Saison de Champagne

These 3 ounces of Nelson cost about as
much as the rest of the ingredients combined

The first time I can remember trying Nelson Sauvin hops was at a homebrew meeting. At the time I was still somewhat new to brewing and didn’t really care for Pale Ales or IPAs but that all changed that day. The flavors in that Nelson IPA were so exciting and new it immediately changed my mind on hoppy beers. For weeks after I was craving that flavor: the almost wine like, bitter but refreshing, somehow both familiar and unique flavor of Nelson hops. I have used Nelson a few times since, including in a clone of ‘Merica, and have found them to be terrific. The only downside is that they tend to be some of the most prized hops so the demand keeps them hard to find and expensive when I do.

When I first heard about Hallertau Blanc hops I was skeptical that they could have the same level of tropical and wine characteristics that make Nelson so great. After hearing that they had more of a subtle wine character mixed with mostly noble hop flavors I decided that they might make for a great complement to Nelson, at a much lower price.

I bought a full pound of Hallertau Blanc on a whim

Saison de Champagne is my latest hop-forwards Saison and I wanted it to utilize these hops and the classic Saison dryness to mimic wine flavors while also having subtle yeast phenols and bitterness that keep it squarely in the Saison category. While I had originally planned on adding dry hops and lightly oaking the beer I decided against it as I liked the character and didn't want to risk messing it up, but that’s probably something I will try if I rebrew it.

A hop farm that I happened to drive past just outside Nelson when I was visiting New Zealand

8/14/18
Brewed on the stovetop with filtered San Francisco water.

9/15/18
Kegged 3 gallons. Immediately keg filled 6 bottles with 4 carb tabs each to see how this bottle conditions. The last 1.5 gallons or so was added to my Brett Saison Solera.

10/9/18
Entered 3 of the bottle carbonated version into the California State Homebrew Competition under category 34B: Mixed-Style Beer as a mix of New Zealand Pilsner and Saison.

This beer ended up scoring a 35.5 but not placing in it's category in the competition. I was really happy with how this one turned out with noticeable white wine like character and subtle yeast character. While similar to my go-to Maisonette grisette recipe the change of hops and malt bill made it unique while still being fairly easy drinking and refreshing.

Fruit Wine #1 Tasting

A- very clear for the most part but with a touch of sediment from the bottom of the bottle. Pale yellow in color, a few carbonation bubbles that disappear almost instantly. Certainly not "star bright" but looks good in a glass.

S-lots of sweet stone fruit: peach, apricot, nectarine. There is also some banana and some more  savory jammy/plum character.

T/M- dry and still, with a big, slightly sour/slightly sweet, peach sensation. In some ways less complex than the nose with an emphasis closer to straight peach flesh, but with a very nice balance and shift through the swallow from the up front sugars and on to the finishing sourness. No hotness or other off flavors, just mild to moderate peach characters.

O- I can't complain at all with how this one has turned out. Lots of stone fruit character, a touch of sweet, a touch of sour. How much of the sourness came from the fruit and how much came from other the additives is anyone's guess, but it certainly balanced well in the end. 

The wine tasted pretty hot a few months ago but has mellowed nicely and seems to have even more fruit character (less weird white wine-y) than it did when I first tasted it out of the bottle.

Nothing life changing here, but for someone who hasn't had many "fruit wines" I'm very pleased with the results.

Country Wines (Wines #1+2)

After purchasing the quad pack of 1 gallon jugs wine seemed like an even more inevitable creation to work on. Finally having a partially free weekend without enough time to brew and nothing to bottle I decided to get to work. My first two wines are very similar with only minor tweaks between them to test a few small things. Both wines are peach and nectarine with other juices added. The recipes and processes for each are listed below. 

Both wines were made with fresh chopped fruit which was boiled to sterilize due to time limitations not allowing for the more normal Camden tablet process.  In addition to time limitations I found myself out of sugar as I went to increase the gravity of the second wine and instead used a mixture of a small amount brown sugar, a few tablespoons corn syrup and a mix of grape and apple juice in place of water to reach a similar gravity.

These will likely age for 6-12 months prior to bottling and at least another 6-12 months of bottle aging. A long wait for such a small amount but minimal work and a fun experiment all around.

10-04-13

Finally racked off the fruit and lees after about a month, only keeping about 2/3rd of a gallon of each wine. Both were topped off with about a glass of wine (Apex Chardonnay, just because it was what we were already drinking) and a quarter gallon of apple juice.  Plan is to rack again in about a month then either rack again or bottle 1-2 months later before another 6-12 months of aging.

11-02-13

Racked again and topped off with just a little apple juice.

11-29-13
Final racking, topped off with apple cider.

Northern California Round 2

After visiting Northern California several years ago I went again this summer. I wanted to finally give a quick summary of the experience.

Breweries:

I visited 4 breweries, 2 large nationally known ones and 2 small brewpubs.

In retuning to Russian River it was obvious that craft beer is alive and well in this country, maybe even too alive and well. People were streaming out of the place carrying full cases of Pliny the Elder and the wait to be seated was over an hour, even middle of the day on a Friday! When we were finally seated we were told it would be another hour wait if we wanted to do a tasting so we passed on the flight and each grabbed a Belgian beer.

With two sour beers and two non-sour strong Belgians it was a nice mix of what RR offers, minus the hoppy Americans. As always great stuff, maybe too great.

Rather than sit around for the hour while we waited to be seated at RR we decided to walk a few blocks to Third Street Aleworks for lunch and a tasting. While the food was excellent (I had a wild boar sausage) the beers were lackluster with all seeming to be an American variant (amber, blond, IPA, pale ale, steam beer, etc) while none were awful some seemed to miss the mark with the others being mainly boring examples of the style. At least we were able to get a seat, food and tasting flight in no time.

Continuing our Sonoma brewery journey we visited the very large (and again very crowded) Lagunitas. Here we ordered 4 more beers, none of which I have seen available and with styles ranging from Brandy barrel stout to a farmhouse ale. All were interesting and enjoyable but, similar to RR, the overcrowded space and uncaring service staff didn't make for as enjoyable experience as it could have been.

One unexpected stop was Magnolia in San Francisco. This brewpub was, like most of these places, super packed and provided pretty good beer. Beers here were fairly expensive however, especially compared to most brewpubs in my area which have cheaper pints than bars. Overall, alright but not good enough to merit a return.

Bars:

The only bars worth mentioning which we visited are The Monks Kettle and La Trappe. The Monks Kettle continued the theme of small, cramped and pricy. We shuffled into tiny spaces at the bar enjoyed our beers and split. La Trappe on the other hand had plenty of space and we enjoyed several beers from their great menu and some nice Belgian food as well. Only downsides were that the service was quite slow and not very knowledgable. Would happily go again.

Wine:

I drank too many wines to remember (to the point that I slept through the 4th of July fireworks). I enjoyed the "castle" tour and tastings. Despite how touristy, cheesy and pretentious the location is, the wines are reasonably priced and fairly good. We also did an excellent food and wine tasting/pairing session at Raymond after Castello. I highly recommend both as fun introductions to wine and the wine/tourist industry that is Napa. The trip certainly added a new spark to my desire to make a wine.

While there were many other drinks consumed and hundreds of other activities enjoyed I'll keep it to these for now...and throw in a picture from one of my hikes in Yosemite.

Northern California

So this is very much a backpost but I feel it is important.  In early June I visited one of my older brothers who fortunately happens to live in Napa.  The trip was great and loaded with lots of camping, poker, a concert, some games of Madden and lots of tastings of all natures.  Sparing the details here are a few highlights of breweries and beers:

• Silverado Brewing Company - For some sort of "completeness" to my Napa beer tastings my brother decided we would stop in here despite having placing them on his "worst of napa" list.  We did a sampler and got the garlic fries.  The fries were AWESOME, as ubiquitous as they are in this region my brother claimed they were the best he had ever tasted.  Served with Rice Bran Oil and a healthy amount of parmesan and garlic they were great.  The beers were nothing amazing with most being somewhat boring, but the coffee stout was near the top of my list as far as coffee beers go and the others were passable if nothing special.
• Calistoga Inn and Brewery - This was near the end of my trip but is a nice little brewpub with good, but not great (at least not nearly as good as Silverado's), garlic fries and the best red ale I have ever tried. The caramel and citrus components played very well and didn't come off with any "cardboard" or "stale bread" flavors that I have noticed in other red/ambers (e.g. Fat Tire).  It's also a nice little place in a quaint little town not too far from a nice little hike where Robert Louis Stevenson honeymooned at a silver mine.
• North Coast Brewing Co. - Having seen this brewery's beers offered in Maryland I had some expectations.  I tried an '08 old ale with my brother that he had been saving for a special occasion.  It was delicious with a nice blend of light hoppiness, moderate bitterness, alcohol warmth and some warm sweet cherry character that made it all around great, and according to my brother more rounded than when it was fresh.  We then hit up the brewery and, while I was a bit disappointed by some of the fair (Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and Brother Thelonious Dark Belgian) their take on a Saison (Le Merle) is the best I have had to date.  I left with a corked bottle under my arm to cellar.
• Anderson Valley Brewing Co. - This "solar powered brewery" is a really cool spot to hit with some great drinks.  Me and Matt got most, but not all, of the items as samplers and we were both blown away by the Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema.  While other beers here were decent, the Summer Solstice was super creamy, had hints of vanilla and other spice and was just the thing for a hot California day. I bought a 6-pack (in cans, sweet!) and only one made it back to Maryland, which has since been consumed. This wasn't meant to be a long keeper but seems to be a beer that anyone would enjoy.
• Russian River Brewing Company - To say I had high expectations for this brewery may be an understatement.  Looking solely at ratings for their beers this would easily be the highest rated brewery in the country, and likely the world.  Their Pliny the Elder (and Pliny the Younger) are amazingly well received IIPA's and their whole line of sour/belgian styles is very popular with those who enjoy that style.  Having had only one or two lambics I didn't know what to expect.  The sampler featured almost every beer they brew including a great hoppy brown and a tasty American IPA.  Many of the Belgians were quite different from what I'd had before but were for the most part enjoyable and I ended up buying a full pint of Supplication to go with my pizza.  Supplication is quite different, the best I could explain it would be that it tastes a bit like a Belgian Strong Dark with cherry yogurt character.

As for wineries here is a (very short) list of the ones I felt worth stopping at again and worth remembering:

• Prager Port Works - Their "Aria" is an interesting white port with notes of vanilla and hazelnut.
• Breggo  - Though I didn't buy any of the wines here they were all quite tasty and well worth the visit.
• Yorkville - Bought they're Sweet Malbec, I like Malbec's and I like dessert wines, this one really stuck with me.
• Girard - Make a lot of nice wines including one Cab that was great (if pricey) and a 2010 Cabernet Blanc that I couldn't resist purchasing.
• Indian Creek - Liked all their wines but especially enjoyed the slight smoke on the 08 Syrah.

There were many others that had good wine but were overpriced or simply didn't seem exceptional enough to buy.

All in all it was a great trip with lots of experiences (both related to and entirely separate from the alcohol)