Cambridge Brewing Company

After taking in the Red Sox World Series victory parade (2007 vintage on a wonderful Boston autumn day), we crossed the Charles to check out what the CBC had on tap. In the spirit of the day, many of the lunch specials had a ballpark theme - an Italian sausage sandwich, a Fenway quesadilla with hot dogs, and so forth.

We tried two current specials, the Kriek du Cambridge and the Aestas Ale. The former is an intensely sour Kriek, with the wort inoculated with various kinds of wild yeast sources, including one developed using Cantillon beer. It was an excellent example of the genre, very tart, extremely drinkable, and surprisingly good with a spicy vegetarian chili. The Aestas Ale is an "American Mild", based on an English mild bitter, and hopped with English Challenger hops and American Amarillo. It had a great, hoppy nose, and a lower alcohol content perfect for a session beer - which is what it's explicitly billed as.

We were a little miffed by the service, however - a rarity for this spot. The only other guests at the bar knew the head brewer, and he brought out multiple different samples for them to try, free of charge. At a busy time of day, it might not have been so noticeable, but treating us so differently - he never even looked in our direction - was quite strange when we were the only other ones there. He even tapped a keg for the beer engine so that his friends could sample it, and when we asked the bartender what the cask ale was she didn't know, and emphasized that it wasn't available until 5 (though we knew that not to be true!). She never bothered to find out what the beer was, despite the fact that we were clearly interested. It's a shame: this is a good bar, with excellent beer and food, and the service on this occasion let them down (normally, it's top notch).

Zinnebir Crianza

Rating: 3

Brasserie de la Senne
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium
Style: Lambic
ABV: 7.0%
750 ml bottle

Imported straight from Belgium in my suitcase. Uncorked the bottle and had foam on my floor within seconds. Surprisingly the beer settled down and didn't maintain a lot of that carbonation. Light straw color. I'm used to the strong, very carboned gueze beers in the 750 bottles. This is somewhere in between that and kegged lambic.

Bare Tree Artist Series Weiss Beer 2006

Rating: 2

Two Brothers Brewing Company
Warrenville, Illinois
Style: Barleywine
ABV: ??

750 ml bottle

Clear amber pour without much carbonation. Strong fruity aroma, reminiscent of certain cambrindge brewing barleywines. Similair fruit taste with the high alchohol coming through a little. I need to try more of the Two Brothers beers.

Robust Porter

Robust Porter (based on Papazian guidelines)
(5 gallons)

10/16/2007

7 lbs liquid malt extract (John Bull amber)
1/2 lb patent black malt
1/2 lb roasted barley

2.5 oz Willamette (60 min)
0.5 oz Tettnanger (10 min)

Yeast: WLP041 Pacific Ale

1.037 OG on 10/16
1.014 FG on 10/28

At kegging, the uncarbonated beer had a great smoky taste; this one promises to be an excellent cool weather drink!

Paris Hill Pilsner

10 gal all grain

Water
Cooper Spring

Malt Bill
20 lbs Pilsner malt

Hops
5 oz Saaz 60 min
5 oz Saaz 15 min
2 oz Saaz 0 min

Yeast
Wyeast Czech Pils 2278 (2)
Smacked am and added to 1 qt of starter in pm (each)
Starter made with 3.5 oz of light DME
Started 3 days before brewing, half liquid poured off top

Mash
Strike temp 150*, stabilize at 132* 30 min
Remove 8 quarts of mash add 4 qts water bring slowly to boil, boil 15 min
Add to mash, stabilze at 153* for 1 hr
Raise to 165* by adding boiling water and sparge

Ferment (2 5 gal batches)
A. in frig at 150*
B. in cellar at 158*

Brewed 9/19/07
O.G. 1.050
Secondary fermentation 10/10/07
Diacetyl rest 3 days at 64*
To lager stage 10/11/07 at 37*

Keg 1 11/18/07
FG 1.014

Fresh Hop Ale

10 gal all grain

Water
Cooper Spring with 4 tsp gypsum

Malt Bill
24 lbs 2 row Pearle malt
1.5 lbs Crystal 60
2 lbs Carapils Malt

Hops
Sunny Croft Farm Cascade (fresh, wet weight)
20 oz 90 min
10 oz 30 min
14 oz 0 min

Yeast
Cooper dry ale (1 packet dissolved in 2 cups water)

Brewed 9/24/07
O.G.1.062 F.G. 1.010
Strike temp 175*, Mash 152*,Sparge 175*
Transfer to secondary 9/27/07
Kegged 10/10/07