High Gravity Beer

by Amanda E. Swennes

Any of us who have ever tried to get really drunk have noticed the availability of 180- or 200-proof grain alcohol. But what about beer? It just seems silly to limit the alcohol content in beer to a meager 6 percent.

Apparently the Georgia legislature agrees.

This past summer, Georgia ouse Bill 645 raised the legal amount of alcohol in malt beverages from 6 to 14 percent. Beer connoisseurs applaud the July 1, 2004, legislation legalizing the sale and distribution of high-alcohol-content beers for Georgia bars, restaurants and liquor stores.

Despite Bible Belt concerns about potential negative effects of legalization, many Georgians and beer lovers say the change was long overdue. Legalization increases convenience for Georgia beer enthusiasts who previously drove to neighboring states such as Tennessee to get their fix of high-gravity beer. Now they stay a little closer to home. Why?

As Nicholas Grannan, of Savannah Distributing, explains it, "Monastery beers have come to Georgia."

St. Benedict founded the Cistercian Order in 1098 and instilled in his followers a tradition of self-sufficiency. Originally brewed by Benedictine monks, many high-alcohol-content beers, such as Chimay, are still produced in European monasteries today. The Belgian monks who brew Chimay, at the Abbey of Scourmont at Chimay, belong to the monastic order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. More commonly known as Trappists, they produced their first brew in 1862 by "respecting the ancient monastic tradition of natural brewing and top-fermentation, followed by refermentation in the bottle," according to Chimay's product label. Chimay is one of only six Trappist breweries in the world, all of which are located in Belgium.

Although there are admittedly distinct differences between a Belgian monastery and a college-town bar, Copper Creek Brewing Company, located in downtown Athens at 140 E. Washington St., also produces its own high gravity-beers.

Matt Buley, Copper Creek's brewmaster, began brewing high-gravity beers by taking the first runnings of the house brews. Buley compares the way he brews Copper Creek's high-gravity beers to making a cup of strong coffee Ð pour the first cup out of the pot before the rest drips down. He takes the first 10 gallons from each seven-barrel (approximately 220-gallon) batch of the regular house brews, such as the I.P.A. (India Pale Ale), Kšlsch and Smoked Porter, and lets the beer age and ferment separately Ð a process which takes about four to six months. Buley's American Barley Wine, which was on tap in mid-October, came from the first runnings of the Pale Ale he made in March of 2004.

Brewing high-gravity beers is the latest of Buley's many beer passions. He calls them his "baby beers," referring to more than just their small keg size.

"Ideally, I'd love to do exclusively that," he says. "But I'd need a bigger facility. Right now, the tank tie-up is entirely too much." Brewing solely high gravity beer requires two to three times the tank capacity he has now. It boils down to a matter of feasibility.

"For me, brewing high gravity beers is more of a science experiment than anything else," he says. "What's nice about high gravity is that I can be more free and liberal with yeast and hop selections to make more assertive beers."

High-Gravity Beer Night at Copper Creek starts every Monday at 6 p.m. and lasts until it's gone. And the high-gravity beers Buley brews usually disappear in about three hours.

At $4 per glass (as opposed to the regular $3.25 pint of standard brew), no special deals apply to the high gravity beer, either. Because Monday is usually a slow day for Copper Creek, Buley says it's worth it to brew the high gravity beer and sell it at a lower price than you'll find in a bottle. Bottled high gravity beers at Copper Creek include Blue-label Chimay (9 percent, $8), Duvel (8.5 percent, $6), and Ommegang (8.5 percent, $4.50).

"Just getting people in to try it and enjoy it makes it worth eating the cost," he says. And his customers are enjoying it quite a bit Ð enough, anyway, for Buley to begin brewing more.

"Matt's trying to stockpile [the first runnings] for a 10-gallon keg," says Courtnee Gorman, the Assistant General Manager of Copper Creek. "Right now, in order to allow as many people as possible to try the high gravity beer, the per-customer limit is usually two, especially if it's a busy night."

When asked whether high gravity beer is just a fad or here to stay, Gorman says they're "definitely here to stay, especially among beer enthusiasts." She says she wouldn't be surprised if Copper Creek reevaluated sales after November and decided to add more selections Ð both in bottles and on draught.

"[High-gravity beer] was big at first, but now it's leveling out. We usually sell more high gravity beer during happy hour," she says. "It's fun every once in a while to try something different."

If you go to Copper Creek for High Gravity Night, you'll usually find the bar lined with the regulars. The first week or two of High Gravity Night, the customers were mostly an older male crowd, not college students. Now, as students experiment with the new brews, the customer mix is balancing out.

Compared to the light beers you'll find most students drinking, high-gravity beer is expensive and has a tremendous amount of complex flavor. Rather than something they'll start drinking on a regular basis, many students see high-gravity beer as a curiosity and an interesting experience.

"I'm not a big dark-beer drinker," says Mike Maudsley, a Biological Sciences major at the University of Georgia. "I'm just kind of experimenting right now with the concept of high gravity beers. It's great to have a change from your usual Bud Light and Miller."

But what about paying the higher prices for high gravity beer? "It's money well spent," he says.

High gravity beer is usually two to three times as expensive as regular beer and much more time-consuming to produce than lower alcohol-content beer.

"It's hard to have a beer yeast survive over 12 or 14 percent because it's meant to ferment at a lower alcohol content," says Owen Ogletree, founder and director of the Classic City Brew Fest. He's also a national beer judge, home brewer and author of the upcoming "Georgia News" column for "Southern Brew News".

After the yeast produces the alcohol, and essentially swims around in its own excretory product, it dies. When the yeast dies, it no longer converts sugar to alcohol and the fermentation process stops.

Many of the Belgian-brewed beers taste sweet and sugary because they're brewed with rock candy. Because fermented sugar becomes alcohol, the rock candy Ð just like what you ate on a stick as a little kid Ð provides a higher alcohol content and gives these beers their distinctive sweetness.

While most non-beer-drinkers assume that the only difference between high gravity beer and regular beer is alcohol content, Ogletree says that's not actually the case.

"It's not the alcohol at all," he says. "It really comes down to flavor. It doesn't taste like alcohol."

For example, Celebrator Double Bock, made near Munich, is only 6.5 percent. "It's a beautiful beer; complex and chocolaty, and it's just a hair over the old six percent legal limit," Ogletree says.

On the other hand, Samuel Adams makes a Triple Bock that's 16 percent. Beers over 16 percent, however, often taste like Worcestershire sauce. Higher content doesn't necessarily mean better beer.

As beer connoisseurs discovered long ago, high gravity beers taste delicious served alongside several varieties of foods, desserts and cheeses because they're carbonated and sweet. Many are comparable to champagne Ð bubbly and packaged in large, dark glass bottles with pressurized cork tops. And, like wine, high-gravity beers only get better with age.

"High gravity beers go really well with food," Ogletree says. "Instead of wine, have a beer -- it's more versatile than wine. What wines go with Mexican food or Indian food?"

Many high gravity beers do.

"They also go very well with desserts," Ogletree says. "For example, Old Rasputin Imperial Stout is strong and intense. It goes well with fruit desserts, chocolate cake, and really just about anything chocolate."

Because it's more expensive than regular light beer, high gravity beer doesn't appeal as much to social drinkers. Not many people, especially college students, are willing to spend $8 or $10 for a single beer, much less enough with which to have a huge party. While some students and Athens residents have had high-gravity tasting parties, these beers are better suited for unwinding at home after a long day.

"They're really great for relaxing in front of the TV," says Darrell Rainey as he buys a bottle of Duinen-Tripel at Five Points Bottle Shop. "But even 13 percent is too much alcohol. It gets in the way of flavor when it gets that high."

That doesn't stop him -- and others -- from tasting, though. "There's an explosion of beers to try all of a sudden," Rainey says.

And beer connoisseurs like Rainey and Ogletree, who waited for HB-645 to pass, no longer have to settle for a "pale" 6 percent.

Where to find high gravity beer:

Five Points Bottle Shop, 1655 S. Lumpkin St., has an inventory of around 60 or 70 labels. Some of the selections include: Corsendonk (7.5 percent), St. Bernardus (10 percent), Duvel (8.5 percent), Nostradamus (9.5 percent), Three Philosophers (9.8 percent), Delirium Nocturnum Belgian Ale (8.5 percent), and Liefmans Goudenband Belgian Ale (8 percent).

Five Points Bottle also sells a few brands in torpedo (small) kegs: Flying Dog's Horndog Barley Wine, North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and McChouffe Belgian Brown.

The ABC Package Store, 2303 W. Broad St., and Village Wine & Spirits, 1860 Barnett Shoals Rd., also offer a varied selection.

Copper Creek Brewing Company, 140 E. Washington St., always has high gravity beers in bottles and has a different selection on draught every Monday night.

Taco Mac, 558 W. Broad St., and Wild Wing Café, 312 E. Washington St., have high gravity on draught.

Mellow Mushroom's downtown location, 259 E. Broad St., has both draught and bottles.

The Globe, 199 N. Lumpkin St., also has high gravity beers on draught, but sells out quickly.

If you're looking for a road trip, The Brick Store Pub, 125 E. Court Square, Decatur, Ga., is owned by three friends from Athens and has one of the best selections in the state.