My BJCP class met for the last time yesterday, and it was the best class of the whole course.
We began tasting and judging the same beer we sampled the first day of class. To Les’s credit, my ability to describe a beer has improved considerably — with my responses bearing little resemblance to the monosyllabic, one-word, vague descriptors of my first attempt. My ability to make an educated guess as to what kind of beer I’m drinking blindly has gone from extremely basic to pretty accurate. The beer in question was Clipper City’s Winter Storm, which according to Kurt —one of the brewers at Clipper City, and a class member — is stylistically an Extra Special Bitter, which is what I guessed it to be and judged accordingly. Not quite to style considering its higher than normal ABV, but otherwise a pretty good example. We didn’t score the beer.
Next we tried another beer blindly, but were told to judge it as an English Dark Mild. I gave the beer a total score of 36, noting that it should probably could have benefitted from a litle less attenuation, or increased maltodextrine that would provide body, sweetness, and reduced the roast-malt astringency I experienced. The beer turned out to be Les’s Mild brewed at Big Brew about a month ago. He agreed that the beer deserved to be in the upper 30s, but not quite a 40.
All in all, I feel pretty confident that my abilities have improved, and my palate as developed significantly. I still have no problem drinking a Miller Lite, but I have to note that I’m more inclined to drink bottled beer at establishments I don’t know well, or have experienced the effects of dirty taps at.
The technical topic — Recipe Formulation — was presented by Tom Davidson, Thirsty Brewer proprietor, Wootown Club President and my beer mentor. I’ll be writing a full article on this topic in the future, but suffice to say the most important thing I learned was a simple number: 25 PPG. Twenty-five points per gallon; that’s the number to be aware of when formulating a grain bill as an average for sugar extraction. Each gallon of water should be adding about .025 points of gravity to your total wort. It’s relatively complex topic, but the basics of what Tom explained are to be aware of style when formulating, but also to avoid being a slave to it. Take into consideration what you ultimately want to do. What styles do you like? Do you want to experiment? Do you want to create something completely new? There are ways to do all of these things; just do a little research, talk to your local homebrew shop, try out some brewing software, or if you have the disposable income, go ahead and try things out without a net.
There really is not set of recipe formulation rules. To quote Tom’s Power Point presentation: “Guidelines? We don’t need no stinking guidelines.”
That said, one of the things he noted as an important consideration is your own level of comfort with mashing, and an understanding of your average brewhouse efficiency. This is something that a tool like ProMash or BrewPal can help you to achieve. Understanding your average efficiency will help you to develop a lighter grain bill that costs you less money, but yields close to the same results as one at a lower efficiency. Think of it like a handicap in golf. It’s not a competition, but knowing this average number is something that gives you a pretty good understanding of how good a brewer you are, and ultimately it can save you money.
Last but DEFINITELY not least was our tasting: Belgian Specialties and Sours. Zymurnauts member Melanie presented a series of fourteen beers for us to try. All I can say is that the Belgians are amazing. Sour beers are absolutely fascinating. They take all of the stuff that other brewing traditions absolutely fear and loathe and turn them into flavors that are totally inimitable. There really wasn’t one beer that I tried that I didn’t like. I’ll note the ones I most enjoyed below.
We tasted:
Witbier:
- St. Bernardus Wit – Brouwerij St. Bernard (My favorite of the two. Pierre Celis designed it and it’s better than his old beer which we tried next.)
- Hoegaarden – Brouweriz van Hoegaarden (Ours was super clear, which is really odd.)
Belgian Pale Ale:
- Rare Vos – Brewery Ommegang (AWESOME BEER!!! Seriously one of my favorite beers.)
Saison:
- Hennepin Farmhouse Saison – Brewery Ommegang (Also an excellent beer, better than the next one.)
- Saison DuPont – Dupont (A good beer, but the one we tasted was a tad off from others I’ve had before.)
Biere de Garde:
- La Choulette Blonde – Brasserie Artisanale La Choulette (Another great beer. I could drink this all day.)
- 3 Monts – Brasserie de Saint Sylvestre (Pretty good, but not as good as the La Choulette)
Belgian Specialty Ales:
- Orval Trappist Ale – Brasserie d’Orval S.A. (Good stuff.)
- De Dolle Oerbier – Brauweriz De Dolle (Better stuff.)
Flanders Red Ale:
- Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale – Brouwerij Van Steenberge (Excellent beer)
- Duchesse de Bourgogne – Brouwerif Verhaeghe (Peerless, seriously. It was awesomely sour.)
Geuze:
- 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze – Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen (Good stuff. Truly goaty, like the cheese, not the animal. Loved it.)
Fruit Lambics:
- Hanssens Oude Kriek – Hanssens Artisanaal bvba (Sour cherries. Really sour cherries. Loved it.)
- St. Louis Premium Peche – Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (Sour peaches. But the sweetest Lambic we tried. I like Dogfish Head’s Peche better, which is scary.)
- Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus – Brasserie – Brouwerij Cantillon (The best Lambic. Super sour, but the raspberry totally comes through. Not too sweet, very balanced.)
Tags: "Guess That Beer", Recipe Formulation, Sour Belgian Ales