Recipes
Working Draft Beer Co.’s Keep ‘Em Honest clone
A German-style helles from Working Draft Beer Co., in Madison, Wisconsin.
Gordon Strong’s Märzen
This is a competition beer. It is a bit bigger, sweeter, and maltier than many modern German Märzen examples, which judges often prefer.
Viking Blood (Cherry Melomel)
This is a cherry melomel named after the seafaring Nordic legends — the Vikings — from where it originated. So, if not for anything, make this mead simply for the lore. The honey, sourced from hives kissed by Nordic breezes lends its essence, while the cherries impart a tartness that balances its sweetness with a tantalizing acidity.
Peach Melomel
There are many ways of making a stone fruit mead, and they range from using fresh fruit to buying canned fruit, to juicing your fruit or buying the juice itself. This peach melomel recipe, which will be using canned peaches and Tupelo honey, is just one of the many ways to make a peach mead. It’s a good introductory recipe that is relatively easy and results in tasty mead. Feel free to substitute fresh peaches if they are in season.
Boulton’s Stout
This is the first homebrew recipe presented in the Maltose Falcons newsletter archive from January 1978 and it was an award-winning recipe from Dr. John Boulton of the San Andreas Malts. The quote from longtime beer author and owner of The Beverage People in Santa Rosa, Byron Burch: “An excellent, very rich stout made by Dr. John Boulton of the Malts. After sufficient lip-smacking on my part, he was good enough to send me his recipe and allow me to make it public. This is a true stout lovers (sic) stout.”
Dougweiser
You cannot tell the story of the Falcons without having Doug King in the middle of it. In Doug’s years in the club, the legend of Dougweiser and his habit of throwing anything into the mash tun (with consideration) became the stuff of legends. This is the last batch of Doug’s eponymous beer he brewed before his death driving to the Northern California Homebrewers Fest. It was brewed on July 4, 1999 and was kegged on August 10. (For readers obsessed with gear in pursuit of perfection, Doug brewed world class lagers on his kitchen stove and used a ZapPap bucket setup for lautering.)
Maltose Falcons 20th Anniversary Old Survivor Old Ale
20th Anniversary Old Survivor Old Ale by Bruce Brode, Brian Vessa, Jerry Macala, Dave Janss (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.070 FG = 1.015IBU = 25 SRM = 28 ABV = 7.2%
The Maltose Falcons 50th Anniversary Festbier
The Falcons and Sierra Nevada have had a long history and close relationship over the years. Something about members of the Grossman clan and others learning how to brew while in high school here in Los Angeles with supplies from John Daume. (Things are foggy and who knows about statute of limitations!) But seriously, both the Falcons and Sierra Nevada have been around since the start of this crazy “good beer” thing we all enjoy, so it’s only right that we joined forces with them for our 50th anniversary beer. Also, this brew session came about after a number of discussions and one really big kick in the pants by Marty Velas, “youngest President in club history” and Owner/Brewer of Fanatic Brewing Company in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Marty convinced Sierra Nevada to brew a festbier because we’re celebrating 50 years, it’s our Oktoberfest, and the club really was founded with a deep and abiding love of lagers as demonstrated by Merlin Elhardt and Cal Moeller’s obsession with them.
Browniewine
Volume-wise, booze-wise, and holy crap-wise, this still remains our “biggest” collaboration to date (only Sierra Nevada brews more beer per year in terms of our collabs). This one all happened on a whim as Allen Tracy, a member with family in the Paso Robles area, stopped in at the brewery and had a palaver with Brewmaster Matt Brynildson about brewing a special beer. Matt said, “whatever you want to make” and this crazy thing came about from two suggestions “a really big brown ale” and “rum barrels.” The recipe design was created by Steve Cook and then brewed by a large crowd of Falcons. (We say brewed, but really the whole place is computer-controlled so they mostly ran around like barely trained monkeys after eating partially fermented bananas.)
This beer went on to be a surprising hit with the beer ticket crowd who would clamber for a chance to get a taste whenever Firestone rolled it out for things like their Firestone Walker Invitational.
Hanabi Lager Co.’s Haná Pilsner clone
Hanabi Lager is quickly gaining an international reputation for developing a new class of Pilsner- and helles-style lagers that are rich and complex in flavor, unusually so for these lager categories, into which they only loosely fit. They focus exclusively on rare and heirloom grains, brewing with them on their custom decoction brewhouse, and presenting them through the pure, cold-fermented lens of lager.
Forgotten Star Brewing Co.’s Whistlestop Oatmeal Stout clone
This stout is rich and robust with a harmonious blend of roasted nuances and a delightful oatmeal sweetness that comes from two unique oat products — Simpsons Golden Naked Oats® and Gambrinus Honey Malted Oats.
New Realm Brewing Co.’s Elani Cold IPA clone
This is the first recipe Geoff Belcher, Head Brewer at New Realm Brewing Co.’s Charleston, South Carolina, location brewed with Elani® as it provides a clean slate for the hop. The resulting beer is bursting with citrus and stone fruit flavors and aromas.
