following up on past posts

There's been a couple of interesting developments in the Oahu brew scene recently, and I figured I'd follow up on the ones that relate to things I've posted about here. If you want more comprehensive coverage of the happenings in Hawaii's beer scene, Beer in Hawaii is still the place to go. But if you're just following my blog and are curious about the places I've mentioned, here's what's new:



First of all, back in March I wrote up a pretty extensive post about a visit I'd made to the Aloha Beer brewery. Dave Campbell, Aloha Beer's brewmaster and partial owner, gave me a behind-the-scenes-tour and chatted with me about the brewery's planned expansion--including a massive increase of brewing area/capacity and the creation of a new "Beer Sanctum" space where Sam Choy's bar used to be. A few weeks later, while drinking a few beers at Aloha and chatting with the bartender on hand, I heard a different story: no "Beer Sanctum," no planned expansion, but the brewery would be shut down temporarily for upgrades. The brewery did indeed shut its doors about a month after that, but I haven't seen or heard of any work being done since then, and the doors are still closed almost three months later.

At the REAL tasting event in August I heard a rumor that Aloha Beer's extended closure might have legal reasons behind it--the guy I was talking to hinted that there'd been some kind of "serving to minors" violation--but considering the venue and circumstances(post-REAL-event/more than six beers deep), I didn't put too much stock in it. The most credible news to appear concerning the whole situation came just a little while back, in an online article posted by the Pacific Business News. The article sort of touches on the murkiness of it all--Campbell will neither confirm or deny permanent closure; James Lee (another Aloha Beer owner) claims he's withdrawn his ownership interest, but maintains the "only closed for upgrades" story; Steve Sombrero, the third owner, won't even return calls for comments--but it does provide one firm fact: "The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Unemployment Insurance Division in April filed a tax lien against Aloha Beer Co. for $105,740.65 in unpaid employment security tax." That's a pretty large amount of money, and I'm betting the rent owed for the past three (customer-less) months is pretty hefty too. In the end, I'm getting a very bad feeling about the chances of Aloha Beer re-opening ever again.

And speaking of closures, here's more bad news: this is officially Hawaiian Islands Brewing's last month of business. HIB was handling the brewing for VICE Inferno at Ward Center. I wrote about my visit to the place back in February, and I had my doubts about the company's chances of success even back then, though I did think their beer was pretty great. With Aloha Beer indefinitely closed, and Hawaiian Islands Brewing officially closing, Oahu currently has only one commercial business brewing its own beer: Gordon Biersch at Aloha Tower.

But on the bright side: REAL is having enough success to go ahead with expansion--they'll be opening up a smaller pub in Kaimuki called BREW'D pretty soon. And a new 7-barrel brewery called Honolulu Beerworks is in the works for the KaKa'ako.

Tasting the Sage Pale Ale

The Sage Pale Ale I brewed a while back is at peak drink-ability right now, so I figured I'd write up tasting session notes for it, like I did for my Poi Wheat Ale back in March.



Aroma: Floral hop notes mixed with an apparent sage smell, and, inexplicably, a hint of "soap."

Appearance: Rich yellowish orange color. Clear enough to see the rising bubbles sharply, but not clear enough to read through. Copious frothy head that fades to a loose-packed, big-bubble cap.

Flavor: Pronounced bitterness initially, with sage kicking in halfway through, and sage and bitterness lingering long afterwards. Malt flavors are definitely taking second-seating to the hop-bitterness and the sage. And the sage flavor brings poultry dishes to mind, though of course there isn't any chicken/turkey taste to the beer. (This flavor-association phenomena reminds me of a tasting I attended at the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. The standout beer on tap was, by far, their Smoked Porter, which features grains smoked with alder wood. Alder wood is commonly used to smoke salmon, too, and the alder flavor present in the beer made some people think the beer had fish in it.)

Mouthfeel: Very light in body (a successful result of my low-mash-temperature approach to this brew). Despite the flowing bubbles, the beer doesn't have any serious carbonation tingle. When you get most of the way through the glass, the hop and sage oils start to make the tongue feel a bit pickled.

Overall Impression: Pretty good! Provides the crisp, herb-oriented satisfaction of a Pale Ale, but it's definitely a unique experience because of the sage. I also appreciate the fact that it offers that herb-fix without the weight of an IPA (OG = 1.044, FG = 1.006; 5% estimated abv).

Other Info: I'm pretty happy with how this beer turned out. In fact, I'm happy enough to feel like it's worth sharing. If any local Homebrewing in Hawaii readers are curious to see how culinary sage fits into a Pale Ale style, feel free to send me an email at: mf.soriano (at) yahoo (dot) com. We can do a homebrew bottle trade!

learning to love Belgian yeast strains

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: British and Irish ales are my favorite styles of beer. Back in San Francisco I brewed those styles, or American takes on those styles, more than anything else. I've been trying to do them here in Hawaii too, but it hasn't been easy. Most British and Irish ale yeasts prefer cool-fermentation temperatures, ideally around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The climate in San Francisco (where I lived before moving here) is often perfect for that; the climate in Honolulu... not so much.

I've brewed around nine beers here so far using British Ale yeasts, and the fermentation temperatures have always been over 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the beers have turned out okay--but the fermentations were often violent, with foam-overs and even one spectacular eruption. And the flavors haven't been as clean as what I was getting in San Francisco.

So I'm starting to experiment with Belgian yeasts now. A lot of Belgian strains are happy fermenting above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and some of them have no problems with temperatures even higher than that. For my first Belgian beer here in Hawaii, I used White Labs 545 Belgian Strong Ale yeast. The label on the vial gives the fermentation temperature range as 70 to 75 degrees, and I think my fermentation managed to remain within that range. I definitely noticed a smoother, less violent fermentation. I'll try to remember to post here about how the final beer turns out.

British Beers at House of Brews

Bar 35 hosts a beer event every Wednesday called "House of Brews." It costs $25 a person, and that gets you 9 beer tasters and a few pizza appetizers. Last week (August 28, 2013) the event focused on British Beers, and because of my love of British styles, my wife and I decided to check it out.

It turned out to be a pretty low-key affair. Basically, you let the man behind the bar know that you're there for the beer event, and they give you a blue wrist-band with nine pull-off tabs (you can see it in the picture above). After that you can sit anywhere in the bar, or out on the back patio, and they bring the beer tasters to you one at a time. Event organizer Tim Quirante (who was recently interviewed by Beer in Hawaii) makes the rounds, sitting down with you for a few minutes with each beer to give you the scoop.

The line-up for last week's event featured eight beers, with a chance to revisit a beer with a second tasting after you'd had them all. The beers on hand where: John Smith's Extra Smooth, Newcastle Werewolf, Newcastle Brown Ale, Boddingtons Pub Ale, Samuel Smith's India Ale, Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, Greene Kind Old Suffolk, and Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout. The Harviestoun and the Greene King were new to me, and Greene King's Olde Suffolk in particular was a standout--rich and complex, with a notable Oak character--excellent! Apparently I wasn't the only person to think so--they ran out before I had a chance to revisit it with my ninth taster. I ended up going back for seconds on the Samuel Smith's India Ale instead--a great beer from one of my favorite breweries.



Toward the end of the event I had a chance to chat with Tim Quirante about his new job brewing part time at Hawaii Nui, and about his Chico, California roots. He mentioned he'd be flying to the Big Island on Sunday for his first solo brew on Hawaii Nui's system, a batch of Mehana Mauna Kea Pale Ale. I was a bit surprised to hear that. Brewing five gallon batches is hard enough to do alone--I often force my wife to help me out with certain steps--but Tim's going to be doing a brew on Hawaii Nui's 30 barrel system all on his own. Apparently that's they way they do it there.

beer fountain

Ever since my first days as a homebrewer, I’ve been dreaming of trying my hand at a barley wine. Described by some as “the drink of the gods,” and capable of being aged for years, barley wine stands in the minds of many as a test of a brewer’s mettle. And with an original gravity of as much as 1.120 (or even more!), it’s about as big as beer gets.

Of course, to make a beer that big you need to start with a lot of ingredients. Malt is often doubled, and hops are too. And, in order for the yeast to have a chance to get through all that sugar before succumbing to the stupor-inducing alcohol, I’ve heard it’s best to pitch at least a pint of healthy yeast slurry in a five gallon batch.



Lucky for me, I have a yeast connection. A few months ago I had the good fortune of meeting the Brewmaster of my local brewery, Aloha Beer Company, and when I mentioned my dreams of making a barley wine, he offered to give me as much yeast as I could carry. I ended up walking out of there with two quarts—definitely more than I needed, but that’s the size of the container I’d brought, and he filled it almost to the brim.

It was lively yeast too, coming straight from a twenty barrel vat, raring to get back to work. In the few minutes I stood there chatting with the Brewmaster, the yeast swelled to fill the container. A few minutes more and the sides of my plastic container had begun to bend outward from the pressure.

I hurried to my car, put the yeast on the floor in front of the passenger seat, and turned the AC up full blast. For the whole ride home I was on edge, wincing at every bump in the road, afraid the yeast would go off like a bomb.

In the end I made it home in time, and got the yeast in the fridge without incident. Little did I know, “incident” was just taking a rain check.



Next day’s brew went fine. I started with ten pounds of Maris Otter grain in the mash, boiled the wort for an hour, adding four ounces of hops during that time. And then I took the kettle off the burner, mixed in four pounds of pale malt extract and three pounds of honey, and brought it back to a boil for thirty more minutes. I wound up with about four and a half gallons with an original gravity of 1.095—not as high as I wanted, but still within style guidelines.

Once the wort had cooled, I pitched the yeast. I wasn’t crazy enough to add all of it, so I split the difference and only threw in half. If a pint was good, I reasoned, then a quart would be twice as good.

And here’s where things went wrong. In all of my research about barley wines, I’d somehow failed to take in the importance of a blowoff tube. I figured a six and a half gallon carboy and an airlock would be good enough. Turns out it wasn’t. Not even close.

About two hours after pitching the yeast, my girlfriend and I heard a percussive sound, sort of a mix between a pop and a thud. “What was that?” she asked. I was afraid I knew.

I ran to the door to the basement, where I’d put the beer. It sounded like it was raining in there. I pulled the latches back quickly, and threw the door open.

The top of the airlock had blown off, and my carboy had turned into a beer fountain. A mighty stream of liquid shot straight up, to splatter against the ceiling, and then rain down on everything else.



I was able to jerry-rig a blow-off tube pretty quickly—amazing how fast you can make something when you’re supplied with the proper motivation—and I ended up saving about three and a half gallons of the beer. While it’s true I ended up losing almost a quarter of the batch, and several hours time spent cleaning up the mess, I gained something from the experience, too: a name for my barley wine, Kīlauea.

spent grain veggie burgers

My wife likes to try to use the spent grains I have left after brewing. Her most recent creation was veggie burgers. She based the recipe on one posted by the Spent Grain Chef, but she didn't use bbq sauce, and she added in some other vegetables, garlic, veggies, pepper, ginger, sunflower seeds, and some Shoyu (soy sauce). The burgers were actually pretty great--I didn't think the grains would be all that palatable without being further ground-up, but the burgers were delicious!

Brewing with Sage

Sage is a classic herb--just ask Simon and Garfunkel. I've got a bush growing in my vegetable garden, and I recently decided to try to use it in a homebrew.

Typically, sage is used in savory dishes, especially poultry dishes of chicken or turkey. Its flavor is unique, sort of peppery and bitter, but hard to define in more specific terms. It's also used for medicinal purposes, and has been recommended for treating just about any ailment you can come up with. And, perhaps most famously, sage is burned for spiritual reasons--it's smoke is considered a cleansing agent in rituals carried out by hippies and certain Native American tribes.



I decided to try to use sage in a Pale Ale. I thought its peppery bitterness might blend well with the hop-oriented nature of the Pale Ale style. Sage is an herb that combines in wonderful ways with other spices, such as thyme, and it's also sometimes used to accent acidic/sour fruit flavors, such as fruit-based vinegars. With that in mind, I figured I'd pair the sage with Centennial hops, a hop known for its citrus-like aromas and bittering qualities.



I cut five large sprigs of sage from my plant, rinsed them in fresh water, and then chopped them thoroughly. Five sprigs turned into a bout three large handfuls when chopped. I added half of the sage right and one ounce of Centennial right at the start of the boil, hoping to utilize its bittering qualities. I added the other half of the sage at flame off, to see if it would contribute to the beers aroma. I also made sure that all of that chopped and boiled sage made it into to the fermenter with the yeast. I've read that certain chemical components of sage are most effectively extracted by alcohol (also apparently true of cannabis, though I can't say I've got any first-hand knowledge of that), so putting the sage in with the alcohol-producing yeast was a way of trying to utilize that concept.



The beer is in bottles now, and won't be ready to drink for another few weeks. After making the beer I realized there's an entry for sage in the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Buhner says that "sage ale was one of the primary ales brewed throughout the Middles Ages." He also describes some of its medicinal uses--everything from healing infection to inhibiting Alzheimer's disease--and he mentions that sage is known to make beer "especially inebriating." I'll let you know if I find that to be true.