Past Newsletters
Vol. 8 No. 1
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Hook & Ladder Brewing Company | Backdraft Brown Ale |
| Hook & Ladder Brewing Company | Grassfire Wheat Ale |
| Smuttynose Brewing Company | Smuttynose White Ale |
| Smuttynose Brewing Company | Smuttynose Robust Porter |
Hook & Ladder Brewing Company
Sometimes it just takes a little fire under your you-know-what to get something accomplished. That's exactly what happened to Hook & Ladder owner, Rich Fleischer.
A former volunteer firefighter in Maryland, Fleischer started homebrewing after moving to California eight years ago only to find a burgeoning brewing scene. While opening a brewery was not his original motivation for moving to California, he quickly set his sights on honoring the men and women who risk their lives daily by brewing and naming his beers under the Hook & Ladder name.
The brewery was just a concept in 1998, but by the end of 1999, the Hook & Ladder Brewing Company had served its first beer! Located in Oakland, they are in the heart of the Northern California brewing scene.
All of Hook & Ladder's brews follow the firefighting theme, with Backdraft Brown and Grassfire Wheat as their flagship beers.
Serving Temperature: 44-49° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.2° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 38.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.0%
Backdraft Brown is brewed with 2-row malted barley, caramel and black patent specialty malt and hopped exclusively with Cascade hops. A savory beer, it is medium-bodied, well balanced, and slightly roasted. A very experienced palate will notice the Cascade hops, but most will concentrate on the maltiness of this beer. There is a soft roasted malt finish that leaves you longing for the next sip.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.8° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.5° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 14.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Grassfire Wheat is brewed with a combination of two row pale malts and malted wheat. Rich uses Willamette hops to add a slight bitterness to this refreshing ale. The beer was named in honor of the massive number of grass fires experienced in California every summer! We found Grassfire Wheat to be a clean, crisp, easy drinking beer with a slight bitterness to it. Look for a very smooth and drinkable American Wheat Ale with a slight touch of hops. A perfect beer to drink after mowing the lawn, working out at the gym, or putting out fires! Drink 2 when putting out a flaming lawnmower!
Smuttynose Brewing Company
Peter Egelston, the owner and founder of Smuttynose is quite well known in the New England brewing community. Not only did he start one of the original New England brewpubs, but also has succeeded in opening a second brewpub, a brewery, and one of the most well attended beer festivals in the Northeast.
His beer career started in 1986 when his sister Janet and her boyfriend Mark convinced Peter to quite his teaching job in Brooklyn, New York and move to Massachusetts to open a brewpub. Peter stayed in Massachusetts until 1991, at which point he opened New Hampshire's first brewpub, the Portsmouth Brewery. With two successful brewpubs under his belt, Peter was ready open his first brewery.
In 1994 Peter opened Smuttynose Brewing, which is also located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The brewery was built on the ruins of the Frank Jones Brewing Company, a brewery that opened in 1992 and went out of business a year later.
Peter chose to name the brewery after Smuttynose Island, one of the isles of Shoals, which lie nine miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Legend has it that mariners in the 1600s named the island for the dark seaweed-covered rock ledge that juts out from one end of the island. For over three centuries, poets, pirates and fishermen have called the Isles of Shoals home.
First introduced in 1999 as the summer edition of their Big Beer Series, it proved to be so popular that they recently released in it six-packs and increased production.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (603) 436-4026 or check out their web site at www.smuttynose.com.
Serving Temperature: 38-43° F
Original Gravity: 13.2° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.8° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 9.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.3%
White Ale, or witbier, is one of the unique beer styles originating in Belgium, a country famous for its diverse and flavorful beers. Brewed with a combination of malted barley, wheat and oats, this traditional style is characterized by its hazy appearance (from which it derives its name) and complex flavors, owing in part to the use of whole crushed coriander and curaçao orange peel, which are used during the brewing process.
Smuttynose Belgian Style White Ale is brewed in the authentic manner. Since it is an unfiltered beer, is has a hazy appearance due to the suspended yeast, as well as the use of raw, unmalted wheat in the grist. This is a light-bodied, effervescent ale that is both delicious and refreshing. A spicy Tettnanger hop nose leads to a beguiling combination of tangy fruit matched by a subtle touch of honey sweetness on the finish. While not for the purists, many people enjoy this beer with a slice of lemon.
Serving Temperature: 43-48° F
Original Gravity: 13.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.9° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 15.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.7%
The second Smuttynose beer that graduated from the Big Beer Series to six-packs, the Robust Porter brings you right back to 19th century London. This hearty, mahogany colored ale is brewed to evoke the dark, full-bodied ales that were a favorite of dockworkers and warehousemen (hence the name "Porter") in 19th century London. It is a good bet that when Dickens' Mr. Pickwick sat down for a pint, he would have been drinking an ale much like this. Brewed with 2 row pale, carastan, dark crystal, special B and chocolate malts, we found it to be a well-balanced, full-bodied beer that is both smooth and very drinkable. The cascade hops used are done so sparingly, appropriately so for this style. There are subtle notes of coffee and chocolate throughout. The finish has a slight bitterness with a hint of cocoa.
Ask Murl
Dear Murl,
I was kickin' back in my favorite blues bar, the New Dolphin Inn, last weekend and decided to venture out and try one of several malt liquors that were on hand behind the bar. Several things followed my consumption of a couple of tall boys: I found rhythm and became a dancing machine, my dance partners looked considerably better than they had only hours before, and I woke the next morning (or perhaps early afternoon) feeling as though I'd been beaten up side the head repeatedly with a large, blunt instrument. My question is a simple one. What the hell is a "malt liquor"? Is it different from beer and why don't I ever want to have one again?
Steve Carson
San Juan Capistrano, CA.
Yo Stevo!
Good question. There seems to be much confusion with respect to the difference between a malt liquors and malt beverages. To answer your question, I've got to first let you know that the phrase, "malt liquor" is really just another marketing tool used to describe a category of beers that could be described as "fortified Bud". All malt liquors are also malt beverages. In many states, any malted beverage above 4 % alcohol by volume cannot be labeled as "Beer".
Now, as for the products you see in the store that have become to be known as "malt liquors", they really don't fit neatly into any style like stout, porter, ale, or any of the other style descriptors that could be used instead of the word "beer". So, the phrase malt liquor was developed.
Your basic Cobra Malt Liquors and Old English 800s of the world are brewed with more fermentables such as sugars and adjunct grains like rice and corn. Bottom line? Cheaply produced, high-octane rocket fuel that would serve you equally as effective and perhaps more kindly the next morning as a rust remover rather than a social lubricant. Bit of trivia on the two above mentioned products: Old English originally got its name as it used to contain 8 % alcohol by volume. Cobra got its name after product research uncovered excessive consumption of the product to serve as an effective repellent towards the obviously highly intelligent reptile.
Woof!
Murl.
Food For Thought...
Smuttynose Robust Porter Ice Cream
Don't discount this one until you've tried it! The well-roasted malt barley used to make stouts and porters imparts a rich flavor that is a perfect marriage with many desserts. In addition to ice cream, stouts and porters have traditionally been used to accentuate spice cakes, honey breads, and they were born to complement chocolate mousse!
- 8 eggs, separated
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 1 cup Smuttynose Robust Porter
- 1 ½ cups light cream whipped w/ 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Whisk yolks, sugar and your porter together until thick and mixture forms ribbons when whisk is lifted. Fold in whipped creams. Whisk egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into mixture. Pour into container and freeze, or use ice-cream maker. Serves 8 adults, four children, or my mom.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Woody: What's your pleasure Mr. Peterson?
Norm: Boxer shorts and loose shoes. But I'll settle for a beer.
Commander McBrew
Meets Vampires, Transvestites and the Snakemaster
Wortly and I landed in Bangkok in the early evening and with minor difficulty, managed to locate the area whereby we were supposedly able to pick up a bus to Kosan road, a popular destination point of travelers. The presence of two backpackers either confirmed that we were in the right place or that we were all lost. Our first night on Kosan road, we were joined by 2 other colorful characters after dinner. We all sat around a small table drinking a few Kloster beers. All had discovered that Thailand's equivalent to Budweiser, Singha lager beer, contained a significant percentage of formaldehyde as a preserving agent. Three Singhas was enough to create a serious headache the following day.
Brian, a 22-yr. old American described himself as a professional daredevil and after listening to his stories all night, I would have to agree with his self-appointed title. I never imagined that I would be involved in a conversation where one participant is systematically explaining how to safely set himself on fire. That's what Brian was doing in Bangkok. Each night, he performed in a show where he stood on a 40-ft. ladder, gave a "foot cue" to another to ignite his body and then dove, a human fireball, into a pool of water below. Now Brian had some good stories sure enough, but the Canadian, Ted, was certainly more humorous. He had just come up through Indonesia and had some interesting experiences there that he shared with us.
He started, "Yeah, I saw some pretty weird stuff, eh."
I prompted him, "What kind of stuff, Ted?" "Well, like,
black magic, the occult, voodoo. That kind of thing."
"You actually saw this going on or heard about it?"
Elusive, he replied, "Let's just say I got in pretty deep, eh.
I can't really talk about it." Wortly pressed on, "Well,
Ted, the Commander and I are heading that way next. Is it safe? Cool?
What? I mean, would you recommend to someone to seek that kind of
stuff out?"
He cracked, "Okay, eh. One day my girlfriend and I were in this small village. They had one bar so we went in that night to check it out. Suddenly, we both stopped talking to each other. We looked at each other and at the exact same time, said 'VAMPIRES'". Trying to keep my smirk to myself as I could see that Ted was 1000 % serious, I probed, "Vampires?" "Yeah, vampires." Wortly jumped in, "So what are you saying here, Ted? Did you see something that looked like a vampire? Did you think that the people in the bar were vampires?" Ted thought about it for a second and answered "Not all of them, but most of them."
This was fun. My turn, "So what exactly was it that made you think that the people in the bar were vampires?" This time he thought about it for at least a half a minute before responding, "Lets just say...IT SHOOK MY SOUL!" The group resonated in harmony, "Humm..." We all nodded in condolence at Ted's frightening experience. Wortly and I had to suppress our natural instinct to verbally assault Ted with further intense questioning as we were in mixed company. But we did press on to other related topics to get his opinion on werewolves, Frankenstein and the Easter Bunny. Ted was definitely supportive of werewolves, had to think a while before rejecting Frankenstein and laughed with the rest of us over the Easter Bunny.
Our next mission in Bangkok was to attend a Thai Boxing match. Just outside of the stadium, we found a small diner and decided to kill a few cold ones to get in the mood for fight night. The waitress in this little place was a big gal. Not obese, just big. Legs like an NFL fullback and broad shoulders, she wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but not bad looking. She kept making flirtatious gestures and facial expressions at me, walking behind me slowly as she dragged her nails across my back and smiling with raised eyebrows from behind the counter. I smiled back, thinking I was some kind of Casanova and boasting to Wortly over whom she had selected to pour her affections.
No doubt jealous, Wortly suggested that she was not a she at all and most likely a "He-She" or "Shim", names we had dubbed for a transvestite. We ordered another round to get a closer look. The starry-eyed gazes continued but were no longer met with my pearly whites, as I was not sure that Wortly wasn't right. She was built like a man. The breasts could have been hormone induced or implants. Up close, I could see that "she" used heavy makeup to cover his beard. He also had a noticeable Adam's apple. I felt nauseous and a fool. Here we were drinking a couple of cold beers from the bottle in preparation to watch men beat each other senseless, generally feeling pretty manly, and I was making eyes at another guy. Fortunately, just as I made our waiter, it was time to head for the stadium. We enjoyed watching the wiry young bucks kicking and punching each other for several hours before retiring back to Kosan.
On our third and last day in Bangkok, we stumbled across something called the Red Cross Snake Farm. The snake farm didn't really breed snakes as we suspected, but rather milked poisonous ones to manufacture existing and develop new antitoxins. Ten or 12 tourists joined us in the small stand set up for the demonstration. A man came out wearing a white, doctor-like coat and gave us a brief explanation of what we were about to see. Soon thereafter, 3 men emerged from a large wire cage carrying a 25-ft. King Cobra. One had a firm grip on the snake's head, which was comparable in size to that of a small dog. They set the snake down on the ground and released it to do as it pleased! It was only 10 ft. from where we sat and our small group began to subtly search for escape routes. The head Snakemaster assured us that we were in no danger, that they were professionals in complete control. Just then, one of the "professionals" reached over and smacked the cobra on the back of its head with his bare hand. The animal instantly thrust straight up, hissed and expanded its great head, now appearing to be the size of a humans. It stood at least 3 feet in this upright posture and continued to hiss and lunge as the assistants proceeded to taunt it. The Snakemaster informed us that this was one of the deadliest snakes on the planet because unlike other venomous snakes, when the King Cobra struck, it locked on to the victim with its powerful jaws long enough to release all of its venom. People rarely survived such an attack. He again assured us that we were safe though as the killer could only lunge to, say...the first row! A little Thai humor that was not so funny for those of us sitting in the front row.
The show continued as the Snakemaster force-fed our cobra friend another large, ominous looking snake, itself, perhaps 12 feet long. Good riddance. One less to worry about. The end of the show was marked with the appearance of a 15-ft. Burmese Python as thick as my thigh. We were told that we could come down to the front and pose for a photograph with this massive reptile if we so desired. I gave it a shot. He was a big boy all right. I would guess his weight to be somewhere between 75 and 100 pounds. As I held him draped over my shoulders, his tail found its way around my backside and came up firmly between my crotch, a little embarrassing, but harmless nonetheless. Or so I thought. The great beast suddenly moved with lightening speed and wrapped its massive coils around my torso, prepared to tighten its grip as I exhaled, suffocate me, and set himself up with some American Sushi. As the "professionals" sought out a tranquilizer gun in a frenzied state of panic, I conclude that I needed to act on my own if I was to defeat the reptile. Thinking quickly, I had Wortly pass me the 5 remaining bottles of Singha Beer from the 6-pack we never finished. I wrestled open the jaws of the monster and force-fed him the entire lot. By the third beer, the coils had loosened considerably and by the last, he was quite dead, yet well preserved. And so once again, my life was extended with the assistance of the sweet malty nectar, albeit, a nasty interpretation of the stuff.
For Members Only
Give Your Friends FREE Beer, Wine, Cheese, Chocolate,
Cigars & Flowers!
Through our Customer Appreciation Program
Your name has real value to your friends, co-workers, and family members! Every time a friend, family member, or anyone else you know joins any one of our clubs, [or gives a gift] for 3 months or longer, we'll give them 50% off of their first month, but only when they mention your name. And we'll also give you 50% off your next month too which can either be applied towards your current membership or you can try one of our other Clubs out! (We can add one more month to your order at 50% off for prepaid memberships!)
The Fine Print: Members giving gift memberships do not qualify for referral credits and you can't give yourself a gift to qualify! This Program is mutually exclusive of any other promotions.
Membership Q & A
Q: What can I do if I'm having difficulty receiving my shipment
at home?
A: You should consider having our discrete box delivered to
your work location or to a neighbor 21 yrs. of age that can receive
it for you. As your shipment requires and adult signature to receive,
it's always best to ship it to a location where someone will be there
to receive it for you. The box is brown corrugated cardboard and doesn't
say "Beer" on it anywhere.
Q: What should I do if I'm moving or want to extend my membership?
A: Please call us prior to the 5th of the month to make all
account related information changes such as address changes, membership
extensions & terminations, or gift accounts desiring to continue
their memberships. Address changes made after that time may require
a repackaging and re-shipping charge of $12.00. Additionally, if your
box is re-routed by UPS from an address different than what was originally
specified, you may incur a $5.00 re-routing charge.
Q: What happens if my shipment is damaged?
A: If your shipment arrives damaged, please call us immediately
toll free at 1-800-625-8238 and report the incident for a prompt resolution.
Q: What happens if my credit card is declined?
A: We will send you a courtesy notice asking you for an alternative
payment method and your order will be temporarily suspended until
we hear from you.
Q: What happens if I join under a special incentive program
and don't stay a member for the entire term committed?
A: Not a problem. Although we want to do everything we can
to keep you as a member, we will allow you to cancel your subscription
early; however, you will be responsible to pay for the item that was
given to you as part of the promotion. If you received a discount
based on a specific term, the amount discounted will be charged to
your card.
