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BY JEFF ALWORTH
A couple of months ago, Alameda brewer Craig Nicholls had a dream about beer. "I was looking at the recipe for the Golden Ale, and it had 50 pounds of Belgian wheat malt in it. So in the morning I wrote it down that way, 50 pounds of Belgian wheat malt, and when I brewed it--Bam!--it was great." Clearly, this brewer employs some unorthodox methods. In an industry marked by increasingly timid recipes, Nicholls has blazed a trail of innovation. Using a combination of traditional and unconventional ingredients, he has produced some of the most distinctive beers in the state over the past couple of years. He has researched lost styles, brewed with everything from paradise seed to tree branches and even tried his hand at a no-hop beer. In late September, Alameda released the latest of Nicholls' special-ingredient beers, Zeppelin Sage Fest Bier. In what has become a tradition, the brewery opened with 18-month-old beer. Once that beer is exhausted (not the case at the time of this writing though likely by publication), the brewery will serve a version that has been conditioned for three months. Zeppelin Sage is a home-grown original, inspired in part by Nicholls' association with and love of the desert (he was born and raised in Phoenix) and his connection, by marriage, to the high desert of Central Oregon. Prairie sage, the featured ingredient in this beer, was harvested on the Warm Springs Reservation, where Nicholls' wife has family. So potent that only one-fourth of a pound is needed for a whole batch (170 gallons of beer), it's introduced at the beginning of the boil to drive off its most pungent qualities. In the end, the flavor isn't harsh; in fact, it has a lot in common with hops, in turns bitter and spicy. The beer has an autumnal feel about it--crisp and clean, a bit spicy and, at 8.4% alcohol, nicely warming. Alameda's summer seasonal, Gruitberren Kölsch Style Ale, is one of the most exotic beers brewed in Oregon. The word gruit means, according to the brewery, "macerated or crushed aromatic substances used in brewing," and the recipe is based on pre-hop era beers. In place of hops are lavender, chamomile flowers and paradise seed. The result is like no other beer I've tasted; the sweetish wheaty malt isn't contrasted with bitterness as with the use of hops but is complemented by a soft herbal tea-like flavor. In July, the brewery sent it to the Oregon Brewers Festival, where the sun highlighted its strength as a light, thirst-quenching beer. Traditional styles of beer are made without hops throughout the world, from Tibetan chang to Russian kvass to Finnish sahti, but this a rarity in America. It may get even rarer. It's still on tap, but Nicholls is waffling about whether he will brew another batch next year. (Time to get out your pens and napkins, Gruitberren fans.) A year-round beer that combines innovation and tradition is Juniper Porter. Using juniper is an old idea--along with other evergreens, notably spruce, it was a common ingredient prior to the use of hops--but it's not very common these days. When researching the use of evergreen boughs, Nicholls found no reference about how to brew with juniper. So he improvised. "I take the whole thing and put it in a hop bag and mash it up to get those juices flowing, the whole branch and everything," says Nicholls. "I twist it around and break it up. I think it gives it a great flavor." I expected a piney taste, but the juniper actually contributes a fruity, almost sweet flavor. It offsets the porter's rich chocolate notes and even seems to thin it out a bit. Then there's the most famous and celebrated of Nicholls' creations, Spring Rose Dopplebock, which uses as its special ingredient two pounds of organically grown red rose petals. It's a beer worthy of its reputation; ruby red in the glass, it even has the look of a dewy rose. With a silky palate, it's alive with notes of malt, sweet and smoky, finishing with a buttery alcohol glow. The roses are introduced during fermentation--one pound during the first fermentation and another during the second--to extract the subtle aroma and flavor. Their contribution to the beer is definitely a minor note. While roses might overwhelm the beer at the hands of another brewer, in this one they offer only the subtlest whisper of aroma and perhaps some softness on the tongue. Although I didn't try the combination, I could imagine it would be the perfect beer with chocolate. It's aged six months and released on the spring equinox. In addition to these beers, Alameda has a range of more traditional
ales, including the beguiling Wasco Indian Summer Ale, similar to an
IPA, with a whopping 80 IBUs of Magnum hops. Also on the horizon are
a Belgian Pale Ale, to be brewed with a Belgian strain of yeast and
aged in oak casks, a barleywine, a strong ale, and possibly a blackberry
stout--and whatever else Nicholls dreams up. - - - - - - - - - - - -
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