Magnolia - Magnolia Ales

Two-row pale malt, with its high enzyme content, makes up the base of all of our ales, providing the bulk of fermentable sugars and accounting for as much as 90% of the grain for a batch. For this we use a tried and true English favorite, the Maris Otter variety. Our Maris Otter pale malt is floor-malted—a space and labor intensive process that results in malt of the highest quality and consistency. It has a bold character for a pale malt, easily discernible in many of our ales.

The remaining portion of a grain bill depends upon the style and tastes sought. Specialty grains run the gamut from lightly toasted/carmalized crystal malts to black-as-night roast barley. In between are amber malt, brown malt, chocolate and black malts as well as malted winter wheat and flaked oats and barley. With specialty grains, "a percent more of this...a percent less of that" can make a world of difference in a beer's flavor.

Hops...glorious hops! We're hopheads at Magnolia and most of our ales unabashedly reflect this. Hops are used in beer much the way herbs are used in the kitchen, typically added at various times during the boil to achieve precise taste effects. The bitter components of hops balance the residual sweetness from the malt sugars. Hops added early on in the boil most effectively achieve this result. Late hop additions (or hops added after the boil—"dry hops") provide little bitterness but much hop flavor and aroma, often described as floral, spicy or citrus-like. We manage some restraint with some of our beers but many of our offerings feature a lot of hop character, be it bitterness, flavor, aroma or all three.

Do you have a story, anecdote or information about our building or the neighborhood? What occupied our space in the very early days? What was on the other three corners of our intersection in the 1960s? We'd like to know more about our home.
Please email us at beer@magnoliapub.com or come by the pub.

We use hops in their pelletized form for all kettle hop additions. Pelletized hops maintain their freshness longer with no concurrent compromise in quality. This allows for more predictable results from batch to batch. Our two favorite styles for flavor and aroma are pretty much classics: the British East Kent Goldings variety and Cascade hops from the Northwestern United States . We use a host of other varieties, however, often blending four or five hop types over three to four kettle additions to create a delicious level of complexity. And for our cask conditioned ales we dry hop only with whole hops to achieve the proper cask hop character.

Yeast is the single-cell creature that turns all of this into beer. Magnolia Brewery uses a London ale strain of yeast that likes to ferment around 68-72 degrees farenheit. At this temperature many fruity, complex flavors are produced in addition to the yeast's primary byproduct: alcohol. This yeast allows us to make traditional English style ales and simultaneously gives some of our less English beers an unmistakable British influence—not always appropriate to the style in question but we like it just the same. Our yeast is very flocculent, meaning it clumps together as it completes its fermentation and then proceeds to settle to the bottom of the tank quite nicely. Given a little patience, beers made with this yeast will "drop bright" relatively well without filtration and that is how we choose to serve them.

No explanation of Magnolia Ales would be complete without a brief nod to beer's main ingredient, water. San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy water is a bit on the hard side, although it certainly lacks the mineral content of the world's most famous brewing water in Burton-on-Trent, England. Magnolia Brewery sometimes adds mineral salts to harden the brewing water if it seems appropriate to the style of beer being produced. Otherwise, our water is great for brewing as-is.

Most of our beers are described below. The original gravities, bitterness units and the alcohol content by volume are listed for each beer. A beer's gravity is a measure of sugar content based upon density (where plain water has a density of 1.000). Original gravity is taken just prior to fermentation and is a measure of the amount of sugar available for fermentation. This number can tell a lot about the beer's body, flavor and expected alcohol content. Bitterness units are a measure of the amount bittering hops used in a beer. The preceived bitterness can vary, however, based on the residual malt sugars present. Keep in mind, also, that the listed gravities and bitterness units are targets and that both numbers can vary slightly from batch to batch.

Deep copper-hued American pale ale with a bold, grapefruity Cascade hop character balanced with a blend of crystal malts. This single-varietal tribute to the quintessential American hop has four separate additions to extract as many componants as possible.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malts; wheat
Hops: Cascade
Food Pairings: spicy seafood, ham & cheese, burgers, grilled chicken

Blue Bell Bitter

Our award-winning version of an English ESB (Extra Special Bitter) with rich malt complexity showcasing the amazing, heirloom Maris Otter variety. Malt and yeast work together to conjure notes of orange marmalade and other fruits. Balanced with earthy East Kent Goldings, the quintessential English hop.

Malts: Floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malts; wheat; black
Hops: East Kent Goldings (also dry-hopped)
Food Pairings: fish & chips, pork, game, fried chicken, salmon

Spud Boy's India Pale Ale

Our English-style India Pale Ale, with just a shade of restraint on the hops, more balance from the malt, and a moderate alcohol level. Deep golden/pale copper in color with a fruity hop aroma and clean, sharp bitterness enhanced by the Burtonized water. The touch of Cascade hops thrown in mid-boil finds an unlikely place among the otherwise English ingredients.

Malts: Floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malt; caramalt; wheat
Hops: Challenger; East Kent Goldings, Cascade
Food Pairings: fried fish & calamari, spicy food, cajun/creole food

Sara's Ruby Mild

Ruby red with a sweet, malty fruitiness and a hint of black cherries. Neither as strong nor as dark as its namesake (from the Sarah Hughes Brewery of Dudley), but still a classic West Midlands mild: low in alcohol, thirst quenching, but rich in flavor.

Malts: Floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malts; wheat; chocolate malt; flaked barley
Hops: Fuggles
Food Pairings: sausage, burgers, stews, blue cheeses

Big Cypress Brown Ale

An American brown ale in color and body, but all British in ingredents. Complex malty profile comes from a careful blend of crystal and chocolate malts with the rarely-used, toasty English brown malt. Hints of caramel and chocolate are present in the center. Delicately hopped with earthy English hops.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malts; brown malt; chocolate
Hops: Northdown; East Kent Goldings
Food Pairings braised or roasted beef, lamb, stews, pates

Cole Porter

A robust porter that exhibits a few characteristics of a stout.
Deep black in color with hints of chocolate as well as a pleasing, sharp roastiness. Somewhat aggressively hopped for a porter, with both English and American hops, which add earthy and piney notes.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; medium crystal; chocolate; black; roast barley; wheat
Hops: East Kent Goldings; Cascade
Food Pairings: steak, smoked meats, shrimp, oysters, burgers

Stout of Circumstance

Tons of body in this hearty, chewy oatmeal stout in the classic West Coast stout tradition. The aggressive roasted character is balanced in mouthfeel by the round, silky smoothness of flaked oats.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal; roast barley; black; chocolate; flaked oats
Hops: Challenger
Food Pairings: ham, cured meats, gumbo, chocolate desserts

Spooky Tooth Stout

Dry, brisk, and surprisingly light, despite its dark black color. This classic Irish stout is smooth and drinkable with an earthy, robust hop bite and aroma and a dry, clean, roasty bitterness. Nitrogen dispense through a special tap enhances the creamy mouthfeel of this session stout.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal; roast barley;
chocolate; flaked barley
Hops: Northdown; East Kent Goldings
Food Pairings: Oysters, cured fish, ham, pastrami, chocolate

Proving Ground IPA

A bold IPA in the modern, West Coast style, but with plenty of malt character from our robust Maris Otter. Generous quantities of Columbus and Cascade hops give this bitter beer resinous, piney, and citrus-like flavors while a bit of Czech Saaz hops adds a touch of spice.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; caramalt; wheat; flaked barley; malted rye
Hops: Columbus; Cascade; Saaz; dry-hopped with Cascade
Food Pairings: assertive, spicy foods, grilled salmon & shrimp, pizza.

Weather Report Wheat

Bright and clear, Weather Report Wheat is more in the style of a British golden bitter than traditional wheat beer. The smooth, slightly tart flavor of wheat is complemented by the full-bodied, nutty Maris Otter barley and English hops. A small coriander addition adds another surprising dimension.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; German wheat malt
Hops: East Kent Goldings
Food Pairings: salads, fish, salt cod, calamari, fish & chips, eggs

Ashbury Alt

A Magnolia recreation of the crisp and smooth bronze/amber ales of Dusseldorf, right down to the authentic altbier yeast and proper alt glass. Medium bodied with lots of German malt flavor tempered by a nice hop finish with just a hint of ale fruitiness.

Malts: German pilsner; Munich; wheat; black
Hops: German Spalt; Hersbrucker; Hallertau
Food Pairings: roast chicken, pork dishes, sausages, burgers

Kalifornia Kolsch

Our tribute to Cologne’s unique, crisp, golden ale/lager hybrid.
We start with German malt and hops and tie it all together with a true Kolsch yeast from Cologne to impart some subtle fruit and wine flavors while producing the smoothness of a lager. Served in an authentic Kolsch stange to enchance the crisp, cool, effervescence of this thirst-quenching beer.

Malts: German pilsner, Munich and wheat
Hops: German Spalt and Hersbrucker
Food Pairings: salads, seafood, mushrooms, eggs

Winter Warmer

Our annual holiday beer, in the style of a classic English strong ale. It’s very much a malt-forward beer, with just enough hops to provide a shade of balance. A slightly higher fermentation temperature adds an additional component of soft fruitiness. Winter Warmer has a full-bodied, malty richness and enough alcohol to counter the encroaching winter chill.

Malts: floor-malted Maris Otter; crystal malts; Munich
Hops: East Kent Goldings
Food Pairings: Duck, roast pork, game, strong cheeses, chocolate

Pearly Baker's Best Bitter

Pearly is an unapologetic session beer in the middle to light range of traditional English bitters. Bitters are the heart and soul of English brewing, coaxing complexity, subtlety and nuance out of well-balanced, low-gravity ales. Hops, malt and our English yeast marry wonderfully in one of our most drinkable ales. If it’s available on cask, try it!

Malts: English Pearl; English pale crystal; German wheat malt
Hops: Northdown, Challenger, Styrian and East Kent Goldings
Food Pairings: most fish and seafood, including smoked, steak

Old Thunderpussy Barleywine

Our tribute to the most famous tenant of our historic building is brewed in September for a February 1st release (kicking off our annual Strong Beer Month). A little hoppy to truly be an English-style barleywine, Old Thunderpussy nevertheless uses all English ingredients and is built around a big, bold Maris Otter taste accented by East Kent Goldings hops. A slightly warmer fementation coaxes out an additional dimension of fruitiness.

Malts: Maris Otter; crystal; Munich; brown

Hops: Challenger; East Kent Goldings

Food Pairings: strong cheeses including Stilton and other blues, intense cheddars, aged goat cheeses