This week, the guys bring a review of one of Shawn’s favorite breweries from the Land of the Rising Sun. Hitachino Nest is a brewery within a brewery; its parent company Kiuchi, has been brewing saké for nearly 200 years. These intriguing ales have been making their way into upscale Asian fusion restaurants, craft beer stores, and some beer bars throughout the Twin Cities for a couple years.

Coming from a land of adjunct rice lagers, the folks at Hitachino ferment an amazing, refreshing oddity, seemingly a frontrunner in the Japanese craft beer revolution. Our friends Stephen and John from New Brew Thursday recently visited Koji Nomura, owner of Craftheads in Shibuya, Japan, while John was on tour with his punk band, Better Luck Next Time.

If you happen to see a curious-looking bottle with a red owl on the center of the label during your next visit to the local craft store, take a few home and let us know what you think!

Hitachino Nest – Red Rice Ale
Style: Belgian-style Double
ABV: 7.0%
IBU: 11
OG: 1.070

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #10 Show Notes

0:00-0:22 - Introduction
0:22-14:25 – Red Rice Ale by Hitachino Nest
14:25-15:22 – Conclusion

Are you a big fan of bitter beers and Tyranena Brewing (@Tyranena) of Wisconsin? Then you might think that this episode was crafted especially for you. Shawn and I take some time to review two “out there” beers from our midwest sustenance provider. From their “Brewer’s Gone Wild” series, we have the Bitter Woman in the Rye, an India Pale Ale brewed with rye malt, and Hop Whore, an Imperial IPA.

Tyranena Brewing – Bitter Woman in the Rye
Style: Rye Beer
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): N/A
IBU: N/A

Tyranena Brewing – Hop Whore
Style: American Imperial IPA
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): N/A
IBU: N/A

The Beer Genome Project #26 Show Notes

0:00-0:59- Introduction
0:59-16:29 – Bitter Woman in the Rye by Tyranena Brewing
16:29-24:28 - Hop Whore by Tyranena Brewing
24:28 -53:20 – News and Events
53:20-56:53 – Conclusion

Peace Tree Brewing in Iowa
Peace Tree Brewing’s blog, @peacetreebrew on Twitter

Blue Moon Brewing celebrates rare coincidence this Dec. 31st with new beer
[http://news.draftmag.com]

You Know What Would Make For An Interesting Beer Festival…
[http://www.beerscribe.com]

Schells Hopfenmalz arrives in bottles early 2010
[http://beernews.org]

In recent months, Shawn and I have been trying to learn about homebrewing with our friends and via the web. I must say that Twitter has been awesome to do some quick crowd-sourcing to get some different perspectives on a question I had. One source of help has been homebrewer and gent Stephen Freshnock, a.k.a. @slovakbrewer on Twitter.

Shawn was able to meet up with Stephen when he made his trip to Chicago earlier this year. Then, sometime this fall, Shawn was also able to score a few bottles of Stephen’s homebrew. This week we’re releasing a Happy Hour episode in which Shawn and I were able to get together and share one of those homebrews: an Imperial Brown Ale. I asked Stephen to share a little back story on his beer to offer context for myself, Shawn and you (the reader/listener). Feel free to read his commentary now, but definitely make sure to come back after you hear the show. Thanks Stephen for letting us try your homebrew and discuss it here on our show; I look forward to future tastings and learning more as both Shawn and I begin our foray into homebrewing.

From Stephen:

Like many recipes this one came to me while in a drinking session. I was at a local pub enjoying the Imperial version of the Brown Ale. It was much drier and had cascade as the featured hop. I often think about what I would change not to improve the beer but to make it my own. In the winter I enjoy the thick tongue depressor beers like “Expedition”, “Darkness” etc.. I wanted to bring out those flavors without breaching the session-ability of the brown ale style. Being a home brewer gives me license to batter styles, so I hopped it like an IPA with Columbus. This gives it a resiny piney aroma that is so inviting and then you get his with a mouth full of malt to sits hand and hand with the hop flavor. It think the bitterness helps push the maltiness through and guide you to your next sip. The deep dark color is due to my process. Before I rinsing the grain bed, I do an extended recirculation of wort to improve clarity and set the grain bed. This means I am running wort through wort which darkens the color. I am willing to sacrifice color in order to improve the quality/stability of my beer. I also reduce the first gallon wort to 1/2 a gallon. This creates a super sweet unfermentable base to the beer. This also deepens the color further. This wort reduction also impacts flavor tremendously. The rich caramel and toffee flavors are a result of this. I layered a two different types of chocolate malt and 3 different low lovibond caramel malts to add complexity. There is a small bitterness charge at 90 minutes, a small flavor charge at 30. Then I pack in 3 ounces of Columbus in the last 15 minutes. There are 2 ounces at 1 minute, this results in the big hoppy aroma. This beer is meant to have more malt flavor and more hop aroma.

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #9 Show Notes

0:00-1:49 - Introduction
1:49-16:05 – American Brown Ale from @SlovakBrewer
16:05-17:46 – Conclusion

This episode is an oldie, but a goodie. My friend Jason (one of the many here at The Beer Genome Project) and I got together to primarily try out Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale, and decided to throw on a few other beers that we haven’t yet had a chance to try.  Unfortunately Schlafly is not a brewery that we have access to here in Iowa, and it might take another road trip to Missouri before I can taste another. Additionally, Jason and I tried the Grand Cru from Schlafly as well as the Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing Company. Buckle in folks, this Happy Hour episode is true to its name in length. Cheers!

Saint Louis Brewery – Schlafly Grand Cru
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 9.00%

Saint Louis Brewery – Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 8.00%

Great Divide Brewing Company – Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.50%

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #8 Show Notes

0:00-3:32 - Introduction
3:32-17:31 – Grand Cru by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery)
17:31-36:35 – Pumpkin Ale by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery)
36:35-57:41 – Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti by Great Divide Brewing
57:41-58:54 – Conclusion

It’s been a great first year everyone. Shawn and I wanted to start off the second year right by revisiting the beer we reviewed way back on episode one, the Winter Ale by Summit Brewing of St. Paul, MN. And even though this marks the beginning of winter and its own selection of seasonal beers, stay tuned as there are a few fall season wrap-ups occurring within the next week or so. The episode gets nostalgic enough for one post, so grab a cold-one and enjoy. Cheers!

Summit Brewing – Winter Ale
Style: Winter Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 6.2%
IBU: 36

The Beer Genome Project #25 Show Notes

0:00-0:47 – Introduction
0:47-18:00 – Winter Ale by Summit Brewing
18:00-24:25 - Reflections on Year One
24:25 -42:50 – News and Events
42:50-47:54 – Conclusion

** Correction: We mention three Toms as affiliates of the BGP. Shawn incorrectly pronounced Tom Nehil’s last name as NEE-hil. It’s actually NEEL. Sorry for the error Tom

A hiatus you say? No way. Shawn and I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes just as we passed our one-year mark. We’re really excited you guys have joined us on our journey and we are fully prepared to progress further in our second year. Episode 24 was actually recorded during the weekend of Darkness Day, up in Minnesota. On the evening I arrived, Shawn and I wanted to record reviews for a few beers the two of us knew we wanted to share together. For that, we considered the options in Shawn’s new “beer cave” and emerged with two Imperial IPAs: “A Little Sumpin’ Extra” by Lagunitas Brewing Company and Struise Mikkeller. Thanks for the great year everyone, stay tuned as the upcoming Episode 25 will be the finale to season one. Cheers!

Lagunitas Brewing Company – A Little Sumpin’ Extra! Ale
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 7.7%
IBU: 72

Mikkeller – Struise Mikkeller
Style: Herb and Spice Beer
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 9.0%
IBU: 130

The Beer Genome Project #24 Show Notes

0:00-1:10 – Introduction
1:10-14:39 – A Little Sumpin’ Extra! Ale by Lagunitas Brewing
14:39-39:45 - Struise Mikkeller
39:45 -49:54 – News and Events
49:54-57:15 – Conclusion

In the last episode, we presented a few Oktoberfest style beers as a traditional example of fall seasonal beers. This week we continue our foray into fall seasonals with three ales, two of which are of the pumpkin variety. Of course we detail a few upcoming local events, present some blog posts from our friends, and there is also some news surrounding Anheuser-Busch InBev. As always, let us know what you’ve found to drink in these fall months and again, thanks for listening. Cheers!

Redhook Ale Brewery – Late Harvest Autumn Ale
Style: American Amber Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 5.9%
IBU: n/a

O’Fallon Brewery – Pumpkin Beer
Style: Herb and Spice Beer
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 5.6%
IBU: 11

New Holland Brewing – Ichabod
Style: Herb and Spice Beer
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 5.5%
IBU: n/a

Story Links

“Brewpub Etiquette” from BeerDorks.com

“Ind. lawmakers hear Sunday alcohol sales ban views” from Forbes.com

The Beer Genome Project #23 Show Notes

0:00-0:49 – Introduction
0:49-10:24 – Late Harvest Autumn Ale by Redhook Brewery
10:24-18:46 - Pumpkin Ale by O’Fallon Brewery
18:46 -25:30 – Ichabod by New Holland Brewing
25:30-45:54 – News and Discussion
45:54-49:37 - Conclusion

Everyday Drinkers

I was also a guest on this past week’s Oktoberfest episode of the Everyday Drinkers podcast. The cast went through quite the assortment of fall beers. Check it out at EverydayDrinkers.com.

Look out your window; summer is almost gone. Or, perhaps, I’m just really excited for the fall. With all the new seasonal beers rolling out, there is good reason to be excited for this season. Shawn and I wanted to start the season right with two of the better known American versions of the Oktoberfest/Märzen style of beer. This means that almost all of you listeners should be able to find one if not both of these examples of the beer style. We were definitely excited to jump into the reviews, and I guarantee a full exploration of the Octoberfest style throughout the coming weeks. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers!

Boston Beer Company – Samuel Adams Octoberfest
Style: Märzen/Oktoberfest
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 5.7%
IBU: n/a

Left Hand Brewing Company – Oktoberfest
Style: Märzen/Oktoberfest
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 6.0%
IBU: n/a

The Beer Genome Project #22 Show Notes

0:00-5:44 – Introduction
5:44-22:36 – Samuel Adams Octoberfest
22:36-41:33 - Left Hand Brewing Oktoberfest
41:33-48:12 – Discussion of Local Events
48:12-50:43 – Conclusion

We recently had a friend of ours return from Argentina. He brought back with him the country’s most popular beer, Quilmes Cristal. In recent years, the Quilmes brewery (Cervecería y maltería Quilmes) has been all but bought out by Anheuser-Busch InBev, purveyor of American light lagers. Joining us on this week’s Happy Hour is @JasonBGP, a welcome addition. The Cristal is an American Adjunct Lager coming in at 4.90% ABV. I didn’t know this beer was available in the states, but I did find traditional 12 oz. bottles in the area – so you should be able to track down a bottle and try it out.

Cervecería y maltería Quilmes - Quilmes Cristal
Style: American Adjunct Lager
ABV: 4.90%

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #7 Show Notes

0:00-2:12 - Introduction
2:12-19:01 – Quilmes Cristal
19:01-19:44 – Conclusion

Russian River Brewing Company – Pliny the Elder
Style: Double/Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.0%

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #6 Show Notes

0:00-3:21 - Introduction
3:21-10:56 – Review of Pliny the Elder
10:56-16:49 – Recap of St. Paul Summer Beer Fest
16:49-17:22 – Conclusion