May is almost upon us and the abbey style blond Grand Cru goes on sale next week. With people becoming much more willing to give strong ales a go hopefully the the wonderful Belgian flavour profile of cloves, vanilla and tropical fruits will prove a hit. However, brewing this particular limited edition ale was not without its issues.
As with most beers of this style I used malt extract in the kettle to boost the starting gravity and enhance the flavour of the finished product; too much of this though can give a poor mouthfeel and make the beer taste thin. The malt extract comes in the form of a thick syrup which takes an age to pour from the tub as it oozes out in thick gloops. I had six of these to add to my wort before boiling, and whilst trying to manage the rest of the brewhouse I may have got more than a little hot and bothered but at least I managed to not spill any of it.
Foreign yeast that the brewhouse team were unfamiliar with provided the next hurdle. Some of these have behaved wonderfully in the past as with the Elderweiss brewed last summer; others have been more troublesome such as the trial brew for the upcoming September saison literally erupting beer like a geyser all over the cold store. Belgian yeast was used in tandem with our own strain to produce high amounts of esters and phenolic compounds imparting fruity and peppery flavours within the beer. This yeast set off like a rocket at the start of fermentation, munching its way through the sugary wort like a microbial version of man vs food. The brakes needed to be applied by dropping the temperature in order to prevent negative attributes developing such as the butterscotch aroma caused by diacetyl. Krausening (good word, isn't it?) with a ball of violently fermenting yeast near the finish helped to eliminate green-apple flavour acetaldehyde, allowing the softer, elegant flavours to come to the fore. For more great brewing lexicon check out the Oxford Dictionary of Beer.
This week also saw DBC win a Gold medal at the SIBA South West competition in the specialty beer category with our dark wheat beer Silent Knight. A great result for the team and something to be proud of.
Its been an interesting few weeks down in Dorset. I got a mention from Nigel Barden on Radio 2 for my Smokin' Bock paired with hay roasted veal, which resulted in a number of texts from my mum and also a few extra sales too. The plan is to bottle the May limited edition 7% Belgian blond Grand Cru in the same style packaging but using a different high alcohol tolerant yeast to condition the beer.
I also did a 'meet the brewer' event at our local Weatherspoon's which was rammed thanks to free beer samples of Equinox, Mutiny, Jurassic fermented with saison yeast and a sample cask of the beetroot beer appearing at our brewery tap over the Easter bank holiday. Many thanks go to John the manager for helping to organise this and get the word out and also the local CAMRA crew who turned out en masse.
The SIBA South West beer festival is in 2 weeks time at Tuckers Maltings in Newton Abbott, will do my best to make an appearance and try a few tasty beers from our local friends/rivals. Hopefully I'll also be able to discuss the trauma of brewing high volumes of strong Belgian style beer on our kit with our malt supplier, more on that next time.
Lagers used to be dark, its a fact. Before malting technology allowed for the production of lighter coloured grains, brewers were restricted in what their offerings could look like as well as taste like. This meant that when Louis Pasteur was investigating the storage properties of beer in Germany, it was amber and brown beers he was testing and not the pale, golden varieties available today.
Mutiny is a Munich style dunkel, an interpretation of the historic lagered beers of Bavaria, brewed with richly flavoured Munich malt giving the beer a hint of chocolate and a slight nutty flavour. Marynka hops from Poland added late in the boil provide contrasting floral and honey aromas. Whilst the brewers' trick of adding black malt to the mash at sparge has helped to boost the depth of colour without affecting the flavour, making it stand out all the more.
When I sampled this beer after a week in conditioning tank, I immediately got a few more glasses and brought them into the office. This is definitely one to share, if possible whilst sporting lederhosen.
Thought I'd just give a little update on happenings. Firstly our debut limited edition bottled beer, 100% Smokin' Bock, that was brewed last year and subsequently oak aged for 100 days is on sale. Its character has developed into a wonderfully complex plethora of different flavours: First you smell breadcrust, then its treacle and bourbon on the palate backed by an alcoholic warmth that is enveloping. The bottle design is also something I'm quite proud of; It really needed to be special and I think the gold foil encasing the clay swing-top gives it that little extra.
I've also got a batch of beetroot beer fermenting away on our clandestine pilot kit, which is a bit of a step into the unknown to say the least though I'm fairly certain about its colour! It also contains a small percentage of apple juice, its sharper flavour should help balance the earthy notes of the beetroot. The finished article will be named and served by the staff of our brewery tap, Tom Browns, in early April
Its SIBA BeerX 2014 in less than two days time now, been looking forward to this for a while. A great chance to learn, meet up with people I haven't seen for a while and sample a few beers.
Brewing a red ale is a lot more challenging than I had ever anticipated when I first decided to make one over a year ago. There's a fine balance to be achieved between light and dark as well as the hues of yellow, orange and red that come through from the malts in order to get the colour just right. Basically its rubbish if it's amber or brown but if it's just right, in that Goldilocks region, when it's a vivid scarlet it looks fantastic.
The red ales of yore tend to rely on a precise dose of roast malt in order to deliver the colour along with an archetypal burnt flavour, however most modern brewers use caramelised malts instead thereby imbibing a sweeter nature. Some heinous individuals even resort to straight up cheating by adding coloured syrup extracts to their brew. I've gone for a hybrid approach adding both roast malt and dark crystal malts, as I'm using a trio of US hop varieties in the kettle as well as dry hopping the finished article in tank to create a rich, zesty ale bursting at the seams with big flavour.
It has taken months to get right but it's worth it. This beer will put an ear to ear grin on your face after every sip. A bit like the dinosaur suit I wore in the brewery for a brief appearance on channel 4's Sunday Brunch show.
Rugby is the best game in the world. It's a big statement and I know it's not without its flaws, scrums are getting a lot of negative attention at the moment, but seriously think about it. At grass roots level a position for every body type, the lanky or short kid is not left out and the larger child shall we put it, is hailed as a hero! Professionally men in excess of 100kg able to do 100m in under 15secs running at each other with little to no protection, officiated by a man half their size, who never seems to know the rules with nothing but a whistle to stamp his authority. How can this be interpreted as anything other than truly great?
The beer I've designed to accompany this veritable festival of mud, blood, sweat and camaraderie is a 3.8% pale golden session ale. Plenty of Munich malt gives a smooth, honey character while a classic East Kent and Styrian hop combo conspire to provide beautiful aromas. Ideal for what can often be a good few hours of angst, dismay and hopefully jubilation.
Come on England!
2014 has started with a bang, a bout of rain, and a new beer. Well it's actually been sold to Mitchell & Butlers as part of their winter program for well over a month and was originally created for a one off contract brew with another company last Christmas but it is the DBC limited edition January offering.
Frosted Jack is a 4.3% golden ale that I developed around the American hop variety Amarillo. Discovered by accident hiding in a crop of Liberty and originally termed Super-Cascade, this hop is rammed full of the oil myrcene which is responsible for the archetypal brash and citrussy American hop flavour.
Frosted Jack has woken up a few taste buds and we’ve been selling on average well over 100 casks of this stuff every week since mid November. In fact there are now increasing demands for more distinctive, wild and down right flavoursome beers to enter the fray of the DBC limited edition monthly specials. Fear not ale fans, I’ve got plenty up my sleeves and all will soon be revealed in this years glossy new brochure.
So if you’re not one of the ones joining the rather lame sober-January brigade have a Hoppy New Year.
