GBBF - American Beers

CAMRA has announced the winner of the annual competition for American cask-conditioned beer sold on the Bières Sans Frontières bar at the Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court, London.

An international panel of judges agreed that the overall champion cask-conditioned beer was Cambridge Brewing Company- YouEnjoyMyStout. The head brewer is Will Meyers and the brewery is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The beer is a 10.5% abv Imperial Stout aged for two years in previously used American oak bourbon barrels. The beer is very full-bodied with complex notes of caramel, treacle, and espresso mingled with vanilla and tannin from the oak.

The runner-up was Brooklyn Brewery's East Indian Pale Ale and in third place was Stone Brewery's Levitation Ale.

The Bieres Sans Frontieres bar at the Great British Beer Festival has this year featured a record 55 different American cask-conditioned beers in 2009 from breweries as diverse as Stone Brewery in California, Dechutes Brewery in Oregon and Victory Brewing in Pennsylvania.

Bières Sans Frontières is the International bar at the Great British Beer Festival and features 300 different beers from around the world. The bar is organised by volunteer Andy Benson and is staffed by over 60 volunteers from as far away as America and Japan.

I was lucky enough to be on the judging panel again this year and my category was Speciality Beer - an eclectic mix of Brett, grapefruit, coriander, smoked malt, espresso and a little lemonade like tartness - my notes are hazy with a 10am start and a flight of 6 beers to try.

Great American Beer Festival

I have just had to give my top 20 choices of which beer style categories I would like to judge at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver in September.

There are 78 categories to choose from but my first choice was easy : Classic English Style Pale Ale. This is what I know and love, it is the beer I was weaned on, it is what drove my love of beer as a teenager and continues to tickle my taste buds, it is my first choice on the bar, my number one.

But what actually is it ? The competition style descriptions and specifications manual (yes, it exists) describes it thus :

43. Classic English pale ales are golden to copper colored and display earthy, herbal English-variety hop character. Note that “earthy, herbal English-variety hop character” is the perceived end, but may be a result of the skillful use of hops of other national origins. Medium to high hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma should be evident. This medium-bodied pale ale has low to medium malt flavor and aroma. Low caramel character is allowable. Fruity-ester flavors and aromas are moderate to strong. Chill haze may be in evidence only at very cold temperatures. The absence of diacetyl is desirable, though, diacetyl (butterscotch character) is acceptable and characteristic when at very low levels.

Original Gravity (ºPlato) 1.044-1.056 (11-14 ºPlato)
Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato) 1.008-1.016 (2-4 ºPlato)
Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 3.5-4.2% (4.5-5.5%)
Bitterness (IBU) 20-40
Color SRM (EBC) 5-14 (10-28 EBC)

Get yer laughing gear 'round that. I can't wait.

White Horse, Parsons Green

At last year's Great British Beer Festival CAMRA presented 45 American cask ales. This year I am hopeful that we will see at least that number and hopefully slightly more.

It was with some excitement therefore that I noticed the publicity for this weekend's USA festival at The White Horse, Parson's Green exclaimed "The Most American Beers on Draught the UK has ever seen!"

The beer list is now available on-line and you can see that they have come up trumps with a provisional list of 48 American beers - some cask, some keg. There will also be some interesting beers from England.

These are exciting times for the beer drinker with an interest in the US craft brewing scene. Although the aggressive nature of their use of hops has been established for some years now, there are great things happening over the water with barrel ageing, high gravity brewing and rarer beer styles. US craft is really taking beer further than it's ever been. We are seeing similar efforts from the likes of Thornbridge and Brewdog in this country but it has not really caught the public attention as successfully as the most adventurous US brewers.

Come and see what all the fuss is about and celebrate Independence Day with an Arrogant Bastard.

Keep your eye on the Bieres Sans Frontieres website to see what is coming to GBBF this year.

What the Nose Knows

Nobody can deny that the choice of title of this book is a delight. Its subtitle, The Science of Scent in Everyday Life, is almost as good and gives further flavour (or scent) to what lies within its pages.

I was encouraged to read this book by Gary Spedding, founder of Brewing & Distilling Analytical Services in USA, when I had the good fortune to meet him at GABF last year.

It was with some trepidation that I opened at the first page. A science book, recommended by a scientist was a daunting prospect. However, Gary had told me that the book was written in an easy to read, laid back style and he was not wrong.

What the Nose Knows is an entertaining and enlightening journey through the world of aroma. It is written in an engaging style and the author offers his keen observations on the science of smell in a witty, good-humoured way. It is a really enjoyable read.

So, if you want to find out how many smells there are, whether blind people have enhanced sense of smell, whether the human nose is as sensitive as a dog's and whether a cocaine addict's olfactory ability lasts longer than his septum, then this is the book for you.

The book's description of the author, Avery Gilbert, suggests he is a smell scientist who has helped design commercial scents for everything from perfume to cat litter. The book is a fine way for him to share his love of his work with a wider audience.

Finally, thanks to modern scientific advances this blog is the first to offer the latest scratch and sniff innovation. Just scratch your screen and you will get a wonderful whiff of beer blogger.

I am a Craft brewer

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

"I Am A Craft Brewer" is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement.

Lost Abbey

Six months ago, I had never heard of Lost Abbey Brewery let alone tried any of their beers. Then, at GBBF, I had the good fortune to be on the panel of judges for US beers and the beer, The Angel's Share, was the stand out winner. Brewed in San Marcos, California, it is a 10% strong ale aged in bourbon barrels for at least 6 months - this is a complex beer and was my Lost Abbey initiation.

The name Lost Abbey is a nod to the fact that many of the best American microbreweries are now brewing beer in a Belgian style but with a typical US in-yer-face, over-the-top character. Such is their success that many are gaining a cult following and are particularly scarce - even outside their state, let alone in the UK.

In October, at the Great American Beer Festival I shared a judging table with Tomme Arthur, the brewmeister at Lost Abbey. Like most brewers he came across as very passionate about his beers. He was adamant that if you are to barrel age beer, it must impart something spectacular on the beer and you must be able to charge enough for the product to justify up to 2 years before the beer can be sold. He achieves both and makes no apologies for the price of some of his greatest beers. At the festival itself I queued up with everyone else to try an inch or two of some of his beers. All excellent.

Their corporate goal is to brew "Inspired beers for Sinners and Saints alike"

They are some of the most sought after beers in the USA and now, for the first time, they are available in the UK. The good people at Beer Merchants have secured a small parcel of Lost Abbey beers for the British beer lover.

These are not necessarily the most famous aged beers and they don't come particularly cheap, £90 for 12 75cl champagne corked and wired bottles, but they do come highly recommended.

A Christmas present to myself arrived from Beer Merchants less than 48 hours from the time of order. The customer service was excellent, I hope the beers match up.

Great American Beer Festival

Rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated, I have not been hiding under a stone for the last 10 days but have been in Denver helping with the judging of the Great American Beer Festival.

I intend to cover the week in more depth in the coming days but start with a quick snapshot.

The competition takes place over five sessions of three hours each in the three days before the festival opens. There are 75 categories to be judged - yes 75 ! 472 US brewers entered 2,902 beers which were judged by 127 judges from 11 countries.

The UK judges based judges were myself, Glenn Payne, Mark Dorber and Don Burgess of Freeminer Brewery.

The 75 categories and the 2008 winners can be found here

The festival itself runs for four sessions of four hours over three days. The entry price is about $50 and beer is poured in free, one ounce servings - giving the greatest opportunity to try as many of the 2,052 beers available as possible. 46,000 people visit the festival which relies on 2,600 volunteer staff to pour the beer.