G'day Boomboomers

It's ok to get yer children, wimmin folk and particularly your livestock out in the open again! 

The Dude has left town!!

He who is unbelievably hairy was last seen proudly riding off into the distance on his racing yak with a keg of The Dude's Ginger Mick firmly lodged into his armpit hair. Here's a picture of the Dude at the Boomers Bar sampling The Mick with great delight.....

Oh The Dude did want me to correct my last statement about his obvious man (?) love for everything Michael Jackson. He told me he's no longer in the grip of Jackson mania and hasn't been for weeks. He's apparently discovered Michael Bolton and is currently trying to find 8 track player to install in his racing yak. I've said it before. The Dude is nothing if not deep!

So what's happening at Boomers post The Dude? Well J Master J The Brew Maestro has finally returned to brewing. Like a Ninja he returned to the brewery and whipped out a quick batch of Pilsner currently dubbed Boomers Smashed PILS. As a result of the J Masters return Fluffy had to be sent to a safe house and her whereabouts is being kept a close secret. 

Again with great stealth JMJ disappeared and left his brew minion (Neil) to slowly and painfully manage the fermentation process which took about 2 weeks. Having met the SG target the Smashed PILS went into chill mode awaiting kegging and forced carbonation. All of which had to wait for the next appearance of the Ninja like JMJ. Then without as much as a "hello I'm back" the black pyjama clad Ninja brewer returned and kegged his brains out! The result?

Another JMJ masterpiece. Check the clarity!! And who's a happy lil Ninja?

So why a Pilsner? Well JMJ tells me he had two agendas. The first was to prove our pilot brewing process was on track and could produce a beer with exceptional clarity and the second was to prove our ability to produce a good Pilsner, which he tells me is often one of the harder brews to get right. Having achieved both goals his bloody head is likely to swell yet again and I'm just waiting to hear what title upgrade he'll want this time. Probably HRH JMJ, Brewing Miastro, POQ, RSVP, VD & SCAR! Bloody Kiwi's!

So having produced a Pilsner you are of course eager to find out more by reading...................yeah!!!!................the educational bit............shut up & just read on....

Pilsner 

In 1838 the citizens of Plzen, Bohemia (The Czech Republic now) saw something that would make any beer lover cringe. The brew masters of the town rolled 36 barrels of ale out into the street, opened them up, and spilled the beer in the main square of town letting it run into the ditches and finally into the nearby Radbuza River. The brewers had decided that the ale had become undrinkable. Even for breweries of Plzen with over 800 years of brewing experience, issues of contamination could still come up. Ales were prone to being spoiled either by wild yeasts or bacteria.

A New Beginning 

This time, though, would be different. The brewers gathered after watching their work run down the street and decided that they to take drastic measures to make sure that this would not happen again. By this time, brewers in Bohemia and across Europe had learned of the importance of yeast to the brewing process. There was some debate about whether fermentation was a living process or the by-product of the death of yeast, but there was no question that this mysterious little life form had a big affect on the character of a beer.

They hired Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer, to come to Plzen and teach them the German lagering method of brewing. Legend holds that in 1840 a monk smuggled some of the precious lager yeast out of Bavaria. Whether this is the case or not, when Groll arrived in Plzen there was a supply of lager yeast available. He also found a nearby source of excellent Saaz hops, a Noble variety of hops that he would have been familiar with from Germany. The brewers of Plzen had a well that supplied very soft water. With caverns carved for lagering in the local sandstone, the stage was set for lager brewing.

A New Recipe 

Using light barley that was only partially malted and none of the roasted or smoked barley that the German brewers were using, Groll added generous portions of the fragrant Saaz hops to his brew. On October 5, 1842 he and the other brewers of Plzen gathered for their first taste of the new beer.  

A New Beer

When they tapped the cask, they saw a beer unlike any other that they or anyone else in the world had seen. The color of straw, it was light and clear. One could see right through it to the other side of the Bohemian crystal glass. Still cool from the lagering tunnels, this was a surprisingly refreshing beer, not dark and heavy like the ales that they were used to.

The brewers of Plzen knew that they had a great new beer here. Thanks to the Radbuza River, not only did news of this new beer from Bohemia spread, but so did a lot of the beer itself. Plzen, or Pilsner, beer was born.

Many Copies, One Original

Since then Pilsner Urquell has become one of the most copied beers in history. So much so that the brand name – Pilsner - became the name of the new style.

Aside from improvements brought about though advances in refrigeration and sanitation little has changed about the way that Pilsner is brewed. There are many different variations on the recipe but most contain lightly kilned malt and Noble hops varieties, usually Saaz. Often breweries will soften water from their local sources in an attempt to replicate the naturally occurring soft water of the Plzen brewery. Doing so enhances the delicate flavors of the grain.

Other variations have been made to cut costs as breweries allow the bottom dollar to dictate. Such variations include replacing part of the barley with rice. Rice is cheap and contributes little flavor or aroma to the brew. With the flavors contributed by the barley cut the balancing hops can be cut too driving cost even lower. The result is a beer with an equal amount of alcohol but less flavor and aroma making it seem watery when compared to other 100% barley pilsners. Though the breweries that produce these beers continue to call them pilsner, some have assigned a new style category to describe them – American Light.

Whatever you call it – Bohemian Pilsner, German Pils, American Light – Pilsner is easily the most popular beer in the world.

So what's next for Boomers Brewery? Will the fabled Vanilla Mocha Porter float to the top of the beer brewing barrel? Will J Master J disappear yet again like a Ninja on speed? Will Fluffy ever get out of the safe house? Will The Dude ever work out that Yaks aren't 12 volt? For answers to these questions and more stay tuned!!!

Meanwhile check this out..... 

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