With a passion for brewing great beer, Roland and Dale have each had years of experience and have learned what it takes to make a beer not only taste great but make it enjoyable and memorable. With so many options out there, it is important to us that you find a beer that you truly enjoy. Below we’ll dive into what makes Mulberry different and then we’ll go into what gives beer its different characteristics. We are always experimenting with flavors and coming up with a new brew. Come by, get some samples and find a beer that suits your tastes!
You can’t have great beer without great ingredients. At Mulberry, we use whole cone hops, instead of pellets, and we use different barley during our brew depending on the malt.
Designed 20 years ago in Niagra by one of our brewmasters, our equipment system was recovered in pristine condition. It is now being used here, at Mulberry Station by the designer himself, Roland.
At most breweries you can get a growler, a 64-ounce bottle, usually glass, to take your craft beer home in. The problem is you can’t take this bottle to a park or a beach because of the glass. If the glass is not dark enough the beer can become ‘light struck’ which is degradation due to exposure to UV light from the sun. That’s why we use Crowlers. Crowlers are 32-ounce cans, giving you the same portability as a growler, with more options on where to enjoy it. Take it anywhere you would a soda can, and recycle it the same way!
When people who enjoy beer talk about their favorites, you’ll hear some of the same words over and over. Terms like mouthfeel, aromatic, grassy, or hoppy have become part of the standard language of beer. These terms become important when determining what you like and don’t like about a brew. Additionally, the color of a beer is an important visual cue and part of the overall sensory appeal of evaluating a brew.
There are three varieties of beer that encompass many different styles. There is an Ale, a Lager, and then Mixed Styles. Two common styles are Stouts and Porters. Stouts and Porters are both in the Ale variety and have very little distinction, but they do have their differences.
Brewed with top fermenting yeast at cellar temperature, ales are fuller-bodied, with nuances of fruit or spice and a pleasantly hoppy finish. Generally robust and complex with a variety of fruit and malt aromas, ales come in many varieties. They could include Bitters, Milds, Abbey Ales, Pale Ales, Nut Browns, etc.
Ales are often darker than lagers, ranging from rich gold to reddish amber. Top fermenting and more hops in the wort give these beers a distinctive fruitfulness, acidity, and pleasantly bitter seasoning. Ales have a more assertive, individual personality than lager, though their alcoholic strength is the same.
Lager originates from the German word lagern which means ‘to store’ – it refers to the method of storing it for several months in near-freezing temperatures. Crisp and refreshing with a smooth finish from longer aging, lagers are the world’s most popular beer (this includes pilseners).
A lager, which can range from sweet to bitter and pale to black, is usually used to describe bottom-fermented brews of Dutch, German, and Czech styles. Most, however, are a pale to medium color, have high carbonation, and a medium to high hop flavor.
There’s very little distinction between a Porter and a Stout, but they do have their differences.
Stout, not as sweet to the taste, features a rich, creamy head and is flavored and colored by barley. Stouts often use a portion of unmalted roasted barley to develop a dark, slightly astringent, coffee-like character.
Porter is a dark, almost black, fruity-dry, top fermenting style. An ale, porter is brewed with a combination of roasted malt to impart flavor, color, and aroma. Stout is also a black, roast brew made by top fermentation.
In the 1970s, Dr. Morten Meilgaard created the Beer Flavor Wheel. The wheel has 14 categories broken down into 44 flavors. The wheel was a way to standardize a language through which beer tasters can agree on a word-to-flavor correlation.
Scientists have found more than 1,000 identifiable flavors in beer, yet an experienced taster can pick out perhaps only 100.
Dr. Meilgaard’s wheel gave beer tasters a common vocabulary and caught on all over the world. It is now used as the standard reference by the European Brewery Convention, the American Society of Brewing Chemists, and the Master Brewers Association of the Americas.
The way a beer looks has a powerful impact on its enjoyment. Brewers carefully control the color of their beers and define the colors on the Lovibond scale. The higher the number, the darker the color of the beer. Abita Wheat is a three and Turbodog is a 60 on the Lovibond scale. Classic beer styles are defined in part by definite visual images of what is appropriate.
Larger breweries use a special device called a spectrophotometer to measure the exact Lovibond units. If you don’t have your own personal spectrophotometer, you can simply compare the tall, cold glass of beer you’re holding to the chart.
Beer is also rated in units of bitterness called International Bitterness Units or IBUs. IBUs measure the intensity of the bitterness of the beer. Bitterness in beer comes from a compound in hops called alpha acids. Different varieties of hops have different ranges of alpha acids. Brewers use different varieties of hops to create different levels of bitterness.
This chart is often used in beer tasting competitions and displays the range in color and the range in bitterness for many different beer varieties.
A very versatile beer, Amber beers are full-bodied malt aromas with hints of caramel, these beers could be either lager or ale.
Blonde ales are very pale in color and tend to be clear, crisp, and dry, with low-to-medium bitterness and aroma from hops and some sweetness from malt.
First developed in the UK, Golden ales are straw colored with a slight hint of citrus and vanilla. The beer can sometimes contain spicier flavors.
Pale ale has a fruity, copper-colored styler. It originated from England. Pale ales are robust beers that can be enjoyed with strongly spiced foods.
This is a broad grouping that can describe any beer over 7% ABV. Strong beers are typically dark in color, some are almost black. Different styles can include old ales, double IPAs, and barleywines.
Dark amber or brown in color, brown ale have evidence of caramel and chocolate flavors and may have a slight citrus accent or be strong, malty, or nutty, depending on the area of brewing.
Made with neutral and hard water. Tend to be golden in color with a dry, crisp, and somewhat bitter flavor. Pilsner stands out from other lagers due to its more distinctive hop taste.
A very mild, sweetish, golden style of ale with low hop bitterness, moderate maltiness, and sweetness, light corny flavor. Neither malt nor hops dominate.
Extremely light in color and mild in flavor. Light beer has fewer calories and/or lower alcohol content.
A hoppier version of pale ale. Originally brewed in England with extra hops to survive the journey to British troops stationed in India.
A full-bodied beer with a creamy texture and copper color. Honey beers are slightly sweet with hints of caramel.
Oh yes, the delicious porter. Developed in London, England, this beer is a well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt.
Red ales can either be red or light brown in color. They are moderate to heavy in flavor and contain hints of caramel that are offset by the predominant hop characteristic of the beer.
Deep colored, rich flavor. Typically made with unmalted roasted barley, which is where the coffee flavor most people associate with stout comes from.
Dark ale is a British type beer, combining hops, yeast, and a blend of malts. It’s a medium chestnut brown color, with a delicate fruity smell and robust, malty character.
Light and easy to drink with very little aftertaste. Wheat provides a soft character to a beer and is sometimes hazy or cloudy with a touch of spice notes.
You’re in luck! Order takeout and when you come to pick up your meal, have one to try!
If you find one you like, we’ll add a crowler to your total.
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