#A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style?

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A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style?

CraftBeer.com

February 22, 2017

I’ve had many ah-ha/ awe-inspiring/ pee-my-pants-just-a-little craft beer moments, but one of my fondest memories was the first time I discovered New Belgium’s La Folie. I can remember the Colorado sun shining through the skylight of the Ft. Collins brewery’s Liquid Center, striking the taster-sized glass and causing the strawberry-hued beer to shimmer. The taste was unlike anything I had experienced before. For years after I would zealously describe the beer’s experience as if one crammed a heaping handful of sour patch kids in their mouth and then got punched in the jaw; only in the most exhilarating way possible, like if you were a UFC fighter and getting punched in the mouth was your jam and you fed off of it. Hit me again! I said hit meeee!

(MORE: Brewers Go Beyond Bourbon for Barrel-Aged Beer)

The beer was a complete anomaly back then. The purposeful introduction of souring bacteria and unconventional yeast deemed too risky for breweries; cross-contamination of these new cultures into the brewhouse could spell doom to the business. There were few other opportunities to try sour beers, especially from American craft brewers. Not so today.

Sour beer, the broad categorization of which is now worth a quality-controlled risk driven by the consumer’s desire for the funkier, the complex-ier, the sour-ier. The popularity of these styles, not just by consumers, but by beer-loving brewers is obvious. How do you pack 2,000 brewers into a 1,000 seat room during the Craft Brewers Conference? Put together a panel of sour authorities, sprinkle in a brewer or two from Belgium, and get the eff out of the way. Even today, my mother-in-law asks where to score a couple bottles of Red Poppy for card night with her gal-pals.

The explosion in breweries producing sours is a blessing or curse depending on whom you ask. The general term “sour” carries with it much potential for the consumer and brewery but does little to provide context for how the beer was produced, making it a crap-shoot on what consumers think they are ordering. The variety of beers marketed as sour range quite widely in production methods, production time and cost to produce. This is not to say that a two-week, stainless-steel, mixed-fermented gose can’t be every bit as mind-blowing as a beer spontaneously inoculated by native yeast spores floating in on a cool fall evening’s breeze, transforming wort into a multi-layered masterpiece in an oaken barrel over the course of months or even years. They are both sour beers, both potentially memorable beer experiences, but not the same type of beer and definitely not the same investment or price tag. We need to go beyond calling or categorizing any beer with a bit of acidity a “sour beer.” How do we do it?

(MORE: 9 Weird Brewery Names and the Stories Behind Them)

Sour ≠ IPA

Sour does not equal IPA. The craft beer world knows how to handle the broad category of IPAs. Double, triple or session IPAs; red, white or black IPAs; fruit, hazy or yes, even sour IPAs all have a single discernable base style as an anchor.

While the term sour is apt for any beer with a wide range of acidic character, it fails to fully explain the difference between two beers with “sour” on the label. Lambeek, Leipzig and Berlin all have beers that are listed under the sour side of a beer menu. Lambic/gueuze, gose and Berliner-style Weisse really have little in common with the exception of the wild, spontaneously activated, souring and funkifying organisms, all which likely bear no resemblance genetically to anything the other regions have. Sour beers did not originate in a single geographic area the way the United Kingdom is credited for India Pale Ale, traditionally, or U.S. craft brewers claim the style’s contemporary revival.

That’s a pickle for those struggling to provide context to these acidified ales without pigeon-holing or stunting the creativity that is so important to small and independent craft brewers or hindering the breweries’ marketing department’s job to move cases.

When you look at it that way, we’re lucky we have the term IPA to describe anything that is strongly hop-forward or bitter. Bitter beer is not all the rage; IPA is. It is that identifiable base style, which many believe is needed for sours. With 5,000 craft breweries in the U.S., many of them making very different sour beers, how do we categorize them while showing cultural and geographical reverence, but also offering easily understandable queues to educate the consumer? It’s a pickle alright — a sour beer pickle.

(MORE: What is Craft Beer?)

Sour Beer Pickle: Made in America

Or not. Maybe it’s not a pickle at all. Maybe you accept the term sour as a style, instead of a limiting taste descriptor that does no service to these diverse beers. These sour beers are some of the most ancient of ales, so why now is there some problem with calling them sour? The Belgians get along fine marketing their sour beers, don’t they?

Not exactly. Belgians don’t call their sour beers sour, they call them beer. Sour beer is largely an American term. We tried a Lindemans or La Folie and grouped them on a singular taste rather than considering the origins and/or process of either. We didn’t know any better. We just knew we loved that mouth-puckering acidity. We didn’t care that they were different beers. Over time, sour became a word that meant crazy avant-garde beers, beers worth waiting in long lines for and shelling out the bucks for.

Not every sour beer follows that blueprint or trend. Many lactic, mixed-fermentation, so-called quick-sours have proven just as popular as the one’s that need patience. A brewery known for both styles, as well as ales and lagers, is Avery Brewing in Boulder. Avery is renowned for super creative wild and mixed fermentation beers with layers upon layers of flavors. Avery has also had success with a “Tropical & Tart” witbier known as Liliko’i Kepolo, described by Avery’s Chief Barrel Herder Andy Parker as an after work beach beer – inspired by his days working on Kona.

(MORE: Stop Hoarding. Why You Need to Drink Beer Fresh)

Liliko’i is a bracingly tart, fruity Belgian-style Witbier, akin to the brewery’s White Rascal. It is designed, produced and meant to be enjoyed at a price reflective of the resources put into it. Here’s the kicker: Liliko’i is produced with no sour organisms what so ever. The tartness comes from loads of passion fruit added to the beer. It is an amazing beer, perfect for a float trip, or the beach or breakfast, but should it be in the same category as one of Andy’s barrel-aged sours that are fermented with a cocktail of souring bacteria and Brettanomyces that slowly changes a beer in one of the 8,000 curated barrels at their production facility?

Could the lack of education and clarification of the sour category work against it and turn consumers off completely? Could someone or some company pass a beer off as something it is not in an effort to capitalize on the sour beer bonanza? The concern exists and further makes a case to educate beer fans on what the beers are and how they are produced. Nobody wants to discover they paid too much for a beer, even if it was a delicious beer.

As Parker said, the growing number of brewers who are trying to figure a way out of this pickle are trying to do the right thing, and if these brewers are, “doing right by their beers and their customers, the desire and need to better define this category becomes a source of pride.”

Sour Solution?

The sour beer pickle is as complex as some of the beer it focuses on, and even Avery’s Andy Parker confesses he’s unsure of a solution. Added to the equation is an international beer community that already has taken steps to define and protect the terms that are so important to their regions beer makers. HORAL, a group of Belgian lambic producers, exist to promote their unique creation and act as a regulatory agency for the misuse of the term “Lambic.” HORAL uses a seal to identify what they deem to be traditional lambic producers. Could a governing body in the United States help identify these beers, like HORAL tries to in Europe? Many brewers, including Parker, respect these regional terms, avoiding their use out of respect to the history and believe a voluntary decision to identify a brewer’s own beers in a consistent and educational manner could help. Other brewers have adjusted the term out of respect to international names while providing clues to the consumer of what their beer is inspired after. For example, The Bruery’s Rueuze, a play-off of gueuze or Russian River’s Sonambic, a Sonoma-California lambic.

Others have looked to provide stats on the acidity of their beers, similar to how IBUs represent bitterness levels. Firestone Walker provides titratable acidity on some of their labels. Titratable acidity is a measure of how strong something acidic tastes (different from PH which just measure the total amount of acid in solution), but like IBUs, a singular number can’t show the entire picture. In addition, brewers don’t want to spark anther IBU arms race like beer lovers saw with IPAs.

(TEST YOUR BEER KNOWLEDGE: Beer 101 Course)

New Belgium’s blender, Lauren Woods Salazar, reports a growing number of craft brewers who want to identify American sours that do not infringe on international appellations. American-made spontaneously fermented beers reflect the brewers’ own regionality and styles with their own uniqueness in many cases. It is important to recognize that. Despite a fiercely independent community of now 5,000 brewers, there seems to be a collective source of pride for the brewers who are producing all types of acidic beers.

As professionals mull over the best course to wade through the complexities of the sour beer pickle, it is important for us as beer enthusiasts to work to educate ourselves on the vast world of sour beer. We all need to learn about these beers to be able to differentiate and appreciate well-made beers, without denigrating or miscategorizing them. Above all, we should be able to make confident choices. Fight the urge to suggest that two beers can be compared simply on the fact that they lend an acidic, tart or sour taste. Marginalizing a beer to a single taste discounts the entire reason we love craft beer: for its variety, approachability and the unique and intimate experiences each category, style and individual beer provides. La Folie remains one of the most interesting beers on the planet, like many other great beers in this broad category, the true experience is limited if we continue to lump them together because of a single note.

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Andy Sparhawk

Andy Sparhawk, the Brewers Association’s craft beer web manager, is a Certified Cicerone® and BJCP Beer Judge. He lives in Arvada, Colorado where he is a homebrewer and avid craft beer enthusiast. On occasion, Andy is inspired to write on his experiences with craft beer, and if they are not too ridiculous, you might see the results here on CraftBeer.com. Read more by this author

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Sour Beer Pickle in American Craft Brewing: Defining a Beer Style

Sour Beer Pickle in American Craft Brewing: Defining a Beer Style

CraftBeer.com

A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style? February 22, 2017I’ve had many ah-ha/ awe-inspiring/ pee-my-pants-just-a-little craft beer moments, but one of my fondest memories was the first time I discovered New Belgium’s La Folie. I can…

Link: Sour Beer Pickle in American Craft Brewing: Defining a Beer Style via http://www.craftbeer.com

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Solera Brewing: American Brewers Explore an Old World Brewing Style

December 19, 2017

Solera brewing is a beer-making process that dates back hundreds of years. In the last decade or so, it’s a method a number of American brewers hungry for experimentation, complexity and speed are beginning to explore.

The creative, efficient Solera system of mixed fermentation has been in use since it first was devised by Portuguese sherry producers in the late 1700s. Now it also is being used for making port, whiskey (think Glenfiddich 15-Year-Old Solera), brandy, balsamic vinegar, and, more recently, American craft beer.

Will Meyers got the idea about a modified solera brewing system after talking to a winemaker. (Credit: Cambridge Brewing)

The Solera system, also called “fractional blending,” was first used in a U.S. craft brewery in 2003 at Cambridge Brewing, the brainchild of renowned Head Brewer Will Meyers. Meyers ironically got the idea during a conversation over a beer with a friend who was the owner and winemaker at Sutton Cellars vineyard.

Meyers describes his classic approach by relating it to the original sherry system but is using it for beer (parentheses added): “essentially a number of casks that contain identical liquids of consecutive ages. In the case of sherry (or beer), a quantity of the style is drawn off at intervals throughout the year, and the cask is refreshed with a slightly younger wine (or other liquid) of the same style. The younger wine (or beer) will gradually take on the character of the older wine (or beer), and after several months, the wine (or beer) in the cask becomes virtually indistinguishable from what it was before.”

(READ: The Evolving Role of Women’s Contributions to Beer)

Aged Qualities in a Fraction of the Time

For sour beer, a single stage system now is used by most Solera breweries and has been found to be an excellent way to continuously make the beer more quickly than conventional barrel aging, with greater depth, and with a wild culture mixture that slowly evolves over time. The tapped beer is replaced by the house base beer which is brewed separately and moved to the Solera.

Basically, the untapped part of the Solera cask acts as a jump starter, like the sourdough bread starter that many families have used and passed around. (We called our sourdough starter Herman.)

Jason Kahler, the brewmaster and co-owner of Solera Brewing in Parkdale, Oregon, tells us, “My intention was to have a constant flow of complexly layered, acid-forward beers without the long wait. Initially, I was thinking of the mixed cultures residing in the barrels. It was more of a way to keep bacteria and yeast alive in barrels that I wanted to duplicate, but quickly realized that not only was this a simple way to feed and keep the critters active, but also produce a beer that had some aged qualities that could be achieved in a fraction of the time.”

(READ: Understanding the Three-Tier System: Its Impacts on U.S. Craft Beer and You)

Boston Beer uses a Solera process to make their Kosmic Mother Funk (KMF) series. Jennifer Glanville, the brewer at Boston Beer, has three 130 barrel foeders used for making the various KMF beers, with the one for their Grand Cru aging at least 24 months before tapping. Glanville asserts that, “The process gives a different depth of flavor than with blending.”

Nathan Zeender, the head brewer at Right Proper Brewing in Washington, DC, notes that, “We are able to get the finished beer much more quickly. The beer also continues to evolve and develop its own character.”

Classic Solera Brewed Beers

Records show that a Solera-type brewing process has been used in the past for brewing beer, but not for many years. One such beer was the classic, but sadly no longer made, Gale’s Prize Old Ale. Another is the famous Burton Ale from the Ballantine Brewery. The oldest Solera beer barrel still in use is a 200+ years old Walloon Old Ale barrel, first used in 1806. The cask is owned and has been maintained by the Gedda Family in Sweden and is tapped once every two years.

Since Cambridge’s then-innovative system for brewing beer, quite a number of other breweries have developed their own distinctive Solera system, with variations to fit each of their unique needs. These range from widely-distributed craft breweries such as New Belgium to extremely small enterprises like Duncan’s Abbey with only four souring barrels.

(READ: 12 Beers of Christmas)

Meyers created his very traditional Solera brewing system in the low-ceilinged dirt basement of the brewery’s refurbished 125-year-old mill. He is dogmatic about keeping it traditional and “remaining true to the Solera spirit.” Their Solera has grown to 15 former Bordeaux and Burgundy wine barrels of about 60 gallons each with the addition of five barrels in 2008 and another five in 2015.

Essentially now Cambridge has a Solera and two nurseries called criaderas. Each year, the Solera is tapped only once to make their Cerise Cassée, a sour ale made with tart cherries. The Solera, usually tapped in the late autumn, produces about 200-250 gallons of Cerise Cassée. Meyers hopes that the increased Criadera size will allow a limited bottled release.

Beers Made Using “Aging and Time”

Brewing with a Solera system is more an art than a science. The barrels in the system used for blending age at different rates depending on elements such as the aggressiveness of the cultures in the barrels or foeders, weather, temperature and other factors. Those cultures and the wort they are working with can be modified over time by changing the malt profile, re-inoculating or changing the culture mix, modifying the fermentation and temperatures, determining when time is ripe to draw from the foeders, and how these various factors work together in blending a final product, all of which only comes from experience.

“All batches are related to one another and the latest is related to the first.” Chase Healey, American Solera

Two relatively new breweries have Solera in their name, American Solera in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Solera Brewing in Parkdale, Oregon. Both are among numerous breweries using modifications of the traditional Solera system to make sour ales.

Chase Healey, the brewer and owner of American Solera, says he is simply using “aging and time” to make their beers. He likes that, “All batches are related to one another and the latest is related to the first.”

Each Solera batch is aged for four to six months and then drawn down by one-half to two-thirds and fills 20-30 barrels. Healey checks to see what is available for mixing or blending such as peaches, berries or grapes and sometimes dry hops the resulting barrels. Refilling the Solera with his base farmhouse beer he describes as “pulling and replenishing.”

Solera Brewery is Built on Experimentation

Solera Brewery has a spectacular view of Mt. Hood towering over its back patio. Brewmaster Kahler relates that, “One of the things that attracted me to this technique was all the years I’ve spent brewing in other breweries the same damn beers day in and day out. I’m not sure I could ever do that kind of brewing again. Experimentation has always been the goal of this brewery. I think many of our customers understand our philosophy.”

(READ: A Sour Pickle in American Brewering: Can Brewers Better Define this Style?)

At present, Solera Brewery has 25 barrels stacked two high using chocks. Kahler’s goal is “not to duplicate but to create.” He artfully relates that, “The wort that’s used to replace what has been drawn out is dictated by the remaining beer in the barrel. Does it need the acidity cut? Does it need more acid, color, or body?”

Kahler describes the draw on each barrel, saying, “The barrel will tell you. I’ve had barrels that were in their first generation for three or four years, while others as little as three months. It also depends greatly on what you plan to do with the beer. Are you blending with it or serving it straight?”

“Consistently Delicious … Not Consistently the Same”

Zeender, like many others, started with Solera brewing as a homebrewer. When Zeender set up the Right Proper brewery he was able to acquire three 38-barrel foeders. Two of the foeders are used for souring and one for other beers.

“The original mixed fermentation culture was derived from two saison yeasts, two types of Brettanomyces yeasts, and a Lactobacillus strain,” Zeender says. “Brettanomyces is the focus, and it develops over time from months to years.”

Zeender’s two primary mixed fermentation beers are made in their own foeders. One is the flavorful Baron Corvo, a Rustic biere de garde, while the other is the White Bicycles Rustic Witbier. Both also are bases for other beers such as an aged farmhouse ale and a foeder beer on cherries.

(READ: Should We Wait in Line for Beer?)

The Solera beers, Zeender notes, are “consistently delicious but not consistently the same.”

Other brewers using modified Solera systems agree that their beers vary some due to the evolving yeasts, changing weather, and a host of other factors. Often customers truly enjoy checking the small variability of each handcrafted version.

How frequently Zeender’s foeders are tapped depends on demand but usually every four to six weeks. About one-half to two-thirds of the beer is removed on average and refilled from a base beer brewed in stainless steel tanks before being subjected to the alchemy of the mixed fermentation colony residing in the oak foeders.

Solera Method at Duncan’s Abbey and Fermentery Form

Two small Solera breweries have interesting wrinkles with their system. Duncan’s Abbey is a local brewery in an 1890s building in Tarrytown, New York, at the New York end of the Tappan Zee Bridge. It has a mere four souring barrels, stored in the building’s old stone cellar, which are used for the Solera. Owner and Brewer Justin DiNino believes, “People are looking for originality and these are unique.”

DiNino also believes in brewing using only local ingredients including hops from Tarrytown and the nearby area. More intriguing is his local yeast. Natural wild yeasts, that vary each year, are captured in the spring and fall in two half barrels placed outside the brewery. After fermenting to a desirable alcohol level, depending on how active the yeasts are, these barrels are tapped by one-third to one-half and are racked and the Solera refilled. The results tend to be fruity early and evolve to more acidic toward the end. If the yeasts dry the ale fully, DiNino may set aside a barrel for blending as part of their Flanders-style Rockefeller Red Ale.

(READ: Brewery Rescues Ugly Fruit from Landfills)

Fermentery Form’s Ethan Tripp experiments with a variation of Solera brewing. (Credit: Fermentery Form)

Philadelphia’s new Fermentery Form brewery opened this past July and with a different twist. Leaving the wort production to a contract brewery with spare capacity, they are a barrel-only brewery. According to Lead Fermentationist and jack-of-all-trades Ethan Tripp, like Zeender a former homebrewer, focusing solely on fermentation both saves a major expense and gives the brewery more flexibility and more time to experiment. The house mixed fermentation culture is about 10 years old dating back to those homebrewing adventures and the focus of he and his partners on balanced sour brews and barrel aging. Many of their beers are variations of farmhouse ales.

The brewery acquired 56 very old red, white and dessert wine oak casks in various states of disrepair and unusable for wine anymore. Essentially, Tripp, the jack-of-all-trades, added being a cooper to his other duties. The 56 barrels are arranged in two stacks with about 10-12 on each bottom and a similar amount on a second tier.

Tripp says there are about 20 Solera barrels on the bottom of the two stacks, a small variation from the classic Solera idea. They are filled from the second tier barrels as is traditionally done.

Only a few of the barrels have been tapped and refilled thus far, each time drawing about one-half to two-thirds of the contents and refilling from the second tier.

(READ: Explore 75+ Craft Beer Styles)

The Future of Solera Brewing?

The original American sour beer, New Belgium’s La Folie, first was made 20 years ago in their wooden foeders which, until three years ago, used a modified Solera system of partly emptying and refilling according to then Head Brewer Peter Bouckaert. The current forest of foeders has grown to 65 foeders ranging in size from a bit over 20 barrels to almost 190 barrels.

Two have been especially helpful in blending of their sour brews, the light lagers from foeder Oscar and the dark lagers from foeder Felix. Over these 17 years, there were various experimental changes such as using different malts and fermentation temperatures. The forest of foeders is in the care of Lauren Limbach, the Wood Cellar Director & Blender at New Belgium, who says, “My job is to keep the foeders happy.”

Peter Bouckaert, former head brewer at New Belgium Brewing. (CraftBeer.com)

(READ: The History of the American Pale Ale)

Three years ago Limbach and her colleagues made a momentous discovery. They found that the benefit of brewing a relatively consistent beer using the modified Solera system could be achieved by completely emptying the foeder rather than a partial drawdown and refill. The cultures in the foeders evolved, reaching a steady state where the culture mixtures now reside in the wood and can regenerate themselves after being emptied. Essentially, the wood has developed a life of its own.

As Limbach describes it, “Over the years, we saw opportunities to improve overall flavor profile and found solutions to do so. This happened with years of testing and step by step working towards a new process. These foeders have had our cultures in them, penetrating the wood over many, many years … (this system) seems to be successful in our very specific need.” Ninety percent of the beer now is emptied for use and the remaining 10 percent is drained to minimize brewing maintenance issues. The foeders are then refilled within 12 hours and “within a week it has started reproducing.” Limbach proudly reports: “This absolutely works.”

The Solera process for brewing has been around for at least 200 years. For at least one brewery, it has evolved over time and perhaps others may able to follow the New Belgium lead. If not, the tried and true system still has numerous benefits and produces excellent beers.

The Brews Brothers

The Brews Brothers journalism team has focused on craft beers since shortly after the first shots were fired early in the ‘craft beer revolution.’ Publications and writings include American Brewer; Mid-Atlantic Brewing News; the Gazette Newspapers where we wrote monthly craft beer columns for 23 years for the metropolitan Washington, DC area; and Beerhistory.com. We also give lectures and host beer tastings. Steve likes classical music, the gym, walking my dog Barley on the C&O Canal and beercations. Arnie enjoys jazz, drinking craft beer and beercations.

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New Belgium Brewing Launches Geisha, a Dark Sour Coffee Ale

Credit: New Belgium Brewing

October 31, 2017

New Belgium Brewing’s latest special release, La Folie Grand Reserve: Geisha Sour Ale, blends the much sought-after Panama Geisha coffee with New Belgium’s award-winning La Folie. The result? An elegant, dark sour ale that celebrates the artistry and passion behind two of the world’s most beloved liquids.

Geisha’s journey begins in Panama at Hacienda La Esmeralda, where the Peterson family grows the coveted Geisha coffee. Whole roasted Geisha beans are added to the sour ale, preserving the coffee’s brilliant mandarin and soft jasmine floral notes which play nicely with the sour plum and cocoa flavors synonymous with La Folie.

(READ: A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style?)

“La Folie is the sour that launched our wood beer program nearly 20 years ago, and as we reimagine our specialty portfolio, we’re revisiting many of our most-loved and acclaimed beers, presenting them in new and unique ways,” said Andrew Emerton, New Belgium specialty brand manager. “This take on La Folie is adventurous – reminiscent of coffee’s silky, rich attributes but counterbalanced with the bright, complexity of a foeder-aged sour. This will be the most expensive beer we’ve ever made, and it’s so very worth it.”

A custom blend of Colorado-grown malted barley and wheat from Fort Collins-based Troubadour Maltings boosts the foam and marries all of the flavors, bringing the sweet, floral notes to the forefront. The beer was bottled on nitrogen for a soft, velvet-like mouthfeel and body, and is recommended to be served chilled and fresh (not cellared).

New Belgium partnered with Fellow B Corp, Sustainable Harvest out of Portland, Oregon, who brokered the coffee deal. A portion of proceeds from the beer will contribute to a grant that will distribute climate resistant coffee varietals to small scale coffee farmers across the globe.

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Brewery)

La Folie Grand Reserve: Geisha is 7.9% ABV and available in 750mL bottles in select markets while supplies last. To find it, along with others from New Belgium, visit the Beer Finder or download New Belgium’s Beer Mode app.

For more information, visit http://ift.tt/2gQ1lIv. 

About New Belgium Brewing

New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Belgian Style Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire Belgian Style Ale, New Belgium brews thirteen year-round beers; Citradelic Tangerine IPA, Citradelic Lime Ale, Fat Tire Belgian White, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, Voodoo Ranger 8 Hop Pale Ale, Dayblazer Easygoing Ale, Tartastic Lemon Ginger Ale, 1554 Black Ale, Bohemian Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale, Trippel and a gluten-reduced beer, Glutiny Pale Ale.

About Troubador Maltings

Troubadour Maltings is a craft malthouse built by Steve Clark and Christopher Schooley, who work with independent cereal seed growers throughout Northern Colorado to produce and secure grain for the development of unique, character-driven malts that can inspire the wildest imaginations of the brewers, distillers, and enthusiasts of craft beers and spirits. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Troubadour is dedicated to fostering community and conversation through storytelling and raw materials production with intent and creativity.

About Hacienda La Esmeralda

The lands that make up Hacienda La Esmeralda where first brought together as a single estate by a Swede named Hans Elliot in 1940. Coffee had been growing on lands in and around Hacienda La Esmeralda since at least, 1890, and it was this huge reservoir of coffee knowledge and culture that helped the Petersons redevelop much of their land for coffee farming and even make their first coffee farm expansion at Palmira in 1988. It was a happenstance of altitude and lot separation that discovered Geisha’s amazing flavors and aromatics.

About Sustainable Harvest

Sustainable Harvest is a B Corp certified green coffee importer based in Portland, Oregon focused on specialty coffee from smallholder producers in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It pioneered the “relationship coffee” model, bringing transparency to the coffee supply chain by building long-term relationships directly with coffee growers and specialty coffee roasters in the Americas, Europe and Australia. It works with more than 200,000 coffee farmers to boost their incomes and improve their quality of life through increased market knowledge, engagement in the coffee supply chain, and adoption of healthier, more sustainable growing practices — all while sourcing consistently high-quality coffee that consumers love.

About the Bean Cycle

Bean Cycle was founded in 2004 by three siblings, Chas, Lesley, and Penelope. We are passionate about coffee, our community and sustaining what we believe in. After graduating from CSU it was difficult to leave our beloved Fort Collins, so we stayed and built something we believed strongly in; an ecological, social, and economical business based on developing our craft for coffee. We get excited about the complexities of our coffees and creating coffee experiences for everyone who walks through our door.

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Belgian-Inspired U.S. Brewers Hope This New Symbol will Clear Some Confusion

This is the Méthode Traditionelle marking Black Project and Jester King were part of creating.

October 2, 2017

Late last year I was extremely excited to see Jester King and others introduce a certification mark for traditionally made coolship beers. You’ve probably heard of it, it was called Méthode Gueuze, and there was also the more general Méthode Lambic.

The idea of a certification mark for beers produced in certain ways is not new, I’ve long been an advocate for accuracy in naming types of sour beers. Being a big fan of Belgian beers, it is hard not to notice the distinct “Brewed in Belgium” and “Trappist” badges that adorn a lot of my favorite bottles. It definitely made sense to me that we should have a similar mark for different types of sour production, as I feel there is a ton of confusion and even some outright deception in that market. So, again, without a doubt, the mark published by the fine folks at Jester King definitely interested me.

The MG/ML marks, as many began to call them, were created to give a name for beers that were inspired by the unique production methods of Belgian gueuze and lambic, but that were not brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. I know myself and many others feel strongly that a beer called lambic/gueuze can only come from this area around the Zenne River valley. As a brewer of beers made following the traditional process which are used there, it becomes difficult to figure out what to call our beers stylistically.

(READ: A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style?)

When it comes to beer style names, on one hand, we want to honor the idea that our beer is not lambic as it is not made in Belgium. On the other hand, we want to be able to concisely explain to our customers the complex and very special process that is used to make many of our beers.

Raw wheat, turbid mashing, 100 percent spontaneous coolship inoculation, barrel fermentation, etc – these are not required to make sour beer; they aren’t required to make great sour beers, even. However, these are the methods we have chosen to use in many of our beers, and we want to be able to share that information with our fans. Furthermore, as a consumer, I think it is important to have an idea of how a beer is made when you see it on a store shelf or on a menu.

All of these issues were wonderfully solved by Méthode Gueuze / Méthode Lambic … until it came to everyone’s attention that perhaps not all of the actual Belgian lambic producers were OK with this name. Specifically, the High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers (HORAL), which is an organization representing the vast majority of Belgian lambic breweries, said that they did not agree with the names/marks. This came as a surprise to many of us, including the creators of the marks. Eventually, private emails became public and the beer world at large wondered what was going to happen. Some brewers continued or even began using MG or ML after it was clear HORAL did not agree with it, others – like Black Project – decided to wait and see what kind of resolution could be found.

Soon after, I was honored to have been invited to join many of my idols in the sour beer world to help shape and define the standards for Méthode Gueuze and Méthode Lambic. In June, as part of this involvement, I was able to travel to Lot, Belgium to a meeting at the 3 Fonteinen Lambik-O-Droom. The meeting included myself, Jeffrey Stuffings from Jester King, Pierre Tilquin from Gueuzerie Tilquin, Werner van Obberghen from 3 Fonteinen, and Frank Boon from Brouwerij Boon. It still feels pretty unreal and incredible to be included in that group. It was a great meeting with lots of great discussion (and plenty of great lambic poured for us by Armand DeBelder of 3 Fonteinen). Afterwards, we spent time touring both the 3 Fonteinen and Boon facilities, a day I will never forget, but I digress.

(READ: Unicorn Milk Beer, an Accidental Success Story)

Replacing Méthode Gueuze and Méthode Lambic Markings

Ultimately it was agreed that Méthode Gueuze and Méthode Lambic would be replaced by new marks which did not mention the words lambic or gueuze. It was agreed that there was no issue with American brewers following the traditional process to say in a description of their beer on labels that it was inspired by lambic/gueuze, but that those words shouldn’t be the style description or name of the beer. I don’t necessarily personally agree with HORAL that American Méthode Gueuze beers would be confused with real Belgian Gueuze beers sitting next to them on a shelf. However, the much bigger issue for me is that MG was a mark created to show respect for the Belgian producers and if a large number of them felt it was disrespectful, it doesn’t make any sense to use it.

From the meeting with HORAL, a small group of U.S. brewers who are currently producing these traditional beers, began work on defining a new set of standards: Méthode Traditionelle representing traditional lambic-inspired production methods and then Méthode Traditionelle – 3 Year Blend representing gueuze-inspired aging and blending.

(READ: Jester King’s Jeff Stuffings on the New Mark)

In my view, the creation and use of these marks is a huge step forward for naming, styles, and transparency in the American sour beer industry. Sour beer brewers in the U.S. are a small but passionate group, and make beer which an extremely diverse range of processes. To those brewers who follow the traditional Belgian-inspired processes, I would kindly ask you to consider using the Méthode Traditionelle crests where applicable. For those that don’t make beer following this process, I would encourage you to work with others to figure out if there is a way to similarly define your methods to generate more clarity in our tiny slice of the craft beer world.

Black Project is extremely excited to now be able to use the Méthode Traditionelle certification marks on our beers, knowing that the standards are clearly defined and that the marks are not causing contention with the producers who inspired us. You will begin to see the “MT” or “MT3” crests on relevant bottles of our beer very soon. Thanks so much for reading. More information about the standards can be found at Méthode Traditionelle Standards

James Howat – Black Project Brewing Founder, Brewer, Blender

Contact Info

Company: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales Contact: James Howat Email: topsecret@blackprojectbeer.com

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Using Craft Beer as a Vehicle for Good

Tim and Holly Veling at Grace in Growlers. (Credit: Grace in Growlers)

March 14, 2017

Craft beer pioneers had a clear vision: to serve a better, more full-flavored beer. That goal drove Boston Beer’s Jim Koch and Brooklyn Brewery’s Steve Hindy and countless others to persevere through ups and downs in a new and emerging market of beer drinkers.

Beyond creating a better product, many craft brewers use their small businesses as a vehicle for change. Small and independent craft brewers made more than $71 million in charitable contributions in 2014, according to the Brewers Association, CraftBeer.com’s parent organization, and you can find endless examples of breweries giving back to their communities.

But what you don’t always see are individual efforts to use craft beer as a tool, as a way of funding and supporting specific causes related to philanthropy. It goes beyond donating kegs or a portion of beer sales to charity from time to time. Brewers and craft beer-related businesses are literally harnessing craft beer’s popularity for good in a way we haven’t seen before.

(MORE: A Sour Beer Pickle: Can American Brewers Better Define this Beer Style?)

Harnessing Craft Beer to Serve a Greater Good

Ex Novo founder Joel Gregory in Portland. (Credit: Ex Novo)

Ex Novo Brewing became the country’s first nonprofit craft brewery when it opened in Portland in 2014. On the surface, it looks like a normal brewery, and a well-oiled one at that with a 16-beer portfolio and a thorough food component, including dessert and brunch items. But any dough that comes through those doors is immediately sent back out. Ex Novo partners with four local charities, donating all its profits to them. Founder Joel Gregory called the brewery “a permanent fundraiser to support causes.”

“I’m moved by the work [of these four organizations]and it’s a great motivator to succeed in business knowing that we are driving toward these goals and supporting these organizations,” Gregory said.

In Georgia, the birth of a new beer at Service Brewing means the start of a new charitable initiative. The brewery was started by West Point grad Kevin Ryan, who spent 8 years in the army, including a tour of Iraq. When he returned from duty, his passion for craft beer and desire to support his fellow veterans inspired him to open Service Brewing. The brewery promotes a new charity each season, typically corresponding with the release of a new brew, and donates to it a portion of the brewery tour proceeds (Georgia law only allows tastings as part of tours at craft breweries). Since opening in mid-2014, they have donated $50,000 to veteran’s charities, first responders’ organizations, and firefighter and police groups, among others.

(MORE: 51 Great American Beer Bars)

“Part of our mission statement from the get go was to support those who serve their country and their community,” Ryan said.

Home of the Brave Brewing in Honolulu, which we featured back in December for the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, brews beers in a one-barrel system in the back of a World War II museum, serving it up 1942-style in its hidden speakeasy. Owner Glen Tomlinson sums up the method of using craft beer as a liaison perfectly.

Georgia’s Service Brewing donates to veteran’s charities. (Credit: Service Brewing)

“World War II is ancient history to young people nowadays, so if beer needs to be the bridge to bring them in, so be it. When younger guests come to the speakeasy and I’m able to share some of these stories, they are blown away,” Tomlinson said. “Add a craft beer that’s brewed downstairs… It’s been a winning combination.”

In Kailua, Hawaii, Tim and Holly Veling have taken to craft beer as a way to fund their nonprofit, the ONEninetynine Initiative. They came up with the concept of Grace in Growlers, a craft beer tasting room that serves up to 36-ounces per visit and sells growlers to go, including many members of the BA. The concept of Grace in Growlers was developed in the same vein as Ex Novo, yet the two models have stark differences. Ex Novo is a nonprofit brewery that donates its profits to external organizations. Grace in Growlers is a for-profit tasting room that donates its profits to its own nonprofit.

“Sometimes people [we meet here at the tasting room]will come on a Saturday to help with our [nonprofit], and then they’re back in here drinking beer again the next night,” Tim said. “Which is the most amazing thing. It’s exactly what we’re trying to do here.”

(MORE: Craft Brewers Send a Message: Drink Beer Fresh)

Good Beer Is Still the Top Priority

Don’t get these small business owners wrong: even though giving back is part of their mission, selling and making great beer is still the top priority.

One thing that everyone who we talked to for this article expressed was a proper set of checks and balances and transparency that ensures their motivations are not misconstrued. Grace in Growlers has the aforementioned 36-ounce limit per visit, for example, and Ex Novo decided to become a nonprofit mainly because they liked the idea of a board with multiple members.

Gregory said he receives calls from people for advice on how to start their own nonprofit brewery. He speaks with them about the pluses and minuses of becoming a nonprofit and advises them on which structure might be best for them. But he has one underlying piece of advice for anyone who might want to start a business with the same idea: Regardless of the purpose or mission, regardless of the organization, focus on the beer first and foremost.

“Maybe someone will come in for the first time and get excited about the mission and giving back, but if it’s mediocre beer, then they won’t come back,” said Gregory. “So beer has always been the focus for us because people come back for the beer.”

It’s good to hear Gregory say that. Good beer is something we can all get behind.

Will McGough

Will is a nomad-at-large and travel columnist, penning profiles, features and dispatches from afar. His wake and wander philosophy is inspired by the spectrum of ways in which people live their lives in the different parts of the world. He enjoys the idea of waking up every day to new opportunities, new landscapes and the new feelings that the former inevitably evoke. Read more by this author

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