Beer Columnist Ed Sieger on Rude Elf's Reserve

Don’t be Rude, sip on Fegley’s Brew Works’ Elf’s Reserve

Express Times
Published: Friday, December 31, 2010, 1:00 AM
By: Edward Sieger
Express-Times Photo | SUE BEYER | Fegley’s Rude Elf Reserve

Beer: Rude Elf’s Reserve

Made by: Fegley’s Brew Works, Allentown

Website: thebrewworks.com

Type of beer: Ale

Rating: 4.5 pints out of 5

Weyerbacher Brewing Co. bottled Rude Elf’s Reserve before Fegley’s opened its Allentown location in 2007 and purchased a bottling line. Once Brew Works took over bottling responsibilities, bottling dropped from about 600 cases to maybe 600 750-ml bottles, according to brewmaster Beau Baden.

But bottling and overall production are on the rise.

Brew Works has bottled only 750-ml cork-and-cage bottles for the last two years, Baden said. The brewery purchased a new 12-ounce bottling line in February, allowing bottling to increase from about 280 bottles daily to 550 bottles with half the staff, he said.

Uncertain of the market for Rude Elf’s Reserve, the brewery projected marketing maybe 1,000 cases with the new bottling line. 12-ounce bottles get you into more places, though, and Brew Works turned about 3,000 cases, Baden said.

Brew Works is adding two 1,000-gallon tanks to the Allentown location in late spring, bringing the facility’s total to nine. The addition of two larger tanks – the brewery currently features 500-gallon tanks – should bolster annual production by about 48,000 gallons, according to Baden.

“We’re pretty much filling the tank as we empty it,” he said.

The demand for Rude Elf, for instance, was taking up nearly all the brewery’s tank space in December. The new tanks could mean a roughly 30 percent increase in production, Baden said.

The addition of the new bottling line means everything Brew Works currently offers in 750 ml bottles will eventually appear on the shelves in 12-ounce bottles, including the spring seasonal Space Monkey and the fall seasonal Devious Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

Every beer available in a cork-and-cage is bottle conditioned, and Baden believes a beer such as Hopsolutely will take on a slightly different characteristic in a 12-ounce bottle. The beer’s hoppy bitterness will shine through and the aroma should be a bit more pronounced if the yeast doesn’t have a chance to continue working the beer, he said.

In the short term, keep an eye out for a barrel-conditioned offering. Brew Works got its collective hands on 20 bourbon barrels in which Insidious Imperial Stout is currently aging in anticipation of a February release.

Beer review: The 1990s saw a number of Belgian holiday beers on the market, prompting Brew Works to concoct a Belgian-style ale for the holidays, according to brew master Beau Baden.

So Brew Works in 1999 debuted what was then called Rudolf’s Reserve, which predates Baden. Following a bit of a trademark dustup Brew Works changed the name to Rude Elf’s Reserve in 2001.

Brew Works finished this year’s run in early December, and Baden hopes to have Rude Elf in house at the Allentown brewpub until sometime around New Year’s.

Baden describes Rude Elf as an aromatic Belgian-style brewed with three yeasts and cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and clove.

“It manages to pull together though,” he said.

It also offers a robust 10.5 percent ABV.

“It’s no where near a session beer,” Baden said.

Rude Elf pours a warm brown with a red hue. And there is plenty of spice in the aroma with perhaps the clove making the biggest impression.

The flavor is crisp and immediate, and the spiciness in the aroma carries over into the flavor. It’s a spiciness that will linger in the back of your throat, and you’ll sense it in your nose.

Rude Elf has a candied quality to it with a strong alcohol flavor. I don’t know if I’d quite call Rude Elf a complicated beer, but it’s certainly robust with a great deal of character for which you should be prepared. I’d suggest drinking this particular beer with a chill to it, not too cold though. Although there’s enough going on here in a bold, brash kind of way that it might be hard to temper this beer’s flavor.

This is a fairly big beer that’s the very definition of a sipping beer. It’s best to sit on the couch at the end of the day and leisurely enjoy a Rude Elf.