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Homebrewers- Make a Session Beer

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Throughout Session Beer Month, we have had a number of homebrewers come to us for tips on making a Session beer like our Alpha Session. Many brewers find these styles to be tricky since they must find a way to produce body and flavor with fewer ingredients. So to help out, we approached our friend and local homebrew celebrity, Mike (Tasty) McDole to create and share a homebrew recipe that will help you make your own Session Pale Ale. A little on Tasty’s credentials:

1. In 2007, he won Boston Beer Company’s Longshot Competition with his Double IPA recipe.

2. Since 2009, Tasty has brewed his Janet’s Brown Ale (an American Brown Ale) at Russian River Brewing Company each year, as both a Pro-Am entry for the GABF and as a specialty offering in the fall/winter.

3. Tasty spends time every week imparting his homebrew knowledge on the internets via The Brewing Network.

Ok, enough of the brew cred. Here’s the recipe.

Tasty’s Session Pale Ale

Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity 1.014  3.9% ABV
43% Rahr Two-row
19% Crisp Maris Otter
14% Castle Belgian Pilsner
14% Crystal 15
5% Crystal 40
5% Carapils

21 IBU Chinook at 60 minutes
12 IBU Cascade at 20 minutes
9 IBU Centennial at 10 minutes

Dryhop with Centennial at 1/2 ounce per gallon.
Notes: Mash at 156F for 45 minutes. Boil 90 minutes. Ferment at 66F with California Ale yeast. The 20 minute hop addition can be moved to flameout with a similar IBU contribution if followed by a 30 minute whirlpool rest. Any other hop regimen can be used that totals 40 to 50 IBU.

So brew on friends with help from Tasty. Make those Session Beers to last you into the hot summer months and enjoy. Might we suggest a brew day refreshment?

If homebrewers have any other questions regarding Drake’s brews, techniques, and recipes, we they are welcome to hit up our brewers via breweranswers@drakesbrewing.com.

Twitter people: You can follow Tasty online @TastyMcD.

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Bringing you the Alpha and Omega Sessions

Friday, April 26th, 2013

“Foolish consistency is the hob goblin of little minds.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alpha Session is different this year.

Hold the phone. Don’t fret. We haven’t abandoned the Alpha Session you loved before. Let us explain what we mean here.

Each year the hop crops are different in varying degrees. Rainfall fluctuates; temperatures differ; one field’s aromas can diverge from the next of the same hop; and hop growers are always introducing new varieties into the mix. Last year’s CTZ can be great, but this year’s may not be anything to write home about. It’s natural.

“Hops are a changing agricultural product; a hop can vary from one year to the next; and there are always new varieties coming out,” explains Drake’s Head Brewer John Gillooly. “Our seasonals are the place where we get to really dig in with the best hops in our supply in a given year.”

Now, don’t get us wrong, we’re not just going to decide that EKGs (English hops, East Kent Goldings) are great this year and stick them in Alpha Session. We keep in mind the flavor profiles of the previous batches. We just don’t fill compelled to use the exact same recipe.

As Gillooly puts it, “We are not constrained to make these beers consistently the same recipe, but to make them consistently awesome.”

John Gillooly (left) and Brewer Chris Dunstan examine hops for Alpha Session.

Alpha Session this year will have the bright, citric American hop profile with the slight dank, pine edge that characterizes our NorCal bitter. We are using a large addition of Citra in the whirlpool and a heavy-handed dry hop with Simcoe for the slight dank, pine character loved by West Coast hop heads; El Dorado for juicy citrus and lemony flavors; and Experimental Hop 01210, which stood out amongst new hops for its pleasant floral, pine, and citrus peel aromas. How did we choose these hops? They were the best for the job.

Alpha Session, 3.8% ABV, 50 IBUs, will release on draft at Drake’s Barrel House (and at the Boonville Beer Festival) on Saturday, May 4, and this year (another change) they will be packaged in 4-packs of 12oz bottles available shortly thereafter.

Oh, but we’re not done with the good news here. We didn’t stop the Session brewing with Alpha Session alone. Starting this year brewers in the Bay Area and beyond have declared that May is Session Beer Month, and we are getting into the spirit with Alpha and its dark twin.

Omega Session will be an under 4% ABV dark, American hopped, session beer (session CDA, perhaps?) available at the Barrel House and on draft in the Bay Area. Omega Session features a brooding, dark malt character and a dank, herbaceous hop tone with prominent Mosaic and Simcoe hops (both great this year).

So stop by in May the Fourth for a pint or several of our light and dark side, appreciate our attention to the hops, and walk in a straight line home. Cheers.

 

 

**Want to know more about Session Beer Month?**

Follow on Twitter: @SessionBeerMay

OR

Like on Facebook: facebook.com/SessionBeerMonth

AND

Mark your calendar for the 1st Annual NorCal Session Fest hosted at Drake’s on May 25th featuring Session Beers (craft brews under 5% ABV, and preferably under 4.5%ABV) from around California. The fest will benefit the East Bay Bike Coalition. More details to come.

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Posted in beer, Beer Fests, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Drake's Staff, Release, Seasonal | No Comments »

Drake’s Joins Strong Beer Month

Friday, January 18th, 2013

Just in case SF Beer Week isn’t enough for you, our friends at 21st Amendment and Magnolia have declared every February for the past decade plus to be Strong Beer Month.  Not ones to miss a party, we sent lead brewer Alexandra Nowell westward to 2nd & De Boom to collaborate with 21A’s Shaun O’Sullivan on an Imperial IPA sure to hold its own against the rest of what Strong Beer Month has to offer. Then on the brew day January 5, the Drake’s crew (including John Martin, Packaging Supervisor (and former 21A brewer) Mike Pawlicki, Marketing Director Kelsey Williams, and Sales Manager Dow Tunis) came out in force to lend a hand (or drink and supervise) as the brew commenced.

Nelson, Jade, and Helga, which was brewed Saturday, January 5 at 21st Amendment, will be a Triple IPA made with 2-row, caramalt, rye, chocolate malt, and a little roasted barley, along with a combination of New Zealand (Nelson Sauvin & Pacific Jade) and American hops (Centennial & Amarillo) set to hit 10.5% ABV.

The concept of this beer harkens back to a cask Alex made for the Aroma Coma and Aroma Prieta release on July 28th of 2012. Alex had decided to do a yin and yang sort of thing, adding NZ hops to a cask of Aroma Coma US-hopped IPA, and some US Chinook hops to a cask of Aroma Prieta NZ-hopped IPA.

Anyone who experienced the latter cask on that day can attest to its brilliance. It had all the elegant, aromatic gooseberry, lemon, tropical fruit experiences of the Nelson Sauvin, Pacific Jade, and Motueka hops with an added sturdy backbone of pine-woodsy aromas from the Chinook. It was a tremendous cask. Those who received it were lucky bastards indeed. So, Alex brought the idea to Shaun, and together they came up with the final Drake’s Collaboration submission to the strong beer month lineup at 21A.

“Expect an incredible hop aroma with a firm malt backbone, but the hops are gonna be the showcase here,” said Shaun during the brew day.
“It will have notes of tangerine, gooseberries, and muscat grapes from the NZ hops with the pine and citrus US hop backing,” added Alex.

Don’t know about you guys, but it sounds like its gonna be pretty damn good to us. The beer will be released on Friday, February 1st at 21st Amendment alongside a lineup of five other beers over 8.5% ABV at the pub and 6 other strong offerings at Magnolia. If you manage to try all 12 beers within the month, you will receive your own Strong Beer Month glass to commemorate your staunchness in the face of delicious, liver-crushing dangers. Drink Drake’s and Godspeed.

Enjoy Pics from the Brew Day below.


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Posted in beer, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Drake's Staff, Event, Release, San Francisco Beer Week | No Comments »

Stone Brewing and Drake’s Make a Beer

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The bastards in the brewhouse are a little extra arrogant today. Stone Brewing’s Mitch Steele, Dave Hopwood, and Zippo Parzick are on the brewdeck with our own Alexandra Nowell to collaborate on a session ale for Celebrator Beer News’ 25th Anniversary.

This beer will be featured at the closing event of SF Beer Week, so as a gift to all of our livers, Mitch and Alex decided a session beer was in order.

Still, we couldn’t in good conscience team up with the author of IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of the India Pale Ale without paying considerable attention to the hops.

For this brew we have chosen to use some of the new and exciting El Dorado hops we just received from the 2012 harvest. This’ll be both Alex and Mitch’s first time using the El Dorado hops. Says Alex, they’re “very fruit-forward, but without a lot of citrus. Not the typical American hop profile, and it even has a little mint.” Think strawberries, melon, and cantaloupe. Mitch added “it’s amazing because it has that really high alpha content, but the aromatics are just incredible.” It’ll be double dry-hopped, rounded out with Centennial hops, and should clock in at about 4.4% ABV and 43 IBUs.

Here’s hoping you’ll be just as excited about this brew as we are. Your first chance to try it, as well as pick the brains of Mitch & the Drake’s crew, will be at The Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Fest, January 26th at Todos Santos Plaza in downtown Concord.


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Black Robusto Porter now in Bottles

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012


On Monday, a new label ran through our bottling line in San Leandro. For the first time, the long time, draft only brew, Black Robusto Porter stepped into our bottle line-up in 22oz bombers.

Drake’s Black Robusto is a deep, dark “Robust Porter,” a beer style known for being darker, fuller-bodied, and stronger than a standard Brown Porter. Each pint goes down smoothly with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and slight roast from Crystal and Chocolate malt. A touch of spicy, herbal hop character from Willamette hops balance out the finish. Enjoy a pint, and now a bottle, with dark lingering satisfaction.

With it’s malt backbone, chocolate, and roasted flavors, the Black Robusto also plays an exceptional role on the table as it pairs well with smoked meats, BBQ brisket, mole, chocolate, and much more.

Just bottled Monday, you are welcome to grab the Black Robusto here on the shelves at the Drake’s Barrel House starting today, and it should make it to stores in the Bay Area within the next week or so. Further out in SoCal and up past Sacramento, our fans can expect to see it sometime in November. Cheers to more Drake’s beers.

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Drake’s October News: Mission Pub Crawl, 5 New Beers, and Drake’s Fatted Calf Beer Sausages

Monday, October 8th, 2012

Coming October 25: Mission Exxpedition A San Francisco Pub Crawl

 

The Beers of Fall from Drake’s

Before even mentioning the brewery construction, the move to a 24-hour brewing schedule, and the conversion over to our new larger batch sizes, the brewer’s have been a busy group with some new fall releases.

This fall prepare yourselves for new beers from Drake’s with the release of several new seasonals, one-offs, and new bottes all for your enjoyment.

1. HausFest Festbier- 5.5% ABV, 24 IBUs– Just released last Friday at Flocktoberfest, our one lager of 2012, the HausFest Festbier is currently our brewers’ go-to pint. HausFest is a lighter-style Märzen and our version of the classic German Oktoberfestbier. Fresh toasty aromas of Vienna and Munich malts jump out of the glass alongside subtle spicy noble hops with a round, smooth mouthfeel and clean, dry, and crisp finish. **2nd year brewed. Draft only**

2. Batch 4000- 5.5% ABV, 48 IBUs– To commemorate our latest milestone batch we took a hint from the harvest season and spiked our hop-forward 1500 American Pale Ale with fresh wet-hops (Simcoe and Citra) in a hop-back and the dry hop. Look for it at both the Bistro Wet-Hop Fest this Saturday and at Toronado’s Wet-Hop fest on the 17th. **One-off. Draft only**

3. Drake’s Exxpedition Imperial Red Ale- 8% ABV, 70 IBUs– Since the beginning Drake’s brewers have sought to create beers that transcend the brews that have come before. Our original brewer Roger Lind created our long standing seasonal Expedition, a hoppy American Red Ale, back when the punch of American hops were less that normal in your typical red ale. Now, our brewers are taking that beer to the next level for its “Double X” rendition, Exxpedition Imperial American Red Ale. Ruby red from crystal malts and roasted barley, this beer delivers rich caramel nots and just a hint of roast. Additions of citrusy, resinous West-Coast hops and an abundant dry-hop then punctuate the malt with intense flavors and aromas of grapefruit with a clean bitter finish. **Annual Seasonal**

 

 

4. Drake’s Jolly Rodger 2012- 9.6% ABV, 75 IBUs– After years of scallywagging about from port to port and dallying with any stayle that cought its fancy, the 2012 edition Drake’s Jolly Rodger is returning to its original style, an American Barleywine. Our 2012 Jolly Rodger is full-bodied with rich caramel malt undertones and mild biscuit malt character. Sufficient additions of West Coast hops balance the malt with pine needle aromatics and satisfying bitterness. Welcome home old friend. Yo Ho. **Annual Seasonal**

 

 

 

 

5. Drake’s Black Robusto Porter- 6.3% ABV, 35 IBUs– Drake’s Black Robusto is a deep, dark “Robust Porter,” a beer style know for being darker, fuller-bodied, and higher in alcohol by volume than a standard Brown Porter. Our Black Robusto goes down smoothly with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and slight roast from Crystal and Chocolate malt dominating. A touch of spicy, herbal hop character from Willamette hops balance out the the finish. Drake’s Black Robusto has long been a year round part of our draft-only line-up, but coming this fall we will begin to bottle this beguilingly dark brew in 22oz bombers. You’ll start to see the bottles first at the Barrel House, then around the Bay Area and slowly moving outward. **Year-Round**

 

 

Drake’s Beer Sausages at Fatted Calf

The masters of all things pork and meaty have done it again with very very tasty results.

For our Flocktoberfest Event last Friday, Taylor Boetticher, the mad genius behind Fatted Calf charcuterie shops in Napa and San Francisco crafted 2 different types of sausages flavored with our beers.

Starting this weekend (possibly today), out of the grace of all things beer-soaked and pork-filled, you will be able to get your hands on Drakonic Imperial Stout laced Pork sausage or Amber infused Duck sausage at both Fatted Calf stores (Napa and San Francisco) and at their various Farmers Market spots.

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Drake’s 4000- The Wet-Hopped Batch

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

A few years back our brewers hit a milestone. It was time for their 15ooth batch. What transpired is now a big part of Drake’s history, and the 1500 with its aromas of juicy grapefruit and pine needles and its refreshing crisp bitterness remains one of our favorite beers to enjoy all year long.

Given our growth over the last few years, it didn’t take long for us to repeat the 1500 batch feat and in 2011, we came upon our Batch 3000. So to pay homage to the 15-hundo (as it is affectionately called by staff), we decided to riff on the recipe to create a dark/black/cascadian/whatever pale ale… in essence, a dark 1500.

Now, just about a year+ later, we are at batch 4000… right around hop harvest season as it turns out. So, on Saturday Alex and Jesse took to the brew deck and brewed a batch of 1500 that was subsequently wet-hopped with fresh Simcoe hops in a hop back (pictured below). Later, the beer will receive a healthy dose of fresh Citra in the dry-hop, and near the beginning of October, the brew will be ready for your imbibing pleasure (as well as the Bistro’s Wet-Hop Festival).

So keep your eyes open then for our next milestone batch salute to 1500– Drake’s 4000. Cheers.

 

Posted in 3000, Barrel House, beer, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Release | 1 Comment »

Drake’s Flocktoberfest 2012

Monday, September 17th, 2012

Oktoberfest is approaching, and as far as we’re concerned any holiday season that basically revolves around great beer and sausage is flockin’ chill in our book. Still, we find that most of the time we can do without wearing leather shorts and the polka.

But that’s what’s so great about being American… we can do whatever the flock we want. At Drake’s we’re doing Oktoberfest our way, keepin’ the large quantities of Fest Beer and seasoned encased meats and ditching the leather underwear and accordions. It’s Flocktoberfest again and we’re planning to rock out.

On Friday September 28th from 6-9pm, come to Drake’s Barrel House for your chance to Oktoberfest our style.

That night we will be releasing our seasonal HausFest Oktoberfest beer- a lighter, balanced version of the classic Marzen style. Made with Pilsner, German Munich, and Vienna malt hopped with classic German Spalt hops, HausFest is golden orange in color with an enticing aroma of biscuity malt and spicy noble hops with a crisp dry finish.  5.5%, 28 IBUs

A limited number of Drake’s Flocktoberfest .5L Beer Steins will be available for purchase, and throughout the evening we will fill your stein with pints of our HausFest and year-round beers for $4.50 (strong and barrel-aged excluded).

For your noshing needs, we have partnered with Fatted Calf to make two kinds of Drake’s Beer Sausage made with pork or duck that we throwin down on the grill. Vegetarians, no worries, we grabbed some vegan sausages from Rosamunde for you to get into the flockin’ spirit too.

Lastly, here to help us ditch the polka for the night, our friend DJ TophZilla will be throwin’ down tracks of punk and rock to kick the festing to the next level of awesome.

Pre-Order Tickets are sold out, but there will still be some steins and sausages available at the Barrel House starting Friday at 6pm. (For those that miss out on the steins, we still have plenty of perfectly good pint glasses that are quite good at holding beer.

Time to Fest the flock out at Drake’s. Prost!

21+ only.

No Pets allowed (Service Animals welcome)

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Posted in Barrel House, beer, Beer Fests, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Event, food and beer pairing, Release, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

Aroma Coma wins People’s Choice for 2nd year in a Row

Monday, August 6th, 2012

This past weekend our beloved aromatic IPA, Aroma Coma took the People’s Choice award at the Bistro’s Annual IPA Fest for the 2nd year running. Amongst an intimidating (and delicious) field of over 60 competitors, the people voted for Aroma Coma, and that’s pretty exciting on our end.

Thanks to everyone that came to enjoy the hops all day in Hayward! If you couldn’t make it down on Saturday, come by the Barrel House sometime soon to try our Aroma Coma and its sister beer Aroma Prieta made with New Zealand hops. Cheers.


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Posted in Beer Fests, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

Feelin’ New Zealand

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

Alex and Vince had a good time mashing in.

There’s a guest brewer in the house today, and I don’t think we could have picked a better brew day for him to join. Vincent Hine, former brewer at Hallertau Brewbar, a 12 hectoliter (~10 bbl) brewpub in Auckland New Zealand joined Alex on the brew deck.

We first met Vince last November at a local beer festival here in San Francisco, and have been hatching plans to have him in for a brew day ever since. So, when Vince showed up this Saturday for the Aroma Coma and Aroma Prieta release, one of those little Eureka lightbulbs popped up over our heads… bring  him in for the next Aroma Prieta brew.

Yes, that’s correct. More of our newest seasonal, Aroma Prieta double-dry-hopped IPA with New Zealand hops is hitting the tanks today.

We know what you’re thinking…  ”That’s Awesome! But why didn’t you just brew more in the first place?”

There’s a pretty fascinating answer for that, but the short version is: We didn’t get all of our New Zealand hops in time for the first brew. Due to the growing popularity of New Zealand’s hop varieties and their long harvest season, all the hops we planned to use didn’t quite make it to San Leandro in time for the first brew of Prieta.

According to Vince, their particular aromas and flavors of tropical fruit, lemon, citrus, and gooseberries have caught the attention of brewers both domestically, where they have traditionally relied more on Noble and English varieties, as well as in American craft breweries.

“From what I’ve seen of the hop fields, it’s still a very small production, but expanding. I don’t know if they are expanding at the rate of popularity,” Vince explained.

Still, despite initial setbacks, we are currently brewing up more Aroma Prieta today, which according to our in-house expert of the day, is “balanced with nice Motueka (lemon, citrus) and Nelson Sauvin (lemon, gooseberries, and sometimes green bell pepper) character.”

Thanks Vince for hanging out, helping us with the brew, and giving us some first hand insight into New Zealand hops.

For those still seeking Prieta, we currently have a few cases of bottles left here at the Barrel House, and the next batch should be available in a couple of weeks, though we’ve not decided how much will become bottles and how much will be draft. In the meantime, have an Aroma Coma. Cheers.


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Posted in beer, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Drake's Staff, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

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