Ron's corner: April 2005

Hop madness

This Friday night at the Peoria Sports Complex will be the Arizona's Craft Brewers Guild 2nd annual Hopfest. Most people have never seen or sniffed hops, which are cone-shaped clusters of dried flowers of the female hop vine, grown mainly in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States and throughout Europe. But millions of beer drinkers know and appreciate their characteristic aroma and bitter flavor that they give to beer.
No one knows exactly who first figured out that hops would be a great ingredient in beer. Hops first attracted attention not as an ingredient in beer but as a medicinal herb in early Egypt. The Roman historian Pliny, dubbed hops lupus or wolf, after noticing the way it wound itself tightly around other plants. And now you have an idea why Russian River calls their Double IPA, Pliny the Elder. Hops were grown by the Romans and made their way to Britain where Saint Arnold introduced them and replaced the other herbs the locals were using, eventually killing off a style of beer called Gruit. As I mentioned last week in the 8th century there are records at Weihenstephan in Germany of hops being grown and given to the church. This is really the area where modern beer became beer as we know it.
The old brewers knew what they were doing. Hops contains two chemicals (humulone and lupulone) that can kill bacteria that cause spoiling and make beer last longer. At least two breweries in Germany, Weihenstephaner and Neuzeller are now both producing a beer that has a high concentration of a hop compound called Xanthohumol that is supposed to be an anti-oxidant cancer fighter. I tried both these beers over in Europe on my last trip and wasn't too impressed by them with the exception of the non-alcoholic one that Weihenstephan is making that they call Xan Wellness. It had a little bit of apple juice added to it and it made a great breakfast drink. Weihenstephan is hoping to introduce their Xan beer and non alcoholic beer here in the United States sometime later this year or maybe next year. I honestly don't know how they are going to do it since they are promoting it as a healthy beverage that is full of great anti-cancer anti-oxidants and the Federal and State Governments tend to frown on anything alcoholic being promoted as being healthy but they do have studies by Universities in Oregon and Germany showing the results. Until it is here I guess I'll have to drink a Hopfather a day to stay healthy since it has a little more hops in it than your average beer. Hops are also mildly sedative, and have been used for centuries to help with insomnia, not just through ingestion which is my favorite method but by also filling up pillows with them to sleep on but it also helps explain why you sleep so well after drinking beer.
Pleasant dreams,
Ron

New Pope and beer

Joseph Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI is not the first German born Pope. There were a whole string of German born Popes in the 11th century. In the 11th century in Germany the church was very powerful and most of the religious power was centered regionally in monasteries. One such monastery was in Freising, Germany called Weihenstephan and during the string of German Popes in the 11th century there was an event that happened that we still can enjoy today, no matter if you are Catholic or not.
To back track a little bit, Weihenstephan got its start in 725 when a monk (later named Saint) Korbinian together with twelve companions, founded a Benedictine monastery on top of the local hill and, consciously or unconsciously, also founded the art of brewing at Weihenstephan. The first historical reference to hops at Weihenstephan goes back to the year 768. At that time there was a hop farm in the vicinity of the Weihenstephan Monastery, whose owner was obligated to pay a tithe of 10 per cent to the monastery. It is an obvious conclusion that these hops were brewed in the monastery since there is very little else one can do with hops.
It isn't until the 11th century in the year 1040 though that there are records of beer brewing officially at Weihenstephan. That year Abbot Arnold obtained from the City of Freising a licence to brew and sell beer. That hour marked the birth of the Weihenstephan Monastery Brewery officially which has operated continuously to this day. Some other places may claim to be older but they don't have the documentation of operating non-stop for some 965 years.

Now the question is, what kind of beer does Pope Benedict XVI like? I doubt it will be the Satan beer from Belgium that was served to last Pope. I am willing to guess with his Bavarian background that it could it be Korbinian from Weihenstephan. If you'd like to try it for yourself we have a keg of it that we will be putting on with a special price this week.

Light beer

At the Scottsdale Culinary Arts festival I was probably asked the question "What is your lightest beer" more times than I like to think about. My answer to the question though surprised many people. My answer was "Do you mean lightest in color or lightest in flavor?" If they answered lightest in color I gave them Churchill Wheatwine at 9.6% Alcohol, if they answered lightest in flavor I gave them an El Grande Nutz at 5.5% Alcohol. Still when serving the El Grande Nutz to them, some of the people with their preconceived phobias of dark beer were reluctant to try it. Most that did try it were pleasantly surprised but it is amazing how well the big macros have done their job at brainwashing the American populace into believing that a good beer is light in color and has no flavor. Most Americans, indeed, most beer drinkers worldwide, prefer light-colored lagers that have no taste if served as cold as possible. Warm up one of those beers though to 50 degrees or so and you'd be surprised at how flavorful they can become. Sadly though it is the not so pleasant flavors that come out unless you like the taste of creamed corn in your beer. Forget the difference between lagers and ales, for many beer drinkers, there are only two types of beer, light and dark. Many believe that beer that is light is good or that dark is bad. Period. End of discussion. Contrary to popular myths though, dark beers are not all heavy, bitter, fattening and strong. Some are weak and watery like some of the big light colored macrobrews and some like Guinness are actually lower in carbs and calories than most of the light colored beers and there are light colored beers that are strong and flavorful.
The difference between dark and light beers is simply a matter of adding some dark malt. Dark malts vary in color from just slightly roasted and tan to being as black as charcoal. It really does not take a lot of dark malt to make a beer dark. Maybe as little as 2 ounces for every 8 pounds of light malt to turn a beer pitch black. Some dark beers such as a Belgium Double or a German Doppelbock may have a lot of flavor and body but it is only because the beer has a higher residual sugar content that has nothing at all to do with the color of the malted barley but because the yeast used did not eat up all the residual sugars. As a matter of fact the darkest malts do not add any sugar to the beer at all because they all got burned up in the roasting process. Bitterness in beer can come from hops or dark malts. The kilning process in the production of malted barley adds not just color, but also flavor to the finished beer. These bitter flavors can be described as toasty, roasty, chocolaty or coffee-like.
As I mentioned Guinness before, served on draft from Dublin to Scottsdale and beyond, is really a light beer, low in carbs and alcohol. Dark beers are also no heavier on the stomach than light beers. Our mind plays tricks on us when you drink a beer with color into making you believe you are drinking something heavier or more flavorful than it really is. Most beers, whether light or dark, contain about 140 to 150 calories for every 12 ounces. A few are bigger in the calorie department, most notably those with a great deal of those unfermented sugars like those that I've already mentioned but again it has nothing to do with their color. A German Helles Bock is light in color and is high in alcohol and calories, the same as some light colored Belgian Ales. Just to completely debunk the dark beer myths, a dark beer can be low in alcohol or high in alcohol or smack dab in the middle. The same is true of any light-colored beer. Is there any rhyme or reason here? Yes, there is. It’s the malt. The more malt there is to begin with, the more flavor, alcohol and body can be produced. Light or dark, dark or light, the story’s the same.

Scottsdale culinary fest and Belgium

The Scottsdale Culinary Fest is this weekend downtown. It is a chance to try some great food from some of the areas restaurants and to also try some great beer. Sadly, they separate the beer from most of the food with the exception of one of the giant swill macrobreweries that probably pays a pretty penny to be outside of the beer garden area because they know no one in the beer garden area would drink their beer if they were up against real beer.

It is too bad that the people organizing the Scottsdale Culinary fest don't realize that good beer and good food really go together well and should not be separated. No where is this more evident than in Belgium and Germany. In Germany it is next to impossible to find a restaurant that doesn't have draft beer available, even the McDonalds and KFC's over there have draft beer available. While the Germans love to have beer with their meals (including some at breakfast), the Belgians on the other hand love to make beer a part of the meal and have many dishes that are prepared with beer as an ingredient. Here in the United States we call it a beer dinner if a place does a special occasion and prepares the food with beer as an ingredient, over there it is more like a daily routine.

On my recent trip to Europe we ate at a number of great places in Belgium where they prepare the food with beer. One dish that I had a couple of times was called Carbonnades. Carbonnades is basically a beef stew of sorts, (sometimes made with horsemeat) and often made with a good Belgian Trappist Double. If you have ever been to an Irish place and had a Guinness stew it is comparable to it but even better because the beer is so much richer. This is probably about the simplest beer dish that they make over there. Some of the other meals we had included scampi, codfish, mussels, duck, miscellaneous side dishes and veggies and for dessert we even had sorbets made with fruit lambics that were fantastic. I hate using this comparison but the cuisine of Belgium has a strong French influence but is even better because of the incorporation of beer and also larger portions. Oh, while I'm thinking of France, they don't serve you french fries with most of your meals in Belgium but Belgian fries. It was the Belgian's who were the ones who invented fries. It was the cheeseball french who stole it and changed the name to french fries.

If you happen to go to Belgium I would advise going to the Hotel Marion in Oostende, The Hommelhof in Watou and the Spinnekopke in Brussels as don't miss semi gourmet beer restaurants. There is another place on the last trip that we were supposed to go called the Watermolen in St. Peters Lieuw that is supposed to be fantastic also bad sadly they called us as we were on our way there because the chef was out sick that day and they had to cancel a dinner that was to be made totally with Chimay beers that I was really looking forward to. Maybe I'll get there next time. Until then, you can catch me going out and buying good food at the Scottsdale Culinary fest and taking it into the beer garden area to wash it down with a good beer.

Prost, Ron

Europe March 2004

A definite highlight of our trip to Europe were some brewery visits. Two of them that were particularly good were to Cantillon and Caracole since we had the rare opportunity to see both of these old world breweries in action.
Cantillon is a private family-owned brewery that was founded in 1900 in Brussels where lambic, faro, gueuze and kriek are household names, and where a museum has been established to protect the cultural, historical and scientific heritage of the Cantillon Brewery. You can visit it year round but the opportunity to be a part of the miracle of lambic brewing only comes around twice a year at their open brew days where you get to watch them brew. The brew day starts at 6:00 AM. We showed up mid morning while they were sparging the beer. Normally when you visit the brewery they have a self guided tour, but on open brew days they have guided tours. Our tour guide was Yvan from De Ranke brewery. Yvan was extremely knowledgeable and as I mentioned last week he was extremely passionate about brewing. Cantillon is a steam powered brewery and it was fantastic to see these great big belts turning the old machinery. The cleaning of the oak barrels was also interesting to watch.
Cantillon lambic beers are much different in taste and character then the popular Lindemans lambics. They are mouth-puckeringly sour. They meet at a crossroads where the differences between wine, beer and cider lose all meaning. No added yeasts are allowed. Mother Nature is left to her own devices to turn malt sugars into alcohol, just as the first beers were made several thousands of years ago. Once the beer is brewed it is left in the open air overnight to cool and to let the wild beasties that are floating through the air inoculate the beer and to begin the long fermentation process that takes from one to three years to complete.
I recommend going soon to visit because apparently the Belgian health authorities are having some problems in accepting that the reason that makes these beers so special. I can't figure out why they have a problem with old musty oak barrels, spider webs and holes in the roof since no one has ever died drinking the beer. Hopefully the lambic brewers will prevail and the health department will just go away and let them do what they've been doing for centuries.
The other brewery visit that I thought was great was at the little artisanal Brasserie La Caracole which is located in a small village named Falmignoul. Even though it is a really small brewery over half of their production is sold outside of Belgium. One of the things that make it so unique is that it is the last brewery in Europe that boils the wort by wood fire. They have someone come in the night before brewing to keep the fire going all night in order to heat up the large quantity of water they need. It is truly a farmhouse brewery, they even have old hitching posts inside the brewery where they used to tie up horses.

The owners are former homebrewers who took over the brewery in 1992 after it had lied dormant for 40 years or so. Most of the equipment is probably over 100 years old. I even spied some oak barrels that had a date of 1760 on them. Even though they are brewing on a really old system they do ferment and bottle their beer on some more modern equipment that is probably only 25 years old or so. Currently they are looking for a new grinder because the one they have is 100 years old and it takes them 8 hours just to grind the grain. Old equipment or not, Caracole beer is a better beer than any mass-produced malt beverage from any macrobrewery.

They make five beers, four of which we have at Papago. The beers we have are Troubelette which is a Wit, Saxo which is a blond ale, Caracole which is a amber and my favorite which is Nostradamus which is a strong dark ale. While at the 24 hours of beer fest I discussed with the brewer about the possibility of making a fruit beer especially for us so later that week when we visited he had a number of different fruit syrups available for us to experiment with and while I initially wanted to make a cassis beer, a Kreik (cherry) beer won out. He is going to make a few small batches to see how they hold up but hopefully if everything works out we will have our own Papago Creek Belgian beer later this year.

Prost, Ron