New Beer Friday, Next Generation Edition (April 19)

Staffer Luke Horning admiring new product

This week's NBF preamble is penned by the bossman, Steve Siciliano, who waxes philosophic on an interesting subject: the growing multigenerational-ness of craft beer appreciation.

By Steve Siciliano

Every so often when checking the IDs of customers who place mixed six packs of craft beer on the counter, I discover that it’s their twenty-first birthday. On those occasions I smile, congratulate them on their good taste and welcome them to the craft beer community. While the welcome is always sincere, it’s also delivered with just a touch of playful sarcasm.

It would be naïve to think that young folks who are buying oak-aged imperial stouts, double IPAs and intense robust porters never tasted them before their attainment of the legal drinking age. Obviously they had been previously exposed to the complexities of hand-crafted beer, and a percentage of them undoubtedly received that exposure from homebrewing parents.

One evening Barb and I were at a local brew pub when a group from a party bus came into the tap room. They were celebrating a young man’s twenty-first birthday and I chatted for awhile with his father, one of our long time homebrew customers. The young man was obviously enjoying himself, but after an all day birthday party involving a number of brew pubs he still was remarkably sober.

I have no idea how I celebrated my own twenty-first birthday, but I’m reasonably confident it wasn’t with my father, I'm positive that craft beer was not involved, and I'm one hundred percent certain that I got plastered on way too many watery lagers. My father wasn’t a homebrewer—hardly anyone was back then—but if he had been I’m sure I would have watched him brewing up a batch in the kitchen. I would have been captivated by the aroma of boiling malt and fascinated by gurgling airlocks. I probably would have helped him crimp caps onto bottles. I’m quite sure I would have been allowed to taste what he brewed. Chances are that when suddenly I attained the age that allowed me to legally consume beer, I wouldn’t have done so with such overt foolishness.

Today there are tens of thousands of homebrewers which translates into tens of thousands of children growing up in a culture that has a healthy respect for beer. Perhaps when the children of homebrewing parents attain the legal drinking age, there’s less possibility that they will abuse the privilege.

New & Returning Beers at Siciliano's Market

• Brewery Vivant Zaison, $3.39/16oz - "Imperial saison ale. Beer brewed with Tellicherry black peppercorns and orange peel" (source).
• Greenbush Sunspot, $1.79/12oz - "A hot way to cool down Hot. Drenched. Delightfully blinding. Right. We’re not talking about that ball of fire in the sky, but our refreshing hefewiezen. Skip the shade and down a glass or two and be cool" (source).
• MillKing It Productions BrikRed Ale, $1.99/16oz - "Whereas hops are the star in AXL, the complex harmony of malt dominates this easy drinking Red Ale. Five different malts are skillfully blended to create a medium bodied, crowd-pleasing ale. The nose breathes caramel, malt and complexity. The beer is medium bodied, has the appropriate alcohol of 4.8% and is definitely a beer deserving the title session beer" (source).
• MillKing It Productions Sno Belgian White Ale, $1.99/16oz - "SNO is a traditional Belgian style white ale. It is a light, yeast-infused beer with orange peel and spices to make this ale thirst quenching and refreshing. The lower alcohol content and light body ensure ultimate drinkability" (source).
• Dogfish Head Positive Contact, $11.99/750ml - "Positive Contact is a cider-beer-hybrid veeeeeery loosely based on a Belgian-style Wit beer brewed with a bunch of unconventional ingredients for the style. Typically, Wits are brewed using bitter orange peel and coriander, but we went a different route. Inspired by one of Sams trips to Eataly in New York City, Sam and Ben brewed this beer with organic Fuji apple cider, fresh organic cilantro, and dried cayenne pepper. The cider was pressed in house from 200 lbs of apples with our very own fruit press. These wonderful fresh ingredients were delivered to us a couple of days before the brew by Sams friend Zeke of Washingtons Green Grocer. The grain bill for this brew was about 50/50 wheat and barley but a small portion of Anson Mills Slow-Roasted Farro was also added. To make this awesome product, the folks at Anson Millsuse a unique ancient heirloom variety of grain which imparts a delicate aromatic quality (Farrois traditionally used in soups and similar dishes). On top of that, a new hop variety was used, named Calypso, which lends notes of pear and apple that perfectly compliment the other ingredients in the brew. It was then fermented with a Belgian Wit yeast strain, adding both fruity and spicy complexity. This beer was made with a number if ingredients more traditionally used in the culinary world and we designed it to be a dazzling nimble food-pairing brew." (source).
• Big Sky Brush Trail Saison, $1.69/12oz - "Our take on a classic style" (source).
• New Belgium Hoppy Bock Lager, $4.99/22oz - "Meet the first in our new Hop Kitchen series: A German-style springtime lager brewed with rye then loaded with Hallertauer, Perle and Fuggle hops for a spicy, earthy aroma. This Hoppy Bock Lager offers a medium body and slightly sweet malt character perfect for your spring hop-fling" (source).
• Four Horseman Pale Ale, $1.69/12oz - "This Pale Ale is rich and full in character with earthy hop tones and a crisp finish" (source).
• Four Horseman Irish Red Ale, $1.69/12oz - "This Irish Red Ale offers a fine balance between six types of malt and two types of hops" (source).
• Four Horseman Hop Rush IPA, $1.99/12oz - "This IPA features American citrus hops on top of a cool refreshing American Pale Ale" (source).

Mittenbrew Beer 101 | Ale vs. Lager with Doug Dorda

Our friends at Mittenbrew produced a Beer 101 video staring our own Doug Dorda.
 Share this with your pals who might be new to the homebrew/craft beer scene.

Cheers!