Chinook IPA

Chinbook IPA
(5 gallons)
12/23/2009

10.0 lbs us 2-row
0.75 lbs dingermann caramel pils
0.25 lbs briess caramel 120

0.75 oz chinook (60 min)
0.50 oz chinook (10 min)
0.50 oz chinook (1 min)
1.00 oz chinook (dry hop in secondary)

yeast:
Safele US-05

Infusion mash at 153 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.050 OG on 12/23
1.021 secondary on 12/30
1.010 keg on 1/24

Scottish 80/- Ale

Scottish 80/- Ale
(5 gallons extract)

December 13, 2009

1 lb Simpson crystal

3.15 lb Northern Brewer Gold Malt LME (60 min.)

3.15 lb Northern Brewer Gold Malt LME (15 min.)

1 oz Fuggles @ 4.8% AA (60 min)

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast

60 min boil

Pitched: 1.044 OG on December 13, 2009
Secondary: December 22, 2009

Kegged: 1.016 FG on January 5, 2010

Patersbier

Patersbier
(5 gallons)
12/13/2009

9.0 lbs dingermans pils

1.0 oz german tradition (60 min)
1.0 oz saaz (10 min)

yeast:
Wyeast 3787 trappist high gravity

Infusion mash at 147 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.038 OG on 12/13
1.018 secondary on 12/21
1.010 keg on 12/30

Dark Lager

Dark Lager
(5 gallons)
11/22/2009

7.25 lbs german munich
0.25 lbs weyermann cara aroma
0.125 lbs weyermann carara III

2.0 oz saaz (first wort min)
1.0 oz saaz (15 min)

yeast:
Wyeast 2782 staro prague lager

Infusion mash at 150 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.032 OG on 11/22
1.009 secondary on 11/29
1.009 keg on 12/14
cold lager at 35-40 degrees

Coffee Porter

Coffee Porter
(5 gallons extract)

November 17, 2009

1/2 lb roasted barley

1/4 lb chocolate malt

1/4 lb black patent malt

3.3 lb Munton's Dark LME

3.3 lb Munton's Light LME

1 lb Munton's Dark DME
1 lb maltodextrin

c. 2 oz ground Starbuck's Sumatra beans

2 oz Northern Brewer @ 8.1% AA (35 min)
2 oz Cascade @ 7.8% AA (15 min)

WhiteLabs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

60 min boil

Pitched: 1.054 OG on November 17, 2009
Secondary: 1.024 SG on November 24, 2009

Kegged: 1.020 FG on December 5, 2009

Porter

Porter
(5 gallons)
11/14/2009

8.5 lbs rahr 2-row pale
1.0 lbs simpsons crystal
1.0 lbs simpsons chocolate

1.0 oz nugget (60 min)
1.0 oz cascade (1 min)

yeast:
Safale US-05

Infusion mash at 155 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.042 OG on 11/14
1.009 keg on 11/22

Sunny Croft Ale

Grain Bill
10# pale malt
8 oz light crystal maly
8 oz roasted malt
Hops
2 oz Sunny Croft 90 min
1 oz Sunny Croft 15 min
Yeast
Safale S05
OG 1064

Porter

Grain Bill
10 # pale malt
12 oz dark crystal malt
10 oz chocolate malt
4 oz black malt
Hops
2 oz Northern Brewers ( Galena 10.1%) 90 min
1 oz Kent Goldings 45 min
Yeast
Safale S04
OG 1050
FG 1012

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest
(5 gallons)
9/27/2009

1 lb Munich
3/4 lb crystal 20
2 oz crystal 90

3.3 lb Pilsen Light LME
3 lb Pilsen Light DME

3/4 oz Perle (60 min)
3/4 oz Hallertau (25 min)
1 oz Hallertau (15 min)

WhiteLabs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch Yeast

60 min boil

1.042 OG on 9/27/2009
1.010 FG on 10/12/2009

Imperial Wit

Imperial Wit
(5 gallons)
9/27/2009

7.0 lbs weyerman pale wheat
7.0 lbs dingermans pilsner
1.0 lbs flaked oats
1.0 lbs honey

0.5 oz summit (60 min)
1.0 oz coriander (10 min)
2 grams paradise seeds (10 min)
1 oz saaz (1 min)

yeast:
WLP400 Belgain Wit

Infusion mash at 155 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.065 OG on 9/27
1.026 secondary on 10/7
1.015 keg on 10/29

Rye IPA

Rye IPA
(5 gallons)
9/17/2009

12.25 lbs rahr 2-row
3.25 lbs weyermann rye
1.25 lbs briess crystal 60
0.5 lbs briess carapils
0.5 lbs rahr white wheat

1 oz mt hood (pre boil)
1 oz columbus (60 min)
1 oz mt hood (30 min)
1 oz mt hood (1 min)
1 oz columbus (secondary)

yeast:
WLP001 California Ale

Infusion mash at 155 for 60 min
60 min boil

1.072 OG on 9/17
1.025 secondary on 9/27
1.014 keg on 10/12

Belgian Pale Ale

Belgian Pale Ale
(10 gallons)
7/5/2009

20 lbs german pilsner malt
16 oz caramunich
4 oz chocolate malt
4 oz crystal (60 min)
2 oz tettnang (30 min)
2 oz tettnang (10 min)
1 oz tettnang (end of boil)
1 oz crystal (end of boil)

yeast:
WLP550 Belgian Ale
WLP510 Bastogne

Infusion mash at 150 for 75 min
90 min boil

1.062 OG on 7/5

1.022 secondary on 7/12
1.024 secondary on 7/12

1.024 keg on 7/21

Saison

Saison v7
(10 gallons)
4/4/2009

17.5 lbs belgian pilsner
2.5 lb munich
1.5 lb malted rye
2 t gypsum
4.7 SRM

4 oz hallertauer (60 min)
1 oz kent golding (15 min)
1 oz styrian (2 min)
34.8 IBU

Infusion mash 155 for 90 min

Yeast:
WLP565 Saison
WLP568 Belgian Saison

Batch A
1.055 OG on 4/4
1.032 secondary on 4/11
1.0 keg on

Batch B
?? OG on 4/4
1.035 secondary on 4/11
1.0 keg on

Stout

Stout (Irish Style)
(5 gallon)

3/4 lb crystal 20

1/3 lb black patent malt

1/3 lb roasted barley

6.6 lb Munton's dark liquid malt extract

2 oz British Goldings (5.9% AA) (60 min)

60 min boil

yeast: Whitelabs WLP0004 Irish Ale Yeast

Pitched 4/1/09, SG 1.044

Kegged 4/12/09 SG 1.013

ESB

Extra Special Bitter
(5 gallon)

3/4 lb crystal 20

7 lb light dry malt extract

3 oz British Goldings (5.9% AA) (60 min)
1 oz British Goldings (5.9% AA) (10 min)
1 tsp Irish moss (10 mins)

60 min boil

yeast: Whitelabs 0005 British Ale Yeast

Pitched 3/15/09, SG 1.045
Secondary 3/22/09, SG 1.014

Kegged 3/29/09, SG 1.013

Walpole Alt

Alt
(5 gallons)
3/27/2009

5.25 lbs German Pilsner
3.75 lbs Wheat Malt
0.25 lbs Munich
3.6 SRM

1.50 oz Saaz (90 min)
0.25 oz Saaz Golding (5 min)
26.2 IBU

Yeast: WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

Infusion mash 155 degrees for 90 minutes

1.035 OG on 3/27
1.?? secondary on ??
1.?? keg on ??

Chocolate Porter

Chocolate Porter

5 gallon all grain

Grain Bill
pale malt 8 #
crystal malt 2 #
wheat malt 2#
chocolate malt 1/2#
roasted malt 1/2#

Hops
Williamette 1 1/2 oz 90 min
Williamette 1 1/2 oz 15 min
Williamette 1/2 oz 2 min

Other
Bakers unsweetened chocolate melt and add to boil for 75 min

OG 1.050

McNeill's Brewery

After a long ski on crusty snow - for some of us there was as much falling as skiing - we headed to Brattleboro and McNeill's brewery and bar. We had been forewarned that we were in for something of a local experience, but none of us guessed quite what an experience.

McNeill's is a true bar: it hasn't been prettied up, with just plain tables and chairs, and rough wooden floors, while it was a little lacking in the heat department (we were all wearing our coats!). While we expected a quiet Saturday afternoon crowd, since the place had just opened for the day, it turned out that they were hosting part of the Northern Roots music festival, so there was a session already in progress when we arrived.

We got our beers and settled down to listen, though the music ended pretty quickly, and a solo performer took over; as he was getting ready to take the "stage", I realized that I knew who he was (he's a professor at BU), so we listened to him sing and recite for a while and I introduced myself afterwards.

McNeill's brew their own beers, and we sampled virtually everything on offer, including two cask offerings. There were three different IPAs available - one on cask, another brewed with the roots festival in mind - and several more unusual styles, like an unfiltered Kölsch, with a general high quality of beer on offer.

New Zealand beers

Over the course of a month in New Zealand, we sampled about 40 different beers, from over 20 breweries stretching from Emerson's in Dunedin, near the southern tip of the South Island, to a number of Auckland-area brewers not far from the top of the North Island. 

While craft brewing is growing very fast in New Zealand - many of the smaller breweries were opened in the last decade - the styles are distinctly different from those found in the US. I'm not sure what brewpubs and small breweries were producing when the American craft brew boom began, but now many of the breweries have gone in the direction of "extreme beer," which could mean anything from the revival of an ancient Ethiopian brew to a beer hoppy enough to blow the average drinker's tastebuds off. 

That may well be in New Zealand's future, but right now they seem to be focused on turning out very fine versions of some traditional beer styles, with lagers and pilsners, always very popular in New Zealand, very much to the fore. Many of the breweries make use of local hops - we saw hop fields between Nelson and Golden Bay, in the northern part of the South Island - but they don't dump great quantities in: even a beer that one brewery billed as being pretty hoppy was really quite mild. 

Since I'm quite a fan of a finely-crafted pilsner or lager I was in heaven for the entire month, and several of the beers left a lingering impression. I've listed every beer we tried, or every beer we can remember trying, below. Among the lagers/pilsners I'd highlight Wanaka's Brewski, the Tuatara Pilsner, and Wigram Brewing Company's Bavarian Pilsner, one of the most enjoyable beers I've had anywhere in the past couple of years. Other highlights enjoyed Harrington's amusingly-named Wobbly Boot Porter, the Mac family of beers, and the unusual range on offer at the Mussel Inn, including a very tart lambic and a beer flavored with manuka, a local tree (Mata brewing company - with a female head brewer, a rarity in brewing - also has an interesting manuka-flavoured beer). 

Considering that New Zealand has a population of just 4.2 million people, they sustain a remarkable number of breweries: we could probably have sampled twice as many beers with a little bit more time, or a little less attention to the health of our livers. That is what the return visit will have to focus on: the ones that got away.

And here's the evidence that we took our beer research seriously:

Brown Teal Ale (Pacific Brew Ltd for Organic Action)

Croucher Brewing Company Czech Pilsner

Croucher Brewing Company Pale Ale

Dux de Lux Hereford Bitter

Dux de Lux Lager

Dux de Lux Nor'wester

Emerson's Bookbinder

Emerson's 1812 India Pale Ale

Green Fern Organic Lager (West Coast Brewing Co.)

Green Man Best Bitter

Harrington's Pilsner

Harrington's Wobbly Boot Porter Ale

Mac's Black Mac

Mac's Gold

Mac's Great White (Belgian Wit)

Mac's Hop Rocker Pilsner

Mac's Sassy Red 

Mata Artesian

Mata Manuka

Monteith's Original Ale

Monteith's Celtic

Monteith's Black Beer

Monteith's Pilsner

Mussel Inn Captain Cooker

Mussel Inn Dark Horse Black Beer

Mussel Inn Golden Goose Lager

Mussel Inn Lambagreeny Lambic

Mussel Inn Red

Speight's Old Dark

Steinlager

TaaKawa Ale (brewed by Steam Brewing Company)

Tuatara Ardennes

Tuatara IPA

Tuatara London Porter

Tuatara Pilsner

Tui

Twisted Hop Golding Bitter

Waikato Draught

Wanaka Beerworks Brewski

Wanaka Beerworks Cardrona Golden

Wanaka Beerworks Tall Black

Wigram Brewing Co. Bavarian Pilsner

Winnie's Ale

Otter Creek Otter's Dubbel

The Otter's Dubbel is an entry in Otter Creek's World Tour series - a Belgian dubbel, as the name implies, and a very fine American version of the style. It has the sweetness characteristic of a dubbel, but it doesn't overwhelm the beer, which also has a slight sour tang; it's a nicely balanced brew which went surprisingly well with a meal of tacos...

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest
(5 gallon)

1 lb Munich malt
3/4 lb crystal 20
2 oz crystal 90

3.3 lbs Pilsen light liquid malt extract

3 lb Pilsen light dry malt extract

1 oz Cluster (7.9% AA) (60 min)
3/4 oz Hallertau (2.4% AA) (25 min)
1 oz Hallertau (2.4% AA) (15 min)

60 min boil

yeast: WLP 029 German Ale Kölsch Yeast

Pitched 1/25/09, SG 1.040
Secondary 2/11/09, SG 1.012

Kegged