OAKLAND
TRIBUNE
By William Brand
Feeling bitter? This hoppy ale's the bomb
FOR
YEARS as someone who loved beer, but didn't know much, I would read
about English bitter. What an intriguing name: bitter. I wondered what
it was. The answer, I learned, is quite simple. Put bitter in a bottle
and it's pale ale.
It's easily the most copied style in America. On the West Coast, craft
brewers have given pale ale an entirely different twist. In England,
malt dominates most pale ales. But in the U.S., hops dominate.
One of my favorites is Bear Republic's Special XP Ale . Richard Norgrove,
Jr., who founded Bear Republic along with his father in Healdsburg,
describes it as "very light bodied with a noticeable hop aroma
and bittering element that just teases the hopheads, but satisfies the
newest of microbrewed ale drinkers."
This is not mild-mannered, bland ale. It's a very fine, quite hoppy,
American pale ale and it's our Beer of the Week.
Like?most of Bear Republic's beers, Special XP has won a string of awards.
Most recently, it was one of four Bear Republic medal winners at the
professionally judged Great
American Beer Festival in Denver.
It
won a third place in a competitive class ? 83 entries. Like all of Bear
Republic bottled beers, XP is a 5.4 percent alcohol beer, not pasteurized
and bottle conditioned ? a bit of fresh yeast is placed in each
bottle so fermentation continues slowly for a long time, preserving
the beer. Often, when I open a bottle, there's a gush of foam because
fermentation creates carbon dioxide.
In the glass, the predominant aroma is hops ? citrusy Cascades and floral
Centennials. The taste is dry ? aromatic hops with a malty background
fading into a dry, hoppy finish.
Special XP is made with American, pale two row barley, English wheat,
Belgian and dextrin malts. (Dextrin malt adds body and fullness to the
taste.)
This may be a mildly hoppy beer to a true hophead, but I see it more
as a pale ale hop bomb: 55 International Bitterness Units. Your basic
Budweiser has 13 IBU; Guinness Stout has 60. Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale, the classic West Coast
pale ale, has less than 40 IBU.
Bombs away!
-Can't find this beer? Call me at (510) 915-1180 or e-mail me at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net
and ask for my What's On Tap 2006 Bay Area Retail Beer Store list.
Posted on Wed, Oct. 11, 2006
Bay Area Brews Perfect for Oktoberfest
German-style beers close by
WILLIAM BRAND: WHAT'S ON TAP
OKTOBERFEST, the
beer that evolved in Munich in the last 150 years, is popular all over
the world. It's no wonder. The beer, known variously as Oktoberfest,
Vienna or Marzen, is one of the most drinkable, delicious styles of
beer.
This is a beer with history. Originally, the beer served at Oktoberfest
was dark, in the Munich style. But Munich brewer Gabriel Sedlmayr and
Vienna brewer-scientist Anton Dreher created a lager beer in the 1840s
using modern techniques that was an amber color with a very clean, quenching
taste without the roast grain notes of a dark beer.
It was originally called Marzen, because before refrigeration was widespread,
it was the last beer brewed before the weather became too warm to make
beer; it was lagered or cellared in a cool place over the summer, then
consumed during harvest in the fall. It's also called a Vienna style,
because it was created there.
The version made by Sedlmayr at the Spaten brewery became the official
beer of Oktoberfest, and the beer known as Oktoberfest spread around
the world. Made true to style, it's malty, but not overly sweet. It's
never bitter, but there's an aromatic, mildly spicy hop presence that
balances the sweetness of the malt. Here in the Bay Area, nearly every
brewpub and craft brewer offers a fest beer at this time of the year.
Here are five excellent examples to sample, three in bottles; two are
available only in the East Bay pubs where they are made.
? E.J. Phair Marzen, E.J. Phair Brewing, Concord. J.J. Phair of Danville
founded the brewery, named after his grandfather, in 2000. Phair and
head brewer Morgan Cox make this beer year-round. It's a bright copper,
6.5 percent alcohol by volume, with a head of creamy foam and a toffee-malt
nose. True to style, the taste is malty with a spicy, hoppy note. It's
usually available at the E.J. Phair pub, 2151 Salvio St. in downtown
Concord, 925-691-4253. Available in bottles at stores in the East Bay
with good beer stocks.
? Gordon Biersch Marzen, Gordon Biersch Brewing, San Jose. This is the
most popular beer in the range of German-style beers made at the brewery
founded by Dean Gordon, a UC Berkeley graduate who learned brewing in
Germany, and Dan Biersch, who has a business background, in 1988 in
Palo Alto. Their first brewpub expanded to a national chain, which they
sold a few years ago after opening their San Jose brewery. This beer
is closer to the beer sold at Oktoberfest in Munich. It's dry, mildly
spicy and 5.7 percent alcohol by volume. Available year-round, it's
the same beer available at the Gordon-Biersch brewpub chain, including
the pub in San Francisco.
? Marzen, Privatbrauerei Sudwerk Hubsch, Davis. The brewpub-brewery
has specialized in German-style lagers since it opened in 1990, and
this was the first American Marzen I tasted. I've been a fan ever since.
Head brewer Jay Prahl makes a dark copper malty beer, more in the style
of Vienna than a modern Oktoberfest. The taste is rich, slightly sweet,
with a fine, hoppy finish.
? Triple Rock Fest Beer. Triple Rock Brewing, 1920 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley,
510-843-2739. Founded in 1985, this pioneering brewpub quickly earned
a reputation for great beer. Head brewer Christian Kazakoff says he
followed an ancient tradition making this fest beer. Historically, "it
was a tradition when brewing a fest beer to clean up the malt house
-- throw everything left into the brew, then store the beer in caves
until fall," Kazakoff said. "I kind of did that." No
caves, but he gave the beer a three-month fermentation and when they
were ready to serve it, he put it in an English firkin, a 10.8 gallon
container, and the brewery had a tapping ceremony. The beer, Kazakoff
says, is 7.1 percent, stronger than an average 5 percent fest beer and
darker. It's expected to remain on tap this week until it's gone. Triple
Rock doesn't bottle, but sells one-gallon growlers: $19 for the first,
$14 for the next.
? Oktoberfest, Schooner's Grille & Brewery. 4250 Lone Tree Way,
Antioch, 925-776-1800. Good beer in Antioch? You bet. This brewpub,
founded in 2002 by Shawn and Renee Burns, has won some impressive awards.
Shawn Burns and Craig Cauwels, his longtime home-brewing pal turned
brewmaster, not only have an Oktoberfest on tap, but they're also planning
an Oktoberfest Brewer's Dinner on Oct. 19. Cauwels says the Oktoberfest
is the beer that non-beer-drinking visitors to the pub love. "We
change it every year," Cauwels said. "This year, we tried
for a slightly dry finish." For information on the dinner, call
the pub. Schooner's also sells growlers to go: $11.95, refills, $8.95.
A number of Bay Area craft brewers won medals at the Great American
Beer Festival in Denver last weekend, including Bison, Berkeley; Elk
Grove Brewing, Elk Grove; Firestone-Walker, Paso Robles; Pyramid, Berkeley;
Russian River, Santa Rosa, and Schooner's, Antioch. Check out my blogs
for the full report: http://www.ibabuzz.com/beer
and http://www.beernewsletter.com.
