Stories

Of Match Makers & Velocipedes

How McClintock got its name

I love craft beer, and I love the stories behind it just as much. I started Uncapped in late 2011 as a blog covering craft beer, and it lasted a few years until life got in the way of keeping it going. During that time, the craft beverage industry in Frederick and all of Maryland began to grow rapidly, and in October 2016, UnCapped was resurrected as a podcast. During the podcast, I always ask guests how their business got its name. In episode 3 of “UnCapped: The Distillery Series,” co-owner Tyler Hegamyer explained where the name McClintock Distilling came from. Here is an excerpt from that podcast.

Chris: Not only do I find your location to be perfect, McClintock just sounds like a distillery that has been around forever. So, one, it’s just amazing that the name wasn’t already taken. So where does the name come from?

Tyler: It actually wasn’t even our first pick. We were full bore on a different name but complete with doing advertising and almost designing a logo, then last minute we found out that name happened to be taken three days before we had submitted our trademark on it. So, we flip-flopped to McClintock a little bit later on. It was actually a name that we had come up with initially. We kind of were young guys so we didn’t think it fit us very well, kind of sounded a little bit too old-school.
So, McClintock is actually the first name of a man named McClintock Young. He’s an old Frederick inventor. If you know the McCutcheon building over along the creek, it has a bunch of ‘Faces of Frederick’ on there, he’s actually one of the faces on there. A really interesting guy. Ties in really well to what we do. So, he has over a hundred patents that he had. Most of them were from when he worked for the Ox Fibre Brush Company, which was a 5-acre plant where the present-day Goodwill is. He did everything, from a whole slew of inventions, everything from making Diamond Matches’ early match-stick making machines, that he sold them, all the way through making all of Ox Fibre brushing machines that would take a wood block all the way through a finished brush. Was responsible for moving the crank on the velocipede from the front wheel to the back, which is the present-day bicycle. His first invention when he was 12 years old was a fire engine that would throw water 35 feet — steam-powered fire engine. So, he was a really interesting guy for his time so we kind of tied it all in to the products we produce, trying to kind of capture that spirit of his innovation and put that into what we produce.

Chris: That’s really cool. So, you just, for one, the guy has a super-interesting story but did you decide you just wanted to have a Frederick source name?

Tyler: We actually got tied in to him. I grew up in Frederick my whole life. In fact, I lived right up against Gambrill State Park. And about five, six years ago, the same time we were planning all this, we — my brother purchased a piece of property at the end of the street I grew up on and on that property was an old stone house that I had been going to my entire life, that’s the haunted house. We had never gone inside it. It had always been boarded up. But on that property was that house and we got the opportunity to finally go through it. And when we went through it, one of the first things we found in this old chest was a deed of sale to Diamond Match for one of their initial machines that would take something from a wood block all the way to a finished match … Then from there we just uncovered all sorts of things as we began researching it and it just ties in really well with the Frederick community. And it’s also a name, when you see McClintock, it has a great tie to the Frederick community but, at the same time, once we started and grew it beyond that, it’s not limiting us just to the Frederick community.

Check out the entire podcast, plus other episodes, including our recent interview with Guinness, at uncappedpodcast.com.

September 13, 2017 0 comment

Liquor Stories

The Case for a Splash of Water

By Jenna Gallegos

Two physical chemists walk into a bar. They order whiskey, and a jolly Scotsman one stool over insists they add a splash of water to optimize the taste. Inspired by the smooth, smoky flavor, they vow to investigate a question whiskey enthusiasts answered decades ago: Does adding water to it really make it taste better?

That’s the almost true story behind a paper published in August in the journal Scientific Reports. Bjorn Karlsson and Ran Friedman of the Linnaeus University Centre for Biomaterials Chemistry are not whiskey drinkers, but Friedman did visit Scotland, and he raised an eyebrow at the locals’ dedication to watering down even the fanciest scotch.
Like a good scientist, he wanted to test the assumption, so he teamed up with Karlsson and used computer simulations to model the molecular composition of whiskey.

There are two competing theories for why adding water might improve the flavor, Karlsson said. The first suggests that adding water traps compounds that are unpleasant.

Whiskey contains fatty acid esters that have two very different ends. The head is electrostatically attracted to water and the tail is not. Fatty acid esters in water can form compounds called micelles. In micelles, all the tails come together in the middle while the heads form a sphere on the outside, like a bouquet of lollipops with their sticks all tied together on the inside. Adding water to whiskey could, theoretically, cause more micelles to form, trapping compounds that don’t taste or smell good.

A competing theory suggests that adding water releases molecules that improve the flavor. Whiskey is diluted before bottling to about 40 percent ethanol. Water and ethanol don’t make for a perfectly uniform mixture. Aromatic compounds could become trapped in ethanol clusters and never reach the surface. Our tongues are only capable of identifying the flavors sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (savory), so aroma is really important for detecting all the other flavors that connoisseurs appreciate in whiskey.

Karlsson and Friedman found that fatty acid esters exist in such low concentrations that the first theory is unlikely, so they decided to focus on the second. In reality, “whiskey is a complicated mixture of hundreds or even thousands of compounds,” Karlsson said. They focused on just three: water, ethanol, and an aromatic compound called guaiacol.

Guaiacol is what gives whiskey that smoky, spicy, peaty flavor. Chemically, guaiacol is similar to a lot of other whiskey aroma compounds, like vanillin (with the scent of vanilla) and limonene (citrus). These and other flavor compounds are not attracted to water and are more likely to become trapped in ethanol clusters.

In the researchers’ simulations, they found that the concentration of ethanol had a large effect on guaiacol. At concentrations above 59 percent ethanol, the alcohol content to which whiskey is distilled, the guaiacol was mixed throughout. In the simulation, at 40 percent, ethanol accumulated near the surface, bringing the guaiacol with it. At about 27 percent the ethanol began to aerosolize, presumably freeing the guaiacol even further.
If their state-of-the-art simulations were a SIMS video game, you would play the role of a stressed-out bartender and spend hours adjusting the water and alcohol levels back and forth. Not enough water, and the guaiacol won’t bubble up into the nostrils of your whiskey-swilling patrons. Too much, and your angry customers will spit out the flavorless, watered down spirits.

“Adding water changes the equilibrium,” said Daniel Lacks, who was not involved with the study, but conducts similar modeling experiments at Case Western University in Ohio. The new model shows that diluting the whiskey “causes molecules to rise to the surface.”
But Paul Hughes, a food scientist and distilling expert at Oregon State, was not convinced that the propensity of ethanol to rise to the surface when whiskey is diluted tells the whole story. In the simulation, only three types of molecules were included, and their activity was modeled in a very tiny volume of spirits. “My sense is that the box they’ve used isn’t tall enough,” Hughes said.

The ratio of surface area to volume in the simulation is not at all similar to what you get with a bottle or a glass, he said.

Whether by disrupting ethanol clusters or encouraging the molecules to rise to the surface, it’s clear that adding water to whiskey has the molecular potential to release important flavor compounds like guaiacol. So why isn’t whiskey simply bottled at lower alcohol concentrations?

If diluting whiskey really does mean that aromatic molecules evaporate from the surface, “by bottling at higher concentrations, you get less deterioration of taste,” Lacks said. Whiskey, by definition, has to be 40 percent alcohol, said Hughes. Diluting it would also increase packaging and distribution costs.

At the end of the day, people should drink their whiskey however they prefer it, said Hughes, but “if someone says they don’t like whiskey, they just haven’t tried the right one yet.”

–The Washington Post

September 12, 2017 0 comment

Stories Wine

Grape Expectations

Photos by Bill Green
Elk Run Vineyards owners Carol and Fred Wilson hold a selection of Cabernet sauvignon grapes in the vineyard they have farmed for nearly 37 years.

“Growing grapes in the mid-Atlantic is tedious, but it can be done,” said Anthony Aellen, the vice president and winemaker for Linganore Winecellars in Mount Airy.

For the past 30 minutes, Aellen has been explaining, in detail, the challenges of making a great bottle of wine in Maryland. First and foremost is the climate — hot and muggy summers that hasten the growth of downy mildew and other plant pests. Rain is also a problem, added Joe Fiola, the specialist for viticulture and small fruit at the University of Maryland Extension. Too much rain in the winter can leach oxygen from the soil and make grapevines more sensitive to the cold. Too much in the summer and vines will grow too much, or grapes will absorb the excess water and burst.

“I was talking to a winemaker on the Eastern Shore and he’s gotten 20 inches of rain in the past month,” Fiola said wryly. “It’s difficult to grow any plant in those conditions.”

For more than 50 years, Maryland grape agriculturists have battled freezing winters, wet summers and growing labor costs in pursuit of a holy grail for many states — a booming wine industry that can attract tourists and expand the local economy.

Maryland now has 89 licensed wineries and just over 1,000 acres of planted grapes, and the consumption of Maryland wine has increased more than 10 percent every year over the past 10 years, according to Fiola and Kevin Atticks, the executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association. Still, the state’s industry pales in comparison to California’s, where there are around 45,000 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley alone.

The pressure to grow the industry continues to challenge Maryland grape growers and winery owners, who face obstacles that just aren’t present in other areas of the country. The challenging mid-Atlantic climate creates extra work for farmers, who generally have to prune their vines three or four times a season, Fiola said. In ideal conditions, growers wouldn’t have to do that at all. East Coast farmers are also forced to spray their grapes with fungicides somewhere between six and 14 times a season, while West Coast growers spray no more than six times.

“To make a great wine in Maryland, there’s just not a lot of room for error,” Fiola said. “The viticulture has to be impeccable. Ninety percent of it is doing things right in the vineyard.”

The labor involved with cultivating grapes has also created another problem in Maryland: a shortage in supply. Though the number of vineyards in Maryland has grown in the last 10 years, the number of wineries has grown even faster, creating a gulf when it comes to the demand for grapes.

Most wineries in the state that don’t grow their own plants still make an effort to buy grapes grown in Maryland, supplementing with grapes from nearby states when necessary, Aellen said. But a handful of winemakers continue to buy grapes from outside the state or even outside the country, importing precrushed concentrate from places such as Chile and Argentina. The trend is frustrating for winemakers who work to grow or who rely on Maryland fruit exclusively, striving to create an authentic Maryland wine industry, he said.

“If you buy grapes from Argentina, is it a Maryland wine?” Aellen said. “Hell no, it’s not. That taints all of us who are producing here and put in the dollars and the time and the effort to promote grape-growing in the state.”

On the plus side, fewer and fewer wineries rely on nonlocal grapes as the Maryland wine continues to take root, Fiola said. And in Frederick County, winemakers continue to grow and experiment with Old World vines and hybrid varieties.

Cabernet franc and chardonnay grow especially well in the county, as do other European varieties like the Spanish grape albariño. Old World grapes take a starring role at many of the region’s most popular wineries, including Elk Run Vineyards & Winery in Mount Airy.

“We made our reputation growing the classic grapes,” said Carol Wilson, a co-owner of the vineyard. “Vines like Cabernet Franc, Cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot. If you can make a Cabernet in Maryland, then you can really make a name for yourself.”

Old World grapes have also become a hallmark of the industry throughout the state, Fiola added. “I usually like to equate Maryland with Old World styles of wine like France and Italy,” he said. “The intensity and complexity of the wines we make are much more similar to Old World countries. Much more nuanced, much more food-friendly.”

September 6, 2017 0 comment

Liquor Stories

When’s It Whiskey? And When’s It Bourbon, or Scotch for That Matter?

On beer tours at his distillery, Kyle Pfalzer has a simple way of describing what whiskey is to novices.

“Very basically, it’s just distilled beer,” said the co-owner of Tenth Ward Distilling Company in Frederick.

But whiskies vary. There are scotches, bourbons, and whiskys. And that’s when the conversation gets a bit more intricate.

In large part, the biggest variance in different whiskeys is based on geography. Scotch, for instance, by law can only be made in Scotland. While someone in the U.S. could make what could be considered scotch—mostly made from malted barley—since it was not made in Scotland, it is technically whisky—without the “e.” To be considered scotch, the alcohol has to be aged in oak barrels for three years or more.

While most whiskey is made from barley, corn, rye or wheat, bourbon is typically made using corn. In order to be considered a bourbon, the grain mash must be at least 51 percent corn. Bourbon, by federal law, must be stored in charred, new oak containers at no more than 125 proof. It must be bottled at no less than 80 proof, and can not contain any added flavoring or coloring.

All bourbon is considered whiskey, but not all whiskey is considered bourbon.

Other whiskies must be distilled at no more than 190 proof.

Photo by Graham Cullen
Menzi Khumalo, left, and Jennifer Tyler sample a whiskey at Tenth Ward.

Whether or not the “e” is in “whiskey” is also dependent on geography. Countries like Canada and Scotland spell it without the “e,” while American and Irish whiskies have the “e.”
Locally, many of the distilleries that offer whiskey make white whiskey. For instance, Tenth Ward offers several white whiskies, including its White Caraway Rye.
MISCellaneous Distillery in Mount Airy recently released its first whiskey, called Restless Rye Whisky. It’s 100 percent rye made with all Maryland grain, and gets its name for not having rested in a barrel.

White whiskey gets its color simply from not being aged in barrels. As distilleries mature, they have more time to age their alcohol to make their whiskey darker.
Dragon Distillery in Frederick, which offers bourbon making classes, sold out of its last small-batch bourbon—Basilisk Bourbon. The distillery is set to release a new whiskey next month.
“One of the reasons we got into doing whiskey in the first place is because there are so many different ways to do a good whiskey,” said Monica Pearce, Tenth Ward co-owner. “And all whiskey is pretty much enjoyable, so there are so many people that kind of gravitate to drinking it.”

September 6, 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