Past Newsletters
Vol. 7 No. 6
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Pipkin Brewing Company | Pipkin Blonde Ale |
| Pipkin Brewing Company | Pipkin India Pale Ale |
| Crooked River Brewing Company | Crooked River Robust Porter |
| Crooked River Brewing Company | Crooked River Select Lager |
Pipkin Brewing Company
According to Peter Guetig and Conrad Selle, authors of a book on Louisville Breweries, the city's first brewers included immigrants from the British Isles and, later, German speaking immigrants from southern Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace-Lorraine. These forerunners brought German styles of beer, particularly lager beer, and dominated the local brewing industry in the late 1850's. At the turn of the century, a Louisville beer drinker could pick from over twenty local breweries. That all ended in 1987 when the last of the Louisville breweries closed its doors for good. And now, the Pipkin Brewing Co. is reviving Louisville's local brewing heritage.
Founder, Paul Hummer was 15 yrs old when his father opened the family's first microbrewery - in the basement of the family house. Although not a commercial venture, this early exposure to homebrewing proved to be a turning point in Paul's life. Upon graduation from High School, Paul enrolled at the University of California at Davis where he majored in brewing studies. Following graduation, Paul worked for 4 yrs at the Weeping Radish Brewery in NC. Paul and his wife, Sophie, then relocated to Louisville, KY to launch Pipkin Brewing. The name of the brewery comes from Paul's favorite barley, Pipkin, which typically displays an intense biscuit and malt flavor. The backbone of every Pipkin brew is this exceptional barley malt, a traditional variety rarely employed due to its high cost. "The Pipkin malts lend a depth of flavor to the beers which can only be achieved with superior raw ingredients," notes Paul.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 15.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 30.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Pipkin Blonde ale is brewed with entirely with two row Pipkin pale malts. Paul uses Northern Brewer hops up front for their spicy flavor contributions and German Hallertauer hops at the end of the boil for their aromatic characteristics. Pipkin Blonde Ale, a straw colored pale ale, is brewed in the tradition of a pale German lager and is modeled after the German Helles style. Look for a slightly spicy hop nose and a pale maltiness evident in the nose. Note a somewhat sweet pale malt character dominating this well-balanced, deep golden, filtered ale. Pipkin Blonde ends clean and crisp. Overall, a refreshing, clean session beer.
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 16.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 4.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 50.0
Alcohol by Volume: 6.2%
Pipkin's IPA is brewed with a combination of two row Pipkin pale and dark Crystal malts. This deep garnet colored beer is brewed in the tradition of English IPA's. Look for a sweet, floral nose, fragrant and full of hops which gives you a clue as to what's to come. You should pick up some toffee and rich caramel flavors in this medium-to-full-bodied beer, as well as a big dose of those wonderful Washington Cascade hops. Look for a long hoppy finish, typical for this style. Consider pairing it up with any spicy food, or pub food such as nachos, burgers, or wings.
Crooked River Brewing Company
Crooked River Brewing Company is a full-fledged, production microbrewery located in the heart of "the flats" in Cleveland, Ohio. Although a few brewpubs were already in operation locally, Crooked River is the first production and bottling brewery to operate in Cleveland since the Christian Schmidt brewery closed its doors for good in 1984. Cleveland once boasted more than thirty local breweries, but one by one the hometown brewers disappeared. Famous brands like Carling Black Label, P.O.C., Standard and Black Forest once called Cleveland home. Sadly, that great era is long gone, but Crooked River Brewing Company is leading the way in the rebirth of the Cleveland Brewing tradition. Crooked River takes its name from the Cuyahoga River, which winds its way through Cleveland. "Cuyahoga" actually means "Crooked River" in the Native American tongue of the Mohawk Indian tribe.
Master Brewer Stephan Danckers and his partner Stuart Sheridan began nurturing the idea of The Crooked River Brewing Company in 1992. They wasted no time finding investors, forming the company and designing bottle labels. The real challenge was finding a home for the brewery. By 1993, arrangements were made to convert the old Scottish Tool and Die building at 1101 Center Street into the new 6000 barrel Crooked River microbrewery. If anyone was up for the challenge it was Brewmaster Stephan Danckers. His brewing credentials include a Masters degree in Brewing Science and technology from the University of California-Davis. Further, Danckers received a Fulbright Scholarship to Brewing Faculty at the University of Munich at Weihenstephan, Germany. In June 1994, Danckers began brewing the first test batches of beer in Crooked River's new 30-barrel brew kettle. He brewed 12 test batches of pale ale before finally settling on a suitable formula for the brewery's first brand, Crooked River ESB.
Today, Crooked River offers 6 year-round styles and five seasonal brands under the Crooked River name. The company also brews special house brands for Cleveland's Jacobs Field and Browns Stadium. Both of the Crooked River beers featured this month have won numerous awards including Silver Medals at both the 2000 Great American Beer Festival and Nittany Valley Brewer's Cup for the Porter and a rating of "Highly Recommended" for the Lager by the Beverage Testing Institute in both 1999 and 2000. We know you're going to enjoy them!
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (216) 771-BEER
Serving Temperature: 47-52° F
Original Gravity: 14.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 4.1° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 34.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%
Crooked River's Robust Porter is brewed with a combination of two row pale, chocolate and caramel malts. Stephen hops this tasty treat with Yakima hops for their bittering characteristics and Cascade for both their aromatic and bittering qualities. We found this Ale to be a deep, dark English style Porter with a distinct malty sweetness. It has a dark brown hue and well roasted malt flavors on the palate. Look for it to be medium-bodied and while unusual for a Porter, it has citrusy accents on the nose most likely from the Cascade hops. You will also notice notes of grapefruit and cascade hops in the finish. Overall, a very drinkable Porter and worthy of its many accolades.
Serving Temperature: 42-47° F
Original Gravity: 13.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.3° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 24.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Brewed with two row pale, munich and Vienna malts, Crooked River's Select Lager is stored at cold temperatures for 3 months to achieve an extremely clean finish and allow the flavors of the malt and hops to mellow and marry. Here, Stephen hops with classic Czechoslovakian Saaz (used frequently in some of the world's greatest pilsners) and Hallertau hops for their aromatic contributions. We found it deep reddish-amber in color, medium-bodied and mildly bitter. Look for a somewhat fruity palate and a fair amount of caramel maltiness, balanced nicely with a floral hop character. The finish is dry and crisp. Overall, a very refreshing beer that would help cool down spicy foods.
Ask Murl
Dear Murl,
I've tried to research this one in several places and come up with Bupkus! So I'm thinking the Ole Malty Dog might be able to help as he's pulled off some tough ones in the past. So here goes. For quite some time now, I've been looking for an old Hamm's Beer sign. I'm guessing it's from the 60's or so. It's the one has a rotating scene that scrolls across the sign. You know, like a river and waterfall or something. I even think there was a campfire with moving smoke! It just kind of changed scenes too I think. I saw one the other day in this great dive bar off the beaten path in a pretty dicey neighborhood and offered the bartender $150 for it and he wasn't having any! Any idea what I'm talking about or better yet, where I can get one of these classics?
Fred Stagman
West Chicago, IL
Yo Stag Man!
Great name pal! You going alone tonight, man? Yeah, I figured as much. Stagger Man would have been better though. So you're from "Wego", eh? Don't know if you knew it, but I grew up in Wheaton and Glen Ellen. 'Bout the only thing I remember about West Chicago was kicking your ass in football every year in High School! Go Wolverines! Sure, I was just the waterdog, but I had other important team functions as well…Like running over to the other team's sidelines and sniffing their coaches crotches at critical decision points in the game so as to both distract them and publicly humiliate them.
I know the sign you're talking about. It's great! I need one too! Classic stuff. We had one in our house in college over the bar. Spent many a late night sitting in the Lazy Boy with a bag of Dorritos in one paw and half a brew in the other, completely mesmerized by that waterfall. They first came out just about the time television was making its way into bars and since T.V. was just in black & white, the idea was to create this sort of non-stop color commercial. Hamms, Storz and G. Heileman and other Midwest and Plains brewers issued signs with this kind of rolling scenery. Try the Kane County Flea Market! I bet you'll round one up there. If not, go to Ebay or one of the other big auction web sites. And if you find a couple for under a $100 bones (literally), let me know.
Woof!
Murl.
Food For Thought...
Crooked River Ale Meatloaf
- 1 19-oz can of stewed tomatoes
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 egg
- 1-½ cup cornflakes
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup Crooked River Porter
Place the stewed tomatoes into a sieve and gently mash them with a wooden spoon, releasing all their juices into a bowl beneath the sieve and saving the liquid for other uses. Put the mashed tomatoes into a large bowl and, using your hands, mix in all the ingredients except for the beer. When everything is thoroughly mixed, add the ale and thoroughly mix it in. Place the mixture into a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 F (180 C). Feeds 6 adults, 8 hungry shiatsus, or my neighbor, Bill.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Coach: How about a beer, Norm?
Norm: That's that amber sudsy stuff, right? I've heard good
things about it!
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