Red, amber & rye

Caramel malt gives beer a rich, auburn tone and warm, toasty flavours. Rye in small amounts is recognisably earthy and spicy, and is increasingly given a starring role in craft beers. Amber falls between lager and ale, with conspicuous malt and middling alcohol levels.

◁ Anchor Brewing

San Francisco, California, USA

ANCHOR STEAM BEER
STEAM BEER/CALIFORNIA COMMON

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 4.5%

  OG 1.050 | FG 1.016

The story of Anchor Brewing is the story of American craft beer. It was established in California by a German brewmaster in 1896, back when all brewing was craft brewing – there was no other way. Prohibition curtailed Anchor’s activities from 1920, and the nationwide shift towards macro-produced lagers threatened its existence in the late 1950s, but blessedly it’s still here and more popular than ever. Anchor makes several great beers at its loveably old-fashioned San Francisco brewery, many of them in the pioneering spirit of its founders (Liberty Ale was the blueprint for the US IPA that the world can’t get enough of these days; the California Lager is faithful to a nineteenth-century pioneer’s standard). The beer that made the Anchor name – Steam – is a 1970s revival of the traditional California Common style, which was practically extinct at that time. Nowadays it’s venerated, with its own yeast strains and a hop blend that’s tailor-made for its profile (US Northern Brewer, with a minty, piney character). Anchor Steam Beer is pure liquid history.

GRAIN

2-row pale malt, 4.1kg/ 9lbs 0.6oz (87%)

Crystal 40L malt, 600g/ 1lbs 5oz (13%)

MASH

65C/149F for 60 mins

HOPS

US Northern Brewer pellets 9.6% AA, 14g/0.5oz, 60 mins

US Northern Brewer pellets 9.6% AA, 7g/0.25oz, 20 mins

US Northern Brewer pellets, 9.6% AA, 14g/0.5oz, 0 mins

YEAST

White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager or Wyeast 2112 California Lager

FERMENT

16C/61F for 7 days then 19C/66F for 3 days. Store cold for approximately 2 weeks before serving

◁ Saint Arnold Brewing Company

Houston, TX, USA

BLUE ICON
RYE IPA

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 7.8%

  OG 1.067 | FG 1.013

Another homebrewer-turned-pro (there are many in this book), Brock Wagner was an investment banker by trade when he founded Saint Arnold in 1994; it’s now Texas’s oldest craft brewery but its new releases are still anticipated with fervour, especially those that are part of the limited Icon range. Brock brought a business mind to beermaking, taking his start-up statewide then across the Deep South into Florida. However, without good beer, a good business plan is just numbers on a page, and you can hang your hat on the fact that Saint Arnold makes good beer. This one’s from that Icon series, and uses two types of rye – Weyermann rye malt and the darker, richer CaraRye – for a rounded spicy flavour. It’s not all about the rye though – Briess Victory is a biscuit malt, very lightly toasted, which adds a ‘baking bread’ flavour without too much colour. The big hop additions (especially the Mosaic at the end) gives a real West Coast character to this beer. Note that it’s dry hopped twice – once warm then once in the cold crash stage for even more hop oil retention.

GRAIN

Rahr 2-row pale malt, 5.44kg/ 12 lbs (79%)

Weyermann rye malt, 900g/ 2lbs (13%)

Weyermann CaraRye, 340g/ 12oz (5%)

Briess Carapils, 114g/4oz (1.5%)

Briess Victory, 114g/4oz (1.5%)

MASH

67C/152F for 60 mins

HOPS

(60 minute boil)

Columbus 16.3% AA, 34g/ 1.2oz, first wort hops

Columbus 16.3% AA, 34g/ 1.2oz, first wort hops

Simcoe 13% AA, 8.5g/0.3oz, 15 mins

Chinook 10.5% AA, 6g/0.2oz, 15 mins

Chinook 10.5% AA, 21g/0.75oz, 0 mins

Cascade 6.5% AA, 21g/0.75oz, 0 mins

Mosaic 11.5% AA, 64g/2.25oz, warm dry hop within 2 or 3 SG points of FG

Mosaic 11.5% AA, 14g/0.5oz, cold dry hop 5 days before packaging

YEAST

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

FERMENT

21C/70F, cold crash at 0C/31F for 7 days prior to packaging

◁ Brewfist

Lombardy, Italy

CATERPILLAR
AMERICAN PALE ALE WITH RYE

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 5.8%

  OG 1.055 | FG 1.011

Along with Baladin and Del Ducato, Brewfist is proof that Italy deserves its place at the top table of European craft brewers. Brewfist is less immediately Italian than those two: the name suggests something a bit commanding, and indeed it concentrates on US-style ales (like the Spaceman IPA or the X-Ray imperial porter), plus collaborations with craft beer luminaries like Prairie and To Øl. One such hook-up (with Denmark’s Beer Here) resulted in this Alice in Wonderland-inspired recipe, and it’s a winning combination: punchy malts and a decent whack of hops from the resinous US Columbus and the tropical-citrus Kiwi Motueka. This is a great example of the way that rye, even in small amounts, can add its own personality to a brew: 10% will supply a gentle, earthy, spicy dryness, but in bigger proportions it becomes more assertive. Advice from a caterpillar: this is a great beer to try as one of your first brews, with just two hop varieties used cleverly through the boil, and enough complexity to keep things interesting.

GRAIN

Pale ale malt, 3.96kg/ 11.7oz (80%)

Rye malt, 500g/1lb 1.6oz (10%)

Caramalt, 300g/10.6oz (6%)

Crystal malt 10L, 100g/ 3.5oz (2%)

Wheat malt, 100g/3.5oz (2%)

MASH

66C/150F for 45 mins, 78C/ 172F for 5 mins

HOPS

30g/1.06oz Motueka, 10 mins

8g/0.28oz Columbus, 10 mins

30g/1.06oz Motueka, whirlpool

8g/0.28oz Columbus, whirlpool

30g/1.06oz Motueka, dry hop

15g/0.53oz Columbus, dry hop

YEAST

Danstar Nottingham Ale

FERMENT

20C/68F

Two Birds Brewing

Spotswood, Victoria, Australia

Maybe because of beer’s unfortunate former reputation as a bloke’s drink, the perception still exists that brewing is a bloke’s business. It’s not true: all over the world, women are tending their mashes and boils, and the open-mindedness of the craft beer world hopefully breaks down any old-fashioned barriers to entry, for both drinkers and makers. What’s still a bit more rare though is a completely female-founded and operated brewery. Jayne Lewis and Danielle Allen set up Two Birds in 2011 after an eye-opening trip to the craft beer heartland of the USA’s West Coast, and in 2014 opened The Nest, a dedicated brewery and tasting room in Spotswood, a suburb of Melbourne in Australia. But when you taste their beers, you’ll realise that it’s not important whether it was made by Aussie birds or Aussie blokes – it’s just great. The brewery’s success is built on a core range that includes the flagship Golden Ale, Sunset amber ale (see the next page for the recipe) and Taco Beer, made with wheat, corn, lime and coriander, and every bit as enticing as it sounds. At the brewery tap you might find the more leftfield likes of a rhubarb saison or red ale with vanilla and cacao, but what’s experimentation without consistency? It’s not the barrel-aged spiced tripel that’s going to win over that 99% who don’t yet drink craft beer. And after a hard day at work, you’re probably not going to reach for that 120-IBU IIPA. Two Birds don’t make beer for beer nerds, they make beer for everyone. To do that and win awards and see year-on-year expansion is arguably harder than continually making boundary-breaking beers.

◁ Two Birds Brewing

Spotswood, Victoria, Australia

SUNSET ALE
RED ALE

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 4.6%

  OG 1.048 | FG 1.014

Sunset Ale is Jayne and Danielle’s second-ever creation as Two Birds. It’s an American-style red or amber ale (the difference between the two isn’t worth getting worked up about), but ‘sunset’ sums up the colour far better – it would delight a shepherd, that’s for sure. It has won stacks of awards in Australia for its rich, biscuity caramel flavour (from the Munich and amber malts) and citrussy combination of US and local hops. Amber/red ales are designed to have a fuller body and more involving maltiness than pale ales, but are still thirst-quenching and balanced – along with the summer ale style, they’re perfect for hot Aussie weather. The handful of wheat in the grain bill ensures the head on the Sunset Ale sticks around to the last drop, while the Citra/Cascade/Galaxy trio at the end of the boil makes for a seriously zesty finish. One of the Two Birds, Jayne Lewis, was previously head brewer at Mountain Goat, and along with their Hightail, Sunset represents all the best things about Australian session ales.

GRAIN

Traditional ale malt, 2.71kg/ 5lbs 15.6oz (63%)

Munich malt, 640g/1lb 6.6oz (15%)

Pale crystal malt, 340g/12oz (8%)

Amber malt, 210g/7.1oz (5%)

Wheat malt, 210g/7.1oz (5%)

Dark crystal malt, 80g/2.8oz (2%)

Roasted malt, 80g/2.8oz (2%)

MASH

67-68C/152F-154F for 40 mins

HOPS

Centennial, 2g/0.07oz, 60 mins

Citra, 7g/0.2oz, 20 mins

Cascade, 7g/0.2oz, 20 mins

Galaxy, 7g/0.2oz, 20 mins

Citra, 5g/0.15oz, end of whirlpool

Cascade, 5g/0.17oz, end of whirlpool

Galaxy, 5g/0.17oz, end of whirlpool

Citra, 13g/0.4oz, dry hop

Cascade, 13g/0.4oz, dry hop

Galaxy, 13g, 0.4oz, dry hop

YEAST

Fermentis US-05 American Ale

FERMENT

18C/65F

◁ Brú

Trim, County Meath, Ireland

RUA
IRISH RED ALE

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 4.2%

  OG 1.044 | FG 1.011

This brewery’s name is pronounced as you’d imagine: by fortunate coincidence it comes from the Gaelic Brú na Bóinne, a prehistoric site of burial north of Dublin in County Meath. In a country with a young but flourishing craft beer industry, Brú keeps one eye on tradition and another on the world at large – look out for its take on the world-beating Irish dry stout (Dubh, meaning black) and this red ale. Irish red ale is a unique style similar to Scottish ales (creamier than most English bitters), gentle enough to enjoy a few pints, with a deep coppery hue from the combination of pale and dark crystal malts. Standard Irish red ales have modest hop bills, but Brú’s Rua uses the fruity and flowery tones of the classic US Cascade for a modern twist: maybe it’s not by the book, but that’s what craft brewing’s all about. The brewers recommend four teaspoons of Irish moss (see here and here) with ten minutes to go in the boil to keep the beer bright, and add: “Fermenting at 25C/77F creates a lot of ester formation which brings the hop aroma up and enhances the flavour.”

GRAIN

Irish pale ale malt, 3.47kg/7lbs 10oz (86%)

Crystal 150L malt, 280g/ 9.9oz (7%)

Torrified wheat, 280g/ 9.9oz (7%)

MASH

70C/158F for 60 mins

HOPS

Magnum, 27g/0.95oz, 60 mins

Cascade, 20g/0.7oz, 10 mins

Cascade, 20g/0.7oz, 0 mins

YEAST

Danstar Nottingham Ale or White Labs WLP039 Nottingham Ale

FERMENT

25C/77F

◁ Lervig Aktiebryggerie

Stavanger, Norway

RYE IPA
RYE IPA

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 8.5%

  OG 1.076 | FG 1.013

Mike Murphy is one of the best-travelled brewers in Europe. First off, he’s from Pennsylvania, where the alcohol laws are among the meanest in the US. After starting out as a homebrewer, he worked professionally in Italy and Denmark (including brewing for Mikkeller) before ending up in southwestern Norway as brewmaster of Lervig, now one of the country’s biggest and best. In a typically internationalist Scandinavian style, he’s collaborated with tons of other breweries (see here for Lervig and Põhjala’s imperial porter) and is now busy keeping Norway on the international craft beer map with beers that range from the Carlsberg-besting Pilsner to Lucky Jack APA and this Rye IPA. It’s just about strong enough to be considered a double IPA, but the high alcohol is there to stand up to the hop bitterness and the uniquely flavoured rye. Rye can be used up to percentages of even more than 50 in some grain bills, but here, with just under 20, it makes its dry spiciness subtly but firmly known. Some people grind rye malt separately from the rest of the grist to get a finer grain size.

GRAIN

Pilsner malt, 4.93kg/10lbs 13.9oz (74%)

Rye malt, 1.27kg/2lbs 12.8oz (19%)

Oats, 200g/7oz (3%)

Crystal malt 10L, 130g/ 4.6oz (2%)

Crystal malt 150L, 130g/ 4.6oz (2%)

MASH

Mash in at 61C/142F, rest at 68C/154F for 45 mins, mash out at 78C/172F

HOPS

A good bittering hop to 65 IBU, ie 65g/2.3oz of 10% AA hop, 60 mins

Centennial, 24g/0.8oz, 30 mins

Chinook, 29g/1oz, 15 mins

Citra, 29g/1oz, 10 mins

Simcoe, 29g/1oz, 0 mins

Simcoe, Citra, Centennial, 29g/ 1oz of each, dry hop

YEAST

An American ale strain

FERMENT

20C/68F

◁ Mountain Goat Beer

Richmond, Victoria, Australia

HIGHTAIL ALE
BRITISH-INSPIRED PALE ALE

20 L / 5 GAL | ABV 4.5%

  OG 1.043 | FG 1.009

The Aussies have a habit of taking English inventions and effortlessly improving them. Cricket’s a prime example, or you could have rugby, and here’s another: Mountain Goat’s Hightail Ale. The Victoria brewery took the classic British bitter and gave it a full Shane Warne-esque spin, retaining the traditional warm malt and all-important balance that makes the style such a fine session sipper, but adding a heap of floral New World hops (Pride of Ringwood is a quintessential early-addition hop Down Under). It’s full-bodied too (from the crystal malt blend and the small portion of wheat). As one of Australia’s earliest new-wave craft breweries (founded in 1997), Mountain Goat has had a long time to perfect Hightail and its other laidback beers like the New World Summer Ale or the Fancy Pants Amber ale. If you’re ever in inner Melbourne, stop by the Goat Bar in Richmond to try the whole range (plus limited ‘Rare Breed’ editions) on tap. A final tip from Goat brewer Dave: “Carbonate gently and drink fresh!” Hightail, by the way, is perfect for watching cricket with.

GRAIN

Pale malt, 2.55kg/6lbs 6.3oz (69%)

Munich malt, 510g/1lb 2oz (14%)

Medium crystal malt, 240g/ 8.5oz (8.5%)

Wheat malt, 200g/7oz (5.5%)

Dark crystal malt, 80g/2.8oz (2%)

Roasted malt, 30g/1.1oz (1%)

MASH

67.5C/153.5F for 30 mins

HOPS

Pride of Ringwood, 20g/0.7oz, 60 mins

Cascade, 50g/1.76oz, 0 mins

Galaxy, 10g/0.35oz, 0 mins

YEAST

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

FERMENT

21C/70F