Hop Substitution Chart

Hop Variety	Flavor Profile	Possible Substitutions
Admiral	Known for its bittering potential.	Target, Northdown, Challenger
Ahtanum	Floral, citrus, sharp, and piney.	Amarillo, Centennial, Simcoe
Amarillo	Citrusy, flowery.	Cascade, Centennial, Summit, Ahtanum
Boadicea	Spicy	?
Brewers Gold	Bittering hop with neutral aroma character.	Bullion, Chinook, Galena, Nugget
Bullion	A rich hop primarily used for bittering. Intense blackcurrant aroma.	Columbus, Northern Brewer
Cascade	Pleasant, flowery, spicy, and citrusy. Can have a grapefruit flavor.	Amarillo, Centennial, Summit
Centennial	Medium with floral and citrus tones.	Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Summit
Challenger	Mild to moderate, quite spicy.	Perle, Admiral
Chinook	Mild to medium-heavy, spicy, piney, and grapefruity.	Brewers Gold, Columbus, Galena, Nugget, Northern Brewer, Eroica
Cluster	Medium and quite spicy.	Galena, Eroica
Columbus	Pleasant, with pungent aroma.	Magnum, Chinook, Northern Brewer, Warrior, Millenium, Bullion
Crystal	Mild and pleasant, spicy and flowery.	Mt. Hood, Liberty, Hallertauer, Tettnanger, Strisselspalt
E.K. Goldings	Gentle, fragrant and pleasant with flowery tones.	Fuggle, Progress, First Gold
Eroica	Forward fruit flavors	Galena
First Gold	A little like Golding family; spicy.	E.K. Goldings
Fuggle	Mild and pleasant, earthy and fruity.	Willamette, Styrian Golding, Tettnanger, Newport
Galena	Medium but pleasant hoppiness, citrusy.	Brewers Gold, Nugget, Cluster, Chinook, Eroica, Newport
Glacier	Dual purpose hop with a citrus earthy aroma.	Willamette, Fuggle, Tettnanger, Styrian Goldings
Hallertau	Noble aroma hop with subtle flower and spice fragrances.	Liberty, Tettnanger, Mt. Hood, Vangaurd, Tradition
Horizon	Pleasantly hoppy.	Magnum
Liberty	Mild and clean aroma, slightly spicy character.	Hallertau, Tettnanger, Mt. Hood, Crystal, Ultra
Lublin	Mild and typical of noble aroma types.	Saaz, Sterling
Magnum	Known for bittering value and quality.	Horizon, Newport
Marynka	Bittering and aroma.	Northern Brewer
Millenium	Mild, herbal, similar to Nugget.	Nugget, Columbus
Mt. Hood	Mild, pleasant, and clean, somewhat pungent and resiny.	Hallertauer, Liberty, Crystal, Strisselspalt
Northern Brewer	Medium-strong with some wild tones.	Nugget, Chinook, Columbus, Bullion, Perle, Styrian Aurora
Newport	Fairly pungent.	Galena, Nugget, Fuggle, Magnum
Northdown	Fine bittering properties and much-improved aroma. Ideal accompaniment to aroma hops such as Fuggles or Progress.	Admiral, Challenger
Nugget	Quite heavy and herbal.	Cluster, Galena, Brewers Gold, Warrior, Eroica, Target, Millenium
Perle	Moderately intense, good and hoppy, fruity and a little spicy.	Challenger, Northern Brewer
Premiant	Pleasant, mild aroma.	?
Progress	Moderately strong, good aroma.	Fuggles, E.K. Goldings
Saaz	Mild and pleasant, earthy and spicy.	Sladek, Lublin, Sterling, Ultra, Vangaurd
Santiam	Noble characteristics.	Tettnanger, Spalt, Liberty, Hallertau
Saphir	Mild aroma hop.	?
Simcoe	A bittering and aromatic hop.	Northern Brewer
Sladek	A dual-purpose Saaz hybrid.	Saaz, Lublin
Spalt	Mild and pleasant, slightly spicy.	Santiam, Liberty, Tettnanger, Hallertau
Sterling	Herbal, spicy, pleasant aroma, hint of floral and citrus.	Saaz, Lublin
Strisselspalt	Medium intensity, pleasant, hoppy.	Mt. Hood, Crystal
Styrian Aurora	Intense, pleasant and hoppy. Very suitable for extraction and for combination with other varieties in the brewing process.	Northern Brewer
Styrian Goldings	Delicate, slightly spicy.	Fuggle, Willamette
Summit	Ultra high-alpha bittering hop	Amarillo, Cascade
Target	Pleasant English hop aroma, quite intense.	Nugget, Fuggle, WIllamette, Admiral
Tettnanger	Mild and pleasant, slightly spicy, herbal.	Hallertau, Liberty, Fuggle
Tradition	Very fine and similar to Hallertauer Mittelfrüh.	Hallertauer
Ultra	Very good to outstanding, some Saaz-like qualities. Aromatic properties similar to Hallertauer.	Liberty, Hallertau, Saaz
Vangaurd	Aroma similar to continental European types.	Saaz, Hallertauer
Warrior	A bittering and aromatic hop.	Nugget, Columbus
Willamette	Mild and pleasant, slightly spicy, fruity, floral, a little earthy.	Styrian Golding, Target, Fuggle, Tettnanger, Glacier

Sunshine IPA

What we have here is a lesson in how not to brew a beer. After a few months off and transitioning back to brewing in Korea, the final product didn't exactly finish the way I would've liked. However, there was a positive start to it all. After going through all of my previous equipment notes from brewing here in Korea, I wound up getting the majority of my supplies from the utterly fantastic Seoul Homebrew. The site's in English, intuitive to use, has plenty of ready-to-go kits, and most importantly for this post, equipment kits. I wound up picking up their Basic Kit for glass bottling which included almost everything needed other than the brew pot and strainer. As I've mentioned on here before, one of the lovely things about living and brewing in Korea is the amount of heavy duty kitchen supplies that are available in every city and tiny village. Food is taken extremely seriously here, and as a result there's not only delicious cuisine to take in, but affordable and reliable cooking equipment. If you're just getting going here, I'd highly recommend checking your local kitchen supply store before buying anything online. However, if you want to go the easy route, Seoul Homebrew can take good care of you.

So, down to the beer. I based the recipe on a Brewer's Best American IPA BIAB kit found through the Bell's General Store and made a few tweaks. Mainly I spent my time cutting the 5 gallon batch down to 3 gallons and converting from Imperial to Metric. I teach English for a living. Math is not my strong suit. But with the help of a few conversion apps and the trusty phone calculator I thought I had everything good to go. I was able to cut and convert everything down and keep Pale Malt as the base with Carapils, Caramel, and Victory carrying the finer notes. Luckily everything was available for custom purchase through Seoul Homebrew as well. The only minor tweak I had to make to the recipe itself was to sub 24 grams of Cascade hops for the Simcoe the recipe called for. In the end I'm more than alright with it since it felt a bit wrong to brew an IPA without Cascade. (For a full rundown of the ingredients needed, you can check out the recipe here.)

But back to this being how not to brew a beer. Aiming for an 11 liter yield, I started my day with 20 liters of strike water and followed my usual BIAB mash schedule. Even though I had spent a substantial amount of time reducing and converting the ingredients to order, I had neglected to finish the finer points of the recipe until day of. So, on the fly I was converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius, gallons to liters, and so on. I'd thought I did a decent enough job until I took my OG reading and got 1.038. Well below the target 1.059 - 1.065 and something that would leave me with a "beer" under 4.0%. Surely I had incidentally smited the old beer gods and the new. How could this have happened?

My initial thought was that the boil wasn't hot enough and therefore enough water didn't evaporate out, but that wouldn't result in such a deviation from the expected OG. So I looked over my recipe notes again and let out long winded, detailed, and thunderous tirade against myself I'm quite happy the majority of the neighbors couldn't translate. There in plain sight was a mashing direction I mindlessly followed: "While your grains are mashing, prepare a clean empty bucket and one gallon of clean warm water for lautering stage." Like a moron, I hadn't cut this down to the half gallon (aka 1.8 liters) it should've been. So I removed the grains from my boil, lautered em up good in my gallon of water and added it back to the brewpot without thinking twice. I had just diluted my batch by about 1/3 of what I wanted it's total volume to be... essentially creating 133% of the water volume required for the grains I had.

So that batch went down the drain.

But, like a good student I ran it through the primary fermenter first and tested the flavor just to see if I managed to get the other aspects of the brew right. I was happy enough with the flavors that I decided to try it again instead of bottling and serving beer flavored water. There's already enough Hite as it is in this country. So I ordered up the ingredients for round two, double checked my calculations, and completely removed the lautering step since I've rarely done it in the past. The second go round yielded another disappointing OG in the form of 1.045, but I wasn't about to dump two batches in a row. After some more reluctant investigation into my own ineptitude, I realized the mistake was adding too much strike water yet again. The eyeballing "technique" that had gone relatively well for me in the past had failed me twice and will forever be abandoned.

Unfortunately this was my last brew before the summer heat would make fermenting impossible, so it was disappointing to spend so much time on a single batch. However, the lessons learned regarding lautering and strike water were expensive and frustrating enough to serve as an ongoing reminder to eliminate such half-witted and simple mistakes moving forward. In the end, the beer gods smiled on me with the magic of fermentation giving a FG of 1.002 and an overall ABV of 5.6%. Not where I wanted it, but certainly enough to make it a respectable session IPA. So as not to confuse the neighbors I let out a controlled, but still quite rowdy 아싸 to let them know all was indeed well in apartment 104.


Check out the full Sunshine IPA recipe HERE.

Korea Craft Brewery ARK Be High IPA

A lot has changed in the year I spent away from the Korean beer world. In the way back year of 2013 decent beer was extremely difficult to come by and quite expensive. Both of those aspects have changed with a number of microbrews opening and sending their bottles to good ol Home Plus. It was there that I picked up my first bottle from Korea Craft Brewery, ARK Be High IPA.

Style: IPA
ABV: 7.00%
Serving type: Bottle
Appearance: Amber
Aroma: Malty with a touch of caramel.
Taste: A touch syrupy with less hop flavor than would be expected from an IPA. Balanced well with earthy pine and a touch of citrus fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and a little syrupy.
Overall: The boozy taste isn't as present as you'd expect from something that's 7%, so it's a lovely choice in that way. It's a relatively well balanced IPA, but slight touches of syrup in both the flavor and mouthfeel prevent it from being much more than OK. However, an OK IPA brewed and found locally in Korea carries a much more significant weight than one back home. If you see this, pick it up. You won't be disappointed, but you won't be blown away either.

Odd Side Ales - Citra Pale Ale

Since their introduction in 2007, Citra™ hops have become all the rage. Prized for their distinct citrus notes, these aptly named hops have found their way into many a beer. However, I feel that this particular offering from Odd Side Ales best showcases the lush tropical flavors and aromas of this specialty hop varietal. 

Odd Side Ales - Citra Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.75%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Year-round

Appearance: Pours a rich golden hue. Soft white head leaves excellent lacing.

Aroma: Citrus and tropical fruit. Hint of fresh grass. A bit of malt sweetness.

Taste: Juicy fruit flavors - grapefruit, Meyer lemon, and pineapple. Not overly bitter. Slight cracker/biscuit notes on the finish.

Mouthfeel: Crisp, finishes clean with slight dryness.

Overall: This well balanced brew lets the Citra™ hops really shine, without unnecessary bitterness or sweetness. I hesitate to use the term "fruit explosion", but the flavors and aromas are off the chart. Smooth and clean, this beer is the perfect beverage for a sunny summer Sunday afternoon. Odd Side Ales knocks it out of the park with what has become a personal favorite.

Monteith's Original Ale

While New Zealand has been renowned for its natural beauty, rugby team, and of course hobbits, I hadn't heard a single word about their beer until I randomly found Monteith's Original Ale waiting for me at Home Plus. To be fair, I hadn't attempted to poke my nose into the world of Kiwi beer, but I most certainly will be after tasting this lovely.

Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 4.00%
Serving type: Bottle
Appearance: Deep amber
Aroma: Malty with hints of caramel and toast.
Taste: Most of what the nose picks up can be tasted right off the bat. Caramels and burnt sugars hit first, but the delightfully subtle hint of blackberry is what made this one memorable for me.
Mouthfeel: Thin, light, and crisp with a good amount of carbination.
Overall: Blame it on the intake of Cass, the warming weather, or just good old fashioned wisin up, but I thoroughly enjoyed this 4% pale ale. Their website suggests that this would pair great with West Coast wild foods such as whitebait, as well as havarti or hard yellow cheeses, and who am I to argue? While I also enjoy wine quite a bit, this could be a good option should you choose to be a truly sophisticated socialite and bring beer to a cheese and wine party. If you don't care to ruffle the feathers of an ignoble society, then perhaps use this as a session ale on a hot summer day. It's light like a typical lager in both mouthfeel and abv, but carries with it a much better flavor profile.

Craftworks Jirisan Moon Bear IPA

Though good beer's getting easier to come by here in Korea, a truly fine IPA is still something of a rarity. Had this on draft at the Jangpyeong location of El Gitano, a fine sports bar with a view of the bay on Geoje Island. Maybe it was the combination of hard to find Mexican food and IPA... but there are fond memories with this beer.

Style: IPA
ABV: 6.8%
Serving type: Draft

Appearance: Dark and slightly hazy amber with thick, two finger length head.
Aroma: Musty pine and citrus come through the most with strong hop undertones.
Taste: Piney and citrusy throughout with a nice, not so subtle sweetness coming through. A nice long lasting bitterness lingers well after the sip.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full palate.
Overall: While it may not be winning awards anytime soon, this is an extremely reliable IPA that won't let you down. Yes, there are better ones out there, but not only are they difficult to find here in Korea, they're not really necessary. This is extremely easy to drink for its 6.8% abv, and is crisp and refreshing in the long, hot summer months to come.

Style of the Month: Pale Ale

Pale Ales come in a ridiculously large amount of varieties and styles, and we'll explore as many as we can this month. What makes beer a pale ale is a warm fermentation and the bulk of the grain bill being... you guessed it, pale malt. This is something of the perfect brew this time of year not only because they're often crips, citrusy, and refreshing in the warming weather, but also because they're easy to brew and ferment in these Spring months.

Pales are generally lighter in color and originally appeared way back in the early 1700s, when they were made with malts dried with coke... but not that coke. This coke is a fossil fuel derived from coal. It generates a great deal of heat without all the soot and smoke, so it was perfect to dry the malts without affecting the flavor too tremendously. This resulted in the aforementioned lighter color which was quite different from the majority of beers being made at the time. In the 300+ years since then, pale ale has changed and manifested itself in about as many ways as the number of brewers making it. From taste to strength, and anything and everything between, pale ales have become something of a playground for we brewer folk.

While it's tempting to focus strictly on IPAs, we'll be throwing many more styles under the vast umbrella that is pale ale this month. Colors will vary from pale golden to reddish amber, abv from 4.0% all the way up to 7.5%, and from clean/hoppy flavors to malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced goodins. While hops are often the order of the day for IPAs and APAs, focusing on the larger world of pales will allow us to key in on those herbal and/or citric characteristics we also love. The medium bodied and delightfully bitter beers that go so well with the greening of the land this Spring.

Over at Odd Duck, Mr. Sova will be brewing up a rye pale ale this month. To add a little spice to life, he'll be racking half of the brew into a secondary fermenter when it comes time to dry-hop and writing a later post comparing the two batches. He'll also be taking a look at the pale ales available in the land-o-plenty in Michigan.

As for Woodtooth, the return to the Far East is officially underway. Back up and running in Korea, I'll be happily returning to the world of BIAB and making an American Pale Ale. I'll be writing about the beer itself, the relative ease of finding equipment these days, and the struggles of halving a recipe and converting it from imperial to metric... it's a lot. I've also been able to get my mitts on some of the finer offerings here in the Land of the Morning Calm and will be reviewing what I've found.

So open those windows wide and let in the breeze. Put on some CCR, pull up a chair on the porch, and get ready for some damn fine outdoor drinking!

Oak Jaw Milk Stout

Resurrected from forgotten times and dancing around like a Thriller video zombie extra, I present the Oak Jaw Milk Stout. This was the second ever beer I brewed and one that unfortunately helped me realize I'm lactose intolerant. However, it finished exactly as I had intended and is a fantastic starter recipe, or an easy go to if you're looking to add another flavor to your fridge in these winter months.

The base is Special Dark and Pilsen LME with a full pound of lactose added in. The recipe I was basing this off of called for a half pound of lactose and a half pound of maltodextrin, but as the fella at Brew Camp said "it's a milk stout, why not just make it all milk?" So I did. Cutting out the maltodextrin definitely helped make the finish a bit more creamy and truly gave the beer its milky flavor.

Caramel 120L, Roasted Barley, and Dark Chocolate specialty grains are steeped for about 45 minutes before adding the jars of LME to provide the majority of the depth of flavor. To be entirely honest, I brewed this years ago and don't really remember the complexities all that much, but I do remember it being quite well balanced. In fact, it was the first time I was able to eliminate the "homebrew-y" flavor so many of us come up against at the beginning.

Now, let's talk a minute about the poison lactose as folks are a bit divided as to when this should be added. It simply needs to be added before bottling, so there are a few ways this can be done. You can do as I did for this recipe and add it to the boil directly after the LME, or you can mix it into the bottling water boil along with the priming sugar. You can even add it later in the boil if you want to be super fancy. In my opinion it doesn't matter much as any of the options will give you the results you want.

However, my opinion really should be rendered void because I've only made one batch of the stuff and can't digest it. So, the main thing to keep in mind is that no option will affect your overall ABV. Even though lactose is indeed a sugar, it's unfermentable by brewer’s yeast so the ABV won't be affected whether it's in there for fermentation or not. However, when you choose to add the lactose will affect the beer’s character, so toy around with different recipes and see which version you like best. The creamy texture it gives the beer will definitely leave you wanting to make more than one, so dive in.

You can find the full Oak Jaw Milk Stout recipe here. If you'd like to try your hand at a few more stouts, feel free to check out the entire Recipe page. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Happy brewing!

French Toast Stout

Breakfast themed beers are nothing new, and for good reason - breakfast is a magical thing. Not only is it the most important meal of the day, it's arguably the most delicious. As such, it's no wonder that brewers try to capture that essence in beer with flavors of coffee, maple, and even bacon. One notable and appropriately named offering from Founder's Brewing is their widely acclaimed "Breakfast Stout", a rich oatmeal stout brewed with coffee and chocolate. And while "breakfast" may be figurative when it comes to beer, I choose to take it literally. In fact, first thing in the morning is often my favorite time to enjoy a brew - on my days off, of course. After I kiss my wife on her way to work, I'll cue up my favorite fishing program on the DVR, sit back, and enjoy a tasty malted beverage to ease into the day.

My favorite breakfast meal as a kid was a hearty stack of French toast, fried perfectly golden brown and doused in maple syrup. It's one of the first meals my mother taught me to cook for myself, and one that I all too seldom indulge in these days. As such, it served as inspiration for my latest homebrew. I knew I wanted to start with a basic milk stout base for that underlying sweetness and build flavors upon that, adding vanilla and cinnamon to build the flavor profile. I chose to base the recipe off Brooklyn Brew Shop's "Eggnog Milk Stout", and made substitutions as necessary.

Overall I feel like it came out pretty decent, with solid stout character and flavor. My main criticism would be that the cinnamon and vanilla weren't as pronounced as I would have liked them to be. I was wary not to overdo it, especially in such a small batch, but it needed a little more "oomph" to really set it apart. An expected disappointment was the lack of any maple flavor. As maple syrup is almost completely fermentable, you lose nearly all of the flavor associated with it. And considering the minute amount that was used used for bottling, I never really expected for it to add anything anyway - but it was fun to use.

With Winter winding down, this breakfast brew will help me while away the mornings until fishing season kicks off in earnest; then it's out the door with a granola bar. You know what they say - the early bird gets the fish. Or something like that.

Brewery Vivant: Tart Side of the Moon

Tart Side of the Moon is a special "Single Batch" release from Brewery Vivant, one of Michigan's best and most highly regarded breweries out of Grand Rapids, MI. This beer came in a pack of four pint sized cans and poured a rich thick body and was about as dark as a beer can get. It maintains a nice head that actually appears to be darkened as a good stout should, in my opinion. This is a great beer with just a slight tartness, but what really shone through was mostly dark stone fruit and malt character. Some hop flavor was apparent and played a good supporting role, but was not overpowering to the stout complexity. A very great beer but a little on the pricy side.

Style: Belgian Inspired Dark Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 9.8%

Serving Type: Can

Availability: Single Release

Dark Horse Brewing - Holiday Stout Series

Stout Season - that wonderful time of year when you step outside and you can't feel your face (for those of us here in the North, anyway). When you're chilled to the bone and it's dark out at 5:00pm, what better way to instill a little warmth in your soul than a dark, strong beer full of robust flavor and character? How about five? Michigan's own Dark Horse Brewing delivers with their Holiday Stout Series. As somewhat of a DIY "beer of the month club", a different stout is released on the first of each month, October through February, to lead the way through the Winter doldrums to the promise of warmer days. With the final brew of the series on shelves now, I took a moment to sit back, line 'em up, and knock 'em down...

One Oatmeal Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 7.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (October release)

Appearance: Pours black, surprisingly effervescent. Tall tan head remains throughout
Aroma: Wet grain and old barn wood, bitter chocolate
Taste: Coffee, chocolate malted milk-balls, burnt sugar
Mouthfeel: Creamy, frothy
Overall: A good start to the series, if a bit thin for an oatmeal stout.


Too Cream Stout

Style: Milk/Sweet Stout
ABV: 7.5%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (November release)

Appearance: Black in color, tan head dissipates quickly
Aroma: Sweet toffee and caramel sauce
Taste: Mellow roasted flavor, toffee notes carry through leading to bitter chocolate and coffee on the finish
Mouthfeel: Smooth, velvety
Overall: I would have liked a little more sweetness, especially with such delicious aromas.


Tres Blueberry Stout

Style: Fruit Beer (Stout)
ABV: 7.5%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (December release)

Appreance: Black in the glass, tan head lingers
Aroma: Fresh blueberries, chocolate
Taste: Dark chocolate, roasted bitterness gives way to fresh blueberries
Mouthfeel: A bit on the thin side
Overall: I'm generally not a fan of fruit beers, though this is quite palatteable. Blueberry flavors are subtle and well balanced.


Fore Smoked Stout

Style: Smoked Beer (Stout)
ABV: 7.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (January release)

Appearance: Somehow blacker than black, no head retention
Aroma: Campfire and coffee
Taste: Smokey from start to finish. Tastes of charred wood mingle with roasted malt and slight chocolate and coffee
Mouthfeel: More substantial, this one has some body
Overall: I'm a sucker for smoked beers, and this one is tops. Excellent smoke flavor, but not overwhelmingly so.


Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 11.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (February release)

Appearance: Pitch black, leaves a dark amber glaze on the glass when swirled, no head
Aroma: Dark fruit, raisins and figs, booziness is apparent
Taste: Dark chocolate, dried cherries, and rich coffee
Mouthfeel: Boozy and warm, yet exceptionally drinkable. Velvety texture.
Overall: I kept my descriptions basic, but there's a lot going on here. I spent quite a while picking out new aromas and flavors with each sip as it warmed to room temperature.


All five stouts are respectable brews, but I feel that the standouts in the series are definitely Fore Smoked Stout and Plead the 5th Imperial Stout. The balance of smokey character in Fore is outstanding, and Plead the 5th is so complex and rich it leaves you begging for more. So when Old Man Winter comes a knockin' at your door, beat him back with a few bottles of tasty goodness from the folks at Dark Horse.

Or maybe just stock up, sit back, and hope for a snow day.

Begyle Brewing Company: Flannel Pajamas Stout

Begyle Brewing is a Community Supported Brewing Company located right down the street from me in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago. What started with a damn fine Kickstarter to raise enough money to buy their unique counter-pressure growler filler has turned into a full fledged microbrewery. Borrowing from the ideals of community supported agriculture, Begyle offers up growler subscriptions to customers as the basis of their operation. Their counter-pressure filler is key to this. Most growlers are over filled to ensure no oxygen is left in the bottle, which can lead to beer loss. The counter-pressure filler reduces beer loss and increases the life expectancy of each growler by evacuating the custom made growlers with CO2. The growlers are then filled from the bottom with the beer of your choice, and sealed. All in about 30 seconds. It's pretty damn nifty. However, I went the boring route and picked up a bomber of their Flannel Pajamas Stout.

Style: Winter Stout
ABV: 5.4%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Rotating

Appearance: Blacker than a moonless midnight.
Aroma: Coffee and chocolate come through the most with some roasted undertones.
Taste: About what you'd expect from the smell. Roasted coffee and chocolate throughout.
Mouthfeel: Thick yet silky.
Overall: A damn fine stout, but nothing over the top about it. The silky mouthfeel was maybe my favorite thing about it. Incredibly drinkable for such a warm and toasty winter brew. Not a ton of depth to the flavors though. Should you pick this up you won't be disappointed, but you won't be blown away either.

Style of the Month: Stout

After prolonged warnings from the Starks, winter is here and in full swing at long last. Along with the desire to sleep more, romantic 4:00pm sunsets, and dropping temperatures comes the gloriousness that is a well timed stout. Now, judge all you want about the picture, but I happen to enjoy a Guinness while partaking in one of my favorite winter hobbies: early morning EPL action at the local watering hole. I apologize for nothing. There's something magical about the eternal blackness of a stout warming the cockles of our hearts deepest and darkest cockles. And it's those cockles' cockles that we here at Brew Day are going to explore in depth this month with several reviews, recipes, and maybe even a few tips on how to get the most out of this season's most satisfying barley pop.

Traditionally speaking, stout meant "proud" or "brave" and had less to do with beer than our dearly departed Joffrey Baratheon did with those adjectives. However, stout eventually came to mean "strong" and was a generic term for the strongest or "stoutest" porter, usually weighing in around 7% or 8%. And when I say traditionally, I mean the way back traditions of the 17th century. The term stout first officially came about in the Egerton Manuscript in 1677 to describe a strong beer, but not necessarily a dark one. Fast forward to the new wave movement of the 1720s and that's when the term porter came into play for dark beers made with roasted malts. The higher gravities of these newly minted porters were known as "stout porters," thus marrying stouts and porters in what is easily the happiest union known to humankind. In more recent years, stout has become associated with dark beer rather than just strong beers. That title now belongs to the Imperials... but more on those another month.

From the brewing side of things stouts are characterized by the use of roasted malt or barley. The beauty of these bad boys is that they come in all sorts of varieties. Dry/Irish, Imperial, Baltic porter, Porter, Milk, Oatmeal, Chocolate, Coffee, and the up and coming Oyster stout are all pulling up a spot at the bar. We'll be examining as many of those delightful and murky pints as we can this month.

From my end of things, I'll be reviewing some of Chicago's lesser known breweries. Begyle, Lake Effect, and Flesk are currently representing the City of Broad Shoulders in the form of bomber bottles in my fridge. I'll also be resurrecting the Oak Jaw Milk Stout recipe from years past for those looking to add some lactose to their beverages.

Over at Odd Duck, Mr. Sova will be turning his attention to the great state of Michigan and Dark Horse's five stout series, highlighting Plead the Fifth above all else. Tremendously looking forward to what he'll be brewing up as well. Three words. French. Toast. Stout.

Lastly, MacLeod 9 will be bottling up and culminating the year long project of a bourbon barrel aged stout. All of us are a little excited about that one... so keep ya eyes peeled for his full write up. In the meantime, he'll also keep the focus on Michigan and review some of Bell's darker tasties.

And so, for the first time, we're off and running with a full month of one style. Thank the old Gods and the new for the Starks inevitable accuracy and the shadowy beers that come with it!

Bell's Hopslam Ale

Winter means different things to different people. For folks in some states, a slight chill in the air and a flurry of snow means full arctic gear, traffic jams, and school closings. For us here in Michigan, three feet of snow and sub-zero temps mean it's time to grab a light jacket, and maybe shoes instead of flip-flops... maybe. And while Winter may be "stout season", there's something else that beer aficionados across the country look forward to every January - Hopslam.

Bell's Hopslam Ale is a specialty release that has the power to break Winter's icy grip. Brewed with honey and dry-hopped with massive amounts of Simcoe hops, this beer will plunge your senses into a world of warm sunshine, gentle breezes, and the smell of fresh-cut grass. That is, until you have to grab your flip-flops and shovel your driveway... again.

Bell's Hopslam Ale

Style: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 10%, IBU: 70
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (January release)

Appearance: Pours a deep golden color, moderate carbonation.  Full, lingering off-white head that leaves excellent lacing.

Aroma: Strong pine, raw honey, and hay. Booziness is apparent.

Taste: Sweet honey notes up front, with bold, piney hops following. Floral notes on the finish. Lingering earthy spice.

Mouthfeel: Coats the mouth, but not syrupy. Some warmth and tingle.

Overall: A bold expression of an American Imperial IPA, and one of my favorites. It paired well the the turkey club panini I had for lunch - the crisp hop flavors playing well off the smokey bacon and creamy avocado.

Hopslam is hitting local shelves and taps as I write this - but not for long. This beer has attained near legendary status, and as such it sells out fast. So hurry now and you might just be able to get your hands on some. And while you're at it, grab an extra six-pack for the cellar - it ages remarkably well.

Spotlight On: 4 Hands Brewing

While perusing the grown up candy store that is Bottles and Cans I decided to grab a four pack from 4 Hands Brewing, a brewery I had briefly tasted while visiting some friends in St. Louis. I assure you the four cans from 4 Hands pun was lost on me until this very moment... and I'm tempted to re-title this and write only in puns... but I won't. Sadly.

I had grand plans of visiting the brewery while celebrating America's birthday in the land of whatever-it-is-St.Louis-calls-itself. I was still licking my wounds from the US' exit from the World Cup, so baseball and beer seemed a great cure. Baseball, as always, proved to cheer the spirits (even NL baseball), but the brewery was going to have to wait for another day. Food took precedence over beer with the group and off we went to another locale. However, should you find yourself at a Cardinals game, 4 Hands is a scant 3/4 of a mile from Busch Stadium and will most likely make you feel better about watching a game with poor poor pitchers being forced to go up there and bat.

Anyway, back to the brewery. One of the things I thoroughly enjoyed about the four pack I picked up was the on-can suggested pairings for each brew. From Charcuterie to Camembert Cheese, 4 Hands has left no culinary stone unturned (I'll mention each one in the reviews). As for the descriptions, those are straight from the 4 Hands Beer List. My notes come last. To the beer!

Alter Ego

ABV:  5.5%

Suggested Pairings: Charcuterie, Rotisserie Chicken

Description: Alter Ego is a Black IPA brewed with Citra and Zythos hops. Don't let the color fool you, this isn't your traditional dark beer. This American IPA is bright and citrusy with a vibrant hop aroma.

My Take: This was easily the best of the bunch. I'm always a sucker for a black IPA and this was no different. The hops come on quite strong up front as you'd hope in an IPA, but they're balanced out quite nicely with the citrusy middle flavor. The sweet malts and almost grapefruit like citrus flavors really help make this one smoother overall than you'd expect from an IPA. Highly recommend this beer.

Reprise Centennial Red

ABV:  6.0%
Suggested Pairings: Grilled Beef, Sharp Cheddar
Description: The centennial hop is the centerpiece of our American Red Ale. Reprise pushes the limits of a single hop with an amazing bouquet and stunning bitterness all the way through. The citrus character provides an experience you will want to repeat. Reprise is crimson in color with aromas of citrus fruit and biscuit malt.
My Take: Quite the opposite of Alter Ego, this red starts with caramels and breads mixed with a touch of sweetness. Their mentioning of a biscuit malt is spot on, as the middle tastes like a bitter biscuit (in a good way), and it finishes smoothly. And yet... in spite of it doing everything a red should do, it's just... meh. It's not a bad beer, nor disappointing by any stretch of the imagination, it's just quite middling.

Single Speed Session

ABV:  5.0%
Suggested Pairings: Poultry, Camembert Cheese
Description: Our American blonde ale is a soft and delicate ale brewed with pilsner malt and jasmine flower. The addition of jasmine adds a floral and slightly fruity layer. Single speed pours a crisp golden hue with floral undertones. What's your speed? Ours is a Single Speed.
My Take: It's as grassy and floral-y as advertised. It's also quite light and would be easy to take down in rather large quantity while barbecuing, tailgating, or porch sittin. However, much like the Centennial Red it left me quite in the middle. I wouldn't be upset to be handed one of these on a fine summer's day, but I'm also not going out of my way to pick up a full six pack any time soon.

Contact High

ABV:  5.0%
Suggested Pairings: Spicy Food, Poultry
Description: Not just another boring wheat ale. We made Contact High, our spring and summer seasonal, exciting by adding copious amounts of pacific northwest hops and dry hopping with fresh orange zest. Contact High pours a bright orange hue with a big citrus aroma.
My Take: Wheat beers and I just really aren't friends. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be, but they all have an objective to destroy my stomach. Full on biological warfare the likes of which haven't been seen since the Black Death. Well... that's overstating it. So, with that in mind, I had a few sips and passed it off to my lady. Unfortunately she had the same review of this that I had of most of the 4 Hands beers: not disappointing, but not amazing.


Overall I'd have to say 4 Hands is fine. It's far better than the swill that put St. Louis on the map, but that's not saying much. So, to be nicer, it's a fine brewery. You won't be disappointed with anything they do, but I don't suspect you'll be overly blown away by much either. The Alter Ego is far and away their best and where I'd recommend starting.

But I'm just one man. What're your thoughts? Did I grab a run-of-the-mill four pack? Are their other offerings packing more moments of wow? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!