Hangtown Brewing Company - Placerville Stout

Placerville Stout is an American Dry Stout brewed with a combination of roasted barley and two-row Pale, Chocolate Roasted and Black Patent malts. Galena hops are added up front primarily for their bittering characteristics while both Hallertauer and Tettsnang hops are used for their aromatic contributions. This stout is brewed during a 60 min. boil and uses a proprietary ale yeast strain.

Immediately note a big roasted nose which hints a touch of chocolate malt as well. Look for great head retention in this filtered, opaque, full bodied beer. Placerville Stout starts with a predominant roasted flavor which leads into a bitterness attributed more to the roasted grain than the mild hop character, indicative of a typical British-style Stout. It leaves you with a slight lingering chocolate finish. Overall, a very clean, well-balanced and flavorful interpretation of a British Stout.

The city of Placerville, once known as Hangtown, derived its name after James Marshall discovered flecks of gold in the trail race of his sawmill located on the banks of the American River. The news spread rapidly and soon more then 1000 men were working the camp near the original site which was then known as Dry Diggins because the miners had to cart the dry soil down to the running water to work out the gold. Not all newcomers, however, were interested in doing that labor thing to get their gold and soon murders and robberies became commonplace in the small isolated camps. After once such incident in 1849, an impromptu Citizen Jury met to consider the fate of 3 accused and wasted no time in reaching a verdict of guilty. The men were promptly hung and as word spread, Dry Diggins soon became known as "Hangtown".

Hangtown's first brewery was in fact, first and foremost, not a brewery at all but instead a flavored soda water-making operation. Pressure from thirsty miners forced the proprietors to modify their product line to include several different ales. A homebrewer since 1989, founder David Coody opened the Hangtown brewery in a 500 square foot building in 1992. Tremendous popularity quickly forced the brewery to relocate in 1994 to its current location allowing a 15 barrel brewhouse and two 80 barrel fermenters. In addition to the three most recently introduced products that we are featuring in this month's shipment, Hangtown also produces Placerville Pale Ale and Placerville Tangerine Ale. The brewery is open seven days a week and tours can be made available on request.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (916) 621-3999 or check out their web site at www.hangtownbrewery.com.