Sierra Nevada IPA
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Chico, CA
3/10/98

Well, last week's pint night was a lot of fun; too bad Tonie and René missed it, although I doubt they missed us, or even thought about us, while they were getting the bottom of their feet tanned down in Mexico.  Hey René, what's new in Koko's cabana?  Anyway, this week's pint night is going to be just as much fun, not only since we get to welcome the girls back, but also because the Owl Club will be serving a superb brew:  Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale**.  This is a Hophead's delight!  

While most of the Big-Bully Breweries are still trying to produce a drinkable ale, Sierra Nevada has long ago perfected the art.  Indeed, their IPA is a work of art.  IPA stands for "India Pale Ale", which was a strong pale ale brewed in England in the early 1800's to withstand the long ocean voyage from England to their colonies in India.  It was a highly hopped brew with a higher alcohol volume than regular pale ales of the time.  Sierra Nevada brings this style to northern California with gusto!

Folks, this is a smooth beer.  As I said before, Hopheads will go crazy, it's their ultimate wet dream.  Pick up a pint of this brew and you can smell the hops; check out the firm crown.  It's truly aesthetically pleasing.  As you let this brew flow over your palate, you'll notice the smooth mouthfeel, the spicy hop edge becomes boldly assertive.  Wow, that's a beautiful thing!  Sierra Nevada's IPA is milder than Rubicon's (which may please some) and stronger than Oregon's (which may please others).  I would say it's similar to the Sacramento Brewing Co.'s version.  If you like a beer with a lot of flavor, this is the one.  I highly recommend it.  Two mugs up!

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Bend, Oregon

Wow, what a cool pint night.  Truly unique.  The Owl Club featured a delicious import from Oregon:  A cask-conditioned, unfiltered, English-style pale ale, drawn from the cask by hand.  This is not at all common in the United States and was indeed a treat.

Cask-conditioned is similar to bottle-conditioned, in that the yeast is left in the cask/bottle and continues to ferment, resulting in a natural carbonation.  So basically, when the casks were delivered to the Owl, fermentation was taking place right here at the Club.  These special casks have a hole in the side of them called the bunghole.  Since fermentation is taking place, quite a bit of pressure can build up in these kegs, so the bunghole can be partially closed by the use of a shive.  A shive is a bung (plug) that has a small hole in it for an even smaller plug called a spile.  These plugs give Jeff the ability to allow the carbon dioxide gas to escape from the second fermentation taking place in the cask, in effect allowing gas to escape from the bunghole at will.  Needless to say, this helps Jeff regulate the pressure in the cask for a smooth pour.  The beer is then drawn from the cask with the use of a "beer engine", a small suction hand pump (in some areas referred to as the "Monica" pump).  Pulling the beer with a vacuum hand-pump rather than pushing it with carbon dioxide is the traditional way to serve a cask-conditioned ale, and the result is a smooth, easy to drink brew with a thick, creamy crown.  Pouring cask-conditioned brews requires more care from the Ale Draper; no problem, that's what the Owl Club is all about.  By the way, the beer flows through a special dispenser tap which reaches all the way to the bottom of the glass, resulting in the smooth foam.

A good winter brew that the Owl Club had on tap recently is Pyramid's Snow Cap Ale. This is most definitely a full-bodied, well-rounded hardy ale that reminds me of Lisa's... wait a minute, that's probably not a good example... anyway, this brew has an assertive roasty flavor to it with a dry finish. The chocolate malt character is clearly distinguishable and yet smooth and well balanced with generous amounts of aromatic hops. I would not call this a bitter beer. This brew has a lot of body to it and produces a nice crown. Even a Wheat Head like René will have to admit that when her lips touch the head on this brew, she'll give it two mugs up! Snow Cap is a robust 6.9% ABV.

Sacramento's Red Horse is a year-round brew that I think is appropriate to review at the this time of year. If you've tried this beer in the summer and felt it was too assertive, try it again now that the weather is cooler. Personally, the complexity of this brew fits right in with Celebration Ale on my palate. Red Horse is a boldly aggressive, multi-dimensional beer that will make your taste buds dance. Comparing this beer to a full-bodied woman would not do it justice; it must be compared to a Russian Babushka (bag-lady). Red Horse has a reddish-amber color and a thick, smooth crown. It is aggressively hopped with many spicy aromas; at the same time, there's a lot of malt madness going on here. The mouthfeel is an awesome sensory experience which you'll notice immediately. There are so many flavors and sensations in this brew that everyone's palate may distinguish something different. Have Jeff pour you a Red Horse with the seven-minute pour technique and you'll be surprised how smooth this beer is (as smooth as René's thighs, quite frankly). Hop Heads and Malt Maniacs everywhere will enjoy this beer, especially at this time of year. No doubt, two mugs up!

Well folks, it's that time of year again for that awesome beer from Chico - SIERRA NEVADA CELEBRATION ALE - served at the OWL CLUB tonight! That's right, the first of the winter brews is upon us, and it's a great one. Celebration Ale is a fantastic beer that is only available once a year for a short time, so I strongly suggest that you make the effort to get down to the Owl before it's all gone. Believe me, this is a great hops and malt experience.

Celebration Ale is a robust copper-red colored brew with a multi-dimensional aroma. The hops are very prominent in this brew, but the bitterness they produce is well balanced and quite pleasant indeed. This is a strong beer, and a mild alcoholic bite is noticeable. Nevertheless, Celebration Ale offers a fresh, malty sweetness that mellows the palate and goes down smooth. It's no wonder this is a medal winner. Quite frankly, this beer reminds me of Lisa - robust, full-bodied, well-rounded, and thoroughly pleasing in every respect...

You've gotta get down to the Owl TONIGHT; don't miss out on this once-a-year tradition!

Belhaven Scottish Ale
Belhaven, Scotland

Several people have been asking what beer was pictured on the Owl Club's welcome page (now pictured to the right), and for good reason. That delicious looking beer with the awesomely creamy crown is a half pint of Belhaven Scottish Ale, one of the most popular "light" ales at the Owl. This tasty ale is imported from a small town named Belhaven, just south of Dunbar in a region of Scotland called East Lothian. Belhaven is a type of ale called "Bitter", the most popular style of beer in Britain. The name "Bitter" does not describe this type of beer's taste. It is used to describe the style (the name most commonly used these days in America to describe a bitter is "Pale Ale", although pale ales are actually more heavily hopped and of medium strength). Most standard bitters are delicately hopped, light in color, and have a strength of just under 4% ABV. This is where you'll find Belhaven as well. The Scottish sometimes use the term "shilling" to describe the strength of their beers; an 80 shilling beer would be a stronger, or "premium" bitter, while Belhaven is classified as a lighter, 70 shilling ale.

If you like a lighter variety of brew, you have to try the Belhaven (where else in the Sacramento area would you have another chance?). It has a light, or "pale" color, a fresh flowery aroma, with smooth, lightly-hopped flavors, and a clean finish. It's incredibly easy to drink, like from the breasts of Aphrodite. But one of the best parts of this beer is the thick, rich crown it carries. This is the sign of a good beer. Jeff pours this brew perfectly which allows the beer to "grow" and form a crown with tiny, tightly knit bubbles. The foam takes on a shaving cream appearance which remains on top of the beer until the bottom of the glass. As you sip away at the beer, you'll see some foam rings appear around the glass on the way down; some people refer to those thin foam lines as Belgian Lace; I prefer to call them Aphrodite's Lips.

Belhaven is a great beer, and if you bring someone into the Owl Club that's still relatively new to craft-brewed beers, turn them on to a Belhaven so they can ease into it.

See ya' at the Owl!

Tucher Hefeweizen and Tucher Export - 10/30/97
Nürnberg, Germany

The second featured brew of the night was Tucher's "Export".   This is the light-bodied pale brew with clear herbal notes and a medium hop edge to it.   It is relatively dry, has a slight bitter flavor, and is not overly carbonated, so it goes down smoothly.   The Export was poured in a half-liter Tucher mug which was aesthetically pleasing and, together with the excellent Bratwurst and potato salad prepared by the Ale Draper himself, provided an authentic Oktoberfest feel.   We haven't had this much fun with German beers at the Owl Club since the beautiful St. Pauli Girl was here just a few short weeks ago! Tucher Export is a good quality, light-bodied pale brew; I give it a solid one mug up.

If you missed this great evening Oktoberfest celebration, well, you really blew it (check the photos in What's New to see what you missed).   We pumped out over 90 liters of this tasty Tucher brew that night, still a long way from the 350,000 liters consumed daily at the real Oktoberfest, but we're working on it!