Paul’s Brewsletter

By David James

One common demoninator that ties all microbrew and craft beer enthusiasts together is a true, strong desire to finally discover the ultimate “holy grail” of all the currently produced barley and hop libations. I count myself amongst these never resting microbrew aficiandos. Personally, I’ve long been focused
on tracking down the be-all, end-all in russian imperial stouts in particular for a substantial length of time now (years in fact). Finally, maybe, just maybe I’ve finally discovered it, and right in my own Pennsylvania backyard of all places!. The microbrew of mention goes by the name of Victory Storm King Russian Imperial Stout and “imperial” it certainly is. Here’s a russian imperial stout fit for microbrew kings and queens alike!

Victory Storm King is a superlatively thick, rich and frothy brew that even your grandfather would love (or perhaps even attempted brewing on his own down in his basement back in the days of Prohibition). Proudly produced by the reputive Victory Brewing Company, which is a microbrewery founded in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, I sampled this wondrously crafted creation from a 12 ounce bottle (”enjoy by” date of 1/12/2012) deposited directly into my steadfast Stoudt’s Brewery 16 ounce pint glass, meticulously clean and completely unchilled.

Right from the get-go, the appearance is thick, really darned thick and deep and black as the darkest of dark nights! No transparency to speak of here even when holding my glass directly up to a 100 watt bulb. This is a foamy, syrupy concoction I’m dealing with here. A very nice two-finger mocha/tan head aggressively clawed its way up the side of my slippery glass, reaching all the way to the brim in an only slighty failed jailbreak attempt from this capably containing 16 ounce vessel before finally succumbing to its lone limitation and settling down into a manageable fog of froth glazing lazily
on the surface.

High tones of roasty, toasty malts eminate from the glass as I draw it only inches from my nose. This baby looks gorgeous and almost too good to drink. Almost. But I’m a warrior, and eye candy like this is not going to deter me, no way. The first sip shouts out that familiar thick toasted malts effect. Roasted coffee, a little back hint of licorice and surprisingly not quite as chocolatey as I would have guessed in my uneducated microbrew disposition I suppose. How gullible and jaded am I? Low and behold, right at the end, just right before the first swallow though, I sense it. Yes…hops, in a Russian Imperial Stout nonetheless. What the heck is this? An RIS or an IPA?

This beauty does itself, and the microbrew community, proud with the absolute perfect balance of roasted malts and hops. I didn’t think it could be done, in fact I never even fathomed it. I’ve always loved Russian Imperial Stouts, but I’ve always viewed them in general terms of being thick, rich, chocolately and very sweet. Victory Storm King Russian Imperial Stout is a whole ‘nother dog in this kennel though. This is nothing like I’ve ever seen or tasted before.

The bold and hoppy bitter bite of the “whole flower” American hops rebelling violently against all of the malty sweetness actually forces me into the opinion that I wouldn’t really argue against popping open several of these imperial temptations as reward after a long day of mowing the lawn and mulching out the wife’s flowerbeds during this coming hot summer season. Sure, it’s an imperial stout. Sure, it’s thick and yes, it is rich but…it’s even quite surprisingly refreshing. It’s almost a meal and a beverage all in one!

I will caution you (and also take heed of my own advice) that the only drawback I can find in this lovely liquid nirvana, is that it’s posted on the bottle label at 9.1% abv which is just a little more than you want to go up against in a microbrew this darn good. It certainly should, conceivably limit anyone’s responsible intake to one or two at a single sitting. I refuse to be held responsible if anyone should fail to yield to Victory Storm King’s power. This is a microbrew king that deserves to be respected and bowed down to.

In summary: Yes, you read it here. Victory Storm King Russian Imperial Stout IS the king of all russian imperial stouts. This is simply the best I’ve tried to date (and will be trying again repeatedly for dates and dates to come!) If you have tried and enjoyed stouts and if you appreciate the Russian Imperial Stouts in particular, Victory Storm King Imperial Stout is a microbrew you should climb mountains for to get it into your fridge for your next sit down with your beer afficianado friends (or just by yourself in the den with a good cigar). Victory Storm King is a category 5 microbrew in my book as of right now. Go out there…and get it, while you can! It’s a 10.00 out of 10.00 on my microbrew rating scale.

About the author
As a huge microbrew enthusiast, my endless quest for the ultimate libation experience has been translated into words and reviews at http://microbrewreview.blogspot.com/ and http://www.squidoo.com/microbrewreview/

Just a little fun item I wanted to share…

It is well known that beer has been with mankind for a long time. As beer itself changed, expanded, and improved, so did the way in which we actually got the beer to our mouths. The earlier vessels man used for drinking included earthenware, pottery, carved out wood, and even sewn-together pieces of leather. As time went on, man saw small improvements in the quality of their beer glasses. Early Europeans living during the time of the Bubonic plague saw the creation of beer steins, which had an enclosed top on the steins to keep flies from landing in the brew and getting the person sick.

The development of glass may have been the most important aspect of the way beer glasses are made today. As beer glasses became more and more popular, consumers could actually see what they were drinking and demanded a lighter and more appealing look as well as taste. This led to the filtration of beers; people no longer wanted the coarse chunks that were often found in the earlier beers of the breweries. With this new, more aesthetically pleasing wave of beer glasses, it seemed like beer steins were on the way out.

The development of glassware continued and produced a variety of beer glasses for all kinds of different beers. The most popular in the United States is the 16-ounce pint glass. It was originally used to fit the top of a Martini shaker, but bartenders soon found that as the brew flowed out of the beer taps the pint glass was the perfect vessel because it allowed for some of the carbonation to be released and allowed the aroma of the beer to be more pronounced. It is also favored for its storage capabilities; pint glasses can be stacked on top of each other and stored easily upright on shelves, quickly making them a favorite with the bartenders who ended up having to wash out each glass.

A drive to get people to buy their brand of beer by earlier breweries led to some unique and groundbreaking moves on the marketing and promotional front. Early breweries were often prohibited to give away beer or other rewards to their customers, but found that giving away beer glasses was a great way to reward customers and also to advertise for themselves. This led to the breweries producing beer glasses that were works of art unto themselves. The first were ornate and expensive; they would often have gold or silver embossed on the sides. Eventually, artists for the breweries began doing detailed etchings on the sides of the glasses or steins and even developed a method of firing enamel paint onto the beer glasses. These enameled glasses remain some of the most rare beer collectibles, even though they were made more recently than the others. Today, some of the beer collectibles and signs are worth thousands of dollars and sought out worldwide by eager collectors. Have you looked up in the top of Grandpa’s old drawer lately?

Michael Usry is a long-time beer lover and contributing author for “Beer Maniac” fanzine in Austin, Tx. He is also a top affiliate at  beertaps.com, and  steinsandglassware.com, websites for household draft beer accessories.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Usry
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-History-of-the-Beer-Glass&id=461953

By Michael Kyle

Who doesn’t love an ice cold beer on a sunny day or after a hard days work? Many of us do but what is it that makes beer so great? Well, we could spend years talking about the virtues of beer and trying to categorize them all, but instead why not focus on the conception of beer and learn its quenching history! Beer is possibly the oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet today. Records of beer can be traced back to 5000 BC in the ancient writings of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians.

It’s basic mix of carbohydrates and water made it a simple beverage to create and became a staple, along with bread, in the diet of medieval times. It was sometimes a thick and floral concoction with often poisonous flavorings that was a far cry from what we now drink today. During the middle ages, brewing beer shifted from homemakers and became more a tool of the artisan. Pubs, Monasteries and Monks in particular, began brewing beer for the masses. Hops were added to induce some bitterness to the sweet brew making it more identifiable to your palate today.

In 1516 the brewing guilds of Bavaria pushed for beer purity laws making it illegal to brew beer with anything but barley, hops and water. (This of course predated yeast) it was shortly after this in 1553 that Beck’s brewing of Belgium began producing beer commercially for the masses.

With the discovery of the new world so did the progression of beer brewing. Many breweries started the process of mass production but with differing results, regional flavors and taste. Many prominent men of the day brewed beer, sometimes hiring brew master’s from the old world to come and work their craft. Beer brewing hadn’t changed much until 1876, when Louis Pasteur was able to isolate a single yeast cell in a controlled lab environment thus changing beer brewing forever. The true secret to fermentation was discovered and was now repeatable. Controlled mass production and consistency were now available to the joy of beer drinkers everywhere.

Since then beer has been manufactured by several large multinational corporations around the world but still retains its artisan roots with regional craft breweries and small “micro breweries” producing outstanding product with a great regional feel and flavor. With the introduction of the metal keg in 1964, it was now possible for completely hygienic and sterilized product to be shipped worldwide thus evoking the term “Import or Domestic” on Tap and giving us the modern brew we love and enjoy today.

Michael Kyle has been an event coordinator and hospitality expert for 18 years. His passion for event planning and guest services helped lead to the successful launch of http://www.thesexykitchen.com; a web-site dedicated to kitchen design, renovation, party planning, hospitality, and more. Perhaps you have a passion or hobby you’d like to write about. Discover how to turn your passion into a successful website, visit http://www.succeed-from-your-passion.com to learn how.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Kyle
http://EzineArticles.com/?Beer—A-Brief-History&id=265532

Beer has a reputation of being the world’s best drink, and beer lovers consider the intoxicating experience as a divine experience. This notion dates back in the ancient times.

The process of beer making was discovered in the ancient times by the Sumerians. The basic ingredients of beer making even then are Hymn of Ninkasi otherwise known as the goddess of brewing, which consists of barley and baked bread. The accidental discovery of beer making happened when baked bread crumbled into water and formed a mash, which was then fermented and an inebriating pulp resulted. This was how the ancient Sumerians discovered beer making.

When the Babylonians became rulers of Mesopotamia after the Sumerian empire collapsed, the Sumerian culture of brewing beer was passed on; and the Babylonians were able to produce twenty different types of beer. This gave the Babylon people the luxury of enjoying the divine drink even more.

Additionally, the King of Babylon at that time recognized his people’s want for this exhilarating and blissful drink, thus he decreed a daily beer ration to his people. During his reign, beers were not being sold but were used to barter trade.

Beer making did not stop in Mesopotamia; other countries also produced fermented beverages just like Chang, the beer in Tibet and Chicha, the corn beer and Kumis, the beer that comes from fermented camel milk. Other countries also produced beer, the beer they prouced does not have much difference from the Mesopotamia brew.

Historically, after the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans succeeded beer making and brewing. There was even a time where Romans considered beer as barbarian drink. Even with this notion though, beer drinking was still very much popular.

The beer they brew during that era can never be stored becuase it was too cloudy and with almost no foam.

Popularity of beer making and brewing is a result of the early civilizations belief that beer making is a neat sacrifice for their Gods. Additionally, because of the wonderful feeling they get from drinking beer, they treat beer making as a gift to themselves as well.

Thus, beer making became so popular and workers do not resent doing it for both these purposes.

Moving forward, in this modern time, beer is not that hard to acquire. You can find beer in every corner of the world, from small stores to big entertainment houses.

Additionally, some American beer aficionados even perform beer making in the confines of their own homes. This beer making process done by some Americans are no longer for sacrifice to the Gods but for their personal enjoyment, and for sharing with their friends as well.

Like in the ancient times, beer making ingredients are malted grain, barley, wheat and sometimes rye.

Brewing is also almost the same such as malt would come from germinated grain. This malt will be dried in kiln or roasted, the germination creates enzymes, which will convert starch in the grain into sugar.

The malt will take on dark color and strongly influence the flavor of the beer; this process is dependent on the amount of roasting done on the malt.

Grist will come from crushing the malt, and mixed in heated water and mashed together in a mash tun.

The process of brewing will then take effect, the result will be the beer that will provide enjoyment to you, which you can also share them with your friends.

There may be some equipment necessary in the process of brewing beer, but if you will only do beer making for personal use, what you have on your kitchen may be enough.

Commercial beer making may need the other sophisticated equipments. You will only need these special equipments if you are making beer for commercial purposes.

Various beer making websites will be able to help you brew your own beer. If your friends know that you made the beer specifically for their enjoyment, surely, your friends will consider your beer as the best beer in town.

Continue the saga of beer making and live on the tradition of drinking this exhilarating, wonderful and blissful drink that people consider divine.

Seek help from beer making websites and brew the beer you longed for.

Shannon W. Brown has brought together some of the best “Beer Making” resources online. You can visit his site at: http://www.wemakebeer.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannon_Brown

Homemade beer is the best beer in the world, by far. Have you ever tasted anybody’s homebrew? If you have, you probably thought it was darn good. Let me tell you that when it is your own, it is even better. In fact, it is incomparable to anything else on the planet.

I am a beer lover and long-time homebrewer. There is no other hobby that is as satisfying as this one. I have entered many, many homebrewing competitions and have won lots of blue ribbons for my beers, including at my local County Fair (which is a huge one). In fact I had so many ribbons that I finally threw them all away and stopped entering competitions. Now I just brew what I like and drink it while browsing the internet or watching television with my wife. Yep, life is good for homebrewers.

Listen, anyone can make beer on their stove - and I mean really, really good beer. You don’t have to take it to the level that I did. If you enjoy beer one-tenth as much as I do, then I highly recommend that you at least make one batch in your lifetime, just so you can say you did it. Having brewed a batch a beer changes a person, for the better, and forever. You will then be one of my brethren.

You are going to need some simple pieces of equipment: A large pot to brew in, a big food-grade plastic bucket with a lid to ferment in, a small plastic “airlock” and rubber stopper that goes into a hole in the bucket lid, bottles and caps, and a basic bottlecap crimping tool. It also helps to have something to stir with; a big wooden spoon will do nicely.

There are only four ingredients in beer: water, malt, hops, and yeast. Malt refers to malted barley - for your first batch you will simply use packaged “malt extract.” Hops are best purchased in pellet form; they look like rabbit food. A package of dry brewers yeast costs about one dollar. Water can come from any source, but at least two gallons of it needs to be sanitized. Those 2.5 gallon water vessels from the market work nicely.

Homebrew is typically made in 5 gallon batches. This will fill two cases worth of bottles. Take my advice and go for the large, 22 oz. Bottles, as this is less bottling work. You will need 6 total gallons of starting water with about 2.5 gallons chilled in a sealed container. The plastic bucket should be a 6 gallon size. Over half a gallon of water will evaporate while you are brewing.

Here is what you do:

1. Boil 3.5 gallons of water with 6 pounds of malt extract for one hour, adding an ounce of hops at the beginning of the boil, some more hops after 45 minutes, and some more hops when you turn off the heat. Cool the pot in the sink by running water around it. Sanitize your bucket fermenter with a shot of bleach mixed into it full of water. Let that sit for a few minutes with the airlock and rubber stopper then pour out over the inside part of the bucket lid and rinse everything that the bleach solution touched with hot water.

2. Put the chilled 2.5 gallons of water in the bucket first, then pour the brew from the pot on top of it. Do not stir. Add the yeast and seal the lid tight on the bucket and put the airlock in the stopper and the stopper in the lid-hole. Put water in the air lock. After a day or two the airlock will start bubbling.

3. After a couple weeks its time to bottle the beer. Boil 3/4 cup of sugar with 2 cups of water and add it to your bucket of beer. You can sanitize a measuring cup with hot water, or just put it through the dishwasher with heated drying on. Scoop out the beer with the measuring cup and fill the bottles leaving 1″ of space in them. Crimp the caps on and store the bottles in a cool dark area for two weeks. Clean everything.

4. After two weeks put some bottles in the fridge and enjoy.

Most of brewing is cleaning and sanitation. Everything that comes into contact with your unfermented beer, and even on bottling day after it has fermented, must be sanitized. A small shotglass of household bleach mixed with 5-6 gallons of water makes an effective sanitizing solution, given 5-10 minutes of contact time.

Don’t forget to tell me when the beer is ready to drink. If I live in a nearby state, I just may come over and taste it with you.

Andrew Kasch is a beer lover and long-time award-winning homebrewer. Many of his recipes can be found on his website http://www.makeyourownbeer.info/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Kasch

Bottling their first batch of homebrew is a big step in the lives of novice homebrewing enthusiasts. While the beer still will not be ready to drink for several weeks after bottling, there is definitely a strong sense of satisfaction that can be gained from finally moving the brew from the fermentation container into the bottles. While this step is often a great deal of fun, it is important to keep some basics in mind when priming and bottling to create the most successful final product possible.

The first step in bottling your homebrew is, obviously, to obtain the bottles. Many homebrew supply shops will sell bottles that you can use in homebrewing, and you can also obtain them from bars and restaurants. Bottle caps can be picked up from homebrewing supply shops.

Perhaps the most difficult part of bottling for the homebrewing novice is discerning when to bottle. The bubbling that serves as a visible indicator of fermentation typically stops after only a few days, but fermentation is not complete at that point. It is important to wait some time after the visible signs of fermentation have disappeared to ensure that the process has run its course. A couple of bad things can occur if the beer is bottled before fermentation has completed. The quality of the beer will certainly suffer, since many of the unpleasant tasting precursor compounds will not have been metabolized by the yeast and will remain in the final product. Another, much more spectacular, problem that can occur is that the fermentation process may continue in the bottle which causes excess amounts of carbon dioxide to build up until the bottle finally explodes. Many homebrewing veterans have at least one “exploding bottle” story from their early days of homebrewing. The amount of time required for fermentation to complete varies according to recipe, strain of yeast used, temperature, as well as other factors. It is therefore important to carefully follow fermenting instructions if you are using a recipe, or ask other homebrew hobbyists for advice.

Once you are certain that fermentation has completed, it is time to begin the bottling process. Since the beer will be left in the bottle to age and prime, it is important that all bottles and caps be thoroughly sanitized prior to use. Be sure to thoroughly rinse with boiled water if you use a bleach based sanitizing agent.

Once the bottles and caps are ready, it is time to prime and bottle the beer. Priming is an important step since it adds a small amount of sugar which allows a limited amount of fermentation to occur in the bottle, thereby carbonizing the beer. The best way to prime the beer is to boil sugar and water together in a sanitized container and transfer them to the sanitized bottling bucket. After the primer sugar is in place, you can then siphon the beer from the fermenting container into the bottling bucket. If you do not have a bottling bucket, you can also add the primer directly to the fermenter prior to bottling.

Once the beer has been primed, it is time for that big final step - bottling. It is important to fill the bottles slowly to avoid any aeration, which can destroy the flavor of the final product by adding too much oxygen to the beer. After the bottle has been filled, it is time to add the sanitized cap and then repeat until all bottles have been filled.

Of course, the real hard part comes next, which is waiting for the beer to age and prime. This can take up to a month or more, depending on the type of yeast used. However, if you simply must have a taste before then, the beer should be serviceable within one week, but you should wait at least a month before consuming more than a few bottles.

Bottling and priming is the final step of the homebrewing process and great care should be taken to ensure that you don’t destroy your hard work by allowing unwelcome microorganisms to contaminate the brew. Be sure to sanitize every piece of tubing, every bottle, and every bucket that comes into contact with the beer. If all goes well, you will be enjoying your creation in a few weeks.

So what do the pharaohs of ancient Egypt and modern-day fanatical football fans have in common? Why, they all love to drink beer of course!

Beer is the oldest recorded alcoholic beverage in history, with origins dating back to ancient times, even as far back as ancient Egypt. Beer has been the drink of choice of many people, for a very long time.

So what exactly is beer and how is it made? Beer is basically an alcoholic beverage made from fermented starches. It main ingredients consist of water, malted barley (or other starch sources like wheat, cassava, etc.), hops, and yeast. They are then fermented through a process called brewing. After brewing the beer is ready to be consumed, though further processes like aging and carbonation can be practiced to improve the taste and quality.

Throughout the years, many different types of beer have been created around the world. These types of beers can vary in things like flavor, color and aroma. Various different cultures have invented their own distinct take on this famous beverage.

Beer is generally classified into two types or styles based on the yeast used for fermentation. These two types are ales, which uses top-fermenting yeast, and lagers which are brewed with bottom-fermenting yeast. These yeast give the beer their own unique characteristics, which can affect how the beer looks and tastes.

Ales along with using top-fermenting yeast, are fermented at a warmer temperature than lagers. They’re fermented at about 15 to 23°C, 60 to 75°F and usually take a shorter amount of time to ferment. Ales tend to have a stronger more pronounced taste as well as a fuller body. Ales can also have a somewhat nutty or fruity taste that are the result of the warmer fermentation temperatures.

Some common varieties of ales include:

Pale ale - Pales ales are ales that use pale malts, usually barley. They all tend to have similar characteristics, such as a strong hop taste and low to medium malt levels, though many countries have their own versions of pale ale like the English Bitter, Saison, and India Pale Ale each with their own slight variations.

Porter- A porter is a dark ale ranging from dark brown to black in color. It was originally created in the 1700’s in Britain. A combination of three different kinds of ale, it was very popular among the porters of old London, hence the name. It was made from roasted malt barley giving it a rich aroma and full body.

Stout- Stout is a dark ale derived from porter. Like a porter it has a very dark coloring. This results from roasting the malted barley, used for brewing, until black. Irish dry stout like Guinness or Murphy’s are known for their bitter, roasted taste. The ale’s black color topped with distinctive creamy head gives it it’s nickname the “priest’s collar” and goes well with oysters.

The other type of beer are lagers. The word lager is derived from a German word “lagern”. “Lagern” translated means “to store” and alludes to a time when brewers used to store beer in caves to ferment in cooler temperature.

Lagers are made with bottom-fermenting yeast at temperatures ranging from 8 to15 degrees C or 46 to 59 degrees F. At these cooler temperatures, the beer will generally take a longer time to ferment. Lagers are known generally be lighter in color than ales. They also have a distinctively clean and crisp taste that makes them very popular to the masses. They also tend to have a lower alcohol content than ales and are best served cold.

Some beers categorized as lagers are:

Pilsner- Considered the most popular type of beer in the world. Pilsners are generally light yellow to golden in color and usually well balanced in flavor, with a clean, crisp taste.

American style lagers- The common, mass produced type of beer in America is a type of pilsen. Light in color and flavor, it is also high in carbonation.

Bock- Bock is a dark lager originating from Germany. It’s high in alcohol and malt making it a strong, full-bodied beer.

There are many more kinds of beers, each with their own distinct style and taste. There are enough choices to satisfy just about anyone’s taste.

Beer has been around since even before people could write! With so many kinds of beer to choice from, and even more being invented all the time, there is no doubt that beer will be here to stay.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://beer-making.leisure-webzone.com/ where you can learn more about beer making procedures and supplies.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Dobbins