An ENTIRE WEEK to celebrate beer! Whoever thought of this was a genius!

Just a few weeks ago I was fortunate to have participated in Tucson’s Inaugural Springfest, which was just a beautiful afternoon, with so many fun beer-centric people to talk to and so many great beers to sample. Now we are looking forward to an entire week to celebrate beer here in Tucson and the rest of the nation. The Brewers Association started American Craft Beer Week in 2006, and the week of celebration has been growing each year. While there were only 124 posted events back in 2006, the past few years there have been as many as 1500! This is a reflection of the developing interest in Craft Beer in the United States.

This week is your opportunity to celebrate the culture and community of Craft Beer. Breweries, pubs and bars are all encouraged to celebrate the week with specials and events that showcase America’s small and independent Craft Breweries.

Look for American Craft Beer Week events and connect with other beer beginners and beer enthusiasts. If you happen to have a beer in your hand on May 16 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, you won’t be alone. There is a nationwide toast for the American Craft Beer Week! Cheers!

-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward

When people ask me what my favorite beer is, I usually say “the next one”. The real answer is that the beer I am most looking forward to really is the next one.

Kidding aside, there are several factors that go into what beer I choose to drink. Looking at what beer is available; my first consideration would be what beer would go best with what I am eating. If there is no food involved, there would be a consideration as to my mood and atmosphere and what activities I might be involved in at the time.

Am I going to be sipping this one and taking my time? I might choose a Belgian Quadruple and savor the rich raison and plum flavors. There’s no hurry, and it is quite alright if it warms up a little in the glass.

Taking a break from some sweaty work and need something to refresh my palate before I go back? I would probably choose a cold, crisp Pilsner to cleanse my palate, cool me off, and I’m back to work.

How have I gotten to know which beers will work for me? I sample. And sample. And sample one more time to be sure. This can take a lot of time and a lot of money. Or you can try many different styles all in one delightful spring afternoon at a beer festival.

Tucsonans can do this at Springfest, held April 20th, 2013 at Rillito Park Racetrack. Last time I checked the craftbeeraz.com (The Arizona Craft Brewers Guild) website, I counted 35 breweries as participating. Presale tickets are $30 ( $40 at the gate), and will get you 20 sampling tickets. You can get in an hour early at noon with VIP tickets and be first in line to sample some great beers before the crowds roll in at 1PM.  

You’ll see some of the better known breweries, and some new ones you’d have to travel far and off the beaten path to get to. This is a great opportunity to expand your palate, try some new Arizona breweries and some new styles. You can expand your beer knowledge by talking to the brewers that make the beer and the distributors that sell the beer. More than likely, you’ll meet some new friends that share your enthusiasm for fine beer.

With at least 35 breweries, each sampling a number of beers, how do you get to try all of them with only 20 sampling tickets? You won’t. The best you can do is make a plan. Check out the list of breweries and the beers they are serving. Want to learn about a particular style, focus on that. Curious about an individual brewery? Hang at their booth for a while, try all their selections and chat with the representatives. When it comes down to it, there really is no wrong way to enjoy a beer festival, right?

-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward

Part 3: Packaging Beer

To experience a beer at its best, beer has to be handled with care and respect. Beer is a food product and doesn’t contain any preservatives like many other foods. Although, some beers may be pasteurized to help prolong shelf life, the presence of oxygen and microbes are still present and are the enemies of beer freshness. Fortunately, quality brewers dedicate themselves to eliminating both of these in the brewing, fermenting and packaging process. Time, temperature and light are three factors that may affect how the beer will look or taste when it finally gets in front of the consumer.

In most styles of beer, time is not a friend. Flavors in beer will change over time, and freshest is best. Hops will lose their impact and any residual oxygen trapped in the packaging can negatively impact flavors. The average shelf life of beer will vary based on the style of the beer. Most domestic lagers are best at fresher than 120 days from the day it is packaged. Most craft brands will stay fresh about 180 days, but some bigger, stronger beers may have a shelf life of 1 year or more.

There are some beers that can benefit from aging. Imperial Stouts, Barleywines and Belgian beers can all be aged, some indefinitely. What makes these styles acceptable for aging are the qualities of the style and the high alcohol content. Strong flavors when freshest might round out, or develop deeper complexities as it ages. Beers that are “bottle conditioned” have a special advantage for aging because the pinch of yeast that is added just before bottling. This starts a brief fermentation within the bottle that will eat up any oxygen that may be present in the beer and add a slight bit more of alcohol and provide carbonation. Beers from Belgium are known for this. Highly hopped beers are generally not aged, since hop flavors tend to diminish over time, but there are always exceptions to the rule! Lighter lagers and ales will not usually benefit from aging.

Temperature is the enemy of beer. Oxidation and microbial spoilage speed up rapidly when temperatures are elevated. A beer stored at 36 degrees will show practically no signs of spoilage after 120 days. At 68 degrees it may remain stable, but not spoiled until its established expiration date. Increase that temperature to over 100 degrees and complete spoilage can occur within 7 – 10 days. Draught beer is not pasteurized and has a shorter shelf life. Draught beer must be stored at 36-38 degrees in order to remain fresh. Draught beer elevated to more than 45 degrees for a length of time can spoil and the beer will turn cloudy and taste sour.

Exposure to light can affect the flavor of beer. The hops in beer are sensitive to light. Hops have a chemical component that changes when exposed to light. The flavor that results is the classic sulfury “skunk” flavor and aroma that people recognize in certain beer styles. Beers that are packaged in clear bottles usually go skunky fastest. The darker the bottle, the longer it will take to skunk. Some brewers will try to prevent skunking by using darker bottles, using larger neck labels, taller six pack carriers or completely enclosing boxes for their twelve packs. Draught beer and canned beer will not skunk because there is no chance for light exposure. Some beers that come in clear bottles will not skunk because the brewer has chosen to use hops that are processed into an oil which eliminates that chemical reaction with ultraviolet light that causes skunking.

Up next: Serving Beer.

-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward

We interrupt our scheduled blogging on some beer education stuff to celebrate a special occasion. Arizona is in the midst of an annual celebration near and dear to my heart. One deep rooted in our state and culture and reminds us of who we are as Arizonans. No, I’m not talking about Rodeo Days. I’m talking about ARIZONA BEER WEEK! This week dedicated to all things beer was created by the Arizona Craft Brewer’s Guild, which was founded in 1998 to support the craft brewers and craft beer consumers of Arizona. Heck, let’s call it what it is. It’s a party, and everyone is invited.

In years past, this could have been called a general celebration of beer since the list of local beers was rather thin. This year, the guild lists 23 members on its website. Even with that impressive list, there are even more newcomers that contribute to our local beer community that are not on the list. This year’s Arizona Beer Week is like a graduation. Arizona, you can now throw a party, and Tucson, you have arrived.

To kick off Arizona Beer Week, in Phoenix there is a big event called the Arizona Strong Beer Festival. Let me say that again, because I love those three words, especially strung together like that. Strong Beer Festival.  I regret I wasn’t able to attend, but I saw pictures. And I heard stories (sorry, promised not to tell). I also read some reviews of some of the beers that were poured. Some I was familiar with, but many I had never heard of before. Often times, brewers will have special beers only available at events like this. If you miss the event, you are out of luck.

There was a big focus on Local Beer this year and I can tell you that breweries from every corner of Arizona were there to share their brews. From our longest continually run brewery in the state, Gentle Ben’s / Barrio Brewing Company (since 1991), to the most recent newcomer, nano-brewer, “one-man show”, Wanderlust Brewing Company from Flagstaff, no one wanted to miss out on biggest beer festival in the state.

During Arizona Beer Week, you’ll see lots of beer related special events. If you are not familiar with these terms when you see them posted, here’s what to look for:

Beer dinner. A brewery will have beers that are specifically chosen to complement food that is being served. Often the chef will prepare special multiple course dishes with the beer in mind. This is a culinary / beer experience when done right can really elevate your understanding of how well beer will pair with food. My favorite part is usually dessert.

 Tap Takeovers. This is where a single brewer will take over most or all of the taps at a bar for a limited time. You will see some of the beers that are readily available in most places, but there are usually special kegs that are saved for events like this. Barrel aged versions of familiar beers and styles of beers that the brewer doesn’t generally release outside of their own taproom (because of the small batch size).
 
Cask Tappings. These are very small batches of beer (sometimes only 1 barrel) which are stored either in oak barrels or sometimes stainless steel, but might have some very innovative additions added to the beer like spices or fruits. The beer is usually served from a “beer engine”, which is basically a hand pump. It is also served at just below room temperature and doesn’t have the same level of carbonation most people are used to. These are complex beers where the brewer really becomes a culinary expert, experimenting with flavors that might be hard to replicate on a larger scale.

Look out for events like this happening now.  Fair warning! Give your liver a chance to heal up because soon it will be happening again for the American Craft Beer Week, May 13-19th!

-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward

Part 2: The Cold Side of Brewing

Can you imagine life without refrigeration? Refrigeration is such a part of our life today (especially in Arizona!), it’s hard to imagine how people have lived without it. When it comes to the world of beer, it’s not just the joy of drinking a cold beer, it’s important to making the beer too. The most popular type of beer in the world, the Lager, depends on refrigeration to make a good, consistent beer. That’s why the lager style didn’t really take off until there were advances in refrigeration. In fact, the earliest attempts at refrigeration were an effort to help breweries either preserve the beer from spoilage or help in the brewing process. Before refrigeration, ice cut from lakes or rivers were used for lagering (storing) beer and ice was packed in rail cars to help preserve the beer during shipment.

Leaving the Hot Side of Brewing in Part 1, we had boiling wort which was then spun out to remove solids. From there the wort must be cooled quickly and sent into a sterile environment. In a brewery, cleanliness is imperative. Wort has a high risk of infection which can spoil the beer. Alcohol helps reduce this risk, but we don’t have any of that until fermentation. Brewers will, as quickly as their equipment allows, cool down the hot wort. This is usually done through some sort of heat exchanger which is something similar to a car radiator, using a glycol solution. The wort needs to be cooled to a temperature where the yeast can thrive. Too hot, and the yeast can die. Too cold, and the yeast will go to sleep. Once the wort is cooled to the appropriate temperature in the fermentation vessel, yeast is added. Ales and Lagers each have their ideal fermentation temperature which contributes to the character of each beer style. Ales ferment at 62-75F degrees, Lagers at 46 – 58F degrees.

Primary fermentation is where wort sugars are consumed by the yeast to create alcohol and CO2. The yeast reproduce rapidly in primary fermentation due to the abundance of sugars available. Other important processes occur that will affect the flavor of the beer including the creation of esters, diacetyl and other sulfur related compounds. Primary fermentation can last 6 to 14 days, depending on the yeast strain, style of beer and a predetermined fermentation schedule. Ales are usually “crashed” before going into a secondary fermentation. This means the temperature is dropped to assist in settling out the yeast and other proteins. Next the beer will go into secondary fermentation.

In secondary fermentation, since most of the sugars have already been consumed, the yeast will begin to flocculate (clump together) and settle out. This will clarify the beer. Some brewers will incorporate a special “diacetyl rest” early in secondary fermentation. Diacetyl is a natural byproduct of fermentation and is acceptable to small degrees in some styles, but is very undesirable in general. You can recognize diacetyl by sensing a buttery or butterscotch aroma and flavor, a slickness on the tongue or an unpleasant lingering sensation on the roof of your mouth. Lager beers are generally conditioned at cooler temperatures just above freezing to assure the yeast and haze forming proteins have settled out, and to round out the flavors.

On tap next, Part 3: Packaging and Serving your Beer


-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward

Part 1: The Hot Side of Brewing

The beer that we enjoy today is a culmination of centuries of continual improvement. Never in the history of the world have we had so many beers, so many styles, and so much variety available to the average consumer. We enjoy all these beers because of the improvements of the technical side of the brewing. Progress happened with little advances along the way, each meant to improve the flavor of the beer or preserve it for storage and shipment. Let’s take a look at how beer is made today.

First, the brewer must prepare the water for brewing. Brewers call this water “hot liquor” (even though there is no liquor present yet). The brewer makes sure the water is free from contaminants and has the appropriate level of alkalinity and minerals for the style of beer that is being made. Hot liquor needs to work well in conjunction with the malt and provide the appropriate nutrients for yeast later on. The water is heated to appropriate temperatures for the first step of the brewing process.

Making beer starts with the malted barley being soaked in hot water. This is called mashing. The hot water (about 170 degrees) combined with the grain (at room temperature) will create an optimal temperature range (between 145 – 160 degrees) to activate the enzymes in the grain. Mashing at the lower end of the temperature range, enzymes convert starch to sugar molecules that the yeast can easily eat. Mashing at the higher end of the temperature range, the enzymes convert starch to sugar molecules that the yeast cannot eat. The sugar molecules that can’t be eaten by the yeast leave sugars in the beer that make the beer sweeter and have more body. When more sugars are metabolized by the yeast, less malt flavor, a thin body, and more alcohol is the result. To create a consistent beer within the definition of the style, the brewer manages this process carefully.

After mashing for about an hour, the sugar water is extracted from the grain. This is called wort. If everything went well in the mashing process, the brewer will have the expected level of sugars when the wort goes into the boil kettle. Brewers call this measurement of sugar dissolved in water “gravity”. The wort will then be boiled for at least an hour. Boiling will sterilize the wort and help to separate the liquid from the solids. This will result in a beer that is clear and creates a healthy environment for the yeast later on. Hops are added in the boil at different points during that hour. Hops have acids and oils which get dissolved into the boiling water. The longer the hops stay in the boiling liquid, the more acids are dissolved into the liquid and bitterness is the result. Hops added later in the boil, will break down just enough to create complex flavors and aromas. Irish moss or other additives may be added at the end of the boil to assist in separating the liquids and solids.

At the end of the boil, the brewer wants to separate solids that have separated from the wort during the boil, and make sure these are filtered off before the wort goes into fermentation. If the hops and grain particles went into fermentation, the result might be off flavors and increased risk of infection in the beer. Separation is usually done through whirl-pooling, where the wort is spun around and through centrifugal force, the solids separate from the liquids. The hot wort is now ready to head to the cold side of the brewery.

On tap next: Part 2, The Cold Side of Brewing

-John Gestautas, Keg Keeper
Certified Cicerone®
Master Brewers Association of America Beer Steward