Past Newsletters

Vol. 6 No. 8

Brewery	Beers Featured
The Henry Ortlieb Brewing Company	Dock St. Amber Ale
The Henry Ortlieb Brewing Company	Dock St. Extra Best Pale Ale (IPA)
Casco Brewing Company	Katahdin Red Ale
Old Dominion Brewing Company	Old Dominion Stout

The Henry Ortlieb Brewing Company

The Henry Ortlieb Brewing Company has a family history of brewing in Philadelphia that dates back four generations. It was Henry Ortlieb’s great-grandfather Trupert who founded the brewery in the 1850’s after leaving Germany.

Before Trupert could begin using the craft he had learned back in Germany, he had another matter that required his attention. Trupert enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and came out a decorated hero. Once he was done fighting, Trupert moved to Philadelphia, opened a tavern, and began brewing using his family’s secret recipe. In 1869, Trupert founded the Ortlieb Brewery on the site where lager was first introduced to the United States by John Wagner in 1840.

Four generations later, Henry re-opened a portion of the original brewery in 1997 to house Henry Ortlieb’s Brewery which produces the Dock Street line of beers. Dock Street is the region’s most successful microbrewed beer, and one of the most respected in the country. Winner of five Gold Medals at "Monde Selection" in Brussels, Belgium, Dock Street continues to brew with a vision of producing a better glass of beer and a mission to elevate beers’ status and appreciation. We know you’re gonna love these beers!

Dock St. Amber Ale

Serving Temperature: 38-42° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.2° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 27.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%

Dock Street Amber Ale is brewed with a combination of two row pale and caramel malts. The brewery uses American Cascade hops in 2 additions during the boil to give the beer its big floral hop nose. Immediately note a wonderfully huge hop nose that screams Cascade! We found the flavor to be complex, offering a pleasant fruitiness and sweet maltiness that is balanced well with the Cascade hop bitterness. It’s full-bodied and damn tasty! Enjoy!

Dock St. Extra Best Pale Ale (IPA)

Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 14.0° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 28.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%

Dock Street’s Extra Best Pale Ale is appropriately named. We really liked this IPA-style beer. It’s made with 2 row Harrington pale, Caramel, Munich, Carapils, and Chocolate malts. A bit of malted wheat is added as well primarily to increase head retention. The brewery hops this bad boy with both Cascade and East Kent Golding hops. The Dock Street Extra Best Pale Ale is brewed in the tradition of the great English Ales of Burton on Trent. It has explosive hop flavor that is offset by malt flavors. There is a pleasant dryness and an estery, floral-like aroma. Overall, we really liked this beer!

Casco Brewing Company

Located in Portland, Maine, Casco Bay Brewing was born on the coast of Maine in 1994 by two guys who know a thing or two about brewing great beer. Mike La Charite and Bob Wade, the owners of Casco Bay Brewing, are both well-regarded home brewers and have served as judges at competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival.

Mike, who serves as President and Head Brewer, is an award winning homebrewer, Certified National Beer Judge, homebrew instructor and founder of the largest homebrew club in Maine, the Maine Ale and Lager Tasters (M.A.L.T.). Michael is also a graduate of the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago, which is also known as the U.S. Brewers Academy. Suffice to say… the lads take our favorite malted nectar fairly seriously! Mike and Bob are two guys who believe in staying close to their roots. Each year they take everyone who helps out at the brewery up to Mt. Katahdin for a few days of hiking, white water rafting, and of course, beer drinking. For those of you who think that working at Casco Bay sounds like a dream job, we can’t argue with you.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (207) 797-2020 or check out their web site at www.cascobaybrewing.com.

Katahdin Red Ale

Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 14.3° Plato
Final Gravity: 4.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 21.5
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%

Katahdin Red Ale is an Irish style ale. Very few examples of this style are available today. Here’s some history for ya. Approximately a long time ago in Ireland, several breweries would buy their grains from maltsters who were making specialty malts roasted to create deep, dark colored malts which in turn gave the beers a red hue. Casco Bay uses several of these dark malts including Munich, Carapils and Chocolate malts, some of which are imported from Belgium to give the beer its distinctive deep red color and rich, malty flavor. They also use a top fermenting ale yeast and long conditioning times to produce an ale that is very clean, crisp and complex. This red ale is hopped with Cluster, Cascade and Crystal hops in a combination that offers a pleasant spicy floral nose. Katahdin Red Ale has a reddish hue and a long lasting tan head with a nice lace running down the inside of the glass. The spicy and floral aroma of the beer comes from the use of a very aromatic hop variety.

Old Dominion Brewing Company

Jerry Bailey's homebrewing career ended when he started Old Dominion Brewing Company in 1990. His emphasis at Old Dominion has always been on making the best beer possible. Old Dominion has invested in the best brewing equipment, purchased the finest ingredients, and used the most appropriate brewing techniques to make world-class beers. "I don't know of a single thing we could do that we are not doing to make better beer," Jerry says.

Old Dominion sold their first beer in May 1990. By 1992 they were selling about 6,000 barrels of beer a year and they have continued to grow every year since then. They now have seventeen full-time employees: a brew master, a brewing engineer, four brewers, two brewery representatives, three delivery persons, a production supervisor, three production assistants, an office manager, and the company president.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (703) 724-9100 or check out their web site at www.olddominion.com.

Old Dominion Stout

Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 10.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 4.7° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 22.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.7%

Old Dominion Stout is brewed with a combination of 2-row pale, Carapils, Chocolate, & Caramel malts. Jerry hops this tasty treat with Perle hops up front to add a slight bitterness and then later with Willamette hops for their aromatic contributions. Immediately note a deep rich roasted nose indicative of the full-flavored, creamy dark brew that is to follow. Old Dominion’s Stout is brewed in the style of an Irish cream stout. The complex flavor is mellow and well balanced, with chocolate and coffee notes throughout. You’re gonna love it!

Ask Murl

Dear Murl,

I went into a bar the other night and asked for a black and tan. The bartender said he would give it to me but wanted to let me know that the Guinness doesn't float on top. I never bothered to ask why because I was under the impression that Guinness always floats to the top when mixed w/bass. Can you give a possible explanation as to why Guinness would not float?

Christina Manney
Chicago, IL

Yo Christina!

Well, for starters, because your bartender is a LAMO… that should restricted to tasks such as placing the beans in a Taco Bell Burrito Supreme or perhaps folding napkins in a not-too-complex pattern as he obviously has a severely limited knowledge on the art of pouring a proper Black and Tan. Really! This kind of stuff gets my furred standing on end. I get all frothy and bothered when I hear that there’s a clueless lass or laddy, there to serve good, hard working patrons such as yourself, masquerading as a bartender and spreading disinformation about my favorite malted beverage! And in Chicago of all places. Do you know another city with more Micks in it than Chicago. The Irish would be ashamed. Truly ashamed.

In any case my dear Christina, If you mix Guinness and Bass the right way…it will indeed separate. If this delicate operation is performed incorrectly, it will take some time to separate and sometimes it will never happen. Here’s what you gotta do. Fill the glass half full with Bass Ale (Avoid a lot of head – advice I rarely give!), Next pour Guinness over a spoon slowly until the glass is full. The best spoon to use is one that has been bent, to allow the spoon to be placed closer to the Bass Ale. Hope that helps. Go show that "bartender" what’s up, will ya? I gotta trot. Got a slice of pizza stashed in the couch I need to get to.

Woof!
Murl.

Food For Thought...

Barbecued Old Dominion Pasta Sauce

• 6 medium tomatoes
• 1 green pepper
• 1 sweet red pepper
• 1 hot banana pepper (optional)
• 2 medium onions
• 2 Italian or Macedonian sausages (roughly 1 lb)
• 1 cup Old Dominion Stout
• 1 5-½-oz can tomato paste
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• ½ tbsp dried basil
• ½ tbsp parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Lengthwise halve the tomatoes peppers and onions and barbecue them, along with the sausages, on a medium flame until the vegetable skins are slightly charred and the sausages cooked. (The sausages may be parboiled in advanced of barbecuing if time is a consideration.) Remove the vegetables and sausages from the grill and allow them to cool until they can be comfortably handled.

Peel, core and crush the tomatoes in a medium-size pot and stir in the tomato paste and stout until you have a deep reddish-brown sauce. Mince the garlic and add it to the sauce along with the seasonings. Stir well. After peeling the onions and peppers, chop them and the sausages into medium-sized pieces (except the optional hot pepper, which should be finely diced) and add them to the pot. Simmer the sauce for at least 30 minutes, adding more stout as necessary and adjusting the seasonings to taste. Serve over al dente linguini or other pasta and WOW! you’re gonna be happy! Feeds 4-6 normal adults, 2 large dogs, or my little brother Jimmy.

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

Norm: The best beer is one within reach.

True Brew Facts

THE REAL BEER PAGE - Tsingtao to buy 3-5 breweries by year end. Tsingtao Brewery Co. of China plans to purchase three to five breweries by the end of the year to extend its distribution network and increase production. Chinese breweries are trying to boost output as the Chinese beer drinking market expands and competition increases. Foreign brands brewed in China, such as Budweiser and Asahi, have put more pressure on domestic brewers in the tough premium beer market. Tsingtao purchased Nanjizhou Brewery Group, Rongcheng Brewery and Anqiu Brewery earlier this year. At exactly what point did Budweiser enter the PREMIUM beer market?

BEER NOTES - World beer production in 1999 increased 1.6% from a year earlier to about 133 million kiloliters, up for the 14th consecutive year. The biggest five producing countries are the United States (up .05%), China up 5.3%), Germany (down 2.7%), Brazil (down 0.3%) and Japan (up 0.5%). Russia, eighth in output, showed the biggest growth rate of 24.6% thanks to increases in consumption among women and young people. Increases in areas such as China, Taiwan and Japan reflect growth of U.S. domestic brands such as Budweiser (perhaps the world's largest contract brewer) and international brands like Heineken that are brewed under contract license by beer manufacturers in those countries. Great…Now we’re gonna have to re-educate the entire world about good beer!

THE CELEBRATOR BEER NEWS - Although official statistics reported German beer sales were down another 2.6% in the first half of 1999, breweries indicated they are not particularly concerned. They said hot weather in July sent people flocking to the beer gardens and that they don't expect the slide to continue. German beer consumption has declined steadily in recent years. Still per capita consumption is 127 liters per year, with only Czech beer drinkers consuming more per capita. Erich Dederichs, spokesman for the Federation of German Brewers, said brewers are trying to woo back drinkers by offering specialties such as beer/lemonade mixtures and more outlandish concoctions such as beers brewed under a full moon. Erich needs to strongly reconsider her approach on the beer/lemonade thang!

ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEER NOTES - An Australian pub owner has been fined $20,000 (Australian) as a result of a drinking competition in his pub that caused the death of the winner. Allan Taylor, a 33-year-old computer technician, died after drinking 34 glasses of beer, four bourbons and 17 tequilas in 100 minutes in a Sydney bar in 1997. The courts learned that Taylor died within hours of the competition. A post-mortem revealed a level of 0.353 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, compared to the legal limit for driving of 0.05. The court fined Brian Whelan of the Strathfield Hotel because he failed to exercise his license in the public interest when his staff failed to stop Taylor from drinking. Wow. I’m at a loss for words. That’s a lot of booze.

A Look at Red Ales
By Alex Puchner

So what is a Red Ale, anyway? You could argue that the style originated in Belgium in the province of West Flanders. This region is known for its complex sweet and sour beer which is Burgundy red in color. The best of these red beers is Rodenbach, which is aged in oak caskets and can only be described as a masterpiece in the world of beer. But the Flemish red beers are so unique that they bear little resemblance to the "red ales" that are currently taking the American Microbrewing Industry by storm.

A much closer cousin to American red ales originated in North Ireland where a number of small breweries were known for their malty red-colored ales. Although red ales have largely disappeared in Ireland, one of its breweries licensed its name to the Coors Brewing Company which has been marketing George Killian’s Red in this country for many years. So perhaps we can give Coors credit for starting the American red ale renaissance in spite of the fact that their product is one of the blander interpretations of the style. What’s important here is that the style as we know it today has been reinvented and reshaped by American microbreweries and can now be considered a uniquely American style.

Then what are the characteristics of an "American Red Ale"? This is not an easy question. Keep in mind that the style is still evolving without any "classics" in the category for brewers to use as a model. So microbrewers’ interpretations run the gamut from bland to flavorful and malty sweet to hop bitter and everything in between. Many so-called "red" ales aren’t even close to being red in color. But if you examine some of the better red ales on the market you will find some common characteristics. Obviously, a red ale shouldn’t be amber or orange or brown in color, but rather should have a strikingly beautiful ruby or Burgundy red hue. It follows that it is this red color that defines its malt profile -- a rich caramel maltiness that includes slightly roasted and sometimes toasted overtones. Because of this malt intensity, red ales are typically medium-bodied and many are aggressively hopped to balance the malty sweetness.

Another way to look at American Red Ale as a style is to view it as a logical extension of the American Pale Ale/Amber Ale category. Specifically, American Red Ales lean toward a more intense malt character, while retaining the assertive hopping rate that is so characteristic of American Pale Ales and Amber Ales. But it should be noted that there are a number of excellent American Red Ales that offer a more "Irish" interpretation of the style which is less aggressively hopped to highlight the malt character of the beer. Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club has selected three exceptional red ales which will allow you to see for yourself how different brewmasters interpret this increasingly popular style.

About the Author: Alex Puchner is a certified AHA beer judge and current brewmaster for both the Huntington Beach Beer Co. and the Laguna Beach Brewing Co. He received his masters in Beer Appreciation in 1986 at the University of Chicago, teaches ongoing classes on beer appreciation at the brewpubs, and recently won a silver medal in the American Pale Ale category at the country’s largest annual beer recognition event, The Great American Beer Festival.

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