Home Brewing (1)

After reading all those descriptions on how beer is made, it is finally time to have my own trial on beer brewing.  Initially, I think equipment and ingredients are the difficult part.  But it was lucky for me to come across the booth of "The Beer Necessities" at Beertopia in April, and this online store sells various kinds of brewing equipment and ingredient.  Good!!

I started with its small batch all-grain system, comprising a set of equipment needed for brewing one gallon of beer.  For the beer, I chose Edinburgh IPA, expecting to obtain some hoppy juice for tasting purpose in the worst case.

In the beginning, it looked like this:

The grain came as milled and packaged, and all we have to do is to add it into a pot of hot liquor (mineral water, not tap water, suggested in this case) for Mashing.

Mashing lasted for an hour, to make sure all the grist are soaked up.  Temperature has to be kept as 62-67 degree Celsius.

After an hour, and strain away all the grist residue, you get the Wort now.

Then came the boiling and addition of hops.  Adding hops could be tricky and varies depending on the style of beer you are brewing.  For the Edinburgh IPA, two hops are used.  They came in the form of extract and are easier to be handled.

The first kind of hops (A) were added at the beginning of boiling, while the second one (B) were added in four different batches during the hour-long boiling.

After an hour of boiling, you got the hopped wort (with fermentable sugar) and you are ready to add the magical yeast for the process of fermentation.

We are using a packet of dried yeast in this case.  After addition, yeast will reproduce itself in the wort in the first phase of aerobic fermentation.

Three days later, we used the air lock to keep the big jar from any more air coming in contact with the wort (or you could say half-beer), then allow it for 7-11 days of fermentation.  In this phase, the yeast would eat up the sugar, transform it into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

When all the bubbling stops, we could assume that the active fermentation also stops somehow.  We would transfer the beer into bottles (or cask if you have a spacious home!), and wait for maybe two to three weeks (wishing the beer to become more matured).

I prepared five bottles of homemade Edinburgh IPA today.  Although all the stupid mistakes made in the process, I consider my first trial of home brewing half-finished.  Why not take a preliminary taste of that!

A really hoppy juice indeed.

Warsaw, Poland (2)

I have to put a full-stop of my summer journey to Poland here somehow, so I travelled back to Warsaw by a five-hour train.

It was already late in the evening when we were back to hotel and the royal route.  The only think we could practically did was to have a dinner, of course with beer.  We decided to go to a microbrewery nearby: Browarmia Krolewska (meaning Royal Brewery).

I don't have to do much description here, because of what I retrieved from it website (English version!)

Browarmia Królewska was established in August 2005 as Warsaw’s first restaurant–brewery. At present, we brew 12 types of beer, which are brewed according to traditional european recipes.

The restaurant is situated on the ground floor. The basement is assigned to the brewhouse. The atmosphere is relaxed yet sophisticated. Our kitchen serves traditional Polish and International dishes, which satisfies even our most demanding guests.

Yes, I could have a glimpse of copper and other brewery settings when I walked to the washroom in the basement.  The place was not small, and there were some plaques demonstrating various prizes received by the establishment.

I tried the Pils and it was reasonably good.  The place was crowed, with locals and tourists.  They were mostly sitting outside, while we stayed indoor.  The TV showed a live football match, and I recognised the Legia Warszawa was playing (and eventually won 3-0).  Everything was nice and seemed to be in some kind of order, just a bit too touristic maybe.

After visiting some microbreweries and you came across some good and some bad stuff.  I am sure I will treasure the bottled beer more when I would be back to Hong Kong, because of its professional quality (which you know was not attained easily).

Cheers, mate!!

Gdansk, Poland

I have never been this city in Poland before, although I have to admit that the name of the city sounds quite familiar to me as it appeared so frequently in the TV news (格但斯克船廠) when I was small (should be the 80s).  That's exactly the same period that Kieslowski (my favourite film director, Polish, also a philosopher) created its best films: Blind Chance, Camera Buff, Decalogue, etc.  I believe that difficult times activate people's hearts and minds, as people need to express themselves in the times of adversity.  Anyway, I was here, 17 years after the death of Kieslowski.

It was mostly daytime when I traveled around and visited various places in the city, so I did not visit any bar at all.  But it didn't stop my search.  On a side street within the Main Town, I came across this bar and beer shop, which sells hundreds of local and imported beer.  I was more than delighted when I found this shop.

I tried three bottled beers from some local independent breweries.  I liked the citric one while the IPA style tasted too hoppy for me (they always are).

The point is not about their taste being good or not, it's about you seeing people in Gdansk is serious about their beer drinking.

We planed to depart for Warsaw by noon, but the earliest available train would only leave after 2pm when we arrived at the station.  We had to pick an eatery, so we came across a microbrewery (again!) just opposite the train station.

 

I have talked about the popularity of microbreweries in Europe (at least in Poland and Norway) now.  But when it becomes popular, the question of quality pops up immediately.  And this Lubrow Minibrowar served a good example of how ordinary beers could be.

Regardless of its menu, I ordered a set of tasting samples.  Basically, they were all undrinkable if you appreciate quality beer.  Anyway it was a good experience when you could visit a microbrewery somewhere (while you could find none in this Asian Metropolitan).

The Main Town of Gdansk is very beautiful, and I found the city very lively (compared to the business-look of Warsaw). I am sure I will remember this city for long long time...

Bergen & Flam, Norway

I had a short stay in Bergen actually, as our aim was a trip to fjord.  So it was rather a stop-over, and we did not even visit a bar there (and reluctant to mention that we were rejected by a supermarket cashier when we intended to buy a bottle of beer after 8pm).

Departing for the fjord at 8am, and we arrived at Flam before noon.  Flam is a beautiful, small port by the tip of a fjord, also at the bottom tip of a steep railway line.  There was a museum depicting the struggle in opening up the railway.  I always cannot imagine the hardship of railway workers a century ago, when we could comfortably sit in a train and enjoy the scenery along the rail.  How could we pay tribute to them?  In a respectable and proper way ...

I have not read much tourist information about this small port town, therefore it was quite a surprise to us when we found a microbrewery there - AEgir Bryggeri.  More correctly when I noticed that this one is only second-best after the Oslo one (much better than the ones in Warsaw and Gdansk).

They sell a set of five tasting samples and we tried that.  There should be enough time for us as the ferry would only leave in one and a half hours.

They are usually presented in a order from light through hoppy/bitter flavour to port or stout, as you could see them from left to right (not necessary fitted with your imagination on the colours).  They are all good, but in general showing a rather pale finish (as you could always describe as crispy).  This is a general observation I could conclude in visiting several microbreweries (except the Oslo one), the beer brewed are mainly light or pale, except any single one of IPA which showed the strong character of hoppyness.  Among the five, the like the first one the most, i.e. Boyla Blonde Ale (4.7% ABV).  The taste is very well-balanced and refreshing - perfect for a Norwegian summer afternoon!

The ferry took us through Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjord, and eventually back to Bergen in the late evening.

We have nothing to complain but gratitude to everything we've seen: the fjords, seabirds, a big waterfall, steep railway, a microbrewery and all the beautiful scenery.

Oslo, Norway

The only two things I know about Norwegian beer comes from Jan Hillesland's book "All about beer that a man needs to know", they are "Lorry" (a restaurant with a beer garden) and "Ringnes" (the most popular local beer in Norway).  I tried both within four hours since my touching down on this part of Scandinavia (including three hours of searching for the correct way from the airport to the B&B).  I never imagined that I would be surprised by many more during the short stay in the capital city of Oslo.

Lorry and Ringnes

The neighbourhood around my B&B (Holegata) is neat and tidy, basically everywhere in Oslo is neat and tidy (you might feel too tidy if you started to get used to the Polish way).  A short walk downhill took us from the B&B to Lorry.  The interior of the restaurant looked like an haunted house, filled with all kinds of exquisite objects ranging from 兵馬俑, chairs for a king and a queen, a deer's head, and anything you name it.  We just looked for our simple lunch, so we ordered a salad and a sandwich.  Of course, unavoidably, some local beer (only afterwards that I know that's Ringnes).

I could not describe much about Scandinavian lager, except you may say the taste is clean, crispy, or refreshing.  From Hillesland's book, we know that Scandinavian lagers are brewed according to the original law of Purity, which means only malt, hop, water and yeast are used in the process (no rice, no fruit, or whatever).

The famous thing about the place Lorry is that it features an extensive beer menu with over 100 different brands.  But anyway, I insisted to try the local one, instead of UK or German stuff.

There are still those weird regulations imposed on sales of alcohol in Norway nowadays.  For example, you cannot purchase from any supermarket alcoholic drinks on Sundays, or after 8pm weekdays.  That's obviously inconvenient to me, when cashiers rejected my beers twice.

Actually the receptionist of the B&B could not show us the way to Lorry when we asked her, instead she introduced a "very good" microbrewery "just at the next block of this street".  Eventually we visited there in the next day, after several museums, and found out (afterwards) it was the best microbrewery we visited in the whole trip.

Oslo Mikrobryggeri

After visiting four cities in Europe during this trip and Shanghai in my previous trip, microbreweries are definitely a fashionable item in big cities (maybe except Hong Kong).  But the problem quality.  I can surely say that Oslo Mikrobryggeri is the best microbrewery we've ever visited, up to now.

The bar only sells beers brewed at site, not any other bottled or draft beer.  There were eight kinds of beer mentioned in its catalogue, but only five are available on the day of our visit.  You could easily tell them all from the photo.

In most of the microbreweries visited, the beer seemed to taste milder and paler.  I guess the reasons for this are, one, customers' favour for pilsner; and, two, not easy to make the bitterness a good balance.  Many cases are that you would try the other extreme - those hop juice.  They say that's American style IPA.  I don't like it.  IPA should not be hop juice.

Here in Oslo Mikrobryggeri, Steamer is very well-balanced ale.  I like it a lot.

I also tried the IPA and porter, they are also great!!

After the Mikrobryggeri and a night's sleep, we departed for any Norwegian city - Bergen.

Warsaw, Poland (1)

It is the annual summer holiday, my destinations this year are Poland and Norway.  It may sounds a strange combination, but at least geographically the two countries are not far away.  And the two cities I visited, Gdansk and Bergen, followed the similar trade history in its involvement in the Hanseatic League.  Poland is always my love, and I headed to Norway for its natural scenery.  I don't expect I bumped into so many microbreweries along the way.

Two Glasses of Zywiec and One Glass of "Vodka"

I tried three bottles of Polish beer and bought two more from a huge beer store (which sells almost a thousand, literally, types of beer) during my first day in Warsaw.

You cannot avoid the brand Zywiec when you talked about beer in Poland.  It is the most popular beer brand, and when you order a beer in a bar without mentioned any brand (because you don't speak any Polish) the bartender will probably get you a glass of Zywiec.  Therefore I had my first glass of Zywiec beer just after I checked in a hotel in Warsaw, after I mentioned the word beer to a bartender.  Beer poured in a branded glass, placed onto a branded coaster.

Zywiec is a city in south Poland, somewhere near Krakow.  The brewery was originally founded by Habsburgs in 1852, and started operating in 1856.  You could still find the Habsburg crown and a couple dancing Krakowika (a traditional dance of the area of Krakow) in the logo.  It was nationalised during Communist era.  And later in 1990 acquired by Heineken International, and becomes a very modern brewery nowadays (open for visitors too). 

Zywiec pale lager tasted nice, but I liked the porter much more.  It's almost 8.5% ABV, as I remember. Very refined, but not over-roasted.

I cannot find, from internet research, a commonly-recognised second most popular beer brand in Poland.  It may be Tyskei, or maybe Warka, as I saw quite some advertisements in the streets.  Anyway, I had my third glass of beer, Warka, at dinner, when I actually tried to order a glass of "vodka".  I guess the old man in the restaurant misunderstood my poor English.

(To be continued)

Shanghai Beer Scenery - July 12-14

I've been to Shanghai for several times, and I don't expect there is actually a "beer scene" developing so vividly in the city.

Friday: Shanghai Brewery

I did some research before the trip and knew that there are quite a number of microbreweries.  Yes, there are brewmasters doing their work right there at the beer house, or in breweries somewhere else then transporting the products to the bars and selling them to customers (mostly served in 0.3L, 0.5L, 1L glasses - they are more following the German scale: I didn't see any "pint" in SH).  Therefore after touching down and having a wonderful dinner with mates, we headed to one of those microbreweries - Shanghai Brewery at Hangshan Lu (衡山路, 東平路).

The brewery was packed with drinkers already when we arrived and we just sat outside under the sky and trees (梧桐樹, so famous in the "French quarter").  Six kinds of fresh handcrafted, micro-brewed beers are regularly brewed on-site: West River (浦西) Weizen (wheat beer), People's Pilsner, North Star IPA, Black Eyed Bear Stout, Hong Mei Amber Hefeweizen and Peach Weizen.  It says that all of the beer recipes were created and brewed by award-winning American Brewmaster Geoff Engel and Chinese Brewmaster Sam Yang.

I ordered a sampler (including four kinds) while my friends chose West River Weizen and North Star IPA respectively.  Brief comments are:

People's Pilsner: acceptable, will be better if more chilled
West River Weizen: unacceptably pale (this may be an interesting question regarding taste of Chinese drinkers, and should be explored further by someone), and thus quite character-less.
Hong Mei Amber Hefeweizen:  same as above
Black Eyed Stout: acceptable, but not malty and biscuity enough
North Star IPA: fairly fine, compared to the above, less bitterness as compared to other IPA tasted.

Regarding of the beer, the atmosphere of the place is really great.  Everyone around you are drinking, laughing and enjoying themselves.  The nachos ordered by the Germans on the table beside ours is so big and appealing.  It seems that everybody is having a good time.  Of course, it is a bit pity that the beer is not that good, but nobody except us really cared.  We headed for somewhere else, leaving behind some unfinished glasses ...

Bar Constellation

We just walked on the street after leaving the brewery, and looked for our next destination.  My last good experience dictated our way to Bar Constellation, this time another one in a new location.

You could easily find out many reviews aboutr this bar on the internet when you typed in Bar Constellation Shanghai, the descriptions you mostly likely read will be "best cocktails", "500 single malt whiskies", etc.  I have not tried most of the cocktails, but at its presentation, you would believe the descriptions are true.  They are serious about making cocktails as the menu presented quite a profile: vodka based, gin based, etc, etc.  You simply don't know how to choose, too many names you do not know and too many varieties you hesitate to order at one time.

Luckily, my friend made a very good and decent suggestion - a kind of rum that beats all your previous experiences on the stuff, and I ordered a neat glass of Zacapa XO.  It is very delicious, very easy to drink while offering a very refined aftertaste. Just excellence.  Thank you, mate!  I missed the opportunity of trying this when I visited the Bar Constellation at Ningbo.  But I did not miss it this time.

The day ended with a perfect aftertaste.

Saturday: West Well (西井滙), Zhujiajiao (朱家角)

I am not clever enough to associate numerous cafes, style shops, restaurants with a small heritage riverside town.  I should have thought about that for the rising consuming power of Shanghai.  Even that, I really don't expect to find out a cafe selling some rarely-seen beers, such as Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

Source: North Coast Brewing Company, Fort Bragg, California, USA
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Strength: 9% ABV
12 Fl. oz. bottle

Rating (out of 10): 8.5

Note: You could very easily pick up the "imperialness" / "royalness" of this stout in your first mouthful.  Difficult to describe its subtle difference with other stouts, until I read Mr Protz's notes in his book (300 beers to try before you die!): "an explosive finish packed with warming alcohol with a Cognac note ... ".  That's it, Cognac, that's the refined taste I experienced, thank you.

Visiting a 水鄉 is nice, but nothing could beat the unexpected chance in coming across something you really wanted to tried but failed in years.

Ole, a supermarket

Just stoped by a supermarket in a HK-styled mall, and saw some rarely-seen beers.  Chinese do prefer German beers, but luckily there were also some Belgium brews.  I bought the Lambic style beer - Lindemans FARO Lambic (250ml bottle, 4.5%ABV) (and another German beer).  Not bad, at least for my first time.

De Refter

After a nice local Shanghai meal, we headed to a bar specialised in Belgium beer - De Refter.  I was all too happy just taking a look at the drink list.  Those familiar ones, Chimay, Orval, Leffe are on the list, no doubt. And I found also numerous others.  In spite of some "strange" sub-headings, such as Fruity Poisons (for those Gueuze, Kriek and Lambic choices), the list is simply magnificent!  There is a sub-heading of Must Try.  So I opted for La Chouffe (8% ABV), my friends: Delirium Tremens (8.5% ABV) and Westmalle Tripel (9.5% ABV), all among the must try items.

They said that those liquid are beyond their past beer-drinking experience (don't forget they have tried numerous beers before), and were rightfully described as "special beer".  For me, La Chouffe is very good (rating: 9 out of 10); but the Delirium Tremens is simply "better" (rating: 9.5 out of 10).  Nothing is perfect, of course.

The bar set up a VIP list, for which anyone could join after they tried all 50 of its selected items.  If you do that, your name and the number of days required will be marked onto a plaque, together with a special VIP glass placed on the special VIP rack with your name shown clearly.  I would sign up for it if I could stay in Shanghai two more weeks.

A very enjoyable night!!

Sunday: The Bund Brewery

I planned to cut down my drinking during the third down of my trip, but failed eventually when coming across The Bund Brewery near the Bund (外灘).  There were only three kinds of homebrew, including amber wheat beer and dark wheat beer, served in 0.3L, 0.5L and 1L glasses (seems normal in the city).  I tried the amber wheat beer, it's fine, not very good.  But what impressed me is the availability of brewery in the city.


Taking away some empty bottles ...

Within a four-day trip, I visited two microbreweries, tried more than ten new beers, took away four empty beer bottles (for decorating my house) and two Beer Magazines (there is beer magazine introducing brewing recipes, homebrew competition, pub crawls, oh my God!).  See, people are trying new things and exploring when opportunities are given, rather than paying huge monthly rents selling LV bags, watches or formula powder.

I am not saying that there is anything special or worth promoting for beer.  It is just one kind of alcoholic drink, and I am sure not many people are enthusiastic to this drink as me.  But should there be more space and variety in a place, for those who are interested to experience and explore?  How special is this city really? Provided that the word "Special" is included in its formal name ...