Last modified: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:55 AM PDT A pour of Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout shows its thick brown hue, like the cowboy coffee in the bottom of the pot. It tastes and smells as rich as it looks — velvet smooth, its hoppy nature is underscored by complex and layered flavors. Beer Valley By Anne Henderson Ontario — Did you know there is a hop shortage going on? Well, there is, and start-up micro brewers around the country are finding it difficult to fill their bins and their brews with the little green cones that are essential for the creation of beer. However, ingenuity is an American tradition, and, even when the production and sale of alcohol was impermissible during prohibition, we somehow figured a way to imbibe. Times have changed, but this spirit certainly hasn’t, and, it is alive and well at Beer Valley, a small micro brewery on S.E.12th Avenue in Ontario. Pete Ricks started the company back in 2005 through a partnership with Santa Fe Brewing Company, in New Mexico.   Ricks, who grew up near Meridian, decided to relocate to the area because both he and his wife have family here and because he thought it would be the perfect place to grow his new business. “People asked me why Ontario, and I said, ‘why not Ontario?’” “I wanted to come to a place that really needed some good jobs,” he said. Ricks’ plans for Beer Valley include eventually linking a pub-style tasting room or restaurant to the brew house. Meanwhile, his beers are winning praise nationally and are being requested by restaurants from Oregon to New York. The Beer Valley’s success story started with Black Flag Imperial Stout, which is, as Ricks describes it, extreme. “I wanted it to be one of the most extreme beers out there — heady and hoppy.” Ricks experimented with home brewing for ten years or so before beginning to brew commercially. He said during that time he discovered what he liked in a beer, and, if Rick’s haughty flagship stout is any inclination, the man likes hops. Ricks explains that, as with any food or beverage, good beer begins with quality ingredients. Ricks’ hops come from Yakima, Wash. They are pelletized, or compressed into little nuggets that look more like rabbit feed than organic plant matter. Ricks uses Yakima hops because of their citrus character. Smelling of grapefruit and earth, they counter the sweetness inherent in dark beers like the imperial stout. These hops are especially high in alpha acids, which also lend a bitter bite to a darker beer. The brewing process is one based on temperature control, proportion and timing. It is truly a science — everything must be done just so to yield consistent results.   The malts to be used for the beer are first ground or cracked and then fed to the mash ton, a large cylindrical tub, which can hold up to 12,000 pounds of grain. From there, hot water is added  and the natural enzymes in the malt break down the starches into sugar. The resulting liquid is known in brewer’s terms as “the wart.” The wart is recirculated through a device called to brings it to a temperature around 75 degrees. This process brings out the sugars in the grains and deactivates enzymes which could interfere with the yeast’s activation. The mixture is then pumped into the kettle (which somewhat remarkably resembles Tin Man’s hat) — an oversized oil can of sorts. The liquid is brought to a boil for 60 to 120 minutes to kill bacteria. During the boil, hops are added. Depending on when they are introduced, at the beginning, middle or end, hops will add different elements to the brew. Adding hops at the front end produced bitter biting flavors, and, at the end, the citrus or floral notes of the hops are preserved. Finally, the yeast is added, converting the sugars in the malt into alcohol. The resulting beer is transferred to conditioning tanks where the yeast and hops settle. It is the filtered, ready to be bottled and distributed. “We are not trying to brew the most beer, we are trying to brew the best beer,” Ricks said. This commitment to quality has propelled the popularity of micro brews so that they take up about eight percent of the national market, and, that number is growing. “The younger generation, they don’t want to drink their dad’s beer,” Ricks said. In addition to Black Flag, Beer Valley produces four other varieties to suit any occasion or dinner menu.   The Pig Skin is a classic pale ale, flavorful, yet lighter in character. Highway to Ale, is a barleywine beer aged for months before release with an uncommon 10.5 percent alcohol level. Leafer Madness, a new venture for Ricks, is brewed with large amounts of malt and multiple hop varieties. Finally, there is the Owyhee Amber, an award-winning, easy-drinking, crisp session ale, perfect for relaxing summer evenings on the deck. This beer can be found on tap and on shelves throughout the Treasure Valley — locate it and you will understand the treasure to be had in Beer Valley.