Sour Beers are here to Stay

Although the Nor’easter Brewing Company will not initially brew nor market a Flanders, Limbic, or Gueuzes sour styled beer, I am constantly asked about this beer and thought we should include something in our releases.

In theory, all beers could be brewed as a sour styled beer with the substitution of a different yeast, most common strain for sours being a Brettanomyces.  Unlike the traditional brewing environment of an almost total sterile production process to protect the yeast from contamination, this style uses wild yeast, which actually relies on bacteria!  This yeast, and sometimes adding a fruit, yields a tart or sour tasting beer.  Again, unlike traditional brewing, whereby the brew master works earnestly to produce a consistent beer from batch to batch, the process for brewing a sour generally results in an unpredictable, nearly uncontrollable, outcome. 

Although the sour beer styles have been available from the Belgium breweries since the 1800’s, the North American operators have only recently introduced this as part of their beer offerings.  This beer generally rests in a barrel for several years.  Accordingly, unlike most conventional Lagers and Ales, this style takes time to ferment and allow the wild yeast to do its work; while all this is happening, there must be a major willingness to take on risk for the unknown!

Today, sours are clearly the big talk of the craft beer community.  Many USA breweries that market this style sell it only at the brewery or at retail in fancy 750ml specialty packaging.  We might suggest you sample the sour beer before buying a bottle or growler.

This style has a very different taste and month feel than traditional beers and may be too tart or sour and not well balanced enough for your pallet; also these beers tend to have low carbonation and limited bitterness.  Having said this, you owe it to yourself to try a sour style to broaden your craft beer experience!

Cheers!

Best Beers for Thanksgiving

This year, join the revolution of Craft Beer followers and pour beer at your Thanksgiving supper.  Today, the trend continues to grow whereby drinkers are substituting beer for wine and spirits during meals.  There are so many choices of beer brands, styles, and now breweries.


Back when the pilgrims served their first big meal to give thanks and welcome in the New World - it was beer they drank.  Let's continue that tradition and serve a micro crafted beer on Thursday!


We, at Nor'easter Brewing, recommend a medium to dark beer that favored the sweetness from malted barley with only slight undertones of hop bitterness and aroma.  The beer should not be overly hopped and have a light to medium body.  We endorse a beer style with a roasted malt and caramel flavor to compliment the feast.  The carbonation from beer will assist your digestion and serve as an excellent means to cleanse your pallet between all the food choices.


There are no strict rules on pairing beer with your Thanksgiving dishes.  We might endorse you start, before the meal, with a Brown Ale,  ESB (Extra Special Bitter),  or a seasonal Fall beer.


Nor'easter Brewing's releases for  'What's Brewing...'   has reported on beer and food pairing in our past blogs (refer to Pairing Food with Beer).  We would not endorse an IPA (India Pale Ale) type style but instead try a Pilsner or a Brown Ale, or a Belgium Pale Ale or Saison with the meal would be an excellent choice.  If you are smoking the Turkey, a Stout or a Porter would be wonderful.  Ask your favorite package store to recommend a local craft brewed beer that fits these styles.  Please remember, craft beer tastes better served at the correct temperature - NOT too cold.  Refer to our earlier releases for the correct temperature.


If you are a guest, why not bring a 6pack of your favorite craft beer to your host, drop the hint for next year!


Have a great meal.  Cheers!

Craft Breweries Continue to Grow

I continue to read about the terrific growth in both volume and sales dollars for the craft beer market.  The fact is, the number of actual breweries are also increasing as well as beer brands, and this is good for the beer drinker.

The count is now slightly over 1,700 operating breweries in the USA, which means there are almost 10% more breweries than a year ago and the growth continues.  Furthermore, as of June 2011, there were over 530 breweries in planning, which translates into more than one start up every day for the next year! Did you know, there were 1,751 breweries just before the prohibition occurred?  A number we are quickly approaching. Back in the early 1900, most towns and cities enjoyed a brewery in the center of town - this is quickly becoming the case for 2011. Together with these new breweries, there  are also a lot more diverse brewing styles being offered today, particularly by the micro craft brewers, and the quality of today’s craft beer is fantastic!

There are several conversations on defining the segments of today's beer market, allow me to outline the ‘official definition’ as outlined by the Brewer’s Association-

Microbrewery: A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels. When Nor'easter Brewing Company is operating, this will be the segment the operation will fall into.

Brewpub: A restaurant-brewery that sells 25% or more of its beer at the restaurant The beer is often dispensed directly from the brewery's storage tanks.

Contract Brewing Company: A business that hires another brewery to produce its beer. It can also be a brewery that hires another brewery to produce additional beer. The contract brewing company handles marketing, sales, and distribution of its beer, while generally leaving the brewing and packaging to its producer-brewery

Regional Brewery: A brewery with an annual beer production of between 15,000 and 6,000,000 barrels. Note, the BA just increased the output to 6,000,000.

Large Brewery: A brewery with an annual beer production over 6,000,000 barrels.  Generally referred to as BMC – for Bud, Miller Coors.

The large breweries are always filtered out of articles and comments on the craft beer market. Mainly due to the automated brewing process and their lack of ‘hand crafted approach’. Clearly, the devoted craft beer drinkers divorce even the breweries that are owned by BMC and never consider them as a craft brewer. Breweries such as Goose Island, Redhook, Kona, Widmer and Leinenkugel are every bit a craft brewery, but the fact they are owned by the biggies negates most purists from including them ….. is this fair?