Cask Beer Night at Aroma Thyme, Hudson Valley Restaurants

Our next cask beer night at Aroma Thyme Bistro is Tuesday October 6th 2009. This month we are featuring Geary's Autumn Ale. The tapping starts at 5pm and goes until the cask is empty.

Geary's Autumn Ale is a faithful interpretation of the classic brown ales of Great Britain. With a deep auburn color and a subtle nut-like flavor, Geary's Autumn Ale is the perfect choice as the seasons change.

Availability: August - November

Original gravity: 1058

Alcohol by volume: 5.8%

Ingredients: Two row English malt (clarity, crystal, chocolate and wheat); Cascade, Golding & Fuggle hop

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CASK-CONDITIONED BEER ('REAL ALE') IN THE U.S.A.
What exactly is real ale?
Cask-conditioned beer, often referred to as 'real ale', is brewed from only traditional ingredients and allowed to mature naturally.

The unfiltered, unpasteurized beer still contains live yeast, which continues conditioning the beer in the cask (known as 'secondary fermentation'); this process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavors to develop, resulting in a richer tasting drink with more character than standard keg ('brewery-conditioned') beers.

Real ale is always served without any extraneous gas, usually by manually pulling it up from the cellar with a handpump (also known as a 'beer engine'). This is the traditional way of brewing and serving beer; only a few decades ago did filtered, pasteurized, chilled beer served by gas become normal.

The only place in the world where cask-conditioned beer is still commonly available is Britain.
Is there much difference to keg beer?
Keg beers are generally sterile filtered and pasteurized as part of the brewing process. This kills the yeast, preventing any further conditioning, and the beer is then racked into sealed, gas-pressurized kegs. Such beers generally taste blander than their cask-conditioned counterparts, and the use of flash-chillers or cold rooms (*very* cold!) is standard as part of the serving process. That said, some microbrewers rack cask beer into kegs - though these are usually served with extraneous gas.

In many common brands of keg beer, cheap ingredients ('adjuncts') such as rice or maize are mixed with the malt to cut costs, but resulting in a 'light' beer with hardly any aroma or flavor. Chilling and the absorption of extraneous gas jointly mask the lack of flavor - with carbon dioxide you get an unnaturally fizzy pint; with nitrogen (or mixed gas with a larger nitrogen ratio) you get a pint with an unnaturally smooth and creamy head - either way these beers are always refreshing but usually taste of very little. Micro-breweries generally avoid the use of cheap adjuncts, so their keg products usually taste far superior to the nationally available brands. Also, all beers imported from Germany are required by that country's laws to be free of non-traditional ingredients.

I'm not criticizing all keg beers, simply outlining the often little-known qualities of real ale by comparison. There are many really tasty ales which are 'keg' (but plenty more which aren't tasty!), though well-kept cask versions of the same brands would undoubtedly be found to be even more flavorsome if compared side-by-side.
But keg beer is 'normal' -
what's it got that real ale hasn't?
Keg beers have a much longer shelf life, especially when compared to a partially full cask. Real ales have to be manually vented and tapped, and left to settle (or the customer gets a cloudy pint due to the presence of yeast and protein - though harmless if drunk like this). Also, real ale will start to taste of vinegar (known as 'oxidising') if left in a part-full cask for too long. This is caused by acetic acid forming from a reaction with oxygen in the atmosphere.

Flying Dog Dogtoberfest now on tap at Aroma Thyme

The origins of Dogtoberfest are shrouded in mystery, but scholars think it has everything to do with an insane German king and a crazed Oompah band. You can read the full historical record of Dogtoberfest below. Dogtoberfest is deep mahogany in color with an intriguing caramel finish and brewed with 100% imported German ingredients for a true German flavor.

ABV:	5.3%
Plato:	14
IBU's:	30
Specialty Malts:	Vienna, Munich 90, Munich 100, Light Munich
Hops:	German Perle, Hersbrucker
Process:	100% imported German ingredients for an authentic flavor

2005 Bronze Medal Winner - Great American Beer Festival (German-Style Marzen) 2008 Gold Medal Winner - Great American Beer Festival (German-Style Marzen)

Oskar Blues Gordon now on tap at Aroma Thyme!!!

Gordon is now on tap at Aroma Thyme Bistro. All of Oskar Blues comes in a can or keg, no bottles. These beers are a must try for the craft beer lovers.

sourced from http://www.oskarblues.com/brew/
Gordon is a hybrid version of strong ale, somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. We make it with six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hop it with a mutha lode of Amarillo hops. It is 8.7% alcohol by volume, and has 85 International Bittering Units.

It features a gooey, resiny aroma and a luscious mouthfeel. Gordon is brewed with dash of chocolate malt in it, to round out its load of hops and balance the beer. The result is an assertive yet exceptionally smooth version of strong beer.

We brew Gordon in tribute to the late Gordon Knight. In addition to opening some of Colorado’s first microbreweries, Knight was a Vietnam vet, grade-A citizen, and huge promoter of craft beer. He lost his life in 2002 while fighting a wild fire outside of Lyons, Colorado.

Originally our winter seasonal beer, it has become a cult favorite of extreme-beer lovers, so we now brew occasional batches of Gordon throughout the year. Released in bottles in 2003 and 2004, Gordon is now sold in four packs of hand-labeled cans and on draft in select markets.

Gordon has landed big praise from some serious places, including:

• Bronze Medal - 2008 World Beer Cup
• Gold Medal – 2008 World Beer Championships
• "2007 Beer of the Year" – Epinions.com
• "Top 5 Extreme Beers" – The New York Times
• "A virtual essay in hop flavor and aroma" – Garret Oliver, All About Beer
• "Very well balanced, what all extreme beer should strive to be" – Ratebeer.com
• "Massively flavored with extraordinary body. Wow!" – Charlie Papazian, All About Beer
• "Great Beer" – Ratebeer.com

Craft Beer In A Can? A Gutsy Move Is Paying Off

September 5, 2009
by ANNIE FEIDT
Putting good beer in a can used to be considered something close to blasphemy, but that's how several brave craft breweries across the country have recently started offering their beer. And despite the stigma, sales are booming — especially in Anchorage, Alaska.

"For decades, bad beer — cheap beer, I should say; no beer is bad — cheap beer has been in a can," says John Burket with a laugh.

Burket is an early believer in the potential of good canned beer. He's a beer lover and a local beverage distributor in Anchorage. Burket thought cans would be easier than bottles to take camping, fishing or hiking. They're lighter to ship. And he says the beer actually tastes better, too. Cans protect the ingredients from sunlight and oxygen, which degrade the flavor over time.

"The product is every bit as good in a can, possibly even better," he says. "Everybody who does try it is shocked — and loves it."

But Burket didn't have many converts in Anchorage until early this year, when the city stopped recycling glass. Since then, he's watched the market for good canned beer explode. In Anchorage, the cans often cost a dollar or two more a six-pack than similar beer in bottles. But Burket says even that doesn't seem to matter.

"Actually the biggest problem we have now is trying to get more and more in. We get some in, we run out, we get some in, we run out."

That supply issue is one Clay Brackley knows well. He's the head brewer at the Sleeping Lady Brewery in downtown Anchorage. A few years ago, the pub invested in a small hand-canning system, to package its Urban Wilderness pale ale. In the beginning, Brackley says, sales were bleak. "The first couple of years were very depressing, very tough," he says.

But then this summer rolled around.

"It's been insane this year. It's been over a thousand times what we did last year," he says. "They sell faster than we can make them."

Brackley recruited nine volunteers to help manage the extra work. On this day, though, it's just him and a beer intern, working in a dimly lit room in the brew pub's basement.

Brackley fills each can from a machine that looks a bit like a gas station coffee dispenser. Then he hands it to the intern, who seals on the top and stamps the cans together with a plastic six-pack ring.

It's a labor-intensive process. Brackley imagines a day when Sleeping Lady can upgrade to an automatic system. Several craft breweries have already made that leap. One of the largest, Big Sky Brewing in Montana, installed a line last spring that fills 60 cans a minute. They're selling twice as fast as the company expected.

Oskar Blues Brewery in Colorado sells only canned beer.

"We knew it would be an obstacle," Oskar Blues' co-founder Marty Jones says. "The first stores we took our beer to said, 'We think that's funny and we appreciate your guts, but no craft beer lover will spend craft beer prices to buy beer in a can.' "

Oskar Blues now sells its cans in 25 states. And Jones reports sales are up more than 80 percent for the first half of this year. "We're growing like mad. We opened a new brewery last April to try to keep up with demand and we've already added some tanks to that brewery to try to keep up."

According to the national Brewers Association, 45 craft breweries across the country now can at least some beer. Back in Anchorage, Burket predicts good canned beer will take off first in outdoor-lifestyle states like California, Oregon, Montana and Alaska.

"I think that's where you'll see the cans really hit first, and then it will spread," he says.

But even can enthusiasts like Burket don't want beer lovers drinking their favorite brew straight from the can. He says no matter what package the beer comes in, it can't be properly enjoyed until it's poured into a glass.

Annie Feidt reports for the Alaska Public Radio Network.

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I was first introduced to canned craft beer in 2007. And the first can I saw was from Oskars Blues, their Dales Pale Ale. Wow I was shocked! It was an awesome American Pale Ale. It was big, floral & robust. I was convinced it was one of the best pale ales that I have tasted. So it immediately went on our beer menu at Aroma Thyme Bistro.

We still are very low on our canned selection at the bistro. We currently offer a few others from Oskar Blues, as I love all of their beers. Look for cans of 21st Admendment IPA, which is now on tap. As soon as the tap kicks you will see the cans on our menu. And we did a blind side by side on the can vs the keg. It was not even close the can scored much higher. So that really opened our eyes on the quality of craft beer in a can.

Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at Aroma Thyme, September 18th, $49 per person. Call 845.647.3000 for info/reservations.

Marcus Guiliano
Aroma Thyme Bistro
Ellenville NY 12428

Ommegang Cave Aged Beer at Aroma Thyme, Hudson Valley Restaurants

At Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville NY, we now offer cave aged Ommegang Beer. During our August 2009 visit to the Ommegang Brewery we were turned on to this beer. We tasted side by side the Hennepin & Abbey Ale in their caved aged version and their regular bottles. First off the regular bottling is among our favorites at Aroma Thyme. So just like wine, these beers aged beautifully in the cave environment. So if you are an Ommegang fan these are a must try.

sourced from www.ommegang.com
On a freezing day each mid-winter, 280 cases of Ommegang ale are transported forty five minutes east of Cooperstown to the heart of "cave country." The beer is lowered 156 feet into the celebrated Howe Caverns. This is the only cave-aging of beer on American soil in recent memory. Forty meters below ground, at a constant temperature of 52 degrees F (12 C), Brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers ale peacefully matures.

Cave-aging (and cellar-aging) were traditional aging methods before modern refrigeration, and today are still used in the Champagne region of France. Remarkably, similar conditions are at hand in Schoharie County in New York. In the section of the Allegheny Plateau north of Cobleskill, which is capped by early to middle Devonian Helderberg and Onondaga limestones, conditions are ideal for cave formation. The most celebrated of these formations is Howe Caverns.

"We set out to replicate as closely as possible the conditions that produce extraordinary champagnes," explained Randy Thiel. "The virtues of cave-aging are well understood by champagne producers. There is no doubt that these dark, silent, subterranean "cathedrals" are the ideal surroundings for secondary fermentation and maturation of wines (and beers). It is further known that cold constant temperature between 50 and 55 degrees leads to great complexity, and that the colder the storage, the slower the maturation."

Thiel continues, "Logically then, beer that has been aged in the cold cellars should taste much younger than beer of the same vintage stored at 65 to 70 degrees." The chalk caves at Reims and Epernay, though half as deep as Howe's are almost precisely the same temperature (between 9 and 12 degrees). Our aging is lasting three times as long (9 months) as a classic champagne's."

Of course, only bottle-conditioned beers would benefit from this type of treatment. The cold aging follows two warm fermentations. A signal feature of bottle-conditioned Belgian beers is their sturdiness. Thanks to live yeast and high alcohol content, they are capable of being aged and improving over time. As those who visit Ommegang see, the beer is first fermented in a tank (an open fermenter). A month later, at the time of bottling, a secondary fermentation is induced. The still beer is dosed with yeast and sugar, then placed in a warm cellar for an additional three weeks. During this time natural carbonation develops. The resulting very fine bead is immediately discernible from carbonation achieved through the injection of gas.

The Belgian brewing practice of inducing a secondary fermentation in the bottle is not coincidentally known as "methode champenoise." Whether Schoharie will become as famous in the wine and spirit world as Epernay and Reims remains to be seen. But, Howe Caverns' celebrity is already assured. It is the second most visited natural attraction in New York State after Niagara Falls.

For further information about Howe Caverns: (518) 296-8900, their fax: (518) 296-8992 and the web address is http://www.howecaverns.com. For further information about cave-aged Three Philosophers, obtaining cases, and Brewery Ommegang, contact Larry Bennett at 607-554-1802; fax: (607) 544-1801, e-mail: larry@ommegang.com. The brewery's web address is http://www.ommegang.com

Oskar Blues Old Chub now at Aroma Thyme Bistro

Old Chub is a Scottish strong ale brewed with hearty amounts of seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts, and a smidge of US and UK hops. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany, home of the world's greatest smoked beers. Old Chub is 8% alcohol by volume.

While Dale's satisfies our hop addiction, Old Chub takes care of our deep affections for malt.

The cola-colored beer (almost black) features a tan head, a creamy, skim-milk mouthfeel, and rich, semi-sweet flavors of caramel and chocolate throughout. The addition of smoked grains gives Old Chub a delicate kiss of smoke on the finish.

Old Chub is the beer equivalent of a lightly smoked single malt scotch, or your favorite dark chocolate. We call it Rocky Mountain Mutha's Milk. People who tell us defiantly, "I don't drink dark beer," often fall deeply in love with Old Chub. We can't blame them.

Here are some of the mighty honors for Old Chub Scottish Style Ale:

• Top-Rated Scottish Ale -- Beeradvocate.com
• World’s Second-Best Canned Beer -- Details Magazine
• Gold Medal – 2008 World Beer Championships
• Highly Recommended -- Celebrator Beer News
• “The panel pretty much swooned”-- Wall Street Journal
• “So much malt in a little can!” -- Alestreet News
• “I can’t believe this came out of a can” -- Countless craft beer lovers

Here are a few glowing reviews from Beeradvocate.com and Ratebeer.com beer nuts who've flipped for Old Chub:

"I guess I didn't expect much from a beer in a can. But, wow-- when you crack it open, you immediately get a whiff of that peaty, smoky aroma characteristic of good scottish ales."

"Lots of caramel, a bit of chocolate, roasted malts, smoke…and a nice creamy mouthfeel. Beer this good shouldn't come from a can. I like it."

"...some smokey and sweet chocolate aromas. Flavor was smokey (light peat?) sweet chocolate malts with molasses and brown sugar in the mix. Body was heavy-moderate with light to medium carbonation. Yum."

"Very full initial taste of caramel, toffee and chocolate. Slightly smokey followup. Very smooth, silky, almost luxurious mouthfeel. Summary: A hugely rich, full, hearty--& above all TASTY beer. DO NOT be put off by the can. Most excellent."