musing

If you’ve been to Durango, Colorado, you’ve been in love at least once in your life.

We first visited Durango in 1993 because we wanted to sleep in a nearby fire lookout tower called Jersey Jim (above). Eating breakfast at a diner on Durango’s Main Street we quickly realized we were in the midst of tourists (like us), locals who had been around forever, and people who had a bit more money and weren’t scared by the skyrocketing real estate prices.

It was the first place we heard people say, “If you want to be a millionaire in —– (in this case Durango) you need to start with two million.” On that morning the punch line was, “But it’s not Telluride.”

We drank our first beer from New Belgium Brewing on this visit. It wasn’t Fat Tire. Call it chance, but a tiny store in Mancos (shuttered in each trip since) had Abbey Grand Cru in the cooler. It was a small run of a stronger version of New Belgium’s Abbey Ale.

We were still flatlanders at the time, the tower is 9,836 feet and we had to make several trips up the stairs with our camping geer. By the time we got around to opening the beer it packed quite a punch.

We’ve come to know Durango and the San Juan Mountains much better since, and going there is always a treat. I can wear you out with photos taken during the season of your choice, including ones of the town’s breweries (two packaging, two brewpubs).

Instead, one quick point. Those breweries make Durango a better place (and maybe Durango makes them better breweries). Not just because you can easily find fresh beer. They are all members of the Bootlegger’s Society, initially formed to raise money in support of community causes. Their first event was a “Pint for Pint” blood drive (rewarding blood donors with a pint of beer) that’s since been emulated by blood services organizations throughout the country.

The foundation was laid more than 15 years ago. Ska Brewing was still a somewhat crazy idea co-founders Dave Thibodeau and Bill Graham were considering when they were introduced to Bill Carver, who already ran a successful brewpub in town. When they told him what they were thinking about he looked his potential competitors over for just a moment.

“We’ll put you guys on tap,” he said.

“We’ve been a guest tap at Carver’s for 15 years,” Thibodeau said a while back, talking about his brewery’s 15th year of business and the fact it was about to outgrow its “microbrewery” status, producing more than 15,000 barrels.

“That set a precedent for how we’d run our business.”

So I had to smile when a press release arrived the other day declaring Ska Brewing Co. was named Durango’s “Business Of The Year” by the Durango Chamber of Commerce.

“We usually like to poke fun at awards, but to be honest this has been an incredible year for Ska,” Thibodeau said for the press release. “This award is because of what our employees do every day at work. We’re truly grateful for the team we have and we’re happy to have the Durango Chamber recognize their efforts.”

Shame on me for being sloppy and hats off to Chad for noticing. I overlooked the addition of the American-Style Brett Ale in the 2011 Brewers Association Style Guidelines. Geez, it was in the press release.

That addition led to changes in the description of American-Style Sour Ale. I’m pulling Chad’s comment from the Bock 2010/2011 post and putting it here, then providing the 2011 descriptions for Brett Ale and American Sour, then the 2010 American Sour.

From Chad:

“All this chatter and no mention of the most ludicrous style possibly ever created . . . American Style Brett ale. Since when does Mr. Brett become a style and how is it an ale? Other then that it can be any color, any taste, any alcohol, pretty much it can be anything but exhibiting oaky, sherry, or bourbon characteristics. That’s not a style, that’s a catch all for a yeast genus. Oh well.”

FROM 2011 GUIDELINES

American-Style Brett Ale
American Brett ales can be very light to black or take on the color of added fruits or other ingredients. Wood- and barrel- aged sour ales are classified elsewhere. Light to moderate and/or fruity and contributed by the Brettanomyces yeast. The evolution of natural acidity develops balanced complexity. Horsey, goaty, leathery, phenolic and light to moderate and/or fruity acidic character evolved from Brettanomyces organisms may be evident, yet in balance with other character. Acidity may also be contributed to by bacteria, but may or may not dominate. Residual flavors that come from liquids previously aged in a barrel such as bourbon or sherry should not be present. Wood vessels may be used during the fermentation and aging process, but wood-derived flavors such as vanillin must not be present. In darker versions, roasted malt, caramel-like and chocolate-like characters should be subtle in both flavor and aroma. American Brett ales may have evident full range of hop aroma and hop bitterness with a full range of body. Estery and fruity-ester characters are evident, sometimes moderate and sometimes intense, yet balanced. Diacetyl and sweet cornlike dimethylsulfide (DMS) should not be perceived. Chill haze, bacteria and yeast-induced haze are allowable at low to medium levels at any temperature. Fruited American-Style Brett Ales will exhibit fruit flavors in harmonious balance with other characters.

American-Style Sour Ale
American sour ales can be very light to black or take on the color of added fruits or other ingredients. There is no Brettanomyces character in this style of beer. Wood- and barrel-aged sour ales are classified elsewhere. If acidity is present it is usually in the form of lactic, acetic and other organic acids naturally developed with acidified malt in the mash or in fermentation by the use of various microorganisms including certain bacteria and yeasts. Acidic character can be a complex balance of several types of acid and characteristics of age. The evolution of natural acidity develops balanced complexity. Residual flavors that come from liquids previously aged in a barrel such as bourbon or sherry should not be present. Wood vessels may be used during the fermentation and aging process, but wood-derived flavors such as vanillin must not be present. In darker versions, roasted malt, caramel-like and chocolate-like characters should be subtle in both flavor and aroma. American sour may have evident full range of hop aroma and hop bitterness with a full range of body. Estery and fruity-ester characters are evident, sometimes moderate and sometimes intense, yet balanced. Diacetyl and sweet corn-like dimethylsulfide (DMS) should not be perceived. Chill haze, bacteria and yeast-induced haze are allowable at low to medium levels at any temperature. Fruited American-Style Sour Ales will exhibit fruit flavors in harmonious balance with other characters.

For both of these original gravity, final gravity, alcohol content, bitterness and color all “vary with style.”

FROM 2010 GUIDELINES

American-Style Sour Ale (Fruit and Unfruited)
American sour ales range from golden to deep copper to brown in color. Wood- and barrel- aged sour ales are classified elsewhere. Acidity from lactic, acetic and other organic acids are naturally developed with acidified malt, in the mash or in fermentation by the use of various microorganisms including certain bacteria and yeasts. Acidic character can be balanced by several types of acid and characteristics of age. The evolution of natural acidity develops balanced complexity. Horsey, goaty, leathery and phenolic character evolved from Brettanomyces organisms and acidity may be present but should be balanced with other flavors Residual flavors that come from liquids previously aged in a barrel such as bourbon or sherry should not be present. Wood vessels may be used during the fermentation and aging process, but wood-derived flavors such as vanillin must not be present. In darker versions, roasted malt, caramel-like and chocolate-like characters should be subtle in both flavor and aroma. American sour ales may have an evident hop aroma, medium hop bitterness, low to medium hop flavor and low to medium body. Estery and fruity-ester characters are evident, sometimes moderate and sometimes intense, yet balanced. Diacetyl and sweet cornlike dimethylsulfide (DMS) should not be perceived. Chill haze, bacteria and yeast-induced haze are allowable at low to medium levels at any temperature. Balanced fruit flavors will be evident in fruit flavored American-Style Sour Ales and be in balance with other characters.

Original Gravity (ºPlato) 1.040-1.060 (10-15 ºPlato)
Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato) 1.006-1.012 (1.5-3 ºPlato)
Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 3.3-7% (4-8.7%)
Bitterness (IBU) 20-40
Color SRM (EBC) 6-26 (12-52 EBC)

The Brewers Association made a few changes to its style guidelines for 2011. The most talked about likely will be renaming the beer formerly known as American-Style India Black Ale, now calling it American-Style Black Ale. The press release also notes several beer style descriptions have been significantly updated.

I thought you might be curious what that means, and probably don’t have your own copy of the 2010 guidelines lying around so you can compare to the old and new. Here are both versions of the description of Traditional German-Style Bock.

2011
Traditional bocks are made with all malt and are strong, malty, medium- to full-bodied, bottom-fermented beers with moderate hop bitterness that should increase proportionately with the starting gravity. Malt character should be a balance of sweetness and toasted/nut-like malt; not caramel. Hop flavor should be low and hop aroma should be very low. Bocks can range in color from deep copper to dark brown. Fruity esters should be minimal. Diacetyl should be absent.

Original Gravity (ºPlato) 1.066-1.074 (16.5-18 ºPlato)
Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato) 1.018-1.024 (4.5-6 ºPlato)
Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 5-6% (6.3-7.5%)
Bitterness (IBU) 20-30
Color SRM (EBC) 20-30 (40-60 EBC)

2010
Traditional bocks are made with all malt and are strong, malty, medium- to full-bodied, bottom-fermented beers with moderate hop bitterness that should increase proportionately with the starting gravity. Hop flavor should be low and hop aroma should be very low. Bocks can range in color from deep copper to dark brown. Fruity esters should be minimal.

Specification unchanged from 2010 to 2011.

Can you identify the outlier?

a) Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat
b) Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat Ale
c) Samuel Adams Honey Porter
d) Yuengling Black & Tan
e) Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss Bier

Yes, there may be more than one correct answer (perhaps even one I haven’t thought of), so please include an explanation.