The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition)
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Attenuation: The degree to which a beer’s fermentable sugars have been consumed by yeast or yeasts. See also: Dryness.
Barley wine: Traditionally sweet, nutty, sherry or whiskey-ish beers named for their high alcohol content, which approaches that of wine; often aged in oak barrels.
Barrel-age/aging/aged: Beers aged in wood barrels, resulting in intentional flavors from the wood, of the alcohol formerly aged in the wood (i.e. red wine, Bourbon, Scotch, sherry, rum), or of microorganisms living in the wood.
Bbl (abbrev.): aka “Barrels;” a barrel of beer is 31 gallons and the standard size for a keg is a half-barrel.
Beer engine: A traditionally English device for pumping beer from a cask in a pub’s cellar into the drinker’s glass.
Belgian-style: A style of brewing that tends to produce beers that are spicier due to the use of certain yeast strains, more intensely flavored and higher in alcohol content than their American counterparts, and often bear the tannins and acids from wood barrels and wild yeasts.
Bière de Garde (France): Literally, “beer to store,” which ranges in color from golden to light brown, characterized by a light to medium body, with a slight malt sweetness and slight hop character.
Bierstube (German): A large pub that specializes in beer. Found throughout Germany.
Bitter/Bitterness: The perception of a bitter flavor imparted to beer by hops or malt husks; determined by a sensation on the back of the tongue; measured in International Bitterness Units (IBUs).
BMC: Budweiser, Miller, Coors (casual phrase for major industrial breweries making light lagers on a mass scale).
Body: The heft of a beer, related to its grain content and dryness, or degree of attenuation.
Brettanomyces: A genus of yeast; called “Brett” for short and viewed as a contaminant by most brewers but sometimes used on purpose to create a sour or “barnyard” taste in beer, especially Belgian and Belgian-style beers. Its taste is also described as leathery, funky, and horse-blanket.
Brewhouse: A brewery; a place that houses the equipment used to make beer. Interchangeable with the core equipment itself, which is often clustered.
Brewpub: A pub that makes its own beer and sells it on site.
Cask: A barrel-shaped container for beer, usually made of metal.
Cask-conditioned: Beer that undergoes a secondary fermentation and maturation in the cask; results in light carbonation.
Cicerone: Like a sommelier for beer—a trained expert in selecting and serving beer. The levels are Certified Cicerone and Master Cicerone; both require certification.
Collaboration beers: Beers made when two or more breweries get together to produce one beer.
Craft brewery: A brewery producing six million barrels per year or less using more or less traditional methods of making beer from malted barley, primarily.
Cream ale: Offshoot from the American light lager style; ale that has corn or rice added to it to lighten the body.
Czech-style: Coppery-hued lager heavily hopped with earthy, spicy noble hops from Europe, especially Southeastern Germany and the Czech Republic.
Diacetyl: A natural by-product of fermentation that can give beer unpleasant, butterscotch-like or artificial butter flavors. A common flaw eliminated through careful brewing and sanitation.
Dry, Dryness: Degree to which fermentable sugars have been consumed, or “dried out” from the beer during fermentation and aging.
Dry-hopped: Beer with an addition of dry hops to fermenters and/or aging tanks to punctuate hop aroma without adding high levels of bitterness.
ESB: Extra Special/Strong Bitter; Originally a British style of bitter beers with more aggressive alcohol and hop character and ample malt body.
Esters/Estery: Fruity-smelling, harmless chemical compounds created as a by-product of high-temperature fermentations.
Extreme beer: Catch-all phrase for aggressively hopped ales fermented to a high alcohol percentage, usually around 7% but sometimes nearly double that (most beer hovers between 4% and 6% alcohol, while craft beers average 6%.) Sometimes interchangeable with “Imperial” and “Double.” May contain herbs, spices, and fermentable starches other than barley or wheat, fruit, coffee, or other natural additions.
Farmhouse ale: Ale made in a farm setting; a tradition originating in Belgium and northern France and now made on a very small scale in the United States. See also: Saison.
Fermenter: Tanks for fermenting beer; can be steel cylindro-conical vessels (CCVs), open stone vessels, or wooden vats.
Filter/Unfiltered: To remove harmless sediments from the brewing and fermentation process from beer; generally unfiltered beer is hazy with yeast cells or grain matter.
Flanders-style: Reddish, sour ales with winelike qualities brewed in Belgium and aged a year or longer in oak barrels, often with Lactobacillus yeast.
Gastropub: A bar or pub that also serves high-quality food.
Geuze (Belgian-style): A type of Belgian beer made from blends of young and old wild yeast beers (aged from three months to three years) that is then bottled with additions of yeast and a small amount of sugar for a second fermentation.
Growler: A half-gallon glass jug (64 oz.), often sold at breweries and brewpubs for beer to go.
Hallertau: The original German lager hop, named after an area in Bavaria that is the largest hop-planting area in the world.
Hefeweizen: Wheat beers that are bottled with the yeast in suspension, creating a cloudy, frothy, and refreshing effect.
Hop/Hops: A perennial vine that produces resinous flowers that impart bitterness and aromas to beer.
IIPA/Double IPA/Imperial IPA: Like an extra-strong IPA; robust and malty with a high hop content; originated in the western United States.
IPA: India Pale Ale; Has a strong bitter taste and a higher hop content than most ales.
Izakaya (Japanese): A Japanese bar that also serves food.
Kellerbier: Literally “cellar beer;” usually German-style lager, served directly from conditioning tanks with a bready, yeasty flavor at the peak of freshness.
Kettle: Meaning brew kettle, in which the brewer boils the ingredients of beer. Often made of stainless steel; occasionally copper-plated.
Kölsch, or Koelsch: A straw-gold, clear, light-bodied beer with a prominent hoppiness locally brewed in Cologne, Germany.
Lager: The beer that results from yeast working at colder fermentation temperatures than ales; typically results in breadier, crisper-tasting beer than ales.
Lambic (Belgian): A typically dry, sour beer created through spontaneous fermentation in a small number of rural breweries in and just outside of Brussels, aged in oak barrels up to three years.
Lupulin: The pollen-like, resinous powdery substance in hop flowers which impart bitterness and aroma to beer.
Macrobrewery: A large industrial brewery making beer on a massive, profit-driven scale.
Malt (ingredient): Barley which has been harvested, wetted, germinated, and dried (or kilned). “Malting” modifies the internal structure of barley to make it ready for brewing.
Malty (descriptor): Tasting like malt sugar, or maltose, which is present in malted barley and other grains that are prominent players in the fermentation of beer.
Märzen-style or Maerzen-style: A style of German lager beer characterized by a reddish brown color, medium to full body, a malty flavor and a clean, dry finish. Traditionally German “Oktoberfest” beer was made in the maerzen-style, but in recent years Oktoberfest beers have gotten more pale.
Mash: (Verb) To release malt sugars by soaking the grains in hot water. (Noun) The liquid that results is called wort, and that is brewed with hops in the brewing kettle.
Michael Jackson, writer: (March 27, 1942 – August 30, 2007). Yorkshire-born journalist whose 1977 book The World Guide to Beer and 16 later titles on beer and whiskey firmly established him as the world’s foremost authority on both. Known for his gentlemanly demeanor, dry wit, and warmth, he was also the host of “The Beer Hunter,�
�� a two season beer and travel program shown on the U.K.’s Channel 4 and Discovery Channel. A massive image of his face hangs on a banner over the Great American Beer Festival, held in Denver each fall.
Microbrewery: A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels per year.
Munich-style: A dark lager with a distinctive taste of malt, produced in Munich since the tenth century.
Nanobrewery: A brewery operating with a system no larger than seven barrels—many have just one or two barrels.
Orval: The beer and company name of one of the most storied breweries in Belgium is in the Notre Dame d’Orval monastery in Villers-devant-Orval, near Florenville in the Belgian province of Luxembourg (not to be confused with the independent duchy of Luxembourg to the east). It is one of the world’s six remaining Trappist abbey breweries, owned and occupied by cloistered Trappist monks. The Orval abbey is more than 850 years old.
Oud bruin: Also known as Flanders Brown, a sour tasting beer originating from the Flemish region of Belgium with long aging process that can take up to a year, including secondary fermentation and bottle aging. Often has some residual balancing sweetness.
Pasteurize: To heat beer to a certain degree in order to sterilize it, increasing shelf life.
pH (for brewing): The ideal number is 5.2, which facilitates perfect starch to sugar conversion during the brewing process and before fermentation.
Pils, Pilsner: A pale lager with a strong hoppiness; first brewed in the Bohemian town of Pilsen (Czech: Plzeň).
Porter: A dark-colored ale originated in London brewed with dark malts, possibly named for the street and river porters who popularized it.
Rathskeller (German): A beer hall or restaurant in a basement or underground.
Reinheitsgebot: Also known as the German Purity Law of 1516, which limits beer ingredients in Germany to water, hops, malt and yeast. Though no longer a binding law, it is voluntarily observed in many German breweries, especially in the southern state of Bavaria, and by many German-style breweries outside the country.
Russian Imperial Stout: A stout with high alcohol by volume and a high malt character; tastes like chocolate and burnt or roasted malt.
Saison: Means “season” in French; earthy, unfiltered, low-alcohol pale ales meant to refresh farm workers during the summer; also called “farmhouse ales” and originated in the French-speaking part of Belgium known as Wallonia. Generally 6–8% ABV.
Session beer: An easy-drinking, mild beer with an alcohol content typically less than 4%, intended to be consumed several to a sitting.
Smoky/Smokiness: A taste in beer with a smoke flavor created by using malted barley dried or smoked over wood such as alder, beech, or over peat.
Sour beer: Beers fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria, sometimes but not always utilizing wood. Styles include Flanders Red, Oud Bruin, Lambic (known as American wild ale in the US) with varying degrees of acidity and little or no hop character.
Spontaneous fermentation: Beers made with natural, ambient yeasts in the air (“wild” strains of yeast), rather than yeast being added by the brewer.
Steam beer: A beer made with lager yeasts at the warmer temperatures of ale fermentation; uniquely linked to the Anchor Steam brewery in California. Also called “California Common.”
Stout: A dark beer made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water, and yeast; traditionally meant extra strong porter beer.
Tannins: In beer, organic compounds derived from grain husks, non-lupulin hop flower parts, and oak (as in oak barrels) which pucker and dry the mouth, balancing malty sweetness.
Trappist: Refers to beer made by Orval or one of the other six officially authorized Trappist abbeys: Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren, Chimay, and Achel (Belgium); Schaapskooi lies just over the Dutch border at the Koningshoeven monastery. Monks take a vow of silence and live austerely, focused on the contemplative life and some agrarian pursuits such as farming, baking, and brewing.
Tripel: A lighter bodied Belgian-style or Belgian beer with a bright yellow color and a sweet finish; deceivingly alcoholic and good for sipping; named for the brewing process of this type of beer, in which brewers use two to three times the standard amount of malt.
Vienna-style: A lager named for the city in which it originated, brewed using a three-step decoction boiling process; subtle hop taste with residual sweetness.
Wild yeasts/wild ale: Beers fermented with yeast or bacteria strains including Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus, microorganisms considered taints in most beers and wine that can have appealing earthy and acidic flavors in beer when wrangled with care.
Yeast: A microorganism added into the raw ingredients of beer in order to facilitate the conversion of malt sugars into alcohol and CO2.
Zwickelbier: See “Kellerbier”.
Zymurgy: The art and science of brewing beer.
Index
ALABAMA
J. Clyde Hot Rock Tavern & Alehouse
Birmingham 400
ALASKA
49th State Brewing Co.
Healy 80
The Alaskan Brewing Co.
Juneau 77
The Alaskan Hotel Bar
Juneau 82
Anchorage Brewing Co.
Anchorage 71
The Bear Tooth Grill & Bear Tooth Theater Pub
Anchorage 82
Chair 5
Girdwood 83
Denali Brewing Co. & Twister Creek Restaurant
Talkeetna 83
Glacier Brewhouse
Anchorage 76
The Great Alaskan Beer & Barley Wine Festival
Anchorage 72
Haines Brewing Co.
Haines 80
The Hangar on the Wharf
Juneau 82
Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse
Anchorage 73
The Island Pub
Douglas 79
Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Anchorage 75
Pel’meni
Juneau 78
Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling Co.
Fairbanks 83
ARIZONA
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company
Gilbert 201
Four Peaks Brewing Co.
Tempe 202
Fate Brewing Co.
Scottsdale 203
Papago Brewing (Beer Bar & Bottle Shop)
Scottsdale 203
Tops Liquors & Taste of Tops
Tempe 203
CALIFORNIA
21st Amendment
San Francisco 92
The Alembic Bar
San Francisco 93
Alesmith Brewing Co.
San Diego 122
Alpine Beer Co.
Alpine 125
Anchor Brewing Co.
San Francisco 90
Anderson Valley Brewing Co.
Boonville 98
Bagby Beer Company
Oceanside 129
Ballast Point Brewing Co./Homebrew Mart
San Diego 122
Beachwood BBQ and Brewing; Beachwood Blendery
Long Beach 108
Bear Republic
Healdsburg 128
Beer Revolution
Oakland 126
Blue Palms Brewhouse
Los Angeles 111
The Bruery
Placentia 112
Cellarmaker Brewing
San Francisco 127
The Church Key
San Francisco 89
City Beer Store
San Francisco 126
Craftsman Brewing Company
Pasadena 114
Eagle Rock Brewery
Los Angeles 112
Fat Angel Food & Libation
San Francisco 127
Figueroa Mtn. Brewing Co.
Buellton 128
Firestone Walker Barrelworks
Buellton 104
Firestone Walker Brewery
Paso Robles 103
Green Flash Brewing Co. (Cellar 3)<
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San Diego 120
Hamilton’s Tavern
San Diego 123
Healthy Spirits
San Francisco 127
Hopmonk Tavern
Sebastopol 128
La Trappe Café
San Francisco 91
Lagunitas Taproom & Beer Sanctuary
Petaluma 99
Laurel Tavern
Studio City 109
Libertine Brewing Co.
San Luis Obispo 129
Magnolia Brewing Co.
San Francisco 87
Mikkeller Bar
San Francisco 88
Modern Times Flavordome
San Diego 118
Modern Times Beer—Lomaland Fermentorium
San Diego 118
The Monk’s Kettle
San Francisco 94
Moonlight Brewing Company
Santa Rosa 96
Pizza Port Solana Beach
Solana Beach 116
Port Brewing Co./The Lost Abbey
San Marcos 115
The Rare Barrel
Berkeley 95
Russian River Brewing Co.
Santa Rosa 99
Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
Capitola 106
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Chico 101
Smog City Brewing
Torrance 115
Smokestack
San Francisco 87
Social Kitchen & Brewery
San Francisco 126
Societe Brewing
San Diego 119
Stone Brewing Co. and World Bistro
Escondido 117
The Surly Goat
West Hollywood 110
Three Weavers
Inglewood 107
Tony’s Darts Away
Burbank 109
Toronado
San Diego 124
Toronado
San Francisco 90
The Trappist
Oakland 94
Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse
Berkeley 127
Verdugo Bar
Los Angeles 111
Waypoint Public
San Diego 129
White Labs
San Diego 121
Zeitgeist
San Francisco 92
COLORADO
Anheuser-Busch
Fort Collins 152
Aspen Brewing Co.
Aspen 162
Avery Brewing Co.
Boulder 147
Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Fest
Vail 170
Boulder Beer Co.
Boulder 147