DesJardin Brewing

New Columbia Distillers article

2012-02-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

John Uselton in front of the raw space that will be New Columbia Distillers in NE DC

I have an article in the current issue (Feb/March) of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on the arrival of DC's first distillery since at least prohibition (and possibly much further back, as nobody has been able to find evidence of a legal distillery in DC's history). New Columbia Distillers will be operating out of a warehouse space in the Ivy City neighborhood of NE DC. The craft distillery's flagship will be it's "Green Hat" gin named after Congress' prohibition era in-house bootlegger George Cassiday, with plans in the works for a barrel aged rye whiskey in the future. The pair behind the operation, John Uselton and his father-in-law Michael Lowe, hope to receive their showpiece German-built still and mash tun in the next few months and have the gin available this summer. They will look to the local community for volunteers to assist with weekly bottling sessions.

A link to the article (page 35) can be found below:
http://mabnonline.brewingnews.com/publication/?i=99217

D.C.'s Brewing Renaissance

2012-01-25T22:51:00.000-05:00

Daniel Fromson has an article in today's Washington Post about the current crop of D.C. breweries, ourselves included. There is a lot to be excited about as the scene diversifies; we have come a long way in the last decade from the pioneering days of rotating draft lines to the unbounded success of local beer.

In the article we also roll out the working title of our project..."Right, Proper". The name encapsulates our goal of arching towards the highest standards, while still remaining playful and humble.

Below is a link to the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/in-dcs-brewing-renaissance-every-palate-wins/2012/01/17/gIQAX4nsNQ_story.html

12% Imports article

2011-12-04T13:14:00.001-05:00

Brian Ewing at his office in Greenpoint Brooklyn surrounded by some of his favorite things

I have an article in the current (Dec/Jan) issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on Brian Ewing of 12% Imports. In the last 4 years, Ewing has made quite a ripple in the artisan beer scene with his small upstart; most pointedly in his partnership with Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales and by securing the exclusive rights to import the newest gueuze blender in Belgium in over a decade Gueuzerie Tilquin. The online edition of the article is available on page 12 through the following link:
http://mabnonline.brewingnews.com/publication/?i=91633

"Tempêst" Smoked Barleywine

2011-11-18T13:31:00.003-05:00

The latest installment of my Hyperborea inspired beers is a smoked barleywine. I realize that I've acquired an increasing de-sensitivity to beechwood smoked rauch malt; the ham-iest versions of Schlenkerla that used to test my threshold are now right where I'm comfortable. Peat-smoked malt is a different story; not too long ago I sampled Sunturnbrew from the Norweigan brewery Nøgne Ø which was entirely too peaty-ashtray for my taste, though it is a brilliant idea to brew a beer to celebrate the local legend that the sun "turns" and changes directions on the shortest day of the year.

The smoked barleywine that inspired my own is the sublime Corps Mort from the idyllic island brewery À l'abri de la Tempête (Shelter from the Storm) on Quebec's Magdalen Islands--one of my pet obsessions that I hope to visit one day. That beer has a salinity and otherwordliness about it, void of form, that I knew would be impossible to capture, but it was a starting point. I love open fires in the darker months so the target was a northern, sustaining beer--a hearth beer, for those (like myself) without.

"Tempêst" Smoked Barleywine
OG 1.100 FG 1.022 ABV 10.5% SRM 23

33% Rauch Malt
24% Golden Promise
19% Munich
10% Monastic Honey
7% Caramunich 60
5% Amber Malt
2% Crystal 120

mashed at 158

1.5 oz. Nugget at 60 mins.

fermented with a 2nd generation slurry of US-05

meat-smoke, toffee, leather

The Word is Out

2011-11-02T15:43:00.002-04:00

"Sir" Thor Cheston, captain of the ship

I fielded a call from the Washington City Paper's beerwriter Tammy Tuck this afternoon to confirm that I was involved in a brewpub project here in DC, and now the word is officially out. Here's a link to Tammy's Young&Hungry post:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011/11/02/bye-bye-brasserie-beck-thor-cheston-sets-out-to-start-his-own-suds-spot/#more-48634

Not a whole lot to add other than it's all really exciting and I'm looking forward to working with Thor, whose integrity, vision, and acumen I really respect.

Orchid Cellar Mead Article

2011-10-13T19:07:00.004-04:00

I have an article in the current (Oct/Nov) issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on the Middletown, MD based Orchid Cellar winery that specializes in sweet meads in the Polish tradition. The small, family-run winery is located in a beautiful part of the state cradled between the Catoctin and South mountain ranges and makes for a great autumn outing. The meads are produced by the father/son team of Andrzej Wilk Sr. and Jr. who age all the meads in wine barrels for as long as 2 years before bottling. They offer nine sweet mead variations, including a capsicumel with chili peppers and a rhodomel with rose petals. My 3 favorites were Knight, Monk and Hunter which do a wonderful job balancing heft (16-18% abv), sweetness, and tannin.

the online edition is available through this link.

BrotherFish: Wild Citra Tripel

2011-09-19T21:48:00.001-04:00

I very proudly share my March birthday with my longtime buddy Matt with whom I schemed on a celebratory beer for the occasion. When we met more than 10 years ago I felt like I met a doppelganger, not just 'cause of the birthdate or that we both wore desert trekkers in the early aughts, but more the tantamount fondness for cinema and a budding interest in good beer--and the friendship has since been cemented with a decade littered with hundreds of reels and innumberable beers..Lubitsch, Powell-Pressburger, Preston Sturges, Naruse, Ozu, Billy Wilder, Charles Laughton, Tati, Aldomovar,Victory, De Dolle, Hanssens, Cantillon, Drie, Fantome, Dupont, Thiriez, De Ranke, Russian River, Pretty Things...

Matt and I both have a deep affection for the city of Montreal, and further for it's crowning jewel the Dieu Du Ciel brewpub. Matt tried a beer on tap at the brewpub during his yearly northern sabbatical last year called L'Herbe à Détourne that he fell for and when we started talking about a birthday beer, that was his immediate inspiration. L'Herbe à Détourne is a strong, citra hopped tripel that I got to try for the first time this summer out of the tanks at DDC and now know why Matt was so smitten. Jean-Francois from DDC recently told me the story of the name of the beer which translates to something like a walk on the grass of forgetfulness, which is a brilliant play on the strength of the beer.

When it came to piecing together a recipe my input was to rough it up a bit by adding 25% rye to the grist and fermenting it with a menagerie of yeast wild and tame, and lactic acid bacteria--so was born BrotherFish. This Piscean brew is by far the most tropical tasting beer I've ever made, lush with guava, pineapple, mango and some light durian funk (in a good way) from the brett and acidity from the bacteria. It's a beer for escapists, dreamers...Pisces.

Since the main saccharomyces in the beer was a saison strain, primary fermentation was swift and highly attenuative. In order to get some character from the brett, we left it in secondary for a few months while the brett worked on the more complex sugars, and then dry hopped it for the last week to brighten the nose up before capturing it in bottle for refermentation.

I enjoyed this beer so much I re-brewed a clean version with a blend of the Dupont and Thiriez saison strains to have on tap next to the funky bottle version.

BrotherFish
OG 1.078 FG 1.004 IBU 33 ABV 9.8% SRM 6

65% Pils
25% Rye Malt
10% Munich

mashed at 150

.5 oz Citra @ 60
1 oz. Citra @ 5
1.5 oz Citra @ flameout
2 oz. Citra dry hop

fermented with a 3rd generation slurry of East Coast Yeast Saison Blend, Roselare Blend, and other critters at ambient in the 80's.

fecund tropics, acid, tastes like Gauguin's Tahiti...

Basic Brewing Radio Interview: Brewing Saisons

2011-09-07T20:10:00.000-04:00

James Spencer from Basic Brewing Radio invited Mike and I back on the show to talk about saisons in support of the recent BYO article. It's always a good, laid-back time with the BBR gang and it's a subject very dear to myself and an increasing number of brewers across the country.

Here is a direct link to the episode:

Streaming mp3

Evolution Article and a Shore Surprise

2011-08-21T19:42:00.001-04:00

Evolution's headbrewer Geoff Debisschop in front of barrels from their Migration Series

I've got an article about Evolution Craft Brewing Co. in the current (Aug./Sep.) issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, available at the online archive here. As an addendum to my article, I recently spoke with co-owner Tom Knorr of the Delmar, DE based brewery and am happy to share the news that Evolution just purchased a 40BBL brewhouse and has secured a 20,000+ sq. ft. historic building over the stateline in Salisbury, MD that they will begin expanding into in the next few months. The building is an old ice house which will comfortably house the production facility as well as a brewpub with plenty seating inside and out.

Bryan Brushmiller goes rustic on MD's Eastern Shore

Just a bit further east out Route 50 from Evolution and just short of the Atlantic shore beaches in the sleepy hamlet of Berlin is Maryland's newest craft brewery Burley Oak Brewing Co., run by brewer-biologist-surfer-by-way-of-Baltimore Bryan Brushmiller. The Burley Oak team has been working double-time to get everything together to clear their last 2 inspections for a planned launch next month, and was busy conditioning their first commercial batch when Governor O'Malley dropped in with an entourage of 70 this past weekend for a visit. Brushmiller ran off a keg of his 7 Fingered Farmer IPA for the governor who poured himself a 2nd pint before 11AM. The beer is named after an enthusiastic local farmer who picks up their spent grain and is a few digits short.

Brushmiller relied on business loans and grants from the State to secure the old 6,000 sq. ft. wood barn with vaulted ceilings that appropriately served as a cooperage in a former life. Brushmiller homebrewed extensively for the last 3 years, but this is his first professional brewing gig. He relied on his own construction skills and friends to cobble together his brewhouse from repurposed dairy tanks, complimented with a row of secondhand 8.5BBL copper clad fermentors and a shiny modern 15BBL fermentor with all the mod cons. I spent an hour with Brushmiller and was glad to hear "coolship, wine barrels, brettanomyces, and saisons" peppered throughout our conversation. His vision is for a Maryland Farmhouse brewery that works with local producers for grain and hops, and isn't afraid to go "rustic".

With Evolution, and now Burley Oak, Rachel and I's summer trips to the beach down Route 50 are becoming more and more interesting.

The Big Ass Silver Key

2011-08-16T18:58:00.003-04:00

Vaclav, I , and the silver key to Pilsen

Last week Vaclav Berka, brewmaster of the Plzensky Prazdroj (of Pilsner Urquell fame), came to DC to lead a coterie of judges in the inaugural Master Homebrewers Competition to recreate the original golden lager. I've always steered clear of competitions, but the grand award for this one was a trip for 2 to the Czech Republic which was enough for me to fold--otherwise my conviction. Long story short, I got 2nd place and a big ass silver key to the town of Pilsen, which I imagine grants me some sort of royal privileges (or at least a free beer at the local) when I visit on my own dime. The whole evening was a lot a fun, quite validating, and now I just need to find the appropriate dookie rope to sling that key on.

Here is an article from the Post with a bit more background on the story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-we-can-eat/post/czech-it-out-a-homebrew-pilsner-like-urquells/2011/08/12/gIQA4x9uBJ_blog.html

As for the pils I went the, for the most part, traditional route to create my "Ur-Pils" (original pils). I started with a grist of 100% Weyemann's Bohemian Floor Malted barley, which is their most artisan and under-modified base malt, and which holds up well to the violence of being repeatedly boiled in the decocting process. I performed a triple decoction mash which makes for a long, sweaty day over the kettle of constant stirring to keep the grain from scorching. For bittering I used Czech Saaz, and for finishing I went pretty heavy handed with Saaz and a bit of Sterling, which is an American hybrid from Saaz that is a bit more fragrant and punchy than Saaz and that I though would work as a nice bridge of traditions, and I like a bit of tilt in my beers--I didn't want it strictly by-the-book.

I lagered the beer for a month and am really happy with how it turned out. The decoctions firmed up the body, as a 100% pils grist can often leave a beer sort of anemic and the heavy hand with the finishing hops gave the beer a really elegant balance and freshness. The beer has a really enticing nose, and a true and full pilsener malt flavor. The balance in Czech Pilsner is very delicate--it needs to be soft but not flabby, with peppy carbonation and enough bitterness to keep it interesting.

Congratulations Mr. Hermes, you're a hell of a brewer.

Shibboleths: Summertide Wanderings (or Lagerings Out West)

2011-07-26T19:22:00.000-04:00

Early this summer Rachel and I escaped for a week to Northern California, where among other pleasures, we got to spend a morning with Brian Hunt at Moonlight Brewery just outside of Santa Rosa in Sonoma wine country--where we were spoiled with all kinds of oddities and machinations such as his sour mashed Left for Dead, as well as several different gruits and "tree beers" made from among other things, the various anatomy of local redwoods and cedars. Brian is an inspirational figure, a man against the tide, uncompromising, tilted--most contrarian adjectives stick on him. I knew and admired Brian from his reputation, but this trip was the first time I'd had his beers which are draft-only and generally limited to the Bay area. Moonlight has staked it's reputation on a couple of fine tuned lagers: Reality Czech Pilsner and his renowned black lager Death & Taxes which are perennially on tap at the Toronado in San Francisco.

A "lager brewer" who began his career in Milwaukee at Schlitz in the early 80's, Brian opened Moonlight in 1992 after signing onto a few aborted attempts at the burgeoning northern California craft revolution of the early 90's. Moonlight is on the outskirts of town toward Sebastopol, on an idyllic little farmstead tucked away from the throughway with a healthy quarter acre hop yard in front--you'll get the impression you've stumbled upon something special. The local municipality limited him to just a 1,000 square footprint for the brewery, so he got creative with his fermentation room with stacks of fermenters in every available inch. That morning we also met Gabe Gordon of Beachwood BBQ and his lovely wife who were on their regular pilgrimage to smuggle kegs back to their Seal Beach location (just south of Los Angeles). Being an early adapter of the American farmhouse trend, Gabe proclaims Brian as "America's version of Dany Prignon (of Fantome)", though with Brian's droll sense of humor perhaps a comparison to Kris from DeDolle would be just as apt. Brian has stuck by his guns for almost twenty years brewing mostly lagers in the alecentric west coast, and eschewing anything doubled or imperialized, but increasingly investigating the fringes of historic and folk beers--he recently traveled over to Scandinavia to brew collaborations with Mikkeller and Haand, and he brought his redwood tips with him. A body could be happy and well provided for in Santa Rosa having Moonlight and Russian River as your locals.

Oakland's beer scene is on the upswing. On a tip from our friends Mike and Manuela I scheduled some time with Adam Lamoreaux of Linden Street Brewery. Adam is another brewer bucking the trend in Norcal whose mission is to revitalize Oakland's strong brewing past. Similar to DC, Oakland hadn't had a production brewery since 1959 when Adam set up shop a few years back in an 1890's industrial space that used to manufacture underground cables at the Port of Oakland. Adam took over the historic structure in 2007, but didn't open until 2009 because of various bureaucracy and permitting issues.

True to the Bay Area's brewing past, Adam brews 2 outstanding beers in the steam tradition: the golden and peppy Urban People's Common Lager and the roasty Burning Oak Black Lager. Adam cut his teeth brewing for Anderson Valley and for now Linden Street is being run as a (mostly) one-man operation with just 2 towering fermenters and plenty pent-up demand.

Here is a link to a great article from Edible East Bay about Adam and Linden Street:

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/eastbay/images/stories/articles/harvest09/pdfs/fromBeer.pdf

Other highlights from the trip included spying a pack of elk in the receding light of Tomales Bay, and lunch at Chez Panisse with a bottle of Supplication.

American Saison Article

2011-06-27T17:52:00.001-04:00

Ryan graining out "Irma"

Mike and I have a long piece in the current (July/Aug) issue of BYO on the "Cult of American Saison". The article was born out of a collaborative beer we hatched with Ryan Michaels of McKenzie Brewhouse, a saison mash-up fermented in barrels we called "Irma", after Shirley Maclaine's eponymous lead character in one of my favorite Billy Wilder movies. A few hundred bottles of Irma were blended and packaged, and are available at McKenzie for those wise enough to ask for it.

Shirley Maclaine on the set of Irma la Douce

Irma in barrels

We spoke to a slew of talented brewers for the article including Yvan De Baets, Dann Paquette, Brian Strumke, Alex Ganum and Bob Sylvester to gather some consensus on best practices for the article. There are recipes for McKenzie's Saison Vautour which has won 3 of the last 4 gold medals for saison at GABF, as well as a Petit Saison variation of mine and a Dark Winter Saison that is part of an ongoing series Mike has been working on.

We were happy to be able to shout-out East Coast Yeast, a small yeast lab run by microbiologist Al Buck in his spare time in NJ. Al is a fixture on the Burgundian Babble Belt homebrew forum--a great resource and wealth of knowledge for mixed fermentation brewing. The Petit Saison from the article which used Al's bugs is singing in the bottle, couldn't be better. You can purchase East Coast Yeast vials through the Princeton Homebrew shop.

If you enjoy the article I encourage you to let the folks at BYO know with a quick e-mail or letter. Thanks.

DC Brau Article

2011-06-12T18:54:00.000-04:00

Brandon and Jeff goofing with their first 6 pack of The Public

I've got a cover page article in the current (June/July) issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on DC Brau. A couple of recent updates from Brau: with the overwhelming reception and demand they are already eyeing 60BBL fermenters and have hired an assistant brewer to ramp-up production, and they are switching from the traditional plastic six-pack ring to new state-of-the-art solid snap-on rings from Paktech which are more eco-friendly and will make packaging more efficient.

The online edition is available here:

http://www.brewingnews.com/archives/

Quebec Extras: Hopfenstark

2011-06-09T18:45:00.001-04:00

About half hour north of Montreal in L'Assomption, you’ll find the eccentric brewpub Hopfenstark and it's faustian brewer Fred Cormier--an elusive, intense, and protean figure. Cormier has something of the outsider artist about him, cavalierly brewing what must have been Quebec’s first commercial berliner weisse and compounding that by naming the beer Berlin Alexanderplatz after German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s impenetrable 16 hour cerebral epic (one of the most cleverly named beers ever). He is the first Quebecois brewer to take on saisons as a real focus and he’s doing important work with his Station series: “The idea behind it is to brew 5 completely different saisons: one with herbs and citrus (Station 7), One sour (Station 10), one with rye (Station 16), and one bitter (Station 55). The newest one was a blend of the rye one and the sour one and came out very citrusy (Saison DuRepos)”. Cormier’s newest creation is Boson de Higgs, a 3.8% abv smoked saison with brettanomyces named after a massive hypothetical elementary particle from the world of physics. They are all worth tracking down and are a study in complexity and form.

Cormier recently gave me the good news that, "I just got a new fermenter and that will change everything. I will alway's be able to do a saison plus all my regular line up, plus a

special beer just for my pleasure." 12% Imports has been doing a good job supplying the States with Cormier's work.

Here is a bit of Q & A with Cormier:

What is the zeitgeist of the artisanal brewing scene up there?

Explosion of our industry! That is the first thing I got in mind because there are so many new breweries and projects. Everyone is increasing their production, there is movement in every direction--strong beer, bourbon barrel, sour, low gravity, original recipes from the past... Quebec has to make up for lost time in the beer industry.

Can you define the Quebecois style in your own words?

As the french part of North America, we are from France, then living in Canada (England) we also had a lot of Irish immigration. Many people from Poland, Germany (eastern Europe) moved here like many Belgians (french speaking). And for sure, the States are our neighbors... We are naturally a mixture of all culture around us. For us, Food, cheese, alcohol... from all those places is normal and we understand it. This open mind lets us do creations from all those places without being extreme as the American's do. The balance between old traditions stuck in the past and the race of the new extreme super taste typical of the States. I think the Quebecois style is that open-minded vision.

What is the mission/spirit behind Hopfenstark?

Fun, working for the beer, exploration and learning. Liberty! There is no limits in beer and that is great. In the last few month, I've liked doing low gravity beer, Helles, Blonde... Fine tuning those kinds of beer is a great challenge. But I know that will change soon and I will want to do something different. The size of my brewery lets me have this creative liberty.

Why should beer drinkers seek out artisan beer from Quebec?

To try other interpretation of beer. Like I said about the Quebecois beer style, our vision is different so the products will be different. With all the change in our beer industry, there is a lot of new beer, interpretation coming out every week. You will never get to try them all. Many of our brewers in Quebec are doing very good beers.

Quebec Extras: Jan-Philippe Barbeau and Co-Op Brewing

2011-06-07T09:40:00.001-04:00

Jan-Philippe Barbeau, founder and brewer of the co-op brewery Loup Rouge in Sorel-Tracy, is at the heart of the artisan brewing scene in Quebec--a tireless advocate and booster for the local beer culture. His website http://www.jpbarbo.com/ lists and links to all the breweries and good beer stops in the province. In his own words, he's "been in and around the business since nearly 1997, brewing and tasting and getting to know a lot of people from the industry. I'm proud of that, of course, because I started at an early age (I'm now 31, starting my own brewpub at 25-26). Working with other brewers and in different breweries helped me understand different way of working physically and managing taste in beers. I'm also vice-president of Importations privees Bieropholie since the beginning. This non-profit organization has been founded to import beers from around the world and offering it legally at a fair price for our members and for 8 years now, I've organized beer tours around New England. I've always been involved in this business... and I'll always be."

"We carry a strong interest in Sorel's past through our branding. It's just so important for us to let customers know about our region which is one of the oldest towns in Canada (4th in fact). The name, Loup Rouge (Wolf Red translated in French), came after the nickname tory newspapers gave to Wolfred Nelson, an active Quebec patriot circa 1837-1838. He was part, and head, of the wide revolution the Canadians held for nation liberties against England. We took Nelson as our icon because he justly personifies our social involvement."

I found the number of co-operative breweries in Quebec intriguing. In the U.S., the only co-op brewery I'm aware of is Black Star (appropriately in Austin, TX). I asked Jan-Philippe:

I know you've been involved in different co-op and collaborative brewing situations, how has that worked out for you?

"That's an amazing thing happening more and more in Quebec for quite some years now. I found it really nice to think the concept of a beer and brew it with other brewers. I've worked with André Trudel (Trou du diable) first and then with Frédéric Cormier (Hopfenstark) and Philippe Tremblay (Bénélux) and that was very instructive. I think that it's the best move to help each other and see different approaches to brewing principles. It's also a way to improve our techniques and it's far better than chatting around a pint at a pub.

For the co-op part, you may know that our brewery has been founded as a workers co-operative. That's the best way we, founders of the Loup Rouge, could react about capitalism vs. social involvement. Our workers can be part of the project.

A co-operative is an organization (profitable or non-profitable) founded by a number of people to pursue a common goal. Our co-operative is founded by workers and our goal is that the co-operative can provide us employment to past and future members. There are other types of co-operatives (producers, banking, consumers, etc.), but the breweries founded in Quebec are workers co-operative only.

In Quebec, the first workers co-operative founded was La Barberie in Quebec city in 1997. Then, Les Freres Houblon in Pointe-du-Lac in 2003, Trou du diable in Shawinigan in 2004, then A la fut in St-Tite and us in 2007, Boquebiere in Sherbrooke in 2008 and La Fabrique in Matane in 2010.

The structure is a bit different than the traditional business in which the members (in the General meeting) elect representatives at the Board of Directors which employ a General Manager who is charged with managing the business. So a member of the co-op can be employed by the General Manager and be a representative at the Board of Directors at the same time.

The general idea behind this is that the co-op is managed to be democrative for the members, so the workers have a hand in their work. The government encourages this, yes, by fiscal credit via the annual taxes each members pay. There is also a lot of government-based and social-based organization that help financially with the foundation of new co-ops.

The government doesn't really help breweries other than these types of businesses. The taxes are not very high, but not very low too, the licences take a very long time to get and they passed a new law, two years ago, prohibiting the selling of a beer higher than 11.9 % alc/vol under a brewing licence (to do so, the brewery have to pay extra taxes under a distillery licences)."

Quebec Extras: Dieu du Ciel!

2011-05-27T14:36:00.000-04:00

Here is a Q & A with Dieu Du Ciel! brewpub lead brewer Luc "Bim" Lafontaine. I can say without reservation that Du Ciel is the pinnacle for brewpubs, and worth a trip to Montreal alone. They always keep around 18 beers on tap, including many one-off's and experiments--and being the fellow rauchfreak that Bim is, it's not uncommon to see several rauchbiers on. Every beer lover should make the pilgrimage at least once.

What is your approach to brewing at Dieu Du Ciel and how do you define the Dieu Du Ciel style?

As much as I want balance in my life, I do want the same in my beer. For me, making the best beers possible with zero compromise is what I preach. In my book, there is no point becoming a brewer if you are not fully dedicated. About the DDC style, I wouldn't say we have a style in particular. We are not reinventing the wheel here. What is beautiful about beer is that we have a beautiful international community. How amazing to share knowledge, passion and respect for the product with my fellow brewer friends from Japan to California to Shawinigan to Italy... Anyways, I feel It's amazing how we all want to work together on constantly bringing beer to a higher level. I never felt competitive towards any brewers on this planet earth. Not surprising that we see more and more collaboration beers happening... Anyways, doing what I do is the best feeling in the world! No doubt about it.

Who are your influences and where do you look for inspiration?

I’ll start by telling some of my favourite styles which inspire me a lot. For sure, there will be a Flemish Red, a nice mellow sour beer, a Saison and of course a Rauchbier in my top ten. Also these days I’m all about subtle low alcohol beers styles. I just designed a new Rigor Mortis which I called Rigor Mortis de Table, a 4% alcohol beer inspired by the trappist monks table beer. I'm also crazy about re designing our Kolsch every single batch since last year... Thanks also to the beautiful years I spent traveling around the world. It brought me to experience lot's of different tastes in food. I must say that Japanese cuisine changed my world totally. I have now a serie of beers dedicated strictly to Japanese ingredients. And If I have to put names, well, without hesitation I will say Peter Bouckhaert, Ivan De Baets, Garrett Oliver, Will Meyers and more I'm sorry not to mention cauz' the list could be quite long. Understanding subtility, complexity and balance like these guys do, well, I think it's unbelievable.

What is your brewing background?

I started homebrewing in 1991 when I was in College.  My first homebrew was a maple Imperial Stout! The typical guy who doesn't know how to control a very simple style but instead skip steps and throw himself into way too much! But thanks god it didn't last very long...  On my first trip to Europe in 1992, I started beer seeking around the world.  I went to Bavaria and discovered the Helles, Hefeweizen and another style that totally changed my world: the Rauchbier.  I continued homebrewing here, there and everywhere I could when I could during my almost 10 years stretch of wonderful traveling around the globe. Somewhere in between all this, more precisely in September 1998, I discovered this little brewpub named Dieu Du Ciel. Since 2001, I’ve been a devoted employee to this amazing brewery.  Since day one working there, I just became more and more crazy about beer.  Looking at it today, it just make sense that I am where I am now.

Who designs the recipes for the brewpub?

Since the opening of the production brewery in St-Jerome, it became crazy out there for the guys. They realized that they wouldn't have as much time to put in the brewpub.  It was perfect timing cauz’ I felt I really needed to step up in my work life and also needed more challenge.  So I pushed to become the leader of the brewery.  As much as I love the place and the guys, I just know deep inside that I'm not the type of guy who will satisfy himself by only brewing other people’s stuff for the rest of his life.  I have to be creative to stay healthy, period.  So let’s say that I bring quite a lot of ideas and new recipes to the place since the last 2 years. I thank JF and Stephane for giving me that freedom.

How big is the system at the brewpub and is all the beer on tap brewed there or is some from the production brewery?

The brewpub system is a 5 hectolitres (4 Barrels).  Quite small but perfect like that.  Our brewpub is  busy all the time so 5 hectolitres goes really fast which means that I have to brew quite often.  Last year I brewed 144 batches (3 to 4 batches a week). Even better, I brewed more than 50 styles of beer in that same year which is VERY exciting for me!  With the production Brewery, it gives me the freedom to brew more varieties.  Because we cannot serve our beers outside the brewpub (We all have our stupid laws I guess...), the production Brewery pub in St-Jerome cannot count on my production to serve a plain blond ale, red ale and a stout in it's own pub (*Sadly, it’s still a must to serve a blond, white, red and a black beer in a Quebec pub! For many people it's not about a style but about a colour. We still need to do a lot of education in our beer culture...). All this to say, the production brewery started to brew these styles of beers I used to brew every 2 weeks to serve it's own pub.  So yes we do always have a few beers from the production brewery on our menu in Montral (sometimes up to 1/3 of the menu).  Good thing cauz’ it allows us to always have 18 beers on tap at the same time! I’m sure nobody will ever complain about that, right?

Why should people seek out artisan quebec beer?

With years we built up this beautiful beer intersection right here in Quebec. Our Quebec ancesters are French, our country still worship the Queen of England and our beloved neighbours are Americans.  If you look at the styles made in Quebec, one can feel that we are closer to Belgian styles beer than everywhere else in the rest of Canada. Also, many Quebec breweries are devoted to the British and German styles. And I must say a lot because of you my fellow Americans, a new era of freestyle inspiration beers came to life in the last 10 years in our province. Dieu du Ciel was one of the first ones to realize that there was a lot of amazing stuff happening on the other side of the border. With time, with everybody's inspiration, a melting pot of all these influences made us what we are now and I'm sure a lot is still to come... Cheers! Santé!

Quebec article in BeerAdvocate (plus extras)

2011-05-25T09:55:00.001-04:00

I've got my first BeerAdvocate magazine article in the current issue (#52). I've been taking notes and gathering resources on artisan beer in Quebec for the past year or so since I visited Montreal, which has left me with a cache of extras that I figure I will share here over the course of the next few weeks.

The scene in Quebec is really dynamic and is informed by the Quebecois culture and foodways. I'll begin with a sidebar about artisan cheese in Quebec by Ruth Miller, who I met last year at the Vermont Brewers Fest. She used to write for a beer rag that covered Quebec beer Les Carnets de Ma Bière that unfortunately folded. A proclaimed Beer and Cheese Maven, she is doing her all to span the cultural bridge despite growing restrictions on cross border travel and commerce--Ruth is an invaluable resource on all things Quebecois. Here is some perspective from Ruth (in blue): her cheese picks for anyone visiting Quebec and some Q&A on the beer scene.

Ruth Miller

La Sauvagine (Alexis de Portneuf) Good stuff, and a little less challenging than Clandestin.

Le Clandestin (Fromagerie Le Detour) By far the stinkiest of the bunch. Also hard to find as it is seasonal & small batch.
Chevre Noir (Fromagerie Tournevent) Make sure you mention the 2-year aged version - far more interesting and tasty.
Le Migneron (Fromagerie Charlevoix) Absolutely a must - Goes with lots of Belgian style beers.
Raclette Griffon (Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser - washed with McAusland Griffon Pale Ale) There is also a new cheese from them called Clos de St. Ambroise washed with beer - more of a tilsit style and VERY good! look for matching mustard to go with it.
Champfleury (Agropur) Easy to find and very affordable; a surprisingly fine artisanal cheese coming from such a large cheesemaker.
Oka Classique (a Quebec Trappist clone of Chimay cheese) Also easy to find, affordable, and interesting Trappist connection there.

All solid picks, nice variety of milks/styles, good representation of some of the best in the province. The American Cheese Society's annual conference and competition (like the GABF of cheese for all of North America!) is being held in Montreal this August. There is one day open to the public for the Festival of Cheese, where for an advance ticket you can taste every single entry - over 1,400 last year - in a graze-around setting - fantastic! Given it's in Montreal, it will sell out quickly though.

Fromageries in Montreal and closer:

Fritz Kaiser in Noyan, Quebec - only 2 miles north of the border of Alburgh, VT with a grand retail cheese store. Closed Sundays.

Fromagerie Hamel - at Atwater Public Market and Jean Talon Public Market in Montreal

Fromagerie Atwater - at Atwater Public Market.

Marche du Saveurs - at Marche Jean Talon - all Quebec food specialties, including mustards, condiments, beers, cheese, smoked meats, game, etc.

What is the zeitgeist of the good beer scene in Quebec?

Very committed community of brewers who all know each other, and all seem to support each other both publicly and professionally. Intense pride in their offerings, but always consistently humble and accessible to their drinking public. Brewpubs are fun and friendly venues for visitors wishing to experience the local beer scene. Brewers are interested in utilizing ingredients that are locally-sourced, and pride themselves on that aspect. Seems to come from a more cooperative, Euro point of view. Local cuisines are treasured and celebrated as a perfect partner for Quebec craft beer, and due to an ethnically diverse population in the metro areas, all cuisines are represented. Quebec's liquor control agency (SAQ) frustrates a lot of good-beer drinkers by limiting importation of new beers, especially US beers, and remains rather firmly entrenched in wine culture. Local brewers counteract the situation by brewing as many different styles as they can to sate their frustrated devotees, and making lots of bottled product available at local stores. There is a thriving homebrew culture in Quebec for this same reason.

How do you define the quebecois style in your own words?

Originally tended toward Belgian & French farmhouse styles on lees with Unibroue's popularity; has now progressed to more extreme styles with high ABV's, heavier hopping, and unusual fermentables/adjuncts in admiration of US styles and a desire to push the envelope. I would call it based on Euro traditions, but continually innovating with unique and often indigenous ingredients. Last night I had a smoked hefeweizen, and a heavily-hopped cream ale on nitro - that's pretty brash, eh? And there is always a maple or fruit beer of some sort.

Why should folks seek these beers out?

They are rather unique, and have evolved from strictly a craft tradition, not morphed through BMC (even though CN has it's own what with Sleeman/Labatts/Molson.) They are often better represented in local brewpubs for their limited production runs, freshness and pure conviviality factor, although one-off bottle releases are becoming popular, and most are bottle-conditioned. The Mondial event in June does the most to promote Quebec craft brewing to the public. They are becoming more available in the States, off the shelf and at festivals. As part of a brewing region, they deserve as much attention as their neighboring breweries in New England for their quality, presentation, and a slightly "exotic" feel. They are enjoying emulating some US styles like DIPA's and Wild/Sours, but also respect the Euro tradition based on Belgians, Lambics, and Saisons with a new "twist" on the style. They are not ridiculously expensive like some one-offs here. It's fun to go to the "poor man's Europe" of Quebec and enjoy their beer & food culture - they have had a long-respected artisanal cheese culture there for generations. There is little language barrier because beer-geeks in the metro areas are mostly bi-lingual and love to talk about their faves with visitors.

It is absolutely essential that you check out my favorite beer festival in Canada - The Festival of Beers & Flavors at Chambly, Quebec. It is always held over Labor Day Weekend on the gorgeous grounds of historic Fort Chambly on the Richlieu River. It features virtually every Quebec brewpub, brewery, meadery, ice cider maker, and winemaker in La Belle Province - utterly amazing! Only Quebec purveyors are invited, and there is wonderful cheese, wild game, foie gras, bakery products and other indigenous foods to enjoy. I have been up every year for the last 12, and turned many people onto it. There is also the Unibroue co-owned Le Fourquet Fourchette restaurant, located in an old church just down the street that specializes in cuisine a la biere, (all Unibroue) and features a menu of Nouvelle France specialties and First Nation dishes as well. Really amazing. Also a local brewpub, Le Bedondaine et Bedons Ronde is right down the street, and a wonderful hang-out with stellar beers and good company.

A huge thanks to Ruth for all her help.

Flightless Bird: Oak Aged Adam Lager

2011-05-18T10:25:00.000-04:00

Adambier is a historic top-fermented, dark provisional beer that was generally aged in a wooden cask for a year or more. Alternately named Dortmunder Altbier, after the city of it’s origin, this north German style is one lost to history leaving it wide open to interpretation. The only commercial example I’ve ever had was Adam, from the incomparable Hair of The Dog Brewing Co. in Portland , OR, where brewer-founder Alan Sprints has been brewing 100 gallons at a time since 1994. Sprints is a rare breed who didn't pay himself a salary for the first several years of the brewery and has doggedly refused to upgrade his 3 barrel kettle or compromise his marathon 20+ hour brewdays.

The name flightless bird seemed like a natural for this ground tethered behemoth and serves as a nod to one of the heaviest bands of all time, the 60’s Japanese noisecult band Les Rallizes Dénudés. From what little I know, they were some sort of drop out, radical, psychedelic commune whose bassist hi-jacked an airliner in 1970. The 2 bootlegs I have are named “Heavier than a Death in the Family” and “Flightless Bird”, and their sound is indeed one of the loudest, sludgiest and overdriven I’ve subjected my ears to—raw power.

I threw in some beechwood smoked malt as well as amber and brown malts to replicate the smoky and toasted historic malts of hundreds of years ago, and then lagered the beer for 3 months. I added a piece of an oak infusion spiral to the keg so I could taste the oak evolve. A fair warning when using these spirals in even modest amounts, they add huge rich oak notes in just a matter of weeks (somewhere in-between oak cubes and chips).

Flightless Bird
OG 1.092 FG 1.020 ABV 9.6% IBU ~40 SRM 40

42% Pilsener
19% Munich
14% Weyemann Smoked
5% Amber
5% Brown
5% Carafa
5% CaraMunich
5% Flaked Oats

mashed at 155

1 oz.Magnum at 60

Fermented at 50 with a 3rd generation pitch of the Bohemian lager strain.

mocha, oak and warming alcohol.

Cans and Sitars

2011-04-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I popped into DC Brau to help out with their inaugural canning run. It took a little while to get the system tweaked, but once it was dialed in the production was flowing. The only bottleneck was the manual press that slips the cans into the six-pack holder (unfortunately, the automated machine to package the six-packs effectively doubles the cost of the canning line). I could only put in half a day, but the team was at it for a full 12 hours with the goal of canning ~15BBL. Cans should be in the DC market in the next couple weeks through their distributor Hop & Wine.

I took a short video of the process (set to a snippet of George Harrison's 1968 sitar-tabla freakout Wonderwall Music):

Support your local brewer.

Philly Farmhouse Article

2011-04-05T17:09:00.000-04:00

Gerard Olson outside of Forest & Main

I've got a cover story in the current issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on the evolving Philly Farmhouse scene. When Mike and I were up brewing at McKenzie's Brewhouse a few months back, we found out that assistant brewer Gerard Olson was starting a brewpub Forest & Main focusing on a dichotomy of farmhouse and U.K. session beers with plenty mixed ferments and barrels, and further that their friend Jean Broillet IV who has built a solid reputation brewing mixed ferments and barrel aging at Iron Hills Westchester location was starting a farmhouse operation as well called Tired Hands....and then shortly after that Terry Hawbaker was in touch about his plans to leave Bullfrog in Williamsport to brew mixed ferment insanity on a custom built 2 BBL Burton Union brewhouse at the just opened The Farmers' Cabinet in Center City.

Jean Broillet IV pours his funky Saison Riserva

It didn't take Columbo to spot the trend and even though all 3 will be following a similar inspiration, they each have their own identity--I won't get into it too much here as it's all covered in the article. I've brewed with 2 of these guys and tasted amazing beer from all 3 of them--exciting times and 3 more excuses to visit Philly.

A link to the online edition is here

Terry Hawbaker bids the brewhouse at Bullfrog adieu

Spring, Glorious Spring

2011-04-04T17:29:00.003-04:00

I was up at the Monastery over the weekend to check on the bees and the hops, and it's evident that Spring is upon us. The bees only fly when the temperatures approach the mid 50's, which has been all too rare recently, so it was great to see them in full bustle mode. 3 hives went into the winter and so far all have survived. The dearth of Winter is a time of clustering to maintain hive temperature and gorging on energy-rich honey stores. I set the video to Simon Finn's "A Very Close Friend" from his masterwork Pass the Distance. Disclaimer--this is the first video I've shot with my IPhone.

The first hop shoots are braving the elements, racing up out of the soil. I'm happy that I've been able to keep the hopyard organic, as hops are one of the most heavily fertilized crops in the world--it takes a tremendous amount of energy to put out the 20+ feet of foliage and pounds of flowers every season. So far I've relied on compost for nutrients and luckily haven't had problems with pests or disease. The few Old World varieties I've planted haven't produced any real usable flowers, I definitely recommend sticking to New World hops (Cascade, Nugget, Zeus, etc.) to any amateur grower. Next year I'll likely begin digging up the rhizomes for pruning and propagation.

With temps in the mid 80's today it's almost as if we jumped straight to Summer.

"Red Hash" Wee Mild

2011-03-24T11:39:00.009-04:00

Gary Higgins--psychenaut, American dreamer, a great East Coast echo of the northern California late 60's outsider folk sound. Higgins 1973 record Red Hash is one of the great records. In the earlier 70's the Connecticut based Higgins was playing with a progressive folk rock outfit Random Concept and then acoustic folk band Wooden Wheels, and generally living quietly on the fringes, when he caught a federal possession charge. With a multi-year stretch casting a grim shadow, he retreated to the studio for a 2 day marathon session that birthed Red Hash--dark, warped, highlonesome, desperate, quiet, cowering--beautiful. Track 6 Cuckoo is one of those song I can't seem to shake. Higgins served time and the record was swiftly lost to history.

Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance and Comets on Fire is credited with building the myth of Red Hash doggedly spreading the gospel throughout the 90's, and his friend Zach Cowie of Drag City records tracked Higgins down in 2005 after waging an intensive 2 year letter writing campaign to guys named Gary Higgins all over the country in order to reissue the relic. Higgins had heard that records geeks were on his trail, but was floored by Drag City's offer. He has since released a follow up 30+ years later titled Seconds.

On a recent trip to Philly, I played this record for Ryan Michaels of McKenzie Brewhouse who commented that listening to Higgins "Makes me feel like Alex Chilton is alive and hiding out in his beard"--well played my friend.

A mellow beer for a mellow man. My tribute to Higgins is a 3.2% abv Wee Mild--think Scottish 60 Shilling meets Best Bitter. An Imperial pint is timed to last you through a complete listen to the record.

Red Hash
OG 1.036 FG 1.012 ABV 3.2% SRM 11

80% Maris Otter
8% Flaked Oats
6% Amber Malt
6% Crystal 120

mashed at 156

1 oz. Goldings at 60 mins., 10 mins. and flameout

fermented at ambient in the mid 60's with Whitelabs British Ale

laid back roast, graham cracker, finishes bitter

Humulus Lycanthropus: Small IPA

2011-03-06T13:02:00.002-05:00

The botanical name for hops Humulus Lupulus roughly translates to wolf vine--so it was an easy enough play that there would be a proportionate morph between one's humulus intake and their resulting lupine nature. For this tincture I aimed for hops as purity of essence--with a relatively dry and lean frame to work from. Citra hops are the rage these days with all kinds of Citra single hop lunacy beers popping up, and I am no exception to the uproar--I recently ordered a pound from Hops Direct and when I unsealed the bag I had the most intense olfactory overload, a nose full of lush tropics and impossibly fresh resin. I threw Columbus and Amarillo in the mix as well as I had them in abundance and thought they would dance well together. Heavy dry hopping with Citra really punched the aromatics up.

"Edward" from Hill Farmstead, a hop saturated and sessionable 5% alcohol pale ale drowned in finishing and dry hops, was a definite inspiration for this beer that I hope will begin the murmurs of a trend toward vest pocket IPA's. It made me realize that I hadn't brewed a simple, hoppy beer in a while--the freshness is so enticing with this one. I think an all Citra something is in my near future.

Humulus Lycanthropus

OG 1.050 FG 1.010 IBU plenty ABV 5.2% SRM 6

95% Pils

5% Melanoidin

mashed at 150

1 oz. Columbus @60

1 oz. Citra @30

1.5 oz. each Citra and Amarillo @5 and flameout

dry hopped with 2 oz. Citra

fermented with a healthy starter of US-05 in the mid 60's

lush, dry, grapefruit and mango

Häxan: Baltic Porter

2011-02-06T13:29:00.000-05:00

Häxan is named after Danish director Benjamin Christensen 1922 silent film about witchcraft through the ages. Christensen, an actor as well, reserved the premium role of the Djævlen or devil for himself. It's a really curious pseudo-documentary, slightly tilted and an absolutely singular film that seems decades ahead of it's time, and in fact was re-edited and re-released in 1968 with appropriately deadpan narration by William S. Burroughs and a jittery jazz score. The Criterion Collection put out a comprehensive edition in 2001 that contains both versions and extras that has helped elevate the cult status of the film.

The film was apparently inspired by the medieval tome on witchcraft Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Gods", which was some sort of inquisitor's playbook written in the 1400's.

For this witches brew I pitched onto the yeast cake of the latest version of my smoked Helles Magritte's Pipe (which to my memory is the only beer I've brewed more than once) giving it just a slight smokiness that played well with the (many) other malts--I tend to go a little overboard with the grist on my strong dark beers. Baltic Porters are generally set apart from their continental cousins by being lagered (and German malts can give them that extra umph), though there are no real hard-and-fast rules in the world of Porter and it's ilk. A couple Baltic Porters worth seeking out are from Ølfabrikken in Denmark and Les Trois Mousquetaires in Quebec.

my Le Trou du Diable goblet is the perfect receptacle for this blasphemy

Häxan

OG 1.078 FG 1.014 IBU 41 ABV 8.5% SRM 36

82% German Pils

3% Carafa

3% Chocolate Malt

3% Coffee Malt

3% Flaked Oats

3% Melanoidin

3% CaraMunich 60

mashed at 153

.75 oz. of Magnum at 60 mins.

fermented with a 3rd generation Bohemian lager yeast cake at 50

really round and full body, bitter chocolate, espresso, with really deep German dark bready malt background

Infrared Bees

2011-02-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting video about bee vision and, pertinent to this time of year, their ability to regulate heat in the hive--even in brutal winter temperatures the hive needs to maintain a temperature in the 90's to survive. I'd never heard about these specialized "heater" bees--so much about beelive remains a mystery. The video is from the very slickly produced Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds from the BBC--the host is a bit much, but the information and footage is pretty spectacular.

Tmave in the Post and Skibsøl on the way

2011-01-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

Greg Kitsock has a piece on dark lagers in today's Washington Post Food section that's definitely worth a read. Greg mentions the tmave that I wrote about decocting with Jason Oliver, that is set to be tapped next Tuesday, February 1st at Devil's Backbone in Roseville, VA. Other than a recent spike in Baltic Porters, it's nice to see dark lagers in the spotlight, as they are generally not a style many US brewers seem especially keen on--personally, I get pretty excited about a well made Dunkel or Schwarzbier. There is a really good video from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where he travels to the Czech Republic's most lauded producer of tmave Kout na Šumavě which can be seen here.

On the topic of dark lagers, I'm planning on brewing an interpretation of an odd, old smoked dark lager this weekend--a Danish Skibsøl or "ship's beer". I don't know a whole lot about these beers, I had an imperial version from Cambridge Brewing Co. a couple years back that Will Meyers had worked with Anders Kissmeyer, formerly of Nørrebro Bryghus, on in which they smoked the malt themselves over alderwood. Meyers notes, "Traditional Skibsøl is a low alcohol (2.5 ABV), top fermented dark and very heavily smoked beer style that is said to have been very popular with the hard working naval crews on the Danish merchant fleet in the sailing ship era some 100 + years ago." Michael Jackson writes a bit about Skibsøl and some other traditional Danish beers here. Jackson states that these archaic farmhouse beers, "predated lager brewing in Denmark." Today Refsvindinge Bryggeri is the last farmhouse brewery in Denmark still producing Skibsøl on a commercial scale, for which they smoke their own malt.

I'll be aiming for a medium body, full flavored, smoky beer at around 3-3.5% ABV. This beer is a real collision of a few of my current obsessions: a small-lagered-Scandinavian-folk-beer, I can't wait.

Shibboleths: The Gilded Age (or Bum Rush NE)

2011-01-21T16:47:00.000-05:00

It's a good time to be living in NE DC. Chocolate City has set up shop 2 blocks from my house and is expecting delivery of their equipment in the next week, Holly from Black Squirrel is brewing test batches in a warehouse across the street from my me....and yesterday, DC Brau strode the first concrete, or dare I say stainless steel, step toward the District's new gilded age for local beer--Jeff and Brandon took possession of (6) 30 BBL fermentors and (2) 30 BBL bright tanks. With the help of a few anxious friends, a forklift and a chain pulley, the tanks were hoisted and set into place in just a few hours.

It's evident that DC has crushed it's 50 year dearth of local production beer. NE became a hotbed for these insurgent brewers due to it's commercial zoning, affordable rent and, I like to think, ragged charm. I've known Jeff for 5+ years now and I have to admit, DC couldn't ask for a more forthright and laid-back brewer to be leading the rush.

PS--sorry about the quality of the photos, all I had was my phone handy.

DesJardin makes the CityPaper's Super Beer List

2011-01-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

I'm honored to make Tammy Tuck's Super Beer List in the Washington City Paper for the first bottling from the bourbon barrel--Tammy is the fairer half of the City Paper's Lagerheads. Speaking of the bourbon barrel, vintage 2 is set to be bottled this Saturday, a robust porter base with a year in the barrel with the same mixed culture that worked wonders on vintage 1--I've been referring to these big dark sours as eldritch beers. I'm planning on further aging a portion the bourbon barrel porter on whole cabernet sauvignon grapes.

I had a sour porter at the '09 Zythos Festival in Belgium from one of my favorite brewery's De Dolle that enlightened me to the possibilities of acid in a dark beer base--Cosmos Porter was a flight-of-fancy historic recreation of the dark paterbier that was brewed by the shuttered Costenoble who operated the brewery in Esen before De Dolle's took up residence in 1980. The beer supposedly was a product of brewer Kris Herteleer's lactic propagator and had a portion of Oerbier Special Reserva blended in--a truly madcap beer from the mad brewer.

We've decided on a red base beer with a gravity ~1.070 for vintage 3 of the bourbon barrel that will be racked in on Saturday as well.

Thanks to Tammy and the collective DC Sour Barrel Gang--helluva job fellas.

Decocting with Jason Oliver: Lagers Uber Al(l)es

2010-12-27T13:09:00.000-05:00

Jason Oliver's lagers have been dominating at competition for the first 2 inaugural years of Devil's Backbone Brewing Co. (back-to-back gold at GABF for his Pils, gold at GABF for his Baltic Porter, World Beer Cup Small Brewpub of the Year, etc.) . A few weeks back, Jason invited me down to DB, the better part of an hour south of Charlottesville, VA, to the picturesque brewpub at the base of the Wintergreen ski resort to sit in on a double-decoction. The owner of DB is a builder by trade and much of the ski-lodge-chic space uses reclaimed lumber and rustic touches to brilliant effect--it's a great spot to loose an afternoon, evening or weekend.

A history major, Jason brings a scholars close reading to his recipes and is a firm believer in the transformative power of the decoction mash. Our vehicle for decoction on that Saturday morning was a Czech style Tmave, or black lager, that Jason had been workshopping with beerwriter/blogger Alistair Reece. Alistair, a Scotsman, spent a good bit of time in the Czech Republic, where he contracted an insatiable thirst for proper lager and his concise Pocket Pub Guide to Prague should be required reading for any Czech beer pilgrims. Both Jason and Alistair had previously worked on a triple decocted Trukker Pils (fine wordplay on ur-Pils, or original Pils), a historic recreation of the original Czech Pilsener from 1842, and are both on the front lines of the blitz to give well brewed lager it's due respect.

Alistair christened the Tmave "Morana" after the Slavic goddess of Winter and Death, whose effigy is burned in the Spring as a symbol of renewal. After the beer is lagered for 2 months, at the tapping party in February, perhaps Jason can be talked into a Wickerman-style Morana burning

In the Czech Republic there are pretty much just 2 beer styles: Pilsener and Tmave, and most are named after their gravity in Plato (degree of potential alcohol). For the 2 beers that Jason and Alistair have worked on they relied on Weyermann Malt's most traditional, under-modified malt which is marketed as it's "Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsener Malt". Most of today's well modified malts are not designed for the extended cooking involved in decoction mashing, so if decoction is in your future, definitely seek out a sack of the Weyermann's. Speaking of Weyermann's, those Kris Kringle-fireman red overalls that Jason is wearing, and that have me green with envy, are offered by Weyermann's to any pro brewer who medals using their malts--if anyone has a lead on where to score one, let me know. Jason had just returned from his first trip to Germany and the time spent at Weyermann's was a highlight.

Among all the beers that I sampled during the trip, Jason's triple-decocted Trukker Pils, "Danzig" Baltic Porter and "Congo" Belgian IPA (another clever wordplay, referencing Belgium's brutal colonization of the Congo) were exemplary and absolutely worth a trip for any jaded beer geek.

and now, Jason's unedited words on decoction:

"I decoct for tradition sake and because I can! There has been an argument around decoction mashing for as long as I can remember and here are my thoughts on it. As a craft brewer I am hand crafting a product which has history behind it. It is inherently inefficient to brew in a brew pub setting so using a little extra time and energy is fine when creating a special brew. I take pride in the fact that I give certain special beers that extra effort. I don't have to decoct but I choose too for authenticity & tradition sake. A lot of the anti-decoction rhetoric that is spewed forth comes from brewers with single infusion mash tuns who can't decoct anyway. In my mind most of the arguments against are moot and are not even worth listening too. Most of the people who are the most fervent against decoction have never done one. Not to sound like a dick, but those who brew in the English single infusion mash method have nothing to offer the conversation and should remain quiet. The real conversation should be among those who have done decoctions, those who can do decoctions, and the reasons for or against. When you are boiling 1/4 to a 1/3 of your mash and are smelling it, you can't tell me that it makes no flavor addition. Also, if you tell me that specialty malts can create the same flavors, please give me the formula. There are a lot of good reasons not to decoct. Decoction uses more energy, the malts don't need decoction to convert, it makes the day longer, the equipment is more expensive, and not all beers benefit from decoction (most probably don't). In actuality there are far more good reasons not to decoct than to. That said, I am generally a contrarian so all those reasons make me want to decoct even more!! What you can't substitute is the romance of decoction! Even if you do not notice any difference in a beers taste, the fact you did one is not made any less valid. Craft brewing is a craft, and using a traditional method to brew a traditional beer is something to be celebrated not denigrated. My advice is if you can decoct it then do it on special brews, it makes it extra special, extra traditional, and extra authentic. Whew...glad I got that off my chest."

Amen.

Basic Brewing Radio Wild Barrels Interview

2010-12-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

On to part 2 of our interview with the Basic Brewing Radio crew--in this episode we sample and discuss vintages from the wild barrel project.

Here is a direct link to the stream:

streaming mp3

Basic Brewing Radio Kvass interview

2010-12-12T08:37:00.000-05:00

James Spencer has an interview with Mike and I over at Basic Brewing Radio. The topic, KVASS--'nuff said.

here is a direct link to the stream:

Streaming mp3

We were having such a good time that we turned the interview into a double-header, with the second segment focusing on a tasting of the first vintages of the group, wild barrel project in my cellar. I'll post the second segment when James gets it up online.

James and gang are great fun to work with, we always look forward to catching up.

Strong Island NanoBoom!

2010-12-06T16:54:00.000-05:00

I've got article in the current (Dec/Jan) issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on the exploding nano brewing scene on "Strong Island", NY. There are 2 nanos operating on Long Island currently, with 2 that will roll out in 2011. The first 2 are a great study in dichotomy, demonstrating the range of what a nano brewery can be. The story is on page 5 and the online edition is available here.

Paul Dlugokencky getting hands-on

STUDY 1.

Self taught, 50 year old Paul Dlugokencky produces "wood smoked and other rustic ales" at his Blind Bat Brewery in his 300 square ft. detached garage on a part-time basis with a brand new 3BBL Premier Stainless system, after a couple years of brewing on a 10 gallon Sabco. Paul smokes all his own malts with different woods to carry different notes to each beer, including his interpretation of the nearly extinct Grodziskie style, an almost 100% wheat, oak smoked ale at 4% abv (he has to add a handful of malted barley per TTB regulation), alder and applewood smoked Porter, mesquite smoked Wit and a dry stout with local organic potatoes in the mash. Paul kegs and bottles for the local market--bottles often sell out in a matter of days. Projected production for 2011 is around 50BBL.

Evan Klein assaults his 79 IBU Lights Out Stout with hops

Study 2.

30 year old Evan Klein produces a portfolio of hop forward beers on a 1BBL Blichmann system at his Barrier Brewing Co. as a full-time, highly polished operation in a 1,300 square foot industrial space. Evan brewed at Sixpoint in Brooklyn for a couple years to gain experience--in fact, his brewery looks like Sixpoint shrunken by a factor of 15, with 5 beers on tap for growler fills and everything straight to keg for local distribution, including some of the better bars in Brooklyn for now. Projected production for 2011 is 350BBL.

BYO Magazine article

2010-11-24T12:27:00.000-05:00

Wood St. Kvass Brewday at East End, Scott rinsing the barrels, Mike filling the same

Mike and I have a long article on kvass in the current (Dec.) issue of Brew Your Own magazine on the kvass we brewed with Scott Smith at East End Brewing Co. in Pittsburgh. The article grew out of our side project BrewLocal, which is a kind of travelogue-apprenticeship-oral history-beertrip in which we spend time with our favorite small brewers assimilating ideas and techniques, and in general have a damn fine time. This article is a transition of that same spirit into print and we'd encourage folks to let Chris Colby, the editor at BYO, know if it's something you enjoy and would like to continue to see in print (really lay it on thick, let's bury the guy with e-mail). These trips are great fun, and wholly inspiring, and we're working hard on lining up some more good'ens.

me and 'ole reliable outside of East End

Sepulchre: Abbey Biere de Quad

2010-11-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

Before going on my recent lager tear I brewed a mash-up-farmhouse-biere de garde-quad with hops and honey from the Monastery. I've taken to categorizing my abbey project beers thematically either "Gnosis" for lighter colored or "Sepulchre" for darker.

Sepulchre is a nod to the Franciscan Monastery of Mount St. Sepulchre where I grow the hops and keep the bees for the Abbey Project. I used a second generation attenuative saison yeast to produce a spicy, ruby beer lush with honey, dried plum and fig, with warming alcohol and caramel apple. For the little amount of residual sugar, the beer still had a perception of sweetness and body, though it was very digestible. Near the end of the keg I took to blending in some aged out funky, bourbon barrel barleywine which played well together and made me think of a barrel treatment for a future quad in the vein of Struise's Pannepot Reserva.

Sepulchre: Abbey Biere de Quad

OG 1.080 FG 1.006 IBU ? ABV 9.8% SRM 15

67% Pilsener

13% Monastic Honey

7% Honey Malt

7% Melanoidin

3% CaraMunich 60

3% Special B

2 0z. Monastery Blend hops at 60 mins.

mashed at 158

fermented with a second generation of Wyeast 3711 in the mid 70's

honey, caramel apple, spice, alcohol

DC gets a new nanobrewery

2010-11-12T09:52:00.000-05:00

I have a few photos up on the Washington Post's All We Can Eat blog, where Greg Kitsock was nice enough to plug me for the scoop on DC’s newest nanobrewery, Washingtonian’s Brewing Co. I'd recently visited Washingtonian's for an article in the December issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News.

Check out the write up here.

Best of luck to Cabot.

Shibboleths: The Hyperborean Expulsion

2010-11-09T10:57:00.001-05:00

I first ran into the artist Jess’ singularly bizarre The Hyperborean Expulsion more than a decade ago on a stroll through the Hirschhorn Museum and it has stayed with me ever since--a tickle in the back of my skull. At first glance it may not seem like a particularly accomplished piece, though I do like the brushwork and color that remind me of Vuillard, perhaps it's a bit obvious with it's blatant Edenic imagery which lends a definite outsider/primitive feel--for me it defines art, something inexplicable, it's rapture really.

The idea of Hyperborea, that place beyond the north wind Boreas, has it’s roots in ancient mythology--an ethereal northern land of eternal daylight and Spring that through the Campbellian-power-of-myth has come to represent an ideal sense of North. I’ve gone on in the past about my soft spot for Scandinavian folk beers and my current plan is to channel Hyperborea as a totem for a series of beers that will hopefully help focus my current dilection for lagers, smoke beers, gruits and the idea of North.

That most Scandinavian of breweries Haanbryggeriet has been a clear inspiration and fascination, and the Finnish band Circle will be the soundtrack.

Beer Table Event October 25th

2010-10-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Justin from Beer Table in Brooklyn invited Mike and I as guests to an evening of events next Monday the 25th. Justin, a born Texan, runs Beer Table with his wife Tricia as a sort of rarefied beer salon. He worked for B. United before opening Beer Table, who import much of the more interesting small production beer being produced in Italy, Scandinavia, Belgium, England, Japan, etc. and the influence is apparent on Justin's choices of producer's at Beer Table.

Justin's original idea was to pour 1 beer a night that he envisioned would function as a sort of catalyst for the evening, prompting conversation and debate at the communal tables. He eventually conceded to rotating 3 draft lines, a cask and pours from 4 or 5 well chosen bottles a night. A small, but smart menu touches on fermented flavor points with a wide variety of pickled plates, artisan cheese and other beer friendly dishes.

Mike and I will be sitting in on the 7PM event, which at 9 will transition into the homebrewers meet up. We'll be packing a magnum of a special one-off Beer Table Blend of our dark sours, as well as a magnum of our recent Kvass we worked with East End on and a smoked, spruced Winter Kvass as well. We hope to meet some other fermentally obsessed, if you are in the vicinity come out and we'll see you there.

Details for the event are here.

Kvass Revival!

2010-10-09T12:44:00.000-04:00

Baker and Brewer: Wood St. Bread Co.'s Bill Bartelme (l) and East End's Scott Smith (R)

I've got an article about Kvass in the current issue (Oct/Nov) of Mid Atlantic Brewing News, which is now available as an online edition. Mike and I also just submitted a collaborative article on Kvass to Brew Your Own magazine as part and parcel of a stratagem for a popular uprising to install Kvass as the new darling of the historic small beer revolution--there is a coup brewing comrades, it begins in fits and whispers, but soon storm and swell.

the homebrewed version of East End's Wood St. Kvass

I want to offer a big thanks to Scott Smith of East End Brewing in Pittsburgh for having us out to brew and document his Wood St. Kvass with him. Scott's Session Ale project of brewing creative and full flavored beers under 4.5% ABV is an inspiration that has helped revitalize interest in not only Kvass, but other nearly forgotten styles such as Berliner Weisse, Gose and Grisette. Stan Hieronymus' recent book Brewing with Wheat has a great section that covers Scott's adventures brewing historic wheat beers.

Hill Farmstead: Look East Young Man

2010-09-28T19:35:00.000-04:00

As I eluded to in an earlier post, I recently traveled to Vermont and then on to Montreal to indulge my growing obsession with Quebecois beer and to eat myself delirious with my chef-brother Aaron. I hitched a ride with Jocelyn Cambier who was headed to the Burlington Brewer's Festival to support his Quebecois producers. We hit the road early on a Friday morning, rattling along through the picturesque in one of his delivery vans full of empty kegs for the Trou Diable gang. I got to try a bunch of really solid and innovative beers at the Vermont Brewers Fest from Zero Gravity, Lawsons, Vermont Pub and Brewery, etc.--but the Vermont highlight was definitely heading out early Saturday morning to visit Shaun e. Hill at his newly established Hill Farmstead in the idyllic hamlet of Greenboro Bend, on his family's ancestral homestead.

It's been really inspiring to witness the gestalt of a brewer's dream. Shaun, by degrees serious and playful, filled us in on all that had led him to opening Hill Farmstead and a bit of his future plans. He got his start brewing at The Shed in Stowe, VT and then jetted off to Denmark for a couple years to brew at Nørrebro Bryghus, where among other projects he produced a series of beers aged in Niepoort port barrels including a Barleywine and an Imperial Stout, brewed with 6 other Danish brewers, that each garnered gold medals at the World Beer Cup, as well as landing a silver for an Oud Bruin, quite a feat for a young brewer abroad. While in Denmark he started his own label Grassroots that he has been running in tandem with Hill Farmstead.

Shaun has pedigreed his beers in homage to his ancestors and from what I sampled on that Saturday morning: a hop saturated "Edward" Pale Ale, a dank "Harlan" Columbus hopped IPA,the confident"Everett" robust porter and the spicy "Florence" wheat saison all left an impression of precision that do the family legacy proud. Shaun monkeyed over his jenga stacks of barrels, offering samples from probably a dozen or more, with the different barrel variations of the smoked porter he brewed with Anders Kissmeyer of Nørrebro really singing. Shaun has planned an ambitious barrel program with a mix of wine, brandy and Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels that were used for Sam Adam's Utopias. He also has aspirations for a series of spontaneously fermented terroir beers in the near future.

Shaun built his small brewery, that could be mistaken for a garage, with help from his brother and neighbors, in an unassuming building next to the old homeplace. He has recently started sending kegs to Philadelphia, and with the support of the Shelton Bros. hopefully his beer will reach a wider audience. Sure it won't be long before he outgrows the current space and plans are in the works for a brewpub as well.

I didnt' know Shaun before he brewed abroad but it's evident that he learned a lot from his time in Denmark. His brewing wanderjahr gave him a unique perspective and forged some lasting friendships with some really talented Northern European brewers with whom he will continue to collaborate. There is some amazing, forward thinking beer currently being produced in Scandinavia and I hope Shaun continues to look East.

Mindo Robust Coffee Porter

2010-09-07T16:15:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit of a sucker for coffee beers, I will inevitably order one from any beer menu. I'm sure I'm not alone in this compulsion. It must have all started with Dieu Du Ciel's classic coffee influenced imperial stout Peche Mortel, then onto Founder's Breakfast Stout, Mikeller's Beer Geek Breakfast, etc.-a well worn road.

On our Spring trip to Ecuador, one of the highlights was definitely the small town of Mindo. Within striking distance of Quito, and lauded for it's cloud forests, Mindo has the idealized feel of a Baja surf town: easy and laid back. We took up residence in a treehouse bungalow and our first stop was El Quetzal, a small coffee roaster-chocolatier-cafe-guest house with aspirations of small batch beer brewing someday. El Quetzal roasts local coffee and makes single-origin chocolate from a native bean. We lucked into a 2 hour tour of their nano chocolate making facility from fermentation, to roasting, to tempering, to tasting. We stowed away a sack of their fresh roasted coffee beans and some cocoa nibs for a brew day when we returned to the States.

I went with a Robust Porter base and sought to keep the flavors round, doing my best to avoid tannic bitterness in the finished beer. I had just picked up some coffee malt, a roast malt that is supposed to mimic roast coffee, so I threw that in the mash for more accent. I cold steeped the Mindo coffee beans in the beer for 24 hours in secondary before kegging for a fresh cup flavor and to reduce the bitterness of heat processing the coffee. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to add the cocoa beans, which I was either going to toss in the boil or cold steep for a week.

Mindo Coffee Porter

OG 1.064 FG 1.012 IBU 30 ABV 6.9% SRM 35

75% Maris Otter

7% Coffee Malt

7% Flaked Oats

5% CaraMunich

4% Chocolate Malt

2% Carafa

1.5 oz. Fuggles at 60 mins.

mashed at 155

fermented with US-05 in the upper 60's

2 oz. cracked coffee beans for 24 hrs. in secondary

light coffee in the nose and palate, lots of chocolate, some roast, medium body

MABN Article and an Amendment

2010-08-11T18:26:00.000-04:00

I have an article in the current (August/September) issue of Mid Atlantic Brewing News on the tasting I did with Jocelyn Cambier recently. The published version of the article was edited for word count and a whole section on Le Trou Du Diable was struck from the print edition. For completeness I though I would add that missing bit here.

"Outside of my tasting with Jocelyn I’ve had several beers from another of his producers, Le Trou Du Diable on tap: La Grivoise is a prickly, dry Belgian style pale ale with spicy notes of ginger, clove, and a hoppy finish, La Chose is a hybrid wee heavy/IPA with a grapey malt body and aggressive citrus hops, Weizgripp is a doppelweizenbock that has a light brettanomyces influence and is reminiscent of Aventinus with loads of banana, spice and roast, and L’Imperatice, a Russian Imperial Stout with a round body, mellow chocolate and coffee flavors. Brewer Andre Trudel is also responsible for the current holy grail of Quebecois beer, La Buteuse Brassin Special, an elusive Triple Amber Abbey ale aged in apple brandy barrels that I have not yet had the opportunity to try."

In the intervening time between submitting the article and this post I actually spent some time with the brewer Andre Trudel and one of his partners in the cooperative Isaac Tremblay, at the Vermont Brewers festival in Burlington, where I also got to try their La Buteuse, sprite, honeyed and eminently drinkable at 10%abv, La Saison du Tracteur, a really elegant, spicy and dry interpretation and La Penurie, a hopped up sessionable pale ale loaded with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand. They were even gracious enough to send me a bottle of Buteuse Brassin Special (currently on the reserve lists at Church Key and Brasserie Beck in DC) and a couple of glasses by post...and what an accomplished beer it is, orchestrated layers of brett, wood, fruit and spice-charmingly rustic, world class and a benchmark of the Quebecois scene. Andre, it's time for a barrel room my friend.

Like many great brewers Trudel is an obsessive who admitted to me that his mind is always racing with ideas and anxieties about his beer, and that sometimes he doesn't sleep at night "Because of the beer". Trudel definitely feels the seduction of wild fermentations and has been experimenting with Brettanomyces, a devilish twinkle lights in his eyes when he speaks on the subject.

At the festival I also got to meet the brewers from Dieu Du Ciel, Benelux, Hopfenstark and spend some time with Joseph Lemnah who brews at Evolution Brewing Co. in Delaware .

Roselare Saison (Rachel Beer 2)

2010-07-31T11:25:00.000-04:00

I think this image of Rachel is summer encapsulated for me and it's a good pictorial descriptor of everything worth capturing in a saison: grass, summer fruit, sun light. We had just bicycled out the Lachine canal and were picnicking on a local melon and cheese, a memorable afternoon.

I brewed a fresh hop saison 2 years ago with the first harvest of Sterling and Mt. Hood hops I grew up the side of the house. I wasn't very excited about the beer after a few bottles, not that it was flawed, it just didn't live up to that photo. Serendipity struck in the form of a 2nd generation yeast slurry of the Roselare strain (thanks Scott), which is the house mixed culture that Rodenbach uses. I decanted ~5 gallons of the fresh hop saison into a fermenter on top of the slurry and a little over a year later arrived at a saison that has evolved cleverly in the bottle and is now worthy of that snapshot of summer .

Inspiration is where you find it.

Roselare Saison

OG 1.054 FG 1.002 ABV 6.8% IBU ~40 SRM 3

90% Pilsener Malt

5% Flaked Oats

5% Flaked Rye

mashed a 150

1 oz. Mt. Hood at 60 mins

.5 oz. Mt. Hood at 5 mins

~4 oz. mix of fresh picked Mt. Hood and Sterling at flameout

Fermented with the de Blaugies strain at ambient late summer temp, then aged in glass for ~1 year with a 2nd generation slurry of Roselare at ambient cellar.

full of character, acid sharp, a bit pagan

Shibboleths: Solera

2010-07-26T20:10:00.000-04:00

I was honored to be mentioned along with Mike in Will Meyers' article on solera brewing in the current issue of New Brewer, the magazine of the Brewers Association. The current issue profiles brewers who have embraced mixed fermentation.

Will is the longtime brewer at Cambridge Brewing Co. in Cambridge, MA and it's his academic bent and wily imagination that I find personally inspiring. Will began an ambitious solera program with his Cerise Cassee at CBC in 2004 after intense research, my own unscientific plunge into solera brewing was a few years later. Will is one of those brewers with a seemingly endless amount of fluid-dynamic-big-idea-beers, and he does it all with a great sense of humor and fun.

The idea of solera, or more broadly, regenerative blending, is an ancient practice and the method of a propagating mixed mother culture spans the worlds of beer, wine, vinegar, bread, and beyond. A loose form of solera has become a staple, and probably my favorite form of mixed fermentation brewing...that whole Ouroboros-snake-dragon swallowing it's tail is perhaps an over-worn, but romantic ideal (I think I just named my next solera beer).

Mike and I's wine barrel solera beer is progressing nicely with a plunging pH and we're looking forward to plenty experimentation with each years harvest. It's a pale beer similar to a traditional lambic that will allow us to push in directions of fruit, botanicals and dry hopping.

A Portrait (in bees)

2010-07-25T08:49:00.000-04:00

Eli Meir Kaplan contacted me a few weeks back about a photo project he was working on about urban beekeeping. Eli is a local editorial photographer who specializes in portraiture and has had his work featured in, among other venues, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. I'd never been involved in a professional photo shoot and I must admit it's no stroll in the park, we were up at the beeyard for a couple of hours snapping hundreds of shots on a hot evening: Eli puckishly hopping around through the poison ivy adjusting the lighting and working angles.

Just behind me are 2 of this years 4 hives, including Big Pink that Chris built out of scrap wood. Portraiture seems to have become a persistent theme around here lately.

Thanks for the experience and the great photo Eli.

Biere de Miel

2010-07-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

This year's paean to the Tour de France unveiled itself as a Biere de Miel, a French farmhouse ale with honey. It's probably best to think of the Tour as an epic stage play: ponderous and sure even boring at times, but springing to life suddenly with high drama and histrionics.

I was able to extract a good bit of honey in the Spring, so I've been able to incorporate it into several beers. I used the yeast strain purported to be that of Brasserie Thiriez that is gaining popularity and has a reputation as a fast working, super attenuating strain. I knew the honey would ferment out completely, so I also added some Honey Malt, which is a malt kilned to a degree that produces honey-like sweetness. As a nod to Thiriez I decided to push the IBU's, I figured some Rye malt would add rusticity, Saaz would add some floral character and of course I had to kill it with Monastic hops at flameout.

I brewed about 8 gallons of Biere de Miel: 5 of which I kegged as an accompaniment to the Tour and 3 gallons of which I introduced a Brettanomyces Bruxellensis culture to and have kept in secondary at ambient temperatures and which I plan on feeding with pure honey.

Biere De Miel

OG 1.040 FG 1.004 IBU 37 ABV 4.7% SRM 5

56% Pilsener

15% Monastic Honey (added at flameout)

15% Rye Malt

7% Biscuit Malt

7% Honey Malt

mashed at 152

1 0z. Magnum at 60 Mins.

1 oz. Saaz at 15 Mins.

1 0z. Saaz at 5 Mins.

4 oz. Monastic blend at flameout

fermented with WYeast 3711 at ambient in the mid 70's

dry, herbal, beeswax, light spiciness

Eldritch Bier

2010-07-06T09:06:00.000-04:00

Eldritch - "Weird, Eerie. Etymology: perhaps from Middle English*elfriche fairyland, from Middle English elf +riche kingdom."

~Merriam Webster

With triple digits forecast for the week, one's fancy turns to cooling thoughts of Christmas in July. A few years back I brewed a cyclopean dark sour beer of 15% abv as my Viking-Gruit-Sour-Bier De Noel. Eldritch Bier was in homage to the pantheon of early weird fiction, pseudo-Scandinavian Christmas, and the creeping unexplained.

Poe>M.P. Shiel>Arthur Machen>Algernon Blackwood>Lord Dunsany>H.P. Lovecraft

The alchemy began with the paperback-as-cosmo-mythos stories of the the reclusive H.P. Lovecraft and led back through the masters of the weird fiction genre: Poe with his absolute originality, M.P. Shiel's last man on Earth fantasy "The Purple Cloud", the classicist horror of Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood's eco-bohemian oddness, and the dusty leather bound aloofness of Lord Dunsany. My teenage mind devoured these high minded stories of the arcane, bending my mind for endless hours in my formative years and I'm indebted to their collective, unabashed weirdness.

The folksy bit for the beer comes from the classic yuletime images of Christmas. I needed smoked malt to reference the hearth, juniper berries and spruce clippings to reference the tree, and dark candi syrup to reference all the confections of the season. The high alcohol adds to the age-ability and further references the decadence of Christmas.

I brewed 5 gallons of Eldritch and aged the beer for ~18 months with my house mixed culture, at which point I bottled 3 gallons. I replaced the 3 gallons with a DoppelRauchAdamSticke which was a group recipe (hybrid smoked Adam Bier/Doppelsticke), creating an Eldritch solera beer that will continue to evolve and become my vintage Christmas beer. Eldritch batch 1 is a very low carbonation beer, though with a carbonation cap I'm able to up the carbonation if the mood strikes.

Eldritch Bier

OG 1.130 FG 1.018 IBU~15 ABV 15% SRM 45

55% Pilsner

15% Munich

10% Pale Malt Extract

4% Carafa

4% Flaked Oats

3% CaraMunich

3% Turbinado Sugar

2% Peated Malt

2% Dark Candi Syrup

2% Special B

Mashed at ~150

1 0z. Sterling at 60 Mins.

a handful of spruce clippings and bruised juniper berries at 10 Mins.

primary fermented with WLP530 at ambient in the low 70's, secondaried for ~18 months with house culture and a handful of medium toast oak cubes.

Big lactic over integrated smoke and candi syrup, surprisingly homogeneous.

A Portrait (in hops)

2010-06-04T17:44:00.000-04:00

Gregg Hinlicky and his wife Celeste read about the Abbey Project in my article for Mid Atlantic Brewing News and found it compelling enough to contact me and ask to visit. It was an absolute pleasure sharing the project with folks that had such an obvious curiosity and delight.

Gregg is a really talented NJ based illustrator, muralist, painter and homebrewer who has found inspiration in painting, among other things, professional brewer's portraits. It was a true honor to have him paint a portrait of me in the hopyard.

For me, contemporary portraiture has an old-timey, anachronistic charm about it that is a tangled rubric of reflection, vanity and impression.

Thanks again Gregg.

Jocelyn Cambier: Tastemaker

2010-05-28T17:02:00.000-04:00

I had the eminent pleasure of having Jocelyn Cambier, President of J. Cambier Imports, around to a tasting of a selection of his artisanal Quebecois beer portfolio. Jocelyn very generously brought a staggering amount of bottles for the two of us from his producers including: Brasseurs Illimites (Simple Malt), Le Saint-Bock, Brasseurs De La Mauricie and A L'Abri De La Tempete. All were very solid and assured, and spoke well of the creativity of the Quebecois scene; but the bottles that really captured my imagination were from A L'Abri De La Tempete, located in the remote Magdalen islands (a five hour ferry ride from land). The brewer Jean-Sebastien Bernier captures a very specific wind swept, brackish terroir with locally gleaned botanicals that is absolutely singular and expressive.

Jocelyn is a veteran of the wine world, having worked with such luminaries as Kermit Lynch and Fran Kysela (I think of them both as sort of the anti-Robert Parkers discarding ratings for authentic terroir focused wines of character). Jocelyn recently switched his portfolio from wine to beer and made a point of going after French brewed and then more recently Quebecois brewed artisanal beers from small producers.

In addition to his French Canadian producers, Jocelyn has caused quite a stir recently by distributing small amounts of Captain Lawrence and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey beer to DC, much to the applause of the local beer geekerati. Many of the more forward looking beer bars and bottle shops in the area are rightfully stocking selections from Jocelyn's portfolio.

Having been into wine before making my own seismic drift to beer, I felt an instant rapport with Jocelyn, who has the charm of Maurice Chevalier balanced with a laser sharp palate. He's a wonderful story teller and conversationalist, with a radar for the authentic and a real joy of the industry.

I won't use up all of my good words here as I am fast on the trail of a Quebecois beer article, that Jocelyn has spurred me along, that will hopefully be published soon. Vive la Revolution Quebecois!

"Dennis" : American Mellow 3 (aka Pacific Ocean Blues)

2010-05-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

Dennis Wilson had one great record in him. The brother of the lauded Brian Wilson, the savantish cherub who conceived and popularized the Beach Boy sound, Dennis was the muse for the early Beach Boys music-as-lifestyle: blond, athletic, surfing hot-rodder (everything that Brian was not). Nothing much was ever expected from Dennis: given the drums because that was the last unclaimed instrument in the band and often replaced on record dates by studio players.

Brian Wilson cemented his auteurish reputation when his head cracked and "Pet Sounds"escaped as one of the great records of the century. Brian cast a long shadow, and it was only after Brian's nervous breakdown that Dennis was capable of starting to write his own music.

In 1977, coincidentally the year of my birth, Dennis Wilson released his sui generis masterwork "Pacific Ocean Blue" (the first solo record by a Beach Boy). The record was a sensitive portrait that seemed to burst from nowhere; at times heart worn, maudlin and tinged with loss, at times rollicking with gravel voiced gospel-soul, and at times distractingly over produced. It's one of my favorite records: indisputably a work-as-personal-statement with a deserved cult following. The eulogy "Farewell my Friend" is the stand out track for me: bare and timeless. Pacific Ocean Blue was recently re-released in an awesome blue vinyl 3 record gatefold (also on CD) available from Sundazed Records with a bunch of extra tracks and Dennis' followup "Bambu", which he thought was going to be his most permanent work. Unfortunately Dennis had little check on his self abuse and the project never reached the inspired heights of his imagination.

Dennis had a messy personal life: linked to Charles Manson's "Family" before they turned violent, alcoholic, self absorbed, Dennis left a scared road in his wake. Fittingly, Dennis was reclaimed by his materfamilias Pacific Ocean in a alcohol related drowning in 1983 at the age of 39.

For American Mellow 3 I wanted to channel Dennis at the height of his powers: a bit dark, with soul and definitely mellow. Somewhere on the fringes of Dark Mild-into-Brown Porter, Dennis is also a showcase for a new malt I just recently discovered, Chocolate Rye (kilned rye malt). This will likely be the last mellow I brew 'til the Fall...I'm already in full saison mode.

Dennis

OG 1.042 FG 1.o12 IBU 19 ABV 3.9% SRM 23

84% Maris Otter

6% Chocolate Rye

6% CaraMunich

4% Carafa

mashed at 155

1 oz. Fuggles at 60 mins

fermented with a US-05 at ambient in the mid to upper 60's.

soft and creamy, chocolate, mellow roast, a bit of rye

Washington Post Article

2010-04-29T08:44:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to thank Greg Kitsock for his inspired writing and Katherine Frey for the great photos in yesterday’s Washington Post article about the Abbey Project and the barrels in the basement. Also big thanks to Rachel for sending me down the wastrel road toward mixed fermentation, the friars and garden guild at St. Sepulchre, and my brothers (past and present) in the DC Sour Beer Gang - especially my partner in crime Mike Tonsmeire. Thanks for all the well wishes and encouragement.

As the quixotic Delmore Schwartz rhapsodized, "in dreams begin responsibilities."

Corsican Chestnut Mild

2010-04-25T13:37:00.000-04:00

Corsica is one of those fascinating places in-between. Conquered and patriated countless times, it has accumulated a singular mash-up national identity: Franco-Italian, proud, stubborn, maybe a bit backward at times...Mediterranean. Napoleon Bonaparte, not surprisingly, is Corsica's most storied son.

A national decree in the 1500's by the ruling Genoese stated that all citizens had to plant a chestnut tree and the Corsican cultural identity has been wound up ever since with it's famous chestnuts and honey. There is a Corsican chestnut beer produced by Pietra, that I have never tried, but is of no great renown.

The new wave of Italian brewers have used their beloved chestnuts in several forms from whole, to chestnut flour to chestnut honey. I just recently I got to try Captain Lawrence's Birra DiCicco, from Italian American brewer Scott Vaccaro, which is brewed with chestnut jam and honey.

Further, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River, Sam Calgione of Dogfish Head, Teo Musso from Le Baladin, and Leonardo Di Vincenzo of Birra del Borgo are collaborating on a 3.5bbl brewpub to be opened on a Manhattan rooftop producing Italian-American hybrid beers, accompanied by a menu from Mario Batali. There is talk that one of the house beers will be a mild brewed with chestnut flour, served on a handpump.

I had been planning a chestnut mild ever since the holidays to use the excess chestnuts we had left from Christmas. So it was a peasant beer of sorts: we had an excess of holiday chestnuts left over, and not wanting to waste the bounty, I roasted, shelled and pulverized them in our Vitamix, essentially making chestnut flour. The honey was a further nod to Corsica.

I didn't have any rice hulls on hand, so the chestnut flour made for a sticky mash and slow run-off. I was looking for a complex bockish maltiness so i went a little overboard with the number of specialty malts.

I thought a ruby mild would carry the chestnutty sweetness well and allowed me room to make a beer with a play on a chestnut color as well...and it was a good excuse to brew another mild.

Corsican Chestnut Mild

OG 1.044 FG 1.012 ABV 4.2% IBU 19 SRM 14

63% Pilsener

22% Chestnuts (roasted and ground)

5% Honey

4% Melanoidin

2% Carafa

2% CaraMunich

2% Caravienne

mashed at 154

1 oz. Fuggles at 60 mins.

fermented with US-05 at ambient in the mid to upper 60's.

malty-chestnut sweetness, round, light though sustaining.

Mid Atlantic Brewing News Article

2010-04-15T18:19:00.000-04:00

I have my first professional article in the current (April/May) issue of Mid Atlantic Brewing News. Rush out to your local good beer spot to grab a copy. The article is an overview of the Abbey Project up at the Monastery, where things have been busy with installing the new mega-trellis for the year 2 hops and prepping for increased bee operations.

The year 1 bees didn't survive the harsh winter, though reinforcements are on the way. We'll be installing several new hives with bees direct from Georgia to be delivered in the next couple weeks. All the hops are up and off to a racing start, I've been training them to the new trellis and pruning back excess bines.

More Abbey updates soon...

Mallarme: Vin de Cereale

2010-03-21T12:35:00.000-04:00

The prose poems of Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898) are particular favorites of mine. Generally associated with the fin de siecle Symbolist movement, Mallarme's verse lacked the spleen of Baudelaire and the phoenix glow of Rimbaud, but had a level of ethereal sophistication that eluded them both. All three shared a similar sooted, Poe-damaged incandescence: over wrought and humorously bleak. Mallarme held a regular Tuesday writer's salon that hosted Gide, Valery, Yeats and Verlaine among others and was an inspiration to Manet and Gauguin.

For me, his genius is most apparent in the masterwork Igitur. Using Poe's "The Raven" as a reference, Mallarme trajects directly out of any sort of classic poetic constraints with Igitur's entelechic struggle: really extraordinary for the time. Mallarme had a reputation as a perfectionist and spent huge amounts of effort and anxiety on form in his pursuit of a new poetics. His was a methodic, form shattering verse incorporating modernist marginalia: structural, though seemingly random and disjointed.

And so to a beer worthy of this visionary iconoclast: my own dice thrown at midnight (the caprice of wild fermentation (chance annulled?)). I brewed Mallarme about 2 years ago, on a yeast cake of WLP530(the Westmalle/Westvletern strain). I went with a simple grist in the style of a ramped up Flanders Red and mashed at an elevated temperature to secure some body. In the long secondary fermentation I had it resting on a handful of french oak cubes with my house mixed culture strain (complimented by choice bottle dregs along the way) in a glass fermentor.

For perspective, Rodenbach made a fascinating 10% abv Vin de Cereale (Flanders-Red-Barleywine) from a single foeder in 2004 that Rachel and I were lucky enough to find a bottle of in Belgium. It was a still beer, though the lack of carbonation did not diminish it's refined, classic Rodenbach lactic-aceto-sour punch. A bit of research provided that the beer was unfortunately filtered, pasteurized and lightly back sweetened.

I was happy to have my interpretation carbonate, as fresh yeast, even workhorse Champagne strains, don't enjoy the toxicity of high alcohol, high acid environments.

Mallarme

OG 1.086 FG 1.008 ABV 10.3% IBU 24 SRM 16

85% Pilsner Malt

6% Caramunich

6% Biscuit malt

3% Special B

mashed around 155

.5 oz. Magnum at 60 mins.

primary ferment at ambient with WLP530 (Westmalle/Westvleteren)

secondary in glass with a handful of medium toast oak cubes for ~20 months, house funk and various wild bottle dregs

bottled with rehydrated Champagne yeast, and it miraculously carbonated.

vinous, lactic, oak, cherries, blue cheese

Doppel-Hopfen-Weisse

2010-03-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

Never one to waste happy and healthy yeast, I devised a bigger brother for my 4%abv Hopfen Weisse to look up to: Doppel-Hopfen-Weisse. It was a good excuse to burn through my surplus of hops and take advantage of the mixed culture of American Ale and German Hefeweizen strains that I used for Sprachspiel. I went big on both alcohol at 9% and IBUs at over 100 theoretical (likely well below that in actuality, but no doubt this is a brash beer).

Doubled-up, hop bombs are definitely not my go-to beverage on the average night, and so I'm really enjoying having both Hopfen-Weisses on tap next to each other for blending: similar to how the Dogfish Head brewpubs offer a 75 Minute IPA , which is a blend of their 60 and 90 minute IPA's. The beauty of this instant proprietary blending is the flexibility in matching your mood of the moment. It's easy to punch up or dial down the character specific to each by ratio.

I'm definitely not the first down the rabbit hole with a beer of this sort of design: I followed through the swath that Garrett Oliver and Hans-Peter Drexler confidently cut with their Teuto-American collaborations:

Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse - brewed at Schneider with Garrett picking the hopping: 8.2%abv 40IBUs kettle hopped with Hallertauer Tradition and Saphir and dry hopped with just Saphir at 3lbs. per barrel.

and

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse - Brewed at Brooklyn with Hans-Peter picking the hopping: 8.5%abv, hopped with Amarillo and Palisades.

Another inspiration from a while back was Summer Haze from Blue Mountain Brewery in Nelson County, Virginia: a 7.8%abv hop forward, pale Weizenbock that I found revelatory: full on citrus hops and classic hefe fruit notes. Taylor grows his own Cascades on the brewery grounds and recently installed a canning line. So a tip of the tyrolean cap to Mr. Taylor Smack as well.

Doppel-Hopfen-Weisse

OG 1.082 FG 1.014 ABV 9% IBU ~130(theoretical) SRM 6

55% Pilsen

36% Wheat Malt

6% Dextrose

3% Caravienne

mashed at 152 for 60 mins.

1.5 oz. Chinook at 60 mins.

.5 oz. Columbus at 60 mins.

.5 oz. Columbus at 30 mins.

1.5 oz. Simcoe at 10 mins.

2 oz. Amarillo at 5 mins.

1 oz. (each) Columbus and Amarillo Dry hopped in keg

fermented on yeast cake of US-05 and WLP300 at ambient in the low to mid 60's.

big hop meringue nose, fruity, powerful citrus bitterness, dry.

"Breakfast Mild" - American Mellow 2

2010-02-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

To ensure I have my necessary Mild around for the near term, I parti-gyled a small beer from the
2nd runnings of "Starless and Bible Black". I added 1 lb. of brown malt to the sparged grain and re-mashed around 155 to embolden the body, as 2nd runnings often feel thin, and collected about 4 gallons of wort. Keeping in line with Starless, I used a dash of Columbus for bitterness and then pitched a packet of US-05: simplicity itself.

To breakfast the beer, in secondary, I added (in a mesh bag) 1 oz. organic cocoa nibs for a week and then 1 oz. of lightly crushed, organic dark roast coffee beans for 1 day.

Breakfast Mild

OG 1.033 FG 1.008 ABV 3.3%IBU 28

remashed grain from Starless and Bible Black with 1 lb. of Brown Malt

.5 oz. Columbus at 30 mins.

fermented at ambient in the low to mid 60's with US-05

mellow roasty, chocolate, coffee.

"Sprachspiel" Hopfen Weisse

2010-02-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

"Sprachspiel", or language game, is a central theme in Austrian aphorist-philosopher-messiah Ludwig Wittgenstein's (boundlessly (aggravatingly) enlightening) "Philosophical Investigations". A young and fiery Wittgenstein sought to create a perfect philosophical language in his early "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" which he saw as Philosophy's end game. Tractatus was published in 1921 and Wittgenstein had worked much of it out in the trenches of WWI. In "Philosophical Investigations", published in 1952, he combusted his earlier idea of a formalized, conclusive word-as-definite-thought-expression on the bonfire of the simple complexity of human dialogue with his idea of language game.

"what we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence." -Tractatus

"My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense." -Philosophical Investigations

Bavarian brewing dynasty G. Schneider & Sohn produce an interesting organic wheat beer for the US market: Weisen Edel-Weisse is a reinterpretation of an old style Octoberfest beer brewed by Schneider up until 1942, when their Munich brewery was destroyed. What makes Edel-Weisse distinct is it's use of Cascade hops, in addition to the more traditional Hallertauer. Schneider's Brewmaster Hans-Peter Drexler was introduced to American hops through his friend Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery, and the citrus character of Cascade plays well with the Hefe style.

Weisse-Weizen-Weisen-Edelweiss...

weisse means white, weizen means wheat, weisen means meadow and is apparently slang for Octoberfest, Edelweiss is an Austrian alpine flower serenaded Von Trapp style in "The Sound of Music"

With Edel-Weisse as my starting point and Wittgenstein as my frustrating muse, I sought to construct a dry, crisp, hop accented wheat beer that would bridge Teuto-American traditions. To add to the cross cultural exchange, I used two classic yeast strains: WL300 Hefeweizen and Safale US-05. I looked to malted wheat to provide rusticity, crispness and cumulus head. Similar to Edel-Weisse, I used Hallertauer Select and Cascades in the boil for herbal and citrus interplay. The Cascades were harvested from fellow homebrewer Joel's kudzu-prolific bine in Capitol Hill.

Sprachspiel

OG 1.042 FG 1.008 ABV 4.5% IBU 30 SRM 3

47% Pilsen

47% Wheat Malt

6% Cara-Pils

.75 oz. Hallertauer Select at 60 mins.

1 oz. Hallertauer Select at 10 mins.

2 oz. Local Cascade at 10 mins.

mashed at 150 for 60 mins

fermented at ambient in the low to mid 60's with a combination of WL300 and US-05

wheaty-pilsner crispness, herbal-into-citrus, light fruit

Starless and Bible Black

2010-01-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

Rachel and I met Menno Oliver from Brouwerij De Molen at the Zythos Pre-festival at Picobrouwerij Alvinne last March. De Molen had traveled over the border from the Netherlands with a ton of beer: Hell & Damnation, Bombs and Grenades; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Salvation & Blessing; Rasputin; and on...I had tried Rasputin before, but this edition must have been extremely fresh, because it had a huge green leaf hop, pot brownie flavor: really arresting (at their best, King Crimson were as odd and angular as that beer).

The genesis: a robust, roasty black beer, exclusively and plentifully hopped with Columbus: equally inspired by De Molen and King Crimson.

At the pre-fest, De Struise was sharing the stage with De Molen, pouring a bunch of rarities: Delphine, Besty, Rocking Horse, Pannepot Reserva, Xenophon's wine...it was memorable. I gave Menno a Hopslam that I had brought with me and he was immediately bedeviled, running off to share it with the De Struise gang.

Menno is an interesting character: he gives his beers names that sound like proggy metal bands that record geeks would worship, dabbles in historic English recipes, brews a lot of smoked and heavy dark beers, and isn't afraid to assault you with hops.

Starless and Bible Black

OG 1.078 FG 1.016 ABV 8.2% IBU 109 SRM 37

57% Maris Otter

22% Munich

10% Flaked Oats

4% Crystal 120

4% Chocolate Malt

3% Roasted Barley

1.5 oz. Columbus at 60 mins

1 oz. Columbus at 10 mins.

2 oz. Columbus 5 mins

2 0z. Columbus dry hopped in keg

mashed at 152 for 1 hr.

fermented at ambient in the low to mid 60's with a 3rd generation pitch of Samuel Smith strain.

bitter, chocolate, green hops, warming.

Ace Geezer: All Sorachi Bitter

2009-12-31T13:03:00.000-05:00

With Sorachi Ace hops now widely available to the US market I thought it was time to brew a Bitter-as-Sorachi Ace-delivery-device. Sorachi Ace is a high alpha Japanese varietal that is supposedly a cross of Brewer's Gold and Saaz. I'd read, and can confirm, they have a prominent herbal lemon character (with maybe a bit of honeydew).

I think I'll be trying more hop experimentation this year: with an abundant harvest, hop prices are back to a reasonable level and I bought by the pound (thanks Noah).

I formulated a basic Bitter recipe that wouldn't compete with the hops and repitched the yeast from "Little Hands", which had us off fermenting in the mid sixties immediately. 2.5 ounces of Sorachi Ace (11.7% Alpha) ended up on the hot side with another 1.5 ounces dry hopped in the keg. I can see Sorachi Ace being a good finishing choice if you're wanting to add a lemon accent and I know Brooklyn Brewery did a Sorachi Ace Saison over the Summer as part of their Brewmaster's Reserve series that sounded interesting.

"Ace Geezer"

OG 1.042 FG 1.010 ABV 4.2% IBU 37

82% Maris Otter

6% Cara-Pils

6% Flaked Oats

6% Munich

mashed at 152

1 oz. Sorachi at 30 mins.

.5 oz. Sorachi at 10 mins.

1 oz. Sorachi at 5 mins.

1.5 oz. Sorachi dry hopped in keg

fermented at ambient in mid sixties

Pungent lemon herbal tea and graham cracker.

Stalking the Wild Persimmon

2009-12-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

Earlier this Fall my uncle Tom was walking with his eyes on the skies and spied a wild persimmon tree dripping with fruit, like something out of a children's story. He excitedly gave me a ring and I was off like a shot to check it out.

Wild persimmons, or diospyros virginiana, are native to the area and have a very small window to harvest. Unripe wild persimmons are inedible because of their mouth puckering astringency. The ripe fruit has an intense-sweet-tropical flavor similar to guava with some tannin from the skins.

Wild persimmons are a completely different beast than the cultivated persimmons that you see in the produce section. At just a fraction of the size of the cultivated variety, they are a folksy, delicate, half-forgotten fruit usually gleaned and processed into jams or pudding: analogous to the crab apple.

The 40 ft. old growth tree is conveniently located on the land adjacent to the monastery where I'll be looking every year for a new harvest. Between this persimmon tree and the peach trees at the Monastery I should have a steady supply of wild-gleaned beers in the cellar.

With my buddy-beekeeper Chris I gleaned about 15lbs. of fruit that I immediately picked over, lightly crushed and froze that I'm planning on using in a pale sour beer I have in the works. I figure a year on whole fruit, skins and seeds with my house culture will make for an interesting wild beer. I'm hoping to maintain some of the integrity of the fruit and further that the tannins will add to the ageability of the beer.

Little Hands: American Mellow

2009-12-06T16:55:00.000-05:00

You know those great records that grab hold of you, derange and haunt you...Skip Spence's masterwork "Oar" is one of those canonical records for me. Skip Spence was a tragic case, a late-sixties-burnout-posterboy who for a few years was at the center of the San Francisco scene: the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane, co-founder of the blues rock juggernaut Moby Grape, whose epic drug use and fragile psyche landed him an extended stay at Bellvue Hospital, where he penned "Oar". Upon release he manically recorded the entire album, playing all instruments himself, in a couple weeks. After that singular monolith, his life devolved into decades of homeless shambles.

So it's in homage to that personal, timeless and shamanic record that I brewed "Little Hands" American Mellow. I was aiming for a beer as detuned and laid-back as that addled Northern California zeitgeist that produced "Oar".

Dark Milds with a bit of body are one my favorite traditional styles. A high temperature mash regimen and flaked oats preserved some heft in the finished beer. Due to really efficient extraction, the Original Gravity figured a bit higher than I was planning (I was scheming for a diminutive 3.2% ABV).

This Fall White Labs released the Samuel Smith strain as "Yorkshire Square Ale Yeast", which I jumped at the opportunity to use. The yeast has a temperamental reputation, but fermented fast and flocculated well for me, without any need to rouse.

Little Hands

OG 1.038 FG 1.010 ABV 3.6% IBU 19

63% Maris Otter

14% Brown Malt

14% Flaked Oats

5% Pale Chocolate

4% Crystal 120

mashed at 155

1 oz. East Kent Goldings for 60 mins.

Fermented at ambient in the mid/upper 60's.

Full round body, roasty, light chocolate, exuberantly mellow: a beer to spend an entire evening with.

Shibboleths: Mild Defined

2009-11-10T19:36:00.000-05:00

Mild:

1. Boorish beer of anemic virtue, ruminate and backward thinking: stodgy, bleak...Dickensian.

2. Forthright, flavorsome and sustaining beer, full of oats and born of a high roast: picaresque, vital...Dickensian.

This is the time of year when I labor to displace my lifeblood with pints of Mild. I recently picked up a vial of White Labs o37 "Yorkshire Square Ale" (Samuel Smith's yeast strain) and have a batch of "Little Hands" American Mellow bubbling away in the cellar.

Harvest Ale

2009-10-30T21:09:00.000-04:00

I'd been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to brew with the monastic honey and hops.

I decided on a deep golden ale with a bit of of sturdiness for the changing season. A simple recipe, to celebrate our first hallowed harvest.

A single pack of dry Fermentis T-58 found purchase and was actively fermenting within a couple of hours. With an ambient fermentation in the low 70's, this workhorse strain provided complimentary fruit and spice.

I harvested the wet hops from the hop yard just before the brew day and tossed them in at flameout, along with the honey, in hopes of maintaining their dignity.

Harvest Ale

OG 1.051 FG 1.008 ABV 5.6% IBU 31

78% Pilsen

11% Munich

6% CaraMunich

6% Honey (flameout)

mashed at 152 for 1 hr.

1 oz. Magnum at 60 mins.

7 oz. Monastic Blend wet hops at flameout

Burnished-copper-glow, tropical fruit, honey, grain.

Basic Brewing Radio Interview

2009-10-08T20:43:00.000-04:00

James Spencer from Basic Brewing Radio got in touch with me recently through Mike. He had a listener who was interested in solera brewing and Mike remembered my "Le Flaneur" solera project. After a few messages between James, Mike and I, the conversation opened up about the barrels in the basement that we brewed communally with some good buddies (the DC Sour Barrel Gang). James had the idea to build a show around the idea of solera brewing and the logistics of barrel aging for the homebrewer.

a podcast is available at http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

It was a lot of fun, thanks James.

Petite Saison Americain

2009-09-20T10:18:00.001-04:00

The last few summers I've worked with different yeast strains from De Blaugies, Fantome and this year a mix of 3 strains to produce a low gravity, Petit Saison. Thanks to Mr. Dann Paquette for the inspiration to use a multi strain fermentation, such is his approach with Jack D'Or Saison Americain. DC Summers are the perfect environ for heat loving Saison yeast strains and it remains a good excuse to not invest in air conditioning.

Pre-commercial Saisons were Franco-Wallonian farmhouse ales, beers of the soil. Terroir driven and brewed with whatever cereal grains were available: barley, wheat, rye, oats or spelt. Dry, well hopped, low alcohol sustaining beers for Summer labor in the fields.

And it was with those bucolic images lilting in my craggy brain that this little saison was hatched...

Petit Saison Americain

OG 1.038 FG 1.002 ABV 4.7% IBU 48

74% Pilsen

14% Munich

6% Flaked Oats

6% Rye Malt

mashed at 148 for 1 hr.

.5 oz. Chinook at 60 mins.

.5 oz. Simcoe at 30

.5 oz. Simcoe at 5

.5 oz. Amarillo at 5

.5 oz. Simcoe at 0

.5 oz. Amarillo at 0

Re-pitch of the yeast from the Nainen Sahti slurry of White Labs 568 Sasion Blend and Fermentis T-58.

Fermented at ambient temp in the low 80's.

bitter-dry, grapefuit pith, earth, hay, Summer distilled to the glass.

Gnosis: Abbey Tripel

2009-09-17T00:13:00.000-04:00

Gnosis is the second installment in the pilot brews for the Abbey Project, a tripel in the Trappist tradition with a distinctly American dialect. Early Christian Gnostic's believed that salvation was achieved through mystic enlightenment gleaned from secret knowledge. A few glasses of tripel are bound to put you in the right mood for such high-minded-parlor-game-gymnastics.

The hallmarks of the tripel tradition are a beer golden in color, dry in body (the leaness is from sugar added to the kettle), with hop and yeast derived fruit and spice. A digestible beer of a high gravity with enough charm to keep you interested.

I reused the healthy Orval yeast from the Petit Frere Single and relied on an ambient ferment that ramped from the mid to upper 70's for the fruit and spice character. I knew I wanted hefty bitterness from American hops as well as some Continental hop delicacy with the flavor additions: bold earthy hoppiness with phantom tropical fruit and dry hopping to lend an enticing nose.

I think I'll use imported Pilsner malt next time I brew this abbey series for that grainy complexity that is it's signature, as well as use monastic honey to replace the sugar.

GNOSIS

OG 1.082 FG 1.012 ABV 9.3% IBU 60

84% Maris Otter

7% Munich

9% Dextrose

mashed at 150 for 1 hr.

1 0z. Chinook at 60 mins

1 oz. Simcoe at 15 mins

.5 0z. (each) EKG and Saaz at 5 mins

.5 0z. (each) EKG and Saaz at flameout

1 0z. Sterling dry hopped for 1 week

Golden and strong, with a dryish body, rustic with earth and spice. Took a few months in the cellar for things to come together.

Hop Harvest

2009-09-07T15:39:00.000-04:00

The end of summer is hop harvest time, between the second year bines in the yard and the first year bines at the Monastery, the yield was not exactly heroic at around 2.5lbs wet weight. I mixed all the varietals from the Monastery together, to make the Franciscan blend.

Since I have no idea of the alpha acid of these home grown hops, I'll use them in late additions to the boil, at flameout or to dry hop. I'd imagine that for the first few years the rhizomes are more occupied with establishing a reliable root structure than producing brew ready flowers for the likes of me.

We also picked a good bit of really addictive peaches from the old growth trees at the monastery, some of which I froze and that I'll be putting into an abbey lambic at some point.

Monastery honey and hops has me thinking harvest ale.

Shibboleths: A Sour for all Seasons

2009-08-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

Seasonality is a modal logic: prehistoric, cyclic and reverent. Sour beer brewing shares all the caprice of the seasons, the two are entwined and referential. I have the deepest respect for Dany Prignon of Brasserie Fantome in Soy, Belgium, who has fully embraced the practice of rustic mixed fermentation brewing inspired by and named for the seasons.

I have attempted to brew to the season in this same model, with a new bottling every 3-4 months (though it's hard to be exact with wild fermentations). In Summer what could beat a dry, acid sharp saison, with garden grown hops as sprite as a nymph? Or in Winter a 15% abv dark, sour, spruced Eldritch beer as eerie and primal as the name.

Nainen Sahti >aka Women's Sahti >aka Rachel Beer

2009-08-19T17:06:00.000-04:00

Scandinavian folk beers have a strange attractor for me. Randy Mosher covers a lot of ground in what is easily my favorite homebrewing book "Radical Brewing" on these types of archaic styles: he does obscure beer research and deep history, offers practical information about all types of brewing ingredients, techniques and equipment, compounded with a ton of recipes and pulls it all off with a great sense of fun.

He talks about a low gravity Sahti that was brewed for women and I thought I've got to brew something like this. From what I've culled together about Sahti, it contends for the longest continually brewed beer and was traditionally brewed with whatever cereal grains were available and lautered in a carved out wooden vessel called a kuurna with juniper branches as a filter bed (though I didn't have luck procuring juniper branches myself (next time)). With it's origins in the pre-hop era, it is spiced with juniper berries to balance it's sweetness.

A true rustic beer in which sourness is a common element, derived from infection due to lack of sanitation or a general disregard, that is often fermented with bread yeast, served unfiltered, often sweet and uncarbonated, and weighs in between 6-10% abv. Sahti is considered a beverage for special occasions (in this instance Rachel starting Law School).

I knew I wanted elements of rye, oats, smoke, spruce and juniper (and considered a lactic fermentation, but settled on multiple strains of Saccharomyces).

Nainen Sahti

OG 1.038 FG 1.000 ABV 5% IBU 13

35% Munich Malt

28% Pale Malt

28% Rye Malt

3.5% Carafa II

3.5% Flaked Oats

2% Peated Malt

mashed at 148 for 1 hr.

.5 oz. Mt. Hood at 60 mins.

a handful of bruised Juniper berries and fresh spruce tips at 20 mins.

pitched with a mix of White Labs 568 Saison Blend and Fermentis T-58.

Fermented at ambient in the low 80's.

Extremely dry, flavorful and addictive with light roast, evergreen and smoke. Need to contact BJCP about possible Rachel beer category.

Honey Harvest

2009-08-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

It was the 2nd annual honey harvest at the monastery yesterday. A bunch of us got together to pull honey loaded frames from our hives and using a borrowed extractor, bottle the monastic honey for sale at the gift shop and events and claim a portion for ourselves. It's advised that with first year hives you leave the lion's share of the honey on the bees so they can use it as their food stores to get through the winter. (Our hive is on the right and in the background the poles you can see are trellising the hops).

City Bees Toni Burnham was coordinating the bottling operation. First the wax capped honey has to be exposed by using a specialized hot knife to cut the thin layer of wax on the honey cells...

next the frames are moved to a 4 frame centrifugal, hand cranked extractor, where the honey is spun out of the frames...

the honey is then filtered twice (coarsely and then finely) and is ready for bottling.

I contributed 2 frames and came home with 2 qts. (around 5lbs.) of insanely tasty honey for home use and brewing.

Our hive has done brilliantly this summer, I'd guess our queen is running a hive of over 40,000 bees.

Frites Stoofvlees

2009-07-27T18:06:00.000-04:00

Frites Stoofvlees was the great street food discovery from our trip to Belgium. A poutine like concoction that is the culmination of two Belgian classics: crispy frites topped with Carbonades Flamandes (beef braised in beer) and finished with a dollop of mayo (or any of the dozens of other sauces on offer). It's the very essence of rustic Flemish, liver fortifying beer cuisine.

Deconstruction:

Carbonades Flamandes is a dish ripe for interpretation, at it's core is a beef stew with a long braise in beer. In this instance I went with a bottle of "Le Flaneur", a bottling of a Flanders red solera project I kept going for a few years that I knew would add acidity and cherry maltiness to the braise. I used a nice sized chuck roast that I boned out (bones directly into the stockpot on the back burner) into bite sized pieces, but any less than tender cut would work. You could marinade the meat overnight in the beer and aromatics if you had the forethought. I stayed pretty traditional with seasonings: bay, thyme, rosemary and smoked paprika (a bit out of bounds, but a current obsession).

Carbonades Flamandes

a bottle or 2 of Flanders Red, Oud Bruin or something interesting

a nice sized and trustworthy chuck roast or brisket cut into pieces

2-3 onions

2-3 carrots

half a head of garlic

a glorious spring of rosemary

a few tangles of thyme

a bay leaf or 2

flour for dredging

a tablespoon of smoked paprika

plenty of salt and pepper

butter and olive oil

dredge your beef in flour, get your heaviest pan hot and throw in a large knob of butter and a few slugs of olive oil, brown your beef well...

add aromatics and seasonings, continue cooking for a few minutes...

add beer...

braise with the lid on at low heat for 3-4 hours, until beef is tender.

The Carbonades Flamandes will be best after a night in the fridge if you can wait.

Double frying your frites isn't too time consuming and pays dividends on the extra labor. I'm a fan of the fries at Brewer's Art, so I finish my frites with minced garlic and rosemary.

Whip up a batch of aioli with a pinch of saffron, but most importantly cue up the Jacques Brel and serve with the same beer you braised with. The other classic accompaniment to Carbonades Flamandes is crusty bread smeared with mustard.

Shibboleths: Prologomena to the Idea of a Baroque Beer

2009-07-22T15:48:00.000-04:00

Bacchus, by Peter Paul Rubens

I have in mind a beer extravagant by strategy: ornamental and bacchanalian by design. Perhaps it's an idea better left unrealized, perfect in it's ephemera, lost in it's own marginalia, perilous in it's execution. A beer in chiaroscuro...a beer of the Baroque.

Or is it better that I should take a cue from Icarus and abandon such soaring vainglory: discretion is the better part of valour.

Pipe Smoke Chili Recipe

2009-07-17T15:49:00.000-04:00

I felt like making chili last night with some of our newly acquired beef and the Magritte's Pipe I have on tap. When I think chili, I think cowboy cookery, a simple chuck wagon, campfire affair. For that bit of campfire, I like a bit of smoke in my chili, whether from chipoltes or long cooking with a smoked ham hock, so I figured I'd go with my smoke beer as a braising medium.

"Pipe Smoke Chili"

a slug of olive oil

a nice sized onion or two

a pound of trustworthy ground beef or bite sized pieces of chuck

a can of dark kidney beans

a can of chickpeas

a large can of quality tomatoes

a bottle or more of rauch beer

a bay leaf

pinch of red pepper flakes

as much garlic as you like

generous portions of chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper

a few slugs of Crystal Hot Sauce

handful of cilantro

Grab your heaviest pot, tip in some olive oil, pepper flakes and bay leaf, turn heat up,

brown onions and beef, season with garlic and spices...

add beer, reduce for a minute or so...

add tomatoes...

and beans...

cover and simmer for as long as you have patience.

Finish with Crystal Hot Sauce and cilantro to peek the flavor up.

Serve with the same rauch beer you cooked with and a large slice of buttered and honeyed cornbread.

Sour Beer in the News

2009-07-13T13:13:00.000-04:00

Came across a well written piece in the LA Times by Joshua Lurie about sour beer broadly and the wealth of sour beer being produced in California specifically. Really exciting times out West for experimentation and it's nice to see Craftsman and Alpine get some coverage (sounds like Ichabod is gonna be sour again this year).

Magritte's Pipe: Home-Smoked Helles

2009-07-09T09:15:00.000-04:00

René François-Ghislain Magritte's groundbreaking 1929 painting "The Treachery of Images" is a popular and approachable piece of conceptual art. In it Magritte posits that this thing you are staring at is not a pipe, and the concept carries because it's equal parts humor, absurdity and philosophy (in the same proportion that makes the Marx Brothers timeless).

I had the conceit to brew a pale smoked beer in homage to the treachery of beer that is Aecht Schlenkerla Helles. Their Helles is a rauchbier that uses no smoked malt, yet has an obvious and persistent (and delicious) smoke character; the claim being that the smoke and mirrors is in the rauch saturated brewing equipment and the house yeast. The very idea of a blonde smoked beer is brilliant in it's treachery. I also have to acknowledge Tom Baker of Earth Bread + Brewery, a fellow obscurist and wordsmith who made an awesome example of the style with his Terra Fume.

So my own treachery involves smoking malt with mesquite chunks and brewing a classic lager style (Helles) with an ale yeast . I multi tasked my smoke day by also pastrami rubbing wild salmon fillets with Schwartz's house spice (that I used in a butternut squash and smoked salmon chowder (add bacon and smoked paprika if you don't mind your chowder being a bit sanguine)) and throwing them in the smoker. The smoked malt took on some nice Munich color and a relatively mellow smokiness.

Magritte's Pipe

OG 1.045 FG 1.012 ABV 4.3% IBU 26.5

63.2% Pilsen

31.6% Home Smoked Pilsen

5.3% Cara Pils

mashed at 153

1 oz Mt. Hood at 60 mins.

pitched White Labs Kolsch yeast and fermented low with temp control

Really loving this beer: smoke meets Weihenstephaner.

Natural Beef

2009-06-28T15:58:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning found us off to Stephens City, VA to claim this year's freshly butchered side of beef from Gore Custom Meats. This is our second year working with the Davenport family at Hollin Farms in Delaplane, VA who thoughtfully raised our natural beef. We're splitting our 140-odd pounds with a few friends; I'm really excited to try out some new recipes with our freezer full of bovine inspiration. I highly recommend Hollins beef to anyone local, it's great quality forage raised Black Angus and offered at a more than fair price (a little over $4 a lb.). The meat is custom cut and portioned in vacuum sealed bags that give you a year or so of freshness. I know that many of the culinarati scoff at freezer meat; for me as a home cook, it's a happy marriage of convenience, quality and value.

It's reassuring to know the source of your food, I trust the Davenport's and respect that the cattle are pastured and treated humanely.

I'm a cookbook addict, with a real fondness for whole beast cookery, so having such a broad range of cuts and offal is a real boon. Much of the the whole beast canon is devoted to the pleasures of the porcine, though I believe many of the ideas and techniques translate to beef as well. I'm hoping to hit on some interesting beer pairings and plan on incorporating more beer into my recipes along the way.

Heart, and Tongue, and Sweetbreads...Oh my.

"Petit Frere" Abbey Single

2009-06-06T20:05:00.000-04:00

I was at the infamous Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp a few months back, where Dirk Van Dyck and his wife have consecrated their bar a genuine temple to vintage beer. They function as sort of the beer-world's surrogate, cool grandparents and they're cellar is packed with decades of treasures from long shuttered breweries and lambic blenders. Among other rarities I was fortunate to snag a bottle of Westmalle Extra, the monk's beer rarely seen outside of the abbey. It was wonderful: pale, really fresh, hoppy and dry. I knew I'd have to brew something like it when I got home.

Abbey Singles are traditional low alcohol beers brewed for the monks sustenance. I suppose historically they would have been produced with the second or third runnings of a stronger commercial abbey ale like a tripel, and other examples that are stilll brewed today include Orval's Petite (in which case they dilute the normal strength wort with water) and Chimay's Doree.

The timing was great on this first brew toward the Abbey Project because I wanted a Tour de France beer, something light and flavorful that I could drink throughout a long-humid-hot DC summer day watching the tour. I knew I wanted to keep things simple with this beer, an ascetic approach worthy of the pedigree: straw colored, crisp, with light fruit esters. Traditionally the only base grain that would be considered for a Single would be Pilsner malt, but being the born contrarian that I am, I used my favorite base grain of late, Maris Otter. I used Whitelabs Bastogne yeast, which is Orval's cultured saccharomyces strain and kept the ferment in the low 70's. I went with Magnum's for clean bitterness and loaded the end of the boil for flavor and aroma with Saaz and EKG's.

"Petit Frere" Abbey Single

OG 1.040 FG 1.008 ABV 4.2% IBU 35

93.3% Maris Otter

6.7% Cara Pils

mashed at 150 for 60 mins

.5 oz Magnum at 60

.5 oz Saaz and .5 oz E.K. Golding at 5

.5 oz Saaz and .5 oz E.K. Golding at flameout

I think when I brew this again I'll get rid of the Cara Pils and use a bit of either Munich or Aromatic and I'll probably secondary for more flocculation and dry hop for more aromatics. I'm excited to brew this again with the monastery hops and honey.

Urban Beekeeping

2009-06-03T13:27:00.000-04:00

There is a great article in the Metro section of the Washington Post today about urban beekeeping. My friend and local secret-bee-guru Toni Burnham rang me Sunday and told me that Petula Dvorak from the Post was researching an article on urban beekeeping and asked if I could swing by the beeyard at the Monastery to participate. We cracked open the hives, they snapped a bunch of photos and we got to tell our own bee stories, how great it was to be able to keep hives at the Monastery and about the beekeeping obsession in general.

I got to tell Petula about the Abbey Project and how I was planning on using the monastic honey and hops in future brews. It was a lot of fun and great visibility for the urban beekeeping movement.

I just wanted to add one edit to the article, Rachel and I only have one hive at the Monastery. My doppelganger and partner in crime Chris Schierkolk maintains the twin hive next to ours.

Thanks Toni and Petula.

Shibboleths: Umami of Sour Beer

2009-05-30T21:06:00.000-04:00

I have a sour tooth, it's an expensive and ungainly habit that makes demands of one's patience and fortitude. Umami is a recent culinary buzz word, the fifth taste that hints at the Japanese cultivated refinement of the senses. For the purpose of this discourse I am claiming the aesthetic, Eastern elements of umami and casting aside the science of umami (glutamate, ribonucleotides and such) and since the word umami is a reappropriation of a Japanese word, for the entirety of this discourse, consider it doubly reappropriated.

I don't believe simply "sour" sums up the complexities of some of the finer examples of the broad style of acid beers, there is a mysticism there that I'm looking to umami to capture: the whole sensory experience, from the initial sharp aroma, through the salivary anticipation and finally the Ki of the first sip. Umami is the receptor that synapses that deep primal fermentation flavor of great sour beers, that sort of cthonic-fungal-Earth-rot-flavor.

So next time you find yourself in the company of your favorite lambic, meditate on that first sip and tell me it's not umamic.

Appreciation: De Ranke

2009-05-23T19:37:00.000-04:00

There must be some resident magic at the Deca Brewery in West Flanders, where De Ranke brewed for years before they got their own brewery and where De Struise now brew on a for hire basis. I got to talk to De Ranke's co-owner and brewer Guido Devos at the Zythos Bier Festival in early March. I told him that I was a huge fan of his beers and that I home brewed back in the States and he cajoled me with their history and approach, peppering the whole thing with anecdotes and jokes. He's a real class act: gregarious, funny and obviously passionate about his craft.

When I first had XX Bitter a few years back it was a shattering experience: an elegant, hop forward Belgian Pale Ale. Now, the so called Belgian IPA style is ubiquitous. I've had many examples of the style, many of which I've enjoyed, but none has replicated the jitters of that first bottle of XX Bitter. For me the style works best when there is a dry bitterness, complimentary yeast character and the emphasis is on massive amounts of clearly defined noble hops.

De Ranke has an impeccable lineup of beers, 3 skew pale and hoppy (XX Bitter, Guldenburg, Pere Noel), 1 dark and hoppy (Noir de Dottignies) and the other 2 sour (Cuvee and Kriek). Guido is not shy with hop additions: Guldenburg is exclusively hopped with Mittlefrueh, XX Bitter and Noel with Brewers Gold and Hallertau. All the hops are supplied from one single farmer in Popperinge. I'd always been curious so I prodded Guido to tell me the story behind the naming of Guldenburg, but after a long day of sampling at Zythos and my lack of adequate notes, what I recall is that it references a story about some monks and a golden mountain that was really no more than a small hill (West Flanders is pancake flat). The Cuvee and Kriek are both beers of extraordinary depth that derive sourness from having 30% Girardin lambic blended in and I rank them among the great sour beers of Belgium. This past year's Pere Noel was awesome, brilliantly hoppy with delicate spicing, Guido admitted that he had been a bit heavy handed with the licorice in the previous year's release. Noir de Dottignies is their newest beer, dark and with a distinctly De Ranke hoppiness, that with some luck we'll see imported here to the states sometime soon.

De Ranke is a real desert island brewery for me and I hope to have the opportunity to visit them in Wevelgem sometime in the future.

American Abbey Project

2009-05-19T08:58:00.000-04:00

Belgium's Trappist brewing tradition through an American distorting lens.

"Petit Frere" Abbey Single

"Gnosis" Abbey Tripel

"Sepulchre" Abbey Quadrupel

Most people are aware of the storied history of monastic brewing in Europe and many folks are aware of the Trappist brewing tradition specific to Belgium and the Netherlands. The Trappists, or more verbosely the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, are the silent workers of the monastic world, who follow the rules set forth by the Rule of St. Benedict, which was written at Monte Cassino, Italy, in the 6th century. The name "Trappist" derives from the reform movement started in Normandy, France at the La Trappe Abbey. They're mantra is "ora et labora": pray and work, and they devote much of their time to labor, believing that silent, contemplative work is a form of prayer. Silence is included implicitly in one of the promises made by all Benedictines and Cistercians at the time of their monastic profession, five or six years after entering the monastery (it is not an actual vow and they are allowed to speak when they deem necessary, some use their own sign language). Trappists throughout the world famously make products such as beer, cheese, preserves, biscuits and other food stuffs, as well as engage in other economic activities including farming, forestry, small scale production of skin-care and cleaning products and traditional crafts in order to sustain they're own needs and make charitable offerings. Though I'm not a religious person, I've always felt a sympathy for the simplicity and focus of the ascetic life.

Rachel and I live less than a mile from the St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery in NE Washington, DC and I've often stopped by the grounds on weekend runs (they've got a properly eerie recreation of a catacomb in the basement, including a preserved saint on display with a porcelain mask and shriveled-monkey-paw-hand they display as a relic, that's definitely worth a visit). I heard that some folks were keeping honeybees at the monastery and a light went on in my brain, a brewing project where I could make beer with ingredients (honey and hops) produced under the auspices of an American Franciscan monastery (appropriately St. Francis is the patron saint of nature). I've wanted to keep bees for a while now, though didn't think our neighbors would go for it and I've got a bit of experience growing hops at home that I train up the side of the house. A few e-mails later I was in contact with the flower guild that keep the bees and maintain a greenhouse and garden patch on the monastery's sprawling grounds. The guild is run by a great bunch of volunteers that welcomed the project and with the approval of the friars, the project was a go. With the help of some good friends and a little planning, we installed a hive of Italian bees and an organic hop yard at the monastery (I'll post about these specific projects shortly). We purchased a nucleus culture of Italian bees from a local pollinator in Kensington, MD and ordered a bunch of hop rhizomes from Freshops in Philomath, Oregon. With a little luck, come next Fall, we will be able to harvest a small amount of honey and hops. Both honeybees and hops are long term investments and both are subject to the whims of nature, I'm hoping the hallowed ground will be some slight investment against misfortune.

In the meantime, I've got some time to work on recipes. I'm looking to both the Trappist and American Craft traditions to inform the recipes for this project. Since my first sip, I've been in awe of the art-in-a-bottle that is Orval and since their yeast strain is commercially available (minus the brettanomyces) I figured it was a good starting point. The plan is to brew 3 generations of increasingly higher gravity and darker beers on the same yeast, and first up is a style I've been meaning to brew for a while now, an Abbey Single.

Shibboleths: Small Beer

2009-05-13T16:05:00.000-04:00

I have a kink for Small Beers, so I say send forth your dwarven of original gravity and your lilliputian grain bills upon the beerosphere. Small Beer doesn't just have to be for the anglophones anymore, let's have more Small Beer across the beeraspora: more Abbey Singles, more Berliner Weisses (or even better Gose), more Kvass, more Gratzer, I want little roasty beers and little wheat beers, little lagers and little saisons, little smoked beers and little hopbombs. When well crafted, they are a testament to a brewers restraint. That is not to say that Small Beer has to be all nuance, they can be complex, bold and domineering. It's a particular challenge.

Maybe the conceit is a bit precious, so call me precious and maybe it's prone to attack on a philosophic level as high minded, anachronistic or antiquated (that's only feeding my pet contrivances). This is in no way a condemnation of higher gravity fare, I'm a polybeergamist, I can love any well made beer, big or small. A great advantage of Small Beer is that it helps maintain one's dignity and lucidity and as we all know lucidity suffers fools gladly.

Small beer can be conservationist as a second runnings beer or partigyle, a timely and defensible tact, or think about it as an economic stratagem to extract the most out of your grist. Heed the rallying cry, "Minimize!"

Marzen: Beer of March

2009-05-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

March may be the beeriest month with at least two beer styles named in it's honor: the German style lager Marzen, as well as the Belgo-French farmhouse style Biere de Mars. Marzen is a slippery beast, in that it also goes by the aliases of Oktoberfest (one beer style that honors two months, that's crack marketing there) or fest beer.

I don't really like Marzens, perhaps out of ignorance or maybe the cloying nature of many of the export varieties. I thought it would be a worthy challenge to myself to try and brew a Marzen I would enjoy. I, very proudly, have a March birthday and so we can count that as further inspiration. There have been exactly two Marzens that I would care to revisit: "Autumn Ale" from Short's Brewing Company in Bellaire, Michigan, that I liked and "SurlyFest" from Surly Brewing Company in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, that I adored. Being a Surly beer, this was not a conventional Marzen, sheathed in a 16 oz. can, brewed with rye and dry hopped, it's really extraordinary. So with Surly as a guide and decoder it was off into the treacheries of Marzen.

I was looking for a well developed malt character, so I mashed high and was relying on an inappropriate level of hopping (including dry hopping) to balance this thing out, though the aim wasn't huge bitterness, but rather later boil hop additions for flavor. I toyed with the idea of adding rye to the grist, which generally translates as a spicy character, but I wanted to keep the flavor on the softer side so I nixed that. I added Melanoidin malt to give the beer an amber color and mimic the deep malt flavor of a decoction mash and I dialed in a low carbonation level of 2 volumes at bottling to further the roundness of the flavor.

Marzen
A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50Total Grain (Lbs): 10.88
Anticipated OG: 1.050 Plato: 12.36Anticipated SRM: 9.2

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM-----------------------
36.8 4.00 lbs. Munich Malt(2-row) Germany 1.035 6
55.2 6.00 lbs. Pilsen (2 Row) France 1.039 2
4.6 0.50 lbs. CaraMunich 60 France 1.034 60
3.4 0.38 lbs. Melanoidin Malt 1.033 35

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time-----------------------
0.50 oz. Magnum Whole 14.00 31.3 90 min.
0.50 oz. Sterling Pellet 6.00 6.9 30 min.
1.00 oz. Sterling Pellet 6.00 4.5 5 min.
1.oo oz. Sterling Pellet 6.00 0 Dry Hop
Yeast-----
US-23 in the upper forties

Notes-----
FG 1.016
4.48% ABV
2 volumes carb
lagered for 4 weeks, dry hopped for 2