beer. Generally speaking, the higher the Original Gravity, the higher the alcohol content and the more full-bodied the beer. Initial Bittering Units (IBUs) are a measure of the amount of bittering alpha acids in your beer. At one end of the spectrum, you might find and American Standard Lager such as a Budweiser in the range of 5-20 IBUs. Samuel Adam’s Boston Lager might fall in the middle somewhere in the range of 20-40 IBUs and a heavily hopped Pale Ale such as the El Dorado Real Mountain Ale that we sent you last month was a whopping 58 IBUs. Hope that helps, Bill.

Woof!
Murl.

Food For Thought...

Ellie’s Beer-Becued Pork Ribs

Both Ellie and Murl agree with a unanimous "two paws way up" that this thick, fruity sauce based on plums, tomatoes, beer, and spices not only has genuine sinus-clearing qualities, but also beats the hell outta Kibbles and Bits or rawhide chewies. The well-balanced full flavor of this sauce complements pork so perfectly that it’s hard to imagine eating ribs without it. Bone Appetite!

• ¼ Cup butter, olive, or other vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced and mashed with 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pitted plums, fresh or canned, or whole cranberry sauce
• 12 ounces tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes in puree
• 12 ounces Ellie’s Brown Ale
• 2 large or 4 small beef or chicken bouillon cubes
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon bottled liquid smoke
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon each ginger, cayenne, crushed coriander seed, black pepper, cumin seed, and mustard seed
• 5-8 lbs. pork ribs, country-style, back or baby back
• freshly ground black pepper and allspice

In a small skillet melt butter and sauté onion on medium-low until limp and translucent. Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until onion is limp, set aside. In a blender or food processor, puree plums and tomato sauce until smooth. In a 3-quart pan heat beer to medium simmer and add bouillon cubes, stirring until dissolved. Add vinegar, liquid smoke, brown sugar, spices, sautéed onion, and plum-tomato mixture. Bring to a slow simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until very thick, 45 min. to 1 hr. Wipe ribs to remove fat and bone particles and keep whole to retain moisture. Sprinkle liberally with pepper and allspice. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Heat coals very hot and set grill close to them. Quickly sear ribs. Remove, raise grill to highest position, and place lightly oiled heavy-duty foil on grill. Puncture for ventilation. Place meat on greased foil, brush liberally with sauce, close lid, and cook until through and tender from 45-75 mins.

Source: The Great American Beer Cookbook, Candy Schermerhorn, Brewers Publications.

Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm

Sam: What’d you like, Normie?
Norm: A reason to live. Gimme a beer Sammy.

Styles Featured this Month

Saison

Saison is a term used to identify a style of beer largely produced in southern Belgium and not widely known outside that region. They were traditionally made a varying gravities to be served at family meals and generally have a medium body and an aggressive flavor profile. Saisons are crisp, tart beers that often have a characteristic orange color and refreshing carbonation. The name is another reminder that, before refrigeration, it was difficult to brew in warm weather - these beers were made to be kept and drunk in the summer season and although very flavorful, they are at the same time thirstquenching, sustaining, and excellent with food. Try them with spicy sausages, duck, or lamb with juniper berries.

English Brown Ale

Back in the time when most beers were darker (1920’s), Newcastle presented their reddish brown ale to compete with the Pale Ales of the day. This style has proven so enduring that it has sparked many copycats and has lead to the emergence of a new style. These nuttier Brown ales are very different from the older brown ales from the London area, which are lower in alcohol, darker and sweeter. English Brown Ales range from deep copper to brown in color. They generally have a medium body, and a dry to sweet maltiness dominates with very little hop flavor or aroma. Fruity ester flavors are appropriate. Diacetyl should be very low, if evident. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures.

Foods that complement English Brown Ales nicely include: nutty stuffings, nutty crisp salads, cheesy salads, and apple pie. American Amber/Red Ale Amber/Red Ales are an emerging style with may varied definitions. American Amber Ales range from light copper to light brown in color. Amber Ales are characterized by American varietal hops and to some connoisseurs should be used to produce high hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. Others believe that Ambers should be defined more by malt than by hops. Amber Ales have medium to high maltiness with medium to low caramel character. They should have medium body. The style may have low levels of fruity-ester flavor and aroma. Try an American Amber/Red Ale with chicken wings!

Beer Takes on Heart Disease

A recent study has found that dark beer may be very similar to red wine in its ability to reduce the risk of heart disease. More specifically, researchers found that dark beer inhibited the oxidation of cholesterol, one of the primary mechanisms by which red wine is believed to reduce the risk of heart disease. The connection between oxidized cholesterol and heart disease is that when cholesterol is oxidized, there’s a much greater chance it will end up in the arterial wall. Consequently, if you can reduce the oxidation of blood cholesterol, you can minimize one of the primary risk factors of heart disease.

So how does dark beer help reduce cholesterol oxidation, you say? Good question. Although the difference in taste and appearance between dark beer and red wine are striking, they both contain high amounts of polyphenols - substances that not only give foods such as fruit and vegetables their color, but also posses antioxidant properties much like vitamin C and E and beta-carotene. Typically, the darker the food, the greater the amount of polyphenols. Dark beer, for example, has a higher polyphenol content than green apples; and red wine has 10-15 times more polyphenols than white wine. In practical terms, the greater the amount of polyphenols, the greater the health benefits, although there are differences among the various polyphenols. So the next time your about to put down some serious chicken wings and fries, consider combating those nasty deep fried buggers with a hearty stout, porter, or brown ale!

Brew Lingo

Jacob’s ladder - A ladder-like conveyor for transporting ale casks from the cellar to the brewery or pub.

Lady’s waist - In Ireland or Australia, a beer glass with a capacity of about 3 1/2 ounces.

Lautering - The process of separating the spent grains from the sweet wort with a straining apparatus. From the German lauter meaning clarifying.

Prohibition era - Thirteen years, ten months and eighteen days of pure hell.

Resin scum - The brownish substance found on the froth of beer during primary fermentation.

Zymology - The science or study of fermentation. Syn: Zymurgy.

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