Holy Firkin Chit... It’s a Firkfest!!

Photo by Jessica Rice McNew from Beer and Baking

(Click here to check out last year’s collaboration with Jessica from Beer and Baking)

Held at the Packing House in Anaheim (my hometown!!), this was the 4th year Greg Nagel had coordinated Firkfest. I’ll be the first to admit, year one was filled with plot-holes and pitfalls. However, the very next year the event improved 100% and each year has been better than the last. This year was no exception. What is Firkfest? The best way to describe this event is bringing together the tradition of cask-conditioned Real Ale from the UK and the creativity of the craft beer industry (follow the link above for more information about Real Ale in England). This year, the addition of a “Tiki” theme added an extra layer of fun. Lots of sunshine, amazing beers, and hundreds of beer lovers in one place. If you have never been to this event, you are missing out!

Greetings fellow beer lovers!

Now it’s time for my completely meaningless and intangible awards for this year’s Firkfest. Although there were some flops to my taste, it was tough to choose some stand-outs among so many awesome casks. Here are my winners...

Best Beer Name Award: Dole Hole

For the second year in a row, the honor goes to Tustin Brewing Company and their Dole Hole. Stop chuckling, that's not what I meant! This is a take on their Old Town IPA made with Pineapple. Bitter and tropical, the beer also fit the theme of the festival. This was just one of the pineapple beers available at the event.

Most Unique Cask Award: Kalua Porker

Riip Beer Company's Kalua Porker. Holy chit! This was impressive. Porters are a great beer paring for unique preparations of pork. This cask creation by Head Brewer Trevor Walls (formally of Pizza Port) takes that concept one step further… put the damn pork in the beer! Sweetness of Kalua, roast and acrid porter, and finished with umami and savory pork flavors. It was actually quite tasty!

Most Stylistically Correct Award: The King's Taxes - 60 Shilling

Wow, this was a close one to call. I almost give this award to a new-comer Inland Wharf Brewing Company’s English Bitter dry-hopped with EGK (East Kent Goldings). It was a session beer with a wonderful woody hop presence. A beautiful mini-pint of ale. However, MacLeod Brewing Company always brings their A-Game to festivals with multiple pins on a mobile stillage. As expected, MacLeod’s did indeed have some tasty real ale and their 60 Shilling takes my crown for Most Stylistically Correct (as a general Scottish Ale, not necessarily a 60 Shilling/Scottish Light). Not only is it a rare style outside of the UK, but it was perfect for the day! Low ABV and refreshing, this malty, earthy yet dry brew kept me returning for another pour. Well done, MacLeod’s!

Runner up! A fine English Bitter.

Styles lesson bonus: I’ll keep this brief. A 60 Shilling ale, or Scottish Light according to the BJCP 2015 Guidelines, is the lightest of three nearly identical styles, each of which increases in strength and character as you move up the latter. These Scottish Ales are more commonly referred to as Scottish Light, Scottish Heavy, and Scottish Export. Think of these beers as the Scott’s response/equivalent to the Ordinary, Best, and Strong Bitters from their southern British neighbors. That’s not to say Scotland didn’t have a brewing tradition. In fact, their brewing traditions mirrored the English rather than copy. Historically, the Scottish Ales were created via what is called “Parti-gyle” brewing where a single mash would create several beers. This was achieved by the brewer running off the initial, carbohydrate-rich sweet liquid (wort) from the mash, and adding more water to the grains to extract more sugars. Repeat the process a few times, and you have a parti-gyle, although each sequential run off would have less fermentable carbohydrates. The third runoff of the parti-gyle would have the least amount of sugars and this wort is what would eventually become the Scottish Light, or 60 Shilling. Oh, and the Scotts were brewing pioneers. The almost essential practice of “sparging” (rinsing the grans during mash runoff) was invented by the Scotts.

Most Valiant Award...

I cannot end this review without mentioning Valiant. This was one of the last times (if not THE last time) we will see Valiant Brewing Company at a festival. Sadly, they will be closing their doors at the end of this month. It was great to see them there with a “cute” little beer cocktail, complete with a cherry on top. Rather than closing this article on a somber note, I’ll end it with awarding this year’s final award for this event to Valiant… to the entire brewery! You truly have been the most Valiant. Thank you for being a part of our beer lives!

Adding the cherry to Valiant's
Hop You Like a Hurricane

What else can I say about this event. Call it luck, call it planning, call it timing, call it serendipity; the beers were beautiful, the attendees were some of my best friends, and the weather was perfect for a tiki-themed cask ale festival. This is my second year reviewing this event. Greg, thank you for allowing me to spew my love for Firkfest. Keep up the great work, my friend!

Cheers!

Gilbert “Charlie” Perez, Certified Cicerone®

Photo by Jessica Rice McNew from Beer and Baking

For more official photos, check out Firkfest’s Official Facebook Page here.

Official Firkfest website here.

Additional photos by Beer and Baking here.

Official Beer and Baking page here.

Aged like a fine... Beer?

Yes, we are talking about aging and cellaring beer. What? You’ve never heard of aging beer?! Yes, it’s a thing. And it’s a wonderful thing! By the way: for the purpose of this article, “aging” and “cellaring” are used interchangeably. Beer cellaring is far from cut & dry. Follow me down the cellar. Watch your step...

(Photo source below)

What Beers to Age and How:

Possibly the most common question regarding beer aging is: what beers should I age? In his book Tasting Beer, Randy Mosher says, “Ales are, primarily, with bottle-conditioned ones preferred, as the yeast provides a bit of a protective effect.” Although it does not have any preservative properties, yeast does add character over time and helps provide longevity in the form of unique flavor development. Take care to not store bottle-conditioned beers in excess heat. This will cause the yeast autolysis (the death of yeast: rupturing the cell-walls releasing an array of compounds into the beer) and completely ruining your efforts. More on this down below. Speaking of temperature...

Recommended cellar temperatures are about 50° – 60°F. Some publication say 55° – 65°F. Basically this is the range a typical cellar. So when you hear someone say “cellar temperature” this is roughly the range they are talking about. Extreme temperature fluctuations should be avoided. Humidity might be a factor when regarding corked bottles. However, there is humidity inside the bottle, so this shouldn't be a problem as long the environment isn't extremely dry. A bit more on corks in the following section.

I once had a 3-year-old Corona which was kept unrefrigerated in an uninsulated garage where temperatures exceeded 110°F during the summer. Yes, I tasted this on purpose. Why? For science! There was also a fresh (well, recently purchased) bottle of Corona there for comparison.

I took the first sample. It was awful! Next, I proceeded to sample the 3-year-old Corona... (*taps microphone* Is this thing on? Ha!) Seriously though, the flavors of the aged Corona were astonishing. Think rancid apple juice mixed with vinegar and skunk spray. Yummy, right?

Besides the ridiculous heat, a Corona isn’t exactly a poster-child for the suggested beers to age. Typically, most will say to keep the ABV at 7% or higher and I tend to agree with this statement. Ethanol (the alcohol found in beer) is great for stability. Usually, darker colored beers tend to age better, too. As beer ages there’s bound to be some oxidation. In lighter beers this oxidation will cause paper/cardboard flavors in your beer. On the flip side, when aging darker colored beers, this same oxidation happens, but the highly kilned malts used will to evolve into a nutty, port and/or sherry-like characters and possibly some anise notes to add unique complexity.

Hops aroma and flavor will degrade and drop out followed by bitterness. Highly-hopped beers are usually not suitable for aging because of this.

Beers stored upright in a temperature-controlled fridge

Bottle Orientation:

Now for the bottle orientation. This is where the most vocal opinions reside on this subject. Most will say always keep your bottles upright while some say to lay them horizontal on a rack. Here’s the debate: Corks kept in a dry environment have to potential to dry out and shrink. Notice I’ve said "potential." There are many factors that I won’t get into here, but it CAN happen. That DOES NOT mean it ALWAYS happens. A solution would be to lay the beer on its side to keep the cork wet. However, this may cause a compound known as 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA) to add its musty flavors into the beer since the fungus thought to cause TCA thrives in corks.

With that said, sour and wild beers in corked bottles are what I believe to be the driving factor in this debate. Souring organisms are usually still present in a wild ale. Under aerobic conditions (presence of oxygen), the souring organism Acetobacter will begin to produce Acetic Acid essentially turning the beer into vinegar. Therefore, if the sour ale is bottles with a cork, there is argument towards laying these beers down to keep the cork wet keeping oxygen out. The downside: beer contacting the cork increasing the chances of TCA imparting its musty cellar traits.

My suggestion? Keep non-sour or non-wild beers upright, and lay down corked sours/wilds. If you do lay down your beers, turn them upright for a day or so to allow any sediment to drop and collect at the bottom of the bottle.

Vertical tasting of 2006 through 2015 Stone IRS
(Photo by Chris Scott)

Off-Flavors:

Off-flavor development is quite common with aged beer, although they are not always negative, depending on concentration. Autolysis (as mentioned above) can impart a broth-like aroma to a beer when it’s in small quantities, yet it can be absolutely disgusting in high concentrations. Imagine rotten garbage water. This is caused by all the Mercaptan compounds released during autolysis.

Oxidation is caused by the formation of the compound Trans-2-nonanal. As mentioned above, this adds a sherry or port quality to beers made with dark and specialty malts. In light beers or in extremely high quantities, it tastes like wet cardboard.

Diacetyl can also form in ages beer. Click here for my previous post about Diacetyl to find out more.

Acetaldehyde adds a green apple/sour apple, or even latex paint aromas. This compound is produced during normal yeast metabolism and is reduced into ethanol. Over oxidation can convert ethanol back to acetaldehyde.

Acetic Acid is caused by the bacteria Acetobacter under the presence of oxygen. See section above.

Big hoppy beers are best enjoyed fresh. As highly-hopped beers age, those intense hop aromas and flavors drop out and make way for the compound Beta-Damascenone. This creates a berry-like aroma and flavor that may or may it be pleasant.

There’s a slew of other compounds which degrade, arise, and may degrade again making way for even more complex compounds during beer aging. The chemistry is complex and it is tough to know the end result will be desirable or not.

Notable Exceptions:

Lambics are complex! The blended Lambics, Gueuze, are low in ABV (usually under 6%) and quite light in color. Yet, they can age for many years! This already complex style gets weirder under the right cellar conditions. These artisan and ancient beers are the only remaining beers to be spontaneously fermented by the natural airborne microflora (bacteria and fungi from a particular habitat) found in the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium. Garrett Oliver says in The Oxford Companion to Beer, “Because of the interactions between its complex microflora, the aging of lambic is unique among beers… In lambic, the microflora represent the biggest influence over the period of aging, but other factors are at work as well.”

Vintage bottles of Gueuze
(Photo by Ralph Turner)

Double and "triple" IPAs are very popular. As stated above, these intensely floral, aromatic, bitter beers are best fresh. However, there are some who believe an aged Double IPA or Imperial Red morphs into Barleywine-ish beer over time. It's an interesting thought and worth experimenting. It will not always work, but it can. Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA can age gracefully. It's not the same beer when aged, of course. The abundance of malts used and the elevated ABV makes for a splendid beer when cellared properly. I’ve had more disasters than successes when aging hoppy beers. Proceed with caution should you choose to age a big Double IPA.

Pigmentation:

When an aged wine is finally uncorked, white wine develops color leaning towards a golden shade, and red wine fades down to a strange redish-brownish color. Beer does the same thing, only with different color shifts. Aged lighter colored beers will gain shades of copper, while dark and black beers lighten up a bit. In my experience, the lightening up of dark beers is not as noticeable as the darkening of paler beers.

And there you have it!

In the end, it is entirely up to you if that bottle you have in your fridge should be opened now or later. By now it should be safe to say not all beers are meant to be aged. Don’t be afraid to experiment and ask questions. Many times, the beer label itself will have suggested aging timeframes and recommended caller temperatures. Start with that and then move on to experimentation.

I’ll leave you with this. A good friend of Terms of Enbeerment and much respected beer guide, Ed Heethuis, shared some words of wisdom on beer aging. This sums it up perfectly. “Aging beer is like making croutons. Since beer is basically liquid bread, and croutons are made from old bread...one has to choose wisely. Just like not all old bread produces great croutons, not all beer ages well.”

Let’s make some croutons! Choose your bread wisely.



Cheers!

Gilbert “Charlie” Perez, Certified Cicerone®



*Resources and Helpful Links:

http://focusonthebeer.com/2013/01/cellarmanship-part-2-how-to-store-your-hoarded-beer-properly.html/

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store/

http://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/cellaring-craft-beer-to-age-or-not-to-age

http://www.dogfish.com/community/blogfish/members/justin-williams/5-things-you-should-know-about-aging-beer.htm

http://draftmag.com/cellaring-technique/

http://draftmag.com/cellaring-evolving-flavors/

http://draftmag.com/the-great-cellaring-myths/

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher

The Oxford Companion to Beer

Cellar Photo credit: pixabay.com

The "D" Word: Diacetyl

Remember when we were young and we were taught never to say bad words? I apologize in advance for all the obscene language I'm about to say.

In the beer world, there's no greater profanity than saying the "D" word. And even worse is putting that "D" in your mouth. (Get your mind out of the gutter! ...That's not what I meant!)

I am referring to Diacetyl.

Pronunciation aside (die-ASS-a-teel, DIE-a-see-till, or die-assa-TEEL), this compound causes a movie popcorn, almost rancid butter-like flavor and aroma in beer. Although Diacetyl is produced by all yeast strains during normal metabolism, its quantities are greatly affected by many factors. The main factor is the amino acid Valine and how much of it is present in the wort. Regardless of this, Diacetyl is always produced at some rate during the first few days of fermentation.

*Warning! Chemistry up-ahead!*

2, 3-Butanedione (AKA: Diacetyl)

During the initial stages of fermentation, the yeast cell creates Valine as part of its metabolism cycle. Along this pathway to create the amino acid, the compound α(Alpha)-Acetolactate is also produced. A non-enzymatic oxidative decarboxylation of α-Acetolactate (I know, right?) occurs outside the yeast cell and is converted to 2,3-Butanedione, the compound we know as "Diacetyl."

The presence of Valine is directly related to the amount of Diacetyl produced because the enzyme that produces α-Acetolactate is deactivated when the wort contains high quantities of Valine. We know Valine is an amino acid and amino acids are the building-blocks of proteins. In turn, we can assume the high concentration of proteins in wort should significantly reduce the amount of Diacetyl produced. High protein levels could cause some other problems in the finished beer, so large protein quantities is not a viable solution to control Diacetyl.

Another compound called 2,3-Pentanedione is created via an separate pathway. This compound is also sent outside the yeast cell and will end up in the finished beer if not properly reduced. 2,3-Pentanedione is believed to have similar buttery flavor and aroma properties (sometimes described as honey-like), however this compound is not produced in very high quantities as 2,3-Butanedione is.

For you chemist out there, these two compounds are Vicinal Diketones. "In chemistry-speak, 'vicinal' essentially means 'adjacent', and 'diketone' means that there are two ketone functional groups (a ketone is an oxygen double-bonded to a carbon in the middle of a carbon chain)." (Beer Sensory Science)

As fermentation wraps up, most of the previously produced 2,3-Butanedione and 2,3-Pentanedione is reabsorbed by the yeast into its cell. Through more enzymatic activity, they are converted into 2,3-Butanediol and 2,3-Pentanediol, which have a much higher threshold for us humans. In other words, Diacetyl is turned into something we can't taste.

For you brewers out there, this is typically referred to as a "Diacetyl Rest." Brewers usually aid the reabsorption of these compounds by raising the temperature during the last day or two of fermentation. This rise in temperature excites the yeast and can more easily and vigorously convert Diacetyl into the non-flavored compound.

If Diacetyl is detected in your beer, it is usually an indicator of rushed production or improper fermentation practices.

Another common contributor to Diacetyl is a bacterial infection. The most likely culprits are the little bugs called Pediococcus and/or Lactobacillus. Both of these lovely bacteria create lactic acid and can produce Diacetyl as part of their fermentation products. While they may be a welcome addition to some wild ales and artisanal sour beers, it is quite unpleasant when found in dirty draft lines that haven't been maintained or cleaned sufficiently. Infections can also occur in many stages of the fermentation process, but dirty draft lines seem to be the biggest contributor for Diacetyl via bugs.

One more discovery is Diacetyl production during beer aging. Although the levels of Diacetyl in aged beer may be undetectable because of low levels or hidden behind the veil of oxidation compounds, Diacetyl could be nonetheless present.

In very small quantities, Diacetyl can be a contributing factor to the overall flavor and aroma profile of certain styles. Most English and Irish beers tend to have some detectable levels of Diacetyl adding a pleasant buttery undertone. An interesting fact is Diacetyl is one of the differentiating characteristics between a German Pilsner and a Czech Pilsner (Czech Pilsners are expected/accepted to have low levels of Diacetyl). However, in high quantities this compound can impart a butterscotch, movie popcorn, or a rancid butter flavor and aroma.

Another interesting fact to point out is while a great number of beer drinkers might be able to detect Diacetyl with ease, there are an equal amount of us that are completely blind to it. On that same note, some are very sensitive to Diacetyl while others will only find it detectable in extremely high quantities. Should you fall under any of these parameters, it is perfectly normal since it is simply genetics.

I think that's enough foul language for one lesson. I need to go wash my mouth out with some beer... Er, soap. And put a coin in the tip jar... Er, swear jar.



Class dismissed,

-Gilbert "Charlie" Perez, Certified Cicerone®




Photo Credits:
A big thank you to BeerAndBaking's Jessica Rice McNew for her amazing photography in this article!!

Resources:
-Beer Sensory Science
-Janux Chemistry of Beer Course Materials
-White Labs
-Oxford Companion to Beer