Realbeer.com Beer Therapy

If we call a beer made by adding hops to the conditioning tank “dry hopped” does that mean we should call a beer made instead by adding maple baseball bats “dry batted”?

However you describe Homefront IPA, al proceeds from the beer will be donated to Operation Homefront, a national group that provides emergency financial assistance to military families.

Nine different brewers collaborated to create Homefront IPA, all using the same recipe, complete with orange peel and unfinished maple Louisville Sluggers. Participating breweries include Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Fla., Sly Fox Brewing Co. in Pottstown, Pa., Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis, 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, the Phoenix Ale Brewery in Phoenix, Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colo., and Stone Brewing Co., in Escondido, Calif. The official release date is Memorial Day. The breweries will sell the beer in bottles and kegs in their areas, with all proceeds being donated to local chapters of the charity.

The Hops for Heroes project began in 2011 when Chris Ray, who since founded his own brewery, was pitching for the Seattle Mariners. A home brewer at the time, Ray wanted to partner with a local brewery to create a charity beer. Together with Fremont Brewing Co. in Seattle and his brother, Phil, they developed the recipe and chose the charity Operation Homefront.

Last year, the project helped raise $165,000. After the beer is brewed, the bats are dried and auctioned off.

Shmalz Brewing has introduced the Hops In HE’BREW Hoppy Variety Pack, made up of Genesis Dry-Hopped Session Ale, Hop Manna IPA, Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. and HE’BREW’s first seasonal lager — David’s Slingshot Hoppy Summer Lager.

“It’s fascinating how craft beer is surging while big beer companies are trying to catch up by marketing look-alike ‘craft’ beers,” said Shmaltz founder Jeremy Cowan. “Our first HE’BREW lager, David’s Slingshot, is our way of stepping into the action in mainstream settings — with an obvious signature Shmaltz style — our chosen shtick!”

- Dominion Brewing has released a Pinup Pack, a variety 12-pack containing three of its popular Bomber Girls. The Pinup Pack contains Double D IPA, Morning Glory Espresso Stout and GiGi’s Farmhouse Ale. Originally bottled in 22-ounce bombers last year, Double D and Morning Glory made the switch to 12-ounce bottles earlier in the year. GiGi joins them in the 12-ounce format exclusively for the Pinup Pack. She will be replaced by Candi, a Belgian Tripel, in September. “Our goal with the Pinup Pack is to introduce more people to Double D, Glory and GiGi,” Jim Lutz, president of Forham and Dominion Brewing, said. The variety pack gives us a great platform to showcase each beer’s unique personality.”

- Terrapin Beer Co. has packaged its first beer in cans, RecreationAle, a hopped-up session-strength beer. To emphasize how well cans go with outdoor activities, Terrapin is partnering with Osprey Packs. An online raffle (details here) offering consumers the chance to win an Osprey backpack will open in early June, coinciding with the beer’s release. Each month, four winners will take home an Osprey pack. RecreationalAle is a 4.7% ABV beer with 42 bitterness units, and made with all “new world” hops — Bravo, Centennial, Zythos, Amarillo, and Galaxy.

- F.X. Matt Brewing has added two new beers to the Saranac 12 Beers of Summer package. They are Wild Hop Pils 5.2% ABV, 28 IBU), which is made with Belma hops, found growing wild on a hop farm in Washington, and Session Ale (4.5% ABV, 30 IBU).

German brewers say that fracking endangers the purity of their country’s beer.

They have urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to block the tapping of shale gas by means of hydraulic fracturing (known as fracking). The Association of German Breweries said current proposals related to fracking are inadequate to protect drinking water.

“We are concerned that fracking endangers the brewing water that more than half of Germany’s breweries take from private wells,” Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, a spokesman for the group, told Bloomburg. “And that it threatens our absolutely pure beer.” The association has sent a letter voicing its concerns to six Cabinet ministers including Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, he said.

Merkel has agreed on draft legislation in her coalition that would outlaw fracking in some areas. It remains unclear whether a law can be passed before the election, Altmaier said.

Germany’s brewers point to what they say is the oldest food-safety regulation in the world to justify their concerns about fracking. The Reinheitsgebot was drafted in April 1516 at the instigation of Duke Wilhelm IV in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt. The law states that only malted barley, hops and water may go into beer, with the later addition of yeast, which had not yet been discovered at the time.

Ohio’s Fat Head’s Brewery, which makes one of America’s most celebrated India Pale Ales, plans to open a brewpub in Portland, Ore., one of America’s most celebrated beer cities.

Co-owner and brewer Matt Cole said Fat Head’s, which already has both a production brewery and a restaurants, signed a deal for a 13,000-square-foot space in the Pearl District about two blocks from Deschutes Brewery and Rogue Ales.

The brewery makes a wide range of assertive beers, led by Headhunter IPA.

“The Pearl District is a pretty hip area right in downtown Portland,” Cole told the Akron Beacon Journal’s website.

The brewpub will operate with a 10-barrel system. “We want to keep the batch size small so we can keep the beer fresh,” Cole said. He expects the new brewpub will open in the spring of 2014, offering 14 or 15 Fat Head’s beers on draft, along with about 25 beers from Portland breweries.

Fat Head’s also announced earlier this year that it’s looking to open a brewpub in Columbus.

Alaskan Brewing announced that it will no longer offer its Alaskan Pale as a year-round release. The brewery decided to cut production because it cannot get the hops that make the golden ale unique.

“The U.S. Tettnanger hops availability, consistency and quality had started to become an ongoing issue for the past several years,” David Wilson, Quality Assurance Manager at Alaskan Brewing, said in a company press release. “With most hop varieties we are able to order based on the characteristics we are looking for in the taste and aroma, but because so few farmers are growing this hop, we have had a hard time coming up with the consistency we need to brew Alaskan Pale year-round.”

Hop geneticists have determined U.S. Tettnanger is an offspring of the English Fuggle hop, and it produces distinctly different odors than hops of American origin — such as Cascade, Citra, and Amarillo — that are currently very popular and more widely available.

Alaskan Pale is what’s generally known as a golden ale, but in 1987 was called Pale to offer a contrast to the only other year-round brew Alaskan was producing at the time, Alaskan Amber. The Alaskan Pale a loyal following, particularly in Alaska.

“We are always experimenting with different recipes, and we would love to find a similar flavor profile to the Alaskan Pale as many of us will miss this beer tremendously,” said co-founder Marcy Larson. “But we wanted to be honest in that without those specific hops, it will not be the same beer.”

Alaskan’s latest year-round release, the Freeride APA is quite different beer from Pale, with a citrusy hop-forward flavor profile.

By the time you finish reading this two more breweries will have opened some place in the United States. (That’s only a bit of an exaggeration.)

Those who study The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery by Dick Cantwell will almost surely have a better chance of success. The second edition of the guide has been completely rewritten and covers, among other things:

- Business plans
- Financing
- Quality assurance
- Site selection
- Flooring choices
- Branding
- Raw materials
- Distribution
- Regulatory requirements
- Equipment considerations
- Sustainability practices
- Wastewater

Cantwell is co-founder of Elysian Brewing, which has three pub locations and a production brewery. Cantwell recently talked about the book with Eric Gorski of the Denver Post.

Imperial Smoked Porter is the second in Deschutes Brewery’s Class of ‘88 collaboration series, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of craft breweries around the country that were founded in 1988. Deschutes and Great Lakes Brewing developed the recipe together, then made versions at their respective breweries. Their year-round porters, Deschutes Black Butte and Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, are among the most highly regarded in the country.

The imperial collaboration is 9.5% ABV, with 50 bitterness units (IBU). The two breweries both distribute in Minnesota and Illinois, so those are the places to go for side-by-side tastings. Meanwhile the best way learn about the beer is this video.

- Firestone Walker Brewing used traditional German ingredients and West Coast dry-hopping technique to create Pivo Pils (5.3% ABV, 40 IBU). “Lighter beer styles like pilsner have been hijacked by industrial lager beer in the United States, and it’s time for craft brewers to take it back,” brewmaster Matt Brynildson said.

“A lot of pilsners have the malt element down, as well as the dryness and drinkability, and even the bitterness — but they lack hop aroma,” Brynildson said. Pivo Pils is brimming with aroma. He said he took inspiration from Birrificio Italiano’s Tipo Pils. “Ever since I first tasted it, I’ve been dreaming about making a dry-hopped pilsner.”

- O’Fallon Brewery in Missouri has launched a rotating series of 4-pack 12-ounce beers this week called the Brewer’s Stash. The first beer in the series, Sticke It To The Man, is a darker, hoppier, 7.5% ABV version of the traditional Dusseldorf Alt style, according to the St. Charles County-based brewery. “The beer has a medium to full body, notes of caramel and toasted, nutty malt complemented with floral German Noble hops,” O’Fallon brewmaster Brian Owens said.

- New Belgium Brewing’s newest Lips of Faith beers are now available: Paardebloem, the latest collaboration with Red Rock Brewing in Salt Lake City, and Pluot. Paardebloem brings together a diverse set of ingredients ranging from peach juice to dandelion greens. It blends Brettanomyces with New Belgium’s house Belgian ale yeast, and includes a touch of wood-aged sour beer and Grains of Paradise. Paardebloem pours a light, hazy gold and is 9% ABV. Pluot is a subtly sweet ale made from pluot juice, which is a hybrid of a plum and an apricot. Pluot is light golden and 10% ABV, delivering fruity aromas and distinct esters. It is also created with house Belgian ale yeast and Brettanomyces, bringing a hint of spice and a malty backbone.