Following is what I've submitted on behalf of NABC to the Great Taste of the Midwest for inclusion in this year's program. The festival takes place on August 14 in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a must-visit at some point in your beer drinking career. This year, we're being placed close by The Livery, Schlafly and O'Fallon so as to enable a "collaboration corner" and feature cooperative projects brewed during the past year.
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NABC Beer Descriptions, for the Great Taste of the Midwest 2010 official program
(Includes both descriptions and details about NABC collaboration beer placements. *Recipe notes provided for collaborations brewed at NABC)
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At the NABC station, C02 pour:
Elector, Elsa von Horizon, Hoptimus, Thunderfoot
Cask-conditioned NABC (pin at the NABC station; tapping time TBA):
2008 Port-aged Bonfire of the Valkyries
Cask-conditioned NABC (firkins at the real ale tent):
Beak’s Best and Community Dark
Collaboration(s) casks, to be tapped at Collaboration Corner, not the real ale tent:
*NABC/The Livery Oaked Le Douche Mentale & Scotch pin conditioned Le Douche Mentale
Malts: Castle Pale, Castle Biscuit, Simpsons Medium Crystal
Hops: Wet Fuggles, Nugget, Fuggle, Cascade
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 75
*NABC/O’Fallon/Schlafly C2 Smoked Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Malts: Castle Pale, Weyermann Rauchmalz, Castle Biscuit, Briess Smoked, Castle Aromatic, Castle Special B Mash hops: Mt. Hood, Crystal Kettle hops: Magnum, Celeia Yeast: Belgian Chouffe O.G. 1.097 or 24.3 Plato ABV: 10.4% IBU: 35 Color: 14.8
Collaboration Notes:
The Livery also debuts its 5th anniversary beer, Imperial Dark IPA (NABC’s Jared Williamson helped brew it) at its station, and O' Fallon debuts C3, the third collaboration series beer with O’Fallon’s, NABC and Schlafly, at its station.
Main NABC beer descriptions
Beak’s Best
Malts: Simpsons Golden Promise, Simpsons Medium Crystal, Castle (Belgian) Aromatic and Special B
Hops: Double hopped with Cascade pellets, finished through hop-back with whole cone Cascades
Yeast: House London
OG: 1.059 or 14.75 degree Plato
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 35
Color: 10.3 degree Lovibond SRM
American bitter & soul liniment
NABC’s session-strength American Bitter is named in honor of globetrotting historian and educator Don "Beak" Barry, and in 2003 it was the winner of the "Louisville Magazine Best Of" award for Louisville area microbrews. Like its namesake, Beak’s is fond of traveling (albeit in kegs), lending itself to refreshing contemplation.
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Bonfire of the Valkyries
Malts: Weyermanns Rauchmalz, Simpsons Black, Castle Aromatic, Castle Special B
Hops: Czech Zatec (Saaz)
Yeast: Common Lager
OG: 1083
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 5.1
Color: 46.2 SRM
Burning away the hours 'til Ragnarok
Although it’s probably somewhere in the German brewing playbook, we couldn’t find the rule prohibiting the higher-gravity crossing of Black Lager with Smoked Lager, so we brew Bonfire each year in autumn and let it age until release just before Christmas. For the Great Taste, Bonfire has been aged in JW Lees ’08 Port pin.
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Community Dark
Malts: Special Pale, Dark Crystal and Chocolate malts
Hops: Double hopped with EK Golding
Yeast: House London
OG: 1.046 or 11.5 degree Plato
ABV: 3.7%
IBU: 12.5
Color: 25 degree Lovibond SRM
Inside is what counts
Inspired by traditional English Mild, the style that fueled the workers who made the Industrial Revolution, Community Dark is revolutionary in its own way: Dark-colored but light-bodied, and a session ale suitable for New Albany’s emerging downtown renaissance.
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Elector
Malts: Special Pale and Simpsons Medium Crystal
Hops: Triple hopped with Chinook pellets, finished through hop-back with whole cone Cascades
Yeast: House London
OG: 1.074 or 18.5 degree Plato
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 62
Color: 11.9 degree Lovibond SRM
Makes democracy pointless
Excessive hopping rendered moot the original modest plan to brew a traditional winter warmer, but the resulting hybrid was delicious and redefines the Imperial Red style category. The first batch of Elector was brewed on Election Day, 2002, a mere two years after the nation’s electors (most recently) made democracy pointless, and we persist in thinking that an Elector in hand is worth two Bushes in retirement, any election day, any old time at all.
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Elsa Von Horizon
Malts: German Pilsner, German Munich
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Tettnang
Yeast: Common Lager
OG: 1.100
ABV: 10%
IBU: 80
Color: 5.4 SRM
Bekämpfen sie und ich beiße sie
It is deceptively simple. A Pilsner rich in noble continental hops is brewed to the strength of Maibock and beyond, and then even more noble hops are added to the recipe for balance and bite. Not even the Germans try it, and we consider this shyness as implicit encouragement to innovate. Elsa is a proud member of NABC’s Brewers’ Best Friend Series, along with Malcolm and Jasmine. They’re assertive, loyal specialties named for our brewers’ canine chums.
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Hoptimus
Malts: Special Pale
Adjunct: Pure, free-range sucrose
Hops: 4 additions of high alpha Nugget, 1 late addition of Cascade, finished through hop-back with whole cone Cascades
Yeast: House London
OG: 1.097 or 24.25 degree Plato
ABV: 10.7%
IBU: 100
Color: 6.9 degree Lovibond SRM
Made of sterner stuff
“Vicariously” is for rank amateurs and subpar international lagers, because Hoptimus lives vivaciously through itself, and is best consumed in the prime of youth, when its bold hop character is at its snarkiest and most blatantly unrepentant. Hoptimus has been named “the beer most likely to be preferred by the most interesting man in the world, if he really were the most interesting man in the world, but he isn’t” by Publicans Monthly magazine.
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Thunderfoot
Malts: Special Pale, Simpson's Roasted Barley, Simpson's Dark Crystal, Flaked Oats
Adjunct: Pure free-range sucrose
Hops: Quad-hopped with Northern Brewer and Willamette
Special treatment: Dried tart cherries fall into the hopback, and medium-toast American oak chips and dried Bing cherries go into each keg for aging. One year later: In your glass.
Yeast: House London
OG: 1.106 or 25.2 degree Plato
ABV: 12%
IBU: 84
Color: 72.7 degree Lovibond SRM
Ultimate urban renewal
There can be no doubt that Thunderfoot actively renounces the art of the gentle tweak, the mild revision, and the imperceptible hint. Rather, Thunderfoot advocates palatal renewal the old-fashioned way – complete, irresistible and certain. 20 months old; brewed January, 2009.
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