Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A Couple of "Revolutionary" Brews

I’m back!

I’ve been a bit underproductive as far as the blog goes because I’ve been in the midst of an event planning whirlwind. Do you remember the photo of the bale of straw and the Green Wolf Brewing Company bottle I posted a few weeks back? Well that was just a tease.


I’m proud to announce the 1780 Beer Challenge and Revolutionary War Festival on Saturday, May 16th 2015 at Green Wolf Brewing Company, in Middleburg, NY! (Click here for a map)

The Albany Ale Project, Green Wolf Brewing Co., of Middleburugh, New York, and MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Co., of Bath, Ontario, have issued each other a challenge. A beer-infused re-enactment of the 1780 stand off in Middleburgh between New York’s Canada-exiled Loyalists and the Albany County Militia, to benefit the Middleburgh Library. This time we’re doing it with hops, grain, and yeast, instead of muskets and cannons!

I’m working with Green Wolf, while Alan is working with MacKinnon Brothers to create two Revolutionary War-era inspired beers. The beers will be blind judged against each other by WNYT NewsChannel 13’s morning anchor Phil Bayly, food and drinks writer Deanna Fox, and Middleburgh Library Director Teresa Pavoldi. The winner receives bragging rights and the official “1780 Beer Challenge Champion” barrel head. The loser must hoist their opponent’s flag in their respective brewery or taproom. There will also be a “People’s Choice” vote for the best beer.

The day’s activities include a Revolutionary War encampment, colonial brewing and cooking demonstrations, 18th century toys and games for kids, talks on the history of beer and hops in upstate New York and the Schoharie Valley, a Schoharie Valley hops display at the Library, beer samples from Green Wolf and MacKinnon Brothers, and Green Wolf brewery tours. Middleburgers BBQ and Under the Nose gift shop and bakery will be offering barbecue and baked goods for sale, and Al and I will be selling and signing copies of their book Upper Hudson Valley Beer. The day culminates in “The 1780 Beer Challenge”, cask tapping and tasting of the two Rev War brews!

You might ask why Middleburgh? Middleburgh is a tiny little hamlet, about a half hour’s drive south west from Albany. It’s the very definition of small town America, and nestled amongst green mountains and the rolling farmlands of the Schoharie valley. But 235 years ago, it was not such a quiet little spot.

In 1780, as the American Revolution raged, another war—a civil war—was being fought on New York's frontier. Neighbor battled neighbor in an escalating conflict between those loyal to the British Crown and those bent on independence. During the 1770s, many New York Loyalists, including Sir John Johnson and the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, were forced off their land, finding refuge in southern Canada. Set on disrupting the borderlands, Johnson returned to New York in 1780 having raised his Loyalist King’s Royal Regiment of New York while in Canada. With Brant and his Mohawk warriors, Johnson aimed to lay waste to the fertile Mohawk and Schoharie valleys—the “breadbasket” of the Revolution. They embarked on a slash and burn campaign, destroying what had once been their own farms and grain fields, in order to starve the Continental Army.

What Johnson wasn’t expecting was the dogged determination of a rag-tag group of Albany militia and volunteers protecting local families and defending the middle fort—“Fort Defyance”—at Middleburgh, led by Colonel Peter Vrooman, and the sharpshooting hero of the Battle of Saratoga, Timothy Murphy. Low on ammunition, outnumbered three to one and under cannon-fire, the Continental commander, Major Melancthon Woolsey, ordered the surrender of the fort. Murphy, against orders fired over the heads of the approaching Loyalist truce party three times, refusing to relinquish the fort and rallying the defenders behind him. The patriot’s refusal to yield their position cost the Loyalists precious time on their advance north. Although Johnson’s successful campaign devastated the Schoharie farmlands, the delay at the middle fort would help the American forces marching from Albany to halt Johnson’s attacks in the Mohawk Valley.

Today, Justin Behan of Green Wolf Brewing Co. is producing some really great brews just about a mile from where Johnson’s raiders marched on the fort, and the MacKinnon Brothers, up in Ontario, are brewing on their family farm, settled by their Loyalist ancestors in 1784.

The story kinda’ writes itself. But what about the beer, you ask?

Although the Loyalists and Patriots of 1780 disagreed on their allegiances, beer was a commonality. Whether in Canada or Central New York, the beer these two groups made during the American Revolution was similar. Both were strong—7% to 10% ABV; both used Cluster hops and locally grown grain—most often wheat, or other grain, rather than barley; and both used similar brewing techniques—like using chopped straw as a filter, to prevent the grain from becoming a gluey mess during the mash (Now that bale of straw in the photo makes sense, huh?) It’s this kind of strong, locally sourced wheat ale that Green Wolf and MacKinnon Brothers will do battle with.

Admission for the 1780 Beer Challenge and Revolutionary War Festival is $15 (for adults 21 years of age and older) and includes beer sampling tickets and a Green Wolf sampler glass, or $35 for sampling tickets, a Green Wolf sampler glass, and a signed copy of Hudson Valley Beer. Admission for non-drinkers, or those 20 years of age or younger is $10. Children and teenagers under 15 are FREE! All ages are welcome but you must be 21 to drink.

So pick your side—Loyalist or Patriot—and head out to Middleburgh for a little beer and history!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Your Beer Isn't As Innovative As You Think It Is

I was informed last week that, apparently, some beer styles are dated. These styles being, Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Red Ale, Brown Ale, etc... Now, I’m assuming they're dated in regards to more currently popular trends such as triple IPAs and sours, and innovative techniques like barrel aging.

Hmm.

I think we need to define our parameters a bit. According to Merriam Webster, to trend is an intransitive verb meaning to “extend in a general direction or to follow a general course”; and innovative is an adjective meaning “introducing or using new ideas, devices or methods.” I think beer folk have a tendency to to think the those two terms are part in parcel concordant to one another. They are not, and trends are not necessarily a result of innovation.

Yes, beer trends, its always has. Beer evolves over time. Beer changes because the public’s taste changes. Styles wane and return. Its strength rises and falls and its ingredients change. But Porter is no more dated than say Gose. Sure, Gose is currently popular now, but trends ebb and flow, and the popularity of a style at any one particular time doesn’t accurately reflect that style’s arc. In fact the arc of Porter brewing in the United States far exceeds that of the arc of Gose brewing at this point, so implying that Gose—or any number of other styles which have recently begun to appear on the American scene—is some how superior to Porter because of its current popularity is a bit like saying Meghan Trainor is better than Led Zeppelin because “All About That Bass” was the breakout hit of 2014 and Zeppelin hasn’t released an album since 1982’s Coda. One beer stye is not better or more important or more relevant than another. It's the long game that matters.

Now then, onto innovation. As far as I can tell the most innovative things to happen to beer in recent history fall in this order (and I’m sure I’ll miss a few, but you’ll get my point): The invention of the modern mercury thermometer and the Fahrenheit scale (1724) and saccharometer (1770); Watt’s steam engine (1781), the advent of microbiology and pasteurization (1875); commercial refrigeration (1876), the perfection of bottling technology (1897); wide spread electricity and the assembly line (1914), and the perfection of canning (1934); and the development of the programmable logic controller (1968). Those are beery innovations. Those events “introduced and used new ideas, devices or methods”. 

This might be a good time to debunk a few "innovative" misconceptions. 

Double, Triple or Imperial: Strong, bitter beers are not innovative. Strong, bitter beer has been around for centuries. During the 19th century British brewers put as much as 10 pounds of hops into each (36 imperial gallon) barrel of their strong stock ale. Imperial as a term to denote “the strongest” has been around for almost 200 years, and not just in reference to stout. 

Sour beer: Sour beer is not innovative. Cantillon has been brewing intentionally sour beer since 1900, and 3 Fonteinen has been blending Gueze for 128ish years. I dig Jolly Pumpkin as much as the next guy, but again innovative isn’t the right word to describe them. "A great brewery" works just fine.

Barrel-aging: Barrel aging is not innovative. For as long as wood staves have been held together by metal loops, beer has been placed in that wood to age. What about barrel aging in a spirits barrel? Okay, that was a bit innovative for Goose Island’s Greg Hall to fill six Jim Beam casks with Stout at the Great American Beer Fest—back in 1992. Twenty-three years ago.

Yeah, that’s right the hottest trend in brewing today—spirit barrel aging of beer—has been happening for nearly a quarter century.

Low ABV beer: Low ABV beer (just like high ABV beers) are not innovative. Low ABV beers did not come about because of the drinking “session”. Aside from small and table beers—brewed most often for children and invalids—most low ABV beer was produced as a nutritional supplement for laborers working extended hours in fields or in factories. The modern “session” beer is not the result of innovation either. It’s a result of British beer gravities dropping after both WWI and WWII, in which beer making ingredients either ended up on the bottom of the Atlantic, or were rationed for the war effort. These low ABV, often cask beers caught on, and eventually became to be seen as "traditional".  By the 1970s and 80s, they were being championed by CAMRA and the term “session” was born in the late 1980s and 1990s, says Martyn. By the way, “session" strength IPA isn’t innovative either. According to Ron, Barclay Perkins IPAs of the 1940s hovered at about 3.5% ABV. 

Ingredients: Ingredients do not make for innovation. Non-traditional brewing ingredients like herbs, spices, spruce, honey, old beer, capsicum, and licorice root have been used in brewing for eons. Vanilla, coffee, and fruit are just continuations of a previous practice. Also, new hop varieties—like Nelson Savin—are not innovative. That would be like saying a Labradoodle is more innovative than a Rottweiler. 

Newness. A new beer is not automatically innovative. A new to you beer is not innovative. A beer or brewer that you are being told is innovative most likely is not innovative.

So, to review. The jet-engine was an innovation. The Beatles were innovative. Barrel-aged sour beers are just trendy beer.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Sneak Peek

All I'm saying is, it's gonna be Revolutionary. More to come in a few weeks...