BrewNews

FIVE

News you can

drink

The newest hops on the market for

the home brewer

November 2012

What’s Hoppin’?

Chicago’s TOP

Beer Bars

PLUS!Seasonal Craft Brews

You Have To Try

A Chicago tradition since 1947.

Contents

Seasonal Craft Brews

What’s Hoppin’?This month we take a look at the best hop techniques for

homebrew beer – our hop technique roundup. A good understanding of various hop techniques is critical for

successful brewing.

1

3Chicago’s Top 5 Beer Bars

Which spots rise to the top like a nice foaming head on a cold pint? We crawled the city to bring you our favorites.

5You Have To Try

Drink up till they’re gone

What’sHoppin’?

ops occupy an exalted place among the building blocks that make a great beer. There’s some-thing special about an ingredient that can make a beer bitter and give it a delicate aroma, too.

Every brew with a new or unfamil-iar hop variety becomes an expe-rience made special by aromas sweet, pungent, floral, perfumy, or citrusy. And what brewer hasn’t celebrated hops to the point of making a beer so overhopped that only the brewer could (be-grudgingly, yet still in denial) drink the bitter elixir?

There are dozens of hop variet-ies, and hops from every major growing region are readily avail-able to U.S. homebrewers. In ad-dition, hop breeders throughout

H

THE BEST

For Homebrew BeerTechniques

the world introduce new variet-ies each year. Choosing the right hops for your brew can seem diffi-cult amid all the options.

The three best known growing re-gions are Germany, England, and the Pacific Northwest.

Beer styles originally developed because brewers used indigenous grains and hops and local water. Climate and soil conditions dic-tated what grains and hops could be grown and thus defined the flavors of the beers that could be brewed.

Pilsner beers, named for the city of Plzen in what is now the Czech Republic, became nearly synony-mous with the noble hops (define noble hops before this), most par-

ticularly the grassy and slightly spicy aroma of Czech Saaz hops. Today, Saaz hops are almost ex-clusively reserved for lager beers, because their aroma is so dis-tinctly associated with the style.

In Britain the English Golding hop was cultivated circa 1775, and in 1875 the Fuggle hop was introduced. These two, the most widely known English hops, be-came the signature of English ales. Golding varieties in partic-ular have been prized. The hops company HopUnion USA in its cat-alogue describes East Kent Gold-ings as “the undisputed finest ale hop in the world.” The heavi-er and maltier profiles of English ales are perfectly balanced by the sweet and slightly cloying aromas and flavors of Goldings and oth-

er English varieties. In the Unit-ed States, where so much of the culture has been borrowed from others, including the brewing tra-ditions, two hops stand out. They are the most widely grown aroma varieties in the United States: Wil-lamette and Cascade. Both are cultivars (define) of Fuggle.

Perhaps because of the popularity of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, both an American beer style and an Amer-ican hop cultivar have become the standard for the western re-gion of the country. Sierra Nevada uses ample Cascade hops in the boil for its pale ale, and the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has become the exemplar of the American pale ale style.

Continued on page 7...

Hopleaf Bar

Chicago’s

This Andersonville tavern has stayed busy since opening in 1992, but its booming past de-cade demonstrates Chicago’s exponential thirst for craft beer. So many pilgrims trek here that,

5Map Room

come late summer, Michael Rop-er and Louise Molnar will launch an expansion next door (bigger kitchen, more seating, 20 new taps). Michael, the keeper of the beer menu (325 bottles, 45 drafts), tends toward Belgians (Van Honsebrouck’s Gueuze Fond Tradition, $7) and Belgian-style ales brewed in the United States (Goose Island’s Matilda, $6). Whether a beer makes the cut often depends on its backstory: Take the father-and-son farmers who grow their own barley (Hof Ten Dormaal’s Wit Goud, $8.50). As for his role in shaping gener-ations of palates, Michael says: “When I try to take a popular beer off the menu, people freak out.

We’ve created a bunch of beer Frankensteins.” 5148 N. Clark St.; 773-334-9851, hopleaf.com

We crawled the city to bringyou our favorites.

Beer BarsTop

The ceiling hung with flags and the bookshelves lined with back issues of National Geographic say it all: Patrons should prepare to try something off the grid at this self-dubbed travelers’ tav-ern. The manager and certified cicerone, Jay Jankowski, is hap-py to surprise indecisive drinkers with Bockor’s Bellegems Bruin or ’T Gaverhopke’s Extra from the globetrotting beer list (26 drafts, plus one on cask and some 150 varieties by bottle). At night, Beer School classes bring beer geeks by the dozens, while daytime hours are ideal for quiet sipping at this 18-year-old Bucktown standby (coffee service starts at 6:30 a.m. weekdays; taps flow at 11). 1949 N. Hoyne Ave.; 773-252-7636, maproom.com

Quenchers Saloon

Sheffield’s

Maria’s

When Ed Marszewski revamped his mom’s 25-year-old Bridge-port institution in 2010, he kept its tried-and-true format—liquor store up front, bar in the rear—but introduced a chic new décor, a DJ schedule, and a shocking-ly long beer menu. After touring a friend’s microbrewery in Am-sterdam, Marszewski decided Maria’s should carry “every craft

list of 275 bottles and 24 drafts, with finds including Bockor’s Cu-vee des Jacobins Rouge from Bel-gium ($8) and Stiegl’s Pils from Austria ($5). That doesn’t mean this lovably scruffy corner tap, home of the free popcorn basket and Earle’s Famous Chili ($3.50), has forgotten its blue-collar roots: “There’s still the guy who only has $10 in his pocket, so you can still get a Bud Light or a PBR,” Earle says. 2401 N. Western Ave.; 773-

Although a tavern has stood on this Lake View corner since the 1940s, we can thank Rocky Al-bazi and the late Ric Hess, who purchased the bar in 1992, for really bringing the beer. With April’s addition of 12 new draft lines, Sheffield’s now pours from 50 taps (Left Hand’s Milk Stout, $5; Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righ-teous Ale, $7), including one cask option and six devoted to the beer garden—an Edenic haven in the midst of riotous Wrigleyville. Hess, who died last year, was a fierce champion of regional brew-ing and a perfectionist when it came to the bar’s other specialty, barbecue. 3258 N. Sheffield Ave.; 773-281-4989, sheffieldschica-go.com

It was Quenchers’ second own-ers, Earle and Nisa Johnson, who skewed the now-32-year-old Bucktown bar toward beer in the early 1980s, when six or seven taps were considered a lot. The international thing came later, Earle says. Today, Bob Ehrlich, a certified cicerone, oversees a

beer distributed in our neck of the woods,” including hard-to-get seasonals such as Founders’ Cerise ($5), bringing the total count to 18 drafts and roughly 400 bottles and cans. And our of-ferings change weekly. We carry hundreds of craft beers in bot-tles, cans and on tap. In fact we may serve the largest selection of craft beer in the city (we currently have over 450 different beers on our menu). The bar also features traditional and remixed classic cocktails as well as many liquors, spirits and beverages distilled and brewed locally and regionally. And we really really like Rye. The beauty of having a liquor store on the premises? About 75 percent of the beer list is available to go. 960 W. 31st St.; 773-890-0588, community-bar.com

You Have To TrySeasonal Craft Brews

You Have To TrySeasonal Craft Brews

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale has a medium full body with a nice slick, creamy feel. The fla-vor is not quite as sweet as the nose promises. I get squashy, slightly bitter vegetable fla-vors and some balancing malty sweetness and spices. Some of these spices linger on the fin-ish, but not for too long. It’s a nicely balanced pumpkin beer, especially for those who prefer squashy varieties to sweet. I am of the latter, not the former. I definitely prefer pumpkin beers that bring more sweetness to the table. Still, this was a very enjoy-able beer.

Southern Tier Pumking is hazy, but refractive amber with a thick white head that eventually re-cedes to form a lasting ring. Aroma of fresh pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie spice. Flavor matches the aroma, and I think (unlike many other reviewers) that the body is creamy and ideal to support the flavor, and I don’t think it’s on the thin side for an imperial. Finish is long and on the dryish side, and it leaves you craving another swallow. My favorite example of the style.

Shipyard Smashed Pumking has nutmeg and cinnamon upfront along with a touch of vanilla

and cream. Some caramel malt is there along with a bit of oily slickness on the lips. Moderate bitterness all the way through and it never gets too sweet un-like a lot of pumpkin beers. The flavors linger for a long time after the finish and it is almost drying making you want to take anoth-er sip. One of the best pumpkin beers. Not a sugar bomb and it really seems like there is ac-tual pumpkin here, not just tons of spices. A wonderful fall beer that everyone should seek out.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale pours a collage of orange, copper, and amber with a thick, white, fluffy head. The aroma hits big with pumpkin aromas and spices. Heavy on the nutmeg as well, which gives off a bit of an “egg-nog” vibe - very cozy and very nice. Some alcohol warmth and fuzziness on the mouth, follow-ing bi with cinnamon, nutmeg, and faint pumpkin pie. Thin to medium body, slightly creamy and slightly crisp with lots of carbonation. It’s definitely one of the more enjoyable pumpkin beers out there.

Hops are available in domestic and imported varieties, for in-stance German Hallertauer and American-grown Hallertauer. While these are from the same breeding stock, the cultivars vary because of harvest year varianc-es, soil conditions in the regions, and climatic conditions.

Many of the world’s great hops are grown in the United States and have been grown from cut-tings or seed from the original stock. There are also cultivars of European origin that have been selectively bred in the United States to create a new hop. Amer-ican Hallertauer derivatives in-clude Liberty, Mt. Hood, Crystal, and Ultra. These might have aro-ma characteristics similar to the German Hallertauer, but essential oils and alpha-acid contents vary from the original cultivar.

Hops are classified as either bit-tering or aroma hops. Some are considered dual-purpose hops. Bittering hops have a higher al-pha-acid content than aroma va-rieties. Hops with high alpha-acid content often make poor aroma hops. It can be difficult to get sat-isfactory aroma without overbit-

tering the beer. Also, the aroma characteristics tend to be unsta-ble. The beer might change in character over time, and the aro-matic qualities might degrade.http://meganandtimmy.com/

wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CTA-logo.png

When examining a hop for aro-ma, crush the flowers in the palm of your hand and rub them vig-orously to release these oils. An accurate estimate of the aroma can’t be made without this rough handling. Aromas range from cit-rus to perfume and from floral to grassy. Some smell vegetal while others smell quite sweet. Get to

What’sHoppin’?

Continued from page 2...

Pay the fare. Not the fine.

It’s all there.

Enjoy Responsibly.