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Don’t Sour on Sours Yet

by Malia Paasch

This week I’m hosting my fifth annual 43 Hours of Sours at The Birch, a craft beer bar in Norfolk’s Chelsea neighborhood. And while sours continue to grow in popularity, I still field a fair amount of questions about them.

So here is a little tutorial. The term “sour” applies to beers that taste acidic, vinegary, funky, or tart. There are a variety of techniques to make one, but the foundation is based on the yeast or bacteria used. Bacteria metabolize sugar in the wort and produce lactic acid. Brewers will use a combination of bacteria to obtain the desired acidity, and in most cases end up blending different batches together. The second aspect to making a sour involves the manner in which bacteria are added to the beer, and how it is aged. Historically, German brewers would throw malt to get a lacto sour going because the husks are loaded with lactobacicullus. The kettle sour method and barrel aging are other methods of the process. Sours can take on the flavors from the liquids that were previously in the barrels. Plus the barrels also hold microflora and microorganisms, which will also affect taste. Making sours is not easy and in some cases takes years. But they can be worth every second of the wait. I’m convinced there is a sour for everyone, but the search may take time. First, identify you flavor profile. If you are more of a wine drinker, there is a good chance you will prefer wine barrel-aged sours. But if you like Sweet Tarts or Sour Patch Kids, you might want to steer toward a Berliner Weiss or a dry-hopped sour IPA. Here are some classic sour styles and their tasting notes for you to use as a guide: •Flemish Reds: smooth, slightly sweet, sometimes fruity • Goses: salty, tart, light • Gueuze: bitter greens, vinaigrette • Berliner Weiss: refreshing, lemony, crisp • Wild Ales: dry, funky, can be fruity or tart • Basque Ciders: tart, vinegary, olive At our 43 Hours of Sour festival, we create tasting notes for every beer on draft and customers can opt to get a 4.5 oz taster pour instead of committing to a whole glass. Some other great places to find sours in the area are Esoteric, The Lynnhaven Pub, Dog Street Pub, and The Bier Garden, or Total Wine, Grape and Gourmet, Bottlebox, and Exception(Ale) for take home.

#sour beer #the birch bar #hrgrowler #tasting #craft beer #43 hours of sour

The ABC’s of Ordering Beer

By Malia Paasch for HR Growler Photo by Chrystal Culbert Asking for a beer seems a simple enough process, but what happens if you just don’t know what you like? This happens more often than you might think. Craft beer’s growing popularity has led to more people trying it; not all of them are even remotely aware of what they want. The key is understanding flavors and being aware of the ones you like. I’ve heard some crazy descriptions: types of candy, exotic seasonings, nail polish remover, vinegar, and even dirt. But don’t be shy. Anything can help give the bartender a starting point to your palate. Here are a few of the most common scenarios my staff and I encounter when we’re trying to find someone their perfect beer. Scenario 1: You tell the bartender you like (or dislike) hoppy beers. Most beers have hops, but that doesn’t mean all beers taste like an India Pale Ale. There are 124 named hop varieties and each has its own special flavor. There are hop varieties that aren’t even bitter.

If you like hops, tell the bartender what other IPAs you like. This provides a clue as to what kind of hops you already enjoy. Common hop descriptors in IPA include pine, spruce, grapefruit, and citrus.

Otherwise, explain why you don’t like hoppy beers. Is it because the hops are bitter or is it the aftertaste? It could be that you enjoy fruity hops and not the piney ones.

Scenario 2: You ask the bartender for something light. Do you mean light in color? Light in alcohol, or body? Does that mean tart or are you looking for a wheat beer? A diehard IPA fan might consider a 7 percent IPA to be light, while others are looking for a more traditional interpretation and want a pilsner. Again, the simplest way is to give an example of a beer you like, even if it isn’t a craft beer.

Scenario 3: You don’t really like beer. It’s not often you’ll find yourself in a position where a bar doesn’t have alternatives to beer, but in some cases it does happen. Tell the bartender what alcoholic drinks you like. If you like margaritas, you might like something crisp, slightly tart, and a bit fruity. A red wine drinker might enjoy a mild sour beer. White wine lovers usually like a witbier or Belgian tripel. Of course the best way to learn more about beer is to drink some. But don’t be shy about chatting up a knowledgeable bartender. You never know what you might discover.

#craft beer #how to order #new to beer #hrgrowler #ipas #the birch #bartending #advice

Take Your Taste Buds Down Under

by Malia Paasch for HR Growler

One of the most exciting things about the craft beer revival is that it stretches beyond our country’s borders.

America is not the only place facing choices between mass-produced macro beers and the smaller, usually more tasty, craft selections. When you think of Australian beer, what comes to mind? Fosters? Well, that’s now owned by SABMiller. How about Italy? Peroni is also owned by SABMiller. Heck, even Moratti is owned by Heineken.

So what does one do if they want good beer down under? How about checking out Nomad Brewing Company, a collaboration between Australian craft beer importer ExperienceIt and Birra del Borgo, Italy’s premiere craft brewer. ExperienceIt is owned by Kerrie and Johnny Latta, who moved from Australia to Italy in search of a new adventure. The couple started their importing company, initially focusing on Italian wines.

Soon they fell in love with craft beer and started importing to Australia as well. The company also imports American craft beers into the country, including selections from Deschutes Brewery, Stone Brewing and Sixpoint Brewery. Birra del Borgo was founded by Leonardo Di Vincenzo, a biochemist who became fascinated with home brewing. You may have heard of Birra del Borgo from its collaboration with Dogfish Head Brewing.

Together those two companies made My Antonia, an imperial pilsner recipe created using Dogfish Head’s continual hopping technique. Del Borgo’s beers, imported by ExperienceIt, made their debut at Australia’s Good Beer Week in 2012. Di Vincenzo made the trip to Australia, and return several times after to judge beer festivals, and host beer events. He soon was enticed by the country’s burgeoning craft beer scene.

The Lattas and Di Vincenzo decided to combine their passions for beer and love of travel into a new Australian brewery called Nomad. The name is fitting. The project’s head brewer is Brooks Caretta, another global wanderer. He began his career as an intern at Del Borgo in 2009, and was soon whisked off to New York City as head brewer of Birreria Eataly. He also helped open the Eataly in Rome.

He says the beers the brewery specializes in are made for “people with passion and a desire to seek out new experiences.” For example, Nomad’s Long Trip Saison is brewed with some truly Aussie ingredients; wattle seed and Tasmanian black pepper. The brewery also adds coffee beans to the mash giving it a subtle coffee note. Another beer, Freshie Salt and Pepper, is brewed with real sea water harvested in Sydney. So even if you aren’t planning a trip down under this summer, take your taste buds on an adventure and enjoy a pint of the Aussie life.

#hrgrowler #nomad brewing #australia #craftbeer

God-approved liquid bread

By Malia Paasch for HR Growler

Lent for Christians is a time of repentance, reflection and self-denial. But what if I told you there is a beer you still can enjoy, and that hundreds of years ago it was a means for survival?

I’m talking about doppelbocks.

Bock biers, which predate doppelbocks, are German dark lagers. They’re bottom fermented and have an average ABV of about 6 percent.

The first bock is attributed to the Einbecker Brewery around 1348. The name is said to have originated because of the way Bavarians pronounced the word Einbeck. It sounded more like “Ein bock” which translated literally means a billy goat.

Doppelbocks got their name from their higher alcohol content. In 1627 Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria invited some Paulaner monks to move to his country. The Paulaners, a branch of Benedictine monks from Italy, relocated to Munich and began brewing for the public.

By 1774 they had crafted their own original beer recipe that was named SanctPaterbier, which later became Salvator, the Latin word for Savior. Father Barnabas was the original brewer and is the creator of what we now know as doppelbock.

This beer became the benchmark for the style, and many breweries tried to emulate it, even calling it by the same name. This spurred a lawsuit forcing the other breweries to rebrand, resulting in many of these beers carrying names than end with the suffix -ator. (Notice the following reviewed beer names.) During Lent, the Paulaner monks restricted themselves to a liquid diet and that is how doppelbocks were given the name “liquid bread.” In addition to water, the monks would drink the beer to sustain themselves: The beer contains nutrients including selenium, vitamin B, phosphorus, folate, niacin, protein, fiber and silicon.

It became a custom that the first mug full of doppelbock for the Lent season would go to the Duke of Bavaria. He would be offered a toast, and while the Duke sipped on his strong brew, Father Barnabas would be allowed to speak his mind. This tradition is re-enacted today when the first keg of Salvator is tapped to mark the middle of Lent.

So, there’s no need to give up beer for Lent. Actually, you may need the vitamins. Cheers to liquid bread.

#doppelbocks #lent #craft beer #monks #liquid bread #hrgrowler

What’s a Gypsy Brewer?

by Malia Paasch for HR Growler

Mikkeller, Evil Twin Brewing Company and Stillwater Artisanal Ales: What do these brewers have in common?

They don’t actually own a brewery. These three are among the few who have found a way to make beer without a brick-and-mortar footprint. Known as “gypsy brewers,” they are some of the most innovative producers in the world. Mikkeller of Denmark was the first gypsy I ran across. The brewer’s two founders, Mikkel Borg Bjergso and Kristian Klarup Keller, started in college. They continued their “kitchen experiments” for two years, often sharing their homebrews with friends at their beer club. During a blind taste test against commercially brewed beers, Mikkeller came out on top. The two men decided to try producing on a larger scale at a local microbrewery. Mikkel’s twin brother, Jeppe, had a bottle shop in Copenhagen and started selling the beer. Now the brand exports to 40 countries and has a dozen Mikkeller Bars all over the world. Speaking of those bars: Originally Jeppe and Mikkel had a pact that each would stay in their own worlds, retail and production. But when Mikkel opened his first bar and retail shop down the street from Jeppe’s bottle shop, the brother decided it was his turn to start brewing. He created Evil Twin Brewing Company in 2010. Evil Twin is not quite the size of Mikkeller, but his beers are nearly as well known. He exports to 12 countries and has a bar in Brooklyn named Torst. Brian Strumke, known to the beer world as Stillwater, is one of our own stateside gypsy brewers. A native of Baltimore, Strumke was a DJ and techno producer who started home brewing around the same time of Jeppe and Mikkel. The story goes that Strumke was asked to bring some of his brews to Max’s, a bar in Baltimore. From that, Stillwater Artisanal Ales was born. These three produce their beers in large quantities by contracting recipes to breweries with free fermenter space. Mikkeller mostly uses De Proef in Belgium. Evil Twin moved most of his production stateside to Westbrook Brewing in South Carolina and Two Roads Brewing in Connecticut. Stillwater uses Pub Dog Brewing in Maryland and travels the world crafting collaboration beers. The gypsy brewers are at the forefront of the beer market. Evil Twin moving production stateside has enabled him to sell his beers at a lower price. Stillwater has been collaborating with fledgling breweries in South America. Mikkeller’s latest announcement is that he is opening his first brewery in San Diego with Alesmith, using their brewing facility. Is it every gypsy brewer’s dream to have a brewery? This move may signal a change in the gypsy brewing market; only time will tell.

#stillwater #mikkeller #gypsy brewers #gypsy brew #evil twin #hrgrowler

Cask Days in Toronto!

A few months ago I traveled to Toronto to attend BarVolo's 10th Annual Cask Days! There were almost 350 casks there and three sessions to attend. The styles of beer were varied and there was also a cider section. This year's guest region was California and for many Canadians this would be the first time they were able to try some of these beers we take for granted, like Stone and Green Flash. Here is a complete list of all of the beers available: http://2014.caskdays.com/oncask

The venue is called Evergreen Brickworks. It is open air and very industrial. It is typically used as an event space and also hosts a weekly farmers market.

One of the stand outs, and one of the first beers I tried was The Gose Strikes Back, a blackberry gose from Beavertown in the UK. (B. United is working on bringing them into the country as we speak!)

A style that we had always wanted to investigate was the ‘Gose’. The Gose originated in the early 16th century, from the German town of Goslar. It became popular in Leipzig where the natural water contained a high amount of salt, therefore causing the style to have a slight residual saltiness to taste with a lemon tartness and a herbal characteristic. Originally the Gose was spontaneously fermented but by the 1880s brewers had established how to ferment the beer with top fermenting yeast and the bacteria Lactobacillus. By the second World War the Gose had pretty much disappeared out of production. The only man knowing the original recipe passed it on to his stepson who then died in the 1960s and pretty much taking the Gose with him 6 feet under. The style was resurrected in Germany again in the late 80s and is now brewed by around 3 breweries in Germany. It is now being brewed elsewhere around the world. South Carolina’s Westbrook canned Gose is a particular winner for us at Beavertown. So we knew the style was both salty (from the high salt concentrate in the local water) and tart (from the lactobacillus) with a slight herbal character. So we decided to base the beer on our house sour recipe, giving us a real nice drop in pH. The salt will be added to taste, we decided to use the Himalayan pink salt and we smashed up a load of coriander seeds and added to the boil to install a little herbal character to the wort.

Another of their beers I tried was their Smog Rocket, a smoked porter.

It was definitely interesting to hear which California breweries the Canadians were interested in. My friend Will and I attended the first session and before we even got in the door people were already throwing out recommendations, get the Sierra Nevada Narwhal and the Ballast Point Ghost Chili Victory at Sea. It was pretty chilly out so everyone migrating towards stouts seemed natural.

The next session I went to the people weren't as excited about the California beers. (Mind you, pours from the UK and California were 2 tokens, compared to the other 200 casks of Canadian beer that were only 1 token.) For the second session I purchased a ticket to the tour with BarVolo's owner, Ralph Morana. Who would be a better guide to learn about Canadian beers than the festival's founder? He took us through each Province and picked one beer from each. It was quite a lot of beer in an hour and a half and I definitely utilized the concept of the half pour. We were introduced to several brewers who offered awesome anecdotes to the beers we were tasting. Here are the notes from the tour:

I also had to pay a visit to one of my favorite Canadian breweries, Bellwoods! They have a tiny tasting room with communal seating and a huge patio. They have recently acquired a new space not too far from the original brewery to increase their capacity. One of the brewers I met at Cask Days was saying they brew around the clock and still can't can't up!

Thanks to Will for hosting me, and to all of the very friendly Canadians that I met that made me feel very welcomed!

#cask days #toronoto #beer festival #the birch bar

De Dolle Brouwers Esen, Belgium

De Dolle is seriously a magical place. You pull up to gate and you are greeted by the Oerbier man, how much better can life get?

The little person on the glasses is the Oerbier man, a simple creature who holds a brewers fork in his right hand, symbolizing the work and science, but looking to the other side, the result of all this, the glass of (Oer)beer.

When you arrive you walk back through a bricked courtyard into a large spacious warehouse, where you will see paintings, Oerbier men, and De Dolle Label art adorning every wall. The space is as colorful as Kris' work, the owner/brewer of De Dolle.

We walk through and find the bar/tasting room. There are quite a few people milling about, and it was a beautiful day to enjoy their patio. Kris was conducting a tour, and we were told he would be with us shortly. You know who Kris is as soon as you see him. He's wearing what looks like an old beer sweater, with big block letter stitching. He walks around casually but you know he's the man.

While we wait we consume the iconic beer we all know and love and their Extra Special Export Stout.

And on to the tour, Kris was actually in the process of brewing Oerbier so every now and then during the tour he would scamper up the stairs to attend to something. The De Dolle brewery was built in a very interesting way. The building was basically built around the fact that it was going to be a brewery and everything in the brew process would be fed downward. On the top floor would be the brew kettle and mash tun, and on down the fermentation room, and so on.

Does that fork look familiar?

Check out the Oerbier phone!!

Two fun stories about the tour. First is that while he was showing us around we walked into the fermentation room, instead of seeing huge stainless steel vats that I was used to, these are literally just rectangular well-type containers built into the room!

I'm a bit baffled by this set up and ask curiously if this is the fermentation? And he laughs and tries to explain it to me like I'm a novice, which is what happens a lot when you are a lady traveling in the beer world. Then I remarked about how frothy the krausen was and that is when I saw his eyes light up. One word proved that I was no ordinary lady, I was a beer lady.

The second isn't so much a story but an experience. We got to watch Kris add the sugar to the Oerbier boil. He let us sample the Belgian candy sugar and it was absolutely divine. Sweet but not too sweet, and was hard like rock candy.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the tour and Kris had to get back to work. As we were leaving he gave me three kisses on the cheek, the only brewer in Belgium to do so. That is one of the few things that is fun about being a chick in the beer world, the satisfaction of proving you know what you are talking about, or just that you simply know what krausen is!

#de dolle

43 Hours of B. United International July 22-26 2014

Draft list and Schedule to come!! A whole week dedicated to B. United International. The importer that brings in some of our favorite breweries such as Schneider, Kiuchi Hitachino, BFM, Baladin, Del Borgo, Alvinne, and so many more! Prospective Draft List: BFM Bon Chien Kiuchi Hitachino Nest White De Dolle Oerbier Vapeur Cochonne Stift Engelszell Benno Grado Plato Strada San Felice Makana iQhilika Chili Mead Schneider Edel Weiss Alvinne Podge Italiano Vudu Del Ducato Baciami Lipsia Del Borgo Caos Uergie Sticke Thornbridge Bracia (1 year old) Loverbeer Beerbera Bayerischer Bahnhof Gewürzgose 'T Smije Kerst + Zymatore Offerings!!

#43hoursofbunited

43 Hours of USA 2014

The Birch celebrates American Craft Beer Week with 43 Hours of USA! And it is only a month away! I've been stock piling special kegs for this one so be on the look out for the draft list soon! Tuesday: GGG Early Admission 4:30 Wednesday: GGG Early Admission 4:30 Mason Jar Steal the Glass Night! Thursday: Allagash Bottle Beer Flight ft. Tiarna, Midnight Brett, James Beam, Merveilleux Friday: Perennial Mini Tap Takeover with special guests, owners Phil and Emily! Panavoir will be out serving up hot dogs! Saturday: Draft Flight TBA Growler Special

RSVP Here on Facebook

#43hoursofusa thebirchbar #43 Hours of USA

2nd Annual 43 Hours of Bitter

#43 Hours of Bitter

2|12|14 Foothill's Sexual Chocolate Release!

Foothills Brewing

Sexual Chocolate Release on Tap!

A cocoa infused Imperial Stout – Opaque black in color with a dark brown head. Big chocolate aroma with notes of espresso, blackstrap molasses, dark sweet toffee and dark fruit. Smooth dark chocolate backbone with complex notes of coffee, dark toffee and dark fruit.

SRM: 70

IBU: 85

ABV: 9.75%

Also Featuring on Tap:

Jade IPA

Jade. Exotic jewel of the orient. Now a gem of an IPA. Bold, citrusy Pacific Jade hops lend striking tropical fruit notes and a hint of peppery finish to this easy-drinking IPA. Dry hop additions of Cascade and Citra add heady aroma and bold flavor. A special beer to charm the hop lover in you. Go ahead. Get Jaded.

SRM: 4.6

IBU: 86

ABV: 7.4%

Bourbon Barrel Aged People's Porter

The first in our barrel aged series. Aged on wet bourbon barrels strait from Kentucky. People’s Porter

An English-style robust porter. Dark Brown in color with a ruby hue. Chocolate and sweet toffee aroma. Firm unsweetened chocolate flavor with moderate notes of caramel and toffee. People’s Porter carries herbal hop flavor up front with a slight note of espresso in the finish.

Also available aged in bourbon barrels.

SRM: 30.1

IBU: 43 ABV: 5.8%

#Beer Education Wednesday #Beer Education #foothills #sexual chocolate #thebirchbar #the birch

Valentine's Day Pairing Menu!