A store-bought domestic beer can quench a person’s thirst on a warm summer day, but specific tastes are causing some locals to turn to specialty beers.
One place that local Auburn dwellers can satisfy their taste for high-end beer is the Olde Auburn Ale House, located in downtown Auburn.
Craft beer selections change regularly at the Ale House, but on any give day a patron can find a handful of selections including Peach Lite, Tiger Tail and the Full Monty Stout.
Olde Auburn Ale House is not a microbrewery because the beer never leaves the premises. It is a brewpub, where the beer is brewed and served on site.
“I’ve always liked the pub atmosphere,” said Daryl Cargile, owner of the Olde Auburn Ale House and a self-proclaimed “Hop Head.” Cargile went to Auburn University, but he acquired his appreciation for specialty beer abroad in the brewpubs of Europe. “I’ve been enjoying them (specialty beers and brew pubs) since before they were popular.”
Cargile said his pub uses a lot of hops (which gives beer its flavor), English malts and yeast to make their handcrafted beers.
“A lot of our stuff comes from England and Germany,” he said.
As for summer sipping, Cargile recommends lighter beers.
“The best summer beers are the Tiger Tails (similar to a Coors), the Peach Lite (which has a hint of peach flavoring) and the Hefeweizen (which is a German white beer).”
The number one seller at the pub is the Tiger Tail, which takes around 10-14 days to brew.
“Some (beers) take 30 to 45 days,” he said, examples of beers with long brew times are stouts and hoppy beers like India Pale Ales (IPA).
Jeremy Pate, who specializes in German beers and ales, is the brew master at Olde Auburn Ale House.
“Here I get to meet people,” he said. “I brew what I like, it just so happens a lot of people agree with my taste.
“It’s art and science,” he said. “I’m very critical of my own beer.”
There are four ingredients in beer, Pate said, barley, hops, water and yeast. Byproducts of yeast are alcohol and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide naturally carbonates the beer, Pate said.
Many of the beers Pate brews have changed over time, as he tweaks them to perfection.
In the back of the Olde Auburn Ale House, there is a plethora of brewing equipment including a hot liquor container, a mash turn and brew kettle, fermentation and serving tanks — all resembling giant vats.
“The entire unit is called a brew house,” Pate said.
Pate got his start in brewing in 1997, when he began home brewing. In Alabama, because of a law left over from Prohibition, home brewing is still considered illegal.
“I was breaking the law in Alabama,” he said.
Despite the law, many folks in Alabama find it lucrative to home brew, making their own specialty beer at a discounted price.
“You can get into home brewing now for $60 or $75 bucks,” Pate said.
John Little, an attorney who helped start the Auburn Brew Club, a local group of home brewers, said there are a growing number of amateur beer brewers in the Auburn-Opelika Area.
“Since I moved here a little over a year ago, I’ve met over 40 people in Lee County who brew their own beer for personal consumption, typically styles not commercially available or that are best enjoyed fresh and un-pasteurized,” he said. “And for every brewer here in the Auburn-Opelika area, there are another two or three interested in learning how to brew for themselves.”
Little said there are many ways to get started in home brewing.
“Some start with the popular Christmas gift, Mr. Beer, but the results of this cheapest possible method are usually less than desirable,” he said. “A better method for beginners is to purchase a beginner’s equipment kit online or from one of Alabama’s local homebrew supply stores.”
The kits usually included fermentation and bottling buckets with lids and airlocks, siphon tubing, bottles, bottle brush, filler, capper and caps, a hydrometer (for measuring sugar content), sanitizer, kettle and ingredients such as malt extract, hops and yeast.
“These beginner kits usually cost around $150,” he said. “For many, the process of brewing is half the fun, the other being enjoying the final product.”
Home brewers tend to produce small, around five gallon, batches of beer, as opposed to brewpubs, which typically produce 150-gallon batches at a time, and microbreweries that produce around 600 gallons at a time, Little said.
Throughout the year, home brewers will make beers to fit particular seasons, such as fall or summer.
“Pumpkin ales are hugely popular among the home brewing community in October and November., as well as spiced ales around Christmas,” he said. “In anticipation of hot weather we tend to brew beers that, while lighter on the palate, still quench our desire for quality.”
Home brewers can work their way through The Beer Judge Certification Program, which is a list of beers, mastering each brew.
“When a hobby brewer really begins to master the process, he or she can easily brew beer that is much better than that purchased off shelves,” he said.
Ingredients used in brewing:
- Malt - Barley that has been tricked into beginning to sprout before the process is cut short by drying in a kiln. Grains other than barley, such as wheat, oats and rye can also be malted. Malt can range in color from pale to black, and brewers combine various malts to produce a range of flavors including caramel, coffee and sweetness.
- Hops - Green, fluffy, cone-shaped flowers that produce thick, tarry resins and aromatic oils used for bitterness, flavors and aroma in beer. Hop character in beer may described as resiny, floral, citrusy, clean, spicy, mellow, herbal or perfumey.
- Yeast - Converts sugars to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide during the fermentation process. Depending on yeast strain used, the characters produced may be described as clean, fruity, crisp, beady, oakey, apple, clover honey, pear, mineral-like, banana, clover, spicy, tart, plum, acidic, earthy and peppery.
- Water - Various water profiles around the world, such as Dublin, London, Pilsen, Germany, lead to the distinctiveness of the beers produced in those regions. Water chemistry is one of the more advanced topics of study in homebrewing. Auburn’s water, unadjusted, is particularly well suited for the production of English Bitters, American Pale Ales, Oktoberfest and French Saisons.
- Other - In violation of the Reinheitsgebot, the famous German Purity Law implemented in 1516, modern brewers often also utilize ingredients other than malt, hops, yeast and water in the production of beer. Fruits, vegetables, honey, sugars, syrups, spices and other ingredients are often used in production of craft beer today.
Source: John Little, Auburn Brew Club
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