新澳门六合彩内幕信息

Iron Brew Title Goes to the 鈥楿nderdog鈥

Student IPA on Tap; Staff, Faculty Compete Next

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Iron Brew 2017 winning team poses around sacks of malt at Sudwerk Brewing Co.
The Iron Brew champion Cracked Hops, from left: Eva Tran, Nayvin Chew, Caitlin Ellis and Calvin Hsu. (Wendy Weitzel photo)

Staff and Faculty Are Next

The students have had their turn, next comes a separate brewing contest: the , organized by Staff Assembly.

The third annual staff and faculty competition has room for three more teams (two in the stout category and one in the amber category), to make a total of 15 teams in each category. The entry deadline has been extended to this Friday (May 12).

You need not be on a team to participate. Sign up for the tasting event from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 23, at the . Early-bird prices are $15 for 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis staff and faculty, and Cal Aggie Alumni Association members; or $20 for friends and family. for your tickets. Prices go up $5 after May 12. A souvenir tasting glass is included in admission price 鈥 but guaranteed only for people who sign up during early-bird registration.

Read 顿补迟别濒颈苍别鈥檚 April 4 article: 鈥淐alling All Brewers and Tasters!鈥

Inexperienced as they were, they called their beer Underdog IPA. And guess what? It came out on top in this year鈥檚 Iron Brew competition among students in Charlie Bamforth鈥檚 鈥淧ractical Malting and Brewing鈥 class.

The winning team, the Cracked Hops, has since brewed a 20-keg batch of their India pale ale at Davis鈥 , where a release party is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. this Friday (May 12). The beer also will be sold at a handful of other local venues.

The retail Underdog is based on the team鈥檚 fourth and final lab batch: a fragrant, fruity, citrusy, classic, bitter IPA that showcased the Mosaic hops, with 5.85 percent alcohol by volume and 73 International Bittering Units. Sudwerk co-owner Trent Yackzan, one of the Iron Brew judges, described the team鈥檚 entry as 鈥渁 well-rounded beer 鈥 strong aroma, solid middle and solid finish. The whole way through, it maintained its body and lived up to its initial hop-forward aromas.鈥 

Not bad for rookies. 鈥淲e came in 100 percent not knowing what we were doing,鈥 said Eva Tran, who joined Nayvin Chew, Caitlin Ellis and Calvin Hsu on the Cracked Hops.

鈥淭he TA spat out our first batch,鈥 Tran added. 鈥淭he first day, we were just watching people brew.鈥

A panel of nine industry professionals from around Northern California did the judging. Out of 11 entries, Underdog IPA edged out a Belgian tripel, made by students with more hands-on experience. The other entries: two more IPAs, a pale ale and two blonde ales, plus one each of an English mild, amber, altbier and saison. 

鈥淭he winning team executed a very clean brew, without any noticeable flaws 鈥 that鈥檚 hard to do for some seasoned brewers,鈥 said one of the judges, Dave Gull, founder of New Helvetia Brewing Co. of Sacramento. He said he told the team: 鈥淭his beer is better than some professionally brewed beers I鈥檝e tasted.鈥 

From pale ale to winning IPA

Charlie Bamforth mugshot
Bamforth

Bamforth, who holds 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 Anheuser-Busch Professorship in Malting and Brewing Sciences, said: 鈥淚t truly is a delight to see the students in action designing, brewing and presenting their beers for the honest evaluation of professional brewers.

鈥淭his practical class is critical to the full education of any student of brewing. It is a student鈥檚 ability to apply their skills in the brewing of beer that is of paramount importance. All the teams gave it their best shot and the winners can justifiably be proud of their accomplishment.鈥 

Bamforth runs the competition annually in Food Science and Technology 102B. Sudwerk adds value to the Iron Brew title by working with each year鈥檚 winning team to produce its beer on a commercial scale. So, on April 6, the Cracked Hops went to work at Sudwerk 鈥 working with its head brewer, Thomas Stull, to scale up their recipe from a 5-gallon lab batch and select ingredients from the brewery鈥檚 stock.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege,鈥 said Chew of the Cracked Hops. 鈥淣ot many people get the opportunity to have their beer brewed at a large-scale brewery and have it on tap.鈥 

Tran added: 鈥淎nd to have all these judges say our beer is good enough to brew on a commercial scale is icing on the cake.鈥 

The team originally planned a pale ale. Learning from their mistakes, they changed the malt composition of their beer, refined their brewing techniques, and learned the importance of temperature consistency. The team also learned a lesson in patience, said Ellis, who will not be around to imbibe in their prize-winning brew at Sudwerk. A spring graduate in viticulture and enology, she left March 24 for New Zealand, where she has a two-month job at a winery. 

Esteemed judging panel

Besides Yackzan and Stull, the judging panel also included a third Sudwerk representative: the brewery's board chair, Doug Muhleman, retired chief brewmaster at Anheuser-Busch.

The other judges: Bryan Donaldson, brewing innovation manager, Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma; Lars Larson, master brewer, Trumer Brauerei, Berkeley; Stephen Russell, plant manager, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico; Miles Soto, who works in production at 21st Amendment Brewing, San Leandro; and Scott Ungermann, brewmaster and vice president of production, Anchor Brewers and Distillers, San Francisco.

Sudwerk has deep connections to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, especially considering its commercial brewery space adjoins the . The affiliation serves both sides. All of Sudwerk鈥檚 brewing employees are products of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 brewing programs.

鈥淚 delight in our interactions with the Sudwerk Brewing Company,鈥 Bamforth said. 鈥淲e recognize the immense value of having a tried and trusted brewing company in the city and, in turn, I know that they value the fact that there is an internationally acclaimed brewing teaching and research program on the campus. It really is a great partnership. So many graduates of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis brewing program have cut their teeth working at Sudwerk.鈥 

Established in 1989, Sudwerk specializes in artisan brews, specifically West Coast craft lagers. Its taproom, called The Dock, , is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

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