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The 21st Amendment

Ratified December 5, 1933
Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

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A little over 100 years ago there were over 3,000 breweries in the United States, but then along came Prohibition. But the American brewing spirit persevered. 5 years after its repeal there were several hundred breweries producing beer. (source: Dr. Bill Sysak, Stone Brewing Co.)

Today in America, there are over 2,136 breweries — a number which is rapidly increasing, according the Brewers Association.

Although today is a very happy day in the history of the U.S. (for alcohol lovers), the effects of Prohibition still live on 79 years later. Nearly half of Mississippi’s counties are dry. Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia and Texas all boast a high percentage of dry counties. Alaska has nearly 129 dry towns. And then, there are the hundreds of, often contradictory, state alcohol laws across the country that regulate the manufacturing and sale of alcohol. Here are some examples of these laws.

But, at the end of the day, even with how annoying some state laws might be, we can still be eternally grateful that we are not, in fact, experiencing a complete Prohibition (although, some regions might feel like they are).

In celebration of the 21st Amendment and support of the craft beer revolution, I thought it was only appropriate to share with the world a video that I, personally, believe truly encompasses the craft beer mentality and the passion of its biggest advocates.

“We must educate the average beer drinker. We must illuminate the possibilities. We must help and support our local breweries. We must spread the message. Introduce, educate, and illuminate the choices. Spread the message and declare with conviction:

I AM A CRAFT BEER DRINKER.”

I am a Craft Beer Drinker from New Brew Thursday on Vimeo

Written by Stephen Johnson : @darthweef
Directed by John Holzer : @johnholzer
Produced by New Brew Thursday : @newbrewthursday

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Are you curious about the men and women “hiding” behind Twitter avatar of the world’s most beloved craft breweries? Well, you are not alone. The Wench has gone behind the scenes to reveal and introduce you to the individuals who possess the ever coveted social media positions in the craft beer industry.

Behind the Twitter Avatar: @21stAmendment

Shaun O’Sullivan

Brewery: 21st Amendment Brewery
Location: San Francisco, California USA

What is your “official” position with 21st Amendment?

Co-Founder/Brewmaster

What is your favorite beer from 21st Amendment?

Usually the one in front of me, but as most West coast brewers and brewers in general I opt for IPAs, such as our Brew Free! or Die IPA or Back in Black Black IPA. Brewers are like heroin addicts when it comes to hops, the stronger the better. I’ve been known to drink a couple of cans of Hop Crisis, our imperial IPA in one sitting, but never shot gunned..never.

What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

I have a soft spot in my heart and stomach for chicken wings with Jamaican jerk sauce, especially from Fire on the Mountain in Portland, Oregon. That and an IPA…hellooooo heaven!!!

If you were a style of beer, what would you be and why?

Saison, the BJCP describes the Saison style as: ” A refreshing, medium to strong fruity/spicy ale with a distinctive yellow-orange color, highly carbonated, well hopped, and dry with a quenching acidity..” That pretty much sums me up, strong/fruity/yellow/full of gas at times/sightly bitter, but only slightly/dry sense of humor/and quenching in the right places/

What does craft beer mean to you?

It saved me from a mediocre life in a soulless career and possibly asking the question we all hate to ask later in life, “what if?” It has enabled me to enjoy life’s rich pageantry. Becoming a brewer – A Must! Pursue your dreams folks!

Shaun, your beer has definitely saved me from a mediocre drinking life. Super honored to not just follow you on Twitter, but be a friend in person. Speaking of… you owe me a beer!

Although still extremely niche and relatively new, the “beer cocktail” is a developing trend in both mixology and craft beer. Essentially, a beer cocktail is exactly what it sounds like: a cocktail that uses beer as an ingredient.

Many craft breweries are also dabbling in spirits production. Dogfish Head, Rogue, New Holland, Ballast Point and Anchor Steam all have micro-distilleries within the brewery walls. In my opinion, Sebbie Buhler from Rogue has emerged as the leader of the “beer cocktail” movement in the craft beer industry, introducing the concept of adding craft spirits to craft beers, creating new flavors combinations by mixing Rogue spirits with various craft beers.

As an amateur mixologist and a craft beer connoisseur, the “beer cocktail” trend really excites me. This weekend, the creativity bug bit me and decided to start mixing my own concoctions. And I’m not going to lie, this beverage was good. I mean REAL good.

I love tequila, especially wood-aged tequila (reposado & anejo). When mixing, I almost always choose reposado. It has more depth in flavor than the blanco, but it isn’t as intense as anejo, which is typically sipped on its own, not mixed (unless of course, you are a baller).

My perfect margarita is simple: tequila + fresh or pure lime + agave nectar. Sometimes, I might add orange liquor or fruit for added sweetness, but the basics always stay the same.

My cocktail was inspired by the “Hoparita” invented by New Holland Brewing Company. They have a spirit called Hopquila, which is essentially a white whiskey that gets steeped with Centennial hops. The hops give the spirit a uniquely bitter and resin like quality, which mimics similar flavors found in tequila. After tasting that cocktail, I knew that hops and tequila made a perfect match. And since I can’t get Hopquila in my market, I set on a mission to recreate the flavor profile of the Hoparita.

The result was ab.so.fucking.lute.ly. amazing. I used 21st Amendment’s Brew Free or Die IPA this time around, and I found that the extra citrus-like resiny hop quality of a West Coast IPA was really ideal for the recipe. So, without further ado, here is my recipe:

The IPA-a-rita

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Reposado Tequila
• 1 ounce Pure Lime Juice
• 1 TBSP Raw Agave Nector
• 6 ounces IPA

Instructions

1. In a cocktail shaker, shake ice, tequila, lime juice and agave syrup until the ice is broken up and all the ingredients are well mixed.

2. Pour shaker contents into a glass. Top with 6 ounces of IPA. Give it a quick stir. And enjoy.

CHEERS!

(Note: This would be a PERFECT cocktail to drink on International #IPADay!)

This past week Christian Kazakoff, good friend and Brewmaster at Iron Springs Pub & Brewery, invited me to shadow him as an “Assistant Brewer” for the day.

For those of you who are not familiar with Iron Springs, it is a privately owned and operated pub and brewery located in Fairfax, California. The owners are dedicated to crafting everything from its food to its beer from scratch, using the highest quality of ingredients, as locally sourced as possible. Iron Springs has been certified as an official Green Certified Business by the Marin County Community Development Agency.

Christian Kazakoff has been the Head Brewer of Iron Springs since late July 2008. I had the honor of meeting him just shortly after moving to Berkeley, CA. He has become a good friend and tremendous resource to me since. So when Christian invited me to come brew with him, I could not resist jumping on the opportunity.

By the time I got to the brewpub, Christian had already started mashing in. The beer of the day? A classic Kolsch. For those of you unfamiliar with the style, Kolsch is a German style of beer typically brewed with 100% Pilsner malt or pale 2-row barley, German noble hops, Kolsch yeast and fermented at cooler temperatures that most ales.

Shortly after I arrived, it was time to start the sparge.

While waiting for the sparge to complete, I asked Christian about his brewing background — Where, when and why did he decide to become a brewer?

After serving 4 years on an Airforce Carrier in the U.S. NAVY, Christian decided to “get his hands dirty” in the restaurant industry. He enrolled in the culinary program at the City of San Francisco and started his career as a line-cook in various Bay Area restaurants. As fate would have it, Christian landed at Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse, where he got his first taste for brewing.

But the story was not one of love at first sight. Christian admits that, at first, he did not drink Triple Rock’s beer. Instead, he opted for the ciders. His first real beer epiphany occurred during a visit to England, where he had his first taste of cask beer — what Christian refers to as “real ales.” Being spoiled by this real ale experience, it was hard for Christian to adapt his palate to the “American West Coast” styles of beer.

(I stole this photo of Christian at Triple Rock from Jay Brooks of Brookston Bulletin)

Everything changed (for the better) when Shaun O’ Sullivan, who was a Triple Rock brewer at the time, convinced Christian to start homebrewing. Eventually, Christian started volunteering to help out in the Brewery. The “lightbulb” officially went off during a trip with Shaun O to Portland in the summer of 1996 for the Oregon Brewers Festival, where Christian realized his calling.

According to Christian, Shaun O had a significant impact on his decision to become a brewer.

Shaun O ultimately left Triple Rock to assist with brewing operations at the (unfortunately “late”) Twenty Tank Brewery in SF. (Shaun went to open his own brewer, 21st Amendment in San Francisco, after Twenty Tank). After Shaun left Triple Rock, Christian jumped on the opportunity to become the new Assistant Brewer. He eventually became the Head Brewer in 1999. And in that same year, Christian completed a five week intensive brewing and engineering course at the American Brewers Guild.

Back to the brewing …

Once the sparge was finished, it was time to start the boil and the first hop addition. Iron Springs operates a 10 barrel brewing system, which is pretty standard for a brewpub of its size.

Once we got the boil going, it was time to clean out the mash ton. Christian made the comment that brewing is 90% cleaning, 10% brewing and 100% cleaning — which I found to be entertaining. In a small operation, cleaning is the majority of the work load. This is because it is almost entirely manual. And so, while I lazily watched, Christian scooped the spent grain from the mash ton into huge plastic barrels.

Iron Springs, like most breweries, donates its spent grain to a local farmer to use as feed for its animals. The neat part about their farmer is that he comes an picks up the grain from EACH batch of beer brewed. I had the honor of meeting the farmer that day.

After taking the grain to the truck, I helped Christian spray out the mash ton. He ended up getting inside to clean it more thoroughly while, yet again, my lazy butt watched from the sidelines. While Christian was cleaning, I proceeded to ask him more questions about his interests and hobbies.

Like me, Christian is also a wine geek and uber foodie. We discussed out favorite wine varietals, favorite wineries and various experiences with wine. I was extremely envious to learn that Christian once had the opportunity to try a Chateau La Tour from the late 1960’s. I anticipate the day when I will be able to even touch a bottle of La Tour, let alone drink one that is decades old.

After cleaning out the mash ton, it was time to inoculate the fermenter with the Kolsh yeast. I was very excited and impressed to learn that Christian uses traditional Kolsch yeast in his recipes. It may be the reason why he produces the BEST American Kolsch that I have ever tasted.

Speaking of tasting beers, it was around this time that we both got a bit “thirsty.” Still having some time left on the boil, we threw in the second hop addition and took a break to taste through some of his beers.

Here are my highlights:

• Kent Lake Kolsch: Brewed with all German ingredients.  Light, crisp and clean — slightly characteristic of a lager. Hops: Tettnang, Hallertau Abv: 4.5%  O.G.: 1.050
  Grain Bill: German Pilsner, German Wheat, Vienna, Munich, Acidulated (its tangy and tart notes are attributed to the slight addition of acidulated malt). Overall impression: As I noted before, this is by far the best American Kolsch that I have tasted. And I’m not just saying that. It is super clean, refreshing and easy to drink.
• Chazz Cat Rye: A light, golden amber ale with a slight hop bite. Well balanced with fruity, earthy notes and spicy overtones. Hops: Liberty, Fuggles, Cascade Abv: 5.5%   O.G.: 1.054
  Grain Bill: Belgian CaraPils, British Two-Row, Munich. Overall Impression: This is a really good beer. I happen to really enjoy the use of rye in beer (and I almost always prefer rye bread to other styles). This particular beer was made with 50% rye, which yielded a really nice caraway-like flavor.
• The Dark Path Dark Lager: German style Sharwzbier, or “black beer.”  Clean, dry, chocolate and coffee malt flavor. Hops: Halletaur, Crystal Abv: : 5.5% O.G: 1.049
  Grain Bill: Durst pilsner malt, Dark Munich, Chocolate Wheat, Chocolate Malt, Black Malt. Overall Impression: This is an extremely tasty beer. Perfectly attenuated, mild roasted notes with a nice clean, dry finish. Easy sipper.
• Fairfax Coffee Porter: English-style porter Infused with real “Marin Roasters” coffee. Dark in color, heavy coffee and roasted malt aroma. Dispensed with nitrogen gas which produces a nice creamy head. Dry finish. Hops: Horizon, Crystal Abv: 6% O.G.: 1.065
  Grain Bill: British chocolate, British Brown, Two-row Pale, Crystal Malts. Overall Impression: Christian is quite known for this particular beer. It is extremely well-attenuated and the malt & coffee flavors are very well-balanced. Having this particular style on Nitrogen added an appreciated creaminess to the body.

By now, the boil had ended and it was time for the whirlpool. Being a small brewery, the whirlpool was done in the brewkettle.

Around this time, we were informed by the kitchen staff that steak tacos (well, they were more like fajitas) had been prepared and Christian and I gladly helped ourselves to a couple of them. We washed the lunch down with the J.C. Flyer IPA — which ended up being an excellent match for the spicy “tacos.”

While eating, Christian and I chatted some more about his passion for food & beer. Like me, he enjoys cooking with beer as much as possible. We discussed all the various ways to incorporate beer or beer ingredients into food. He had the great idea of spraying ribs with wort while they were in the smoker, in order to create a nice caramelized layer on the outside and help to retain a moist inside.

Being a relatively low malt bill and low hop content beer, the whirlpool took no time at all. It was then time to transfer the hot wort through the heat exchanger to the fermenter.

Once all of the wort was in the fermenting tank, Christian and I took a moment to engage in his “tradition” of toasting the new batch with the old batch. And so we raised a glass of Kolsch to a successful day of brewing.

However, we were not entirely done at this point. If there is one thing that I learned this whole day it was that the majority of brewing, as Christian pointed out, is cleaning. Lucky for us, though, Kolsch is a relatively “easy” style of beer to brew and fairly easy to clean up after.

So once again I found myself lazily standing by while Christian did all the dirty work.

The brewing day officially ended with a few more tastes of beer and some more compelling conversation about all things beer and food. Overall, the experience was very insightful and very fun. Next time I vow that I will definitely help out more. I intend on being the one to climb inside the brewkettle and clean it. The thought of it oddly excites me, actually.

SPECIAL THANKS TO CHRISTIAN AND IRON SPRINGS PUB & BREWERY FOR THE AWESOME OPPORTUNITY TO GUEST BREW! CHEERS!

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