Beer-brewing pals craft a winner
Hobbyist and pro concoct a winning India Pale Ale
Tim
Blangger
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October 17, 2007
On the face of it, it's an odd combination. Imagine
a professional chef collaborating with a barbecue
enthusiast. Or a NASCAR pit crew member joining
forces with a shade-tree mechanic.
That was the idea behind a professional-amateur
collaboration organized last weekend by the biggest
beer contest in the country, the Great American Beer
Festival.
A Lehigh Valley duo took gold in the Pro-Am
category. Chris Bowen, a Bethlehem home brewer, and
Beau Baden, brewmaster for the Allentown and
Bethlehem branches of the Brew Works, collaborated
on an English-style India Pale Ale. They beat out 47
others in the category.
The idea for the team started at a beer dinner this
summer at the Bethlehem Brew Works restaurant and
brew pub.
Bowen, 40, a financial planner whose hobbies include
jazz guitar, woodworking and electronics, started
chatting about beers with Baden, 36.
"Chris mentioned that he had a few award-winning
beers," recalls Baden. "I asked to look over what he
had. He brought in a few beers to taste, but he
didn't have the [IPA] we eventually brewed. I just
felt the recipe was what we were looking for, for
both the competition and for the restaurant.
"Sometimes, home brewers get a little over the top
and while what they make is interesting, it doesn't
work well in a brew pub setting. We didn't want
something dumbed down. We wanted something with a
lot of flavor."
Bowen was planning to attend the Great American Beer
Festival in Denver anyway, so the idea of entering
one of his beers appealed.
The two began collaborating on the entry, eventually
using the brewing facilities at the Allentown Brew
Works, which opened this summer.
Adjusting the home-brewing recipe for a much larger
batch was the critical problem, says Baden. "Chris
kept really good records, so we were able to tell
how he brewed it. But you just can't multiply some
numbers and make 500 gallons." It is a process
brewers call "scaling out," or translating the
critical ingredient amounts from a small to a large
batch.
The ingredients were also slightly different from
the ones Baden normally uses. "We normally use North
American barley, but Chris wanted us to use a
British malted barley."
The result was quite close to the small-batch brews
Bowen made at home.
"I'm a British beer fan," says Bowen. "That's my
forte. Most people in this country like
American-style pale ales, but in England, they're
more refined and reserved, much like British culture
itself."
They offered the brew, with the slightly mundane
name of Pro-Am IPA, for sale at the Allentown and
Bethlehem brew pubs.
The brewers then took several bottles and a small
keg of the IPA to Denver for the contest. This was
the second year the festival has offered the pro-am
category. While most categories in the event are
style specific -- American-style lagers are pitted
against other American-style lagers -- any style of
brew can be entered into the pro-am category.
The contest had very specific requirements. The home
brewer must be a member of the American Homebrewing
Association, and the team must use his or her
recipe, which must have won an award at an AHA event
in the previous year. The brewing must be done at a
professional facility, assisted by a professional.
Bowen attended the awards ceremonies in Colorado
with Baden and members of the Fegley family, which
owns the brew pubs. When the gold medal was
announced, "I was in complete shock," says Bowen.
Bowen ended up accepting the award for both himself
and Baden, who could not work his way quickly enough
through the large crowd early Saturday afternoon. "I
waited as long as I could," Bowen said. The pro-am
award was given first, before any of the other 75
categories at the festival.
The festival is considered the premiere competition
among beer professionals, one that draws entries
from both major beer producers and smaller craft
breweries. Pabst Brewing Company, based in
Woodbridge, Ill, won the large brewing company of
the year award. Bob Newman, who lives in Lower
Macungie Township and runs Pabst's brewery mostly
from his home office, was also named large brewer of
the year.
Eleven other breweries in Pennsylvania received
gold, silver or bronze medals in this year's
competition. Regional winners include Stoudt's
Brewing Co., based in Lancaster County, which won a
silver for its Wiezen and a bronze for its Ofest, a
Vienna-Style lager.
Harrisburg's Troegs Brewing Co. won a gold for its
TroegenatorPA, a Bock beer, and Downingtown's
Victory Brewing Co. won a gold for its Festbier, a
Marzen or Octoberfest style, and a silver for its
Prima Pils, a German-style Pilsner.
Bowen and Baden are now back in the Lehigh Valley,
where it's still possible to buy a glass of their
winning beer. Bethlehem Brew Works sold out but the
Allentown pub has about a keg left, says Jeff Fegley,
who helps run the restaurants with other members of
his family.
Another batch of the Pro-Am IPA is being brewed at
the Allentown facility and should be done in about
four weeks. The ale involves a dry hopping step,
where hops are placed in the final fermentation of
the ale, a process that requires some added brewing
time. Most ales are brewed in about 10 days.
"It was a good recipe and Beau really helped out
with it," Bowen said. "I got a chance, for a guy who
makes five gallons at a time, to make 500. That was
the biggest thrill for me."
tim.blangger@mcall.com 610-820-6722
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