Recently, a popular local tavern hosted a chili night and offered a beer special for the evening, as a complement. The name of this product: Founders Backwoods Bastard Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Style Ale.

That’s nice. Really, it’s precious.

Because I enjoy ordering a beer in slightly-less time that reading the Manila phone book. Founders Backwoods Bastard Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Style Ale. Really? Amazing.

I seemingly fall short of the type of customer sought by the Founder’s Brewing Company, largely because I feel like a jackass when ordering a beer with that much verbiage and, quite honestly, such a product might have a little too much life for my simple palette. I enjoy my beer uncomplicated (unless there’s apricot in it… oh, sweet, sweet apricot) or I enjoy my beer free. And designer beer is often complicated and expensive.

Now, Schlafly American Pale Ale’s a different story. If there was one more word in the title, I might grow faint, but pulling up a barstool and asking for a Schlafly APA is a relatively straightforward affair and it’s on the pocketbook. If CreativeSaintLouis had an official beer, this would be it. Today, we celebrate its existence by talking to Dan Kopman, bossman of the Schlafly empire on his product.

How long has the APA been a part of the Schlafly line?
APA started its life as Schlafly Expedition Reserve in 2004 as a commemorative beer for the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was very popular. It was an American Pale Ale but not dry hopped. At the end of 2004 we started to work on dry hopping techniques. This work continues to this day and it is the dry hopping method that is part of what makes this beer unique among American Pale Ales.

What went into the development of the product? Was there anything interesting about the creation of this beer?
To continue the above. The key to this beer is a balance between American malted barley and American hops in the bitterness (bitter but not out of balance with the malt character) and big American hop aroma. The signature group of American hops (in this case, Chinnok, Cascade and Athanum) are known for the citrusy character – grapefruit. This is very different to the English hops in our Pale Ale (English Style) – piney. It is important for folks to get this difference. For many years we have purchased our English hops from specific farms in southern England. The sourcing of hops – getting close to the source if very important. The English hops, along with some specialty UK malts and a London Ale yeast are the keys to Pale Ale and our Export IPA. The same can be said for the hops, malt and American ale yeast in Dry Hopped APA and to be released in bottle in 2010, the Hop in the City beer from 2009, our American IPA. To get the hops we went out to Oregon and Washington to secure the necessary hops from specific growers. One of these folks is Aaron Gamache in Toppenish, WA.

Then there is the process work to figure out the dry hopping method; When you boil hops in the wort you extract the bitterness element that provides the bitter flavor. However some of the aroma that comes from the oils in the hops are lost in the steam, flashed off. We add hops at the end of the boil to try to get these but it is tricky. Adding hops on the “cold” side at the end of fermentation is a great way to extract the oils.The trick is how. With hops you have the raw hops. Raw hops are then converted to pellets to preserve freshness and to provide better extract efficiency of the bitterness element in the boiling. We use pellets in boiling. Pellets can then be converted using CO@ to a liquid extract form. The extract is used by larger (and some smaller) brewers for ease in the boiling and even more efficient extraction. The extract can then be fractionated to the bitter element separate from the oils. The oils are sold as PHAs, pure hop aromas. So for dry hopping you have four options. Whole cone, pellets, extract or PHA. Some folks think that, unlike the improved efficiency you get by using a “downstream” product for efficiency on the bitterness element that some of the oil character is degraded in pelletizing. So when we were smaller we began dry hopping with whole hops and we tried some pellets. We like both but I really like the character from whole hops. In a small tank we could put the hops in a mesh bag and put this in that tank of beer. The extract worked because the size of the tank was small. This does not work in a bigger tank. So larger brewer use either pellets or PHA. On other dry hopped beers, Export IPA, American IPA and now Pils we use pellets. But on dry hopped APA we are crazy enough to try to figure out a way to use whole hops. And we have. And we are still working on it. In principle, what we do is this. Because it is not possible to put the whole hops into the tank with the beer, we recirculate the beer through a smaller tank packed with hops. It is kind of like pouring hot water through tea leaves many times over as opposed to using a tea bag. It is a real pain but we do it.

What’s been the community reaction to it? And is it resonating more as a draft beer, or in a bottle? Do you detect a taste difference in the two forms of delivery?
It is the same beer that is in both. We are brewing 120 bbls per week and we split this between keg and bottle. We will admit that freshness is important and that because we are using whole hops there will be slight, very slight difference batch to batch. As we improve the dry hopping method over time we should be able to ensure that big hop aroma. Sales of both draft and bottle increased about 50% last year. Overall our sales grew 30%. That is what I see. This is a beer that I like to drink (along with Pale Ale) because it is a sessionable beer. Not too high in alcohol or bitterness. Sure, it is much more bitter than Pale Ale but not way up there like our American IPA. I think this is the key to a broader acceptance.

Was there a particular target market for the APA?
No.

How sophisticated do think beer lovers have become in recent years? Is there any worry about snootiness along with the new knowledge?
I think beer drinkers will drink well made beers that are true to style and that they like. I think real knowledge is a great thing. The wine business is full of what I would call “smoke and mirrors.” Our approach to the beer world is the same as food. Really good ingredients from farmers that you know. Solid preparation. Nouns not adjectives.

On the same tip, how complicated are beers going to get? In effect, are we looking at Bosnian fruit beers that only release during two weeks of May?
If I have anything to do with it “fun” will be the driving force behind development of unknown beer styles. I am really not big on some of what is going on; it strikes me more as cult of personality than beer. More effort is spent coming up with the clever name and the hype than the beer. We are about at the edge of brewing known European and American beer styles. So, if we come up with new styles on our own or in collaboration with others it will start with a group of brewers getting together and thinking, lets have some fun in the brewery today and look what ingredient I found.

What if I said the Schlafly APA is my favorite beer in the market, right now?
That would make me happy. That is the idea. Remember also that freshness is key. Our focus on local really helps. Eighty-percent of all our sales are StL Metro and the next 10% is within 100 miles and the last 10% is within 300. Think of hop aroma this way. If you want big hop aroma in a session beer (less than 6.5% abv) it is likely to be local. If you are OK with big bitterness along with some hop aroma then beer that has travelled further will stand up OK.

NOTES

My friend and sometimes-coworker Matt Thenhaus knows beer. He enjoys drinking beer. And he doesn’t have a problem ordering a beer with 30 words in the title. And because of these traits, he is the Beertender of the Riverfront Times blogs.

CreativeSaintLouis.com is new and grassroots. It’s supported by the those buying into the Community Journalist Project, which you can read about at Thomascrone.com.