Past Newsletters
Vol. 4 No. 4
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Murphy's Creek Brewing Company | Deliverance Barley Wine |
| Buffalo Bill's Brewing Company | Billy Bock |
| San Andreas Brewing Company | Oktoberquake |
Murphy's Creek Brewing Company
Murphy’s Creek Brewing Co., located in Angles Camp, CA, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was founded in 1992 by Dan Ayala. The brewery itself is located on the banks of Murphy’s Creek, near the site of the original brewery established in 1848. The brewery uses a 12 barrel brewhouse and distributes in only 3 counties local to the brewery. Brewers Micah Millspaw and Ken Parsons began brewing their Deliverence Barley Wine in the summer of 1995 and soon thereafter it was named by a local homebrewer who, after first tasting it, proclaimed it to be an experience akin to the religious ecstasy. A quick glance at the label is all you need to know that the name took on its own refined definition over the years that obviously has nothing to do what so ever with any form of religion. The existing label is also a statement of the brewery’s sense of humor; note the sign posted and the hidden message in the mountain range. In any case, we’re confident that you too, will squeal like a pig, though hopefully in pure pleasure rather than discomfort, as you savor this truly exceptional beer.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (209) 736-BREW
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 24.3° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 55.0
Alcohol by Volume: 10.4%
"Danger Will Robinson: Approaching Excessively Original Gravity!" and "Now Entering High Alcohol Zone"
Deliverence Barley Wine is brewed with a combination of two-row Pale and imported Crystal malts. Micah uses Columbus and only Columbus hops in an aggressive kind of way to balance this big beer’s serious flavor profile. As you may have surmised, the beer is dry-hopped. A proprietary brewery-developed ale yeast strain is used. Deliverence is also open-fermented and long term temperature control aged to perfection before being bottled resulting in a smooth, easily drinkable Barley Wine. You may consider setting one bottle aside as, like the Imperial Stout we sent last month, this sweet nectar will only improve with age.
Notes From the Panel:
Immediately note a fruity, clean and hop spicy nose. Look for good head retention in this filtered, beautiful burgundy red, very full-bodied beer. This Barley wine has an intensely sweet start, a very clean malty body perfectly balanced with a mellow bitterness and a nice hop spicy finish. High alcohols are evident leaving you with a toasty feeling. Overall, a very smooth, perfectly balanced, and extremely flavorful American Barley Wine! We loved it. Six enthusiastic thumbs way up!
Buffalo Bill's Brewing Company
Bill Owens, the founder of Buffalo Bill’s Brewing Co., is considered to be one of the, if not the Founding father of the Microbrewing Renaissance. He was certainly one of the first pioneers contributing to the creation of the "brewpub" concept as he opened one of the first in the country, Buffalo Bills Brewery, in late 1983. Since that time, he made use of his original career as a photojournalist by founding two of the beer industries better periodicals, BEER: The Magazine, and The American Brewer. BEER, the Magazine was intended more for beer lovers, aficionados and fanatics, and was written in a flamboyant and colorful style, not dissimilar to Bill’s personality. It is unfortunately currently on the seller’s block as Bill seeks to focus on The American Brewer which is more of a trade publication. Bill entered the industry, as many brewers do, as a homebrewer and also brews Alimony Ale, Pumpkin Ale, Tasmanian Devil Ale and Diaper Pale Ale in addition to the Bock beer we are featuring this month.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (510) 538-9500 or check out their web site at www.ambrew.com.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 18.3° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 25.0
Alcohol by Volume: 7.3%
Billy Bock is brewed with a combination of two row-Pale, Munich, Caramel and Chocolate malts. Bill uses Cluster hops up front during the 90 min. boil to balance the beer’s natural maltiness and two additions of Mt. Hood hops later in the boil for their aromatic contributions. A proprietary yeast strain cultivated from both lager and ale yeast strains, is used.
Notes From the Panel:
Look for a predominantly big malty and slightly fruity hop nose with some traces alcohol evident. Note great head retention in this filtered, ruby-red, medium-to-full-bodied beer. Billy Bock starts with an intensely sweet, rich, malty flavor and ends slightly dry. Overall, one of best American interpretations of a traditional Bock that we’ve ever had. Enjoy!
San Andreas Brewing Company
Located in the sleepy agricultural town of Hollister, California, the San Andreas Brewing Co. was founded in 1988 by Brewmaster/Owner, Bill Millar. The brewer sits on several earthquake faults and Hollister is the site of a primary earthquake research center for the U.S. Geological Survey, hence the brewery’s name. Bill brews with a 15 barrel brewhouse and makes use of 9 fermenters and 8 storage tanks at the brewery/brewpub. Pubfare at the brewery includes Icelandic cod, calamari, fresh shark, burgers, nachos (rated in hotness on the Richter scale), and fresh beer bread baked daily. Hand-crafted sodas include Sarsaparilla, Ginger Beer, and Cream Soda, all brewed on site.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (408) 637-7074
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 13.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%
Oktoberquake is brewed with a combination of two-row Pale, Munich, and Crystal malts. Bill adds both Tettnanger and Mt. Hood hops 20 min. into the 70 min. boil and then both hops again 20 min. before the boil ends. Unlike a traditional Marzen style Oktoberfest beer, San Andreas’ interpretation of this festive style is an ale not a lager.
Notes From the Panel:
Immediately note a sweet, very malty nose as the style would call for. Note good head retention in this, amber, filtered, medium-bodied ale. Look for a clean predominantly malty flavor profile with a mild use of hops to balance out this flavorful beer. Oktoberquake finishes with a slight spicy hop note and leaves you wanting another taste. Overall, a clean, flavorful, very drinkable, and unique interpretation of this seasonal style.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Sam: Hey Norm. How’s life been treating you?
Norm: Like a baby treats a diaper, Sammy. Gimme a beer.
Commander McBrew & "Doc" Battle the Amazon Monkey Man
There are several ways that a person can cross Brazil from east to west. A flight from Leticia, where the Columbian, Peruvian and Brazilian boarders meet, to Manaus, a well-developed city in the heart of the Amazon, takes less than an hour. But no self-respecting explorer worth his salt would take the easy out when one could travel as the natives do, in a large cargo boat that followed the Amazon River itself. There were two water beasts, both docked a little ways off the shoreline. It was a long, muddy trip to the first boat. Worty, my faithful comrade in consumption and travel, and I crossed a number of wooden planks set in the mud in order to reach it. As our Spanish skills accommodated us little in Portugese-speaking Brazil, we resorted to drawing pictures and pantomiming our intentions to the point that we were convinced we had secured a place on the boat, leaving that night for Manaus.
The boat itself was fairly large, maybe 80 ft. or more in length. There were 3 levels to the vessel. The 1st was completely packed with hundreds of cases of Brazil's finest brew, Antarctica Beer, enough of it for Wortly and I to never seriously consider the second boat. The next level consisted of living and eating areas while the top deck was nothing more than a roof that one could stand on.
Three hours into the first day, Worty and I concluded it high time to determine just how to get one of those 600 ml Antarcticas in our possession. When attempting to simply buy one, we found to our dismay that they were not indeed for sale. Thinking quickly, I bartered a small collection of Charlie’s Angels collectors baseball cards acquired for just such emergencies with a shifty deck hand for an unlimited four day supply of suds. After all, a Commander must by definition be resourceful in nature. With a couple of cool ones in hand, we headed for the roof, our soon to be designated point of collaboration and inebriation. As Wortly headed down for our 2nd round, an older gentleman approached me with two "tall boys". He sat down, Indian style, directly across from me, his eyes sparkling as he handed me the two beers and three packs of cigarettes. I tried to explain in broken Spanish that my friend was on his way back up with a round, but the message was never received. "Doc", as we later dubbed him, was very strong and liked to give a good, firm handshake on the average of one per minute. We would shake hands after each communication failure as if to say, "I have no idea what you are trying to tell me, but I think you're all right and we'll keep trying". Wortly returned and we continued to try and communicate with the Doc. He showed us the book he was reading. It looked to be the equivalent of a 7th grade health class book. It had many different anatomical diagrams, photos of various diseases and other medical related illustrations. It had A LOT of illustrations. Doc showed us many of the pages, muttering this and that as if he were explaining something of critical importance to us. He showed us a photo of a naked woman, displaying some form of skin irritation. While narrating this particular photo, the Doc's voice took on a lighter, less serious tone. He smiled a lot. He managed to convey to us that he was studying this book so that he may someday practice medicine and hence his newly acquired nickname.
My nocturnal fantasies of scantily clad Amazonian tribeswomen eagerly awaiting my approval of their latest batch of Jungle Stout were rudely interrupted at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. when the breakfast bell ran out resoundingly. Each morning at the same time, some Brazilian cabin boy beat the hell out of his bell as if pissed off that he had to get up to make breakfast and retaliating by ensuring that all rose with him. By six o'clock, more than half of the boat was permanently up and moving around as if they had somewhere to be, or better yet, something to do.
Time became incidental after a few days on the river, marked by dawn, dusk and meals. There really wasn't much to do at any point in time on the boat. I had a choice of several activities. Reading a book was always a good option. Lounging in the hammock to travel tunes while gazing at the river, another winner. Other than that, there were only the basic needs of Maslow's hierarchy of self-actualization to fulfill; eating, going to the bathroom and meeting Doc on the roof for a beer.
The boat made frequent stops throughout the day and night once we were underway, mostly in small towns and villages to drop off beer supplies, perhaps a few letters and then load bananas to be sold in Manaus. Often the entire town would come to meet us at the shoreline to watch the activity. It appeared that there was about as much to do on the shore of the river as there was to do on our boat. It disturbed us that our beer supply was rapidly diminishing and being replaced with bananas; they weren't even ripe yet.
On the morning of the second day on the river, a man boarded carrying two banana leaf, woven baskets, each with a small monkey tethered inside. He was apparently bringing them to Manaus to sell. That day, we witnessed this microbe of a man burning one of the now screaming monkeys with a cigarette to amuse his friends. Intolerable. Blastfamy. Unacceptable. He had to be stopped. Thinking quickly, I had Doc invite the man to the roof to share a 5 gallon gourd of 3 year old Imperial Stout I had brewed in Bombay and was planning to barter in Manaus for our passage to Carnaval. It was deceptively smooth hooch, an unnoticeable 15.6 % alcohol by volume. I first considered drinking the snake into a stupor as we have done to our foe in many similar situations and then reconsidered and simply knocked him upside his underdeveloped cranium with the gourd while Worty caught his glass never spilling a drop. The time had come to free the monkeys. We cut the tethers and tossed our pawed pals to the shore, but not before allowing them both to urinate on their previous keeper’s head. When he awoke, he barely recalled the wild monkey attack as we described it and how the two escaped after rendering him unconscious. He most likely knew that we had something to do with the escape. We were the only gringos on the boat and I don't believe that the locals shared the same enthusiasm for the rights of a jungle monkey.
Our third night marked Wortly’s 39th birthday. We celebrated the evening by purchasing Doc and several newly acquired friends numerous rounds of Antarcticas. At one point, we struck common ground and found ourselves singing the first verse of "We are the World" over and over again. Doc was extremely pleased that he could make an attempt to speak our language. I wonder if he knew what he was saying or had any grasp whatsoever of the meaning to the lyrics. I found it ironic, but I may have been the only one.
The following morning we landed in the port of Manaus slightly hungover, but most certainly having reached a new level of bonded friendship with our Brazilian friends. We were satisfied in knowing we’d chosen the right form of travel. It had been time well-spent, we had learned how to communicate without the benefit of a language with the assistance of our favorite malted beverage, improved the quality of life for at least two Brazilian monkeys, and secured the lifetime services of a local physician-to-be deep in the heart of the Amazon. So we got that going for us ... which is nice.
About the author: Commander McBrew has devoted his very existence to the exploration of foreign cultures and their malt beverages. He has traveled in over 109 countries, single-handedly saved himself and entire civilizations in at least 73 documented occurrences, and has consumed no less than 4,450 gallons of 2,156 different beers. He offers The Brew Harvest Review a dimension of worldliness through his varied and slightly exaggerated beers tales from abroad.
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