Homebrewing Clone Beers

I'm a big believer that in order to be a really good homebrewer you need to really like drinking beer.  I mean it's not really rocket science is it?  If you don't know what its supposed to taste like then how do you know you brewed it correctly?

I find that most of us that have been homebrewing for a while tend to brew the styles of beer that we like to drink the most.  I know one member of the local homebrew club that brews a lot of American style IPA's because that is the kind of beer he likes to drink the most.  I personally like to brew a lot of English Bitters, Altbiers, and various German lagers (Helles, Dunkle, and Bocks).  These are the beers I like to drink the most.  It doesn't mean I don't like Stouts, Brown Ales, IPA's, etc.  I love those styles of beer too but they are beers that I drink mostly on occasion.  I'll drink more Stouts in the winter for example but an English Bitter is a year rounder for me.  Actually the Bitters have gradually become my favorite style all around.  When I'm at the BBC in Sandwich the Fuller's London Pride is my "go to" beer.  That beer is a classic English Best Bitter.  I also reallty love Coniston's Bluebird Bitter when I can get it.  The Bluebird Bitter has this certain, really pleasant taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on but I knew I liked it a lot. 

This is where clone homebrewing comes in.  I did some research over the internet.  Firstly I started with the breweries own website where they come right out and say that they use Pale Malt, a dash of Crystal Malt, and Challenger Hops.  They even give you the bitterness range that they use.  I also just did some random google searching to see what other homebrewers might have done to mimick this beer and they pretty much all followed that which is on the brewery website.

http://www.conistonbrewery.com/coniston-ales.htm

I had never used Challenger hops before so I thought perhaps this was the ingredient that gave that particular flavor that I love about this beer.  I figured I'd be brewing lots of it so I bought 1 pound of Challenger hops pellets to use.  I put together a grain bill of mostly English Maris Otter pale malt and some English Medium Crystal malt.  I probably used more Crystal than needed (1/2 pound) as my beer came out slightly darker than Coniston's so there is a chance to fine tune.  However combining this grain bill with the Challenger hops pretty much did the trick.  The beer came out very reminiscent of Coniston's and is unbelievably drinkable.  I did brew 10 gallons and used Safale 04 on half and Nottingham yeast on the other half.  I've only tried the Nottingham version so far with great results but we'll see how the Safale 04 stacks up next. 

I'll probably tweak the recipe a bit once in a while simply because us homebrewers are wont to do that and we can do it.  We don't have to brew to consistency like a commercial brewery does.  I'm going to want to do a version that uses East Kent Goldings in addition to the Challenger out of curiousity.  My next batch, I'll probably just drop the amount of Crystal a bit but stick to Challenger hops and crank out another 10 gallons that way.

I will aslo say that one of the things I really love about this style of beer is that the flavors are very pleasant and very subtle.  These beers are incredbily drinkable.  They don't hit you in the face with a burst of flavors but by the time you get to the bottom of the pint you can't help but want to go back and have another one.

The Mother Lode IPA

This Tuesday the BBC arranged to have a few of us BBC Sandwich beer club members go to the Mayflower brewery in Plymouth to cask two firkins of IPA one of which will be served at a near future beer club meeting.  Of course I jumped at the chance. 

First you enter the beautiful tasting room where one of the brewers greeted us and gave us some samples.  He tells us that the bar was built by local carpenters in exchange for .... you guessed it .... beer.  Really who doesn't work for beer?

Mash tun and wort kettle:

Fermentation in progress:

Some unfiltered Golden Ale straight from the fermentation tank:

The motley crew from BBC getting ready to fill the cask from left to right (Uncle Rico, Soto, yours truly, and some nice hippy lady whose name I've forgotten but I know she likes to make mead and wine at home).

We would dry hop the cask, add the clarifier and priming sugar, and then pour the beer into the cask from the fermentation tank before hammering in the bung.

And finally the end result.  They let us name the beer and Soto came up with the name "Mother Lode".  Works for me.

Really nice of the folks at Mayflower letting us visit to do this.  As I said before in a previous blog post, they brew really solid beer and now I know the people behind are really cool too.

Burlington, VT

I took Stephanie to visit Keene State College this weekend.  Afterwards we drove up to Burlington, VT to visit my niece and spend the night in town.  Steph spent the night with her cousin on campus while I stayed at a hotel downtown.  So guess what I did that night?  If you guessed that I curled up to a good book in the hotel room you guessed wrong and you need your head checked.  If you guessed that I went on a Burlington pub crawl you are correct but don't deserve any kudos because it's totally fucking obvious. 

Firstly a side note, we stopped at Elm City Brewpub in Keene for lunch.  I can't really comment as I only tried a couple of the beers.  One decent and one not so good.  Food was meh.  But I wouldn't rule it out for a future stop based on that limited sampling.

The weather was gorgeous in Burlington.  First thing I did was take a photo of Lake Champlaign across from my hotel:

Then I walked up to the Church street market area where all the pubs and shops are:

It's a really nice town.

I let my niece Katie select the restaurant where we would meet for dinner.  I swear on all that is holy that I did not attempt to influence her decision in the slightest.  She's an Andersen for crying out loud.  Of course she chose Vermont Pub and Brewery. 

First beer I had there was a cask ale.  It was in poor condition.  Not even picture worthy.  Next I had a porter brewed with coconuts.  This was better. 

We had a nice dinner.  The girls went back to campus and I continued my tour.  Next up The Farmhouse.  I'd say this is my favorite place in Burlington.  I almost equate it to Novare Res in Portland, Maine (although Novare Res is still my favorite beer pub in New England).  Great beer selection at the Farmhouse including several beers from Hill Farmstead Brewery and a few little surprises like Schlenkerla Fastenbier.  For some reason though I decided to have the cask Saison that they had going.  I never had a Saison from a cask before and it was quite enjoyable.

But not as good as the Schlenkerla Fastenbier:

or the Hill Farmstead "Columbus" - pale ale with plenty of Columbus hops:

They conveniently got the up to date beer list written on chalkboards above the bar.  This was one of three boards filled out:

It's a nice place.  Very relaxing.  The staff and other customers are pretty laid back.  I really should have just stayed in my bar stool and kept on with the Columbus but after finishing a plate of local cheese I decided to wander.

I didn't wander far though.  I went to the downstairs bar and ordered a Hill Farmstead "Double Galaxy".  Not a great idea as strong and really hoppy was probably not what I needed at the time.

After the "Double Galaxy" I left and wandered down the street to American Flatbread/Zero Gravity Brewing.  They had a "session" ale on tap called "London Calling".  Perfect, I thought, and low alcohol English Bitter.  Problems is that it sucked.  Totally bland.  So I tried the "Altbier".  Even worse.  I'm sorry but you can't brew an ale with Ringwood yeast and crappy malt and rightfully call it an Altbier.  I took two sips, put the beer on the bar, and walked out.  It was crowded and I really didn't want to make a fuss and ask for my money back.  So I just left.

Before I crashed for the night I just had to visit one last place.  This last place is ........ "DAS BIERHAUS!!!"

It's a kitschy, little, German themed pub on the other side of main street and has two stories with a beer garden on the roof.  For my nightcap I had a huge pretzel and an unfiltered lager from Baden Wurttemburg (brewery is called Arcobrau I think).  You know what, that might have been the best beer of the evening.

CBC Comes to Cape Cod

I hadn't had a beer in a few days and we drained the kegs I had going this weekend, so on the way home for work I had a crave to stop at a local store in Mashpee to see what beers they might have in the bottle for me to enjoy tonight.  Well, I found a very pleasant surprise in one of the beer fridges.  They had a couple of bottles from Cambridge Brewing Company on the shelf.  I didn't realize that CBC was distributing their beer beyond the brewpub these days but I'm thrilled to find out they are.  I got a bottle of "The Audacity of Hops" and "Triple Threat".

Audacity of Hops is as the name implies a hop bomb but one that is surprisingly thirst quenching.  They call it a Belgian style Double IPA.  Hey all I know is its a beautiful pale ale with loads of flavor and aroma hops thrown into and apparently done in a way that doesn't make the beer undrinkable.  I'll be looking for CBC beers wherever I can now that I know they're out in stores.

Cambridge Pub Crawl

I met up with my friends James and Michelle last weekend and we took the opportunity to do some reconaissance on a couple of pubs in Cambridge, MA.  We started out meeting at Boston Beer Works by the garden where I took my daughters to lunch before they headed into the Bruins game with friends.  The beer I had at Beer Works did not impress.  They can be hit or miss.  Sometimes I love the beers they've got on tap and other times they're just lame. 

After that we took the red line over to Kendall Square in Cambridge.  We probably would have gotten there quicker if we just walked.  Anyhow first stop was mainstay Cambridge Brewing Company (CBC). 

CBC are phenomenal brewers.  They didn't dissapoint this time either.  I had one of their seasonal specials called "Big Man IPA" a beatufully hopped beer.  James had the Nitro Stout and Michelle the Porter.  I thought the Stout the best of the three.  If I were smart I would have ordered one after the IPA but instead curiosity got the better of me and I got a snifter of the Barleywine.  It was a bit too strong for me but still very good. 

The "Blunderbuss" Barleywine.

Stacks of grain against the wall.

I could have stayed much longer at CBC and tried a couple more of their beers but we had work to do.  So next stop would be Lord Hobo.  Lord Hobo is a beer bar with a phenomenal selection.  I knew it was close to CBC.  A few blocks down the street from CBC.  Problem is I went in the wrong direction.  James pulled out his GPS device and informed that it was the other direction down Hampshire street.  No city messes with my sense of direction worse than Cambridge.  Anyhow it wasn't very far.  It had the look of a neighborhood dive bar complete with the old style windows that you can't see through.  It's not very big inside but they have a great selection of beer. 








James got the Spezial Rauchbier Lager and I ordered a Troegs Nugget Nectar (I wanted to see if my friend Dylan's praise of this beer was deserved) and I can't remember Michelle's choice.  The Nugget Nectar was excellent and very hoppy.  Quite a contrast from the Spezial Lager which is silky smooth.

I know I tried something else off the list but I can't remember what it was.  This is what I get for blogging a week after the fact.  Well here enjoy a picture of the bar and taps instead.

We had to walk back to the Kendall MBTA station and knew the Meadhall was somewhere around there so we would make one last stop to check out this other new beer bar in Kendall Square.  Meadhall is a cavernous beer hall with very little in the way of character but it's got a massive beer list and a huge chalkboard on the wall displaying what's on tap.  I was a bit skeptical going in because usually a place with such a large tap list fills it without a lot of subpar choices but not in this case.  The selection is quite good.

















And this is how I left my friends at the end of our little tour.  It appears we had a pretty good time.  I say we do it again before long.

Cambridge has got it pretty good in the beer department these days.

Jack's Abbey

It's a great time to be a beer lover in New England.  It seems like a few new microbreweries pop-up every couple of years.  One that has intrigued me since they've come on the scene in 2011 is Jack's Abbey Brewing in Framingham, Mass.  What caught my attention about these guys is that they are dedicated to brewing lagers and doing so with plenty of creativity.  Let's face it recipe creativity and commercial lager brewering haven't typically gone hand in hand.  On top of that a lager microbrewery in the US and even more so here in New England is a real rarity.  Okay so Jack's Abbey breaks the mold so the next question is, are their beers any good?  A few of use tried their "Smoke and Dagger" beer on Cask at the recent NERAX cask ale festival in Haverhill.  We all liked it a lot.  It is lightly smoked dark lager.  When I visited the brewery they told me they only used about 10% smoked malt but it's enough to be noticeable.  But they have a lot more beers to choose from.  So I had no choice but to go and investigate this new, upstart brewery.  So a couple of weeks ago I headed up there on a late Friday afternoon to do just that.

They're just outside Framingham center in a small industrial park off of route 135.  I had trouble finding the place at first so I gave them a call and got directions.  Its set in an old brick industrial building and you walk right into their retail storefront.  The first thing you see is the growler filling/sample serving area that consists of an about 8 ft bar with some stools to sit at.  On the wall to the left is some Germany brewery paraphenalia (coasters, etc.) hinting that the guys running the brewery have done some personal R&D into lager brewering and drinking in Germany (a very good sign).  There's a big glass window behind the serving counter giving the customers a view into the brewery shop floor.  I  noticed what appeard to be a large walk in largering room.  Next to the window is a whiteboard listing all the beers they currently had on tap.  They had an impressive selection of 7 beers on tap at the time.  I got there just in time to get the last growler of Dopplebock as they took that off tap and put the newly release Baltic Porter on right before I arrived.  What timing!!

One of the things that immediately struck me is that there were a handful of customers sitting at the serving counter enjoying plenty of samples while waiting for growlers to be filled.   The folks at Jack's Abbey are plenty generous with their visitors.

They were very busy filling growlers for locals popping in and stocking up for the weekend.  I knew it was going to be a significant wait but I didn't mind since plenty of samples were to be had in the meantime.  They asked me what I wanted and my reply was "One growler of each!".  This brought some curious looks from the other customers but when I explained that I came all the way from the Cape just to try their beer and I would be damned if I left without one of each I think they understood.  Now they just thought I was crazy from driving all the way from the Cape.  Oh well. 

While waiting and enjoying samples I scoped out the brewery, the tshirts for sale, paraphenalia, etc. and talked about beer with the other visitors. 

I was there for about 1 hour and probably sampled at least one of each beer while getting all seven growlers filled.  They gave me a free beer glass as a souvenier and of course I bought a TShirt.  I haven't been clothes shopping in a while and my wardrobe is beer and sports based so buying a TShirt was kind of mandatory.

The guys that own and run the place are really nice folks and very hospitable and you can tell they really enjoy what they're doing.  I look forward to going back and now that I'm on the last growler as we speak (Baltic Porter btw) a return visit is imminent.

Here's the rundown of the beers I left with:

Jabby Brau - This is the one probably most like a standard Pilsener or even Bavarian Helles lager.  Their weakest beer at 4.5% but tasted quite good.  Unfortunately as I got near the bottom of the growler it got really murky and not very drinkable but luckily I didn't have that problem with the others.

Smoke and Dagger - Dark and a bit smokey but not at all heavily smoked.  Probably my favorite beer of theirs.

Hoponius Union - A super hoppy lager. They call it an India Pale Lager (eyeroll) but it's a seriously tasty beer.  I broke this growler open last weekend at a feast we had at my house and everyone that tried it liked it a lot. 

Cascadian Schwarzbier.  -  Bloody hell I don't remember drinking this one.  I think I opened this at the tail end of a long brew day.  A dark lager with loads of citrusy hops.  I wish I could remember it.

Hey Diddle Diddle - Double India Dunkle Lager (another eyeroll).  Okay basically a amber lager with loads of hops in both quantity and variety.  To my surprise, I really enjoyed it.  I prefer a smooth, nutty, almost sweetish Dunkle so I figured this one would be somewhat revolting but not so.  Another growler that bit the dust on a brewday.  Maybe I drank this one first, at 8% ABV, and that's why I don't remember the other one?

Saxonator Dopplebock - Enjoyed this at Dana's brewday last weekend.  Not bad.  I think Dana and I both agreed that we liked the Cape Cod Old Man Winter Ale better.  I really think it's hard to create a truly great Dopplebock without a triple decoction and I don't think Jack's does that. But maybe I'm wrong.  Don't get me wrong, this beer was very good and the growler died a respectable death but it didn't quite stack up to some of the great Bavarian/Franconian bock beers I've had.  But I'd buy it again, just for the record.  I've been spoiled when it comes to bock beers.

Framinghammer Baltic Porter - I'm having a glass of this now.  It's thick and strong (10% ABV).  There's no doubt when you first taste this that it's got a kick but it's more of a pleasant alcohol warming taste combined with plenty of malty/chocolate/roasty flavors.  They could have called this an Imperial Stout and I wouldn't know the difference.

Jack's Abbey is a stellar addition to the Massachusetts beer world.  I'm heading back for refills soon. 

Dogfish

Sometime around New Years I decided to collect a batch of different Dogfish Head beers and give them all a try.  My main reason being that I really hadn't drank any Dogfish beers in a few years and I was a bit intrigued by the variety coming from them that I saw on the store shelves.  Plus I figured they deserved a fair shake and a slice of my liver.

This turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought.  Firstly, they've got a shit ton of different beers to choose from and finding them all at the same store was pretty much impossible.  Secondly, some of the beers are expensive and to try all of them would put a big dent in the wallet.  Lastly, most are strong beers so having more than one in a single session would be tough.  So this all wound up taking me about a month and visits to multiple different stores in the area.

End result is that I tried about 14 different beers.  Out of those there were 7 that I can honestly say I liked a lot and would spend the money on again.  3 that were good but not memorable and only 4 that I didn't really like at all.  The clunkers for me were Hellhound, Pearl Jam, Chateau Jiahu, and Raison D'Etra.  Hey to each his own let's move on.  Ta Henket, 90 min IPA, and Chicory Stout were beers that I thought okay but nothing I'd buy off the shelf again given the choices out there today.  The ones I liked in no particular order:

60 minute IPA.  I know, I know.  It's everyone's obvious choice.  The beer that I'm guessing pays a lot of the bills at Dogfish.  It's a great beer and very easy to drink.  I did have some of this years ago and forgot that I really liked it.  They've got it on tap at the local BBC and now it's one of my go to's when I'm there. 

My Antonia.  I guess you'd call this a Imperial Pilsener or something to that affect.  I like the name My Antonia better.  This is arguably my favorite of the whole lot.  Thanks go to my friend Aaron Bennett for providing some background atmosphere to our beer sampling.  It was a good New Years Eve.  We tried many beers including I think 3 Dogfish ones.

Probably the one that surprised me the most, since my expectations of it were low for some reason, was the Palo Santo Marron.  A dark, rich, strong brown ale that is aged in wooden vessels.  This is one of the new regular beers that you can get in a 6-pack or maybe just a 4-pak?  A wonderful beer that comes in at a whopping 12% but it's a dangerous 12 because you really can't tell that its quite that strong.  I could easily knock back 4-5 of these then realize after it was too late what I had done.

Sah'tea - I can't really even begin to describe this beer.  It's brewed with Juniper Berries and a whole slew of other ingredients and is a bit reminiscent of a weizen beer.  Well go figure it is fermented with a German Weizen yeast.   Too many flavors to get my head around but who cares I really enjoyed it and want to try it again so that's good enough for me.

Pangae - How can you really go wrong with a beer brewed with ginger?  Unless you don't like ginger for some strange reason.  Weird name for a beer though.  Pangae is one of  the map selections when you start a game of Civilization IV or V.  It's not a beer.  Whatever, I liked the beer a lot.  I bet some of the people in the Dogfish marketing department are a bunch of stuck up wine drinkers.  They're probably drinking a glass of Pinot Grigio right now while the come up with the next pretentious beer name.  Just saying.

Speaking of weird names the next two top the last.  Namaste and Theobroma.  Really?  What the fuck is that?!  This is beer we're talking about for cry eye!!  Well they are great beers anyhow.  The Namaste is a great summer beer and Theobroma is another weird recipe with things like Ancho Chilies (no idea what those are) and cocoa nibs  (what's a nib?).  Whatever it is it works though.  Two more lovely beers to round out my favorites list.

So there was recently a brouhahah over on the Beer Advocate forum about overrated breweries and Dogfish's name was brought up by a lot of the posters over there until Sam C. of Dogfish should up and gave them a smackdown.  Seriously though I really don't think Dogfish is overrated at all.  They're putting out a huge variety of beers and many of them are terrific beers.  If I had any complaint at all it's only that some of them are expensive but then again they're not beers that you'd be drinking all the time and a lot of these 22oz beers on the shelf these days are just as costly.  Overall I'm impressed and more importantly there are more than a handful that I want to drink again.

But now I can take a rest from Dogfish and move onto another brewery.  Jack's Abbey in Framingham up next.