New thread?
Yup. I thought I'd start a thread on Mad Fritz brewing, since not many people know of it, but Nile (the brewer) is making some wonderful stuff. This post is kind of an info dump -- sorry about that -- but I think it's needed since there's not too much information out there. Seriously, there's maybe ten posts on all of TalkBeer and that other site. I've put in spoilers maybe interesting and helpful but probably superfluous thoughts.
Cool, I'll go check it out, so where is the brewery?
The brewery itself is up in St. Helena (Napa). It's basically a medium-sized room in the same building as a couple other business offices. There is an additional room for storage, and malting barley, but the place is small by any standards. I'm kicking myself for not having taken a pic of the interior since I was just up there...
While Mad Fritz distributes some of their beers you'll need to visit the brewery to try their full selection or buy bottles. If you contact Nile about visiting the brewery, he will host a small tasting, and either himself or an assistant will be there to answer questions and talk about the beers. While not your typical taproom it's a lot of fun.
Huh, Napa's a bit of a drive, can you first tell me who this Nile guy is?
As mentioned, he's the head brewer of Mad Fritz. For a while he was also the only brewer. In the last few weeks, though, I believe he's hired an assistant brewer. Or that's what I've been told. Anyways, if you want to know more about his background and focus, there's a neat interview by GoodBeerHunting.
If you want the tl;dr version, though, I'll try help. No guarantees of accuracy, though, since this is from memory. Alright, Nile started home brewing when he was eighteen or so, but transitioned to wine making in college. Eventually he became a vintner for David Arthur Vineyards. I'm unsure, but I believe he was still home brewing while he professionally made wine. Around 2015, he decided he wanted to start making beer professionally too, and opened Mad Fritz.
Okay, consider me interested, but what styles does Nile brew?
It's best to describe what Nile doesn't brew, since if you look at his releases, he's bottled everything from Weizenbocks to imperial stouts with no real preference. He's told me he doesn't like sour beers, but he will occasionally make use of brett, and otherwise just about any style is fair game.
Now, there are some general themes to his beer...
First is the lack of adjuncts. Not counting wheat, which Nile will list as an adjunct, only a small handful of his beers have any adjuncts at all. He let's the water, malt, hops, yeast, and barrel be the focus.
His beers also have an obvious focus on balance and depth. Yes, those are buzzwords, but what's popular in craft beer is exactly the opposite. Nile's made no attempts at pastry stouts or hazy IPAs, even though beer geeks go crazy for that stuff, so it's easy to infer his priorities.
Lastly, one of Nile's goals is creating what he calls "origin beers". These are beers made only from local ingredients. So, he's growing barley with the help of some nearby farmers, and has a malt house to malt his own barley. He uses water from local wells, and of course, barrel's from Napa wineries. Essentially, he wants to have control over the whole process of making the beer, from growing the ingredients to selecting the barrels to brewing the beer. And he also wants to impart a sense of place or "origin" to his beers. It's a long process, though, and this year marked the first origin beer he's released.
Alright, I enjoy more than hazy IPAs and pastry stouts, just tell me if Nile's beers are good.
In my opinion, yes, they are really damn good. After the spoiler are some recommendations.
Anyways, since joining, the first club allocation was released and I've visited the brewery twice. The robust porter and plum ale included in the allocation, plus several other beers I'll mention below, were all exceptional. Different people, different palates, but to mine some of these beers were among the best I've had. Here are some of my favorites that are still available...
The Peacock and the Crane - The recent batch was aged several months in fresh Chardonnay barrels. Nile says it's most like a Kellerbier but I haven't tried that style. Behind the barrel it reminds me of a lager with a softer, more medium mouthfeel. But there's also prominent Chardonnay notes from the barrel. Some light hoppiness is present too with a tiny amount of nuttiness from what I'm guessing is the malt. This is a good beer to get if you want something that's delicate but has dimension.
The Lion and the Mouse - If you want a beer with great malt flavor this is the one I'd recommend. The spice, dried fruit, and sweetness from the malt, barrel, and light hopping integrate for a banana-bread taste. Like many of Nile's beers it has a soft, medium mouthfeel and a certain earthiness on the nose. My favorite of today's visit.
The Crow and the Water // The Ringdove and the Hunter // The Old Man and Death - Mad Fritz has three ales that really focus on roast flavors from the malt. For each, the roast is so damn good that the beer would be really enjoyable with nothing else. So, that's the baseline, but then Nile's weaved in vinous red wine, woodsy barrel, and some dark fruit, spice, caramel, and chocolate malt flavors too. The recent batch of "The Ringdove and the Hunter" is the best of these, presenting all these flavors most boldly, but also with the best balance. I don't think it's available though. But the other two options, which I know are still available, remain great alternatives. Comparing the two, the imperial stout "The Old man and Death" has more red wine character, less roast, but is not as fresh as the dry stout "The Crow and the Water".
Note: Bottles are almost always priced at $25. It's expensive, especially for styles like IPAs or lagers, so be aware of that. When I visited in early November, Nile talked a while about the costs of production, and it's just that. The ingredients he seeks out, and especially the small scale of production, are what's driving the price if you're curious.
Look, I'd like to try Mad Fritz, but I'm broke from buying loons on mybeercellar. Can you BIF?
Sorry, I'm broke too, but I do want to get Nile's beers in the hands of others. I'm planning to get some more bottles and I'll look to share with any one in the Bay (or SD while I'm down) who's interested. If I forget that I'm a student, and start feeling fiscally irresponsible, I might even LIF.
Can I threadshit?
Yes, but only with festive gifs, I'm feeling that holiday spirit.
Yup. I thought I'd start a thread on Mad Fritz brewing, since not many people know of it, but Nile (the brewer) is making some wonderful stuff. This post is kind of an info dump -- sorry about that -- but I think it's needed since there's not too much information out there. Seriously, there's maybe ten posts on all of TalkBeer and that other site. I've put in spoilers maybe interesting and helpful but probably superfluous thoughts.
Cool, I'll go check it out, so where is the brewery?
The brewery itself is up in St. Helena (Napa). It's basically a medium-sized room in the same building as a couple other business offices. There is an additional room for storage, and malting barley, but the place is small by any standards. I'm kicking myself for not having taken a pic of the interior since I was just up there...
While Mad Fritz distributes some of their beers you'll need to visit the brewery to try their full selection or buy bottles. If you contact Nile about visiting the brewery, he will host a small tasting, and either himself or an assistant will be there to answer questions and talk about the beers. While not your typical taproom it's a lot of fun.
Huh, Napa's a bit of a drive, can you first tell me who this Nile guy is?
As mentioned, he's the head brewer of Mad Fritz. For a while he was also the only brewer. In the last few weeks, though, I believe he's hired an assistant brewer. Or that's what I've been told. Anyways, if you want to know more about his background and focus, there's a neat interview by GoodBeerHunting.
If you want the tl;dr version, though, I'll try help. No guarantees of accuracy, though, since this is from memory. Alright, Nile started home brewing when he was eighteen or so, but transitioned to wine making in college. Eventually he became a vintner for David Arthur Vineyards. I'm unsure, but I believe he was still home brewing while he professionally made wine. Around 2015, he decided he wanted to start making beer professionally too, and opened Mad Fritz.
Okay, consider me interested, but what styles does Nile brew?
It's best to describe what Nile doesn't brew, since if you look at his releases, he's bottled everything from Weizenbocks to imperial stouts with no real preference. He's told me he doesn't like sour beers, but he will occasionally make use of brett, and otherwise just about any style is fair game.
That said, Nile doesn't like to label his beers with a style, though he will to roughly convey what to expect. He says he doesn't brew to style, and he's not just saying that to seem different, there's legitimacy to his statement. Some of his beers can easily be identified as a certain style. But many are slight yet distinct divergences from classic styles. And sometimes what he makes really has no identifiable style (like his wier = wine + beer series).
Now, there are some general themes to his beer...
First is the lack of adjuncts. Not counting wheat, which Nile will list as an adjunct, only a small handful of his beers have any adjuncts at all. He let's the water, malt, hops, yeast, and barrel be the focus.
His beers also have an obvious focus on balance and depth. Yes, those are buzzwords, but what's popular in craft beer is exactly the opposite. Nile's made no attempts at pastry stouts or hazy IPAs, even though beer geeks go crazy for that stuff, so it's easy to infer his priorities.
Lastly, one of Nile's goals is creating what he calls "origin beers". These are beers made only from local ingredients. So, he's growing barley with the help of some nearby farmers, and has a malt house to malt his own barley. He uses water from local wells, and of course, barrel's from Napa wineries. Essentially, he wants to have control over the whole process of making the beer, from growing the ingredients to selecting the barrels to brewing the beer. And he also wants to impart a sense of place or "origin" to his beers. It's a long process, though, and this year marked the first origin beer he's released.
Alright, I enjoy more than hazy IPAs and pastry stouts, just tell me if Nile's beers are good.
In my opinion, yes, they are really damn good. After the spoiler are some recommendations.
I first tried Nile's beers during SF Beer Week last year and I was interested enough to visit Napa. I dropped by his brewery a few months later for a bit of a tasting. While I enjoyed the experience, and thought the beers were interesting and mostly good, I left a bit disappointed.
Looking back, I think there were a couple reasons for this. I arrived late so I didn't give the beers time to warm; I hadn't yet experienced beers with forward and complex malt profiles and was expecting something else; I believe Nile's beers benefit from time in the bottle; and I think Nile was still dialing in the beers (based on other people's observations).
Anyways, this September, I had the chance to join Nile's beer club. I actually wasn't planning to, but after listening to the GoodBeerHunting interview and reading all I could on his previously released beers, I decided I would join.
I still wasn't expecting great beers. I was expecting interesting beers, that would sometimes be very good and always skillful, but probably not my favorite cup of tea. Half the reason I joined is I like the brewing process and I thought Nile's brewing process was really neat.
Looking back, I think there were a couple reasons for this. I arrived late so I didn't give the beers time to warm; I hadn't yet experienced beers with forward and complex malt profiles and was expecting something else; I believe Nile's beers benefit from time in the bottle; and I think Nile was still dialing in the beers (based on other people's observations).
Anyways, this September, I had the chance to join Nile's beer club. I actually wasn't planning to, but after listening to the GoodBeerHunting interview and reading all I could on his previously released beers, I decided I would join.
I still wasn't expecting great beers. I was expecting interesting beers, that would sometimes be very good and always skillful, but probably not my favorite cup of tea. Half the reason I joined is I like the brewing process and I thought Nile's brewing process was really neat.
Anyways, since joining, the first club allocation was released and I've visited the brewery twice. The robust porter and plum ale included in the allocation, plus several other beers I'll mention below, were all exceptional. Different people, different palates, but to mine some of these beers were among the best I've had. Here are some of my favorites that are still available...
The Peacock and the Crane - The recent batch was aged several months in fresh Chardonnay barrels. Nile says it's most like a Kellerbier but I haven't tried that style. Behind the barrel it reminds me of a lager with a softer, more medium mouthfeel. But there's also prominent Chardonnay notes from the barrel. Some light hoppiness is present too with a tiny amount of nuttiness from what I'm guessing is the malt. This is a good beer to get if you want something that's delicate but has dimension.
The Lion and the Mouse - If you want a beer with great malt flavor this is the one I'd recommend. The spice, dried fruit, and sweetness from the malt, barrel, and light hopping integrate for a banana-bread taste. Like many of Nile's beers it has a soft, medium mouthfeel and a certain earthiness on the nose. My favorite of today's visit.
The Crow and the Water // The Ringdove and the Hunter // The Old Man and Death - Mad Fritz has three ales that really focus on roast flavors from the malt. For each, the roast is so damn good that the beer would be really enjoyable with nothing else. So, that's the baseline, but then Nile's weaved in vinous red wine, woodsy barrel, and some dark fruit, spice, caramel, and chocolate malt flavors too. The recent batch of "The Ringdove and the Hunter" is the best of these, presenting all these flavors most boldly, but also with the best balance. I don't think it's available though. But the other two options, which I know are still available, remain great alternatives. Comparing the two, the imperial stout "The Old man and Death" has more red wine character, less roast, but is not as fresh as the dry stout "The Crow and the Water".
Note: Bottles are almost always priced at $25. It's expensive, especially for styles like IPAs or lagers, so be aware of that. When I visited in early November, Nile talked a while about the costs of production, and it's just that. The ingredients he seeks out, and especially the small scale of production, are what's driving the price if you're curious.
Look, I'd like to try Mad Fritz, but I'm broke from buying loons on mybeercellar. Can you BIF?
Sorry, I'm broke too, but I do want to get Nile's beers in the hands of others. I'm planning to get some more bottles and I'll look to share with any one in the Bay (or SD while I'm down) who's interested. If I forget that I'm a student, and start feeling fiscally irresponsible, I might even LIF.
Can I threadshit?
Yes, but only with festive gifs, I'm feeling that holiday spirit.
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