Past Newsletters
Vol. 9 No. 1
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Millstream Brewing Company | Colony Oatmeal Stout Lager |
| Millstream Brewing Company | Schild Brau Amber Lager |
| Pioneer Brewing Company | Black River Red Lager |
| Pioneer Brewing Company | Pale Ale |
Millstream Brewing Company
The Millstream Brewing Company, located in Amana, IA, first opened its doors in 1985, and was the first brewery to operate in Amana since 1884! You could say…they were long overdue. The brewery came as a result of the strong desire of brothers James and Dennis Roemig, along with Carroll F. Zuber, to create a local brewery producing hand crafted brews reminiscent of the finest beers in Europe.
To help produce these European-style beers, they hired one of the country’s more widely recognized masterbrewers, Joseph Pickett to develop the recipes. Joe formulated the Millstream Lager, Schild Brau Amber, and Millstream Wheat brands and the three comprised the brewery’s primary line up until the year 2000, when it was sold to Chris Priebe, Aaron Taubman, and Teresa Sly Albert. And as you might suspect, with the new owners, came new beers. The threesome added a German Style Pilsner, Oatmeal Stout, and several other fantastic seasonals – Maifest (a bock), a Bavarian-style Hefeweissen, and an Oktoberfest. They’ve even added root beer and cream soda to their bag of tricks, but you’ll have to buy that one on your own as you’ll never see anything less than hand crafted, microbrewed nectar of the beer sort in this club!
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (319) 622-3672 or check out their web site at www.millstreambrewing.com.
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 15.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 5.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 21.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.8%
First introduced as a seasonal brew in 1996, the demand for this beer was so high that it is now brewed year round. And we’re confident that after taking your first sip of this stout, you’ll know why it was taken off of the seasonal list. Note a thick, creamy-brown head with aromas of dark caramel malts and roasted barley up front in the nose. Millstream uses 2-row pale, caramel, black, chocolate, and roasted barley malts along with flaked oats and 10% oatmeal to brew this complex ale. To balance it out, they use Northern Brewer, Hallertau, and Tettnanger hops. Look for a rich dark malt flavor with hints of oatmeal in this flavor packed stout. Overall, we loved it! A well-balanced stout that would pair nicely with roasted chicken or veal parmegian.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 14.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 4.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 15.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
Millstreams flagship brand, Schild Brau Amber Lager, which translates to “shield beer,” is brewed in the traditional Munich style using 2-row pale, ashburne mild, caramel 80L, and malted wheat. Joe balances it delicately with Northern Brewer and Hallertau hops. Look for a slight roasted maltiness and hints of caramel in the nose of this light amber lager. The roasted malts and caramel are prominent in the flavor as well, accented by a low hop bitterness. Overall, a crisp, clean lager that would go best with grilled chicken or fish.
Pioneer Brewing Company
The Pioneer Brewing Company, located in Black River Falls, WI, first opened its doors in June of 1997 and comes with a classic attorney to brewer story that goes a little something like this: In the fall of 1996, brothers Jim and David Hellman were no longer happy with their careers as criminal defense attorneys and decided that they wanted to do something different. Go figure. And as the rest of their family had been in the beer business on the wholesale side of things for oh, about 25 years, they decided that a radical career change was the logical choice.
They didn’t want to open a brewpub though and decided on opening a brewery instead. They first selected a building and found a good one. They chose the same building that the pre-prohibition Oderbolz Brewery had resided in from 1856 to until the beginning of prohibition in 1919. The three-story building, although old, was quite impressive in size alone – 17,000 square feet, offered a heavy duty service elevator, loading docks, and large insulated “cold rooms” in the basement. The brothers decided it to be a perfect location for their new venture.
As Jim and David had somewhat limited brewing experience, they hired a trained professional killer to help them get started. Todd Krueger, from the Port Washington Brewing Company won the position as Pioneer’s head brewmaster. Soon after, Bret Campion, formerly of the New Belgium Brewing Company and the Left Hand Brewing Company, joined the team at Pioneer. And if you know anything about those three breweries, you know that there is now some serious brewing talent on the payroll at Pioneer. Over the years the two have produced countless award winning beers and we know you’re going to enjoy what we’ve featured this month!
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (715) 284-7553 or check out their web site at www.cuttingedge.net/~pioneer.
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 14.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.5° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 25.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.5%
Black River Red Lager is a bright-red colored lager, a Marzen by style definition. The brewers at Pioneer use Hallertau and Chinook hops along with 2-row Pale, Munich, Caramel 80, and Rye malts to produce a well balanced, but malty flavor profile. Note a slightly malty and floral hop nose. Look for sweet roasted malt flavors that would pair nicely with barbequed ribs. Enjoy!
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%
Pioneer Pale Ale is a golden hued, traditional English Ale. To give this pale ale its perfect malt and hop balance, 2-Row Pale and Munich malts are paired skillfully with Perle and Willamette hops. You can’t help but note an explosion of hops in this hop-aggressive beer’s nose. And thankfully, that brilliant hop sensation carries through to the taste as well! Note wonderful hop bitterness up front, followed by a slightly sweet caramel maltiness and a lingering dry, malty finish. An excellent choice with your favorite spicy food.
Ask Murl
Dear Murl,
My boyfriend has been giving me some grief about my weight and says I should cancel my subscription to help me slim down a bit but I don’t really think he knows what he’s talking about cause beer isn’t really fattening is it? Help me build a case here, pal!
Jennifer Salyers
Milpitas, CA
Jenn, Babe, Sweetheart…
May I speak frankly here, my dear? Lose the buttnut. What is this guy some kinda materialistic, shallow Richard Simmons Nazi-boy. Can’t appreciate the weight? ‘Fraid you gonna kick his skinny butt around the boudoir? Personally, I like a fifi with a little meat on her milk-bones and I’m a picky pooch. All right, I’m not that picky. A pulse and a flea dip and I’m in. But hey, I’m a dog and you’re man is missin’ the point here. Sorry, on a rant here. Gotta remember I’m not Dear Abbey…not that she’s any more qualified.
Back to your question. Beer is only gonna add to your womanly figure if you drink too much of it! But hell, you eat too many alfalfa spouts and pita bread and you’ll gain weight too. My point is that although the alcohol and sugars in beer add up to a fair number of calories per frosted mug, it's literally fat-free. And relative to some of the other substances we pump into our personal food processors, it’s looking damn healthy. Your basic standard 12-ounce bottle of lager beer or pale ale of normal strength weighs in at about 150 calories – none of which are derived from fat. Beers of other styles vary somewhat with alcohol and malt content, of course, up to 200 calories or more for 12 ounces of a strong beer like a Bock or a sweet beer like an Amber Ale.
"Lite" beers, conversely, range from about 95 to 110 calories, depending on brand. As a side bar, I want you to realize that the difference in caloric content between a regular and a lite beer is the equivalent of one stalk of raw celery. Think about it before you go there next time. Eight ounces of Fruit yogurt has 230 calories and 3 grams fat and one serving of Fettuccine Alfredo, one of my favorite dishes, comes in at 1,498 calories and 62 grams fat! Damn. Anyway, if you must cut back, do it elsewhere and don’t deprive yourself of your brew, girl! Hope that helps build your case, counselor.
Woof!
Murl.
Food For Thought...
Brewhouse Steak Rub
A steak rub is a combination of herbs, spices, and other flavorful ingredients that is rubbed into the surface of meat 30 to 60 minutes prior to grilling or broiling. Equally delicious on beef, pork, or poultry, this zesty amalgam of fruit, beer, herbs and spices is undoubtedly a worthy cause for donating one cup of this month’s shipment.
- 1 ½ cups canned plums, no pits
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup Black River Red Lager
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 large cloves garlic, mashed
- 2 teaspoons crushed hot red peppers
- scant teaspoon crushed coriander seed
- scant teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until very smooth. Allow to stand 2 hours at room temperature before preparing the meat. Refrigerate remainder.
Source: Great American Beer Cookbook, Candy Schermerhorn, Brewers Publications, Boulder, CO.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Sam: What’d you like, Normie?
Norm: A reason to live. Gimme a beer Sammy.
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