When The Smoke Clears

For Peat's sake, what am I drinking???


That's how I thought tasters of this beer would react. A smoked beer? What the hell does that mean!? I would ask, have you ever had scotch? Of course the answer was yes. Well, this is like a scotch, only better, it’s beer! The official explanation is that while the malt is in the kiln, peat moss outside the kiln is gently smoked over slow burning coals, allowing its vapors to drift above the malt, thereby giving off smokey flavors and aroma.

This beer in a way signifies my past year. Is it exactly how I pictured it? No. Is it what I really want to drink? Not quite. Did I make it myself and have to deal with what comes of it? Yes. But you know what, it ain’t that bad!

Beer, like women, are plentiful but kind of seem the same after a while. That may seem a little harsh but I am sure all the single ladies can say the same about men! How do you stand out? With so much variety, how does one narrow down the ideal beer? Like a good deposition, you can picture it like a funnel, start with generalities and work your way to the minute detail. Do I like light, dark, bitter, sweet, spicy or fruity? Do I want one that is hard to drink but rewarding for its unique blend of flavors? Or do I want that solid ale that never lets me down but never quite gets me overly excited. Or do I want both; something outside the norm but with a sense of familiarity. A beer that makes your senses confused because you know a recognizable aroma or flavor but your tongue is telling your nose there is something different. A great beer is like a great woman, give me something I know but make it your own. Keep me intrigued and keep me grounded. I don’t like fruit beers but add a little agave and maybe it will peak my interest. I don’t like smoked beers but kick it up with a hint of peat and ill stand at attention.

Personally, I never had a pallet for smoked beer. For that matter, I am not a big scotch drinker either, preferring the spicier rye. I also love putting rye malt in my beer. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions to this lightly smoked, sweet caramelly British/Scotch ale. I took a chance and made a beer style I do not particularly like. The beer paired great with ribs and barbecue. I have never used liquid smoke with my food and I wasn’t about to start with my beer. I always believe, for better or for worse, you gotta go with your heart and you can’t be afraid of failure. Well, a lot of people say that. My way is just to go with what feels right. Sometimes it bites you in the ass but hey, at least you went for it. I went for this smokin’ beer and it worked. The caramel malt helped add a predominately sweet overtone and let the peat smoke flavor drift underneath the mild fuggles and goldings hop bitterness for a balanced yet distinctively scotch like taste. To finish it off, a bit of roasted barley was added to deepen the color and simmer the flames. In all, I was incredibly surprised (happily I would add) by the positive response this beer got from non-typical beer drinkers. Usually, I like to heavily hop my beers for that sharp citrusy bitterness that leaves non hop heads wondering why their lips are puckering. This beer though had more than enough malt to keep the casual beer drinkers happy and a touch of smoke to make it interesting. I am not sure what to do with the leftover peat smoked malt but maybe ill make a smoked porter for the fall. That is, if my oyster stout is gone by then!

We all must choose. Man or woman, young or old, lord or peasant, our choices are the same. We choose light or we choose darkness. - Melisandre

Well, this summer Wolfbrew offers you both! At least it was supposed to! The white IPA version 2 hasn’t quite made it into the bottle yet. Lemon, coriander, ginger and some west coast hops made this the ideal summer ale. Technically I have one more month to offer a stout and a white IPA for the summer. It will be done!

Oyster Stout

For the beer is dark and full of oysters.

One little note on perception. When I first told people I was making an oyster stout I received a lot of Whaaaaat? Are you actually putting oysters in your beer?? I explained to the doubters that oysters with stouts or porters have long been a treasured gastronomic combination. For some reason the buttery salty oyster freshly shucked on the half shell invites the chocolaty smooth bitterness of a creamy stout. Then, my friend and esteemed colleague brought back an Oyster Stout from his local brewery, Port City in Alexandria, VA. I looked this beer up and low and behold they put whole oysters in their brew kettle. I thought to myself as I sipped this stout, why not throw oysters in the pot? The liquor is all I really need but who wants to shuck an oyster and not have the pleasure of eating it? Throwing them in whole both opens the oyster and adds some calcium which is always good for the ladies.
Anyway, people were very turned off to the idea of an oyster stout. Apparently people are very turned off by oysters! Craziness for sure but you have to give the people what they like. Or do you? Isn’t it easier to just tell people it’s what they like? It is my opinion that most humans do not want to think if they are not required to. People would rather nod their head up and down or side to side in response to someone else’s idea. For me, this meant I had to change the beer. Did I change the ingredients? No. Did I change what I called it? Yes. The oyster stout morphed into the chocolate stout. The haters became the cravers. A chocolate stout, I love chocolate! Can I try it? And just like that the beer with a half dozen whole oysters became a crowd favorite, even in the heat of this ungodly humid summer. Chocolate and black patent malt, roasted barley, coupled with flaked oats and fuggles hops lent itself perfectly with 6 oysters and some London ale yeast. This British monstrosity was like the Howe brothers storming into New York harbor. But unlike the British Admirals, this beer stopped fighting a negative perception. The chocolate stout was never again to be a disgraced failure. Instead, the friends too scared to drink an oyster happily slurped down this dark creamy ale with no thoughts as to the bivalve mollusks they truly were enjoying.

 

On a less sinister note, the White Wolf IPA should calm the critics of my subtle art of persuasion. This beer’s non fermentable ingredients actually draw casual drinkers into the conversation. I ask them if they like lemon, ginger and coriander and inevitably the question posed is when can I try this? Even if someone says they don’t like beer, I ask, do you like food? Of course you like food! Then of course there is a beer out there you will like. Do you like chocolate, smoked meats, mollusks, or refreshing spices? I imagine there has to be a yes in there somewhere. Beer is made with all sorts of things nowadays- Chili peppers, avocado, any manner of fruit, bacon, tea, pumpkin, hell I even tried a mustard beer once! Not to say these are to everyone’s taste, but there is a taste in here for everyone.


Beer is made by man, wine is made by god. I say that because brewers can put anything they want in a beer. It is like soup, cook it with whatever fits your fancy and it’s bound to be delicious. Wine on the other hand, is dependent on weather and only one ingredient. All man does is pick the grapes he wants and waits. It is like nature over nurture. A beer needs to be lead the entire way from steeping the grains to adding the fermentables, then choosing when to add the hops and what type of yeast; to dry hop or not to dry hop, that is the question, to what glass best suits this style. A beer can’t be made on its own it needs constant love and attention. Wine on the other hand, is like a cat that just wants to be left alone. If you like that sort of thing it works, but if you want man’s other best friend, make a beer.

 

I don’t know how I got on this tangent but it has been so long since I have written a post I must be sorely out of shape. I hope this doensn’t read as badly as my legs felt after my first game of softball this summer. Let’s just say the charley horse wasn’t fun. Anywhooo, the White Wolf IPA has lots of fun citrusy cascade and citra hops with a malt bill of half wheat and half pilsner. IT should make September much more bearable as the summer comes to a close and the wicked winds take hold of our hats and destroy our precious tans.

So as I sit here watching an old friend, RA, pitch in the Bronx wearing a different shade of blue, I can only think that life, like a new beer, is the same but different. I have a new job, but I practice in the same field. I went away but came back unchanged but for being a little darker. I have new beers, and I still enjoy the old ones.

Who knows what the next year will bring. Most likely 2014 will usher in a ton of new beers and hopefully more than a few good ones. So as I wrap up this long soliloquy and ponder my past present and future I know I always have yeast, malt and hops to rely on. It is just a matter of how they are put together! Always the same, but different.

Cheers.