The objective from camp in waning light.

The name. The mountain. Mt Stuart is a massive mountain easily seen from the storied Enchantments, and from I90 ~13 miles SW from Leavenworth.  It’s the second tallest non-volcanic peak in WA and can be identified from nearly any high summit.  The mountain offers many types of climbs from a couple of approaches.  For example, the Cascadian couloir is a long, technically easy ascent on (blah) scree.

The West ridge is a (easy) technical route that is a lesson in high alpine route finding. And the N ridge is a great sustained mid class 5 multi-pitch rock climb.  All of these start in beautiful Headlight basin – worth the day trip in itself on a great trail.

We climbed Mt Stuart via the W ridge.  Fortunately we turned around on the first attempt as we would have run out of daylight and would have had to overnight high up on the mountain in rain with no gear.  Our return was more successful, but still made for a long day with the extra route finding high on the mountain.  Our decent down the scree-filled cascadian couloir made us glad we had done the more interesting W ridge.

The Beer. Since Mt Stuart is one of the most noticeable, bold, non-volcanic peaks in WA we tried to make the beer bearing its name similar.  We based this beer on last year’s recipe but reduced the munich malt and changed hop varietals (but the hops have the same characteristics).  This resulted in a slightly smoother, lower bodied beer while retaining the dark roastiness making Stuart Stout a rich, full bodied, deeply roasty interpretation of the style.  A fine beer to drink anytime, but best enjoyed in front of a fire on a cold rainy winter evening.

Malts: 2 row, roast, chocolate, crystal 40, wheat, and a smattering of oats.  Hops: Apollo for bitter, Fuggles for flavor.

Early Morning Spire (rt of center) from the N (across marble creek glacier)

The Name. The mountain.  Early Morning Spire is set in a magical location of the Eldorado, Inspiration, and Mcallister glaciers. It is actually situated slightly off the glaciers in Marble cirque.  Early Morning Spire offers great rock climbing in a remote place, so remote that it is best to take 3-4 days to climb (the approach is via Eldorado – nearly summiting – over a col into the marble cirque). While it has great rock routes, Early Morning spire can be done as a scramble, although getting from the glacier to solid rock might be treacherous depending on conditions.  The name derives itself from a group that had to bivy near the summit (cold, unprepared), which caused them to summit just after first light. What better of a beer style to have at first light than a stout? We couldn’t think of one.

The Beer. Early Morning Stout was brewed with the “American stout” substyle in mind.  It has a nice roast and chocolate aroma/flavor but also includes a significant amount of hops that are typically associated with our region.  The resulting beer has a pronounced chocolaty roast flavor (slightly less than its counterpart Stuart) but also includes a nice hop aroma and flavor in the background.  A smoother mouthfeel than Stuart, Early Morning stout has great flavors and not just a dominant roast character like its mountainBeer counterpart.

Malts:  Pale, roast, chocolate, carapils, wheat.  Hops: Columbus, cascade, palisade. Yeast: American ale.

Early Morning Spire and environs from Eldorado Peak

]]> http://www.nwpeaksbrewery.com/beer/early-morning-stout/feed/ 0 http://www.nwpeaksbrewery.com/beer/porter-vs-stout/ http://www.nwpeaksbrewery.com/beer/porter-vs-stout/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:49:19 +0000 nwpb_fanatic http://www.nwpeaksbrewery.com/?p=411 As a prelude to “stout month” and our releasing Picket porter back in December we thought it would be fun to write a “discussion” between stouts and porters.  Rest assured, if you asked 100 different brewers and/or connoisseurs to write this you’d get a 100 different responses, so take it with a grain of salt.

Porter:

The ‘traditional’ style: We may never know exactly what the original porters may have tasted like (see below), but today we characterize them as lightish (body) beers with a nice note of chocolate and sometimes mild roast. Porters typically end dry and slightly acidic due to the light body with the acidic dark malts. Porters typically are anywhere from 4-5% ABV for brown porters and up to 6.5% for the robust varieties.  One of the other defining characteristics is that the color and roast character derives itself from “black malt” (malted barley that has been highly roasted).

Stout:

The ‘traditional’ style: Stouts typically have a strong roast/coffee flavor and low hop profile. Chocolate notes may be present but not always. Unlike many porters, stouts tend to have a full-body mouth feel.  Similar to porters, stouts can be of the 4-5 ABV range (dry stouts like Guinness), or up to 7% for some other sub-varieties.  Additionally, while porters get their roast character from black malt, stouts get their roasty notes from roasted barley: unmalted barley that has been highly kilned.

Today’s styles:

We feel that when comparing the styles, that the largest difference is in the body of the beer supporting the roast character, with stouts having a little more of each. A secondary, more subtle difference is the source of the roasty notes (black malt vs roast barley). However, in today’s day and age with craft beer booming, the commercial breweries have been pushing the envelope with these styles (like all other styles), packing in more flavor, more ABV, and more twists. Thankfully most breweries don’t adhere to the above guidelines and we are blessed with a huge selection. But additionally, we feel that all bets are off as to what “defining style” a given beer is (in terms of porter versus stout) and that functionally the styles are merging together, or at least the thin line that separates the styles is becoming very blurred.

Interested in the histories? ….  The histories:

The porter history: The porter “style” is originally derived from what one might call a beer “suicide”, reminiscent of the middle school pass time of mixing different types of soft drinks from the soda fountain to find the perfect level of disgusting. The unique (and delicious) flavor profile of the porter’s predecessor, the “Entire” was created by mixing brown and mild ales commonly found behind the bar at British pubs. Rumor has it the London porters were particularly fond of this mixed drink, so when it was launched as its own style of beer by English breweries the name Porter stuck. When the American colonies were founded, the porter was imported from London brewhouses. But, as our founding fathers fought for independence, the channels of beer importation ran dry and American breweries had to quench the growing nation’s thirst. Historians have even uncovered letters from General George Washington admiring the virtues of his favorite porter brewed in Philadelphia. Thus, the American porter likely diverged from its original roots in the London pubs. The introduction of “black patent” malt is thought to have dramatically changed the makeup of most commercial porters. This new black malt could add the dark coloring and roasted flavoring desired in porters to a beer largely brewed using pale malts instead of the traditional brown malts. Because pale malts can have up to 30% higher efficiencies of extraction than the brown malts, brewers could save money by using fewer pale malts. This dramatic change in the grain bill of commercial porters likely explains the lack of full body characteristics of the porter in spite of the dark coloration of the beer. Similar to what we see with the progression of pale ales to IPAs, porters also experienced a substyle that was defined by an increase in ABV.  A baltic porter has a higher ABV and was developed from the robust porter for export, and subsequent brewing in, the region around the baltic sea. This substyle was undoubtedly influenced and inspired by Russian Imperial Stouts.

The stout history: It is widely agreed that the style now known as the stout likely originated as a “robust” porter. Technological advances in the brewing industry allowed much stronger porters to be brewed, at first for export but later for local British pubs. These more full-bodied beers were referred to as “stout porters”. The term “stout” was widely used throughout England in the 18^th century to describe a high-alcohol, bolder version of any beer style, the name gradually came to be most associated with the bolder porter style. The Irish dry stout was popularized by Guinness and this is still one of the most recognizable stouts commercially available. As the style became popular more breweries began brewing different versions and exports increased.  This resulted in the expansion of different substyles such as an oatmeal stout, sweet stout, foreign export stout that had a higher ABV to withstand shipping, and the Russian Imperial Stout that had so many raw materials that no commoner could afford and thus brewed only for the Russian Imperial courts.  Once in America the craft brewing community put its own stamp on the style (American stout) using traditional American ingredients (NW hops) and processes.

On tap:

Phantom falls Belgo, Picket porter, Spickard Spice, Maude’s Mild

Upcoming hours:

Wed Feb 1st:  4:00-6:00
Thurs Feb 2nd: 4:00-7:00
Fri Feb 3rd: 4:00-7:00
Sat Feb 4th: CLOSED
Sun Feb 5th: 11:30-3:00

credit cards accepted; 50 cent processing fee for each charge.

Mt Maude (rightt; 9082') and Seven fingered Jack (left; 9077') from Spider Meadows.

The name. The mountain. Mt Maude is one of the tall peaks that comprise the cirque where the Entiat river starts its seaward journey. Most backpackers and climbers will be more familiar with the views of Mt Maude from Spider Meadows, a beautiful hiking/backpacking destination in itself. As the 13th tallest mountain in the state, Mt Maude is no mild beast; the route up is arduous even if technically mild. It’s a nice scramble up 6,000 feet or so from the spider meadow trail via a well-maintained climbers trail and some easy talus.

The Beer. Maude’s mild is our interpretation of a winter session beer. Milds are, by definition, a lower strength beer and Maude doesn’t venture from that.  However we used malts that would add complexity to the beer, which manifested in dark fruit characters in the beer – notes of prunes and raisins. This dark fruit character is the defining feature of this lower alcohol, easy drinking winter session beer.

Glacier Peak from the summit.

Esmeralda from the opposite side of the basin.

The name. The mountain. Esmeralda is located in the Teanaway River drainage just S of Ingalls peak and SW of Mt Stuart – one of our favorite areas. It’s on the other side of the Teanaway River from its beastly neighbors and is a much easier approach/climb than that of it’s neighbors.  The “class 2″ trek to the summit offers some great views of the massive Mt Stuart and the Stuart range and is part of a great loop for a day hike.

A tale of two experiences. While the mountain is great, this beer’s namesake comes from our tale of two experiences that parallel the brewery.  This was one of the first mountains that I climbed in Washington. It was with some good friends looking for a break from the monotony of work life, but rain and conditions made it “less than a great climb,” earning it the nickname of “miseralda.”  A couple years later we tried it again in ideal weather and it had the charm of an emerald.  This is one of the first beers brewed on our new system and suffice to say that the brewing experience with the system follow our experience on the mountain. It was great to use the new equipment even if conditions weren’t ideal and the experience will lead to many more great brews. 

The Beer.  Esmeralda is a complementary beer to it’s mountainBeer partner Maude’s mild; similar qualities but slightly different vital statistics.  It has a similar base to the mild, but it was brewed to a higher alcohol level.  Also, instead of dark fruits, we brewed this with some dark sugars allowing notes of molasses and dark sugar to complement the extra alcohol.  Esmeralda was fermented with an English yeast adding a smooth fruity flavor on top of the alcohol and molasses tones.

Ingalls and the lovely Stuart from the summit.

NW Peaks Brewery's first label

Along with our party at Naked City, we also brewed up a small batch of special beer for our anniversary.  We’ll let the label describe the mountain, the route, the beer. After a little more than a year in business, we’re still having a blast and owe much of that to our awesome customers.  It doesn’t hurt that we get to make beer for a living either!

A few extra notes about the beer:
- Triumph 2011 is an 9% ABV imperial IPA, however it has much more character from the wood than hop character.
- Triumph 2011 was brewed for aging.  It was intended to peak at 6-24(+) months.  Yummy now, yummier later.
- Triumph 2011 was bottle conditioned.  Sediment at the bottom of the bottle will cloud the beer if not poured carefully or if agitated.
- Triumph 2011 was bottled in 750 mL Belgian bottles (corked).  As an imperial IPA of sorts, this type of bottle isn’t standard. Rather it represents the quality of beer that we put into it.
- Triumph 2011 is exclusively available at the brewery while limited supplies last.  A few select bottles might make their way out into the stores, but don’t count on it.

Thanks for the great year!  Hope you have been enjoying our ride as much as we have.

Drinking in the fun

Well, we made through our first year of operations and we owe it all to our customers and supporters. Growing up in Ballard has been great for the brewery. The greater beer community of Seattle has also been very good to us and we thank everyone who made year number one possible.

To show our appreciation, we threw our 1st anniversary party on Dec 12th at the Naked City Brewery and Taphouse. Thanks to all who came out to toast the brewery. We had five of our most recent beers on tap as well as all of the other delicious brews that make Naked City a staple of Greenwood Ave. We raffled off T-shirts, hoodies, pint glasses and growlers and boy did they go fast. The beer went pretty fast two; we blew two kegs that evening and the other three didn’t last too long after that!

We were so happy to see so many friends of the brewery stop by and we hope you had as much fun as we did. Thanks again for an unforgettable first year and here’s to many, many more!

Cheers!

MB raising her prayer flag on mt kilimanjaro; a previous climb for the cure

We’ve had many questions about the pint glasses we use at the brewery; they have our logo and “Drink for the cure” with cool climbing sock monkeys.  “What is drink for a cure?” is the most common question. We hosted a fundraiser for breast cancer research at the FHCRC and the glasses were door prizes for donations.  We promoted the event as “Drink for the cure,” and since we had a few left over we continued to give them away for donations to support the cause.

As pint glasses have been steadily flowing out the door, MB (one of the climbing team members the donations support) wanted to post something on our website. She wanted to thank past and future donors. Until the glasses are gone, we will provide one with any donation to support the “climb for a cure.”  … Here’s what MB had to say:

On behalf of the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, I want to thank Northwest Peaks Brewery and more importantly, its beer loving patrons for your generous support for the climb. Thanks, in part, to the generosity of all of you, Sarah (another climber) and I raised over $10,000 while climbing for a cure. Sarah made it to the top of Mt. Baker and I summited Mt. Olympus in 2011. Who knew that drinking beer could be so good for breast cancer research? Thank you so much Kevin and the gang for making this possible!

 For those of you wondering where your donation is going, it is funding innovative research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the areas of early detection, treatment, and even the prevention of breast cancer. I became involved with the climb in 2006 several years after finding out that I had the “breast cancer gene.” I couldn’t do anything about the gene, but I could climb.

 Since I started climbing for the cure, I have reached the top of Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Pico de Orizaba and Ixtaccihuatl in Mexico, Mr. Kilimanjaro, and Mt. Olympus. I tried to climb Mt. Shasta in 2010, but bad weather prevented a summit. In 2012, I will be climbing Mt. Denali in Alaska. At 20,320 feet and with its arctic climate, it will be my toughest quest by far. Climbers spend three weeks on the mountain in their bid to make the summit.

Why Denali? On October 26, I underwent surgery to have my ovaries and uterus removed. I don’t have cancer, but my risk of ovarian cancer, and the high risk of death after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, motivated me to take this big step and remove them prophylactically. The same day I scheduled my surgery, I signed up to climb Denali. What better way to motivate myself in the recovery than with an epic challenge.

If you are interested in supporting breast cancer research in 2012, Kevin has let me know that there are plenty of pint glasses still available at Northwest Peaks and will be given to all that donate to my 2012 climbing adventure. This is a link to my personal fundraiser webpage for more information about me, my mission, and the organization that I am raising money for. Your donation is tax deductible, and you will be provided a receipt immediately by email. Please let either me or Northwest Peaks know that you donated so that you can receive your climb for the cure glass.

Thanks again to all of you for helping support breast cancer research. Thanks to Northwest Peaks Brewery for getting out the word. What better way to support such a great cause than hoisting a glass of fabulous beer with good friends in celebration of climbing for a cure.

We are happy to give a pint glass (or two; one for you and one for a breast cancer victim close to you) for any contribution you make.  Just come down to the brewery with a receipt (for your support of MB) or donation (receipt for your tax deductible contribution available).  And if it is not this cause you want to support this season, please support the one that you think will make a positive difference. ~Cheers.

MB (Mary Beth) just below the summit of Mt Olympus, her last climb for the cure.

Southern Pickets as seen from the slopes of Mt Triumph

The name. The mountain (range). The rugged Picket Range is located in the North Cascades National Park and so named for its resemblance to a picket fence. Few trails can be found in this wild land but any excursion would be rewarded with inspiring mountain views of the North Cascades. We enjoyed the North Picket Range back in 2007 when we completed a traverse from Hannegan Pass to Ross Lake, a great and rugged excursion.  Regardless of whether you get into the range, they are a spectacle from afar.

The style. We chose to name our porter after the Picket range because just as the range is made up of numerous enchanting peaks, the “porter” was initially made up of numerous tasty beers. The porter “style” is originally derived from what one might call a beer “suicide”, reminiscent of the middle school pass time of mixing different types of soft drinks from the soda fountain to find the perfect level of disgusting. The unique (and delicious) flavor profile of the porter’s predecessor, the “Entire” was created by mixing brown and mild ales commonly found behind the bar at British pubs. Rumor has it the London porters were particularly fond of this mixed drink, so when it was launched as its own style of beer by English breweries the name Porter stuck.

The Beer. We attempted to make picket porter a perfect partner to the Snowfield winter: A very flavorful beer but yet easy drinking with a lower alcohol content.  It is very drinkable and has a lower alcohol content that would be similar to the historical versions of the entires, mentioned above.  Also we stayed true to the porter’s origins and used all english style hops for flavor and aroma (fuggles) and an English yeast, which resulted in a very mildly pleasant fruity and grassy flavor.  However, the flavor that dominates (but definitely does not overpower) the beer is the chocolaty and mild roast character, more reminiscent of “bigger” porters of the US. The combination produces a flavorful and easy drinking beer, perfect for dark winter Seattle days and nights.