Forestville homebrewer scores national release

The news that Greg Rasmussen won Samuel Adams’ LongShot American Homebrew Contest isn’t surprising to those who know him well. The Forestville native has gained a reputation along the West Coast for his award-?winning beers.

This past fall, Rasmussen won the LongShot homebrew contest, hosted since 1995 to recognize and honor homebrewers. His Robust Porter will join Matthew Knott’s Classic Rauchbier and John Marra’s Dunkelweiss for a national spring release.

Rasmussen, 45, is a fire captain with the Forestville Fire Department when not crafting beers in his home. He got interested about 17 years ago when a roommate started experimenting with grain brewing. He got the bug himself after taking a class with Byron Burch, author of “Brewing Quality Beers: The Home Brewer’s Essential Guidebook,” and built himself a three-tier, 10-gallon brewing tank.

As a member of the Sonoma Beerocrats Homebrewing Club, he exchanges ideas with other local beer lovers and has won many awards for his concoctions.

“I think the first win was just over 10 years ago at the Marin County Fair,” he said. “I won first place for an English ale.”

In 2014, he won Best in Show at the local Battle of the Brews, was named the Sierra Nevada Homebrewer of the Year and “probably picked up another 30 medals for competition ,” he said.

He usually enters competitions like the World Cup of Beer, the California State Fair and the Mayfaire Homebrew Competition, but entered the Sam Adams contest for the first time this year.

“I had six beers in my cooler that I felt were high-scoring, so I sent them in,” Rasmussen said.

He won with a rich, well-balanced porter he has been fine tuning for four or five years that uses a variety of malts that contribute flavors of cocoa, coffee, toffee and a slight vanilla. Longshot founder Jim Koch called his winning brew “a flawless robust porter.”

“It won Best of Show in another contest two years ago,” Rasmussen said. “Since then, I added more chocolate to the flavor and more coffee and toffee notes. At this point I don’t think it will get much better, so I consider it conquered.”

The lifelong bachelor has a 4-by-8-foot walk-in beer cooler in his garage where he keeps his best finished products.

“My goal has always been to make an award-winning beer in every style,” he said.

He has identified some 75 beer styles and is about midway as he works his way through them.

“The thing I like most is reading guidelines and creating a recipe based on what the style is supposed to be,” he said. “The fun is then creating my own recipe that has never been seen before or tasted before and then making adjustments until it is just right.”

While he loves making all styles of beer, Rasmussen admits he is more drawn to making India pale ales and imperial IPAs because “it is fun to play with the hops to make different styles of beer.”

Along with gaining notoriety from winning the contest, Rasmussen will travel back to Boston soon to brew with Samuel Adams, something he is looking forward to.

“Everyone does things a bit differently,” he said about brewing. “Generally it is the same process, but people use different techniques and think up new things all the time.”

Luckily, his job as a firefighter allows enough days off to pursue his passion. For now, beer remains a hobby and not a career.

“I used to be more of a bass fisherman, but now beer has taken over, and I spend a few days a week on the beer,” he said.

The 2015 Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest six-pack will be available nationwide this spring in select retail stores. The variety pack will include two bottles each of Greg Rasmussen’s Robust Porter, Matthew Knott’s Classic Rauchbier and John Marra’s Dunkelweiss.

Contact Towns Correspondent Nick Walden at RParkTowns@gmail.com.