Four Brewers: Craft Beer and Homebrew

Latest Episodes:

[S2/E13] Why So Sour? Mar 30, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 13 - This week, we’re drinking some pretty rad sours while John gets serious about bottle dates.

Welcome to the fourth show, that is, the fourth show of session 14 of Four Brewers. In case you’re unfamiliar with how we record shows, we get together every three weeks and record three shows in a four hour session, which we broadcast live on Google Hangouts and our YouTube channel. The shows are then edited in post-production and released weekly.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we had to record four episodes during our last session (that’s a lot of beer…). This leads us to this week’s episode. The discussions get a little heated and a bit off the rails, and our deepest inner beer geeks come out to play. Now that you know what you’re in for, let’s dive in!

Here Gose Nothin’

We start off with a beer thats new to all of us that was provided by Temecula’s [self-proclaimed] Beer Ambassador, Mr. John Ryti, Destihl Brewery’s Here Gose Nothin’. The best way to describe this beer is clean, refreshing, and cleansing. It has notes of tangerine and clementines, and packs a big and salty sour punch. We all enjoy the beer, but all agree that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the awesome sours that Destihl became known for a few years ago and is still currently making.

Figaro from Cascade Brewing

Cascade Brewing is up next with Figaro, a “northwest-style” ale made with white figs and lemon peel and aged in Chardonnay barrels. It has a rough, but balanced sourness, and is quite savory, to say the least. This is the first time we’ve all heard of white figs, and we find out that there are actually many different varieties of figs out there. TIL.

The Dissident

Next up is a tasting of three different vintages of The Dissident from Deschutes Brewery; 2008, 2012, and 2014. This beer is a sour brown ale that is made with cherries, and is meant to age in the bottle…by design. What this means is that Deschutes specifically designed this beer to age and sour in the bottle, much like beers that are bottle conditioned with brettanomyces. In fact, it even has an “enjoy after” date printed in the back of the bottle. It’s this “enjoy after” concept that sparks a debate on the show. Should a brewery release a beer that isn’t ready for consumption when it’s fresh? Is the brewery catering specifically to beer geeks who plan to cellar this beer? Is the brewery right to put the burden of aging a beer to its prime on the consumer? These are all brought up during the debate, and makes for an interesting and lively discussion. As far as The Dissident goes, it’s a great beer that changes a lot, mostly for the good, over a few years of cellaring. Deschutes knows sours, and it shows with this beer.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E13 Show Outline

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E12] LIVE from Firkfest 2015! Mar 23, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 12 - This week’s show is live from the one and only Firkfest, in Anaheim, California.

The day is upon us. The time has come. Firkfest is here! Undoubtedly, you’ve heard our cute little ads before each show for Greg’s annual festival in celebration of cask ale, and for good reason–it’s a rad event. Cask ale is a style of beer that is easily overlooked and somewhat misunderstood. Is it a beer that is flat, warm, and flavorless? Is it a beer with a bunch of stuff thrown into it to make the base beer taste different? On this week’s show, we hope to provide some clarity on the topic. Yes, traditional cask ale is generally served at a certain temperature and conditioned with yeast inside the cask to attain a certain volume of carbonation, but at the same time there’s also an offshoot that incorporates firkins of beer, flavored with other ingredients to give beer inside of it a different flavor, aroma, and overall experience.

This week, we are live from Firkfest 2015. This was a different kind of live experience for us in that the show was actually broadcast live to the attendees of the event. This was also a bit of an experiment for us, and overall it went pretty well. That being said, you’ll definitely hear a difference in the audio compared to our other episodes. Tomm Carroll from Celebrator Beer News and Beer Paper LA joins us as a co-host for this episode, and is also the moderator of the panel. We are joined by Aaron Champion of Cask Ale LA, Evan Price of Noble Ale Works, Andy Black of MacLeod Ale Brewing Co., and Chris Walowski of Smog City Brewing, all of whom have experience with cask ale in one form or another.

The panelists provide a lot of insight on what cask ale is and how the definition and translation of the style has mutated over time. This is a truly traditional style of beer that represents the history of beer as we know it today. You’ve got to know where you came from to know where you’re going…

Photos from Firkfest can be found in the Photos section of the site. Big thanks to everyone who attended the event, those who went out of their way to say hello to us, and of course, Mr. Nagel for organizing another great festival.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E11] Anchorage Brewing Company Makes a Deal with the Devil Mar 16, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 11 - This week’s show is all about our new favorite brewery from Alaska, Anchorage Brewing Company.

This week it’s all about Anchorage Brewing Company. They’ve taken the beer world by storm as of late with their tasty brettanomyces saisons, IPAs, and tripels. Anchorage has a very unique take on beer that can be quite inspirational to homebrewers.

The first beer up (03:05) is Galaxy, a white IPA made with Galaxy hops, corriander, kumquats, and peppercorns. The beer is fermented with wit yeast in French oak, dry hopped with another dose of Galaxy hops, and then bottle conditioned with brettanomyces and wine yeast. Damn. There’s a bit of a debate on the show as to whether or not this beer should be classified as an IPA.

Anchorage Brewing Company Beers

Next up (13:37) is The Tide and Its Takers. This was Matt’s second beer ever from Anchorage brewing, Love Buzz being the first. This beer is based around the tripel style, and has notes of oak, pineapple, funk and fruit. It isn’t nearly as bitter as Galaxy, which explains why they may have chosen to label Galaxy as an IPA.

The final beer (22:47) is definitely a contender for #WednesdayWhalezday, a barley wine-style ale called, A Deal with the Devil. This massive barley wine had a starting gravity of 37º plato (1.164 SG), and a post-fermentation gravity of 10º plato. That equates to a big beer with big body. The beer was aged for eleven months in cognac barrels, and is rich and boozy–definitely a sipper. Candied sugar, burnt brown sugar, and candied walnuts and almonds all come thorough in a big way when tasting this beer. It’s great, and the hype is real!

See you next week, and as always…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Side note: This week’s Firkfest ad was inspired by Radiolab, an awesome public radio/podcast that all the cool kids listen to.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E11 Show Outline Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E10] Brunching with AleSmith and Mikkeller Mar 09, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 10 - This week, we’re geeking out to AleSmith and Mikkeller radness.

A couple episodes ago when we did the blind bourbon barrel-aged stout tasting, we got some feedback pertaining to why we didn’t include any of the barrel-aged variants of AleSmith Brewing Company’s Speedway Stout. The reason is that Speedway Stout itself is a coffee stout, and the barrel-aged variants of Speedway have flavorings added to them in addition to coffee. We wanted to keep the stout tasting as pure as possible by excluding any beers with flavoring and/or aroma additives (by the way, we heard you, internet…they’re NOT called “adjuncts”…), hence the reason Speedway Stout was excluded.

Mikkeller and AleSmith Beers

BUT…since we were accused of erroneously “snubbing” AleSmith, we decided to dedicate an ENTIRE SHOW this awesome beer and brewery. You want the Speedway Stout? Well, now you’re gonna get it. In addition to AleSmith beers, we thought it was appropriate to include another brewery known for making imperial stout whalez, Mikkeller. You may have read in recent news that Mikkeller is partnering up with AleSmith to start brewing beer in the United States. That’s awesome. Mikkeller recently brewed a collaboration beer with AleSmith called Beer Geek Speedway, so we thought the addition of Mikkeller to the show was appropriate.

In case you didn’t already know, the brewery, Mikkeller, is what’s known as a “gypsy” brewery, meaning the brewery itself doesn’t have its own brewing facility, rather they use other breweries’ facilities to brew their beers. It’s a great way to get your product in the market if funds to build a brewery aren’t available.

We start with Mikkeller’s Beer Geek BreAKfast, which was brewed at Anchorage Brewing Company in Alaska. We had some issues with this beer. Usually, it’s a great brew. But, this batch was really, REALLY over-carbonated, and the extra CO2 really destroyed the overall experience of the beer. Seeing how this was brewed at Anchorage Brewing, who’s known for its stellar beers made with brettanomyces, we presume that maybe some brett made its way into the batch. Again, this is typically a great beer, but this bottle was a disappointment.

Next up is what many consider to be one of the best imperial stouts in the world, AleSmith Brewing Company’s Speedway Stout. This beer is a classic from AleSmith. It’s a rich beer with tones of dark fruit and coffee. In fact, it’s made with Ryan Bros. coffee. It’s usually always available and easy to overlook, but it’s definitely worth picking up.

AleSmith and Mikkeller Collaboration Beer

So what do you do with two awesome imperial stouts if given the opportunity? Blend them together, add some Kopi Luwak coffee, call it Beer Geek Speedway, and blow some minds. That is exactly what AleSmith and Mikkeller did. Both of the beers in this blend were brewed at AleSmith in San Diego. Unbeknownst to the public, owner and brewer at Mikkeller, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø used this opportunity to give the AleSmith’s brew house a test drive. After the beer was released, it was revealed the Mikkel would be taking over the AleSmith facility on Cabot Drive, after AleSmith moves into their new brewery, which is currently under construction. How rad is that?

Getting back to the beer…of course, it’s great. The Beer Geek Breakfast part of the blend mellows the dark fruit tones of the Speedway Stout, and makes for a silky smooth mouthfeel. The coffee addition in this is just right. This beer is really the best of two different worlds coming together to create something spectacular. This beer isn’t a gimmicky money grab at all—it’s the real deal.

Next, we open up a Beer Geek Brunch Weasel from Mikkeller. This beer is made with vietnamese coffee beans, and was brewed in Norway at Lervig Aktiebryggri. It’s inky-black, and has notes of maple, fig and dark fruits.

The final beer of the show is AleSmith’s own [Bourbon] Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout made with Vietnamese Coffee. Holy. Shit. Damn, is this beer good! Silky, creamy, chocolately, coffee…this beer is basically bourbon barrel-aged M&Ms in a bottle. It’s amazing, and a fine example of how awesome AleSmith Brewing Company really is. When tickets for this beer were sold online, they sold out instantly, and with good reason. Beer geeks throughout SoCal creamed their shorts. The gushing about this beer is legit—it is truly amazing.

So, there you go, interwebz.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E10 Show Outline Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E9] Mmm...Hops! Mar 02, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 9 - This week, we’re going back to the hops with homebrew from Nagel and hoppy radness from Noble Ale Works, Alpine Brewing, and Societe Brewing Company.

Now that we’re all fully recovered from last week’s epic stout tasting, we’re back with a homebrew from Greg, and some beers from some of SoCal’s best breweries: Noble Ale Works, Alpine Beer Company, and Societe Brewing Company.

We kick the show off with a unique homebrew from Greg that’s kind of saison, and kind of a pilsner. Weird, right? The beer was intended to be a saison, and technically speaking, it is. It was brewed with Belgian pilsner and rye malts, and fermented with White Labs WLP568 Saison yeast. What makes this beer different was the utilization of whole leaf Saaz hops. The beer was bittered with Nelson Sauvin in the boil, while the Saaz hops were used in a custom hopback made by Greg. The Saaz come through so much in this beer that it’s reminiscent of a Czech pilsner. All in all, it’s a tasty, easy drinking beer and an example of how experimentation with homebrewing can lead to unintended, yet interesting results.

Hoppy Brews from Noble, Alpine, and Societe

Next up is yet another attempt to convince Matt that Sorachi Ace hops aren’t just extract from an old lady’s perfume bottle, Noble Ale Works Sorachi Ace Showers. Matt was given this beer from the brewer himself, Evan Price. If you aren’t familiar with the “Showers” line of beers, it’s a series that Noble Ale Works has been doing for quite a while now, that focuses on one specific hop. This beer is a great example of how to utilize the characteristic of this hop. The malt profile on the beer has a unique, malty, savory flavor, almost like candy, and the hops back it up with a balanced, lemony bitterness. This beer doesn’t smack you in the face, and it’s quite refreshing. Interestingly enough, Matt kind of digs the beer, while Jason is simply not a fan. Thanks for the beer, Evan!

To: Matt, Love: Evan (Price)

The next two beers are from Alpine Beer Company. Jason picked up a couple of growlers from Green Flash Brewing Company, who is now brewing Alpine beers at their facility in San Diego, California. Alpine Beer Company is a very small brewpub out of Alpine, California who is known for their spectacular beers, most notably their hoppy beers. They were recently purchased by Green Flash Brewing Company to help expand the brand, get the beers to a bigger market, and help Alpine Beer Company keep making the truly unique brews that they are so well known for. The two beers we have on this episode, Hoppy Birthday and Nelson, are two classics from Alpine. Both of these were brewed at Green Flash, which in comparison to Alpine’s brewhouse, is enormous. There are certain recipe scaling issues that come about when stepping up a beer to a production run of this size. We discuss those issues on the show, and whether or not these beers are truly accurate iterations of the beer Alpine is known for.

Alpine Beer Company – Nelson

The final beer of this episode is The Miser from Societe Brewing Company, by way of our good friend and “Ruler of the Underworld” at Societe, Mike Sardina. This beer is made with Amarillo, Simcoe, Mosaic and El Dorado hops, and boy does it show on the nose. This beer smells absolutely delish. Coming in at 10% ABV, the body on this beer is really nice, and not just a vehicle for hop delivery. Societe very much prides themselves on making a unique, quality product, and it really shows in this beer. Expect an on-location episode from Societe in the near future…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E9 Show Outline Noble Ale Works Alpine Beer Company Societe Brewing Company Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E8] The Blind Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout Bout, Part 2 Feb 23, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 8 - This week on the show, part two of our epic blind bourbon barrel-aged stout tasting, with the final rankings and results.

The time has arrived! We’re drinking the final five beers of our blind tasting, adding up the scores, and announcing the big winners. Just to recap, here are the beers we’re tasting:

· Firestone Walker Brewing Co. – Parabola, 2014· Goose Island Beer Co. – Bourbon County Brand Stout, 2014· Hangar 24 Craft Brewery – Pugachev’s Cobra, 2014· The Bruery – Black Tuesday, 2014· Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Bourbon Barrel-Aged Narwhal, 2014· Dark Horse Brewing Company – Bourbon Barrel-Aged Plead The 5th, 2014· Bell’s Brewery – Black Note Stout, 2014· Bottle Logic Brewing – Darkstar November, 2014· Avery Brewing Company – Uncle Jacob’s Stout, 2012

SPOILER ALERT: The results of the tasting are listed below, after the photo. All of our individual scores were pretty close to one another, and that could simply be coincidence, or the result of us discussing these beers as a group. Every beer in this tasting was great. They are all world class beers, and it was a real treat to have them all on the show.

The Blind Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout Bout

Results of the 2015 Four Brewers Blind Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout Bout:

1. Firestone Walker Brewing Co. – Parabola, 20142. Hangar 24 Craft Brewery – Pugachev’s Cobra, 20143. Dark Horse Brewing Company – Bourbon Barrel-Aged Plead The 5th, 20144. Bell’s Brewery – Black Note Stout, 20145. Bottle Logic Brewing – Darkstar November, 20146. Goose Island Beer Co. – Bourbon County Brand Stout, 20147. The Bruery – Black Tuesday, 20148. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Bourbon Barrel-Aged Narwhal, 20149. Avery Brewing Company – Uncle Jacob’s Stout, 2012

So as you can see, Firestone Walker Parabola come out on top, followed by Pugachev’s Cobra from Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, with third place going to Dark Horse Brewing’s Plead the 5th. This was a fun exercise, and we encourage you to try this with your friends. The results may surprise you…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Special shoutouts go to “Cougar Steve” Saavedra for hookup on the Michigan beers, and Scott McElhone for inspiring the titles of episodes 7 and 8.

Four Brewers Patrons get 50% off Firkfest tickets! Send an email to Nagel (greg@fourbrewers.com *note: there is no dash anywhere in this email address) to get your discounted tickets. These are limited to two (2) per individual Patron.

Links to things from this week’s episode:Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E7] The Blind Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout Bout, Part 1 Feb 16, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 7 - The time has come. The moment has arrived. This week is part one of our epic blind tasting of bourbon barrel-aged stouts from across the United States.

We’ve been hyping these episodes for a few weeks now, and they have finally arrived. Here’s the premise of these shows: Episode 7 (part 1) is going to be the introduction of the blind tasting, and why the beers were selected. We’re going to drink four of the nine beers, and rate them according to aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel, and then a final overall rating. Episode 8 (part 2) will feature the final five beers and the results of the blind tasting will be revealed. But, let’s take a step back and briefly discuss how this came about.

The Blind Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout Bout

Back when Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS henceforth in this post) was released in 2014, beer geeks on the internet went apeshit trying to find this beer. Our friends on social media posted pictures of this beer being purchased by the case, and Black Friday officially became known as BCBS day for all of us (beer geeks). The ironic part about all of this is that Goose Island Beer Co. is owned by AB-InBev (ABI henceforth in this post), who to many beer geeks, is the “enemy” of the craft beer movement. They are owned by a macro brewery, to put it in simple terms. BCBS is a macro beer. Sure, it’s still made by the hard working and passionate folks at the Fulton Street Brewery (Goose Island Beer Co.) in Chicago, Illinois, but that brewery is exactly what ABI purchased back in 2011, along with the Goose Island brand. Now, before you write us a nasty email telling us that “ABI didn’t buy the Goose Island brewpubs, and that’s where the beer is made, so technically it’s not a macro beer”, go ahead and pump your brakes, homeboy. This beer is brewed at Fulton Street, and it’s a macro brew. As long as you’re willing to concede to the fact that by purchasing BCBS that you’re purchasing an ABI product, then we’re all good.

Just because Goose Island Beer Co. is now owned by ABI doesn’t mean that BCBS is now a “quality compromised” beer. ABI actually bought Goose Island Beer Co. to help expand the brewery and essentially, get more BCBS to the masses. BCBS is still a great beer. Hell, Goose Island was the first brewery to put stout in bourbon barrels, and they’ve pretty much perfected it at this point. ABI bought this company to get a leg in the craft beer door as it were, and screwing with this beer would be, well, idiotic. That being said, this beer brings a lot of hype along with it, and that’s precisely why we decided to do this blind tasting. Does this beer live up to the hype? Let’s find out!

We picked nine bourbon barrel-aged stouts. We tried to keep this tasting as pure as possible by eliminated any beers that have known adjuncts in them, such as vanilla, coffee, and cacao nibs. We wanted stout aged in bourbon barrels. That’s what BCBS is, and you can’t compare this beer fairly to others made with adjuncts. We also wanted fresh examples of each beer. As fresh as possible, anyway…

In no particular order, here are the beers we chose and were able to acquire:

We have a special guest pouress for the next couple of shows, who is also a 4B Patron on Patreon, Ms. Dana Parker (@MissTurkeyBowl). Dana is the only one at this point who knows which beers are which. The beers were kept outside of our studio, and she brought them to us randomly.

We’re not going to list the tasting notes on the blog post, but you can view them on this week’s show outline. Next week in episode 8, we’ll drink the final five beers and announce the results of the blind tasting. So, until then…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Special shoutouts go to “Cougar” Steve Saavedra for hookup on the Michigan beers, and Scott McElhone for inspiring the titles of episodes 7 and 8.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E7 Show Outline Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E6] Pre-Gaming with Session Beers Feb 09, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 6 - We’re starting early for this show, eleven in the morning to be exact, and were taking it easy and ramping up to the bourbon barrel-aged blind tasting with session beers from around the world.

It’s all about pacing yourself and easing in. That’s what we’re doing this week. Our blind tasting, bourbon barrel-aged stout series is happening next week, so we decided to do a little beer tour and sample some session-able beers from around the world. We had a really early start for this recording session, so it seemed appropriate.

First up is a classic English bitter from Fuller's called London Pride. This beer is a really great starter due to it’s caramel, malty flavor that’s balanced with just the right amount of bitterness. It isn’t too harsh, and really wakes up the palate.

Next up is a beer on the other side of the spectrum, Lost Coast Brewery’s Sharkinator white IPA. Described simply as a dry hopped version of Lost Coast’s Great White witbier, the hop aroma of this beer is very much in-your-face, and has a nice, burst of citrus flavor with a malty, wheat finish. We get into a discussion about dry hopping techniques, as well as the effect a bottle label can have on a consumer looking for new beers.

Session-able Beers

The bottle label discussion brings us to a beer from Green Flash Brewing Co. called Mosaic Session IPA. Green Flash, like many other breweries, jumped on the session IPA bandwagon with this beer, and while the beer has a nice hoppy aroma, the mouthfeel and flavor leave you wanting something more. Session IPAs in general seem to suffer from this as a whole. This is definitely an evolving style that will either find it’s groove, or fall by the wayside like other beer style trends.

The next beer is a great example of why green bottles are so bad for beer. Brasserie Dupont’s Avril is a 3.5% ABV table beer that is normally an outstanding example of a low alcohol, easy drinking, Belgian saison. However, upon pouring this particular bottle of beer, that skunky, stinky smell associated with light struck beers presents itself. Green bottles are just as bad as clear bottles when it comes to blocking ultraviolet light, while brown bottles perform quite well at this task. From a purely aesthetic point of view, this is a very sexy, well designed bottle, but when it comes to beer, the form of the packaging should always follow its function. Consuming this beer fresh is ideal, so be careful when purchasing any beer in a green or clear bottle as it will only accelerate the beer’s deterioration.

We’ll save you the trouble of reading about the next beer. Fürst Wallerstein’s Zwickel is normally a pretty tasty brew, but this bottle has seen better days, and the beer inside simply just fell apart. We found out on the show that this style of beer doesn’t travel very well, and has poor shelf life. It was a bummer for sure, but it happens.

Finally, we end the show on a high note with a favorite of Jason’s, Köstritzer Schwarzbier. This 4.8% ABV black lager is delicious. It was a “craft conversion” beer for Jason, and rightly so. Described by Matt as a “helles with cocoa”, the beer is super-dry, and the style can range from 14-28 IBU. It’s very accessible, so pick up some cans if you see it.

This week’s show was sponsored by the Beachwood BBQ & Brewing Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle, and Firkfest. We’ll be broadcasting the raffle drawing live from Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach on February 23rd. Firkfest is March 21st at Farmers Park in Anaheim, California. Tickets are going fast, so get ‘em while you can. Links for both events are below.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E6 Show Outline Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Firkfest 2015

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E5] On Location at El Segundo Brewing Co. Feb 02, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 5 - We’re back in the South Bay at our final stop of our on-location recording session, El Segundo Brewing Co., with special guest and Certified Cicerone, Thomas Kelley.

El Segundo Brewing Co. (@ESBCbrews), located in the city of its namesake, has quickly gained recognition as one Southern California’s best IPA breweries in the last few years. After opening its doors in May of 2011, brewer Rob Croxall and self-titled “Rain Maker” Thomas Kelly, set their sights on making great beers, one style at a time. This logic was partially due to their limited access to some of the more popular hops, such as Citra and Mosaic, as well as Rob’s limited experience as a professional brewer. Rob had some solid recipes from his days of homebrewing, and eventually, they secured the ingredients and the experience they needed to make the beers that would eventually make them stand out in a heavily competitive Southern California craft beer market.

El Segundo Brewing Co.

We kick the show off with a delicious pale ale made with Citra hops, named Blue House Citra Pale. It’s a fairly simply grain bill, consisting of 2 row and Vienna malts. The Citra hops provide flavors similar to tangerine juice and lemonade. It’s ESBC’s biggest selling beer, and rightly so. At 5.5% ABV, one could down a few pints without regretting it the following day, while still experiencing a beer with the hop punch of an IPA.

Next up is a very popular ESBC IPA that’s in limited rotation, Mayberry IPA. It was first brewed last year, and it flew off the shelves. The beer is brewed with mostly Mosaic hops, with Chinook used early in the boil for bittering and Cascade added later in the boil. One interesting thing about the way Rob dry hops his beers is that he doesn’t recirculate the hops in secondary. A common practice is to recirculate the beer with the dry hops with the use of a pump to maximize the exposure of the beer to the hops. Rob chooses to simply let the hops sit in the beer for a week or so, and occasionally inject carbon dioxide into the bottom of the tank to get the hops back into suspension. For home brewers, this is the equivalent of gently rousing the carboy to get the hops back into solution. Mayberry IPA has huge hop character, which goes to show that just because something is common practice doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best practice for everyone.

El Segundo Brewing Co. – NO BEARDS WITHOUT GUARD

The final beer is a departure from the others on the show thus far, a malty, fall seasonal beer conjured up by Thomas and other Certified Cicerones local to ESBC, a beer named Horn of Plenty. Part of ESBC’s “Cicerone Series” of beers, Horn of Plenty has the grain bill of a dunkel weisenbock, but is fermented with Westmalle Abbey Ale yeast. Lemon peel, thyme, and coriander were added in the brite tank, giving the beer a slight lemon edge on the nose. Special B malt was added to give it a rich, bread crust character, and Munich malt was used to help give the beer it’s ruby red hue. This beer was made to be paired with food and span different courses of a meal. The conversation on the show tangents for a bit into discussions about beer pairing, dinners, restaurants, and craft beer adoption in fine dining establishments.

Thanks to the folks at El Segundo Brewing Co. for having us at their brewery. They’ve got fairly wide distribution in Southern California, so be sure to pick up a few bottles of ESBC brew when you see them. You won’t regret it.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E5 Show Outline El Segundo Brewing Co.

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal

[S2/E4] On Location at Monkish Brewing Co. Jan 26, 2015

Show notes

Season 2, Episode 4 - This week, we’re on location at Monkish Brewing in Torrance, California with owner, president and brewer Henry Nguyen and Monkish “Evangelist,” Brian White.

The second stop on our South Bay/L.A. beer tour, Monkish Brewing Co. has quickly become a brewery in Southern California that has set themselves away from the pack, brewing nothing but Belgian-style inspired beers. We start the show with two beers that have a history with one another, Crux and Oblate. The latter beer was the first to be brewed at Monkish, even though Crux was technically supposed to be the first beer made, but the result was Oblate. They are similar beers but differ in malts and adjusts.

Monkish Brewing Co. – Sunset Beer

The next beer was a collaboration made with Sunset Beer Company, named Sunset Beer. In the early days of Monkish, Henry was brewing at night and delivering beer during the day. He established relationships with many of shops, and Sunset Beer Company was one of them. This “hipster” beer as Henry calls it, is a witbier made with wheat malt, orange zest, and Lotus seed, as well as Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic hops. It’s fermented with their house yeast, White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast, and bottle conditioned with Brett Trois and Brett Brux yeast. It’s dry, aromatic, hoppy, and absolutely delicious.

Fermentors at Monkish Brewing Co.

Next up is a beer that has made its way into Matt’s heart, Selah. This beer has only been made once, so far. It was inspired by Jolly Pumpkin‘s approach to beer, and was Monkish’s first beer made with brettanomyces. This is one of only two beers that Matt will drink that contain Sorachi Ace hops, and boy do the hops work well in this beer, giving it a big lemon nose. Henry wanted this beer to finish bone-dry, and used Wyeast 3711 French Saison Yeast, which is know to be a big, big attenuator, as well as Brett Trois and Brett Brux.

Foudres at Monkish Brewing Co.

The final beer is Shaolin Fist. This beer is very unique in that it is made with Sichuan peppercorns. Henry was unsure this beer would sell, since during fermentation the brewery smelled like a Panda Express restaurant. This is a very savory beer and is quite complex. Nagel jokes about the beer paring well with carne asada tacos, but in reality, it really would pair well!

Henry goes in-depth on a lot of the technical stuff behind Monkish beers, and it’s really quite interesting to hear his point of view on beer. If you’re ever in Torrance, pay a visit to Monkish, and head on over to Smog City, which is less than a quarter mile away.

Thanks, Monkish!

Big thanks to Henry and Brian for having us!

We’ve had a great response to our Patreon campaign thus far, and we’re totally stoked to have 18 (5 new Patrons this week!) Patrons supporting the show! We can’t thank them enough for the support and are humbled by their generosity. If you feel you’re getting any sort of value/entertainment/knowledge from 4B, please consider supporting the show on Patreon: http://patreon.com/fourbrewers

We have Four Brewers T-shirts up for pre-order, as well as stickers and buttons that are available for immediate shipping. Head over to our online store: https://squareup.com/market/four-brewers-store

Links to things from this week’s episode:S2/E4 Show Outline Sunset Beer Company

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Subscribe to the show:RSS iTunes – While you’re there, leave a review of 4B!Stitcher

Thumb us up on Facebook:facebook.com/fourbrewers

Got a question? Feedback? Email us:feedback at fourbrewers dot com.

Help support Four Brewers!Support the show on Patreon!Donate via PayPal