LDI Halloween Fundraiser and VA Craft Beer Tasting Event Hosted by BRBA - October 25th 2013

5 Styles of Virginia Craft Beers were available for tasting from Blue Mountain Brewery, Devil's Backbone Brewery with a Port City Porter thrown in the mix to complete the evening of music, craft beer, and costume.

2013 OKTOBERFEST MEETING AND CRAFT BEER TASTING

Summary October 13^th 2013

The meeting was held at Dan’s Beaver Run Brewery. He explained his “step mash method” of brewing, the importance of temperature and timing to insure proper fermentation and flavor. Kevin, Rich and Dan also explained that stouts, porters and some IPA require slow pouring to
minimize heads and the more rings left by the heads mean a better flavor.

Kevin demonstrated the “Fast Track” bottle racks that results in cleaner bottles and requires less space for drying bottles.

Chris reminded all present that volunteers were needed for the LDI Halloween Party to be held at the Art Warehouse, where the group will be in charge of the craft beer tasting.  The brews will be from the “Blue Mountain” and the “Devil’s Backbone” breweries.

Oktoberfest Food served:  Brat’s and Kraut, homemade goat cheese and crackers, sweet potato pie from home grown sweet potatoes.

Brews presented were:

Jim-Belgian Ale Summer Saison- This brew, which can be light or dark and uses Northern Brewer honey extract, is truly a taste of summer-light, mellow, pleasant tasting. Great for a late summer picnic of summer fruits, creamy potato salad and hotdogs.

Dan-Czech Pilsner-The white wine of beer, this brew is mild, smooth in flavor with a slightly sour taste. It would pair nicely with an autumn dinner of sweet-glazed chicken that included roasted sweet potatoes and mild flavored vegetables.

Charlie- Munich style Lager- This brew has a caramel and malt taste that is crisp and slightly creamy. It would pair well with warm apple desserts.

Chris-Kriek Lambic- This “Champagne of Beer” which uses wild yeasts, comes from the Seine River valley in Brussels. It has a sweet then sour fruity cherry taste. It would serve well with dinners of roasted pork and roasted vegetables, as well as, creamy, soft cheese appetizers.

Tim- Octoberfest – This brew, which uses dark malt and lager style yeast is a fall, “comfy by the fire” beer. It’s mellow with a comfortable smooth after taste. Serve with warm, cream style fall vegetable soups or baked macaroni and cheese.

Dan- Flat Tail IPA #25 - This brew has a mellow creamy taste with a slight bite to the aftertaste, a great brew with bratwurst, scalloped potatoes and steamed greens.

Alex and Pablo(living in Spain)- Spanish IPA Domus- This brew has a surprising combination piney, citrus and spicy coriander taste. It would complement paella and vegetable beef soup. 

Spanish IPA Sibellia-   This brew has a simple, creamy, pleasant taste. Pair this with sweet autumn pies.

Kevin-Aged Rye Porter – This porter, which was featured at the last meeting in June has been aged in the bottle, similar to wine. The flavor has improved and mellowed; still a great sipping beer.

Rich-Irish Stout- This brew definitely needs to be poured slowly, as long as 19 minutes is one suggestion. It has a rich creamy taste with a light sweet aftertaste that becomes slightly acidic. It would pair well with wild wood fowl dinners that include a variety of sweet winter squashes or pumpkins, cranberries and corn, the foods served at the first Thanksgiving dinner.

Dan-Imperial Stout- aged in Maker’s Mark whiskey barrel- This brew has a sweet, silky smooth taste of mocha that continues into the aftertaste. Chocoholics can pair this with chocolate mousse or chocolate covered baked pears for dessert.

Imperial Stout-as above, not on oak- This brew has less of a mocha taste, more of a malt taste and is not as sweet as the one above. It can be paired with chocolate desserts, bake fall fruit desserts and fall desserts in general.

Kevin-Imperial Stout- This brew begins with a slight bite, then the taste becomes creamy. It too can be served with roasted wild wood fowl with baked potatoes and seasoned green beans.

Sincerely,

Sharron Burgess

Recording Secretary and food pairing expert.

Brewer at Work - Imperial Stout Aged in Whiskey Barrel

Dan's experiment of transferring Imperial Stout into Used Whiskey Barrel for Aging  approx 2 weeks (or more).

June 2013 - BRBA Meeting and Craft Beer Tasting

  

NOTES By Sharron, BRBA’s beer pairings and general foodie expert

Summation-Meeting- June 22, 2013

The meeting was held at Chris Freeland’s home.  She presented an update on the barley project. The 2 row bearded barley, which was planted on ¾ of an acre has been harvested. Chris also explained the differences between 6 row barley, which can be used for malting, as well as animal feed and the 2 row bearded.  Dan brought in a sample of the beared 2 row barley.  2 row malting barley has the correct protein value and enzyme count, resulting in a better taste.  It’s been widely debated which type of malting barley (2-row vs 6-row) is the best to use.

 Next project is malting the barley (germinating, drying and kilning/roasting).   Both Chris and Dan explained various drying and malting techniques that can be used for the barley.  They will be contacting potential facilities to see if they will malt the grain for the group, or purchase it for their own use.  There are potential future malting facilities/distilleries in development around the area.  One in Charlottesville at Woodridge Farm, one on Luray (distillery), and one farm in Elkton that is exploring malting. 

Brews presented

Tim:  Hefeweizen - This has a fruity aroma with a creamy banana taste (from the yeast). Lemon or orange slices  may be added to the brew.  This would taste good with tropical fruit salads, oatmeal cookies and Cuban foods.  

Kevin:  Irish Draft Ale- A yeast from a rye porter was used in the brewing. It has a citric fruity taste and would add taste nicely to orange flavored desserts, roasted duck and chicken dishes that include summer vegetables.

Chris:   Belgian Abbey Ale-This pilsner taste like “summer”. It is brewed with some home toasted and roasted malt specialty grains add sweetness and flavor, noticeable in the aftertaste. Serve this with creamy summer salads.

Josh:  Belgian Rye Singel-This brew is 80% and 20% rye that is filtered with rice hulls. It has a slight fruity and lightly spiced taste. It’s a perfect combo for grilled salmon, game fish and chicken.

Charlie:  Kirkland IPA-This is a nice tasting commercial brew.

Chris:  Belgian Brewed, Raspberry Lambic- Lambics are considered the “champagne of beer”. Barley, unmalted wheat and natural yeasts are used in the brewing. This is definitely a dessert brew. It would go well with cheesecakes, chocolate cakes and various custards.

Bill:   Greenport Harbor Citrus IPA- This IPA comes from a small, successful handcraft brewery in Long Island, NY. Check their website-great story. It has a nice clear color and green citrus taste-perfect with mild tasting fish dishes and lightly-salty foods.

Josh:   American IPA- This IPA uses a mixture of hops-Summit, a bitter Australian hop and Galaxy in the brewing. It has a green, earthy taste and would enhance the taste of a variety of mushroom dishes, both wild and cultivated.

James:  Port City Monument IPA-This is an award winning brew with an interesting, somewhat intense hoppy taste.  It also has a slight fruity and sweet taste. Great brew for just drinking by itself, but would pair nicely with tart foods.

Rich:  Scottish Ale Fancy Cat-This ale has a mellow, smoky, slight maple taste-a great companion for grilled hamburgers and beef of any kind. It could also be used in a marinade for the beef before grilling.

Dan:  Belgian Triple- The extra hops in this brew give it a great malt taste that is also slightly sweet.

This would pair nicely with cream pies, especially strawberry pie.

Bill:  Greenport Harbor Black Duck Porter-Another winner from this hand-craft brewery. This brew has a smoky quality that would pair well with beef stew and could also be used in making the stew.

Kevin:  Pete’s Smoke Porter- This porter has a bright smoky flavor. This porter would pair with buttered noodle and grain dishes that contain beef.

                Rye Whisky Porter-This brew is the perfect fireside, conversation sipping porter. It has a smooth taste with a creamy, lightly sweet aftertaste-a dessert by itself.

Dan:   Rye Whisky Porter-This is an after meal party porter that can replace dessert. It has a bright beginning taste with a very nice, smooth aftertaste.

Both of the rye whisky porters from Dan and Kevin used Copper Fox Rye Whisky.

Personal note-The presented brews displayed a quality complexity of flavors. Bravo!!

  



The Barley Project June 20th - It's Been Harvested!!

This photo of our malting barley field has been harvested as of last week!  Thanks Jeff!
Next steps are finding a malting facility and/or those interested in some small scale malting of our Charles Variety of Two Row Barley.  We will be discussing next steps at our next Brewers Meeting this weekend.  Cheers!



Vino Vixens meet Foam Fatales

This past evening (Monday Feb 11), Blue Ridge Brewers Association member Dan Hurlbert held a beer tasting event hosted by the Vino Vixens, a local group of ladies dedicated to self-educating the fineries of wine culture.  Discussions centered on the history of beer making, emphasizing contributions women “brewsters” have made throughout millennia.  This was followed with a discourse on the mechanics of brewing and a brief dialog on the four basic ingredients of beer and how brewers mix and match these ingredients to achieve certain beer styles.  Finally, it was time for the main attraction; a beer/food pairing spectacular. 

A broad spectrum of styles were tasted and paired with a fantastic array of food delights prepared by “chef” Patressa Kearns. Following are beers tasted and their suggested pairings, so enjoy:

Czech Pilsner Urquell served with "white" pizza – a Jim Lahey's "My Pizza" crust (homemade) smothered with goat cheese, smoked salmon, marinated artichoke hearts, fresh grape tomatoes, mixed wild mushrooms, garlic oil (homemade), homemade béchamel sauce, chopped dill, olive oil drizzle and black pepper.

Hoggarden Bavarian Wheat served with a Reuben pizza – a pumpernickel rye crust with lots of caraway seeds, sauerkraut, chopped yellow onion, spicy 1000 Island dressing (homemade), beer smoked sausage, pastrami, more caraway seeds and grated Swiss cheese.

Beaver Run Breweries Rauch Pale Ale (RPA) paired nicely with the next course of parsnips -- roasted with olive oil, kosher salt, white pepper, and a sprinkling of cumin, Brussels sprouts -- roasted with walnut oil and olive oil, with walnut halves, kosher salt, and black pepper and a mushroom Pate made with Dominion Pale Ale.

Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo Extra IPA was next in the lineup served with traditional "Italian meat" pizza – a chewy traditional Italian crust, pepperoni, Italian sausage, extra fennel seed, a couple pinches of red pepper flakes, lots of Italian seasoning, lots of extra dried oregano, red onion, fresh garlic, tomato sauce, a mix of five Italian cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, fontina, provolone, and asiago), chopped green bell peppers and chopped white onion.

Beaver Run Breweries Smokey Tail Porter paired nicely with the Smoked Cheese-Beer Fondue -- made with smoked Cheddar and Abita's "Purple Haze" (raspberry) beer and served with Sourdough Hard Pretzels (Snyder's of Hanover brand), Fresh veggies: "Baby" carrots, celery sticks, radishes, baby Vidalia onions and beer mustard for dipping.

Finally came the dessert finding Legend’s Chocolate Porter and Peak Organic Brewing Oak Aged Mocha Stout flowed nicely with Guinness Stout Cheesecake -- with an Oreo cookie crust, Guinness Stout Chocolate Truffles -- some rolled in Hershey's cocoa, some rolled in black cocoa mixed with a whisper of ground cloves and sweet and spicy beer nuts -- candied pecans, made with Guinness Stout, raw sugar, cumin, cayenne, a little olive oil, some kosher salt, and ancho chili powder.

Bon-Appetit and Cheers to all for a grand success.

Dan

Josh - Brewing Day

Josh addes gypsum and calcium added to distilled water
 during the sparge and mashing to control PH, and bring out specific flavors.
  



Josh's Notes: Note taking is the key to brewing consistently

malted barley for Saison style brew

Stirring the grains in the mash tun

Checking temp of grains in the mash tun

refractomer to measure initial gravity of wort

Hops pellets - close up

Hops pellets to be used at different times during the boil



sparging grains - hot water rinses the wert (liquid that makes beer)
 from malted and boiled grains

Gravity Feed System - hot water to sparge grains, to boil pot

wort (beer essence) with hops added at different intervals duirng the final boil

 

boil pot - boiling the wort (liquid from boiling and rinsing the malted grains)
Here is where you add hops, irish moss, or other adjuncts.

 

brewmaster at work - stirring the wort to prevent scalding



The end of a successful brew day.
 





Brewers at Work - Dan's New Brewing Area

Brew space including obligatory bar area......nice

Bench with Barley Mill

Brew Kettle Set Up with Plate Wort Chiller

 

Hot Liquor (water) tank above, "washing"
liquid from the mashed grains

Proud Brewer