Session Beer

One of the most important types of beers that I need to start developing for Payette Brewing is a "session" beer. Basically, that is a beer that is low in alcohol (~4%) that can be drank for long sessions without getting too drunk. Although I prefer to make and drink "big" or "extreme" beers, there are times when you don't want one of those types of beers, such as tailgating and Saturday nights downtown. Some people would also call these "beginner" craft beers, which may sound like an insult, but a well crafted session beer is a great way to bring the BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors) into the craft brewing market.

I have experimented with some lower alcohol blonde and wheat beers, nothing has quite been the hit that I am looking for. Come this summer I expect to work on my blonde recipe and maybe experiment with some different lagers that could hit the spot for PBC's session beer. There are many other styles that could be session beers including the pale ale recipe that I have been working on for quite some time, heck even Guinness could be considered a session beer. Here is a link if anyone wants a little more information on session beers: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/653 Stay tuned for more updates on the session beer.

Amber Ale

For some reason this is a style that I have seemed to skip over a lot when making beer, not sure why, but I tend to keep towards the pale ales. So today I am making my second batch of an amber ale. My hope for his batch is to have the biscuit/malty taste of an amber, but I am going to include a lot of the hop characteristics of pale's and ipa's with some fruity/citrusy hops.

Although I have been working on a pale ale being the flagship beer, I want to experiment with some of the other more popular styles as possible PBC mainstays. Fat Tire and Mac and Jacks have found their own dominance in the beer market and there could be room for another. No ideas as of yet for possible names, so suggest em if you got em.

UPDATE 12/29: Kegged and force carbonated this beer. Color is a little on the dark side for an amber and the malt profile is a little lacking. The hop schedule used is great, but it might be a bit on the hoppy side for an amber. The beer also is missing some of the malt base to back up the amount of hops used, so a combination of decreasing the hops and increasing the malts should help this beer out quite a bit. Beer about perfect for ABV (5%) so I will have to tweak the recipe accordingly to increase the maltiness without significantly increasing the ABV.

Bronco Beer

At some point I would like PBC to cultivate a relationship with Boise State, mostly for Bronco football. Much like the relationship BSU has with the Double R Ranch, PBC needs to be the only beer available in the suites at Bronco Stadium. Pre and Post game festivities can take place at the official PBC Tailgate. Whenever I think of this I go back to the game at Ohio State, the tailgate we went to at the parking lot of that apartment building. Ideally it would be a fenced off beer garden with PBC beer on tap. In the area there would be TV's showing all the games, cornhole, redneck golf and probably a bit of beer pong going on. Basically your ideal tailgate. If there was some sort of partnership with the university then maybe this could be in the campus parking lot, if not, then it could be possible to team up with one of the bars on Broadway to get this going. The reason a deal with the university would preferred is the use of the name "Bronco Beer." They might not have a tight of a grasp on their words as UW does, but it would be great to market Bronco Beer throughout Boise during football and even basketball season. Of course the place to start with all of this is getting a good beer on tap up in the suites, then working the university from there. I think that the tailgate would be an excellent way to get the name out in Boise and could also establish a great tradition at BSU games.

Citra Hops

I got the chance to make a test brew using some of the Citra hop that I mentioned in a previous post. The only requirements were that I used 100% Citra hops, then give a sixer to the Issaquah Brewhouse with my brewing notes. At some point the WAHA brewers who are making the test brews will get together and have a tasting of the brews.

I decided to make an American Wheat for the test. I used the same grain bill as the Hefeweizen drank at the BSU tailgate but a different yeast. Should be very similar to an American Wheat made this summer with a different hop profile. It will be interesting to see how this turns out because most wheat beers do not use hops with this much alpha acid. They also generally aren't made to showcase the hops flavors to the extent that this brew should. I used a minimal amount of bittering hops then tried to pile on the flavor and aroma hops. I am excited to see how this turns out in a few weeks, I am planning on kegging what I don't bottle and bring it for Boise to sample. I have no idea what to expect from this beer, but it should be light in color and body, abv around 4.4% and really good.

*To my knowledge the first commercial beer to be released using these hops will be released from Sierra Nevada in January called Torpedo Extra IPA.