The Clone Wars … Fought And Won!
May 15th, 2012
After much delay we finally managed to sit down and judge the Clone Wars homebrew competition. You may recall that the challenge was to take one of my recipes (in this case Dark Horse mild) and clone it, the entries being judged by closeness to type. We received sixteen entries that Derek, Nick Leichty and myself judged in a blind tasting. Kudos to all of the home brewers who submitted entries, the standard was excellent and judging was not an easy task. One entry however stood out as a clear winner (and was as close to our brew as could be) with a number of contenders not far behind. We placed the top 3 as follows
1st Place: Joshua Ware winner of the Clone Wars tap handle trophy, a $50 gift certificate and an invitation to join us for a Dark Horse brew day (and a sixtel of that brew)
2nd Place: Chris Mark winner of a $25 gift certificate and a growler of Dark Horse
3rd Place: David Galloway winner of a $15 gift certificate and a growler of Dark Horse
Congratulations gentlemen on a job well done!
Cheers
The War Of 1812
May 2nd, 2012
My delicate English sensibilities were somewhat bruised recently when the boss man asked if I could brew a special beer for the War of 1812 Anniversary festivities in June. Apparently my homeland and the good ole USA had a “bit of an altercation” back then and Baltimore will be commemerating the War Of 1812 with a series of events. I had to point out that, y’know, I’m English & we did lose so NO! I will not brew a “celebratory” beer. What I am prepared to do however is fight the war all over again … this time with Pale Ale. I will brew a British Pale Ale, all British malt, hops and yeast and my assistant brewer, Derek (a native of Pa), will brew an American version … exactly the same recipe but with American malt, hops and yeast! We’ll be pouring the 2 brews side by side from June 1st and you can come drink them and cast your vote for your favorite! We’ll hold a party at the Ale House (date tbd) to announce the winner (and of course the loser will pay a forfeit determined by the winner) at which we will also tap 3 casks, one of each as well as a blend of the two (because, after all, when it comes to beer, we can all get along (can’t we?))
By the way fact fans, Derek was born in Oxford,Pa and I was born in Bicester just outside Oxford, England … weird!
Rule Brittania!
Clone Wars Update
May 2nd, 2012
A quick update … apologies, I know that many of you are wondering what the Hell happened to the Clone Wars, I’m sorry to say that we just haven’t been able to sit down and judge the beers yet. They are all lovingly stored in our cooler and we should have some time during the next week. I’m truly sorry for the delay, circumstances have conspired againt me thus far, but it will happen very soon. Thank you for your patience.
Steve
The Clone Wars 2012
March 4th, 2012
Enjoying a pint of Dark Horse in a galaxy not so far away!
It’s that time again folks, the Clone Wars homebrew competition is on! Test your home brewing chops by recreating our Dark Horse mild … we’ll judge which we think is closest to the real thing and the winner gets some pretty cool prizes and of course bragging rights! The mild ale is an English classic, an easy drinking session ale with a low hop bitterness but plenty of malt character. Ours is a “dark” mild though we’re talking a medium brown color at best, maybe a slight reddish hue. I believe that a beer such as this is a real test of a brewer’s skills … there is nowhere to run and hide … no masking flaws under a mountain of hops or burying it under high abv! It requires a deft touch and, with the diacetyl characteristics frequently associated with Ringwood yeast, good yeast handling.
Full details of the competition can be found at the CRABS web site at http://www.crabsbrew.org/index.php/competitions/clone-wars-2012 . All are welcome to enter and should you wish to pick up yeast from the brewery please email me directly at steve.oliverale@gmail.com . Submissions are required April 1st, judging will be shortly thereafter. Maryland Homebrew carries all of the supplies you will need. but if you’re struggling for anything please contact me, I’ll do my best to help.
Good luck
Burial At Sea
March 4th, 2012
I suspect that you’ve probably noticed by now that collaborations between breweries are a pretty big deal in the craft beer world these days! It’s a trend (if you can call it that) that I’ve happily embraced, whether it be with other breweries (our Channel Crossing series with Stillwater Ales and BW Rye series with 3 Stars Brewing Co.) or with craft beer bars (our Meridian series with Meridian Pint and Draft Punk with Punk’s Grill). I’ve been brewing professionally for almost 18 years but I wouldn’t hesitate to admit that there’s always something to learn about this wonderful craft. What better way than sharing knowledge with like minded professional brewers or enthusiasts over a few beers and the ambition to design a new craft brew together. I’m thrilled therefore that this week we’ll be flying the flag of collaboration once more. We’re putting together the recipe for Bw Rye#4 with our good friends Dave & Mike of 3 Stars, we’re brewing James Brown Ale with the fine folk of Meridian Pint & Punk’s Grill and on Wednesday we launch our latest collaboration, “Burial At Sea”, brewed with DC Brau.
With DC Brau we decided to brew a red mild, 7bbls at Oliver’s, 30bbls at DC Brau using the same recipe and yeast (Wye yeast 1056 American Ale yeast) for both. The only significant difference other than batch size is that ours was fermented in our open vessels and DC Brau’s in closed vessels. This makes a side by side tasting of both cask and draft from each brewery an interesting prospect indeed!
Jeff and Brandon at Oliver's
“Burial at Sea is a collaborative project between head brewer’s Jeff Hancock of DC Brau and Stephen Jones of Oliver Ales in Baltimore, MD. Mild ales are traditionally referred to as “session ales” known for their low alcohol content which is around 3.2 – 4.0%. Despite their low alcohol content, Milds are just as flavorful as beers with a higher ABV. In crafting this beer we used only the finest malt’s and hop’s from England. Burial at Sea starts with a great malty nose boasting aromas of milk chocolate and biscuity sweetness. The beer has a medium mouthfeel that drinks with a soft, mineral smoothness and just enough hops to counter the chewy malt character. Fermented with a clean American yeast that lets the oats, barley and hops dominate and take center stage.”
Our batch came in a little over gravity and is 4.3% abv. A beer such as this just screams to be cask conditioned so we of course obliged, filling several firkins and pins. The remainder of the batch was transferred to conditioning tank where it stayed for a week prior to carbonation.
Casks of Burial At Sea
Mashing Burial At Sea at DC Brau
Derek, Jeff & Chris at DC Brau
The brew days are very different at DC Brau. Their shiny modern system has a considerably higher degree of automation than our aging English brewhouse. It was a wonderful experience working (well, watching at least) a modern system in action. It was also particularly impressive watching their canning line in action and of course pulling a can from the line, filled just minutes before to drink!)
I have to confess that DC Brau’s brewer Chris did most of the work … cheers Chris! We took the opportunity to nip across town to visit 3 Stars brewing Co. and check out their facility. The good news is that they will hopefully be up and brewing in about 5 weeks!
Dave (3 Stars), Derek (Oliver's) Jeff & Brandon (DC Brau) at the 3 Stars brewery.
And of course we took the opportunity to visit a few accounts such as ChurchKey (where The Creeper was on cask) and Meridian Pint (where Scottish Ale was on cask).
Celebrating a successful brew day with The Creeper at ChurchKey
Mike Sikes of Eyespeak Tattoo designed a killer logo which Jeremy Mooy put in tap handle form for us …
We will be joined by Brandon & Jeff of DC Brau and Mike of Eyespeak tattoo for the release of Burial At Sea this coming Wednesday at the Pratt Street Ale House at 6pm on cask and draft. We will offer both for the special price of $3/pint on the evening of release. We’ve also had some limited edition t-shirts made which we will offer at a special price of $12 on the day of release ($18 thereafter). Come join us for the release of this unique Anglo-American mild ale. On Thursday Derek and I will travel to DC for the launch of Burial At Sea at Meridian Pint with multiple cask and draft options available.
You should definitely buy this t-shirt
The (Better Late Than Never) Friday Question
February 5th, 2012
Late again, sorry. It was a brutal week last week but we’ve got a lot to show for it. Next week will see the release of three new brews. First out of the gate will be our third collaboration with our good friends Dave & Mike of 3 Stars Brewing Co. BW Rye #3 is a 5.8% rye saison. Following a sneak peak of the draft at Smith Commons on Monday it will officially debut in DC at ChurchKey on Thursday on cask (dry hopped with Citra & Lemon peel) & draft along with the rare barrel aged BW Rye #2 (8% abv rye porter aged in a barrel previously used for Wasmund’s Rye Whiskey at the Copper Fox distillery in Sperryville, Virginia).
Closer to home, on Tuesday we’ll be showcasing several beers at Max’s Tuesday beer social including the debut of Derek’s first original brew, “The Creeper”, a Belgian style IPA, 7% abv (on cask). This event will also see the local debut of BW Rye#3 on draft. Also available will be barrel aged BW Rye #2, Scottish Ale, bourbon barrel aged William’s Winter Warmer, 3 Lions Ale & Draft Punk. Come join us at 6pm. “The Creeper” will also be available on cask at Mahaffey’s on Wednesday and No Idea Tavern on Friday. Late in January we celebrated the 19th anniversary of the very first Oliver’s brew day by brewing “19″, an 8.5% abv stout. There’ll be a sneak peak of “19″ on cask at The Brewer’s Cask on Friday. I’ll be aging some of “19″ in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel for future release and we also have 2 bourbon barrels of Hot Monkey Love quietly aging for release at the end of March.
So, in the last Friday Question I offered up a growler of Oliver ale and a bottle of 1990 vintage Thomas Hardy Ale which, I must admit, I’m sort of regretting … I opened a bottle today and enjoyed it with a very nice wedge of English stilton and I have to say, it was perfection! Still, no turning back now. I asked how much grain, in pounds, we had used in that weeks 4 brews. The answer was 1768 which by my calculations means that Mike is the winner with his guess of 1780, congratulations sir. This week I’m offering up a bottle of the latest offering from BrewDog’s Abstrakt series. Read about the beer here. It’s an amazing beer and you’re never go to see a bottle on a store shelf. All I want to know is how many pounds of hops have we used so far this year? Remember, our system is 7bbl so we don’t use a massive amount per brew and we started the year off slowly as I took some time off so get your abacuss out and have a go. Good luck. As usual answer via the comment option below.
Cheers
The Friday Question
January 27th, 2012
Today was a special day in the brewery, the 19th anniversary of the very first Oliver’s brew day … let me say that again … NINETEEN years of Oliver Ales! I don’t know about you but I think that that is pretty amazing! That’s a lot of pints right there. I have had the honor of brewing Oliver Ales for the last 12 years (yeah, so my back hurts) so of course I couldn’t let this day pass without brewing something special to celebrate. “19″ is a big stout … if all goes well in fermentation it should weigh in at about 8.5% abv and I’m thinking about cold conditioning it with whole coffee beans (from our favorite local roaster Zeke’s of course). It will probably be released at the end of February. We’ll be doing some more bourbon barrel aging next week, this time Hot Monkey Love will be destined for the barrels which we’ll age for about 3 months.Yum!
So, last time out I asked how many different beers we brewed in 2011 for a growler of Oliver Ales and a bottle of the super rare BrewDog “Sunk Punk” (saw one at $50 on ebay earlier). It was a close run thing but only one can win and this time out it was Mr. Chris Sollitto with his guess of 40. The actual number was 39 by the way. Congratulations Chris.
This week I’ll keep you guessing numbers by asking how many pounds of grain total did we use in this weeks brews? We brewed four times, the first of which was a Blonde Ale, with a fairly low grain bill ( OG 1.043, 305lbs, to get you started) finishing with “19″ which had a massive grain bill (OG 1.080). Whoever gets closest will win something very special. I figure that as we’re celebrating the past, I’ll offer up something vintage so a bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale 1990 is up for grabs as well, of course, as a growler of Oliver Ale. I have to admit that I haven’t tried this vintage yet so I make no claims as to how it’s held up. As always, post your answer via the comment option and have a great weekend!
Win me!
The Goodbye To 2011 Friday Question
December 30th, 2011
Well here it is, the last Friday Question of 2011! It had been my intention to write a comprehensive “year in review” type piece but, to be honest, I just can’t be arsed (as we say in England). I’ve been up since 4.30 am and I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open right now so I’ll make this brief. Before I get on to the nitty gritty of the Friday Question I want let you know what we’ll be up to in January. We’ll be starting the year in style thanks to our friends at Victoria Gastro Pub who are hosting an Oliver’s Pint Night on Monday 2nd January. We’ll be there with the Dawson’s Liquors crew and our Big D IPA with a limited glassware giveaway. As if that wasn’t reason enough to make sure you’re in HoCo that evening, we’ll have a veritable smorgasbord of beers on offer … are you ready for this line-up? We’ll have Winter’s Wolves Winter Ale (cask & draft) and Jacob’s Winter Celebration, William’s Winter Warmer, Hot Monkey Love, BW Rye #2, Draft Punk, Strongman Pale Ale single hop Sorachi Ace and Coventry Cream Ale. Outstanding, I hope you’ll agree?
Speaking of BW Rye, we’ll have the pleasure of the company of Dave & Mike of 3 Stars Brewing Company on January 13th for the next installment of the series. Feel free to drop by and say hello, there’s a good chance you’ll catch us at the bar at some point in the proceedings. On January 18th I’ll be handing over the brewery to Derek who will be brewing his first original brew. I have to admit I don’t know what it will be, not sure he does yet but again, drop by, bang on the glass and heckle (or kick back and join us for a beer when we get a chance to get out of the basement!) On the 20th I’ll be celebrating my birthday at Metropolitan with a few special brews, a beaujolais nouveau cask of Jacob’s Winter Celebration, bourbon barrel aged William’s Winter Warmer and rye barrel aged BW Rye#2. I hope that you’ll be able to join me … shenanigans will be had! Also on the brew schedule in January will be my Scottish Ale and the fifth installment of our collaborative series with Stillwater Ales, Channel Crossing.
So, last week I’d asked you to guess how many different beers I’d sampled from BrewDog in 2011. I’m pretty sure that you know by now that I’m a BrewDog fan … turns out I’ve had 35 different offerings from BrewDog or, if you count the different Paradox barrel versions as different beers (which, really, they are) then 40! You have all rather underestimated my determination to try every BrewDog beer, no one was close but Sandy was closest with his guess of 27, congratulations sir.
This week I offer up a growler of the Oliver Ale of your choice and a bottle of the rather rare BrewDog “Sunk Punk” . All you have to do is tell me how many different beers I brewed in 2011! Easy, eh? Get your thinking caps on and enter your answer via the comment option below. Good luck. see you in 2012. Happy New Year!
The Festive Friday Question
December 23rd, 2011
Wasn’t it about a month ago that I was putting together the last Festive Friday Question? Where the Hell did the year go? It’s been quite a year. Derek has joined me full time in the basement and we’ve brewed a lot of beer & had a lot of fun with it. We’ve brewed a lot of one-off/seasonal brews and, in my humble opinion, managed to be quite creative with them (God, I love the American craft brewing scene, so much innovation, so much great beer out there!) Batch #3500 came along and I’m kicking myself for not stashing away a sixtel of it to see in the New Year, oh well, live & learn. We have collaborated on a slew of brews with our friends Stillwater Ales, Brewer’s Art & 3 Stars Brewing Co. as well as brewing batches with Meridian Pint, Punks Backyard Grill and Dawsons Liquors and I’m happy to say that this will continue in the New Year. January will see the next batches of BW Rye and Channel Crossing and we’ll also be brewing with DC Brau! We’ll be starting off the year in style with a Beer Club/Big D pint night at Victoria Gastro Pub on January 2nd which will feature not only The Big D but also a pre-release of Jacob’s Winter Celebration, Winter’s Wolves Winter Ale (cask & draft), Strongman Pale Ale (single hop Sorachi Ace) and Draft Punk.
There will be more Big D pint nights in January at various locations such as Alewife & Max’s Taphouse … watch this space for details.
Following the success of our Beer Week joint beer dinner with Evolution we’re planning a series of quarterly events throughout 2012 and I’m excited to announce that the first will be on January 28th with Stillwater Ales. We’re in the process of finalising the menu/beer pairings and will post details soon.
So, let us get on to the business of the day … The Friday Question. Last week I asked the number of the bottle of Winter Migration (a limited run of 900) … the answer is … drum roll … 867 which makes Mat Amendt the winner, congratulations. This week I offer up a couple of very nice festive beers, BrewDog’s “Christmas Porter” and Bell’s “Christmas Ale” (pictured below) and a growler of Oliver Ale. The question is this … how many different BrewDog beers have I had the pleasure of drinking in 2011? Simple, eh? Submit your answer via the comment option before next Friday’s post and you could win these rare treats.
These tasty treats could be yours!
Have a wonderful Christmas (or whatever else you may celebrate!)
Cheers
The Friday Question
December 16th, 2011
It’s been a fun couple of weeks since my last post … lots of new brews happening and some excellent events. I hope you know by now that our latest collaboration with 3 Stars Brewing Co., “BW Rye #2″, an 8% abv rye porter, is now out and about! Truth be told we’re almost sold out of the draft at The Ale House though we still have a cask to tap in the near future. We distributed it to many fine establishments in the area though, so look out for it. Our friends at the wonderful Meridian Pint in DC are tapping both draft & cask next Tuesday (20th) along with a number of our recent seasonal brews that they’ve squirreled away and some killer brews from our good friends at Evolution … quite a pint night for sure … check out the flyer below.
Looks like a good place to be on Tuesday!
Also in the last week we’ve released our collaborationwith the crew from Dawson’s Liquors, The Big D. You may remember that we first brewed this for Baltimore Beer Week. We loved it and managed to secure enough hops for another batch so here it is again! It’s a bold IPA, 8% abv, brewed with a little orange blossom honey, orange and lemon peel and finished & dry hopped with a shit ton (honest, that’s the technical term) of Citra & Amarillo! We’ve had some special logo glassware made and the Dawson’s guys will be out and about for pint nights … we’ll post details of the whens and wheres as they’re confirmed!
Here at the Ale House we have a special cask on the beer engine right now, it’s dry hopped with Citra & Amarillo of course but also has lemon peel and grains of paradise added. It’s delicious, come and get a pint!
Also on tap now is our most recent collaboration with Stillwater Ales and The Brewer’s Art. Usually at this time of year I release Merry Ole Ale, an English spiced Christmas Ale. This year it seemed appropriate, in light of our joining forces with the Brewer’s Art to present the Holiday Beer Festival, to make it a joint effort. Steve, Brian and myself decided to retain my traditional malt/hop grist but ferment with Brewer’s Art yeast and replace the normal festive spices witha touch of fresh rosemary. It’s now on tap at The Ale House, both draft and cask (dry hopped with German Tettnanger), come try it!
If you follow us on facebook or twitter (and if not, why not?) you already know that we listen to a lot of Metal in the brewery, especially the Sword. As we were preparing for their awesome show at Rams Head Live last week I suggested that maybe we should brew a Winter Ale as a tribute to the band. They were cool with it so it is done! It’s in fermentation right now, “Winter’s Wolves” Winter Ale, chestnut brown in color, 7% abv, brewed with a little honey and Scottish Heather. We’ll be conditioning the brew with a little American White Oak and releasing it in January. Our good friend, Mr. J. Mooy (he of Dawson’s/The Big D brew) put together a tap logo for us which absolutely screams METAL! Check it out ….
Coming in January!
Also in January … my birthday! My creaking bones will be celebrating at Metropolitan Coffee House Friday January 20th with some special brews … we’ll have a one off Beaujolais Nouveau oak cask of Jacob’s Winter Celebration along with the draft of bourbon barrel aged William’s Winter Warmer and rye barrel aged BW Rye #2, both making their debut. I hope that you can join me in celebrating my surviving another year!
So, onto the Friday Question. Last time I’d asked how many songs were on my i-pod? The answer is … drum roll … 29233! There were some extremely close answers but only one can win and this week it was Nick … good job sir! A growler and a bottle of something are yours (not sure what that bottle will be, what do you give the man who has everything already?)
This week we have a nice prize lined up. As you no doubt know, I’m a big fan of Evolution Craft Brewing Co., especially their limited barrel aged releases, so this week I’m offering up a bottle of Fall Migration & Winter Migration. Both are limited releases. The Fall Migration is bottle is bottle 1207 of 1350. All I want to know is what number is the Winter Migration (of 900). Guess away and good luck. Submit your entry via the comment option.
Yes, you could win this deliciousness!