Beer

Beer Columns

Drink these. You’ll feel better.

The Madras cocktail (Graham Cullen)

THE MADRAS

Mark Lambert, owner of Dragon Distillery, describes this cocktailas “super simple, but delicious.”

In shaker mix:

2 oz Paladin Pomegranate-Cherry vodka
3 oz ounces orange juice
3 oz cranberry juice

Pour into a glass over ice and garnish with orange wedge if desired.

Attaboy’s Fredhead Red (Chris Sands)

BREW YOUR OWN

Attaboy Beer’s Fredhead Red, one of its first beers, is piney, roasty and rich.

Original Gravity: 15.9 Plato (1.065)

Final Gravity: 3.3 Plato

Percent ABV: 7.1

IBU: 50

Grist Bill:

Amounts are based on a 6-gallon batch with 80% efficiency.

2 Row – 9 lbs 14 oz (76.6%)

CaraRed – 17 oz (8.1%)

Light Munich – 17 oz (8.1%)

Crystal Malt 80L – 11 oz (5.2%)

Black Malt – 2 oz (1%)

Black Prinz – 2 oz (1%)

153F mash temperature for one hour

60-minute boil, with the following hop
additions for a 6-gallon batch:

55 minutes – Columbus (14.8 AA) – 28 grams

5 minutes – Whirlfloc – half tablet

0 minutes Whirlpool addition – Columbus
25 grams

0 minutes Whirlpool addition – Simcoe 17 grams

0 minutes Whirlpool addition – Comet
25 grams

White Labs 001 yeast

Day 8 Dry Hop – Simcoe 46 grams

Day 8 Dry Hop – Comet 29 grams

Day 9 Dry Hop – Simcoe 61 grams

Day 9 Dry Hop – Comet 26 grams

December 12, 2017 0 comment

Beer Columns

Drink this – Red All Over

Red All Over

Brew Your Own version of Monocacy Brewing
Company’s Red All Over, a 2013 red ale crafted for The Frederick News-Post’s 130th anniversary.

Original Gravity: 15.5 Plato (1.062)
Final Gravity: 4.3 Plato (1.017)
Percent ABV: 5.9
IBU: 50

Grist Bill:
Amounts are based on a 5 gallon batch with an 80% efficiency.
Pale Malt – 8.0 lbs. (74.4%)
Victory Malt – 1.25 lbs. (11.6%)
Melanoidin Malt – .50 lbs (4.7%)
Crystal Malt 60L – .50 lbs (4.7%)
Crystal Malt 120L – .50 lbs (4.7%)

148F mash temperature for 1-1/2 hrs

90 minute boil, with the following hop
additions for a 5 gallon batch:

Cascade hop addition at start, 20
grams of 6.4% alpha

Nugget hop addition at start, 9 grams
of 14.5% alpha

White Labs 001 yeast

After attenuation, proceed with dry hopping was at ~22 grams hops/gallon beer in the following ratio:
40% Chinook
30% Glacier
20% Nugget
5% Columbus
5% Cascade

For the hop additions, you can increase/decrease the mass of hops added with a direct ratio of whatever percent alpha you end up actually using. For instance, if you find Cascade at 7.2% alpha, then you’d drop the size of the addition as follows: 20g X (6.4/7.2) = 18g.
-courtesy of brewmaster Tom Flores

Look for Mic’ed Up Mango, a new collaboration between
the UnCapped Podcast and Monocacy Brewing, later this year.

September 13, 2017 0 comment

Beer Stories

What is craft beer?

In some ways, that seems like a silly question. Just a few years ago, it was pretty easy to define what craft beer was — any beer not made by a macro brewery. However, as large breweries like AB InBev are buying small craft breweries as a way to compete in that market segment, the definition has grown murkier.

Some fans of craft beer argue that any brewery owned by a macro brewery can no longer be considered craft. Some fans care only if the brewery is producing a quality product.
One place to look for a definition is the Brewers Association. It defines a craft brewer as small, producing 6 million barrels or fewer annually; independent, meaning less than 25 percent is owned or controlled by an entity that is not a craft brewer; and traditional, in that a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers has a flavor derived from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation.
I asked those with a stake in Frederick’s craft brewing industry to expound on the definition. Here’s what they had to say.

“Men and women who are experts in a craft are generally referred to as ‘artisans’ these days. …A bit of the personality, nature, and culture of artisans—a bit of their heart and soul—is in what artisans create. You can feel it. You can sense it. Artisans don’t create products, they create something to believe in. A craft beer cannot be created by a marketing company or by some arbitrary industry classification. A craft beer can only be created by men and women who we honor as ‘artisans’ in the most noble sense of that term.”
–Jim Caruso, CEO, Flying Dog Brewery

“Craft beer to me is a product of small brewers. At least that is how we start out, trying to create new and interesting flavors. This can mean brewing something totally new or trying to improve on classic styles with modern brewing techniques and ingredients.
As for the current trend of big beer buying up smaller breweries, I think the difference is those breweries have already found their niche and have a large following of core customers, which is what put them on the radar of big beer in the first place. That is not to say that they are necessarily resting on their laurels and not producing new beers. I feel that breweries that have been acquired by big beer lose control of what brought them into this industry in the first place. It’s obviously a business decision, but there is a price to pay.

As a consumer of craft beer, I do not support sell-out breweries. I harbor no ill will toward them, but prefer to spend my money on the myriad of excellent craft beer that is available just about everywhere from small independent brewers.”
–Scott McKernon, brewmaster, Rockwell Brewery

“Brewing craft beer represents independent expression which, by definition, cannot be simply acquired from someone else and remain true or real.”
–Eric Gleason, head brewer, Barley & Hops

“Craft beer is about small, locally owned and operated breweries. Craft beer is about keeping your dollar local. When you buy a craft beer, your money stays in town. When you buy a Bud Light, most of that dollar leaves your community.”
–Brian Ogden, owner/brewmaster, Attaboy Beer

“A former craft brewer purchased by a mega-brewer no longer has claim to the identity of a craft brewer. We should applaud their success but by no means grant them a free pass to continue identifying with their former nature.”
–Tom Flores, brewmaster, Brewer’s Alley and Monocacy Brewing Company

“Craft beer to us is friends, community and collaboration. It’s an opportunity to express our passion for the craft, and be a part of such a supportive beer culture in Frederick. It’s a great time for our city and craft beer!”
–Keith Marcoux co-owner/brewer, Olde Mother Brewing

September 6, 2017 0 comment

Beer Cover Liquor

Liquor to Beer, Never Fear

Distilleries and Breweries Team Up

Four years ago, when Mark Lambert was still the CEO of a nuclear company, he had a heart attack. “That was my wake-up call,” he said. “I knew I needed to do something different.”

As the Mount Airy resident considered the road ahead, he looked to his past for inspiration — specifically, to his great grandfather “Bad” Bill Tutt, a legendary Maryland moonshiner with eastern Kentucky roots — and the idea of Dragon Distillery was born.

Soon after Lambert finally opened Dragon Distillery’s doors to the public, Flying Dog Brewery CEO Jim Caruso, a passionate supporter of “all things local,” came for a visit.

Over samples, Caruso’s exploratory mission organically led to a discussion of opportunity — was there an interest in collaborating?
“I’d love to,” Lambert replied.

Dragon Distillery and Flying Dog, both in Frederick, embarked on their partnership with the Dragon Dog Frederick Rye whiskey, which featured a rye mash with nine specialty rye grains. Though it was conceived as a one-off, it will make another appearance this year, thanks in large part to the positive response the initial run received.

Ahead of that second generation of Dragon Dog, however, Flying Dog and the now 1-year-old distillery were hard at work on not one, but two parallel collaborations, which were scheduled to be released simultaneously in early September: Fear the Dragon, a spirit distilled from The Fear, which is Flying Dog’s imperial pumpkin ale, and a limited release of The Fear aged in the same barrel used to age Fear the Dragon for 10 months—a charred American white oak.

It was Flying Dog brewmaster Ben Clark who had the initial idea to distill their annual fall seasonal, which boasts a bold flavor profile of cinnamon, allspice and ginger, accented by approximately 600 pounds of pumpkin per 50 barrels and the rich hue of midnight wheat.

“You can pretty much distill anything that will ferment,” Clark said. “That’s always been really interesting to me. Plus, it was great to see Mark in his element.”

“You also get to see the precise methodology of brewers,” Lambert said. “Distillation is a lot more forgiving than brewing. If you screw up a batch of beer, you toss it. If you screw up a batch of spirits, well, you redistill it.”

But at the heart of their animated conversation of comparison was a clear message that goes beyond whatever final liquid you’ll see in a glass—it’s about mutual respect and empowering the totality of Frederick’s thriving craft beverage community to be successful. Not only has Flying Dog been a great experimental craft beverage partner, but, “They’ve also been amazing in their support of us as we’ve grown,” Lambert said.

This spirit of community seems to be contagious. “The industry here in Frederick is growing,” said Monica Pearce, owner and cofounder of Tenth Ward Distilling Company in downtown Frederick. “We work to promote each other because there are more benefits to working together than competing against each other. Plus, it’s a lot of fun.”

It’s this attitude that inspired Tenth Ward to embark on a barrel project with its neighbor, Olde Mother Brewing, founded by Keith Marcoux and Nick Wilson.

It started with a Tenth Ward apple jack barrel, which was later passed to Olde Mother for the aging of a plum saison, then a stout. That same barrel will now go back to Tenth Ward for reuse in the crafting of a “stouted” rye.

“Collaborating is about thinking outside the box, with the added bonus of getting to work with other small businesses in the area,” Marcoux said.
In addition, Tenth Ward has joined forces with Orchid Cellar Meadery and Winery in Middletown and Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm in Mount Airy for a barrel-aging story told in three parts.

First, Orchid Cellar mead was distilled into honeyjack, a honey-based spirit, at Tenth Ward and aged in a whiskey barrel for 11 months. That same barrel is now at Milkhouse for the aging of three beers: Goldie’s Best, Dollyhyde farmhouse and Coppermine Creek dry stout.

Again, for Pearce, it’s about more than the final product. “We’re improving and growing our communities, rather than focusing on ourselves.”

Back at Dragon Distillery, Fear the Dragon is ready for launch. But the barrel-aged version of Flying Dog’s The Fear is still shrouded in oak and mystery, ahead of its early September release.

Having drawn a few tastes off the barrel, however, Flying Dog’s Clark hinted at what drinkers can expect. “You definitely get that barrel character, and the spice notes have more depth.”

Those who miss out on the opportunity to sample it themselves need not despair, though. Other inspired, community-forward creations will follow.
“We’ve got some things in the works,” Clark teased. “I’m really excited for what may come in the future.”

To try Fear the Dragon and The Fear, visit Dragon Distillery or Flying Dog while supplies last.
Follow Tenth Ward Distilling on Facebook for info about an event celebrating their collaboration with Orchid Cellar Meadery and Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm.

September 6, 2017 0 comment

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