

Welcome to the initial installment of the Drunken Boat Chronicles. Beer has long been an interest of mine as well as many of you. There’s just something about visiting breweries, and tasting the beer, that I truly enjoy. Now I have the opportunity share my experiences with you. The first port of call for the Drunken Boat is Aviator Brewery.

Aviator Brewery is nestled away in the Piedmont of NC. Located near Fuquay-Varina, the brewery has grown from a home brew experimentation site at a local airport hanger to a near full blown production facility. The owner/brewmaster, Mark Doble, has lived all around the world drinking and making many crafted brews. It was almost a decade ago that Mark decided to settle down in the small town of Fuquay-Varina.

Here I am on brewery visitation day. My expectation is to gain a better understanding on beer appreciation, besides “mmmm….that’s a good beer.” Being a stout beer guy, I’m excited to taste the King Rat Imperial Oatmeal Stout.

I arrive at the brewery, walk in, and am immediately welcomed by the bar keep. “Hey buddy, you want a beer?” “Why yes I do. I will have the King Rat Stout please,” I replied. He extends his hand and says, “I’m Mark, welcome to the brewery.” At this point, I can barely stand the excitement.

Mark hands me my beer and I take the long awaited drink. Wow….that is a great stout. A full bodied stout with 8% alc/vol. Chocolate and oatmeal flavors hit right away. A very smooth beer that would make any stout drinker want more.

Just before the tour starts I get a refill. Now this is how a tour should be! So the tour begins:

First stop, the mill. This is where the malt is ground prior to adding it to the mash tun. In the mash tun, dechlorinated water is mixed with the ground malt at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. Temperature is a very important. Just a couple of degree variation in the mash will produce a different beer.

From here the “sugar water”, called wort, is strained from the mash tun and in some cases, additional water is poured over the grains to extract additional sugars (sparging). The wort is then transferred to the boil kettle where the wort is boiled with hops or other ingredients. It is here where the most important chemical reactions take place that gives the beer it’s taste, aroma, and color. The wort is then cooled and added to the fermentor.

Once in the fermentor, a yeast strain is selected and is added to the wort and fermentation begins. It is during this process that the sugars are converted to alcohol, carbon dioxide, and other components. The fermentation process lasts for 4-7 days. Following this process the beer is filtered and transferred into the conditioning tanks where the beer ages and the flavor smoothes. Sometimes the beers are conditioned in different vessels, say Jack Daniels Oak Barrels.

After a week or few months, the conditioned beer may be filtered again to polish the color, flavor, and is carbonated. The beer is now ready to be kegged or bottled.

After a very detailed description of the brewing process, we congregate at the bar for another round. Here Mark tells us how beer judging is done. I’m thinking, “This is awesome!” We are given beer scoring sheets and a choice of two beers. My choices were the Frostnipper and Hog Wild IPA. I could go into great detail about the judging, but I’ll refrain and summarize my choices:

The Frostnipper (7.3% alc/vol) is a darker than average brown ale. It is a good seasonal beer with hints of various spices and tad bit of smokiness. This beer goes down smooth and is easy on the palate.

The Hog Wild IPA (6.7% alc/vol) is on the other spectrum of the Frostnipper. It’s a gold cloudy beer that has a very hoppy aroma. The flavor was a long lasting sweet-bitter taste that could be considered fruity at times.

Both beers were good and worthy of another round or two.

To top off the day, I was given a growler of the King Rat and a pint class. This was definitely an awesome place with a very cool owner. I was lucky enough to be provided with an abundance of brewing knowledge from someone who is passionate about his craft.

I look forward to visiting other breweries and tasting what they have to offer.