Big A IPA - 2008 Edition

It’s Big A IPA time of year again and the fearless brewers at Smuttynose have thrown both caution into wind and a vast amount of their ever dwindling supply of hops into the kettle (and fermentor, and bright tank) for your (and our) lupulinic enjoyment. This was our first beer which required a different approach because of the current hop shortage. 

Typically we would contact our supplier and see what interesting hops were available, usually looking at varieties we hadn’t used before, and make the Big A recipe from that starting point. The twist this year was to see what we had enough supply of in our ’07 contract and then build the beer around those hops. I think we’ve succeeded, though I’ll let ya’ll be the judge of our efforts. For our hopping regime we went with Cascade and Nuggets in the boiling addition. Centennials were added every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. We added Crystals into the whirlpool. Dry hopping was done in both the fermentor after primary fermentation and the bright tank. We used a mixture of Chinook, Nuggets, and Sterlings in the fermentors and whole leaf Centennials in the bright tank. 

Hopefully we won’t have to use this kitchen sink approach too many more times, though it’s certainly an interesting creative exercise as well as a unique insight into what Tod Mott must go through on a fairly regular basis at the Portsmouth Brewery.

Baltic Porter - First Edition

2/6/08 - Baltic Porter - I gotta say that it's been a while since I've been this excited about the upcoming release of a new beer. This is our first attempt at a Baltic Porter and it's been tasting great out of the fermenter. Huge body with lots of fruit notes balanced by dark roasty goodness. We've even been getting hints of licorice which I find intriguing.

Our decision to add this beer to our Big Beer Series was based on having a beautiful label that had already been designed by Miss Teen USA, Joanne Francis. Years ago we released a Winter Porter with a great image of Father Time on the label. That beer eventually evolved into our Robust Porter. The label sat dormant, sadly biding its time (get it?) waiting for another shot in the show. Since I'm always happy to add styles to the Big Beer Series I figured it'd be fairly easy to change Winter to Baltic and we'd get a new beer to brew.

The biggest decision in terms of what we wanted this beer to be was whether to brew an ale or lager. There always seem to be conversations about this in the beer world. We decided to take the lager route and I'm glad we did. It adds a nice twist to the big chewy dark beer. Considering that our Imperial Stout is the next release this will be an interesting comparison to taste the two side by side. I hope ya'll enjoy drinking this beer as much as we liked making it.

Malt:
Pilsner
Munich
CaraHell
Dark Crystal 120
Carastan 35
Chocolate Malt
Black Malt

OG - 22.3° p
TG - 6.6° p
ABV - 8.7%

Hops:
IBU 40

Bittering - Magnum
Flavoring & Aroma - Liberty

Short Batch - Smutt-a-Roni

Smutt-a-Roni (first sampled summer'07)
Smutt-a-Roni is a wild rice beer, the recipe of which we stole from the Portsmouth Brewery, which in turn stole from Mike Luparello. Mike is the finest brewer I know currently living in a yurt. He's also a veteran of the Baja 1000. I don't know how that's relevant, but I think it's cool. Anyway, he used to brew at the Portsmouth Brewery and remains both an inspiration and a good sounding board for my own efforts.

The wild rice needs to go through a separate gelatinization than the barley malt, so we took advantage of our decoction capabilities and were able to boil the rice before mixing into the main mash. I used 125 lbs of 100% wild rice, I'm assuming it was Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris.) The typical wild rice package at the supermarket is a blend of wild and white rice. This ended up being about 7% of the grain bill. If I brew this beer again I'll end up bumping up this percentage. The base of this beer is meant to be a real pleasant and somewhat hoppy pale ale. We used Sterling for all the hop additions. Such a nice hop. It adds a really noticeable cherry character to the beer. The wild rice contributes a nutty flavor as well as an earthiness to the flavor.

Malt:
Weyermann Pilsner Malt
Caramel Wheat
Munich
Carafoam
Wild Rice

OG - 14° p
TG - 3.0° p

Hops:
IBU 35

ABV 5.5%

Short Batch - Brett & I

Brett and I (first sampled late '07)
"Brett and I" is a beer brewed in homage to the great Down East humorists Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan (with Tim Sample getting the honorable mention.) If you haven't listened to the "Bert and I" tapes, go ahead and call LL Bean for your copy. They'll give you a good idea of the daily insanity of living in Northern New England. Of course that begs the question of exactly what I'm doing here. But, oh well, it's a great place to drink beer at least. And Brett and I is hopefully a great beer to drink while talking socialism over the back fence with your neighbor Enoch.

Brett and I is obviously brewed with Brettanomyces. We used Brettanomyces claussenii and in our case we used it for secondary conditioning. The original beer was a Belgian strong ale brewed with the Chimay yeast cropped from The Gnome. Still gave us that nice fruity character and still hasn't dropped bright. We ended up kegging the beer after six months of conditioning, but the brett character is still developing. It gives off an interested pineapple aroma and flavor, which I hope will continue to evolve.

Malt:
Weyermann Pilsner Malt
Munich
Wheat
Acidulated Malt

OG - 16° p
TG - 3.5° p*

*This will drop as the brett continues doing its thing.

Hops:
IBU 35

Bittering - Magnum
Flavoring - Liberty
Flavoring - Saaz
Aroma - Santiam

Really Old Brown Dog - First Edition

7/26/07 - Really Old Brown Dog - As many of you know by now, our friend Olive Francis, the Old Brown Dog, passed this winter. The original photo for our brown ale label was taken when Olive was quite young and so last fall Peter and Joanne had some new pictures commissioned. The photos were taken out on one of Olive's favorite beaches and with her favorite easy chair. The desire to use one of these images for a new Big Beer was the inspiration for our Really Old Brown Dog Ale. Usually the style of beer is decided before Joanne works on the label design, but in this case the tail was wagging the dog. Since the name was already decided we figured that something in the Old Ale / Double Brown Ale realm would be interesting. The one definite ingredient I wanted to play with was Brown Malt. I've always really liked the fudge brownie character derived from it. I feel we slightly overdid the addition, as that flavor tends to dominate the beer. For the most part though I was quite pleased with this beer as a nice tribute to our faithful friend and Head Squirrel Wrangler.

Malt:
Pilsner Malt
Pale Ale Malt
Crystal 60L
Brown Malt
Special B

OG - 18° p
TG - 4.5° p; ABV - 7.0%

Hops:
IBU 40

Bittering - Liberty
Flavoring & Aroma - Crystal

Short Batch - The Gnome

THE GNOME (first sampled in early '07)
In the fall of '06 I met Chris Bauweraerts from the Brasserie d'Achouffe at an MBAA meeting in Brooklyn. Having seen one of possibly many Smuttynose logos that are generally strewn throughout my attire, he thanked me for advertising his brewery. After bemusingly accepting his thanks, I had to inquire if he had mistaken me for someone else. But he said no, the IPA we make has two old men sitting next to a "chouffe." I had to laugh. I then asked him if he was taking credit for every gnome in the US. With a quick nod, he curtly and somberly replied, "Yes." So, I figured if Chris could steal credit for all gnomes he certainly wouldn't mind if I poached on the name.

The Gnome was brewed in homage to the recent arrivals of hoppy Belgian beers that we're starting to see here in the US. I was really shooting for that beautifully soft hopping that's found in the Houblon Chouffe, however, the Gnome has developed its own unique characteristics and flavor profile. The base beer is a Belgian triple brewed with White Labs Chimay-style yeast. I really liked the fruit character from this yeast, but man, that stuff still hasn't dropped bright. The hopping was done with Vanguard, Sterling and East Kent Goldings. I think this beer has a lot of potential, though I'd like another shot at brewing the style. There is a very limited amount of this beer, so if you happen to see it on tap, go ahead and share a pint with your gnomies! (Dan Schubert made me put that in. Really. I know it's corny. You gotta blame him. Really: dan@smuttynose.com)

Malt:
Weyermann Pilsner Malt
CaraHell
Cane Sugar

OG - 20° p
TG - 4.2° p

Hops:
IBU 75
Vanguard Bittering Hops
Sterling Flavor Additions
East Kent Goldings Dry Hop

Wheat Wine

12/29/06 - Wheat Wine - The word for this year's Wheat Wine is smooth. Smoother than butter on a baby. Smoother than Reagan in a scandal. Smoother than Charlie in a camel hair coat in Jimmy LaPanza's Lounge. Well, maybe not that smooth.

Of course, last year's Wheat Wine certainly received much attention and seemed to be well regarded. Perhaps it was the 4 month delay in release which built up expectation? After it took a gold medal in Denver it's a bit presumptuous to say we're going to improve upon the recipe, so my focus switched to the process and trying to smooth out some of the heat and other rough edges from last year. We did this by backing off the cane sugar a bit and controlling fermentation temperatures better. At this point it seems like our efforts have paid off. The beer is certainly recognizable from last year, but will hopefully be more approachable in its pre-aged form. Enjoy.

Malt:
Pilsner
Golden Promise
CaraWheat
Wheat Malt
CaraHell
Cane Sugar

OG - 23° p
TG - 4.0° p; ABV - 11%

Hops:
IBU 70
Bittering - Warrior
Flavoring & Aroma - Liberty
Dry hops - Horizon (as well as medium toast oak chips)

Big A IPA - 2006 Edition

7/18/06 - Big A IPA - It's the Return of the Son of the Killer Kielbasa. That's right, Stash Wojciechowski is back from winter training and ready to compete in the Alpha King Challenge. After working with our Lucha Libre friends in Oaxaca he meandered north to sample the great west coast hop offerings. Ever alert, looking for the edge, that minute detail that'll set him apart. How will he fare? We'll see in September.

Stash's judicious study has led him to feel it's all in the late hop additions, the dank aromas. We've been playing with our dry hop technique all winter and now feel we're close. By adding pellets into the fermentor after primary and then transferring onto whole flowers in the bright tank I think we've achieve the quality of aroma we've been searching for. The rest of the beer hasn't changed since last year. Still a very simple grist bill of Pilsner and Pale Ale malt. Bittering hops are the same with Warrior and Cascade. The flavoring and aroma hops are making all the difference. Centennial, Crystal, Amarillo and Ahtanum, can't ask and any better than that. Hopefully you'll enjoy this beer as much as we do. Cheers.

Malt:
Pale ale malt
Pilsner malt

OG - 21° p
TG - 4.2° p

Hops:
IBU 120
Bittering - Warrior, Cascade
Flavoring - Horizon, Centennial
Aroma - Crystal
Dry hops - Amarillo, Crystal, Ahtanum