Past Newsletters
Vol. 4 No. 3
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Hangtown Brewing Company | Placerville Ale |
| Southern California Brewing Company | Screaming Lobster Lager |
| Southern California Brewing Company | Southern California Blonde |
Hangtown Brewing Company
The city of Placerville, once known as "Hangtown" derived its name soon after James Marshall discovered flecks of gold in the trail race of his sawmill located on the banks of the American River. The news spread rapidly and soon more than a thousand men were working the camp near the original site which was known then as Dry Diggins because the miners had to cart the dry soil down to the running water to wash out the gold. But not all newcomers were interested in gathering their share of the plentiful wealth by such back-breaking labor. Murders and robberies became frequent in isolated camps and after one such incident in early 1849, an impromptu citizens' jury met to consider the fate of three accused. The jury wasted little time reaching a verdict and quickly decided to hang the men. Word spread quickly and soon, Dry Diggins was known as Hangtown. By 1854, Hangtown was the 3rd largest city in California and as a prospering city, so came pressure to determine a less morbid name for it. It was promptly renamed Placerville in the same year. In 1993 the Hangtown Brewery was established as a 15 barrel brew house in a 500 sq./ft. shop behind the home of its founder and accoladed homebrewer, David Coody. On June 10th, the brewery moved into its current location in the heart of historic Placerville. The brewery is an entirely family run business and currently produces three Ales. David has plans to introduce a wheat beer as well as a tangerine beer. Hangtown's tasting room is open 7 days a week and is located at 560 A Placerville Dr., across from Noah's Ark.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (916) 621-3999.
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: N/A
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
Placerville Pale Ale is brewed with 88% two row Breiss pale malts and the remaining 12 % with crystal malts which enhance the beer's body and color. Hangtown hops Placerville Pale Ale at three separate times, once at the beginning of the boil with Chinook hops, again half way through the boil with Cascade hops, and finally just prior to the whirlpool again with Cascade hops. The use of the Cascade hops both during the boil and at the finish give Placerville its pleasant fruity, floral nose and slightly bitter finish.
Southern California Brewing Company
The Southern California Brewing Company was founded on July 1st, 1988 in Torrance, California. From its modest beginning only seven years ago, the brewery has grown to a capacity of 10,000 barrels of beer per year. Although you may have seen SCBC's popular Ole Red Eye Red Ale sold in your neighborhood, we feel confident that you haven't tried either of their two latest creations that we are featuring this month. The samples of both SCBC's Screaming Lobster Lager and Southern California Blonde Lager come from the first bottled runs on the breweries newly introduced beers.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 13.0° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: N/A
Alcohol by Volume: 4.0%
Screaming Lobster Lager is brewed with four different two row barley malts. Eighty-five percent of the malts used are pales malts, 14% are Munich and other body malts providing the beer's sweetness, and the last 1 % are roasted malts which give the beer its golden color. Screaming Lobster is hopped both at the beginning of the boil and 45 minutes into it with Hersbrucker hops imported from the Hallertau region in Northern Bavaria. The beer is mashed using a graduated step method and the finished, unpasteurized product is naturally carbonated. Like many screaming lobsters, this one spends some time in a large stainless steel tank. In a sense it is also being "cooked" as it ferments for ten days in automatic temperature controlled tanks before being lagered or conditioned for four weeks. It is then filtered and bottled or kegged.
Notes From the Panel:
Look for a malty, sweet medium-bodied taste in this American lager. Screaming Lobster has a dryer finish than its lighter, Blonde counterpart.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: N/A
Alcohol by Volume: 3.0%
It was the intent of the Southern California Brewing Company to produce a premium microbrewed light lager when it began development of its Southern California Blonde recipe. The beer, which is brewed with all pales malts, has approximately 30 % less calories and 25 % less alcohol content than the rest of the brewery's product line. Southern California Blonde is also hopped with imported Hersbrucker hops twice during the boil, although in lesser quantities than the proportions used in Screaming Lobster. The beer is also mashed using a graduated step method and the finished, unpasteurized product is naturally carbonated.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Woody: How's it going Mr. Peterson?
Norm: It's a dog eat dog world, Woody, and I'm wearing Milk-bone
underwear!
True Brew Facts
365 BEERTIME STORIES - The Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, describes the creation of the world in 200 verses but it uses 400 verses to describe the origins of beer.
ULTIMATE BOOK OF BEER TRIVIA - W.C. Fields was once overheard to say, "Once, during Prohibition, I was force to live for days on nothing but food and water."
USA TODAY - Beer cost $14 a pint at the 1994 Winter Olympics, so the German team brought 30,000 liters of their own under the banner of "diplomatic baggage" to protect it from customs scrutiny.
BEER: THE MAGAZINE - French designer Christian Louboutin has introduced a woman's patent leather pump whose heel is a tin can of Guinness Stout. Whether you spend your $450 on the shoes or approximately 130 pints of Guinness is entirely up to you.
A Primer on Beer Styles©
By Steve Johnson
Beer, like wine, has its styles. In fact, most Americans are surprised to learn that there are more than two dozen major beer styles. Once we add in the classes and sub-classes, the number reaches more than fifty. If you are beginning to get the feeling that this is a complex subject, you are right. In fact, several books have even been devoted to individual styles. The object of this article is to unlock the mystery of beer styles in as painless a fashion as possible.
There are two basic families of beers: Ale and Lager. Ales are more typical of the British Isles, lagers of Germany and Czechoslovakia. Ales are made with a yeast which floats to the top of the beer and which works at warmer temperatures than lagers. The brewing process is shorter for an ale than it is for a lager. Because of the shorter and warmer fermentation and conditioning time, ales tend to have a fresher aroma and palate, with a unique fruitiness or yeastiness to them. Lagers tend to be smoother tasting and less aggressive in their character. Note that these are generalities. Regardless of the yeast used, a brewer can brew a very smooth ale or very robust lager. The American brewing renaissance has been for the most part, a revival of ales. This is because of the hearty flavor characteristics of an ale, and because it is more economical to brew an ale, due to their shorter fermentation/conditioning cycle.
Following are definitions of half of the major classes of ales:
Alt - This is an amber-to-dark traditional ale made in Germany. It predates lager, which developed in the early nineteenth century. The name "alt" was applied to this type of beer because, once lager became popular, it was the old style of beer. The German word "Alt" translates to "old". It is still popular in Dusseldorf and a few other locales. Barley Wine: A very potent ale, usually full-bodied, dark, and bitter-sweet. Its strength is typically between 6% and 11% alcohol by volume (the "wine" implies that it is as strong as wine.)
Bitter - A well-hopped, relatively bitter-tasting ale common to England. The term originated to distinguish the "old" unhopped ales from hopped ales. Bitter is usually served on draft and is amber-to-copper in color. There are various subcategories of bitter depending on their strength. These include Ordinary, Special, and Extra Special Bitter (ESB). Do not offend the English by calling it "bitters."
Blonde Ale - A pale, light-bodied ale. Also called a golden ale.
Brown Ale - A dark brown ale. There are four subgroups, based on geographic regions: those produced in southern England, which are sweet and relatively low in alcohol and hop bitterness; those produced in northeast England, which are drier, but still weak and low in hop bitterness; those produced in Belgium, which are stronger and more complex; and those produced in America, which are more hoppy than English varieties. English brown ales are equivalent to the bottled versions of mild ales.
Cream Ale - A pale, light bodied ale which is lagered at cold temperatures or mixed with lager. Sometimes called a "lager pale" or "lagale."
Kolsch - A type of blonde ale brewed in and around Cologne, Germany. It tends to be delicate, dry, and fruity. The word "Kolsch" originated from "Cologne."
Lambic - A well-carbonated, spontaneously-fermented wheat ale, very popular in Belgium. There are several varieties, including fruit lambic (kriek- made with cherries, framboise-made with raspberries and peche-made with peaches), Faro (a sweet version), and Gueuze (a blend of mature and young lambics).
Mild Ale - A lightly hopped ale. They are also frequently dark in color and low in alcohol.
About the Author: Steve has traveled more than 70,000 miles throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland and Belgium searching for good beer and researching several publications: On Tap: Guide to North American Brewpubs (2 separate guides dedicated to pubs both east and west of the Mississippi). In 1987, he began writing and publishing the World Beer Review, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to the pursuit of good beer.
For more information about On Tap publications or the World Beer Review, contact Steve at 803-654-3360 or write to him at P.O. Box 71, Clemson, SC 29633.
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