Here's the skinny: Big Red Beard brewed up some test batches of a simple Pale Ale. We're talking Mt. Hood hops, along with two-row pale, crystal 10 and crystal 20 malts.
Mt. Hood is a mild, smooth hop with a little bit of spice to it. It's commonly used by homebrewers in German style beers as it's flavor and aroma contributions tend to be on the mild side. It's a clean hop, and I won't have you sullying it with your fast cars and short pants. Damn kids.
Pale Ale malt is pretty basic stuff. Get it? Because it's a base malt? ...Eh, who asked you, anyway? Anyway, it was a toasty flavor well suited to pales, so it's a good thing they're called, uh, pale. Crystal are malts that add sweetness and body to beers, but are very common. The "10" and "20" denote how long the malts are roasted for, with a lower number indicating a milder flavor. Something like a 75 (or above) would mean a richer, toffee-like flavor, so this beer is clearly intended to have a pretty light flavor and color. Also, dogs say woof.
Anyway, we're doing a side-by-each of two versions of this same beer. The difference, I'm sure you've guessed by now, is in the yeast. In fact, the reason the recipe was kept so simple was to profile the yeasts.
Oh, and for the sake of posterity, both versions of the beer clock in at 4.5% ABV. That way, aliens that find the ruins of our civilization will be able to know by blood alcohol on this very day! For my weight and height, they can get the numbers for their calculation from the presumably irradiated remains of my Wii Fit.
American II pictured, but Northwest really was identical.
Pale with American II, after being re-suspended prior to cracking the bottle, pours quite a cloudy (as expected) orange-yellow. Although there's not too too much head, it does manage to stick around for a little while. The smell is... well, it smells like a basic, mild pale ale. What did you expect here?
In many ways, this beer comes off like a Hefeweizen. The flavor is light and somewhat citrusy (like orange-melon), and I get some good spice and some earthiness (though muted) that I attribute to the Mt. Hood hops. Overall, the beer stays pretty light as it warms up, and even the aftertaste remains mild. It's refreshing, but the fruit and spice is pretty light, so it's nothing revelatory. It would probably drink a lot better on a warmer day. Maybe on a riding lawn mower... the hallmark of a Hefeweizen. I should stress this beer comes across as even less fruity than that style typically is... but I can't help but compare them. Sources from deep within the Big Red Beard compound tell me earlier batches with the same yeast were inconsistent (and more sour), but I can only say what I get out of this batch.
Moving on to the Northwest yeast test batch, appearance-wise, these are brothers from other mothers. Same cloudy, same color, same head behavior. There's a slight difference in the smell, where I think this one comes off a little sweeter... but it still has that basic pale ale aroma. Once tasted, the sweetness in the smell is apparent in a fruitier flavor, but more like cherry than citrus this time. It's also lighter on the tongue, and a bit more crisp. It's also markedly less spicy and earthy, replaced by a sweet maltiness. This seems consistent with my reading up on Northwest yeast, and you can imagine how glad I am to not feel like a D student right now. Earlier batches of this beer were more consistent than American II. Whether that's the fault of the yeast or some other factor remains an unsolved mystery.
There are merits to both batches. American II has a little more flavor in terms of fruit and spice, Northwest comes off as a bit more drinkable and has some nice malt on the front and back. Conversely, American II feels slightly heavier and (for now) unseasonable, whereas Northwest straddles being too mild for my taste and too light in mouthfeel, even if it's clearly the more polished of the two batches. Amazing how different a beer can be with just one component switched out.
Quick addendum... because I actually wrote this paragraph last. Not that you would have known, but I want to build our trust treehouse on a foundation of honesty. Treehouses have foundations, right? Anyway: although I didn't have a full bottle to play with, this same beer was made with yet a THIRD yeast strain. When made with "Denny's Favorite", the beer became remarkably salty, which is practically the opposite of a Hef. Ok, maybe not exactly, but my point is this beer really ran the gamut with just a simple change.
On the craft scene, I don't think many could argue that the hops are the ingredient most often thrust into the spotlight. I could probably, off the top of my head, name you five craft beers with the kind of hop used right in the name of the beer. While juggling. And I don't even know how to juggle. That's how hop-centered craft culture is. This is also pretty evident in the IBU arms race undertaken by so many brewers. A kind of mutually assured destruction of your palette. I would wager that, outside of homebrewers and the staunchest of beer geeks, yeast is an afterthought (with the exception of beers billed as containing wild or funky yeasts). Here, we have
Today, we salute you, oh noble eukaryotic micro-organic creature. Even lay drinkers know you make alcoholic beer possible, but too often we forget the importance of your flavoring powers in even your most basic strains. Today, we have been reminded that yeasts can bring out or mute the subtleties of the hops and malts in a beer, and definitely impart their own unique characteristics on what we taste when we drink. Yes, for those about to ferment AND flavor... we salute you!
Oh yeah... and next time we're going to talk about beer vs the law. I will not end this by asking a question in which I request you tell us your stories about yeast.
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