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North by NW Brewing

On Sundays in May, I will post a snapshot of a southwestern US brewery along with a suggested beer or two to try. I will give you a sneak preview of one brewery now.

North by Northwest Brewing in Austin, Texas.

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Duckabish Amber
Pilsner, Caravienne, and Chocolate malts give this beer its beautiful, deep amber color. It is soft and creamy and balanced by Horizon hops.

Pyjingo Pale Ale
Brewed in the style of the great ales of the Pacific Northwest, this complex combination of Pilsner and Caravienne malts and Horizon, Cascade and Amarillo hops make it a great session beer.

Okanogan Black Ale
This rich, malty dark ale is reminiscent of the smooth ales produced by the Weltenberg Brewery in Northwestern Germany. The Pilsner, Caravienne, Munich, Chocolate, Black malts and Roasted Barley give this great dark ale a creamy, roasted malt flavor, which is perfectly balanced with Cascade hops.

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Batemans Mr. George’s Ruby Porter

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In England the Ruby Porter is known as Batemans Dark Lord, but is has been re-named for the U.S. market due to a trademark conflict.

Dark Lord has a deep black color with reddish hints and is capped by rich creamy foam. The aroma features roasted grain notes with spicy-citrus hop notes. The palate is roasty with hints of coffee and licorice and an underlying fruit accent and long finish. A mere 5% alcohol by volume.

In both 2007 & 2008 it was named among “The World’s Fifty Best Beers” at the Drinks International Beer Challenge.

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Hop degradation

There is so much good beer reading out there that sometimes (OK, a lot of times), I read something that was posted months ago and get all excited only to hear the dreaded words, “Yeah, I read that already. Where have you been?”

The Captain’s Chair blog had this fascinating article on hops and how the aroma can fade and why it does. Required reading in my book, as is the rest of the blog. Check out the info HERE

While you are there, take a peek at his personal Top 20. See how many you’ve had. I have had 7! And it would be more if I could any Minnesota beer in Southern California!

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Redhook Eisbock

Both Karl Strauss and Redhook were craft pioneers who seemed to get passed by or considered too big and not micro cool.

Well now both are coming out swinging. Strauss with some good IPA bombers and Redhook with their 8-4-2 Expedition and now with this…
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It is described on the label as, “Aged for months at temperatures well below freezing, Eisbock 28 is extraordinarily smooth and malt with a bittersweet complexity achieved by ice processing.”

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Hot Knives – Greatest Sips

Have you ever wondered what cheese and what song go with Russian River Pliny the Elder?

Then you had better get this wicked cool book….
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It really has a DIY vibe to it. From the manilla folder recycled cover to the photos on the inside. But looking past that, you get some awesome ideas for beer and cheese pairings. You can see their blog and buy the book HERE

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Brewpot

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Another new beer-centric website has sprung up that you might want to peruse and see if it will help you in your beer journey. Brewpot allows you to rate beers, find beers you might like if you like “Beer A” and also has some brew news.

It is still a toddler so don’t expect all the information in the world, yet.

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Tripel Perfection

The Belgian beer keeps coming from the Cooperstown folks at Ommegang. I have been hearing about their new BPA for a couple of weeks but since I have a fellow beer geek whose first choice is always a tripel then the release of the Tripel Perfection is even better news.
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This beer is three years in the making and clocks in at 8.9% alcohol. So it is not for the weak.

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Stuffed Sandwich

One of the forerunners of craft beer in Los Angeles is the Stuffed Sandwich east of Pasadena tucked into the corner of an uassuming little mall. Sam and Marlene Samaniego moved from the distribution side to the restaurant side and haven’t looked back.
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from their website: “Everyone was so excited about trying new beers that Sam decided to go for a selection of 100 beers. Since then it has not stopped! They now sell over 700 bottled beers from 40 different countries, specializing in Belgian Ales (over 130) and American crafted “Micro” brewed beers.”

Due to the vagaries of liquor laws, you have to (poor us) buy some food to go with the beer.

Their theme for the month of April is anniversary beers. Here is a list of what they may still have pouring:
AVERY BREWING COMPANY’S 16TH ANNIVERSARY 2009 (Saison brewed with Jasmine, Peaches & Honey)
KONINGSHOEVEN’S 125TH ANNIVERSARY 2009 (La Trappe Isid’or Trappist Ale)
ROGUE BREWERY’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2008 (Rogue St. Red Dry Hopped Red Ale)
CORONADO BREWING COMPANY’S 13TH ANNIVERSARY 2009 (Smoked Brown Ale)
LAGUNITAS BREWING COMPANY’S 13TH ANNIVERSARY 2006/2007 (Red Ale brewed in 2006/ keg released in 2007)
ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING COMPANY’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2007/2008 (Imperial IPA brewed in 2007/ keg released in 2008)
SIERRA NEVADA BREWING COMPANY’S 28TH ANNIVERSARY 2008 (Hoppy Anniversary Ale)
FLYING DOG BREWPUB’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2010 (Raging Bitch Belgian Style IPA)
MAD RIVER BREWING COMPANY’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2009 (Wheat Wine Barleywine Style Ale)

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Crow Peak Brewing

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We use the power of a beer map to focus on a South Dakota brewpub, Crow Peak!

LOOKOUT LAGER: This straw colored, medium-bodied lager is dominated by a dry maltiness. Hop bitterness is very low, however, a mild note of hops lingers on the tongue.

SPEARBEER: This is a light copper-colored English style Pale Ale with a malty character and just a hint of fruitiness balanced by medium hop bitterness. The ale finishes with a pleasant hop flavor and aroma.

11th HOUR IPA: Hop aroma and flavor dominate this IPA. However, the malt character of this deep amber colored ale nicely balances the hop component thus avoiding a harsh bitterness. A truly quaffable beverage!

BEAR BUTTE BROWN: This deep brown colored ale has a strong malt character with a hint of roasted barley. There is a slightly detectable hop bitterness, but no hop flavor or aroma.

PILE O’ DIRT PORTER: Named for the ridiculous 4 foot dirt pile we had to put our brewery on to get us out of the FEMA-designated 100 year floodplain (no-one can remember this part of Spearfish ever flooding). This robust porter is black in color, is medium-bodied and has a rich, roasted malt flavor ending with a pleasing hop flavor and mild hop bitterness.

I always get a brewery history lesson from the names, so I would sample the Pile ‘O’ Dirt first because of the floodplain reference.