Red Rye Brew
John Rehm, one of our Philadelphia Brewing Co brewers, joined me at the Porterhouse yesterday. We brewed up a French Farmhouse style ale which will be the basis for one our our new Philadelphia Brewing Co mainstays. It's always fun having another brewer join me at the Porterhouse - even though it makes for cramped quarters in the brewhouse.

This brew included loads of exotic malts and about 10% malted rye. We first wort hopped using Willamette hops and added continental hops in two further additions for a noble aroma. The result was a beautiful red-hued and spicy wort with an original gravity weighing in at 12 Plato on the nose.

While we were appreciating the fresh-cut-grass aroma of the Willamette, before dumping them into the run off; John told me something I hadn't known about Willamette hops. According to John, Willamette is one of the primary hops used in Budweiser. It took me a few minutes to realize the irony of the fact that the world's biggest lawnmower "beer" is brewed using hops with an aroma that reminds me of fresh cut grass. Whether the evil empire uses them or not - I still love fresh Willamette hops.

In addition to fermenting this one at the Porterhouse using my house Belgian strain (Fermentis T-58); we are using this brew to figure what Belgian strains we want to use at Philadelphia Brewing. John and I loaded up four homebrew fermentors (actually, 5 gallon wine juice buckets) with Red Rye wort and pitched four different yeast strains. The yeast sample were provided for us by Brewing Science. David Bryant of The Brewing Science Institute is extremely helpful and knowledgeable about his yeast - and BSI has a HUGE variety of different strains.

We decided to evaluate the following four strains from BSI for Philadelphia Brewing Co:

• Celis - B-44
• La Chouffe - ABS3
• Forbidden Fruit - B-63
• Westmalle - B-87

This is the third round of test brews that we run for Philadelphia Brewing Co. We did the first two batches with Barry Mulherin of Barry's Homebrew Outlet. the fact that we are running these test brews has me biting at the bit to get back into our brewery. Everyone and Philadelphia Brewing CANNOT WAIT to get back into our brewery, CLEAN the place, and start brewing beer. It won't be long now.

How can police spot a drunk?

Jeez - according to a notice distributed by British police to publicans in the UK, I must be drunk ALL THE TIME. I certainly meet about 90% of the criteria on most days.

Does this describe you too?

Here's a snip from a website called www.thepublican.com

Police have been told that the aim of the guidelines is “to present such compelling physical evidence of the person’s level of intoxication that it would be impossible for a court to accept that the person who conducts the sale did not know of this fact”.

Evidence police have been told to look for includes:

A noticeable change in behaviour

• Bad tempered, aggressive;
• Offensive language;
• Becoming loud, boisterous or disorderly;
• Becoming physically violent;
• Becoming incoherent;
• Slurring, or making mistakes in speech; and
• becoming argumentative.

A lack of judgment

• Being careless with money;
• Annoying other persons, employees etc;
• Exhibiting inappropriate sexual behaviour;
• Drinking quickly or competitively (‘down in one’)

Clumsiness & loss of co ordination

• Swaying;
• Staggering;
• Difficulty with walking;
• Falling down;
• Bumping into furniture;
• Spilling drinks;
• Difficulty in picking up change; and
• Fumbling for cigarettes, or other items

Decreased alertness

• Drowsiness, dozing or sleeping;
• Rambling conversation;
• Loss of train of thought;
• Difficulty in paying attention;
• Not understanding what is said;
• Glassy eyes and
• Lack of focus.

Appearance

• Unkempt
• Dishevelled

What's up next; Brews at the Porterhouse Brewpub

The next four brews at the Porterhouse will include North Lager, and Herr Zippy which are both old standbys of mine, plus two new recipes; a wit and a red rye ale.

Red Rye - A French Farmhouse style ale brewed with malted rye and European hops; fermented with a Belgian Abbey yeast. This one should come in around a standard 5% abv.

Wit - A slightly tart and fruity Belgian style white ale brewed with white wheat and oats; fermented using Belgian Abbey yeast. A nice session brew coming in at about 4% abv.

North Lager - Inspired by one of my favorite craft brewed dark lagers from a Canadian craft brewery - before it was assimilated by one of the mega-breweries north of the border. This dark lager is brewed with tasty Munich and Vienna malts and diverse hops. This one usually comes in around 4.5% abv.

Herr Zippy - A light ale inspired by the golden brews of Cologne called Kolsch; the aroma of my version is much more floral than your typical Kolsch. A real session brew sitting at about 3.8% abv.

Brew - Thug Stout at the Porterhouse Brewpub; an Irish Stout with a Belgian Mother - I brewed this one up using a typical Irish stout grain bill, a mix of English and Northwest American hops, and our house Belgian Abbey yeast. The result? Let's just say that you don't want to meet this beer in a dark alley. A reasonable 5% abv but it's just the thing bring in the holidays.

What's on tap at the Porterhouse:
Dark Wheat - Ameri-Belgique Wheat Ale - This is a ruby hued wheat beer that tastes like liquid wheat toast. Crystal malted wheat and european hops give this ale a pleasing spicy palate. 5% abv

Harvest Lager - An Octoberfest-ish amber lager brewed with malted wheat & vienna malts; wet hopped with home-grown Pennsylvania hops. This one runs about 5% abv

Skye Dew -A mild Scottish Ale brewed with a touch of Whisky malt and fermented cool to pronounce this belly washer's malt flavors. The peated whisky malt gives this beer a smoky flavor reminiscent of whisky from Scotland's Isle of Skye. 3.8 % abv.

Browne Mild - Like roasty flavored brews? This is a way-back brown ale brewed with old-timey brown malt along with the finest English pale malts and hops. Brown malt was a prevelant ingredient at one time in English brewing history; all English brown ales might have tasted like this before malting technology advanced. I first brewed this recipe with Heavy-Tom Baker for his Heavyweight Mild series. 3.5 abv id'nt it now m'lord?

Pennsylvania "case" law - There’s been a load of talk about the nutty alcohol distribution laws in Pennsylvania of late; but I think a lot of people are missing the point, (especially some beer writers).

Just in case you're not from PA, let me enlighten you. In Pennsylvania, cases of beer can only be purchased at beer distributors. Beer distributors cannot sell anything smaller than a case (24 bottles). If all you want is a six pack you need to go to a specially licensed bar or deli. If you get to the deli and decide that you want a case after all because the six pack is more than half what you would have paid for a case in the first place - you're outta luck. Six pack licensees can only sell you twelve beers at a time. On top of all this, the one store that is actually all over the place - the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board stores - can't sell beer at all. So if you want to get yourself a nice bottle of whiskey to go with that strong ale you love - you're going to make two stops.

That's the situation in a nutshell. This paints an ugly picture for alcohol consumers yes. But it's a picture that the neo-abolitionists, (like MADD et al), love (that's another story).

The folks this system does benefit, and the piece of the picture that most people overlook, is the small, LOCAL, craft brewery. Contrary to popular belief, package brewing is not a highly profitable business. For small breweries costs are high and competition is strong. Local breweries compete with each other, nationally recognized craft brews like Sierra Nevada and Anchor, mega breweries like Sam Adams posing as craft brews, and quality imports from Belgium, England, Germany, and Canada. The average cost to a small brewer of selling 24 bottles in 6-packs is $2.00 more per case than a straight case of 24. That's $2.00 per case extra for packaging only. Six packs also take more labor to assemble and fill. You don't pay wholesale for beer unless you work for a brewer or distributor. So by the time that $2.00 per case gets to you it will be more like $6.00 per case. Now you are looking at paying $30.00 to $35.00 per case by the time that the wholesaler and retailer take their mark-ups.

I agree that we need better laws surrounding the distribution of beer and liquor in PA. But breaking the case is not the way to do this.

Support your local brewery!

Arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics - even if you win you're still a "special person". I know my friend Tom - http://hwbrewer.blogspot.com/ has already written a similar view on this in his blog; but I gotta get this off my chest.

Beer Review Web sites - everyone has an opinion, everyone has an ass hole, most should not be seen in public. The internet provides the ultimate vehicle for free speech; it's also a great way for cowardly, uneducated ass holes to anonymously spew on somebody else's hard work.

Don't get me wrong - I know I'm painting this picture with a very wide brush. I know, like, and appreciate the efforts of many members of these sites. The original intention of sites like beeradvocate.com was to educate and promote, (or uhh, advocate?), the appreciation of good beer. This is a value that I share with founders of beeradvocate.com along with many of its members.

The problem that I have with sites like ratebeer.com & pubcrawler.com is that they promote this idea that personal opinion is holy and carries more weight than fact or what I like to call "reality". Ratebeer.com goes so far as to compare themselves and their ratings to Wine Spectator. If you drink you've most likely been exposed to Wine Spectator's ratings for wine in most liquor stores. They are usually the source for those numbers posted on small placards describing wines that the store wants you to try/buy. The difference between the Wine Spectator ratings and those from ratebeer.com is fact vs. opinion. Wine Spectator reviews are written by experts and are written in such a way that they help a consumer make decisions about the wine. Ratebeer.com reviews are pure personal opinion and are often written with no regard to the what the brewer intended or what a person reading the review might be looking for. The problem with this concept that "it's my opinion so I can't be wrong and I can say what I want" is that it serves no purpose except to stroke the ego of the person posting the review. Another huge difference between ratebeer.com or pubcrawler.com and Wine Spectator - Wine Spectator will not publish disparaging reviews of a wine; while these beer related web sites are full of negative opinions and misguiding statements.

So - if I don't like what's posted to these site - I don't have to read them right? Or maybe I should just post my own opinions about beer that I do or don't personally like? That misses the point - I'm not sure why ratebeer.com was established but I know that other sites like beeradvocate.com were established to help promote better beer appreciation and beer knowledge. Beeradvocate.com organizes good beer festivals and events and they offer plenty of good resources for learning about and finding good beer. However, the negative nonsense often posted in ratings and forums on these sites marginalizes them and, to some extent, the beer they want to promote by making them appear to be the domain of masturbatory back room geeks. Do you really believe that you'll get a normal person who is only marginally interested in good beer to support it if they associate it with these chest pounding uber geeks? Nope - it's more comfortable to stick with those hot twins and pretend that one light beer has more flavor than another. Or even worse - turn to an imported mega-brew like Heinie or Leuven's lightest - satisfying their need for something "better" with Europe's Bud.

To quote Jon Stewart "You're hurting America". If you feel that the world really needs to hear your malformed, holy opinion - at least have the balls to post it with your real name so you can be identified. Is an anonymous opinion really an opinion after all?

Cheers! Love Dean