Brew Season and Red Storm

It’s been a while since last we heard from our brewers… some might even be questioning the existence of Forbidden Peak Brewery… but just like our friend Squatch, the true believers never lose faith.


In the first nine months of 2011 we’ve seen the construction of a brand new northern brewery branch (more to come on this soon), we’ve sent beverage research teams to Russia, Africa, South America, and across the U.S., and we’ve been gathering our brewing inspiration through life’s many pleasures. What we haven’t been doing much of is brewing.

With the beginning of fall the weather is turning, the football is on, the pumpkins are almost ready, and so Forbidden Peak Brewing would like to announce the official opening of BREW SEASON!!

Red Storm 2.0
Last weekend the FPB Seattle branch kicked off brew season with a new version of Red Storm, our interpretation of an Irish red ale. Our goal: keep much of the original flavor of the Red Storm (malty, caramel character), but make the flavors a little deeper and improve the clarity.

Aim 1: Deeper Flavor

The Red Storm starts with pale and crystal malts, with an addition of roasted barley for a hint of roastiness and the desired red color. For this batch we used a handful of dark brown sugar at the end of the boil to make the flavors a little warmer and give the alcohol level a slight lift. Northern brewer and cascade hops were used for the boiling hops, and fuggles hops were used for the aromatics.

Aim 2: Clear the Storm

The essence of Red Storm 1.0 was a yummy red ale with a very cloudy view through the pint glass. We thought we’d see if we could keep the base flavors for Red Storm 2.0 but improve the clarity. In addition to irish moss in the boil (a natural clarifying agent), this morning we added gelatin to the secondary fermentation cycle. Gelatin helps grab all of the sediment that naturally occurs in the beer and drag them to the bottom of the fermenter.

The second tweak will be to keep the beer in the fermentation cycle for a full three weeks (instead of two). The goal here is to give the gelatin a full week to coagulate and sink, and then to transfer to beer to a third fermenter to leave as much sediment behind as possible.

For a third clarifying strategy, we’ll be cooling the third fermenter for a few hours before kegging the batch. We’ll be force carbonating on the keggerator (hallelajah for not having to clean and bottle 48 beers!), so a little loss of yeast with three transfers and cooling the batch shouldn’t hurt anybody.


The brew is back in the brewery working away, and we’ll let you know how it turn out. Luckily it's still warm here in Seattle, so the space heater isn't working too hard. Time to get outside and enjoy our last 70 degree weekend!

Cheers to you all – we’ll be keeping you in the loop with our upcoming adventures during the greatest season of all – brew season! Coming soon – the return of the Arctic Beaver and pics from the new high-tech Juneau brewery.

2011 Calendar

Introducing the 2011 Forbidden Peak Wall Calendar. Below are the images from the calendar. Please contact us if you would like a printed calendar for your home/ office.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

The Latest Adventures of Brew Crew Members Ben and Liz

Dear Forbidden Peak Brewmaster,

Once again my thirst has caused me to travel the world in search of frosty brews while spreading the word about Forbidden Peak! The first leg of my journey brought Liz and I into international waters as we made a courageous crossing of the great sea known as 4th lake in the Adirondacks. Because of the treacherous nature of the voyage we chose the party barge named "Blue Lightning" for our journey because of its sterling reputation of seaworthiness. The Forbidden Peak flag was flown high as we successfully arrived on the shores of Old Forge, NY. After hours of searching nary a drop of Forbidden Peak Beer could be found so we succumbed to our thirsts and sampled the Adirondacks own products from Saranac Brewery. After finding that the Adirondacks not only produce fine chairs but delicious brews to enjoy while lounging in them we decided to go in search of the source of this deliciousness.

The second leg of our journey brought us out of the wilderness and into the bustling metropolis of Utica, NY. Here we found the home of Utica Club and Saranac Beer, a brewery that not only survived those dark days of prohibition but miraculously put fresh beer on the shelves just hours after that terrible law was repealed. We were able to infiltrate the brew house to gather information that could be helpful to the brewers at Forbidden Peak. Unfortunately all brew secrets were either written down on napkins that were destroyed on laundry day or promptly forgotten following the post tour sampling. While Saranac does produce several delicious beers I can report, after grueling intelligence gathering, that they have not discovered pumpkin OR jaegar technology!

The third leg of our journey brought us on a quest for fellow lovers of great flavor. We found the greatest source of flavors after crossing the Green Mountains in my home state of Vermont. As a devout Vermonter it was quite thrilling to make the pilgrimage to the Ben & Jerrys Plant. Not since visiting the Forbidden Beak Brewery in Seattle have I seen such an inspiring facility. Inside we saw where deliciousness is created; technology so advanced that photography was not permitted. Rather than risk a lifetime ban from such a beautiful place I subtly flashed the FPB flag amongst the pints before exiting to the photography-friendly scoop pavilion where the flag could be proudly presented for all to enjoy with their ice cream. Unfortunately I visited on a Saturday when neither Ben nor Jerry were there to hear my pitch for Jaeger Squirrel icecream... We had to settle for Chunkey Monkey.

FORBIDDEN KGB

The creative minds at Forbidden Peak have once again stumbled across a recipe worthy of introduction to the masses. Forbidden KGB is a Kolsch style ale with some very special additions- fresh Devil's Club Buds and Spruce Tips. The crew at FPB went on an ingredient gathering mission this past May in SE Alaska to investigate some local flavors for our beer. Devil's Club is in the ginseng family and has been a valuable source of medicinal qualities for SE residents for ages. Eaten raw, the buds have a flavor described as a "spicy celery". The crew wasn't sure a spicy celery beer would taste all that great, but after extensive testing the perfect compliment for Devil's Club was discovered - Spruce Tips. The two flavors combine to create an impressively smooth but flavorful Kolsch style ale. Forbidden KGB is an easy drinker but with enough kick to keep you warm after a long day on the slopes.

Since the introduction of KGB, we have received many inquiries into the origin of the name. There is a very strong Russian influence here in Alaska (you may recall from our Seward's Ice Box story that the US purchased Alaska from Russia) and Russians helped write the story of Alaska's exposure to the rest of the world. Without further ado, here is the story:

Late one evening, amongst the rising mist, Nikolai Ludsveg set out from his small village in Eastern Russia on the vessel “Zharkiy”. Nikolai who days earlier had been jobless and broke was hired by the infamous "Cheka" which was then known as the KGB. His mission was simple: cross the Bering Strait, turn right, follow the coastline and travel many miles until hitting Juneau, Alaska the capital city of the new Alaska. Nikolai was then to infiltrate the community under false pretenses and spy on the state and federal government up close, as the Cheka had few men posted on the eastern seaboard who had yet to see much American activity.

Nikolai immersed himself in the small community and took a job bartending at the Lucky Lady. Nikolai used the bartending gig to learn about this “American culture” and found that bar goers were very open to discuss their most intimate secrets after only a few drinks. One frisky December night, Nikolai met two large men from Skagway and the three fellows talked for hours about beer. Though Nikolai had no brothers of his own, he felt a deep connection with these two new friends and felt a brotherly bond with them. His new friends Squatch and Skookum were upstanding businessman in the Southeast area and well connected in political arenas. Nikolai found them to be a host of information and their monthly poker games held in the basement bar in a hotel called the Bergmann gathered a number of political types. Nikolai soon learned his real love was for America and beer, which caused his weekly dispatches to slip and he eventually quit sending them to Moscow altogether. Spying on the boring and corrupt Alaskan political landscape was of little interest to Nikolai in this new world. The intelligence officials at the KGB quickly wrote him off as dead and laughed at how the dimwit had once tried to explain how beer was more delectable than vodka.

After several months Skookum and Squatch made a business proposal to Nikolai as they sought to expand their brewery operations to the capital city and with Nikolai’s love for brewing he made a perfect match as the plant manager. The most famous beer during his reign was created with Nikolai’s favorite local ingredient- Devil’s Club. Nikolai would often traverse the peaks of SE Alaska carrying only a canteen of water or beer and a satchel filled with Devil’s Club Buds. Nikolai swore these “killer green buds” (Devil’s club buds were and still are called this due to the difficulty in harvesting them off the spiky stalks) had powers to heal aching muscles and gave him energy when he tired.

Remnants of Nikolai's family recently contacted FPB with stories of the signature beer of Nikolai's, which he appropriately named "KGB" (as a secret hint about the true origins of his adventures). Although unable to unearth the original recipe, the creative minds at FPB brainstormed additions to a Kolsch style ale that would put Nikolai's stamp on it. Using detailed tasting logs of the original recipe, the crew is satisfied that old Nikolai would be proud of this latest creation.

So raise your glass with a Forbidden KGB, realizing that sometimes, just like this beer and Nikolai there is more to the story than meets the eye. Cheers and as always remember, BEER IS FUN.

FPB in Argentina

Forbidden Peak Brewery has now hit South America, thanks to John and his adventures in Argentina!

Hola Forbidden Peak,

Living the large life down here....after a couple weeks of hiking around Patagonia I´m finally back to a place with a decent Internet connection. Here are the pics with my FPB gear so far. First two are at Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile. Last one is in the Fitz Roy mountains of southern Argentina. Both places are in in what´s classified as Patagonia. Rugged terrain, that's for sure. No sight of the Jaeger Squirrel but I did catch faint tracks of the elusive StrohChilla. One month down, one to go.

John

John is currently trying to secure a summer internship working on foreign beer relations in Columbia, trying to obtain for Forbidden Peak our first official militant guerilla army - we wish him luck!! If he makes it back with a camera intact, we'll be sure to pass on those pics as well.

As always, send your pictures, stories, and questions to ForbiddenPeak@gmail.com.