Maltose Falcons

BJCP Guidelines Category 16 A
Maltose Falcons Style Guidelines Category 22.1

I have been brewing Witbiers for a number of years now with very good results, drawing gold regularly in competition. This style can be hard to hit right on because it’s a game of subtlety. It has to be phenolic, but not overly so, ever so slightly tangy, just a gentle suggestion of spiciness, hazy but not murky, generously carbonated but not so much you get all head. The un-subtle parts: very crisp, very refreshing and very delicious!

Our beer favorites include Wee Heavy, 60, 70, and 80 shilling Scottish Ales so we try to make 2 beers when we make the Wee Heavy. The OG'S range from 1.096 down to 1.050 added depending on how much wort dilution added. Filtered, boiled and chilled San Fernando Valley water is used for dilution. Here is our recipe and procedure highlights for one of our recent Wee Heavy brews:

Recipe for 12 gallons wort:

5 gallons Wee Heavy & 7 gallons Scottish Export Ale 80 shilling:

Sometimes inspiration comes when you’re least expecting it. The idea to brew a roggenbier came after taking the BJCP exam on January 7, 2006. One of the questions came completely out of left-field and took everyone by surprise. Describe the characteristics of a Roggenbier and give commercial examples. Huh?! Of course, it was in the study guide, but really…come on guys!!! I’m pretty sure that no one taking that test got the question right.

Gruit ales, or simply Gruits, are an ancient brew. They were brewed all over the European continent (and beyond) between 700 and 1700 AD. During that period brewers used many types of Gruit herbs for flavorings and bittering agents. The typical Gruit herbs, the three most used of the bunch are Yarrow (flowers and stems), Marsh or Wild Rosemary, and Myrica or Sweet Gale.

It all started out innocently enough. Brew a tasty fall treat -- a wonderful not-quite winter warmer -- a Doppelbock. This high gravity lager should be around 8% alcohol, said I. Then I got an idea. So, come a warm March weekend, I embarked upon a six-month adventure to ultimately create an Eisbock beer.

 It was ten years ago that Brian Vessa and I captured Best of Show in the Falcons Mayfaire Competition with our Dortmund-Style Lager entry. Since that time, it has also taken a Best of Show prize at the Los Angeles County Fair Competition in 2003, and it recently won First Place in the European Pale Lager category at the 2006 Mayfaire Competition (Tom Hamilton joined us for that brew), so it's an enduring recipe. The evolution of our ideas in crafting this recipe is an interesting story about what is, sadly, fast becoming one of the most obscure traditional beer styles.

A Dortmunder Adambier is malt dominated strong ale from Northern Germany. No one can be certain on the origin. Dortmund was one of the cities in the 14th Century Hanseatic League (along with Einbeck -- the home of Bock); the city was best known for beer and brewing. In the 19th Century, King Frederick William IV of Prussia was known as a hard drinking man. He visited Dortmund and some Adambier put him under the table for more than a whole day! With the development of lagers, this style fell out of favor among German beer drinkers, and now is very difficult to find.

A good chocolate porter that delivers on its promise of silky, elegant chocolate character is fairly simple to formulate and brew, yet can be devilishly difficult to execute well. After tinkering with recipes and processes for several years, I have found a few secrets that have helped me consistently win competitions with this style (entered as a Herb/Spice beer).

Dougwieser is as close as a homebrewer can get to the original Budweiser in my opinion. [Ed Note: when I asked Rick why a homebrewer would want to duplicate Bud, he responded, "Well for one it's a very hard style to duplicate. It's kind of like a challenge to me. All the flavors in this style are so subtle, you need a lot of discipline when you brew this beer. Big beers are so easy, all you do is throw in a ton of malt, a pound of hops, and a gallon of yeast slurry, "badda bing badda boom" you got a great beer.

We all go through a phase where the endless joys and pain of high gravity brewing, but after a while all that big beer just starts to weigh a man down. Sometimes you just want to reach for a bottle or keg of something easy to drink. For most of the world, that means reaching for a "pilsner". That's just not my cup of joe. (Sorry John A.)