The Mockmill 200 And Starting Up Baking With Whole Grains

I recently purchased a Mockmill 200 as well as four varieties of wheat berries. I also got a couple of books so that I wouldn’t be completely reinventing the wheel while trying to learn new skills for baking breads.

For me, the purchase decision on the grain mill came down to the Mockmill 200 or a Komo. When researching the choices they seemed to be fairly even in terms of performance and quality — there are a whole bunch of sites that review and compare the two. I settled on the Mockmill partly due to appearance, and partly due to an aggregate of thoughts from reading about the “pros” and “cons” of each, though frankly there was a good amount of conflicting / contrasting information on both. My feeling is that they’re both quality products and I’m not sure there’s really a “wrong” decision.

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Beer of the Week: Maritime Pacific Dunkelweiss

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Every once in a while you will see a beer style pop up in Seattle that does not get a ton of airplay in the Northwest. Dunkelweizen is one of those that makes a rare appearance. What is a dunklelweizen? Well according to the German Beer Institute, it is this:

Dunkelweizen is the dark version of the regular golden-yellow Weissbier or Weizenbier (more commonly called Hefeweizen in North America), the spritzy, creamy Bavarian wheat beer with pronounced clove, vanilla, banana, apple, bubblegum, and sometimes nutmeg flavors.

Basically a dark wheat beer. Maritime had one on tap a few months back, calling it a dunkelweiss, and I felt the need to try it.

The beer pours cloudy brown in color and kind of looks like a root beer float. There are strong notes of roast and grain with faint hints of smoke and chocolate. The beer hits the plate as creamy with hints of grain before quickly moving into chocolate and roasted notes, reminding me of chocolate milk in both texture and flavor. The finish is odd with a fading chocolate notes, which are pleasant but dominate the beer to the point that nothing else shows. The beer really lacked a distinct fruit and grain profile that you would expect from a wheat based beer and was heavy on the roasted flavors. It was out of balance, but there are definitely times I could see myself drinking this beer because of its flavor profile.

Maritime Dunkelweiss scores a goal with 2 bianconeros out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Bad Jimmy’s Blood Orange And Honey Wheat Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I always temper my expectations when it comes to beers involving blood oranges. Blood oranges are one of my favorite flavors, but when it comes to putting them into beers, you either get so much blood orange flavor that the beer is completely overwhelmed or so little blood orange flavor that it is barely noticeable. As a result of this, I had some apprehension about trying the blood orange and honey wheat from Bad Jimmy’s. The beer clocked in at a hefty 6.5% ABV and 20 IBU.

The beer pours light hazy pale in color with light notes of honey and blood orange peel with hints of wheat in the background. The beer starts out with a light, slightly astringent, bitterness from the blood orange peel before becoming gradually sweeter, first from the blood orange juice and then from the honey before fading out. There are very light grain and orange notes ion the finish, but the beer is lacking much in the way of actual wheat character which is strangely lost despite the lack of bold flavors from the honey or orange. The beer lacked balance and missed out on the chance to elevate itself with a great paring of ingredients.

Bad Jimmy’s Blood Orange And Honey Wheat Ale harvests just 2 combines out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I tend to stay away from the lighter beers, just because they usually lack the depth of flavors that I am looking for when drinking a beer. There are some breweries that I would still try their lighter beers, just because of their track record with making beers that I enjoy. NW Peaks is one of them. So when they released Kaleetan as part of the August Mountainbeers lineup, I was actually looking forward to drinking it.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Kaleetan is a peak close to Snoqualmie pass. It is one of the more impressive peaks in the area and its name means arrow, while others have described it as “matterhorn” (both aptly describing it). It’s a great day climb and/or ski depending on the time of year and conditions. In the summer trails go from Denny Creek to Melakwa lake. Heading up to the summit gully and easy class 3 scrambling can take you to the exposed summit. In winter, source lake is the preferred starting point.

The beer. Kaleetan is an “American Wheat Beer.” It has a wheat base and we used hops that have lemon qualities for the flavor and aroma. We finished off the beer with some lemon zest, enhancing the lemon properties. The result was a light beer with a light/delicate lemon aroma. The aroma is followed by a bready flavor with light herbal notes (a secondary characteristic from the sorachi ace hops). Overall, Kaleetan is an easy drinking wheat ale with light lemon and herbal notes.

The beer pours pale yellow in color with a fizzy white head. The nose is dominated by strong notes of yeast and wheat with touches of lemon interspersed. On the first sip, light notes of grain appear on the front of the beer with a very mild hint of yeast, before moving into slightly dry/tart lemon notes, before finishing with a hint of refreshing bitterness and touches of lemon peel. The beer is light and refreshing but surprisingly complex and it vaguely reminded me of a pilsner and would be perfect on a hot day. I think the beer is complex enough to keep an advanced beer drinker happy and subtle enough to have mass appeal.

NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen climbs to the top and announces its presence with a strong 4 yodels out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Grapefruit IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of my favorite things about IPA’s is the grapefruit/citrus character that the hops bring to the party. I absolutely love the balance that it brings to the beer and delivers an extra layer of flavor. A few months back, Reuben’s did a grapefruit infused IPA. I was a bit skeptical about the beer since most of the other grapefruit based beers were a bit disappointing to say the least. Given Reuben’s track record with IPAs, I figured that this one was worth a shot. The beer was based on their Wheat IPA and then double dry hopped.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color with lots of wheat character on the nose supported by light hop and grapefruit notes. The beer drinks milder than you would expect, starting out very light up front with a grain forward flavor before moving into some pleasant bitterness with notes of light grapefruit that build into a stronger bitter citrus peel flavor. The beer finishes with a tinge of harsh, acidic bitterness on the first couple of sips before mellowing out the further into the beer you get. It isn’t overpoweringly bitter, and it is more acidic bitterness of grapefruit than hop bitterness and it takes a few sips for your palate to adjust to that before you don’t notice it, making the beer feel slightly out of balance at first, before it corrects itself. Despite that fact, this beer was probably the best grapefruit based beer I have had and shows much more depth than previous ones I have consumed.

Reuben’s Grapefruit IPA firmly plants itself with 3 citrus orchards out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Alaskan Brewing Pilot Series Raspberry Wheat

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Alaskan Brewing makes some pretty solid beers, but where they really excel is with their Pilot Series beers. These beers are small production, big beers which usually rate as outstanding brews and in a bunch of cases, age really well. One of their spring Pilot Series beers over the last few years has been their Raspberry Wheat. This beer clocks in at 6.5% ABV and 20 IBU. The beer is not cheap, with a 22 oz. bottle setting you back $9 at your local bottle shop.

From the Alaskan website:

Alaskan Raspberry Wheat is an American-style Wheat Ale with the lively addition of red raspberries during fermentation.

With nearly one pound of real fruit per gallon, Alaskan Raspberry Wheat has the inviting aroma of fresh-picked raspberries and an enticing red hue. The flavor of the raspberries lends a tartness that balances the full-bodied wheat profile and malt sweetness. Bigger than most traditional fruit beers, Alaskan Raspberry Wheat adds an extra kick to its dry and effervescent finish.

The fruit beer style became popular more than 500 years ago with the lambics of Belgium where they brewed with wild yeast and fruit was added to the beer during secondary fermentation. Alaskan Raspberry Wheat follows an American take on this Old World style, highlighting the bright flavors of raspberries.

Years of local demand as a Rough Draft brew and a Silver medal from the 2008 Great American Beer Festival made Alaskan Raspberry Wheat the perfect beer to launch Alaskan’s Pilot Series of limited edition specialty beers.

This limited edition batch of Alaskan Raspberry Wheat is made from glacier fed water, the finest two-row barley, wheat and specialty malts, premium quality European and Pacific Northwest hop varieties, and more than 3,000 pounds of real raspberries.

The tart, sweet flavors and effervescent finish of Alaskan Raspberry Wheat pair best with light foods and desserts including fruit salads, grilled vegetable dishes, light fruit baked goods, crepes, crumbles and warm summer weather.

Berry picking in Alaska can be a busy pastime. With nearly 50 types of wild berry species across the state fruiting throughout the spring, summer and fall, berries have long been a staple in the Alaskan diet. This is also true of the diet of Alaskan black bears. These omnivores load up on rich raspberries and other berries in the late summer before hibernating for the long winters of Alaska. This beer celebrates the natural bounty and fresh flavors of summer in Alaska.

The beer pours reddish amber in color with an off white head. There are strong notes of raspberry with hints of wheat on the nose. The initial sip yields notes of slightly sweet raspberry before becoming drier with a more subtle raspberry profile complimented with notes of yeast and wheat. The finish is long and raspberry dominant, reminiscent of eating fresh fruit (without the seeds!) with a light tartness that lingers pleasantly. The balance is superb – slightly sweet and slightly tart at various times, with plenty of raspberry character, but not so much that it overpowers the subtle wheat and yeast character that exists in this beer. I wish more fruit based beers showed this balance.

Alaskan Raspberry Wheat picks its way through the bushes with a happy 4 Rubus strigosusout of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Wheat IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the most amazing things about Populuxe is, that despite their tiny brew capacity, they manage to put out a wide variety of beers. The generally have around 8 taps on at any given point and still occasionally manage to sneak in new beers once in a while.

They recently released their Wheat IPA and, of course, I had to give it a shot.

The beer pours hazy orange in color and the nose permeates with citrus and lemon with notes of green hops and hints of wheat. The beer has a very interesting flavor profile; lemons dominate the beer at the beginning win a slightly tart way before moving into a completely different set of flavors. Grains appear next and dominate the middle of the beer in a complete change from the citrus heavy beginning, providing a nice change of pace. The beer finishes with just a hint of tannic hops that lingers with a light bitterness mixed in and what tastes like lit could be a small amount of rye at the very end of the beer, probably from the combination of wheat and hops.

Overall this beer is well integrated and refreshing; perfect for a warm summer day, plenty of hops and character to keep it interesting, but light enough that you could easily find yourself going back for more.

Populuxe Wheat IPA sings in at 4 amber waves of grain out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Berrynice Wheat

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Hey another current beer review, I must be slipping. As we enter into the waning days of summer, we still are treated to nice, warm, sunny days in the Northwest and, on those occasions, I want something light and refreshing. Populuxe recently re-released their raspberry wheat, called Berrynice Wheat in their taproom. The beer clocks in at about 5% ABV.

The beer is reddish/amber in color with distinct notes of raspberry on the nose and wheat hidden among the fruit. Berrynice starts out with a distinct wheat kick before quickly moving over to the realm of raspberry – slightly tart with just a hint of mild sweetness, reminding me of a hard candy, with a fruit finish that lingers for a long while, like raspberry syrup on an ice cream sundae. It is an obvious fruit beer without being overpoweringly so, with nice balance and enough wheat character to keep the beer interesting and keep it from being one dimensional. The raspberry becomes more subdued the further into the beer you get, bringing out more of the wheat flavor and making for a very refreshing beer, especially on a warm day.

Populuxe Brewing’s Berrynice Wheat fades out with a warm 3 dog days of summer out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben's Brews Doubloon's India Wheat Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Yay! Another Reuben’s beer review! I admit it, I love their beer and with the ever changing tap list they have and the 5 minute walk to the brewery from the Iron Chef abode, it makes for an easy place to review their beers. One of their recent new additions was their Doubloon’s India Wheat Ale. Clocking in at 50 IBU and 6.9% ABV, I had to give it a shot.

This beer is golden in color with a nice grain and citrus nose – lots of wheat and grapefruit with hints of malt. The initial sip delivers a pleasant grain shot, yielding to grapefruit and citrus peel before finishing long and slightly bitter. Being a wheat beer, it was drier than I expected (think more like a kolsh than a wheat beer in terms of sweetness, not flavor) and showed more hop character than I expected given the IBU. Despite its higher alcohol content, the beer goes down easily and well-balanced, so it could sneak up on you if you are not careful, especially if you find yourself having 2 or 3. This beer is different than most hoppy beers on the market and is a nice change of pace if you are looking for something interesting with a great deal of hop character, but don’t want to blow out your palate with a giant hop bomb.

Doubloon’s IWA from Reuben’s eases into port on a score of 4 Spanish Galleons out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Doubloon’s India Wheat Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Doubloon’s IWA from Reuben’s eases into port on a score of 4 Spanish Galleons out of 5.