The Easier Side of US Craft
When much of the debate about American craft beer still revolves around IBUs and extremism, it’s refreshing to talk beer with Jim Lutz.
Jim (pictured right) is the President/CEO of Fordham Brewing and he freely admits that his company’s beers are not designed to push the envelope.
Instead, drinkability and accessibility are key words in the production of Fordham beers, with the aim being to bridge the gap between the bland world of the American light lager and the more challenging products of many US craft brewers.
Fordham beers are also now on sale in the UK, so you can see for yourself what Jim means.
Fordham was founded as a brew pub in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995, inspired by a brewery founded by Benjamin Fordham way back in the time of Queen Anne. Trade built quickly and the company was forced to move to new premises across the state line in Dover, Delaware.
In a previous life, Jim was managing partner of Wild Goose brewery and then worked with Flying Dog. When he picked up the reins at Fordham at the start of 2011, the company had reached a plateau. Growth in American craft beer was still gathering pace but the Fordham engine had stalled.
Jim’s philosophy is a hands-on one. To sort out the problems, he went back to the floor, seeing first-hand how things were being run and making the sort of changes there and then to turn around the company’s fortunes.
One of his first major decisions was to rein in distribution and focus all sales efforts within a 200-mile radius of the brewery, to be able to serve customers better.
On the Up
Today, on the up, Fordham produces 23,000 US barrels a year, including beers bearing the Old Dominion name from a Virginia company that was acquired by Fordham’s parent company, Coastal Brewing, in 2007.
The brewery’s market in the US remains deliberately local – products are marketed only in Delaware and the surrounding states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and DC – but four Fordham beers are currently shipped to the UK.
The first, Copperhead Ale, is a beer in the German alt style. True to its name in colour, it’s a malt-accented, 5.2% beer with a caramel and chocolate creaminess, contrasted by an orange-like fruitiness from the hops. It’s not at all heavy for the strength and very quaffable.
Tavern Ale (6.1%), meanwhile, is bigger and bolder, an American pale ale with an earthy, leafy citrus note, thanks to cold conditioning over Cascade hops, and a nutty, slightly creamy malt base.
My personal favourite is the very easy-drinking Helles. At 5.4% and rather chunky in body, it disguises its strength beautifully in the best tradition of this Bavarian lager style and offers plenty of lime and bitter herb notes from the hops.
But also a treat is the 8% Doppelbock. With its rich chocolate and nut flavours, this German-style strong, dark lager makes a fine pudding/after-dinner beer and slips down all too easily for a beer of this magnitude. Perhaps drinkability and accessibility have been taken a little too seriously with this one.
All four Fordham beers are very nicely made and eye-catchingly presented. As Jim intends, they’re not the sort of beers to blow you away with one sip, but bland they most certainly are not. These are beers you can happily drink all night.
Jim (pictured right) is the President/CEO of Fordham Brewing and he freely admits that his company’s beers are not designed to push the envelope. Instead, drinkability and accessibility are key words in the production of Fordham beers, with the aim being to bridge the gap between the bland world of the American light lager and the more challenging products of many US craft brewers.
Fordham beers are also now on sale in the UK, so you can see for yourself what Jim means.
Fordham was founded as a brew pub in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995, inspired by a brewery founded by Benjamin Fordham way back in the time of Queen Anne. Trade built quickly and the company was forced to move to new premises across the state line in Dover, Delaware.
In a previous life, Jim was managing partner of Wild Goose brewery and then worked with Flying Dog. When he picked up the reins at Fordham at the start of 2011, the company had reached a plateau. Growth in American craft beer was still gathering pace but the Fordham engine had stalled.
Jim’s philosophy is a hands-on one. To sort out the problems, he went back to the floor, seeing first-hand how things were being run and making the sort of changes there and then to turn around the company’s fortunes.
One of his first major decisions was to rein in distribution and focus all sales efforts within a 200-mile radius of the brewery, to be able to serve customers better.
On the Up
Today, on the up, Fordham produces 23,000 US barrels a year, including beers bearing the Old Dominion name from a Virginia company that was acquired by Fordham’s parent company, Coastal Brewing, in 2007.
The brewery’s market in the US remains deliberately local – products are marketed only in Delaware and the surrounding states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and DC – but four Fordham beers are currently shipped to the UK.
The first, Copperhead Ale, is a beer in the German alt style. True to its name in colour, it’s a malt-accented, 5.2% beer with a caramel and chocolate creaminess, contrasted by an orange-like fruitiness from the hops. It’s not at all heavy for the strength and very quaffable. Tavern Ale (6.1%), meanwhile, is bigger and bolder, an American pale ale with an earthy, leafy citrus note, thanks to cold conditioning over Cascade hops, and a nutty, slightly creamy malt base.
My personal favourite is the very easy-drinking Helles. At 5.4% and rather chunky in body, it disguises its strength beautifully in the best tradition of this Bavarian lager style and offers plenty of lime and bitter herb notes from the hops.
But also a treat is the 8% Doppelbock. With its rich chocolate and nut flavours, this German-style strong, dark lager makes a fine pudding/after-dinner beer and slips down all too easily for a beer of this magnitude. Perhaps drinkability and accessibility have been taken a little too seriously with this one.
All four Fordham beers are very nicely made and eye-catchingly presented. As Jim intends, they’re not the sort of beers to blow you away with one sip, but bland they most certainly are not. These are beers you can happily drink all night.
