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Winter, like all the other seasons, conjures up an image we’re all familiar with: a lone log cabin sits out, nestled amongst robust pine trees. The entire landscape is covered in snow and a brilliant golden glow emanates from every window of the cabin while a thin trail of smoke lazily curls up from the stone chimney.

Not only these sights, but the sounds and the flavors of winter are equally well known to us. Cinnamon, ginger, cherries, chocolate and peppermint remind us of winter classics like hot cocoa, gingerbread houses and candy canes. It’s not incredibly unreasonable that beer brewers would want to try to impart these flavors into their creations as well. This is evident in one of the most prolific beer styles of the season: the winter spice beer. However, because they are beer brewers, there sometimes comes a rather zany edge in the attempt to extract those winter flavors in a beer. As we started to get hyped about the holiday season we thought we’d share some intriguing things that craft brewers have used to elicit the flavors of winter. Here are some of our favorites.

(Learn: Beer & Food Course)

Cherries and Honey

Okay, so we’re kind of cheating a little to start out here. We’ve chosen to start our list with an ingredient combination rather than a single ingredient. Cherries are not a particularly unusual ingredient nor is honey. However, the two don’t often meet in combination (likely for fear of overwhelming sweetness), and one of the best examples of the combo is in a staple holiday beer, Troegs Brewing’s Mad Elf. Talking with Don Russel, who has penned a book on Christmas ales, Mad Elf is a beer that he personally comes back to year after year. According to Jeff Herb from Troegs, the idea for the Mad Elf was born in November 2000. The original concept had also been to barrel-age the beer, but that didn’t pan out, and initial brewing was further complicated by a near comical accident during fermentation. “Upon returning [to the brewery] days later, you could smell this really fruity aroma in the air. We ran back to the fermentation tanks and there was a foamy mess all over the ground. Nearly half the [Mad Elf] batch bubbled down a drain.” So, while these two ingredients might not be the most outlandish on our list, they are not exactly a commonplace combo and definitely can be finicky to work with. We raise a glass to Troegs for their continued efforts to bring us a beer that is, for many drinkers, a Christmas classic.

Figs

Everyone go ahead and insert your figgy pudding jokes here. Figs have an obvious connection to the holidays, not only in the timeless, carol-centric dish but also in Southern Tier’s 2XMAS Ale. And while often mislabeled as a kind of fruit, these natural eccentricities are actually a unique entity known as a syconium. According to Amy Stewart in her book “The Drunken Botanist”, this means that the flowers of the fig’s plant are contained inside a hunk of plant flesh and this flesh is what we often think of as the fig. As they are not typical fruit, they are also not used often in beer brewing like typical fruits can be. However, they do make the occasional appearance (and most notably around the holidays) as they infuse a rich and sweet flavor that often reminds us of dark berries or the popular Newtonian cookie. And while it appears that not many have actually used any Fig Newtons in holiday beers, the fig is used every now and then with a rather impressive effect.

(More: A ‘Stirring Tale’ Behind the Father of Homebrewing’s Famous Spoon)

Marshmallows

There are few things that truly elicit that winter feeling quite like the simple mixture of chocolate and marshmallows. There was nothing better to warm up to after a long day of sledding outside as a kid than a cup of hot cocoa with a couple of marshmallows thrown in. Eventually, those kids grew up; and some of those grown-ups become beer brewers; and some of those beer brewers dreamt of putting together a grown-up version of that drink they loved so much. We could only assume that’s what the fine folks at Pollyanna Brewing were thinking when they concocted their Toasted Marshmallow Fun Size, or the brewers at Garage Brewing as they crafted their Marshmallow Milk Stout.

Pecans

While we’ve all heard of the nut brown ale, it’s fair to say that pecans were never really what most people had in mind along those lines. While we do admit that pecans aren’t an ingredient solely associated with the winter or holiday season, we’ve chosen to include them as they were a choice ingredient in a completely holiday-centric beer from Shiner, the aptly named, Holiday Cheer. Pecans are the only major tree nut that grows naturally in North America, and were commonly eaten and traded by Native American tribes. Despite the lack of their use in beers, the pecan is quite familiar in the American kitchen (and especially the Southern kitchen). Further, the National Pecan Shellers Association (yes, that is a real thing), estimates that the United States produces between 250 and 300 million pounds of pecans annually. I honestly can’t imagine what we could be using that many pecans for otherwise, so let’s use them in beer more!

(Analysis: Hemp Ales Grow in Popularity as Brewers Aim for New Flavors and Awareness)

Juniper

Gin drinkers, hold on to your highballs. Juniper gets used in beer too, and not just any beer, but holiday beers. Our favorite example was the imperial IPA CoHoHo! by Midnight Sun Brewing. Juniper usually more specifically refers to juniper berries which, according to “The Drunken Botanist”, are actually cones with scales so flesh-like, they tend to resemble the skin of a berry. The chemical that will often make people think of that classic gin flavor has a name: alpha-pinene. This rather originally named compound will impart bitter flavors of pine or rosemary. Obviously, given these flavors, this is the perfect odd ingredient to put into an IPA as the bitter, piney flavors play right into hops hands. Further, that pine is basically like drinking a nice hearty Christmas tree…but you know, in the best possible way. And speaking of which…

Spruce

This ingredient has a fascinating history and an intimate connection to the holiday season. Really nothing represents the winter or holiday season quite like the snow falling and collecting on the branches of a mighty evergreen tree. Spruce trees, a member of the Pine family, are ancient creatures. According to “The Drunken Botanist” author Amy Stewart, the development of some of the 39 known species of spruce trees dates back to the late Jurassic Period (around 150 million years ago) and one individual specimen is thought to have a root system nearly 10,000 years old. Spruce is unique, producing Vitamin C among other nutrients, and early spruce beers were found to help prevent scurvy (along with lemons and limes) especially on board ships. Today, numerous breweries offer a spruce beer, including Yards Brewing in Philadelphia with their year-round spruce offering, Poor Richard, an homage to Benjamin Franklin. Spruce has that characteristically piney flavor and can be used to help bitter beer and compliment hop profiles.

As a quick caution to intrigued homebrewers, only two specific spruce species have been approved as safe food additives by the FDA. Considering that the tree resembles other, poisonous tree species such as the Yew, please exercise caution and consult a professional before urban foraging your next brew.

(MALT SHOPPE: The Scoop on Milkshake IPAs)

Persimmon

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure what persimmon was prior to researching for this article. I had certainly heard of it before, but I didn’t know if it was a spice, a fruit or an herb. So for those of you so uninitiated as I, persimmon is a fruit that grows on a tree. More specifically, the Farmer’s Almanac identifies two known species of tree that produce this fruit, the Oriental Persimmon and the American Persimmon. While there are significant differences between the persimmon fruit of these two trees (and a much more complex family tree that doesn’t bear going into here), in general, according to Russ Parsons of the LA Times, this is a sweet, honey flavored fruit. This sweetness plays nicely into the cinnamon and nutmeg of Bloomington Brewing Co.’s Persimmon Ale. So even if you aren’t familiar with the legendary persimmon, and its use in folktales as a method for determining the severity of the upcoming winter, go ahead and try some persimmon in your beer. Think of it as a fun little holiday adventure.

Frankincense and Myrrh

Let’s give a hearty round of applause to the evil geniuses over at The Lost Abbey. Their seasonal offering, The Gift of the Magi, took no prisoners in the fight to use the strangest ingredients and literally incorporated the actual reported gifts of the magi (to be fair, no gold was used in the making of the beer as the gold was meant to be represented by the golden color of the beer itself). Tragically, this beer is also a retired offering from the brewery. Adam Martinez from Lost Abbey reports, “It became quite problematic sourcing food-grade frankincense and myrrh, not allowing us to brew the beer during the timeline we needed.” This is a shame, but also perfectly understandable. From the Encyclopedia Britannica, frankincense is an incense or perfume that is obtained from a particular family of trees that are indigenous to Somalia, Yemen, Oman, parts of India and Pakistan. In a similar vein, “The Drunken Botanist” cites myrrh as coming from a rather dumpy looking bush that is native to Somalia and Ethiopia. The actual substance known as myrrh is a dried resin that is produced in the bark of this scrawny tree. Like frankincense, it was highly valued as a perfume and incense among ancient cultures of the region. Unique, sought after and downright bizarre, there was little question that this brew would top our list.

To our grown-up selves, the winter and the holidays are now about friends, family and good beer to enjoy both with. It’s somehow comforting to know that the alcoholic alchemists of the world will certainly be doing their part to keep our holiday season just a little bit zany. Enjoy the friends, family and especially the beers, and in the immortal words of Clark Griswold, “When Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nuthouse.”

The post 8 Interesting Ingredients in Winter and Holiday Beers appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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It’s true also in beer brewing. Jamey Adams of Arches Brewing in Hapeville, Georgia, says that water comprises 90-95 percent of the actual beer we drink. Yet it is rarely discussed outside of the bowels of breweries and the feverish homebrew forums of the internet.

This may be because, despite its ubiquitous nature, water can be fairly complex. Plain water – pure, unadulterated H2O – rarely occurs naturally. Often water is littered with a medley of other compounds and microbes. This produces pH variances, alters reactivity and changes everything from color to taste.

So how do these immense variances occur and how does that affect the beer we drink?

(READ: Breweries Go Nuts Creating Nut Beers Beyond Peanut Butter)

Regional Beer Styles Tied to Water

Start with the history of beer development. Beer styles are often described in regional terms. There’s German-style lagers, Czech Pilsners, Irish stouts and Belgian-style beers. These are not the only beers to be found in these areas, but they tie back to style’s origin. They are usually stellar examples of that particular beer style.

Why does this happen? Why do the Irish make more stouts than the Germans? And why are the Germans known more for their lagers than the Irish? It is not like the brewers of these countries were unaware of other possible beer styles. So how did this dynamic develop? The water is the key.

John Palmer shows that assessments of Czech Republic beers found water that was low in mineral content – soft water. This water works best for producing beers such as lagers and pilsners. Ireland, with its mineral-laden hard water, found itself divining delectable stouts the likes of which could scarcely be produced anywhere outside the Emerald Isle. There are many examples of this, but the point is clear. Water is a really big deal, big enough to shape the history of beer.

So, why do these differences produce different beer flavors? It’s a matter of chemistry.

(READ: Winning a Medal at the Great American Beer Festival is All About Style)

Chemistry of Water in Beer Brewing

First, look at the kinds of things found in water that might contribute to beers flavors. In his book, “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing,” Charlie Papazian says the most crucial players are calcium, magnesium, sulfates, sodium, chloride and bicarbonate. That is quite a list, but this doesn’t even begin to cover all the components that you might find in water. There can also be trace amounts of microbes, fluoride, zinc and other compounds.

In “Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers“, John Palmer and Colin Kaminski state that among these elements and compounds, calcium is king. This mineral is responsible for helping with yeast flocculation and facilitating the mash process. Calcium reacts with phosphates in malted barley to lower the pH in a process known as buffering. This helps enhance the activity of crucial enzymes such as alpha-amylase as they go about extracting and breaking up sugars as a part of the mashing process.

(INSTAGRAMMERS: Show Us Your Photos of the Independent Craft Brewer Seal)

Bicarbonate, on the other hand, is a compound that serves the opposite purpose. It raises the pH (i.e. increasing alkalinity). It’s used in the brewing process as a kind of counter-balance, preventing things from becoming too acidic.

Magnesium is, in a way, the least essential. It’s needed only in small amounts, and those amounts are typically found in the grains used for the beer anyway. However, magnesium is still an important player in the mashing process.

The remaining elements and compounds are known as the “flavor ions.” They directly affect flavor of the beer, each in its own way. Sulfates accentuate hop characteristics, most notably bitterness. Chloride enhances the body and the maltiness of the beer. Sodium imparts its own flavors that are usually desirable in specific beer styles like the gose.

Finding a Perfect Balance

It’s worth noting the “Goldilocks principle” can come into play here. While all of these substances can enhance beer in desirable ways, you can quickly have too much of a good thing. High levels of sulfates will make the hop flavor astringent and distasteful, while chloride in mass quantity will give the beer a medicinal off-flavor.

All of these chemicals are measured and recorded in parts per million (ppm). Their concentrations are unique to nearly every community in the U.S. like a kind of hydraulic fingerprint. A community’s water quality report is usually available online (and if you live in Pennsylvania (like me) you can access your local communities water chemical assessment here.)

(LEARN: Discover 75+ Beer Styles)

Tinkering with Local Water Chemistry 

All of this information leads to another question. If the water of a community is set, and certain beers work well with certain chemistries, how do brewers brew a wide range of styles rather than only brewing the beers that their local water sources allow? They do something that humans are extremely good at doing: tinkering.

Brewers use chemistry to change the composition of the water before using it. Additives such as gypsum, baking soda and just plain table salt will give you copious amounts of the crucial compounds. That is why full-scale breweries and homebrewers alike can use them.

To those alcoholic alchemists brewing at home, many experts like John Palmer, Colin Kaminski and Brad Primozic who is the head brewer at Insurrection Ale Works in Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, advise that the most important aspect of water for the homebrewer to focus on is the pH.

“You know that distinct ‘homebrew taste’ that homebrewed beer sometimes has? When you taste that, you know that pH was a bit off,” Brad says.

He says the ideal pH is between 5.2 and 5.5.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you put in the beer if your foundation is wrong.” Brad Primozic, Insurrection Ale Works

Going With the Flow

As intriguing as playing with water chemistries sounds, mother nature can also dabble with water chemistries herself. This can present a constant headache for brewers. Brad studied chemistry when he was in college and still uses that foundation to this day at Insurrection. He says that when the snow melts or when there’s been days of considerable rain, he has to watch the changes to the water table constantly.

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Brewery)

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you put in the beer if your foundation is wrong,” Brad says.

It is this laser-like attention to detail that truly makes some small breweries stand out.

From the broadest of aspects like the pH, to the smallest of details like the zinc concentration for yeast nutrition, water works as a complex but essential balancing act that every good brewer must perform. It may not always be straightforward and it may not always be easy, but it is fundamental to building an excellent beer.

The post Water, the Lifeblood of Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

As I sat there enjoying that choice, I began to really review the menu for the first time. I started taking it in and began to feel a growing pang of disappointment in myself. First, I saw a barley wine that sounded very interesting. Then I saw an Alt beer (which I rarely get to try). Finally, I saw an IPA that I had actually been wanting to try for a while.

I suddenly had a moment of clairvoyance. I was disappointed in myself because I never gave this bar a minute when I first walked in. And why the hell was I rushing? I was on vacation.

(VISIT: U.S. Breweries with Beer Hotels)

This got me thinking about the guests at the taproom where I work. They see tap lists that provide a ton of options, and some may not always be as familiar as a stout or an IPA. I can understand the notion of sticking with the tried and true in most arenas — jeans, shoes, pizza toppings — but small and independent craft beer relies on us as beer drinkers to be as daring, knowledgeable and thoughtful as the brewer himself. Complacency is the ultimate adversary to progress.

In 2018, let’s do our part. Let’s embrace our role in enhancing craft beer. I have nine thoughts on how we as beer lovers can think, and drink, in the new year.

1. Try Something New

This one’s simple and easy. Scan a menu until you see something unfamiliar, and then order it. Don’t be afraid. When I was on vacation, the first thing that my eyes jumped to upon entering the swanky little pub was that white slightly curved tap handle with the familiar green bulb on top — but I know all about Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale. I can have it at home. Seeing as I was in a new area, I wanted to try a beer that I couldn’t have back home. I wanted the secret stuff that the locals keep in a back room and don’t like to tell outsiders about, lest there not be enough for them.

Scott Mills, head brewer for Cobblehaus Brewing in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, says, “[This] is something I am very interested in. Every time I see someone coming out with something I have not seen before…I typically target those [beers] when visiting other breweries.”

This doesn’t mean you have to ignore all beers you’ve already had. Just make an effort to give someone else’s beer a try. Who knows. You may even love it.

2. Don’t Dismiss a Beer Based on Beer Style

It’s something I hear incessantly while working at the pub: “Oh, I don’t want that, I don’t like brown ales.” I get it. You’ve had several brown ales, maybe you’ve even had a lot of brown ales and you know it’s just not your thing. Still, try to keep an open mind, and don’t shy away from these just because. Talk to the bar staff. That’s why they’re there. The brown ale on the list could be a traditional English Brown Ale rather than the different American Style Brown Ale you may often have. The differences can be more complex and subtle.

Andrew Volanski, the general manager for Voodoo Brewery’s Pub in Homestead, Pennsylvania, says, “I think the longer you drink craft beer, the more you are able to appreciate different aspects of all different kinds, which is why I think it’s important to cycle back to a style you maybe didn’t like in the past.” Don’t shy away from an amber because it’s too similar to a brown. Don’t ignore a saison because you didn’t like the last one you had. Give each beer a chance to stand on its own.

(READ: 3 Overlooked Beer Styles to Pair with Food)

3. Treat Every Beer with Respect

Every beer you will encounter is a labor of love. Small and independent craft breweries are out there doing what they do in the interest of making good beer. They want to push boundaries and explore new concepts, and at the end of the day, the thing they want most is to put a good product out there.

Scott Mills agrees. “All brewers put a lot of time and effort crafting the beer for your enjoyment.”

When you offer a critique, allow some respect for the beer and the brewer to permeate your comments. Don’t simply comment, “I don’t like that at all,” or, “That’s awful.” Not only are those not helpful comments, it’s disrespectful. Brewers work very hard and just because you don’t care for a beer, doesn’t mean it is bad. In fact, it may be someone else’s favorite. Everyone is unique with a varying palate and though you may encounter a beer that you don’t like, that just means that it may not be for you.

4. Follow the Hype

There’s no real secret in something that’s hyped up. (That’s kind of the point isn’t it?) I, for one, never much understood why people wanted to ignore or dislike things that are popular. If you try them and determine that they’re not for you, then fair enough. But if you haven’t tried that latest and greatest thing people are talking about, what are you waiting for? Like Andrew from Voodoo says, “If people are talking about it, there’s a reason why.”

Of course, it should be mentioned that obsession with any one style can be dangerous. Shane Walters, a senior member of the Three Rivers Underground Brewers (TRUB) Homebrew Club, cautions, “Sometimes [these cause] people to forget about the other great beer styles out there.” Still, this is where the bleeding edge of craft beer innovation lives right now. Don’t be afraid to explore it.

(LEARN: 75+ Beer Styles)

5. Learn Something New 

Do you know why different beer glasses are shaped differently? Do you know why beers on nitrogen gas instead of CO2 have a silkier texture? Now is the time to find out and do some research. Personally, I believe my best interactions at the pub as a bartender happen when I can tell someone about something that they didn’t realize and seriously enhance their experience. Learning more about beer helps you to be a better student of the craft, which in turn allows you to give better feedback to brewers.

6. Take a Trip for a New Beer

Breweries are producing new beers all the time, and the best place to get a sample of those experimental elixirs is at the brewery itself. Moreover, given that brewing innovation requires considerable creativity, it’s no great stretch to imagine that creativity would spill out into taproom. Shane from TRUB feels the same way: “I [sometimes] consider it more [about] the brewery than the beer itself.”

Often unpredictable and rarely redundant, you will find a unique atmosphere at each and every brewery. Whether rustic and worn or chic and modern, you’ll find that the breweries themselves can be just as interesting as the beer that they’re producing. Why not take that couple-hour day trip you’ve been meaning to for a while now?

Check out a new town, take in a new pub and try yourself a new beer. That is kind of the overarching message here anyway. We have a ton of beercation destination ideas right here on CraftBeer.com to help you plan.

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Brewery)

7. Volunteer at a Beer Festival

For the most part, I am sure that any craft beer enthusiast has been to a beer festival. There are thousands throughout the country. In fact, I’m sure most have an agenda of festivals to hit throughout the coming year. Why not just volunteer at one of these? Festivals are often looking for volunteers to help them pull off a massive amount of work, and they can be a great way to help out the community. It does require a bit of work on your part (almost certainly lugging bags of ice), but most of the time you get to attend a festival for free, maybe chat with a brewer and get to see and appreciate just how much work goes into these events. It’s definitely worth your time.

Andrew from Voodoo has a lot of experience working festival events, and he says volunteering creates an excellent and unique perspective: “From a community standpoint there’s nothing better. You get to hang out with all different breweries…I would encourage anyone who’s interested to help out at a festival if the opportunity presents itself.”

8. Share a Bottle with a Friend

It probably goes without saying, but the beer you will find in New Mexico will probably be unlike almost any beer you can lay your hands on in Boston. If you have a friend who lives in another part of the country, reach out to them and arrange an exchange of beers when you two meet up (taking great care to properly handle the beer during your travels so that the beer arrives in your friend’s glass the way the brewer intended it to taste).

9. Visit a Homebrew Club Tasting

This is where alchemy is happening! Homebrew club tastings are where the beer runs the gamut from simple to downright bizarre, and it’s an excellent place to get your taste buds on something no one else has had before. Nothing gets the creativity gears turning like a nice hibiscus and elderberry Berliner Weisse (not kidding, that was an actual beer I had one time).

“I think that by visiting a homebrew club meeting one would have access to much more in-depth knowledge of how beer is created…from malts [and] hops to perceived bitterness and tannins…it may open their mind to what they are tasting,” Shane from TRUB says.

Homebrew clubs are fairly ubiquitous. Do a search on the American Homebrewers Association’s website to find one nearby. Clubs usually meet on a fairly regular basis to talk shop, trade beers and of course drink a few. They are very open and welcoming, so don’t be afraid to meander into a meeting.

(WATCH: What’s the Next Trend in Beer?)

If there’s one thing that’s worth taking into 2018, it is that beer is an art form that people invest in varying degrees. Regardless of how ardent your passion for beer, the best thing that you can do to help the entire craft beer industry is to drink it and respect it. Offer constructive critiques if you must, but more importantly, work to learn more about it and try to understand better what you like and why. Realize the basis of your preferences while still permitting an appreciation for all styles and efforts. The success of any industry such as this relies on the consumer as much as the producer. The brewer can make the beer, but without the customer giving good feedback (which comes from learning as much as possible about beer), the industry would stagnate. Creativity and innovation are born as much from the desires of the individual as from the drive of the artist themselves.

So for 2018, let’s all do our part and put our collective heads together. Beer is an amazing thing. There appears to be no limit as far as a creativity and innovation ceiling, so let us ride this Wonka-vator to wherever it will take us. Drinkers, keep encouraging the brewers. Brewers, keep feeding the drinkers! Here’s to 2018.

The post How I’m Approaching Craft Beer in 2018 appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

In the heart of Coraopolis, a 5,700-person suburb of Pittsburgh, Cobblehaus Brewing Company is a budding brewery in a classic blue-collar town. And the thrilling collision of old and new isn’t confined to the music playing in the brewery.

Outside, under the 5th Avenue street lights, one can see even the building is a metaphor to a revivalist mantra. The old building sits on the classically styled main drag of Coraopolis. The kind of street that reminds you of a small town that thrived in the 1950s. The kind described in songs by Bruce Springsteen and John Cougar Mellencamp. Inside, a touch of the modern revives the space with chalkboards, industrial glass bulbs and raw wood planks.

(VOTE: Great American Beer Bars 2018)

Brewing Creativity

Beyond the décor, the beers are the true pillars that hold up this reimagined furniture store. They are an educational seminar old world flavors, while offering new world twists that showcase the evolution of brewing creativity. Its various old-world offerings include the classic Belgian Saison, the esoteric German Alt and the traditional English-Style Porter.

The art of this brewery is looking at history and origin of some of the best beers in the world. Then, with more modern takes such as the double and black IPA, showing the development of where it is going.

Peeling back the layers of the brewhouse, and looking beyond the building and the beer, you find Scott Mills. He is Cobblehaus’s founder and head brewer — a mechanical engineer turned beer brewer. Mills has a vision for resurrecting the good old beers in a time when the latest and greatest beers are found in complex style-straddling hybrids.

(READ: Dilly Dilly, Cease & Desist to Craft Brewer Goes Viral)

Cobblehaus’s Mills Took the Plunge

In the confines of the brew room, Mills’ dreams become a reality. He found and developed his passion and love for good beer in the great halls and gardens of Germany. After engaging in bottle shares and his first homebrew kit, Mills realized he was hooked on the boozy alchemy. After countless test batches, classes, and many additional trips to Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic, Mills decided to take the plunge and open his own place.

“When you decide to take that step, you have to commit fully,” Mills said.

Mills said to prepare for a vast amount of paperwork when it comes to running your own brewery. Considering the nuances of owning a brewery, he believes in the traditional approaches and techniques. But Mills also acknowledges that the modern styles simply can’t be ignored.

(LEARN: Discover 75+ Beer Styles)

It was through this line of reasoning that he developed the paradigm for this brewing company: something old, something new and something with a twist.

It is his hope to always have a representative beer from each of those categories available on draught in his building at all times.

Small-town Mentality 

Still, beyond the brewer, the beer and the building, a community-centered, small-town mentality is in the brewery’s heart. Though certainly not far from downtown Pittsburgh, it is still miles away, both literally and metaphorically, from the chaotic urban life.

Cobblehaus is a place that’s meant to be about the community. It participates in fundraising pub crawls, organizes a breast cancer awareness team and has special hours for screenings of Steelers’ games. It is once again, a fitting example of this new, modern place harkens back to the good old days. It’s the veritable craft brewery where everybody knows your name.

Like any good student of the craft, Cobblehaus has reverence for the past but does not shy away from the future.

It has plans for eventually getting its beer into local restaurants on draught. For now you’ll have to take a trip down to this classic American town to dive into this twisted old world of beer.

The post Something Old, Something New at Pittsburgh Suburb’s Cobblehaus Brewing appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Yet within this bottle, for some time now, a war has been waging. It’s a microscopic war with bacteria and yeast as the pawns and a certain delicate flavor profile as the objective.

(READ: What is the Independent Craft Brewer Seal?)

There was a time when the products of these molecular battles were almost as minute and marginalized as the battles themselves. But recently, that is all changing. Sour beers, the very draft of history that they are, are on the rise! They might not be the crisp, straight-laced lagers that we used to know. In fact, some of them are approaching the very antithesis of that. They are deep, complex and mysterious.

With more and more bottles of this esoteric elixir being pulled out of the depths of various fermentation cellars all around the world, sour beers are exploding onto the American craft scene. But, many know so little about them. How do these beers tempt the tentative novice or prompt the IPA loving consumer to deviate down the delicious rabbit hole? It’s simple. They wait for you to talk to someone who knows, like a brewer or bartender.

What Makes a Sour Beer Sour?

First, it’s important to understand that sour beers are ambiguous. We’ve previously written about how “sour beers” are uniquely difficult to categorize. They are equally difficult to make.

They comprise numerous styles crossing multiple regions of the globe and vary in alcohol and color. Their lone unifying characteristic: some offbeat flavor. A subjective variation of taste which exists on a spectrum from some-kind-of-odd funk, to an outright acid-like, vinegar flavor. However, it is there that we must focus on the notion of what makes a sour beer sour, because it is in the production process that you make the beer sour.

After that complex and nebulous introduction, I want to inject some simplicity. To make a beer (any beer) sour, brewers inoculate it. What does that mean? Simply, they ferment the beer by introducing one (or a combination) of fermenting agents: a genus of yeast called Brettanomyces, acid producing bacteria, and/or any type of conventional and non-conventional yeast.

(LEARN: Beer 101 Online Course)

When you make beer, you ferment the wort (brewed, but unfermented beer) with any one of a number of different species of Saccharomyces yeast. These yeast consume the available sugars in wort to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, along with a range of flavor characteristics.

Conventional beer yeasts, like those in your favorite stout or IPA, have been isolated to yield a controlled fermentation so the beer has a consistent taste. But that’s not true when it comes to so-called sour beers that are primarily or partially fermented with acid producing bacteria and wild yeast such as Brettanomyces.

Brettanomyces Lends Complex Flavors

Often referred to as a wild yeast genus, Brettanomyces (or Brett for short) is often incorporated in combination with a traditional Saccharomyces species during the fermentation of the beer intentionally, (though Brett is quite prolific and able to find a food source simply by catching a breeze or a ride on improperly cleaned equipment. It can wreak havoc on a brewhouse.)

While often mischaracterized as a souring organism, Brettanomyces is an acid producing genus which, in the presence of oxygen, can metabolize alcohol into the vinegary acidity known as acetic acid.

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Along with that acidity, Brett lends a complex array of flavor components. These flavors range from earthy and funky to tropical fruit. They can develop throughout the fermentation process, anywhere from primary fermentation to secondary barrel-aging to tertiary bottle conditioning.

When using wild yeast like Brett, some brewers will leave wort in open vats known as “coolships” to allow them to pick up wild yeast and bacteria from the environment to initiate fermentation. Brewers then move the wort into oak barrels, where it will slowly change over time, yielding some of the most complex beers in existence.

Understand Lactobacillus and Pediococcus

Sour producing bacteria play a tandem role in the creation of sour beer with Brett. The primary bacteria strains responsible for making sour beers sour lies with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. These organisms can be introduced to the brewing process in a variety of ways. Like yeast, the bacteria consume the available food and produce acid as a byproduct. Both produce lactic acid, a bright lemony-tart character found in yogurt or Berliner Weisse.

Another acid common in sour beers is acetic acid. Acetic acid is another yeast derived by-product and is the acid responsible for the character in vinegar. Acetic acid is also produced through acetobacter, a spoilage bacteria which works to consume oxidized alcohol.

Risk Comes with Brewing Sour Beers

This is a good chance to offer insight into another bonus question: Why don’t more breweries do sours?

It’s a fair question.

Well, if your intent is to inoculate the beer with these wild and unwieldy microbes, understand that they can be tough to kill, and they are tenacious if you don’t kill all of them. Basically, not a lot of breweries do it because there’s an inherent risk of infecting more than just the one intended beer and having an infection spread like sepsis throughout the brewhouse.

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Are There Different Types of Sours?

Of course there’s some manner or organization to this — we’re not animals. That said, it’s not extremely cut and dry. In fact, it is constantly evolving.

Thanks to innovative breweries all over the world and mad scientist homebrewers that forever strive to push the boundaries, the number of specific categories of sour beer is forever growing and shifting. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines is always a good place to start. It is even helpful to see how things have developed over time. In the 2008 edition of the BJCP style guide sour beers were categorized under a single category (number 17 to be specific) and that contained six subcategories of specific sour beer styles.

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Currently, the BJCP style guide recognizes two different complete categories for a total of nine different styles, and have one other beer now, more appropriately, listed in the “Historical Beer” category for a grand total of 10 different beer styles that are all agreed upon to be sour.

It should also go without saying that the dark alchemists of alcohol are far from finished expanding upon this list of style categories. With one of the 10 styles simply being “Wild Specialty Beer,” such a vague category simply begs to be broken up and clarified. But all in good time.

For now, we might be satisfied with the likes of lambic, fruit lambic, gueze, Flanders red, oud bruin, gose, Berliner Weisse, Brett beer, mixed-fermentation sour and wild specialty beer.

How Do I Know What to Pick or Where to Start?

These funky and sour beers are an acquired taste. No two ways about it. But if you never try it, the only thing you’ll guarantee is that you’ll never possibly come to appreciate it.

The best bet is to do your homework and look for a beer style that’s close to your favorite style. It’s fair to assume that if you don’t like red ales normally, a Flemish red might not be the best place to start. If you like a wheat beer, then try a gose. If you like German beers, try a Berliner Weisse. Don’t have a favorite? You’re perfect! Go ahead and dive in, see what happens.

(LEARN: CraftBeer.com’s Beer Style Guide)

Speaking a moment to popularity, from personal experience, the light and tart wheat beers, the Berliner Weisse and the gose are easily among most popular sour beers breweries produce. This makes some good sense as these are similar to each other in many ways and their high lactic acid content makes them tart and refreshing.

Regardless of what you choose, the most important thing to remember when experiencing a new beer is that brewing is a labor of love. If you don’t like a beer, that’s certainly your prerogative, but it’s best to acknowledge that doesn’t necessarily make it bad — just perhaps not the one for you.

What Can I Pair with a Sour Beer?

Sour beers are delicious and their tart nature can make them palate cleansing. However, their tart nature also makes them overpowering at times. Consequently, anything you are looking to pair with sours needs to be able to stand up for itself at the plate so as not to be overwhelmed.

At this point, you are sure that I will suggest some grossly elaborate dish that you’d be hard pressed to find outside of a 5-star restaurant. However, oddly, good old-fashioned barbecue does a decent job.

As a general summary, for the acidic, tart beers, strong grilled meats, fish, shellfish (crabs and mussels), light salads and plums all go together extremely well.

(PAIRING TOOLS: Beer and Food Pairing Guide)

If the funky Brett beers are more to your liking then you’ll find that earthy flavors work well with these beers. Look for classic dishes with flavors like potatoes and mushrooms.

It wouldn’t be a very fair assessment of the power of the sour if I didn’t offer a personal pairing from my own experience. A personal favorite pairing is a Berliner Weisse with a chicken curry and rice dish. I feel the acidity helps cut through the spice and the light, citrusy flavors play nicely off the strong, pungent curry.

Even beyond food, you can pair these beers with a lot of different things. The variance of the sour only increases its versatility and it can be equally enjoyed at a ritzy dinner table, in the middle of a sandy sun-drenched beach or on a creaky back porch amidst fresh grass clippings.

Future of Sour Beer

One word: control. And that’s a pretty powerful concept.

One of the words rarely spoken by a new brewer is reproducibility. This is because as someone starts on their adventure to brewing their own recipes, reproducibility will be very challenging.

We only very delicately harness the awesome power of fermentation. It can be difficult to make those little microbial soldiers do the same thing again and again. This can be particularly true for wild yeast and spontaneous fermentation.

Science is removing some of the mystery to allow brewers a greater understanding of the flavor profiles that they are producing. In short, sours are going nowhere but up.

Sour beers may be our doorway to taste the ancient days, but they may also be our window to the future. It’s an exciting time for an exciting class of beer. Ask your bartender or brewer and give one try.

Drink in the past and toast the future of America’s independent craft brewers.

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The post What Makes a Sour Beer Taste Sour? appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

This year they are celebrating their 30th Anniversary as an independent craft brewery.

Stoudts Brewing in the Early Days

Many feel that the true craft movement in America can be traced back to the mid to late 1970s. Somewhere in between the birth of Anchor Steam Brewery in 1965 and the first Great American Beer festival in 1982 exists the arbitrary kicking-off point for the alcoholic revolution that is American craft beer. It was around 10 years after that humble beginning (still eight whole years before the founding of Dogfish Head and other craft juggernauts), that Carol Stoudt set up shop in Adamstown, Pennsylvania.

Things were very different back then.

“When I first started, I was alone … very few breweries,” Carol recalls.

(READ: What Is the Independent Craft Brewer Seal?)

Carol and Stoudts Brewing started humbly in 1987, wanting only to sell draft beer to restaurants in Burks and Lancaster counties. But in the early years, with “macro brews” ruling the scene, it was hard getting off the ground. Eventually, Judy Wicks at the White Dog Café in Philadelphia contacted Carol, and Carol agreed to expand her vision.

According to Carol, Judy and White Dog opened the door, a door to many other independent bar and restaurant owners. True to the American spirit, in the beginning, she sold the beer out of the back of her station wagon. She eventually found a small, independent wholesaler.

“I stayed away from chains,” Carol said. “Most of the product was sold with independent restaurants.”

Stoudts Adapts to the Changing Beer Industry

Now, things are quite a bit different for Carol. But she and Stoudts have adapted every step of the way.

When Stoudts opened, there were only 150 breweries in the whole United States. Now, the Brewers Association lists over 5,300 (that’s a 33 fold increase) as of 2016.

When Carol began, she was the first female brewmaster in the United States since Prohibition. Today, thousands of women are leaving a mark on the industry.

(DISCOVER: Find a Pennsylvania Brewery)

When Stoudts started selling to restaurants and bars, it was out of the back of Carol’s station wagon. Now, Stoudts has a distribution range that stretches to six states.

When Stoudts started, it was selling kegs for draft only. It moved to bottling and selling cases, and then bottling for six packs, evolving its branding along the way.

This level of adaptation is required for success. Carol not only adapted to an evolving industry, but anticipated its development.

“I believe we can have a lot of local, regional breweries.” Carol says. “I think a lot of people are sharing my philosophy as far as where they want to concentrate their market area…there are more and more restaurants and bartenders that want to focus on the local product first.”

Accomplishing this not only requires hard work, but also requires keeping a beat on the ever-changing pulse of the industry.

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Carol Stoudt’s Advice to New Brewery Owners

If you’re looking to dive headlong into this brave new world, Carol cautions not to overly romanticize what you think running a craft brewery is like.

“There’s a lot that happens between A to Z,” she says.

Ultimately, her advice is to work hard, be educated on every step of the process, lean on traditional style beers and understand your customers. She also emphasizes the importance of attending events and getting samples of your beer in people’s hands.

Perhaps the most insightful thing Carol tells us is she hopes “people are aware of the trials and tribulations” that craft beer pioneers poured into building their breweries and the industry. She describes years of “feet on the street, doing sampling and talking about craft beer – not just ours but our colleagues’. And the new guys respect us [for that] and help preserve the industry.”

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Stoudts Brewing Celebrates 30 Years in Pennsylvania 

The plans for Stoudts’ 30th Anniversary encompasses these two major themes: hard work and feet on the street. Carol is taking the 30th anniversary on the road.

They’re doing tap take-overs and samplings in bars and tap rooms all over eastern PA. One of the beers, they are keen to feature for the events is The Pennsylvania Pearle. A new Helles Bock made entirely with local Pennsylvania hops and malt, the PA Pearle is a nod to the direction the industry is headed.

Carol Stoudt and Stoudts Brewing stand as a living embodiment of the American dream and spirit. Innovation, hard work and adaptation represent the formula anyone needs to find success. Carol and Stoudts were without a doubt among the select group that laid the ground work for good beer here in America, and it falls to us to join the cause and grow this industry beyond yours, mine and Carol’s wildest dreams. All it takes is a lot of work.

The post Stoudts Brewing: 30 Years Driven by the American Spirit appeared first on CraftBeer.com.