Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Z Lager

This is my second sampling from the Ft. Collins Brewery offerings.  I tried the Retro-Red a while back and really liked it a lot, so I decided to give this one a try. 

From the bottle:

Rauchbier dates back to the 1500s in Bamburg, Germany when malt was often dried over the flames of a beechwood fire.  The lingering smoke flavors, slight caramel undertone and amber color make Z an unexpected treat alone or as a compliment to a good meal.

Rauchbier is German for "Smoked Beer."  As noted, the smokey flavor is derived by using malted barley that has been dried over an open flame. 

The Z Lager does have a decent smokey flavor compared to some other smoked brews I have tried, but the aroma that comes along with this brew is great.  As I work my way through this glass of malted goodness, the malty aftertaste starts to settle in.  This beer has an ABV of about 5.4% with a rating of 30 IBU, but I can't really find that level of hop in the taste of this stuff.  IBU (International Bitterness Unit scale) is used to provide a measure of the bitterness of beer.  The interesting thing about the IBU scale is that two different styles of beer with the same IBU rating will not demonstrate the same level of bitterness to your palate.  The actual bitterness you taste will vary based on the amount and type of fermentable sugars that went into the origional brew.  In other words, some types of grains will mask or promote the hops used in the beer...

Note:

Hops are used in beer for two specific purposes: bittering and aroma.  Hops that are added to the beer in the early stages of the boiling are used to impart a bitterness to the beer.  The bitterness is for the purpose of balancing the extremely sweet characteristics of all the sugars that come from the malted barley and grains in the beer.  Hops that are added late in the boil do nothing more than impart aroma. 

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for!  I'll be bottling my January Marzen that I brewed on January 18th.  It's been fermenting for 3 weeks now and is ready to go in the bottles where it will carbonate and continue to condition for a few more weeks.  I plan to taste it in about 2 weeks, but this beer will continue to mature as it sits in the bottle.  I expect this beer to peak after it has been in the bottle for 12-16 weeks, but it will definitely be good after 3-4 weeks.  Any of you local folks who read this are invited to have a bottle when it's ready... Just let me know and I'll meet up with you and share the love.  I usually give away about as much as I drink when it comes to home brew.  I'm NOT a heavy drinker.  Well... I am heavy and I do drink, but you know what I mean :)