Bell's vs. Northern Brewer: A battle to the death! NOT!

Okay everyone, here is my very first opinionated post and it has the potential to get very heated. I'll try to keep my cool.

Unless you are an absolute beer nerd (like Evan and I) and follow local, regional, and national brewing news and events, then you probably haven't heard what it is that I am upset about. I will do my best to explain the situation.

I'll start by laying down my opinions on both entities involved in this debacle. Bell's Brewery out of Kalamazoo, MI has a most enjoyable year round beer called Two Hearted Ale. Hopefully everyone reading this has tried it. If not you should, I think it's pretty good. Northern Brewer is my favorite homebrew supply company. I have used them for all of my ingredient since the beginning. I have always been happy with their products and service.

 Northern Brewer creates what are called "clone kits". Clone kits contain all the ingredients necessary to brew a batch of beer that tastes like a clone of your favorite type of production brew. These clone kits are usually given hilarious names that pay tribute to the beer from which they were inspired. For example, New Glarus Brewery's beer Spotted Cow is aptly dubbed "Speckled Heifer". Northern Brewer created a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale, and called it "Three Hearted Ale".

Today, Northern Brewer posted something on their Facebook page asking fans of the page to help come up with a new name for the Two Hearted Ale. Apparently, an attorney associated with Bell's had sent a letter asking Northern Brewer to change the name of their kit. Details aren't clear, but as far as Northern Brewer has said there was no threat of legal action or anything like that. Northern Brewer was happy to comply, and seemed to think it would be fun to open discussion to the Facebook fans for the new kit name.

Needless to say, some people like to make a big deal out of nothing. The majority of the responses to Northern Brewer's posts have been negative towards Bell's. People are ranting about boycotting Bell's, and sending them mail expressing their distaste. I disagree with this completely. I'm not saying my opinion is the right one, but I will lay out my rational in a series of arguments:

- Bell's has all the right in the world to ask Northern Brewer to change the name of the kit.
- Northern Brewer is completely fine with changing the name of the kit.
- Northern Brewer never meant to incite a riot, they were trying to get some fan involvement in choosing a new name.
- Northern Brewer has clarified that they love Bell's and do not want any negative action to come from this situation.

For arguments against my arguments:

Why now after 10 years?
Who knows. Personally, I think it might have something to do with Northern Brewer's recent collaboration with Surly on a series of pro kits. Pro kits are not clones of beers, but actual scaled down homebrew sized ingredient kits for the exact recipe for a production beer.

Why not just ask instead of involving lawyers?
I'm not a business man or a lawyer. I do, however, understand that when you are dealing with naming rights for things and any type of brand registration it is definitely a legal issue. It's possible Bell's just wanted to make sure they did things through the proper channels.

This issue is open for discussion in my book, so please reply. Post early and often. Like I said, I love Bell's and I love Northern Brewer. This really seems like it should be a non-issue to me. I'm sort of annoyed that people are getting so out of hand.

Speak your mind.


Zach















 

Operation Homebrew: Ebony & Ivory Oatmeal Stout

Hello all, Evan here.



Spring break at UMD + Homebrew = New blog post.

I kicked off the start of spring break by immediately rushing home to see if my brew ingredients arrived in the mail. Indeed they did, so I prepared everything for an evening of homebrewing. A great, relaxing start to spring break!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm an avid homebrewer. However, I am also relatively new to it. I decided that for my fourth batch, I would modify my first batch, the Oatmeal Stout extract kit by Midwest Supplies.

Oatmeal stouts are generally sweeter and thicker than traditional stouts. They lack the bitterness of normal stouts, have cleaner malt profiles, and use oats as a thickening-agent. Roasted barley contributes a subtle roasted flavor, while hops are used only for bittering. The stout shout emphasize malts and oats, rather than hop bitterness. Hop aroma is traditionally avoided.

The original recipe consisted of Dark liquid malt extract, Rolled Oats, Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Barley specialty grains, with Fuggle pellet hops for bitterness. It was a good debut brew, but it left more to be desired. I thought it lacked flavor complexity and body.

This time around, I made several changes to the recipe. To improve the body and thickness, I doubled the amount of flaked oats used. I significantly increased the chocolate malt amount, while keeping the roasted barley amount constant. Chocolate malt contributes chocolate (duh!!!), nut, and toasted flavors, while roasted barley adds burnt and roasted flavors. I also used crystal 60°L malt (60°L refers to the lovibond, or darkness, rating) for complexity. Finally, I switched the extract source from dark to amber. This should improve the nuttiness of the brew and lighten it slightly. As for the hops, I added Kent Goldings to complement the Fuggle hops. I reduced the boil time of each to reduce the overall bitterness.

I realize that many changes were made to the original recipe. However, I consider this a development of a personal recipe, as opposed to perfecting an original. My excitement for the recipe makes waiting even more difficult.

Here's the stout just before the boil.

More about homebrewing to come later this week. Thanks for reading!

Evan

Newbie Nerd Brewer: Introduction and Beer Review

Hello everyone!

I was recently invited by Zach to contribute to The Nerd Brews. Like Zach, I'm an avid homebrewer and excited to share my enjoyment of beer. I also fit the "nerd" description. I got into homebrewing this past fall, and simply put, I'm addicted. So without further ado, on to the brew:



REVIEW: Samuel Adams Revolutionary Rye Ale

Scent: Very subtle waft of citrus hoppyness. Although present, it doesn't really stand out or overwhelm. I feel like a little more citrus-scent, maybe via dry-hopping, could be present without significantly changing the character of the beer.

Color and Appearance: Amber color, hints of red. Very clear. Near-white head with slight cream color.

Head and Lacing: Good initial head. Two inches when first half poured down side of glass and remainder poured down center. Disappeared after 5 minutes, with decent lacing down the side of a straight-edged, angled-side glass.

Taste: Slight dryness due to rye flavor. Initial malty sweetness almost immediately countered with light lingering bitterness. Hop profile has greater presence towards the end. This was slightly bitterer than other rye ales that I’ve had in the past. The medium body was not too thick. I could have a few of these without the "liquid bread" feeling that some thicker brews leave.

Overall: A pretty good beer overall, but not “Revolutionary” by any means. I’d probably buy a six-pack if it was sold in one (only available in the Sam Adams American Originals Variety 12-pack).

Rating: 3.5 – 5.0

From the Sam Adams Website:
OG: 13.6° Plato
ABV: 5.5%
Malts: Two-Row Harrington, Special B, Munich, and Rye (Over 20%)
Hops: Tettnang noble hops, Athanum, Amarillo, and Centennial
Availability: January - April






Thanks for reading. More posts on the way!

Evan

CD Update and Beer Review: Tom Hennessy's Irish Ale

Hello everyone!

After about a month, I have finally returned to post once more. There is a lot to update concerning Castle Danger Brewery, and then I will review the Irish Ale that was brewed back in the beginning of January.

Castle Danger Brewery

For those of you who don't know already, I have been interning since October at a small 3 bbl microbrewery called Castle Danger Brewery. Since I started, I have had the amazing opportunity to watch as the brewery transformed from a room with some stainless steel brewing equipment in it, to a fully functioning brewery. The anticipation for the day when we would actually get to brew was incredible, and I would like to believe that I had some hand in helping to get things started and that I was able to offer something.

Well, whether I really effected what has been evolving or not, Castle Danger Brewery kicked off production with our first official batch this week. Clint (the owner) flew solo on this batch because I had to be in school today, but I am extremely excited nonetheless. I cannot wait until this Thursday when I will be able to help brew my first batch.

Castle Danger Brewery is located in Castle Danger, MN just shy of Gooseberry Falls on 61. The plan is to have taps at restaurants and bars in Two Harbors, MN and the surrounding areas. We also hope to eventually be able to sell growlers on site as well.

I will try keeping everyone updated as to when/where all of these things are happening. Everyone who is reading this should like Castle Danger Brewery on facebook!

Castle Danger Brewery's Facebook Page!

Now onto the beer review!

Tom Hennessy's Irish Ale

This was my first attempt really at any sort of Irish Red Ale. Since I didn't really have a strong grasp of the style, I set some goals for this beer that I thought would make it taste good and maybe take a shot at what an Irish Red is really like. The most important aspect of this beer in my mind was the color, which makes the style really distinct. To get the signature red color I added a small amount of roasted barley to a more lightly colored malt base. Another characteristic I wanted to aim for is a good chewy, malty flavor balanced with a decent amount of hop flavor and bitterness. Here is a review of the beer, I did my best to not be too critical or too biased concerning this brew.

ABV ~6%
IBU ~32
Hops - East Kent Goldings, Czech Saaz
Malts - Pale, Carapils, Caramel, Roasted Barley

My Rating (1-5): 3.5


I poured this beer into my new Samuel Adam's pint glass frosted in the freezer. When poured, this beer appears looks almost brown with a red tinge. Once you hold it up to the light, however, the color is vividly red and surprisingly clear. Goal one, accomplished. The head is about a finger's width thick and settles relatively quickly but it leaves a nice lace that sticks around and sticks to the side of the glass. It appears well carbonated, with plenty of little bubbles rising rapidly right after pouring.

The Irish Ale leaves something to be desired with aroma, but it is not unpleasant. If I were to redo this one I would perhaps consider doing some dry hopping. The scent is sweet, the hops are mild with a hint of floral and herbal aromas.

The flavor of this beer came close to what I was looking for, but didn't quite hit the mark. The flavor profile was definitely what I wanted it to be, slightly sweet, caramel, a little fruity and some carbonated tangy-ness. The beer has decent body too, though the mouthfeel towards the end could use some work. The bitterness and hop flavors really come through in the aftertaste which is pretty pleasant but could be balance with a little more malt flavor. All in all, as far as the malt and flavor profile is concerned this beer is lacking something. It needs some "umph". I do want to save this recipe and make some slight changes, hopefully to give it a little something extra.

I think this is a very enjoyable beer, and I really like drinking it. Though I don't think it is my best concoction thus far, it certainly disappears from my glass mighty quickly. My old supervisor used to make jokes about our body temperatures being really high, because the beer evaporates from the glass quickly. Definitely one of those sorts of deals.

If you are interested in trying one of these babies out, there are still plenty left. I need to clear out the bottles so that I can make room for my next project: a partial mash Dukelweizen recipe! More to come, and definitely a post after my exploits on Thursday helping out with my first official Castle Danger brew!


Cheers!

Pilsener and Paddle to the Cream

Yesterday Evan and I headed up to Castle Danger Brewery where we used some of the equipment to do two back-to-back home brew batches!

It was a great day indeed.

The first batch was a Pilsener style beer that is actually an ale. Funky eh? This batch had a few minor malfunctions, but will definitely turn out great! How embarrassing for my first time brewing with Evan.

The second batch was a slightly modified version of my Paddle to the Cream Ale recipe. Hoping the changes made it taste even better! (It is already delicious!) Here's an overview of some of the ingredients:

Pilsen liquid malt extract - flavor, body, base, fermentable sugars
Carapils Malt - mostly provides body
Caramel Malt - Provides delicious malty flavor and body
Gambrinus Honey Malt - Contributes sweet malty flavor, honey flavor, residual sweetness
Maize - flaked dry corn contributes flavor, some fermentable sugar, lends sweet corn flavor
Hallertau hops - traditionally a German noble hop, fruity and spicy
Tettnang hops - German noble hop, used for aroma, pure and refined


Here are some pictures of our day. I hope you enjoy them! They were taken on my phone, so I'm sorry to those who thought they would not have to deal with the phone pictures any more.

Evan really enjoys brewing.

Delicious aerated worty goodness.

Those lab skills are practical after all, huh Evan?

That is all for now, I hope you all have a wonderful Friday.

What are you drinking today?

Logo Ideas!

Check out these awesome logo options that my sister Jessi and her friend Steph made for the blog! I am still waiting on some options from some other people too. I am going to have a hard time picking one to use. I will probably just end up having to cycle through all of them.

Let me know which ones are your favorites!

A New Look for a Not-So-Old Blog/Norm's

So the few of you who actually read this will probably notice that I changed up the look of things a bit. I really wanted to get rid of the ugly beer background. I am still not content with the appearance, but I definitely think it's an upgrade. I designed the title logo myself. I don't really like it, and would love it if someone decided to be awesome enough to make me something!

In the case that you are actually following my blog postings, you are probably wondering why I didn't post anything yesterday. To be honest I simply didn't have any time. I was busy all day, and then spent some time with some friends last night.

I do, however, have a recommendation to make for people who may find themselves at some point in Superior, WI. I know Superior as a great place to find little hole in the wall bars that have yummy food (my favorite is The Anchor Bar). Well last night we experienced Norm's Beer and Brats for the first time. Apparently, Norm's has special food deals almost every night of the week, and they even have dancing on Fridays! I cannot say that Norm's is in any way shape or form a fancy bar. It is in the basement of a building, it is small, and a little dingy. The bar is not fancy, the food is not fancy, the people are not fancy. But hey, who needs fancy anyways? Especially when you can $0.25 tacos on Tuesdays, and wash them down with $4 pitchers of beer (we had Premium.....at least the price was right). The tacos were assembled from your classic grocery store hard corn shells, meat from a crock pot, some lettuce and cheese. They were not the best tacos I have had by a long shot, but superior quality is probably not why one purchases $0.25 tacos. I had mine with hot sauce, which I recommend over the mild.

Norm's honestly seems like a fun place to go with a few friends and hang out. They have a pool and ping pong table, and some arcade games. I think the next time I go back I may have to visit on a Wednesday when they have $1 burgers, and $5 pitchers of beer.

Cheers!

The Challenge! (My first beer review in ages as well)

In an effort to prove to myself that this blog was a good idea, and that I will in fact post in it regularly, I have challenged myself to a blog post a day for a week! In order to keep my spirits up, I need everyone to post comments, suggestions and questions. That way I will feel like someone is actually reading what I am saying and I won't feel like I'm talking to an empty room!

Anywho, for my first post of the week I figured I would get things started with a beer review. When I posted these on Facebook, people seemed to read them and like them, I hope that works here too!
I was totally in the mood to sit down with a delicious homemade beer this evening, but unfortunately The Nerd Brew ales are currently in the bottle conditioning process. Drat. Well when the homebrew can't be found, it is always a great idea to settle down with one of my all-time favorites. New Belgium's 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. Besides, I am a little too biased to write a review of my own beer anyways.

So here goes.


One of my fondest memories of the trip to Colorado for my cousin Brian's wedding was a visit with my whole family to a certain restaurant. I don't remember what the name of the restaurant was, but it was the type of restaurant where you buy steaks ala carte and grill them yourself. I remember the food was great, and we had a fantastic time. My family sat around at the restaurant that night laughing, enjoying themselves, and drinking New Belgium's Fat Tire. Needless to say, when I was finally old enough to enjoy adult beverages, one of the first breweries I wanted to sample from was New Belgium. Once I found out about New Belgium's major steps towards sustainability, my dedication to their company my love for their products grew even larger.

Arguably my favorite New Belgium beer is their 1554 Enlightened Black Ale.


One thing I love about the brewing industry is that behind every beer, there is a story, and this one has a pretty interesting one. If you want to read a cool story about a flood, a researcher, and lots of delicious beer tasting, check out the New Belgium website where I harvested these images from and some of the information on this beer.

1554 Enlightened Black Ale

ABV 5.6%
IBU 21
Hops - Target
Malts - Pale, Carapils, Black, Munich, Chocolate

My Rating (1-5): 4.75

I understand that deliciousness is in the buds on the tongue, but I highly suggest that anyone out there try this beer and I strongly believe you will feel the same way.

I poured this beer into one of my frosted Guinness pint glasses pulled straight from the freezer. When poured, this beer appears to be a surprisingly sharp yet opaque black color accented by a striking creamy white head. The head settles slowly and creates nice white lacing to contrast with the black ale.

1554 does not have a strong or complex aroma, but it is pleasant none the less. It is deliciously malty and chocolatey scented.

For me, the flavor and mouthfeel of this beer makes me totally rethink my preconceived notions of what a dark ale should be. The most noticeable flavor that stands out for me is the delicious bitter chocolate malt goodness. Smokey and toffee flavors come on equally moderately and make for some nice background notes. The beer is sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and very well balanced. There is basically no real hop flavor or aroma, but there is a nice contained spicy flavor throughout. One of my favorite things about this beer is the body, which is moderate but clean and crisp at the same time. This beer proves, in my mind, that a dark ale can bring all of the delicious flavors involved without being so thick that it has to be chewed.

What a great beer, and a great way to get in to my one week challenge.

What are you drinking? Let me know because I do take suggestions (and donations!) Also, if there are any talented artists out there who are willing to trade logo designs and beer labels for homebrew, let me know!

Happy quaffing everyone! Cheers!

Bad Blogger! Bad Blogger!

Hello dedicated blog readers. I'm sorry I haven't posted in so very long, I have been readjusting to school once more. To be honest with you all, I don't think I ever REALLY adjust to the new schedule a new semester brings until it is almost over. Oh well, what can you do. In lieu of posting the 10 beer reviews I have queued up and ready to go I thought I would first post an update on the most recent brews. They won't have as much multimedia as I would like, because I forgot my camera up in Duluth. This may be the only real downfall of my life of dual citizenship, I never know what is where and when. Right? Anywho.

Padellford's Private Label Sauvignon Blanc
The wine was fermenting in a 6 gallon plastic fermentation bucket (fancy term for a bucket eh?) Before racking the yeasties had to decrease the sugar to the point where the SG was at or below 1.010. Dad and I did all of our second stage of brewing work this past Saturday. When I checked the gravity on Friday evening it was a solid 1.005. We racked the wine from the bucket into a Better Bottle plastic carboy and put the airlock back in place. The main point of this is to get rid of all of the sediment that was at the bottom of said previous bucket. I'm glad we are keeping track of the gravity of this one. I don't believe that the last kit we had fermented completely, as it is still very sweet to this day (but drinkable of course!) When Dad and I tasted this one it was already drier than the red, and carbonated!

Tom Hennessy's Irish Ale
After bottling the most recent beer endeavor I decided two things: 1) To drop the "Red" from the name because it is not red, but more coppery and 2) to name the beer after Samantha's grandfather who was 100% Irish, and whom I unfortunately never had the pleasure of meeting. I had this idea before I even brewed this recipe, but I wanted to make sure it tasted good before officially titling it that. After fermentation, but before conditioning and carbonation, the beer is already delicious (at least in my opinion). I am really happy, because I was worried about this one. I changed my mind at least 8 different time on the hop and malt bills, and in the end just ended up making some quick decisions in the brewing store. Like any recipe, I will likely end up tweaking this one a bit and I already have ideas of things I want to try differently next time. However, I do think this one is going to turn out well and I can't wait to taste it! Once finished, I hope it does the name proud. For those of you who want to try it, I am going to make a list so I don't forget anyone this time. Please let me know and I will make sure I get a bottle to you!


In other news, I recently created a brewing log for Castle Danger Brewery from scratch. I'm really enjoying my internship there, and geekily enough I extremely enjoyed creating a brewing log for them. The picture of it is below. If anyone would like the PDF file for it, just give me your email address and I will ship it out to you.



Happy quaffing everyone! Crack one open, and let me know what you're drinking!

A Day for Liquid Creations

Samantha and all of the girls were getting together tonight to make the wedding favors! My dad and I decided that we couldn't let the females be the only ones who slaved the night away, and we decided to plan our first ever double brew day. So, after a morning of getting things ready to make the favors and helping cook a huge pot of white chicken chilli, the manly brewing event commenced! Incredibly enough, we managed to handle both a batch of beer and a Sauvignon Blanc wine kit all at the same time.


The beer recipe of the day was one I recently came up with to try and master my dad's favorite style of beer, an Irish Red Ale. Luckily for you all, I just got a brand new camera and you won't have to look at lovely pictures taken by my phone any longer.

Not much to do while you are waiting for the boil...so why not make some wine?!

Meanwhile in the world of beer...still no boil...

But it's close! We pass the time by indulging in the very last bottles of our last attempt, a delicious Cream Ale (made with corn!)

We rounded up some of the usual suspects. The other ingredients are already in the kettle at this point.

After the boil we decided to make use of the delightfully refrigerator-like temperatures Minnesota has to offer to cool the wort.

Finally, we just add our respective yeasts, cross our fingers, and drink another beer.

I hope you all enjoyed my first brew day post! If you are lucky you might get a chance to partake in the fruits of our labor.

I would just like to mention that, though my photography skills are probably just a tad better than sub-par, I hope to improve them via this blog. Therefore, I will try and stop more often and take some nice pictures instead of spending all of my time doing this:

And I should probably try and quit doing this:

Oh wait, I only wish I could sleep with such skill, raw power, and athletic prowess.


I hope you all have a lovely night.

Please please please give me some input on my first post. Tell me what you like, don't like, and what you want to see!


Cheers!

New Beginnings

I'd like to start out by explaining why I'm here (not the ambiguous, searching-for-God life question). The answer to this question is still quite complex, however. If you ask me what personal reasons I decided to create a blog for, it would require little thought. To me, this blog will be a way to keep track of my projects, rantings, and other random aspects of my life. To be completely honest, the majority of my rationalization for this blog is purely selfish. I am not so self-important that I believe a lot of people will actually read this. However, if there is a person who is reading this right now please don't stop! You may ask why I chose to blog instead of something more private if my motives were so self-serving. The answer to this question comes from my uncanny need to expand my knowledge about the world far past the limits of my already over sized cranium. This blog will be mostly a space for records and reflection. I do, however, want whomever is out there (and bored enough to read this) to expand my world! This is the second and probably more important aspect of why I wanted to make a blog. I do not pretend to be an expert at anything I say or do. This is why you are here! I, more than anything, want people to interact with this blog and give me your insight on life, liberty, and the pursuit of good beer. I suppose in this way, the blog is even MORE self-serving than I originally thought. True as that may be, please feel free to comment/question/laugh/ridicule me. Most likely you will read, shake your head, and pretend this never happened. Here are some topics you are likely to see me post about:

1.) Beer and Brewing
2.) Politics
3.) News
4.) Movies
5.) Music
6.) Food
7.) ??????
8.) Technology
9.) Life

If one or all of these interest you, prepare to be disenchanted! I will also likely share links, pictures, recipes, etc. to try and accommodate my multi-media loving friends.

So please relax, put your feet up, sip on some coffee and enjoy yourself while I try to harvest some of your precious time.

Thanks for coming.