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AVERY NEWS Hop Shortage? Not here. Avery bucks the trend...again. As most of you have probably heard by now, the craft beer industry has been hard hit by a global hop shortage this year. The chronic oversupply that characterized the hop market for the 90's and much of this decade is officially gone, taking with it the low hop prices that microbreweries like Avery have enjoyed for so many years. For most breweries 2008 will be a year of compromise. Brewers will have to tackle the undesirable task of tinkering with their most prized recipes to try and figure out how to get the same flavors using fewer hops. While some observers may posit that the hop shortage is a good thing, forcing brewers to become more efficient and prudent with their use of hops, we at Avery tend to disagree. Hops are the heart and soul of our beers and we refuse to compromise our recipes or our flavors. Even more, as if to scoff in the face of common sense and basic brewery economics, we decided to increase the hops that were added to this years New World Porter. The 2008 batch is truly a black IPA. Come and judge for yourself tonight at the official release of Colorado's hoppiest porter! Specialties on tap for this evening include our New World Porter, Deviation Strong Lager, Dry-Hopped IPA, Fourteen Anniversary Ale, Cask-conditioned Czar Imperial Stout, Gemini IPA and Uberschwein. New World Porter Release, Wednesday, January 9th at the Avery Tasting Room from 4 to 6 PM. A Rose by Any Other Name Contributed by Avery brewer Matt "HandTruck" Thrall “So what is the difference between a Double and an Imperial [fill in the blank beer style]?” This is a question I get often in the tasting room or while attending beer festivals. To be honest, as far as brewing is concerned the words are interchangeable, but of course there is always history to contend with. While there is still some debate between beer historians, the “doppelbock” (literally, “double bock”) appears to be the world’s first recognized Double/Imperial beer style. The monks of Saint Francis of Paula began brewing the beer in 1630, 1651, or 1670 (depending on the source) and the first public release was in 1751. Theirs was an amped up take on the regular bock style using much more malt than normal, to be served during Lent fasting as ‘liquid bread,’ and is even still around today as Paulaner Salvator. The next use of the Imperial/Double connotation occurred in England in the late 1790’s with the advent of the Thrale’s Entire (Porter) and the style is commonly referred to today as Russian Imperial Stout. This beer was made “to keep seven years” for the Empress of Russia and the Czarist court. In order to survive the harsh winter climate of the North and the arduous export from England to Russia, more malt was added to the regular stout recipe, as well as more hops to balance the sweetness of both malt and alcohol. It is worth noting that the use of “Imperial” is in reference to the nobility of consumers and not the addition of more ingredients as in the doppelbock. Jump forward to 1994 and a revolutionary accident made by brewer Vinnie Cilurzo (now of Russian River Brewing). While brewing his standard IPA, Vinnie accidently added 50% more malt. In order to combat the sweetness, he added 100% more hops. By no means was this simply a correction of his mistake, as all who drank the beer will attest, but the ushering in of a new era of big beers. The only way to describe the beer was as a Double India Pale Ale. Being that Russian style stouts were still being brewed contemporarily, the moniker Imperial came into play as describing anything big or “Double.” Here at Avery Brewing Company, we have embraced the Double/Imperial phenomenon with three additions of our own: The Czar, a Russian Imperial Stout; The Kaiser, a double Oktoberfest; and The Maharaja, an Imperial India Pale Ale. Rejoice fellow hopheads, next week we start brewing The Maharaja for a March 1st release and no, despite the hop shortage, we won’t be changing the recipe! Maharaja Imperial IPA- March 1st release (countdown: 52 days!) Tasting Room News The Avery Tasting Room is now available for private parties! E-mail cv@averybrewing.com for details.
Avery Insider Tasting Series- If you get this newsletter we know you dig our brews. But just how big of a fan are you? Ever wish you had saved a few more bottles of 2002 Czar, Twelve or 1999 Hog Heaven? Well, we went through the trouble of cellaring everything (yes, EVERYTHING!) for you in our private stash in the dark corners of the Avery warehouse. Each month we will be breaking into that stash and bringing out something very special for the Insider Tasting Series. These will be themed evenings: some will be an insane vertical tasting of one of our signature brews, others will be beer education nights and still others will offer you the chance to taste an upcoming seasonal release before the general public (think: Maharaja). Questions? Contact cv@averybrewing.com for tasting room related questions and ted@averybrewing.com or peter@averybrewing.com for all others.
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