The Beer Nut

Just a reminder about Jack’s Abby Brewing and the Tavern hosting a cask lager festival tomorrow in Framingham.

Here are all the details:

First Annual Lager Cask Fundraiser For One Mission

Saturday, 16:00 until 19:00

Jack’s Abby is teaming up with The Framingham Tavern to host our first annual fund raiser for One Mission. We will be serving 12 lager casks. In addition to our own, we will be featuring several other Massachusetts breweries.

This will be a great chance to try some very special local casks as well as support a great cause. No tickets needed. Pay per pour with 100% of proceeds going to One Mission.

One Mission is a childhood cancer foundation dedicated to enhancing the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families.

Breweries Serving Lager Casks:

Watch City Brewing – Bitchloden Summer Lager

Haverhill Brewing Co – Annie Schwarz Black Lager

Cape Ann – Fisherman’s Brew

Harpoon – Bohemian Pilsner

Ipswich Ale Brewery – Corn Bock

Jack’s Abby Will Be Providing:

Hoponius Ginger Union

Coffee Smoke & Dagger

Bacon Smoke & Dagger

Mai Bock Hurts Like Helles

Jabby Brau dry hopped with Glacier Hops

Jabby Brau dry hopped with Amarillo Hops

Leisure Time Lager with Grapefruit

Press releases and beer news has been coming fast and furious lately, and I haven’t been able to keep up with it.

So, I’m just putting all of the news in one giant epic post.

First off, I’m getting rid of Cider Thursdays. I’m still going to be writing about cider, but it’ll be when I have something to write about, instead of just saving it for its special day every two weeks.

That being said, here is some cider news right now. Saw that Downeast Cider House held its Boston-area release party on Wednesday and I couldn’t have been happier. Downeast just makes a phenomenal cider, probably the best I’ve ever had. Previously, it was only available on draft in Maine, so I can’t wait to get it closer to home. Beer bars, do yourself a favor and give this wonderful beverage a spot on your draft list.

Some sad news from the beer world – read on the Frosty Knuckle Facebook page that Frosty Knuckle beers will not be available any time soon “due to production issues.” The note to beer and fans said they “will strive to continue to be part of the ever-growing craft brew industry.” I hope that’s true, because I absolutely loved the Frosty Knuckle Ale. I wish I bought more of it.

Back to some positive news, such as Allagash Brewing Company releasing its very popular Black in four packs of 12-ounce bottles. Previously, it was only available in 750 ml. The four pack is a good option if you don’t like drinking 750s.

Also just about to hit stores in Linchpin, a collaboration beer by Green Flash and Founders. I actually have mixed feelings about this beer. I like both breweries, but the beer is a White IPA, and I’ve failed to find one that I really enjoy. I’ll try it.

Troegs announced on Twitter this week that its excellent Perpetual IPA, brewed last year, will be a year-round beer. I can’t wait. I enjoyed this beer immensely.

Other new beers(or newish, again, I fell behind on these), include Sixpoint’s Apollo. This is a summer wheat beer brewed with Bavarian wheat ale yeast and wheat and barley malt. I have some of this in Beatrice (my beer fridge) at home, and it is a great summer beer.

I love old kung fu movies, so I love the name of Shipyard Brewing Company’s newest beer, Monkey Fist IPA.

Described as a “new generation IPA, ” it is a 6.9 percent ABV beer, available in 12- and 22-ounce bottles and on draft.

“It’s easy to load up on hops and create an American-style IPA,” said Bruce Forsley, director of sales. “The trick is to draw out the subtle elements in the hops – the aroma, the citrus characteristics – and still maintain harmony with the malt. Our master brewer Alan Pugsley has done a magical job striking this balance with our unique interpretation.”

Beer brewed for a good cause always tastes a little bit better. That’s why I will buy the new Flying Dog Brewery’s Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout. It is brewed to benefit the Oyster Recovery Partnership in Chesapeake Bay. Plus, I like a good oyster stout as much as the next guy.

And, with the warm weather coming back, summer seasonals are back, including the Narragansett Summer Ale, a really refreshing summer beer. Also making its return is the Newcastle Summer Ale, which I actually prefer to the original Newcastle.

OK – inbox is emptied. Yay.

Do you like beer? Do you like movies? How about movies about beer?

If you answer yes to those questions, “The Love of Beer,” a documentary featuring women in the brewing industry in the Pacific northwest may be for you. The movie is making its Boston debut, along with a panel of local women in the beer industry, next week.

Here are all the details:

The Love of Beer Boston Premiere

Women on the forefront of the craft beer industry

The Boston Area Beer Enthusiasts Society (BABES)is pleased to present the first Bay State screening of The Love of Beer, a documentary celebrating the women at the forefront of the Pacific Northwest beer community. A panel of women in the craft beer industry will follow the film. A total of 1,989 breweries operated for some or all of 2011,of which 1,940 were craft breweries. While the industry is expanding rapidly, growing 13% by volume and 15% by dollars in 2011, women within the industry are a vast minority.

When:     6:30 pm – 9 pm May 26, 2012
Where:   Appalachian Mountain Club, 4 Joy Street, Boston
Cost:       $10 per person. http://theloveofbeerboston.eventbrite.com

Twitter:  #loveofbeer

Panel:

Kelly McKnight – Brewer at Watch City Brewing Company, Waltham, MA

Caitlin Jewell – Marketing and Mayhem Director at Slumbrew, Somerville, MA

Cat Portner – Founder at Portner Brewhouse and + Craft Beer Test Kitchen

Andrea Stanley – Malster – Valley Malts, Hadley, MA

Cambridge Brewing Company has been named the Best Brewpub in America by Chow.

The honor came after Cambridge Brewing Company was one of 16 brewpubs put into a bracket, with fans voting online for their favorite.

Cambridge advanced past the Southampton Publick House, Wrecking Bar and Revolution Brewing before reaching the finals against North by Northwest of Texas. In the final voting, Cambridge Brewing Company got 54 percent of the fans vote.

I’ve never been to the brewpubs that the Cambridge Brewing Company beat out, but I know they brew some incredible beers, and I can’t help but think they deserved this honor. I’ve been to dozens of brewpubs and it is my favorite, so I’m glad to see they won.

I hate writing recipes, but I made a beer recently from scratch, and found myself having to write one. Here’s my take on a Belgian Style Wheat Ale. I used the Chinook Hops I grew last year for this beer. Not a typical hop for a wheat ale, but it came out good. Play around with the recipe, and see what happens.

8lbs Liquid Wheat Extract

1lb Dry Wheat Extract

1lb Malted Dry Wheat Grain

5 ounces whole leaf Chinook Hops

4ounces or there abouts Coriander

4ounces or around that of dried Orange Peel

Liquid Belgian Wheat Ale Yeast

5 Gallons of Spring Water

Chill all 5 gallons of water in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Don’t go all fancy with the spring water. Just get some cheap stuff from the grocery store.

The day of the beer making crush the coriander, so that it looks like cracked pepper. Add that, and the orange peel into a tea strainer. Yup they’re just going to chill together before the boil. You know, get to know each other, and stuff.

Steep the grain for about 15 minutes in 1 to 1.5 gallons of 160 degree water. Remove grain, and then add the extract. Note: Be sure to put the liquid extract into some hot water before pouring into the boil. It’ll slide out for you better that way. Stir all the extract until its melted. Add about 2.5 ounces of hops, along with the coriander, and orange peel. Let that steep for 15 minutes, and then add the last amount of hops for about 5 to 10 minutes. Take off the burner. Remove the tea strainer with the coriander, and orange peel in it.

In a fermenting bucket pour the wort into it, and be sure to use some kind of strainer so all the hops don’t go diving into in the bucket. Take the remaining cold water, and dump into into the fermenting bucket. Take a temp reading, and if its 75 degrees or below then you can pitch your yeast.

Shake the fermenting bucket so all the yeast go for a swim among all those awesome sugars that will become alcohol.

Hide your fermentor in some dark, cool place for two to five weeks. Then bottle, or keg it. You’ll have about 2 cases of beer. The ABV should be around 6 percent. Invite some friends over for grilled meat, and beer. You’ll be glad you did.

One last thing. Its mother’s day this weekend, and Norman has been goin

g through a lot with his mom lately. Please keep him, and his mom in your thoughts, and hope that she pulls through. And if you can, give your mom a hug, and tell her you love her. If you can’t do that then give her a call, and tell her. If sadly, she’s no longer with you then toast to her this weekend, and thank her for bringing you into this world. We live but once, and it means the world to moms when you tell them you love them.

Better beer fans will have a nice treat when they go to New England Patriots games next season.

Yesterday, I once again had an opportunity to be a judge in the Samuel Adams’ New England Patriots Homebrew Contest.

The winning beer will be available at Gillette Stadium all next season.

Other judges included Jim Koch of Samuel Adams, Mike Adams of WEEI, Carolyn Faye Fox of the Improper Bostonian, Kerry Byrne of the Boston Herald, Jen Harmon of Yankee Brew News, Gail Ciampa of the Providence Journal, Dan Hausle of WHDH and the whole cast of the Loren & Wally show.

We got to try six different beers and to try to choose the best. The beers were a sahti, a Scotch ale, an IPA, a Belgian pale ale, a robust porter and a sweet stout.

I can’t tell you who won, but I can tell you it is the closest vote we, the judges, have ever had. It came down to two beers and we had to have a taste off to decide which one was going to be brewed.

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Sometimes a beer will surprise you.

Take the brand new Samuel Adams summer seasonal, the Porch Rocker, for instance.

Reading the description, “Porch Rocker is our interpretation of a German radler – a light, crisp beer that’s part light-bodied ale and part real fruit,” just didn’t do anything for me. I prefer my beers to be beer. If they have fruit in them, I want the fruit to work with the beer and enhance it.

But, whenever I get a beer in the mail, I will try it no matter what. And when I tell you there have been some bad beers sent to me over the years.

So, last night I went home and decided to give it a try. I made a big commitment – I poured both bottles Boston Beer Company sent me into my large mug and had both at once.

I was rewarded with an oh-so-refreshing drinking experience. Every sip I took made a huge dent in the beer. I probably took 10 or 15 minutes to drink it and I wanted more.

It was just good. It was tasty, with the fresh lemon flavor mixing well with the beer. Instead of an ale, Samuel Adams used a Helles, a lager, as the base beer.

It’s also light, at 4.4 percent ABV. I can imagine taking a case of this to a cookout and everyone finishing it quickly.

I’d go to the a six pack, like, right now.

Julio’s Liquors, 140 Turnpike Road, Westborough, will be hosting its annual Spring Beer Fest on May 20 from1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The festival will feature more than 200 beers from 50 breweries. There will also be local foods and cheeses available for tasting.

Oh yeah, and the event is free. Free is always awesome.

Participating breweries include: Allagash, AleSmith,  Ballast Point, Boulder, Founders, Goose Island, Green Flash, Innis & Gunn, Jack’s Abby, Lost Abbey, North Coast, Rock Art, Southern Tier and Weyerbacher.

Hope to see everyone there.

I know I’m a little late with this, but the World Beer Cup was held this past weekend in San Diego, and New England brewers took home a fair amount of medals.

The big winner was the Allagash Brewing Company. They took home a gold medal in the Belgian-style witbier category with its Allagash White, beating out 50 other beers for the win.

Allagash also took a silver in the American-style sour ale with its Martina Rossa.

Also taking home a gold was the Cambridge Brewing Company, whose Sgt. Pepper won the Herb and Spiced beer category, beating out 80 other beers.

Samuel Adams Utopias took home the gold in the Wood- and Barrel-aged Strong Beer category. It won over 90 other beers entered into the competition.

Silver medals went to Wormtown for its Pro-Am Porter (Robust Porter category), Cisco Brewers for its Monomy Kriek (Belgian-style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale category) and Lawson’s Finest Liquid’s Maple Tripple (Specialty Beer category).

Congrats to all of the winners. For a complete list of winners, click here.

Here is the full release about the World Beer Cup:

2012 World Beer Cup® Winners Announced

Exceptional beers and brewers recognized in the largest global competition

Brewers from around the world received awards from an elite international panel of judges in the 2012 Brewers Association World Beer Cup. The ninth bi-annual competition boasted the strongest field of entrants on record, with 799 breweries from 54 countries and 45 U.S. states entering 3,921 beers in 95 beer style categories. A 17.7 percent increase over 2010, the entries were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards in their respective categories. Judges presented a total of 284 awards.

“It’s called ‘The Olympics of Beer Competition’ for good reason,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association, the U.S.-based trade association that has put on the competition every two years since 1996. “The event brings together great brewers from all corners of the globe. Plus, the awards are highly regarded. A brewer who wins a World Beer Cup gold award knows that their winning beer represents the best of that beer style in the world. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2012 World Beer Cup. The Brewers Association and the proud sponsors of our event thank all participating brewers for their involvement.”

Judges

The 2012 judging panel was the largest and most international in the history of the World Beer Cup. Judges from 27 countries conducted blind tasting evaluations of the beers to determine the winners. Drawn from the ranks of professional brewers and brewing industry experts, these 211 judges came mostly from international breweries, with some 67 percent from outside the U.S. In addition to the judging panel, over 250 volunteers helped sort beer entries and steward the competition.

The judging criteria are exacting—some categories are not given the full slate of awards if the panel decides that the entries do not merit recognition.

Highlights from the competition:

The average number of beers entered per category was 41.

The category with the most entries was American-Style India Pale Ale, with 150 entries. The second most-entered category was Imperial India Pale Ale, with 93 entries. The German-Style Sour Ale category had the fewest number of entries at 11.

The 2012 World Beer Cup saw substantial growth of entries in the American-Style India Pale Ale category. Category entries grew 41.5 percent over 2010 to make it the largest category of the 2012 competition.

Additionally, Champion Brewery and Champion Brewmaster awards are given in each of five brewery categories based on the awards won by each brewery in the given size category.

The five Champion Brewery/Brewmaster award winners are:

Small Brewing Company Category

Brauerei Michael Plank, Michael Plank

Mid-Size Brewing Company Category

Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Matthew Brynildson

Large Brewing Company Category

AB InBev, Claudio Ferro

Small Brewpub Category

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant-Media, Iron Hill Brewery Team

Large Brewpub Category

Pelican Pub & Brewery, Darron R S Welch

Beer is important to me. I enjoy trying all of the new beers that come out and all my old favorites. I make part of my living writing about beer and, because of beer, I have met and become really good friends with a lot of people who I think I will be friends with the rest of my life.

But, beer really doesn’t matter. What really matters are the people you love.

My mother has recently become really sick, and has been in the hospital for more than two weeks. I won’t go into details, except to say she had a really bad set back last night.

Let me tell you a little about our relationship. My mother was a single parent who raised me the best she could while working a series of low-paying jobs. Despite that, she always made sure I got to do what my friends did – I was a Cub Scout, I took karate, I played Little League. I had a good life.

I’m also an only child, and we have a very small family. My mother has one sibling, my grandfather died in 1991 and I haven’t had contact with my paternal side of the family in decades.

So, we are close. She actually hated when I started writing about beer because of a long line of alcoholics through our family history. But, she always supported me. She works at a liquor store and every once in awhile I’d get a call, “Norman, we got this beer in, have you tried it? Do you want me to pick you up a bottle?”

Last year, when I got an opportunity to write a book (I’ll talk about that another time), I began to doubt myself. She was the one who convinced me to do it, even though it would probably mean some travel, and more drinking than usual. She believed in me, and I did it because of that belief.

Now my family is tiny. It’s me, my mother, her sister and her family, so her being sick is kind of wrecking havoc on me right now.

Sure, you can call me a momma’s boy if you want. I’ll even agree with you, and I hope I get to be a momma’s boy for a few more years, because that is what really matters to me.