Daily Egyptian

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Friday, May 4, 2018

Brew Fest 2018 to feature 51 different breweries from across the country RANA SCHENKE | Daily Egyptian

Carbondale’s Brew Fest may be a local event, but it showcases more than just Illinois beers.

This year’s Brew Fest will feature 51 different breweries, according to event coordinator James Moses.

Breweries from Alaska, Hawaii, California and New York, among others, will have brews available to sample, according to the Brew Fest website.

“We’ve even got one distributor that’s bringing some [beers] from a couple breweries in Germany,” Moses said.

The event will be at the Town Square Pavilion from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 4, according to the press release.

This event is put on by Carbondale Main Street in partnership with the SIU Fermentation Science Institute and Southern Illinois Brewers.

“50 percent of the proceeds of this event do go to the Southern Illinois University Fermentation Science Institute,” Moses said.

The SIU Fermentation Science program is one of the newest degree programs and welcomed its first class in 2016, according to the program’s informational page.

The Fermentation Science Institute will use the proceeds it receives from Brew Fest to continue organizing public seminars and workshops, according to the Brew Fest website. Remaining proceeds will be used by Carbondale Main Street to continue revitalization efforts in downtown Carbondale.

This year, Carbondale Main Street has added another aspect to the Brew Fest.

“We [have] a homebrew competition going on, so people

will also get tickets to sample homebrews from some of the members of the Southern Illinois [Brewers],” Moses said.

The Southern Illinois Brewers are a local organization focused on creating a community for amateur and experienced homebrewers to connect with one another, according to their website.

The Brewers organized this year’s homebrew competition, according to the press release. Awards will be presented at a ceremony during Brew Fest.

“Usually other festivals like this will just have the breweries, whereas in this regard you’ll actually be able to sit and kind of talk to some of the guys about our brewing in the area and [be] a part of the culture,” Moses said. “I think that’s… what makes us unique.”

After Brew Fest is over, attendees can go to Hangar 9 for the official after party. Brew Fest attendees get free entry to that night’s live entertainment, according to the

Brew Fest website.

The after party’s musical entertainment consists of the bands Lords of the Trident, Buzzzard, and 7Daze, according to Hangar 9’s website.

Tickets for Brew Fest can be purchased at the Brew Fest website and at Carbondale Main Street. They will also be available at the event.

Advance tickets are $25 for general admission and $45 for VIP; pricing at the door will be $30 and $50, respectively.

According to the website, general admission includes a souvenir tasting glass and tastes, and VIP admission includes a premium tasting glass, tastes, early admission and more.

Designated Driver tickets can be purchased at the door for $5, and all attendees (including designated drivers) must be 21 or older.

Staff writer Rana Schenke can be reached at rchenke@dailyegyptian.com.

“Usually other festivals like this will just have the breweries, wheras in this regard you'll actually be able to sit and kind of talk to some of the guys about our brewing in the area and [be] a part of the culture. I think that's... what makes us unique” - James Moses Brewfest coordinator

Friday, May 4, 2018

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Know Your Beer Ales

Lagers

Smoother and crisper than Ales.

Pilsner

Sweet, and often have hops to counter the sweetness.

Oktoberfest

High in carbs, low in alcohol.

Porter

Full bodied, malty, spicy and dry.

Brooklyn Pilsner Brooklyn Brewery

Great Lakes Oktoberfest Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Bock

Dunkel

Sweet and dark.

Wide range of flavor.

Porter Founders Brewing Company

Stout

Smooth. Similar flavors to coffee.

Troegenator Double Bock Trรถegs Brewing Company

Dark and heavy, slight burnt flavor.

Sweet and caramel scented.

Samuel Adams Dunkelweizen Boston Beer Company

Breakfast Stout Founders Brewing Company

Pale Ale

Style

Malty and hoppy, fruity scented.

Zombie Dust 3 Floyds Brewing Co.

Amber

Sweet and amber colored.

Fat Tire Amber Ale New Belgium Brewing

Irish Ale

Deep red. Bitter and amber colored.

Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Indian Pale Ale Very bitter and amber colored.

Seneca Indian Pale Ale Mountain State Brewing Co.

Description Recommendations

Malty - Malted cereal grains that are fermented sugars to create CO2 and alcohol. Affects color, taste and texture. Can add richer flavor, and sweetness, but other grains can make it darker/heavier Designed by: Bridget Moroney

Hops - provide bitterness to balance the malts sweetness.

Typically fruity, herbal or citrus flavors. Leaving the hops in longer creates a stronger hoppy flavor.

Source: http://www.thebiggreen.net/2014/02/16/know-your-drink-become-a-beer-expert/

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Friday, May 4, 2018

The definitive ranking of cheap beer REAGAN GAVIN | @RGavin_DE

As a broke college student, most of my beer buying decisions are based on quantity over quality. Many of my college nights have been spent sipping Miller Lite convincing myself it is the epitome of a high-class beer and full of flavor.

Curious of how any other brand could top my one true love, I set out to rank all of the popular domestic brands.

In the name of science, I enlisted the help of a fellow (cheap) beer enthusiast and took off to Pinch Penny Liquors to buy one tallboy of each beer available.

My co-taster, Nathan, and I are both partial to Miller Lite, so to remain unbiased we conducted a blind taste test ranking the flavor from 1-10. We then averaged out the scores between the two of us to come to a final score for each of the 12 beers sampled. Below is the ranking from best to worst.

#1 Miller High Life: 8/10 7.25 cents per ounce Miller High Life coming in with the number one slot came as a surprise.

Nathan and I refused to believe we both ranked Miller High Life as our top choice even before the score was averaged between us. At $1.74 for a 24-ounce tallboy, it falls in the middle of expense and number one on our list. #2 Coors Light: 7.25/10 7.66 cents per ounce A enjoyable yet often forgotten beer, Coors Light taking the number two slot is well deserved. However, $1.84 for a 24 ounce makes it one of the pricier beers. #3 Natural Light: 6.5/10 7.36 cents per ounce Natty Light, a solid number three on our definitive list. $1.84 for a tallboy was slightly surprising, however it came in a 25 ounce rather than 24 ounce can — giving you more drink for your drunk. This was also the one beer I guessed correctly when tasting, so I take

The only saving grace for Keystone Ice was the fact that it was the second to last beer to be tasted so my taste buds were slightly dull to mask the disgusting flavor. Being the same price as the Keystone light, spend your $1.59 on the better and slightly watered down version.

Friday, May 4, 2018 small joy in knowing that I can name a cheap beer. #4 Busch: 6.25/10 7.8 cents per ounce Busch was another bonus ounce can for $1.95. Decent beer but my only disappointment is that there wasn't a Busch Light option available to compare the two. #5 Miller Lite: 5/10 7.66 cents per ounce A beer that Nathan and I thought we knew so well yet only gave a mediocre score of five. I put partial blame on the fact that we were eight beers deep at the time of tasting so our taste buds probably weren't the most susceptive. At $1.84, Miller Lite may be a number five on our list but always a number one in my heart. I just may sometimes switch it up every once in a while for the "Champagne of Beer," Miller High Life. #6 Budweiser: 5/10 8 cents per ounce At $1.93 for a tallboy Budweiser was one of the most expensive of the beers ranked. Personally, I am not a fan however Nathan knew Bud heavy by heart which helps to balance the ranking. With Miller Lite and Budweiser being tied at five, the price (and our bias towards Miller Lite) places Budweiser slightly lower. #7 Keystone Light: 4.25/10 6.62 cents per ounce Keystone Light was honestly a forgettable beer. $1.59 makes it one of the cheaper options but with a less than average score. #8 Milwaukee’s Best Light: 4.25/10 5.96 cents per ounce Same as Keystone Light, Milwaukee’s Best Light was indiscernible compared to the other options available. The only perk to Milwaukee’s Best Light is the fact that it too came in a 25-ounce can and was also the cheapest option at $1.49. #9 Bud Light: 3/10 8 cents per ounce Probably a huge surprise to some, Bud Light ranked as one of the worst on the list of beers. Being a watered down version of Bud heavy and one of the most expensive at $1.93 makes Bud Light come in at number nine.

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1. MILLER HIGH LIFE 2. COORS LIGHT 3. NATURAL LIGHT 4. BUSCH 5. MILLER LITE 6. BUDWEISER 7. KEYSTONE LIGHT 8. MILWAUKEEʼS BEST LIGHT

9. BUD LIGHT 10. PABST BLUE RIBBON 11. KEYSTONE ICE 12. ICEHOUSE EDGE Reagan Gavin | @RGavin_DE

#10 Pabst Blue Ribbon: 1.75/10 6.62 cents per ounce There's a reason bars have PBR on draft for so cheap and I highly recommend spending a couple extra cents for a better beer. For $1.59, I’ve had worse beers which are the next two on the list, but PBR is still only slightly tolerable. #11 Keystone Ice: 1/10 6.62 cents per ounce The only saving grace for Keystone Ice was the fact that it was the second to last beer to be tasted so my taste buds were slightly dull to mask the disgusting flavor. Being the same price

as the Keystone light, spend your $1.59 on the better and slightly watered down version. #12 Icehouse Edge: 1/10 6.62 cents per ounce If I could do this whole test over again I would choose to never buy let alone taste Icehouse Edge again. At $1.59 a can it wasn't even the cheapest beer option available and the only reason it even got a score of one is that we had to for the sake of the ranking system.

Managing Editor Reagan Gavin can be reached at rgavin@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @RGavin_DE.

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Friday, May 4, 2018

Joys of home brewing beer with Southern Illinois Brewers JEREMY BROWN | @JeremyBrownDE

Plenty of college students have had beer on the weekends to destress, and maybe a few on weekdays to stay sane. But there’s a whole other side to beers college students probably haven’t tried.

“You’ve probably seen some college students drink a dozen Coors Lights,” said Doug Brinkley, vice president of Southern Illinois Brewers. “That’s not how craft beer guys do it. We’re talking one or two good beers and that’s pretty much it.”

Southern Illinois Brewers is a home brewers club with 40 paying members. Southern Illinois Brewers President Paul Scudder said at this year’s Brewfest, the club will have seven members bringing craft beers for attendees to taste.

“We typically have one of the longest lines at the festival,” Scudder said. “We always run out of our beer.”

Scudder said the club has members that range from only making one batch to people like himself who’ve been making it for over seven years.

“Of course it’s good beer,” Scudder said, in reference to his own batches.

While there isn’t a signature style within the home brew club, Scudder said, Southern Illinois water makes for a nice blank slate.

“It doesn’t have a whole lot of minerals in it,” Scudder said. “The water does ultimately affect the flavor of the beers.”

Brinkley said what’s good about craft beers is the amount of variety between them.

Brewing process 2 Milling

4 Lautering

1 Grain silo

Mashing 3

5 Brewing

6 Cooling

9 Packaging

7 Fermentation

8 Filtration

1

Grain is stored in a silo before the brewing process begins.

4

Mash is pumped into lauter tun where Wort is separated from grain husks.

7

Yeast is added and converts wort into beer by producing alcohol.

2

Break up grain kernels to extract fermentable sugars.

5

Malt or hop particles are removed leftover liquid is sent to cooling stage.

8

After maturing, beer is filtered, carbonated and begins Cellaring process for three to four weeks.

3

Mash is mixed with water, uses natural enzymes to break down malt starches into sugars.

6

Liquid is cooled down to begin fermentation.

9

After filtration, beer is ready to be packaged and shipped out.

Reagan Gavin | @RGavin_DE

“It’s all about finding a good balance [between malts and hops] and that balance is different for everyone,” Brinkley said. “Some like a hoppier beer, some like a maltier sweeter beer. Some like a sour beer.”

When the interviewer said to Scudder that sour beer has a similar

taste to earwax, Scudder paused.

“You probably had a bad sour beer,” Scudder said.

Scudder said beer is a much broader beverage than people think, since most people who’ve tried beer have only had American light lagers.

“Coors Light, Budweiser, those

Friday, May 4, 2018 sorts of things,” Scudder said. “The more you try craft beer you start to see all the different things from very dark heavy Stouts, to things that are even more delicate than Bud Light.”

With home brewers, Scudder said there’s more flexibility to get creative with your ingredients than a commercial brewer could.

“You have only five [or 10] gallons to get through,” Scudder said. “If you try to do something with a really strange ingredient, maybe doesn't end up [well.] At least you're not stuck where a brewery would be with hundreds of hundreds of gallons.”

While five gallons of beer might seem like a lot or a little depending

Page 9 who you ask on campus, Scudder said home brewers like to say you have less chance of a hangover when drinking home brews.

“It’s sort of an inside joke,” Scudder said. “The reason is, alcohol depletes vitamin B. One thing that carries vitamin B is yeast.

Most home brewers can't make their brews a hundred percent yeast free so you end up drinking some of the yeast.”

When asked if beer was essentially the bread of drinks, Brinkley agreed.

“I don’t know if it was developed on accident, but it could be preserved for a long time,” Brinkley said. “Sometimes water would go

bad before beer would.”

According to the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, early Mesopotamians even created breads just to incorporate it into making more beer.

“Back in the day before there was such a thing as carbs, beer [could be] considered a meal,” Brinkley said.

Craft beers now have a few mandatory qualities, Scudder said.

They should have a foam on top, should always be poured into a glass and never served ice cold.

“Savor the foam,” Scudder said.

“It helps retain the aroma of the beer. It [also] insulates the beer… the carbonation can’t escape.”

Craft beer should always be poured into a glass, Scudder said, because it opens the aromas of the beer and helps the beer warm up.

“Good craft beer shouldn’t be ice cold,” Scudder said. “The colder something is, the more it masks flaws. Home brewers joke

that big commercial brewers always market their beers cold because if you had one warm, you’d never have one again.”

Staff writer Jeremy Brown can be reached at jbrown@dailyegyptian.com.

“Back in the day before there was such a thing as carbs, beer [could be] considered a meal.”

- Doug Brinkley Vice President, Southern Illinois Brewers

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Friday, May 4, 2018

Fermentation Science program celebrates its first graduates KITT FRESA | @KittFresa

Welcoming it’s first class in the Fall of 2016, the first graduates of the Fermentation Science program will be receiving their degrees at the end of the semester.

Chris Brannon and Lucas Rose are the first graduates of the program, both of which plan to work for breweries in the future.

Brannon said he heard about the program through a friend who told him about a brewing class at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Rose, who was working at a grain elevator in his hometown of Mahomet, Illinois said he had heard about the program from his sister who had graduated from SIU. Rose visited SIU and spoke with the current director of the program, Matt McCarroll and decided that it was the right thing for him to do.

The two started taking classes that would eventually count toward their new major, before the Fermentation Science program was even approved.

“We kind of just took the gamble,” Brannon said.

The Fermentation Science program was approved and Brannon and Rose were the first students to enter.

“We were the first students so we were able to jump on every single project,” Rose said. “We definitely got a lot of attention.”

Rose and Brannon inevitably met through the program and went on to become roommates.

Brannon said Rose and himself got to know their professors much better than they knew any previous professor they were taught under.

“I know some people that use to come here before I did and they always talked about the struggle of going to class or drinking beer, and I always think its really cool that I get to go to class and drink beer,” Rose said.

“That got me to class, I would be mad

Cameron Hupp | @CHupp04 A machine that will be used for SIU's Fermentation Science Institute is pictured on Tuesday, at the Mclafferty Annex in Carbondale.

if my teacher didn’t show up.”

However, Rose said there are negatives to being the first in the program, one of which is that they won’t be able to see and experience all the new developments coming to Fermentation Science.

The Fermentation Science program is mainly conducted in the McLafferty Annex which is partly under construction and expanding. Some of the new developments include a new malting facility, a distillery and more.

The annex houses everything the students use to perform their experiments, from microscopes to specialized walk-in coolers and machines that can analyze the alcohol content of beer, wine or spirits, McCarroll said.

McCarroll said it's very exciting to see the first graduates of the program.

“It’s one thing to get excited about all this on paper and then it was really exciting to actually see it in reality," McCarroll said. "To see it with real people, real students

learning things, that’s kind of the culmination of that to have our first students graduate and go off into the real world,” Brannon and Rose said the program has been expanding every semester with around ten students currently taking classes with another ten on their way to join the program.

The program isn’t limited to just beer; students can learn how to produce almost anything that is fermented. Foods like wine, liquor, bread, cheese and sauerkraut are all made by fermentation science students, McCarroll said.

McCarroll said they also operate a service lab to which companies from all over the world can send in their samples for testing and analysis. This usually involves finding problems with the product, such as contaminating microbes or harmful bacterias, he said.

Staff writer Kitt Fresa can be reached at kfresa@dailyegyptian.com.

Friday, May 4, 2018

What beer type are you?

AMELIA BLAKELY | @AmeilaBlakely

Beer is one of the most widely consumed and oldest beverages enjoyed by people worldwide. It's so widely consumed that beer is classified by the various brewing techniques.

Regardless of the universality of the beverage, brewing styles of beer inevitably lead certain groups to prefer one style over the other.

The drinking environment also plays a role in the enjoying the alcoholic beverage. For example, one will not see a underaged college student drinking an expensive craft beer during the university's infamous drinking holidays – unless they have money and taste for such beer.

I will explore various choices of beers, the science behind the beverages, and where you're most likely to see the beverages consumed.

Domestic beers The word "Domestic" in the label domestic beers refers to the leading beer companies including Budweiser and Miller-Coors. These beer brands are most commonly see being drank at tailgates, sports games, bonfires and after parties.

Bud Light is a light lager commonly seen at sports games, accompanied by it's blue collar drinker or 'coozie.'

Lager-styled beer is one that has been stored for several months in nearfreezing temperatures resulting in a crisp, refreshing taste and smooth finish. This style of beer can range from black to pale, but majority of lagers are pale to medium color, have high carbonation and doesn't have an over-bearing taste.

Coors Banquet and Miller High Life are other domestic lagers that are commonly seen being drank at local bars, by hipsters, and the woodsman

living in isolation in the Shawnee National Forrest.

Craft beers Craft beers are the fun ones. The official definition of craft beer is one brewed by a small, independent and traditional brewery according to the Brewers Association, an organization that protects and promotes small and independent brewers in the country.

A brewery can be classified as a craft brewery if they produce 6 million barrels or less of beer annually.

What makes craft beers so fun are the interesting and unique flavors that can be derived from traditional or innovative brewing styles. The various craft beer flavors are created by herbs, spices, and hops – a delicate, pale green flower that adds bitterness and aroma to the brew as well as preserving it.

Hops and other flavors are added to the brew during the boiling step after the

barley seeds have been malted, baked or "kilned". After the hops are added and the brew is boiled, it heads to the fermentation tank where yeast will be added and alcohol is created.

The unique quality of craft beers makes them expensive, which means they are drank for the taste and culture rather than to get drunk.

It's typical to see people drinking craft beers as they pair it with food and socializing with friends. One can also craft being drank at fancy bar listening to soft rock or indie music.

People who usually drink craft beers have the money to indulge in it.

Imported Beers Drinking imported beers allows the drinker to feel cultured by consuming a beverage from a foreign land.

If one would like to taste a pale lager from Europe, look no farther than a Heineken, a pale lager. If one is looking

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for a darker and full-bodied beer pick up a Guinness, an Irish dry stout.

Stout beer is not sweet like others, instead it has a rich and creamy start with a barley flavor and coloring. When making stouts, the brewer uses a portion of un-malted roasted barley that helps make the style of beer have its dark and coffee-like personality.

One will see a true connoisseur beer drinking stouts for the experience, if not for the taste of the rich and full body.

For those who want to drink pale ales and feel south of the border the most popular selection is Modelo Especial and Corona.

Regardless of what one drinks – domestics, imported or craft beers – if any are drank enough it will result intoxication and wasted calories. The best way to enjoy any of the beers is to remember, there can always be too much of a good thing.