E-Malt.com News article: US, AK: 49th State Brewing Co. to start serving beer in June

Though Healy’s 49th State Brewing Co. has been open since last winter, Alaska’s newest microbrewery hasn’t actually served any beer brewed on the premises. That changes in June, Newsminer.com reports.

In the fermentation tanks as this column goes to press are the brewery’s first three beers: English mild ale, German dunkel weisse and India pale ale.

The beers will be available at some point in the first couple weeks of June, though brewery co-founder and brewer David McCarthy said he’d rather wait until the beer is perfect instead of rushing the release just for the sake of having locally made beer on tap.

Currently, 49th State is brewing three batches of beer per day on what’s known as a pilot system, which produces a half-barrel of beer per batch (the equivalent of 15.5 gallons). The three batches are merged in one of the seven 47-gallon fermenters in the building.

“We’re brewing three different batches within 24-hours so we can get it all within one fermentation,” said McCarthy, who works along with head brewer Jason Bullen. “Timing is of the essence to get one full fermenter filled.”

McCarthy noted the brewery has sourced the full-scale brewing equipment needed for increased production and is working out the details of getting it delivered to the little town a two-hour drive south of Fairbanks and 10 miles from the entrance to Denali National Park.

“Shipping is the biggest difficulty because of our location. We have to get everything freighted in,” McCarthy said. “We’re working on that now.”

Despite the increased workload associated with small batches, not to mention the decreased total volume relative to a full-scale operation, McCarthy said, there are some advantages to starting small. They’re able make small adjustments to batches that will eventually lead to a locked in recipe ready for large batches.

“It’s about being perfect on these batches and getting it down, so when we move up to a large system, the recipes will be exactly how we want them,” he said. “If we want to change things a little bit, adjust mashing temperatures or even yeast strains, the flexibility to work on a small scale is why we chose to use a pilot system. We want to have the recipes perfect when we go to the big equipment.”

McCarthy recently returned from brewing school in California, where he met Bullen.

Co-owner Dave Coleman said it made practical and economic sense to train McCarthy, a homebrewer and professional chef. (Jason Motyka is a third partner.)

“We decided to educate from within,” Coleman said. “David already knows a lot about brewing, so it seemed like a good idea to send him to school.”

“It’s something I always wanted to do,” added McCarthy, who, like many commercial brewers, began as homebrewer. “We felt it was important that I go. Some brewers never even go to school, but with the operation we look forward to growing in the next couple years, we (see it as) an integral part of our success.”

Of the three styles 49th State will offer first, perhaps only the IPA is familiar to most beer drinkers. The IPA, with bold hop additions balanced on a malty backbone, is currently one of the most popular beer styles on the craftbrew market.

The English mild ale and dunkel weisse probably don’t even rank in the top 20. But McCarthy, who created these recipes as a homebrewer, isn’t too concerned. Craft beer fans are frequently willing to sample new or unfamiliar beer styles, which McCarthy sees as an educational opportunity.

“As a brewer, we don’t just want to brew good beer, but we also want to educate the consumer. A dunkel weisse is an underappreciated beer here in America,” he said. “A wheat beer is a nice thing to drink in the summer, but we wanted to do a dunkel weisse instead.”

The dunkel weisse is essentially a dark wheat beer. Unlike most wheat beers that are light, crisp and slightly grainy, this beer benefits from roasted malt, imparting chocolate-like notes and increased malty sweetness. Hop character and aroma is nonexistent, but slight banana-like flavors may be present.

So what, then, is an English mild? With this ale the color typically ranges from golden to amber with a predominate malt flavor and little hop bitterness or flavor. The beer is lighter in body and lower in alcohol (this the “mild” in the name) and is considered an easy-drinking ale.

“We didn’t just want to brew a light beer on for our first beer, but we wanted to show this is true craft brewing,” he added.

These three beers are just the beginning. McCarthy said that with all the time spent readying the first releases, he hasn’t really had time to plan for what beers come next. The IPA and English mild — along with the addition of a Belgian-style blonde ale — are destined to become house beers always on tap. The wheat beer will be variable, rotating through different style profiles.

The two-year goal, according to McCarthy, is for a dozen or so 49th State Brewing beers to be available on tap at all times and for some to be available in area stores. For the time being, however, these beers can only be sampled at the brewhouse.

“This year, you have to come here to experience our beers. We want to bring people to where we live,” McCarthy said. “It’s an exciting thing for our community. It’s really beautiful here; people need to see that.”

Features editor Glenn BurnSilver is the former associate editor at Brew Your Own magazine, where he still contributes timely articles on beer and the making of beer. Contact him at 459-7510.


25 May, 2011