Four Brewers: Craft Beer and Homebrew

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Episode 24 - Matt's Cellar Blowout Nov 10, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 24 - This week, Matt’s clearing out the cellar.

We’ve been at that point in our craft beer journey when we discover the diverse selection of beers available to us, and realize, “Hey! I TOTALLY need to start building my beer cellar up!” So, the first thing we do is seek out anything that might possibly “cellar well”. Well, that’s precisely what Matt did, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of his naive excitement. The main reason Matt decided to do this was to clear out all of the 12 ounce bottles and cans that were taking up space in his cellar. These beers are mainly from the 2006-2009 era.

Hair Of The Dog beers.

We kick it off with a vertical of Fred from Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company. Jason provided two of the beers, specifically, batches 77 and 87, and Matt brought batch 70. This beer was named after acclaimed beer writer Fred Eckhardt. These beers held up very, very well, to say the least.

Hair Of The Dog and Stone Brewing Co. beers.

Next up is another brew from Hair Of The Dog, 2006 Doggie Claws. This beer is a west coast-style barley wine that’s usually released in November, and it’s a pretty heavy hitter at 11.5% ABV and 70 IBUs.

Stone Brewing Co.‘s Imperial Russian Stout is up next. Stone usually releases their IRS in 22 ounce bombers, but in 2008, they made a run of 12 ounce bottles that were exclusively for export. But, they held some bottles back and put them up for sale shortly after the release, and Matt picked up a bottle. He also brought a 22 ounce bottle of the same vintage to compare.

Feature: “Guess That Brew!”

We’re still not done with the drinking, but we decided to speed things up and open more bottles (and a can) from Oskar Blues Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, and The Lost Abbey while playing a few rounds of “Guess That Brew”.

Oskar Blues Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, and The Lost Abbey beers.

The live IRC (chat) really knocked it out of the park for this session of GTB. Props to Bob Vreeland, Dr. Zack, and OC Beer Nut.

Oskar Blues’ Ten Fidy really stood out from the bunch. This beer is excellent fresh, and this particular batch from 2008 really held up well. Cans are really good at limiting, if not eliminating oxygen from getting into the beer, and this beer is a testament.

To finish this post up, we’ll just list the final beers on the show…

Dogfish Head – World Wide Stout (2008?)Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Bigfoot Barleywine 2008 and 2009The Lost Abbey – Angel’s Share 2009, Bourbon Barrel Aged

It’s amazing we made it though this recording session without getting too sloppy… Thanks for the beers, Matt!

Links to things from episode 24:Hair Of The Dog Fred Vintage Guide Hair Of The Dog’s Brewhouse Matt’s traded bottle of The Bruery’s Partridge In A Pear Tree “Dead Giveaway” Charles Ramsey/Schmoyoho Video Boogie In Your Butt

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT!

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Episode 23 - Duck Duck Nagel Nov 03, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 23 - This week, a Duck Duck Gooze side-by-side, and some, er, interesting homebrew from Nagel.

Welcome to November. It’s that special time of year when we get together with our families, roast birds in the oven, and drink barrel-aged beer to keep warm in the brisk winter weather. On the show this week, we’re cracking open two beers from The Lost Abbey called Duck Duck Gooze. You may have heard of it. It’s an excellent sour that many beer geeks consider to be a “whalez, bro”. No hype here. It’s fantastic.

The Lost Abbey – Duck Duck Gooze 2009 & 2013.

Matt really knocked it out of the park for this episode by providing not only one, but two variants of the DDG, one from 2009, and one from the most current 2013 release, which was provided to him by his super-rad boss, Patrick Rue. So, thanks Matt…and Pat!

We break away from the drinking for a bit to discuss the recent IPA showdown at Vendome Wine & Spirits in Toluca Lake, CA. The results may surprise you…

Greg brought two homebrews for us to try this week, one made with sourdough yeast (yes, really), and the other, a Tart Of Darkness clone, which was a More Beer homebrew kit.

We start with his Tart of Darkness clone. The beer itself turned out OK, but this homebrew teaches us that making a sour beer that’s on the level of The Bruery’s Tart of Darkness takes a lot more time and work that just adding bacteria to wort.

Next, we try Greg’s collaboration beer that he made with OC Baking Company. Greg did a five day sour mash for this beer and fermented it with sourdough bread yeast from OC Baking Company. The beer really didn’t turn out well–we’re not gonna lie. Not all experiments turn out well. Sorry, Greg, but thanks for the beer!

We mentioned The Festival on the show, which is a badass beer festival hosted by Shelton Brothers. Tickets are still available. It’s going to be epic…

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT!

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Episode 22 - Four Brewkakkis Oct 27, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 22 - It’s that special time of the year when pumpkin beers abound. This week, we carve it up.

This week on the show, we’ve got two homebrews from our Aussie brother from a different mother, “The Beer Mule”, and two interesting craft beers from Hangar 24 Craft Brewery.

Many of you may know The Beer Mule. You know, that globe-trotting-drink-you-under-the-table Aussie dude who also happens to be a pilot? Well, we were lucky enough to get some of his homebrew on the show this week.

We kick it off with what we think is his New Zealand hopped Pale Ale (after further reaserch…it is. Motueka & Wai-iti hops) called Kiwi Skunk. It’s an overall refreshing beer that’s crystal clear and vibrant, given that it’s two months old.

The next beer on deck is The Mule’s Flanders Red Ale, Intro To Oak. From all accounts, this year spent probably around a year in secondary souring-up, and was bottled on 9.9.2014. Right off the bat, this beer smelled great. It had all of the usual characteristic that one would find on the nose of this style of beer. We dive into this beer further on the show, and in summation: sour beers need a lot of time and patience.

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery – Falling Leaf. Label customized by Bob Vreeland.

Next are two beers from a brewery that’s near and dear (and quite local) to us, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery. Our buddy, Bob Vreeland, hooked us up with H24’s newest “Barrel Roll” series of barrel-aged beers called Falling Leaf, and their seasonal release, Gourdgeous. Essentially, Falling Leaf is Gourdgeous aged in bourbon barrels. Both beers are made with pumpkin and spice, and as we all know, pumpkin beers tend to really divide beer drinkers quite a bit. When it comes to pumpkin beers, you either love them or hate them. However, pumpkin beers present themselves in many different styles of beer, so pumkin beers shouldn’t be judged soley because they are made with pumpkin. Have we said pumpkin enough yet? Pumpkin. Pumpkin. PUMPKIN!

Things get a little crazy at the end of the show, which at this point seems to be par for the course. So yeah…deal.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT!

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Episode 21 - Great American Beer Festival Oct 20, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 21 - This week on the show, we’re all up in the 2014 Great American Beer Festival.

The Great American Beer Festival is America’s largest beer festival, and is held once a year in Denver, Colorado. Greg and John were up there for the festivities this year, and needless to say, they were not dissapointed. On the show this week, we’ll be drinking three award-winning beers from three southern California breweries who all won medals this year at GABF for the first time.

GABF 2014 Award-winning SoCal Breweries

We start the show with Saint Archer Brewing Co.‘s White Ale. The beer took home a gold at GABF this year, and it’s easy to see why–this beer is delicious. This light, clean, and dry witbier bursts with that signature witbier yeast aroma, and is backed up by a refreshing burst of citrus flavor. Saint Archer is a relatively new brewery out of San Diego, California, and they came running out of the gate with some truly great beers. Seeing them win at GABF was no surprise.

Next up is Rocco Red from Bootlegger’s Brewery out of Fullerton, California. This beer, along with their Galaxian Barleywine, won bronze at GABF this year. This was also Bottlegger’s first time winning some metal at the fest. Rocco is their Amber ale. It has a quite dominant caramel flavor that hits your palate up front, but is balanced with a nice dryness, so it doesn’t come off too sweet or cloying. It has a pleasant pine characteristic to the aroma, and is an overall excellent beer. Cheers to the Boots team for the win!

The final winner from SoCal that we managed to get our hands on is Bottle Logic Brewing‘s Lagerithm, which is an American-style dark lager. It’s pretty rad to see Bottle Logic win gold with this beer style–it’s not an easy beer to brew. Bottle Logic has been pumping out some awesome beers since they opened in February, from their Double Actuator double IPA, to their Tattered Prince French-style saison, and their Hanamachi Japanese-style rice lager. Big cheers go out to the crew at Bottle Logic!

A big shoutout also goes to Beachwood BBQ & Brewing for bringing home a gold for Mocha Machine (sooo good!), a silver for Un Atout, and winning the award for Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year. Beachwood continues to impress and dominate at GABF, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.

One of the more notable things about the fest for the last couple of years is the My GABFapp (iOS/Android). Every brewery and every beer at GABF this year is in the smartphone app, and the Brewers Association really went above and beyond with the overall design and functionality of the app.

Some more excellent news is that there will be an additional 90,000 square feet of floor space added to the festival next year. This means more breweries, more beer, and more beer fans–a win all the way around.

John’s photos from this year’s GABF 2014 can be found here. Also, the complete list of medal winners and award winners at GABF this year can be found here.

We can’t emphasize enough how rad the GABF experience is, how cool it was to see some old friends, and our gratitude to the Brewers Association for having us GABF this year. It was a blast, and is something every beer drinker should experience. Cheers also go out to all of the winners at the competition this year.

Cheers!

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Episode Twenty - Exponential Nagelness Oct 13, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 20 - This week, we’re diving into some blind tasting, drinking some Nagelbier, and reaching exponential levels of hoppiness.

We’re not messing around this week. We’re coming out swinging with some blind tasting, courtesy of Jason’s girlfriend, and our bud, Sara. Matt accidentally caught a peek of the first beer, and it takes us a seemingly odd amount of time to guess said beer. We’re then a bit blown away by one of the selections and learn that preconceived notions about any particular beer are just that, and beers should be just by the actual product in the bottle, or in this case, the 25.4oz can they are packaged in.

Next up is a long overdue homebrew segment. Greg brought us his Belgian strong-something-or-other that he brewed with local homebrewing legend, Brad Daniels. Brad is a local craft beer and homebrewing enthusiast from Anaheim, California, who’s probably best known for is unique and badass home brewery named Peace Brewing. Without getting into much detail, the dude’s brewery has hot water on demand, a hoist for his kettle, a bar, and a freaking urinal all built into his heavenly facility. We hope to feature his place on a future video episode.

Brad invited Greg over to his place for “brewing and brunch”, as it were, and that’s where this beer got its name, Belgian Brunch. Fermented with Safale T58 yeast, brewed with some non-specific hops, and then finally corked and caged (fancy!), this 12 day old homebrew came off a bit hot, and had all of the indicators that led us to believe that it ultimately needed more time in the bottle. Greg told us that Brad agrees, and that six months of cellar time will probably work wonders on this brew.

Next up is something of a treat from the San Diego region of Southern California, Exponential Hoppiness from Alpine Brewing Co.. This beer is a triple IPA, and of course, is delicious. Alpine puts a spin on the style by adding oak chips to the secondary to round out all of the flavors. If you’ve never tried it, seek it out. It’s worth the trek to Alpine for a day of drinking brews and hanging out on their back patio.

Finally, we end the show with some discussion on smaller breweries and if they feel the pressure to constantly innovate, and if it’s necessary due to their small size and consumer demand of their mainstay beers.

Brew the shit out of it!

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Episode Nineteen - A Pod of Whalez Oct 07, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 19 - This week on the show, we harpooned some whalez from the other side of the continent, Brooklyn Brewery.

Welcome to Four Brewers, the one-day-late edition. As many of you know, the Great American Beer Festival came to a close last Saturday (…it was AWESOME!), which means we were pretty much in recovery mode when we got home, and couldn’t get the show edited and out on time. Better late than never, right? RIGHT.

This week, Matt and his totally awesome rad wife hooked us up with some Brew fromBrooklyn Brewery out of New York. We rarely see Brooklyn Brewery’s beer in this neck of the woods, so it goes without saying that these are quite a treat for us.

Brooklyn Brewery Beers.

We kick off the show with the only beer made with the Sorachi Ace hop that Matt can stomach, Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace. Sorachi Ace hops tend to have a very perfume-like nose to them, and can really dominate the overall experience of a beer, since they live somewhere in the neighborhood of 18% alpha acid. This beer both combats and compliments this hop with Brooklyn Brewery’s own in-house strain of Belgian ale yeast. It’s one of the best Sorachi Ace beers around, and definitely worth seeking out.

Silver Anniversary Lager is next up, which is essentially a doppelbock strength version of their Brooklyn Lager. We tangent for a bit (surprised?) and discuss gluten-free food stuffs, the Beer Wars documentary, and the history of Brooklyn Brewery’s iconic logo.

Last but not least is the Brooklyn Cuvée Noire, a 10.6% ABV bourbon barrel-aged, Belgian style stout made with sweet orange peel. This bottle happens to be blend #4, and it’s pretty fantastic.

As excited as we were to drink these bottles of radness, we got off topic quite a bit, and honestly, didn’t spend a whole lot of time discussing the beers. Hey, it happens.

If you’re missing the homebrew aspect of the show, next week’s episode will feature a brew from Mr. Nagel. Greg’s no slacker, yo.

Brew the shit out of it!

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Episode Eighteen - Oktoberfest! Sep 29, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 18 - This week, we’re going to Germany and celebrating Oktoberfest!

It’s Oktoberfest! This week on the show, we’re drinking four different German brews, three of which are Oktoberfest beers from Paulaner, Weihenstephaner, and Hofbräu, and the last, another beer from Weihenstephaner, their Korbinian doppelbock.

Greg is studying for his Certified Cicerone® exam, and it just so happens that he’s researching Germany and its breweries and beers. Not only did he provide all of the beer for the show this week, he steps up and drops knowledge on the history of Oktoberfest and its beer.

Oktoberfest Beers from Weihenstephaner, Hofbräu, and Paulaner. Also, Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock for good measure.

Oktoberfest began as a festival in 1810 that lasted 16 days, from late September to early October, and celebrated the wedding of Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The beer made for the festival, called Märzen (which means “March”), was traditionally brewed in March, and lagered for four to five months. The 16-day beer-drinking extravaganza was closed with horse races, and then probably a good week or so of recovery.

One really cool thing about these German imports is that they are very high quality brews that are fairly inexpensive. So, get together with your buddies, buy a couple cases of German brews, and learn about the roots and history of beer.

Until next week, brew the shit out of it! Prost!

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Episode Seventeen - Barrelworks and Thumbprints Sep 22, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 17 - This week we’re trying out some of the awesome beers coming out of Firestone Walker Barrelworks, as well as some midwest flavor from New Glarus.

Firestone Walker is regarded as one of the best breweries in America. From their awarding winning IPA, to their barrel-aged blends, Matt Brynildson and crew definitely know how to bring the radness. So, when a brewery of this caliber decides to start producing sour beer, the outcome is obviously going to be nothing short of incredible, right? Yep!

We start off with the Bretta Weisse, their Berliner style wheat beer. This beer clocks in at 4.9% ABV, and a total acidity of 7. We’re unclear on what exactly an acidity of 7 actually is, but this beer definitely has a nice balance of tartness and and malty-wheat goodness.

Firestone Walker Barrelworks Beers

Next on deck from Bottleworks is the Feral One. From Firestone Walker:

“We humbly offer you our inaugural Barrelworks bottling on the occasion of our first anniversary—Feral One. A blend of our best efforts, from hand-selected barrels chosen by the Masterblender and Barrelmeister. Feral One is a blend of Sour Opal (American Sour Ale – 30%), SLOambic (Fruited Sour – 14%), Agrestic (American Wild Red Ale – 16%), and Lil’ Mikkel (Bretted Saison – 40%). Savor now, or age longer for a special occasion. A Santé!”

Needless to say, this beer is quite delicious.

Getting away from the Firestone brews and wrapping up the sour beer part of the show, our friend John Ryti, hooked us up with a New Glarus brew from their Thumbprint series named, Wild Sour Ale. We may have held on to this beer a little longer than we should have, which is kind of a bummer, but high-fives still go out to Ryti for the hookup.

New Glarus Brewing Co. – Wild Sour Ale

Feature: “Going In Blind.”

Yvonne joins us for another edition of what is probably our favorite game on the show, Going In Blind. The beers this week were purchased by Matt’s wife, Alicia, and she went out of her way to throw us a curve ball with her selections.

Until next week, brew the shit out of it!

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Episode Sixteen - None More Black Sep 15, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 16 - This week, we go to the dark side and are baptized in the blackest of beers.

Roasted in fire, veiled in wax where it stoodBorn in the darkness of dark malts and woodDevoured by organisms, freed spirits drew nearCoating the tongue with the darkest of beers

This week, we travel to the deepest parts of our cellar to sacrifice the darkest of beers upon the alter of the internet, to the Beast, called by his disciples, “Palate.”

The ritual begins with a roasted porter implanted with the darkest of coffee beans. Bred for darkness at Smog City Brewing Co., Groundwork Coffee Porter is reminiscent to that of coffee beans drenched in the eternal darkness and evil of chocolate.

Smog City Brewing Co. – Groundwork Coffee Porter

Born in twilight of a darkening sky in the year 2012, the next victim is an elusive beer that manifests only in the coldest of winters in the northernmost part of the land, from a place known as Hill-Farmstead.

Hill Farmstead – Twilight of the Idols

Twilight of the Idols taps into the deepest of wells for its lifeblood, and is then showered in the wrath of vanilla and coffee. Delivered to us by our brethren in beer, Beer Geek Radio, we toast their generosity and chant their name in the darkest cave in the city of Moreno Valley, California, known to disciples as the den of the Beast.

The final slaying is the from the depths of hell itself, Oregon. These final brews, which were laid to rest in barrels of bourbon, one with nibs of Theo, and the other with lurid coffee beans, are bound by time and pure darkness. Known as Black Butte XX and Black Butte XXVI, from the brewery of Deschutes, they are more than six years departed from one another, and yet their bond runs deep. Melting the wax from their fragile, dark, crowns frees them from their grim isolation, only to then be ravaged by the Beast itself. A worthy sacrifice indeed, but the Beast will never find true satisfaction.

Deschutes Brewery Anniversary Beers A black beer brood with the Beast this nightReigning in malt, damned by his sightLick clean the corpses of these casualties, its preyNow warm and rotting; the fetor of decay

May the Beast forever reign.

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Episode Fifteen - Straight Outta Massachusetts Sep 08, 2014

Show notes

Season 1, Episode 15 - This week, We ‘mule’ some beer from Massachusetts and up our game with live Google Hangout + IRC Chatroom!

This week on the show, Greg brings in two beers brought by houseguests @2BeerGuys and@aljpeace from coastal Massachusetts. They were in town for Disneyland and the 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference and left some fun session beers from Notch Brewing Co in the fridge– Hootenanny Berliner Weisse and Cerne Pivo. Jason hand-muled his beers. Mystic Brewing’s Day of Doom, and Spencer Brewery’s Trappist Ale.

Notch Brewing Beers

With Notch’s Hootenanny, we discuss common off flavors in some Berliner Weiss’ like butyric acid, present from oxygen getting in a sour mash. Notch’s is clean and lacto-tart! We also discuss clarity in the style.

We loosen the belt one notch for Notch Brewing’s Černé Pivo, and are shocked at something that is commonly present in most dark lagers, but not this beer. Is it weird? Good? Bad? Listen and find out!

Spencer Trappist Ale is up next…you know, America’s first and only Trappist brewery? Opinions of this newest Trappist brewery have varied widely among beer geeks…but their beer? It caused a chant. Is it Monkenweizer? Freedom Trappists!

Mystic Brewing and Spencer Trappist

Does Jason have right-place-right-time antics? It sure does appear that way, because he scored an exclusive bottle of a pretty awesome brew. Redstone Liquors delivered a bouncing baby Masterson Rye Whiskey Bourbon Barrel aged Day of Doom quad from Mystic that’s very “mystic.” Regardless, it’s a fricken bourbon barrel quad, and the flavors parfait very nicely.

Overall, our trip to Massachusetts was a complete success.

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