New Beer Friday, Perrin's Homebrew Challenge Edition (November 15)

Preamble by Steve Siciliano

One happy homebrewer at
Perrin Brewing Company

This past Sunday, fourteen teams of West Michigan homebrewers participated in a “homebrewing challenge” organized and sponsored by Perrin Brewing Company. Brewing on their own equipment set up inside Perrin’s enclosed front porch, the teams were given free rein in crafting batches of beer with wort and yeast provided by the brewery and hops donated by Siciliano’s Market. Local homebrew equipment manufacturer Coldbreak Brewing provided the immersion chillers for cooling the wort.

The fourteen team beers will be judged by Perrin’s brewers and taproom employees in January and the winning team will have the opportunity to brew their recipe on Perrin’s forty barrel system.

The wort used in Sunday’s event was taken from the grain bill formulated by Michael Carr, the Best of Show winner of the 2013 Siciliano’s Homebrew Competition. Carr brewed his American IPA recipe at Perrin Sunday morning and, according to head brewer Sam Shepard, the beer will be on tap at the brew pub in about four weeks.

Sherwood said that Perrin organized the challenge as a way of giving back to the homebrewing community. “We recognize how important homebrewers are to our continued success,” he said. “We thought that it was just a great idea using Mike’s grain bill as the wort for this event.” We think so too.

New and Returning Beer

• Smuttynose Big A IPA, $2.59/12oz - "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" (source).
• Abita Andygator, $1.99/12oz - "A creature of the swamp, Andygator is a unique high gravity brew made with 2-row pale malt, German lager yeast, and Liberty hops. Unlike other high gravity brews, Andygator is fermented to a dry finish" (source).
• Goose Island Lolita, $20.29/750ml - "You might think this is a Russian style girly beer (a little Nabokov for you), but instead it is a very sophisticated Raspberry Belgian Ale. Fermented with brettanomyces (the little guys who give us that tart zing) and fresh raspberries, this brew is bright yet deep with spices and edges of the fruits natural tart quality to give it a white wine kind of finish" (source).
• Short's ControversiALE, $1.99/12oz - "Toasted pale ale with tons of citrus hoppiness" (source).
• Vivant Plow Horse, $4.39/16oz (limit 1 4-pack/person) - "The famous Belgian hevy plow horse descends from medieval war horses that carried armored knights into battle. Eventually they became common work horses for family farms. Great strength and mellow temperament made them ideal for tiling heavy soil. This seemed fitting name for one of the biggest beers we make, as the recipe pushes the limits of our mash tun. Each batch is so packed with dark roasted grains that they literally spill out the top of the tank on brew day" (source).
• Olvisholt Lava, $17.19/22oz - "Smoked imperial stout with a thick brown head. Sweet with chocolate and roasted malt in the flavour. The aftertaste is roasted malt, smoke and warming alcohol. Aroma of smoke chocolate and a bit of alcohol" (source).
• Leinenkugel Snowdrift Vanilla Porter, $1.49/12oz - "Leinenkugel’s Snowdrift Vanilla Porter is a robust and velvety addition to Leinenkugel’s seasonal selection. This porter-style beer is aged on real vanilla to reveal rich layers of caramel, coffee and chocolate that is ideal for the season" (source).
• Greens Enterprise Dry-Hopped Lager, $7.79/500ml - "Golden pale in color, the nose is a mix of citrus-floral aroma sensations, clean with a light malt taste, but with an herbal, hoppy aftertaste. Body and mouthfeel are light and refreshing" (source).
• Cellar Brewing Lighter Shade of Pale Ale, $1.79/12oz - Commercial description not yet available. From Cellar Brewing Company, Sparta, Michigan.
• Innis & Gunn Scottish Porter, $2.79/12oz - "This beer takes its inspiration from the history books. As well as using flavour-packed chocolate and crystal malt, we also added treacle (molasses) which gives the beer its rich, bittersweet character. 100 years ago in Scotland, treacle was used by brewers to create depth and sweetness and to give beers a richer mouthfeel and more rounded finish" (source).
• Innis & Gunn Oloroso Cask, $7.09/22oz - "This beer takes its inspiration from the history books. As well as using flavour-packed chocolate and crystal malt, we also added treacle (molasses) which gives the beer its rich, bittersweet character. 100 years ago in Scotland, treacle was used by brewers to create depth and sweetness and to give beers a richer mouthfeel and more rounded finish" (source).
• Batemans Mocha, $4.69/17oz - "A fresh coffee and chocolate experience brewed with genuine arabica coffee, fine Belgian chocolate and locally grown roasted malt" (source).

Shout Out of the Week | Chef Jenna from Amore on Eight West

During a recent segment on Eight West, Chef Jenna from Amore Trattoria Italiana

gave a nice shout out to Siciliano's Market. Thanks, Chef Jenna!