We love the holidays and the seasonal beer releases with their spice and warmth, but we might just be most excited about the release of the Eugenesee Mid-Ohio Cream Ale, the winning 2019 homebrew collaboration. Eugenesee was designed and brewed by Eugene Johnson for the Phoenix Homebrew competition held earlier in the spring. The style categories were completely open for homebrewers to enter their favorite style. The competition was fierce and judged by a panel of beer industry individuals including professional brewers, a BJCP certified beer judge, and QC panel members. The final rounds of judging were difficult, but the Eugenesee stood out with a crisp, clean profile and delicious blend of hops including Nelson Sauvin, Mt. Hood, and Saaz.
Eugene Johnson began brewing in 1999. Like many homebrewers, he didn’t really enjoy domestic beer and the availability of craft beer was scarce at the time. Then a relative bought him a Mr. Beer kit. Eugene thought “ I could do this”. He began brewing at home with pieces and parts of put together systems, but Eugene now has a set up that is envied by professional brewers. Basically a professional brew system, Eugene has a dedicated brewery space custom-designed to brew at home any time of the year. When discussing his home system “The kettles for my eHERMS system are HLT, MT and BK. The Hosehead controller is on the lower shelf to the left. I can access it via web browser and control my heating elements and pumps.” His brew process is similar to full-size systems but custom for his space. “There is a copper coil inside the HLT. I drain wort out of the MT and the bottom pump recirculates it through the coil and returns it back to the top of the mash. I regulate my mash temp by regulating the HLT temperature. To handle the steam, I boil with the lid on the kettle and use a condenser that attaches to the top right of the BK. A mist of cool water runs through the condenser and pulls steam out of the kettle and drops it into the sink.” And while many homebrewers only bottle their beers, not only can he keg his creations, Eugene can also can them with custom labels and all. A game changer in quality and a time saver compared to cleaning and sanitizing bottles.
Eugene describes Eugenesee as a hazy and hoppy cream ale. He wanted something different from all of the other hazy recipes he thought would be entered into the competition. “Other Half (Brewing) collaborated with Genesee to make a NE Hazy. It sold out so quickly that even employees didn’t get to purchase it. So I designed my own” Eugene said. He brewed it 4 times to find the perfect balance for the recipe.
Finding some of the hops proved to be a challenge when scaling up the recipe. ”We had difficulty sourcing some of the hops for the recipe in the quantity we needed. There were quality concerns over purchasing a lot of small packs from various home brew shops and we didn’t want to substitute the hops. So we waited for the 2019 fall harvest to have the freshest and most consistent Nelson Sauvin hops. I think it is well worth the wait.” Phoenix Head Brewer Duncan Macfarlane said.
Chad Vanderpool, President of the Mansfield Homebrew Club and a winner from the 2018 homebrew competition said ”Homebrewing to me started as a creative outlet. Partially because some of the commercial beers or styles of beer weren't readily available. It may be hard for people into craft beer to understand today but it was the case. I still believe that in today's market Homebrewers lead the forefront of the brewing industry. They make extreme examples and challenge boundaries of what beers are supposed to be or taste like.”
This fantastic beer taps Sunday November 24th at 2 pm. Come enjoy a pint and meet the brewer, Eugene Johnson and Hoppy Holidays.
