Tulsa World: Best brew

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

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Best brew
Choc's Dubbel takes the prize

Choc Signature beer won first place at the Great American Beer Festival. TOM GILBERT / Tulsa World

By MIKE AVERILL World Staff Writer
Published: 10/7/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 10/7/2009 4:05 AM

Choc Beer Co. recently took first place in the Belgian-Style Abbey Ale category at the Great American Beer Festival with its Signature Dubbel. There were 58 entries in the category.

"It's pretty cool to win any gold medal in that, and it's even better to win that category," said Joe Prichard, owner of the Krebs-based brewery. "The people who won silver and bronze are pretty big hitters."

This was the first time Choc tried brewing a dubbel — a rich, malty Belgian Trappist-style ale — and Prichard said it's an example of good things happening by accident.

Brewmaster Michael Lalli was set to start brewing the batch when he opened the tank where the Belgium yeast was supposed to be growing.

"There was no activity," Lalli said. "I opened it up and it smelled like nail polish."

So he went to High Gravity, a Tulsa homebrewing supply store, and purchased all of the Trappist strains the store had, averting a crisis and brewing a gold-medal-winning beer.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Lalli said. "It was pretty fun walking across the stage with the guy who started the Brewer's Association handing out the medals. That's pretty cool."

The Signature beers from Choc are usually one-shot batches. But after winning the award, the brewery is working on another batch.

"There's some of it floating around," Prichard said, adding that the second batch should be bottled and in liquor stores by the first week of November. "That's the best beer ever to come

out of here. We've thought that for a while. It's nice to have someone else tell you."

Pub grab

Tulsa's Marshall Brewing Co. also received national attention recently. Its McNellie's Pub Ale represented Oklahoma in the 50 Beers, 50 States article in the July/August issue of DRAFT Magazine.

According to the magazine: "Delicately complex, this bitter gets its zing from English yeast and American hops."

Mike Averill 581-8489
mike.averill@tulsaworld.com By MIKE AVERILL World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Mar, Tulsa (10/7/2009 11:55:04 AM) Reading the article on Sloppy Joes I got hungry for those. Now reading this article I'm thirsty for a good beer. :)
	Report Comment Arbythree, Tulsa (10/7/2009 1:56:34 PM) MMMMMM Beer!
	Report Comment SRV, (10/7/2009 2:37:13 PM) Michael Lallis is a dear fiend and one hell of a brewer! Congrats Joe and Michael, but many of us have known this for years!
	Report Comment Okierat, Bartlesville (10/7/2009 2:45:15 PM) Many of the Signature Beers by Krebs are good. I do like the Dubble. Need to look and see if there is any more in the fridge............

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