Better Dead than Red?

Ok, I’ll admit it, I don’t like red ales. No matter how hard I’ve tried I find all red ales cloyingly sweet and far too malty. Even those that claim to be hop forward come off too sweet and often syrupy. And before you accuse me of being a biased hop head, you should know that I take pleasure in traditional milds, ESBs, browns and other malt forward ales. There's just something wrong with reds. It’s not just one style of red either, every red ale I’ve tried, from American reds to Irish, from hoppy red IPAs to Imperial reds, the style just doesn’t agree with me me. Hell, I’ve even experimented with making my own red ale and ended up hating that too.

Imaginary label from an imaginary brewery

I’ve home brewed since the early  90s and like most home brewers I have dreams of going pro some day (if anyone’s interested in financing that dream I’d be glad to take your money). My brewing partner and I have gone as far as creating a concept, label art, posters and signage for our dream brewery and in this imaginary landscape one of our flagship beers is called “The People’s Red Ale.” Brewed with Maris Otter, crystal 60L, a bit of roasted barley, hopped with Fuggles, and fermented out with an Irish ale yeast (WLP004) this beer was popular. Friends, family and even complete strangers raved about it, but me, I hated it. So we tinkered with the recipe, making the beer more hop forward, changing hops, switching base malts, raising and lower the amount of roasted barley, changing to a more neutral yeast strain and while everyone else enjoyed our efforts I just couldn’t find it in me to like this beer. Not one to give up I decided I’d go on a personal quest to find the perfect, no wait, who am I kidding? I’ve just been looking for an enjoyable red ale.

It’s been nearly eight years since we brewed that first batch of the People’s Red, and I’ve tasted many, many, some might say way too many, red ales since then and I have yet to find a red I like. I will admit there have been some that came close to changing my mind, Bear Republic’s “Red Rocket,” Hopworks Urban Brewery’s “Abominable Ale,” Alesmith’s “My Bloody Valentine,” and a Smithwicks in a tiny pub in Southern Ireland didn’t get spit out, but I didn’t go in for seconds either. Well, that’s not totally true I drank my fair share of Smithwicks on that trip to Ireland, but that was about context not taste. I’ve tasted, dumped, and spit my way through many a modern red and I just can’t find one that suits my palate. Maybe it was the George Killian’s that we binge drank in high school that turned me against this style. Maybe I’ve just become prejudiced to the style and anything labeled red triggers some innate reverse Pavlovian response.  Or maybe, as much as it pains me to write this, I just don’t like that particular style of beer. How can that be? I’m a beer guy (note not a snob) and I rarely turn my nose up at a beer, but try as I might I have found no love for the red. And while I haven’t given up on my quest, I may just be tilting at windmills.

Do you have a red I might like?  Do any of you have a particular style you dislike? Let me know in the comments. For those of you who might be interested here are two of my People's Red home brew recipes "The People's Red Ale" and "The People's Red (for real people)." Feel free to critique.

Firkfest 2014 (The Day in Pictures)

Greg Nagel from the OCBeerBlog should be commended for organizing such a wonderful event. This was a fantastically well organized festival in a great area. The beer selection was unique and interesting, the food delicious and the crowds kept to a manageable level. Firkfest is easily one of the best craft beer events so far this year. I hope that Greg continues the tradition and I look forward to Firkfest 2015. 

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For a first time fest the line flowed well and everyone seemed happy.

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Decisions, decisions

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The volunteers were friendly and energetic. The lines never seemed long and the beer was delicious. 

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Pouring a cask IPA

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Pizza Port Noserider  was delicious. 

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Noble's beer engine. They were pulling a fantastic English Pub Bitter. CAMRA would be proud. 

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The venue was awesome. Plenty of room to find a relaxing area to enjoy your beer. 

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Everyone seemed to be having a good time. 

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Bottle Logic cracking a fresh firken of Leche Mole, a milk stout with mole spices.

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Pounding in the tap can get a bit messy.

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Festival organizer Greg Nagel gets first pull. The perks of running your own beer festival.

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While the rest of wait...

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Good crowd, but never felt crowded. 

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Bottle Logic swag.

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Bungs and Belching Beavers

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Casks as far as the eye can see. 

OC Brew Ha(ppy) Ha(ppy) Happy

photo Amy Bentley Smith

The day broke hot, over 90 degrees, but my anticipation was still high. The Orange County Brew Ha Ha is, after all, one of my favorite events of the year. Arriving at the gates at the appointed VIP time, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-organized, highly efficient volunteer staff processing tickets, wristbands, and handing out tasting glasses.  We were through the line, long as it was, within minutes. The volunteers were even nice enough to allow one of my drinking partners to use an unused ticket we couldn’t find a taker for, loading his wrist up with thirty tasting tickets. Those tickets, along with mine, and those of one other, meant we were in for a long, hot enjoyable day of beer tasting.

The organizers seemed to have learned a few valuable lessons from the last three years. The first positive change and one that probably pissed off more than a few attendees, was the switch from full pint glasses to four ounce tasting glasses. The pint glasses of the past could be awesome especially if one found a favorite beer and a generous volunteer pouring near full pints. But that same generosity left many attendees piss drunk, near passing out and obnoxious. This year’s event featured a lot fewer walking dead (admittedly taking away from some of the fun of people watching) and a much more convivial atmosphere. The event was also much more spread out this year, using more of the park around Lake Irvine and offering guest more shade trees and space to relax. As result, lines seemed shorter and the festival felt a lot less crowded.

There also seemed to be more and tastier food options this year than last, ranging from awesome tacos and pork belly crostinis to sausages, mac and cheese, BBQ, burgers, pizza and cupcakes. My favorite of the day was Taco Asylum's Ghost Chili pulled pork taco's with house made cayenne and red savina hot sauces. I'm still feeling a bit of the burn from those delicious bites. The tacos were a welcome break from the beer, cleansing the palate, and giving us the strength to forge on. 

There were however a few drawbacks. The first and it’s a complaint I’ve had since the inaugural event, is the lack of informed volunteers pouring beer. Don’t get me wrong, the hardworking volunteers (mostly firefighters and those in the first responder community) pouring beer were some of the friendliest people I’ve met at beer festivals, but many knew nothing about the beer they were pouring. This is problematic for several reasons. For me, beer festivals should be about discovery, an opportunity for breweries to introduce the uninitiated to the pleasures of craft beer or offer craft beer enthusiasts something new, interesting or hard to find. In other words, an event that shows off the creativity and imagination of the craft beer industry. Those pouring the beer should at the very least be able to talk about the beer in an informed way (unlike the volunteer whose straight-faced response to my ‘What are you pouring?’ question was ‘beer’ and then offered nothing more).

Stone's Greg Koch plays guitar with Reel Big Fish

In fact, the breweries on the top of my list at this year’s festival, Monkish, Refuge, Golden Road, and Valiant  all had representatives from the company there to explain their beers, making the experience all the more enjoyable. The breweries who had representatives (and to be fair there were others not mentioned in the list above) were also the ones pouring some of the most interesting beers at the festivals, one’s that benefited from explanation. Booths without a marketing rep, brewer/owner, or someone who could talk about the beer ran the risk of creating the wrong kind of environment, one where the beer doesn’t seem to matter and simply becomes a vehicle to drunkenness. Perhaps, this is a beer geek’s lament, but treating beer this way further inflames the neo-prohibitionist arguments that consistently threaten the industry and will make it all the more difficult for the craft beer industry to break down stereotypes and prejudices that put up barriers to expansion or lead to stupid laws and red tape in many municipalities that prevent neighborhood breweries from opening (see recent article in the Daily News “Craft Brewers Find it Best to do Business Outside of LA”).

In many ways I think that not having an informed representative at each of the booths is also responsible for the boring, or maybe I should say, uncreative choices of beers at this year’s festival. Nearly every breweries’ booth we visited offered only straightforward beer lineups ambers, pale ales, IPAs and stouts dominated. I’m a fan of these beers, but like I said earlier, I attend festivals to discover new and creative beer. Most of the beer on tap this year I can find in any well-stocked bottle shop or pub in Southern California. I understand why breweries chose the beers they did; these beers are easy to explain to volunteers and most drinkers are familiar with them so they don’t need a whole lot of explanation if a volunteer doesn’t quite get it, but that lack of creative choices marred what was overall a fantastic festival experience.

photo: Amy Bentley-Smith

Despite these complaints my companions and I tasted a lot of really good beer, ate some very good food, talked to a lot of wonderful people, and laughed at one or two slightly confused drunks.  Looking at my notes from the event we tasted through about 50 beers, responsibly sipping and dumping (sacrilege, I know) some and drinking a bit too much of others.  While IPA dominated the offerings there were quite of few hidden gems in that sea of hoppy beer.  My absolute favorites came from my favorite brewery of the moment Monkish Brewing Co. Henry and his wife Adriana the brewer/owners were manning their booth offering up their Floraison, a dry, spicy, floral saison with hibiscus and chamomile flower. This beer was perfect for an overly hot summer day. A close second to Foraison was Henry’s Seme Della Vita, a Belgian triple with vanilla bean and pistachios. This beer is a well-balanced triple with a vanilla/nut aroma and a subtle nutty, vanilla flavor on the palate. While both beers seem strange, I’m not alone in my praise the crowd around Monkish’s booth and the positive comments I overheard are testament to the creativity and deliciousness of these two beers.

Other surprises include:

Refuge Brewing Company’s Blood Orange Wit, a wonderfully tart and dry wit with a subtle orange flavor balanced by a nice hop bitterness. Diane, the brewery’s events director, was happy to explain their beers and even offered us seconds without taking one of our drink tickets.

Golden Road’s Cabrillo Kolsch, a clean and smooth beer (almost lager like)  with just a touch of noble hop bitterness that makes this a perfectly refreshing summer beer. Laurel, the brewery’s pub manager, was on hand talking about the beers, their cans, artwork and the future plans of the brewery, making the visit to their booth the highlight of the festival.

The Brewery at Abigaile’s Sir Charles Mild. A nice traditional English mild that isn’t short on flavor. English specialty malts dominate this lightly hopped deliciously light (3% abv) beer.

Belching Beaver’s (one of San Diego’s newer breweries) Beaver’s Milk Stout. Despite their comical name, this newer brewery is producing some super clean beer. Beaver’s Milk is a great example of what they are doing. A true-to-style milk stout, with coffee and roasted malt on the front end, diminishing to malty sweetness at the back. Smooth.

And before you hop heads call for mine, we did taste some fantastically good IPAs and DIPAs. My favorites were:

Valiant Brewing Company’s Jericho a full-bodied Imperial IPA that weighs in at nearly 11% abv. This is a well-balanced big beer with both a wonderful hoppy aroma and bitter finish. It’s a dangerously strong beer, so well-balanced you don’t notice the high abv. I also really enjoyed their Octave and Criterion.

Black Market Brewing’s Rye IPA. This has been one of my favorite beers at the OC Brew Ha Ha for the last couple years running. Another well-balanced hoppy, malty IPA with a distinctly spicy rye flavor. Rye makes up 20% of the grain bill and as Aaron told me once it’s “a pain in the ass to brew, but worth it.”

Ninkasi’s Total Domination IPA really fantastic full-flavored Pacific Northwest style IPA. Rich and malty balanced with 65 IBUs coming from Summit, Amarillo, and Crystal hops. Delicious and bit more subtle than most IPAs.

Finally, Pizza Port’s Early Rhizer, a fresh-hopped American Pale Ale. There is something about fresh-hopped beer that I really like. Being fresh, the sharpness of the hops is mellowed allowing a bit more of the malt to shine through, but retaining the hoppy characteristics pale ale lovers enjoy.

All in all it was a wonderful day, and everyone involved should be commended for their hard work and dedication to craft beer. 

A crowd formed at Bootlegger's booth when the tapped a keg of Knuckle Sandwich a Triple IPA

Session Beer Month

Today, twitter is all a flutter with posts commenting on Session Beer Month promoted by @sessionbeermay and using #sessionbeer to encourage craft beer drinkers to indulge in smaller beers instead of the heavy alcohol bombs that seem to be dominating the industry these days. 

I applaud any effort to encourage an appreciation for small beers. While I enjoy big beers, especially big Belgian Triples, Imperial IPAs and Imperial Stouts, these beers are hard to enjoy in anything but moderation. Spending an evening out while drinking these beers means drinking maybe three pints before one has hit their limit. If I'm out enjoying the company of friends and family at my local, I want small beers that I can enjoy without worry that I'll have difficulty walking away from my table.  I'm not calling for boring yellow fizzy beer. I think there is a market for beers like traditional milds and bitters, small Scottish 60/ or 70/, small saisons and farmhouse ales, and browns, porters and traditional dry stouts to name a few.  American Craft Brewers have mastered the art of big beer and what they produce is nearly always fantastic. But, bigger doesn't always mean better. Small beers should be attractive to brewers, challenging them to create tasty and complex beers without relying on the crutch of huge malt bills and pounds of hops that often cover flaws in a beer's production. They should also be a welcome distraction to craft beer drinkers. Sitting down to a bar -- or attending festival -- where small beers are being served, the consumer can still get all the flavors found in the bigger beers, but with the added benefit of drinking a wider variety. Additionally small beers don't produce the problem of palate fatigue that one can experience when drinking through double IPAs, Imperial IPAs and other "extreme beers." It's time that we in the craft beer community move away from the "bigger is better," attitude that has dominated the industry and quench the creative drive and the consumers thirst with smaller but interesting beer.