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| August 2001 | Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen | Volume 9 Number 8 |
The next meeting will be held back at Sisko's in Taylor on Tuesday August 28, 2001. Sisko's is located on Monroe (between Telegraph and Southfield), just south of Vanborn. Their address is 5855 Monroe and their phone number is 313-278-5340. Sisko's also has a website at http://www.siskos.com/. The competition for this August is California Common, BJCP category 6c. As usual, the thirsty hard-core who want dinner will start arriving around 5PM, people will drift in for an hour or so, and we will start our meeting around 6PM.
BTW, Sisko's new home on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn should open up in September. Check the mailing list for the location of September's meeting. Of course the newsletter will also carry any change in meeting location.
The winners from the Lawnmower Beer Competition are:
| Place | Name | Style | Points |
| 1 | Bob and Kim Barrett | Cream Ale | 39/50 |
| 2 | Rich Hampo | Richweiser ? | 35.25/50 |
| 3 | Bob Zukosky | American Pilsner | 32/50 |
This August's competition will be California Common, BJCP category 6c. The style guide from the BJCP follows.
6C. California Common Beer
Aroma: May have a pronounced woody or rustic hop aroma (as from Northern Brewer, for example). Restrained fruitiness. May have a moderate toasted malt aroma. Diacetyl low to none.
Appearance: Dark gold to copper to medium amber.
Flavor: Malty, balanced with a pronounced hop bitterness. Rustic/woody (e.g., Northern Brewer) hop flavor medium to none. May have a toasted (not roasted) malt flavor. Balance is generally about even between malt and hops. Diacetyl low to none.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium to medium-high carbonation.
Overall Impression: A beer with solid malt and hop expression, only mildly fruity and having woody/rustic hop character.
History: American West Coast original. Large shallow fermenters are used. Originally, in the absence of handy ice or refrigeration, the locally cool ambient temperatures of the San Francisco peninsula led to a beer that was fermented with lager yeast, but at temperatures that were at the cool end of the ale temperature range.
Comments: Similar to American pale ale, although typically less fruity. Hop flavor/aroma is woody rather than citrusy, although a slightly citrusy character has been noted by some in a commercial example back in the mid-1980s.
Ingredients: Pale ale malt, American hops (usually woody, such as Northern Brewer, rather than citrusy), small amounts of toasted malt and/or light caramel/crystal malts. Lager yeast, however some strains (often with the mention of "California" in he name) work better than others at the warmer fermentation temperatures (55 to 60oF) used (some German strains produce excessive sulfury character).Water should have relatively low sulfate and low to moderate carbonate levels.
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.044-1.055
IBUs: 35-45 FG: 1.011-1.014
SRM: 8-14 ABV: 4-5.5%
Commercial Examples: Anchor Steam, Old Dominion Victory Amber.
Here are a few notes from the July meeting. --Ed.
Joe Tomasi cut the price for the kegs that he was selling down to $12.00/keg (I wonder if he has any left)..... We have a new webmaster, Rich Hampo. Rich can be reached by e-mail atrhampo@ford.com..... The club picnic is Sept 22 at Heritage Park in Taylor. The club will provide $250 for food. We need volunteers. ...The club will also kick in $100 for the Michigan state fair....Jim Racine brought some new beer styles from Michigan Brewing, including a Spelt beer brewed from the rare heirloom grain....
Editor's note - Here is Chrispy's view on the Consumer Reports article mentioned last month. I had some trouble with the formatting of AOL's mailer (I use a text based mail client that mauled the formatting of Chris' message). Any mistakes are to be blamed on the editor.
The most recent (August 2001) Consumer Reports has on its cover the dubious claim of naming the "Best Beers" on its cover. Now, if you are like me, you may have used CR in the past when preparing to make an informed decision on some purchase. I personally have gone to the library to research washers and dryers, dehumidifiers and other items that I had the time to learn about.
But I would never have considered CR as a beer reference source. And once I finished the article, I was left feeling pretty much the same. While more informative than the average Time, USA Today article, it was filled with inaccuracies that any decent beer geek could identify. For instance, according to CR, "To make light beers, brewers add extra enzymes that turn even more carbohydrates into sugars, which yeast can later "digest". The result: fewer calories." Hmmm, guess my Belgians are pretty befret of calories, not!
Still, Joe six-pack could learn several things from this article. Along with info on ingredients, the brew process, bottling, shipping and other basic information, they provide a representative sampling of Ales and Lagers and attempt to point out differences in 20 words or less. For instance: "Lambic" is "Made with wild yeast, not brewers yeast. Fruity, low in bitterness,light body." That's it? Sounds like Mike's Hard lemonade to me!
An interesting tid-bit was the report that at Anheuser-Busch's headquarters they are storing 11,500 bottles and cans of Bud and its relatives, collected from 1981 on in cryogenic storage at -320oF in liquid nitrogen. These Bud-sicles are periodically thawed and tasted to ensure the current beers are identical to older batches. Wonder how they keep the bottles and cans from exploding?!?
One last thing that got my bock goat was CR's comment that "Microbrews are on the wane, and we tested none." Hey, my understanding is that microbrews have slowed down from explosive growth to mild growth, so CR's dismissive attitude toward my favorite purveyors of barley based beverages just pissed me off.
Without further ado, the results were as follows (as I have not even attempted to secure permission to reprint from this article, I will just give the best and/or the CR Best Buy by category):
| Category | Best | Comment |
| Domestic Lager | Stroh's | "A Best Buy" |
| Light Beers | Michelob Light | But both Natural and Busch Light were rated a best buy. |
| Imported Lagers | Heineken | No Best Buy in the category |
| Craft Lagers | Sam Adams | Sam Adams damn,nearly got a perfect score!?! |
| Ales | Sierra Nevada Pale Ale | Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Samuel Adams Boston Ale and Pete's Wicked Ale all got Best Buys, But SNPA was rated the highest !!! got one right! |
| Non Alcoholic | Buckler (Heineken) | Who cares (ok, Buckler from from Heineken, but even as #1 it got only a fair rating). |
Rivertown Beerfest
Well, what can I say, our club was asked to deliver once again this year and boy did we! A BIG thank you to all of you that volunteered your Friday evening and please pass that thank you on to your spouses, friends, and family members who came out with you.
Our club provided 68 volunteers this year and we were also joined by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild, the Beer Nutz, the Pontiac Brewing Tribe and a member of the Detroit Carboys. A big, big thank you to everyone who was there that night. This year I actually got to be the volunteer coordinator and what fun that was, trying to line up 100 beer geeks with their table of choice was no small task. All in all, everyone was happy with their selections. The night was hectic right from the beginning (What do you mean there's no bottle openers at the tables?!) but everyone jumped right in and started icing their beers down in preparation for the onslaught of thirsty festival goers. Almost everyone got a chance to get a break at some point during the evening and tour the festival sampling the fine beers as well. The report back from the festival coordinators was an extremely positive one and a congratulations and thank you from Kim Tesmer (Strohs) and the other coordinators........
Next month's competition is the Scottish ale competition, BJCP categories 5 a, b, c, & 11 b. The descriptions follow.
5. SCOTTISH ALES
5A. Light 60/-
Aroma: Malt is evident; some examples have a low level of hop aroma. Fruitiness low to none. A very faint smoky and/or toasty/roasty characteristic sometimes present. May have some diacetyl.
Appearance: Amber to dark brown. Draught examples often have a creamy, long-lasting head.
Flavor: Malt-dominated flavor, with subdued esters and just enough hop bitterness to prevent the beer from being cloyingly sweet. A very slight toasty, roasty and/or chocolate-like character is sometimes present. Caramel flavor from crystal malt medium to none. May have some diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, with low carbonation. Body is medium-light, but full for the gravity.
Overall Impression: Cleanly malty, with perhaps a faint touch of smoke and few esters.
History: More recent commercial interpretations from Scotland have begun to drift towards English bitter in terms of bitterness, balance, attenuation, esters and dry-hopping. These guidelines don't account for these recent commercial examples which would more accurately be described as bitters. Traditionally, these beers were dispensed via pumps, which forced air into the headspace of the cask, thus forcing the beer out. These air-powered systems are referred to as "tall fonts." The "light" name associated with this style refers to the gravity rather than the color.
Comments: Though similar in gravity to ordinary bitter, the malt-hop balance is decidedly to the malt side. Long, cool fermentation leads to clean malt character (which may include some faint peat or smoke character). Note that the smoky character can be due to the yeast as often as to smoked or peat-kilned malt. Strongly smoky beers should be entered in the Smoked Beer category rather than here.
Ingredients: Scottish or English pale malt with small proportions of roasted barley, crystal or chocolate malt. English hops. Clean, relatively un-attenuative ale yeast.
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.030-1.034
IBUs: 9-15 FG: 1.010-1.013
SRM: 12-34 ABV: 2.5-3.3%
Commercial Examples: Belhaven 60/-, Caledonian 60/-, Maclay 60/- Light, Highland Dark Light (HDL).
5B. Heavy 70/-
Aroma: Malt is evident; some examples have a low level of hop aroma. Fruitiness is low to none with a mild smoky character and/or toasty/roasty aroma, which is sometimes present. May have some diacetyl.
Appearance: Amber to dark brown; draught examples often have a creamy, long-lasting head.
Flavor: Malt-dominated flavor, with subdued esters and just enough hop bitterness to prevent the beer from being cloyingly sweet. A very slight toasty/roasty or chocolate-like character is sometimes present. Caramel flavor from crystal malt medium to none. May have some diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, with low carbonation. Body is medium to medium-light.
Overall Impression: Cleanly malty, with perhaps a faint touch of smoke and few esters.
History: More recent commercial interpretations from Scotland have begun to drift towards English bitter in terms of bitterness, balance, attenuation, esters and dry-hopping. These guidelines don't account for these recent commercial examples which would more accurately be described as bitters. Traditionally, these beers were dispensed via pumps, which forced air into the headspace of the cask, thus forcing the beer out. These air-powered systems are referred to as "tall fonts."
Comments: Though similar in gravity to special bitter, the malt-hop balance is decidedly to the malt side. Long, cool fermentation leads to clean malt character (which may include some faint peat or smoke character). Note that the smoky character can be due to the yeast as often as to smoked or peat-kilned malt. Strongly smoky beers should be entered in the Smoked Beer category instead.
Ingredients: Scottish or English pale malt with small proportions of roasted barley, crystal or chocolate malt. English hops. Clean, relatively un-attenuative ale yeast.
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.034-1.040
IBUs: 10-25 FG: 1.011-1.015
SRM: 10-19 ABV: 3.2-3.9%
Commercial Examples: Orkney Raven Ale, Greenmantle Ale, Borve Heavy Ale, Waverly Ale 70/-, Highland Heavy, Belhaven 70/-, Caledonian 70/-,Maclay 70/-, McEwans 70/- (also sold as Younger's Scotch Ale and Tartan Special).
5C. Export 80/-
Aroma: Malt is evident; some examples have a low level of hop aroma. Fruitiness is low to none. A mild smoky and/or toasty/roasty character is sometimes present. May have some diacetyl.
Appearance: Amber to dark brown. Draught examples often have a creamy, long-lasting head.
Flavor: Malt-dominated flavor, with subdued esters and just enough hop bitterness to prevent the beer from being cloyingly sweet. A very slight toasty/roasty and/or chocolate-like character is sometimes present. Caramel flavor from crystal malt medium to none. May have some diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, with low carbonation. Body is medium to medium-full.
Overall Impression: Cleanly malty, with perhaps a faint touch of smoke and few esters.
History: More recent commercial interpretations from Scotland have begun to drift towards English bitter in terms of bitterness, balance, attenuation, esters and dry-hopping. These guidelines don't account for these recent commercial examples which would more accurately be described as bitters. Traditionally, these beers were dispensed via pumps, which forced air into the headspace of the cask, thus forcing the beer out. These air-powered systems are referred to as "tall fonts."
Comments: Though similar in gravity to strong bitter, the malt-hop balance is decidedly to the malt side. Long, cool fermentation leads to clean malt character (which may include some faint peat or smoke character). Note that the smoky character can be due to the yeast as often as to smoked or peat-kilned malt. Strongly smoky beers should be entered in the Smoked Beer category instead. It is important to note that while the IBUs on some of these beers can be rather high, the low attenuation and solid maltiness results in a balance that is still even at best and more than likely towards malt.
Ingredients: Scottish or English pale malt with small proportions of roasted barley, crystal or chocolate malt. English hops. Clean, relatively un-attenuative ale yeast.
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.040-1.050
IBUs: 15-36 FG: 1.013-1.017
SRM: 10-19 ABV: 3.9 to 4.9%
Commercial Examples: Orkney Dark Island, Harviestown 80/-, Sherlock's Home Piper's Pride, Greenmantle 80/- Export, Arrol's 80/-, Highland Severe, Younger's No. 3, McEwan's 80/- (despite the "India Pale Ale" on the label), Arrol's 80/-, Belhaven 80/- (Belhaven Scottish Ale in the US), Caledonian 80/- Export Ale (Caledonian Amber Ale in the US), Maclay Scotch Ale, Maclay 80/- Export (Maclay 80 Shilling Export Ale in the US).
6. AMERICAN PALE ALES
11B. Strong Scotch Ale (Wee Heavy)
Aroma: Deeply malty, with caramel apparent. Roasty or even smoky secondary aromas may also be present, adding complexity. Moderate diacetyl character is also acceptable.
Appearance: Dark amber to dark brown color, often with ruby highlights.
Flavor: Intensely malty with kettle caramelization apparent. Hint of roasted malt or smoky flavor may be present, as may some buttery diacetyl or nutty character. Hop flavors are low, so malt impression should be dominant.
Mouthfeel: Full-bodied, with a thick, chewy viscosity. Alcoholic warmth should also be present.
Overall Impression: Rich and malty, reminiscent of a dessert. Complex secondary malt flavors prevent a one-dimensional impression.
History/Comments: Fermented at cooler temperatures than most ales, and with lower hopping rates, resulting in clean, intense malt flavors. Well suited to the region of origin, with abundant malt and cool fermentation and aging temperature. Hops, which are not native to Scotland and formerly expensive to import, were kept to a minimum.
Ingredients: Well-modified pale malt, with some crystal and perhaps a dash of darker malt or even roasted barley. A small proportion of smoked malt may add depth, though smoky character may also originate from the yeast. Hop presence is minimal, although English varieties are most authentic. Low-to-medium sulfate and medium carbonate/bicarbonate water is most appropriate.
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.072-1.088+
IBUs: 20-40 FG: 1.019-1.025+
SRM: 10-47 ABV: 6.9-8.5+
Commercial Examples: Traquair House, MacAndrew's Scotch Ale, McEwan's Scotch Ale, Belhaven Wee Heavy, Scotch du Silly, Vermont Pub and Brewery Wee Heavy.
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| Ye Olde Brew News
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F.O.R.D. is a private, non-profit organization of homebrewers. The main goal of this club is to
promote awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of beer; to share information regarding technique, equipment and skill
required to brew quality homemade beer; and to encourage responsible use of beer as an alcohol-containing beverage.
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