The Beer Blog

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the Akron Beacon Journal beer blog has moved. The new site is www.ohio.com/blogs/the-beer-blog/. Same news content. Just a different site and format. The newspaper added a new feature today (April 5) allowing people to subscribe by email again. But you have to visit the new site and sign up anew. The email service should work — but it’s untested so far. So please let me know if there is a problem. This will be the last post on the old site. Thanks for reading, Rick Armon.

Drink Up Columbus reports that Zauber Brewing Co. in Columbus will unveil its first beer, a German-style hefeweizen called Vertigo, tonight (March 15) at the Jury Room. Owner and brewer Geoff Towne plans to have an official opening later this month, the website says.

Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon plans to become the first craft brewer in Ohio to can its beer. Fat Head’s, which is opening a production brewery in suburban Cleveland, has purchased a small, used canning line from Upslope Brewing Co. in Boulder, Colo. The initial plan is to can its Belgian-style beers and possibly some others, brewer and co-owner Matt Cole said. (Fat Head’s will still bottle, too.) “I think canning is pretty hot right now and I’ve been impressed with the quality of beer I’ve been tasting in cans,” he said. Cole admitted he — like many other craft beer fans — has been skeptical about cans. But he noted that canned beer has won medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and that many well-respected breweries, including Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, are either already canning or have announced plans to start. Not to mention the other benefits. For example, cans protect beer better from light and shipping costs are less. Cole said he’s interested to find out how the Ohio market receives craft beer in a can. While it’s commonplace on the West Coast and in Colorado, craft beer cans are still an emerging trend here. “As long as the quality of the beer is great, people aren’t going to care what kind of container it’s in,” Cole said. He’s still deciding what size can. But Fat Head’s, which also has a brewpub in North Olmsted, may sell four-packs of 12-ounce cans, he said. Meanwhile, work is progressing at the new production brewery. Fat Head’s is still about three weeks out from firing up the brewhouse, Cole said. You can follow the progress at the Fat Head’s Brewer’s Blog by clicking here.

Mt. Carmel Brewing Co. in suburban Cincinnati is releasing a 12-pack sampler called the “Porch Pack.” The sampler, which will be available soon across Ohio and in Kentucky, features Nut Brown Ale, Amber Ale, Blonde Ale and India Pale Ale. “Fans wanted more of our beers — that’s the only reason we developed the Porch Pack,” Mike Dewey, brewer and owner, said in a prepared statement. “But this will also introduce folks to our craft in newer territories.” Mt. Carmel calls itself Cincinnati’s oldest microbrewery. “In Cincinnati, we re-established the frontier of craft brewing,” Dewey said. “The Porch Pack is just another way we’re continuing to push it forward.”

After trying Ghost Scorpion Lager, Micah Siegmund lost the capacity for speech and coherent thought. The beer — made with two of the hottest peppers in the world, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and ghost chilies — was that hot. “Quite literally the hottest thing that has ever passed my lips,” Siegmund, 37, of Lewis Center, wrote in a review on Ratebeer.com. “After exploding into my mouth and making me see stars, I could track the progress of the liquid fire from my lips to my tongue, throat, esophagus and stomach.”

Ghost Scorpion Lager was created by the Elevator Brewing Co. and CaJohns Fiery Foods to satisfy pepper freaks at the Fiery Foods Weekend in Columbus last month. But the beer, originally served on draft with red pureed peppers still floating in the liquid, turned out to be too hot even for many chili heads.

Called undrinkable by some, Ghost Scorpion has quickly garnered a national reputation as possibly the hottest brew ever made. Both the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper and ghost chili far exceed 1 million on the Scoville heat index. For comparison, jalapeños rank anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale. “We thought, why don’t we go over the top and make it wicked hot for this pepper festival,” said Jay Taylor, who handles sales and marketing for the brewery.

The brewers had to wear masks and rubber gloves when handling the dry chilies, which were steeped in the beer. The beer was taste-tested every day. Taylor and others initially didn’t think it was hot enough. So they pureed more scorpion and ghost peppers and added them. “Our big worry was that somebody was going to down it at the festival and say, ‘You guys are chumps. That’s not even hot,’ ” Taylor said.

Mission accomplished.

“It has a great front lager taste and then it hits the back of your mouth and continues to burn all the way down and gives you a pretty good belly burn, too,” said John “CaJohn” Hard, founder of CaJohns Fiery Foods in Westerville. “I’ve never really had anything that when it got to my stomach created that kind of burn. It’s got a wonderful flavor. It’s got the flavor of beer and the flavors of the chilies but it has that belly burn.”

Elevator brought a firkin — a small cask of beer — to the event the first day. Only a handful of people were able to drink an entire 4-ounce sample. Some folks got sick. “It was so hot they asked us to not bring the firkin back the second night,” Taylor said. Instead, the brewery brought 12-ounce bottles, considered less hot because the draft beer was unfiltered and had those bits of pureed peppers. (Elevator had to hand-bottle the beer, since workers were worried about the chilies contaminating their regular bottling equipment.)

Siegmund, who tried both the draft and bottled versions, said the bottled was easier to drink. “While still scathingly hot, it is nowhere near the vertigo-inducing concoction I drank out of the cask,” he said.

Hard took some Ghost Scorpion to the National Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show in New Mexico this month. Even at a gathering of heat seekers, no one was able to finish a bottle, he said. Hard offered this advice for anyone who wants to try it: “Get it very cold and start with a good deep drink, but hang on. And hopefully you can take another drink.”

Elevator made only a small batch of Ghost Scorpion. West Point Market in Akron expects to have 24 bottles — which feature a green scorpion on the label — to sell starting Friday night. The beer also is available at select stores in the Columbus area. There’s a good chance Elevator will make another small batch. But the brewery may scale back the heat next time, Taylor said.

CaJohns Fiery Foods is turning the remaining draft beer into Ghost Scorpion Lager Hot Sauce. The limited edition sauce should be available in Columbus in the next few weeks. “We need to challenge the Heat Seekers [personalities on the Food Network] to come and drink this beer,” Hard said. “It’s an experience. Like nothing I’ve ever had before.”

The West Point Market in Akron is adding an extra incentive for homebrewers to enter its first “Brew My Beer Ohio Homebrew Challenge.” The grocery will hand out cash prizes to the top brewers. The first-place winner will receive $1,000, a trophy and have their beer brewed and bottled by Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. in Akron. The beer will be sold at West Point Market and the Winking Lizard Tavern. The second-place winner will receive $500. There are cash prizes for the 10 best beers. The grocery announced the competition last month. As reported earlier, the contest is open to any Ohio homebrewer. Entries must be received at the grocery by 5 p.m. July 11, along with a $5 entry fee per beer. To view the entry form and official rules — including all the nitty-gritty details about how the judging will be done and the types of bottles accepted — click here.

Buzzbin magazine has a feature highlighting the arrival of Columbus Brewing Co. in Northeast Ohio. The brewery recently started distributing in the Cleveland and Akron areas. Columbus has earned rave reviews from hopheads because of its Hop Odessey program the last couple of years. But owner and brewmaster Eric Bean wants the brewery to be known for more than just hoppy beears. “We all really love what we do and are proud to be doing it in Ohio,” he told Buzzbin. “I guess that people out there who really only know us for our hoppy beers will be surprised to discover that we have a soft spot in our hearts for clean, crisp German-style lagers.” To read the full story, click here.

Elevator Brewing Co. took home the top prize as the “best brewery” at the Akron Art Museum’s Art of Ale beer tasting on Friday. A select group of judges handed out three awards: best brewery, best beer and most unique brewery. Elevator, both a production brewery and brewpub in Columbus, brought along Dark Horse, Three Frogs IPA, Bleeding Buckeye and Horny Goat to the event, held in the museum lobby. “We’re honored, obviously,” owner Dick Stevens said afterward. “I’ve always felt we’ve been the Rodney Dangerfield of the brewing industry.” The best beer honor went to Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. of Akron for its Old Leghumper cask conditioned with Italian roast coffee. Rockmill Brewery in Lancaster, which makes Belgian-style ales, won the most unique brewery award. Other breweries attending were: Main Street Grille & Brewing Co., Indigo Imp Brewery, Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, Lager Heads Brewing Co. and Ohio Brewing Co. The House of LaRose also provided Goose Island beers.

Chardon BrewWorks & Eatery will hold Brewpalooza starting at 3 p.m. Saturday to raise money for the Chardon Healing Fund, which was created to help the families affected by the deadly shooting at Chardon High School last week. A student opened fire on fellow students, killing three and injuring two others. The Brewpalooza will feature the following bands: 3 p.m., Brandon Karcic; 4 p.m., Polka Revolution; 5 p.m., Terminal Blues Band; 6 p.m., Chardon Polka Band; 7 p.m., In Cahootz; 8 p.m., Leon and the Reckless All-Stars; 9 p.m., Vince Menti; and 10 p.m., Swamp Rattlers. There’s no cost to attend but donations will be accepted. For more details, click here for the Chardon BrewWorks Facebook page.