Session #100: What makes a beer historically accurate?

Phoneix Kentucky Komon

Reuben Gray hosts the 100th gathering of The Session and asks blogs to write about “Resurrecting Lost Beer Styles.” Visit his site for links to other contributions.

The SessionWhen David Pierce set out to brew the first commercial batch of Kentucky Common in, well nobody knows how many, years “it was still back when we all thought it (had been) a sour beer.” That was 1994 and Pierce was brewmaster at Bluegrass Brewing Co. in Louisville.

We’ve since learned the idea that the process used to brew Kentucky Common in the early years of the twentieth century included a sour mash is just plain wrong. But, going on the best information anybody had to offer, Pierce began with a 100 percent sour mash, mashing in hot one night and arriving to a horrific smell at the brewery the next day. It was not an easy beer to sell. Roger Baylor at Rich O’s Public House in New Albany, across the Ohio River from Louisville, did his best to support a beer he thought was historically important. He promoted it as “beer formaggio.”

Pierce made the beer periodically in the following years before he left BBC to work for Baylor at New Albanian Brewing. He refined the process, souring only part of the mash, creating a beer than wasn’t as pungent. He thought the fifth, and last, batch was probably the best. “We couldn’t give it a way,” he said. Then somebody suggested they call it a Belgian sour brown ale. The last seven barrels (14 kegs) sold out in a week.

In the years since, meticulous research by Leah Dienes, Dibbs Harting, and Conrad Selle established that if Kentucky Common occasionally turned out sour in the marketplace in the years before Prohibition it wasn’t on purpose, and it certainly wasn’t made using a sour mash. That is reflected in the recently released BJCP Style Guidelines. Kentucky Common is in Category 27, Historical Beers, and the guidelines even specify “Enter soured versions in American Wild Ale.” That works fine for judging in a homebrew competition, particularly in a historic context, but what about modern day commercial beers? Kentucky Common now has a 20-year history in which a sour mash is used in the brewing process.

Granted the modern history is limited. However, if you are looking for a “Kentucky Common” brewed in Kentucky and sold outside of Kentucky it is going to be Against the Grain’s Kamen Knuddeln, which is a blend of a young sour-mashed beer and a barrel-aged stout. Jerry Gnagy gets a lactobacillus starter from Four Roses Bourbon for the sour mash. It makes perfect sense that had Kentucky Common been brewed continuously for a hundred-and-some years that it might evolved or at least different versions would have emerged. Using lacto from a nearby distillery? Makes sense. Include a portion of beer aged in bourbon barrels? Also indigenous.

Last month, as part of the Derby City Brewfest it hosted, Bluegrass Brewing invited participating breweries to make a Kentucky Common. Eight Commons ended on offer, some sour, some not. Because we were in Kentucky the following week I got a chance drink several of them. I certainly could have wasted a larger chunk of an afternoon than I did drinking New Albanian’s Phoenix Kentucky Komon and chatting with Baylor (who has currently stepped away from the business while he runs for mayor of New Albany). It is not an easy beer to make, and the brewery does it just once a year on its smaller four-barrel system — yes, four barrels a year; like I wrote, a pretty limited modern history. “It’s one of my roughest mashes of the year,” brewer Ben Minton said, in this case because of the percentage of corn and temperamental false bottom in the mash tun. “It comes out a little different every time.”

Apocalypse Brewing, Louisville

Two historic (in other words, not sour) versions I had at Apocalypse Brewing were equally delightful. Dienes had her Oertel’s 1912, which is based on the records in Oertel’s brewing logs and the only example of the style in the BJCP guidelines, on tap. Harting brought his homebrewed version. It is the only beer he struggles to keep on tap. “Oh dad, can I take a common home?” Harting said, quoting one of his children. “I’m sure it was a fabulous bucket (growler) beer,” he added.

This works for me. Kentucky Common of the past. Kentucky Common of the present. Kentucky Common of the future. There doesn’t have to be just one.

Hops and the law – ‘Neato’

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.01.15

We just finished moving our books, beds and other essentials under a new roof. So notes taken during the Craft Brewers Conference about some of the various hop-related things going on at Brewery Ommegang are packed in a box somewhere. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that Nirvana IPA, which is made for Ommegang at Boulevard Brewing, is brimming with bold American hop aroma. However, only available in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Three 1700s English Court Cases About Hops.
A post about hops that concludes with a one-word sentence: “Neato.” How could I resist? [Via A Good Beer Blog]

Farm brewery still a go in Lucketts—but without Flying Dog.
A bit confusing what might happen to the farm brewery in Maryland that received considerable attention because Flying Dog Brewery was to be a partner. Now Flying Dog has backed away. However, a hops facility on the same farmland, which will receive grant money from the state and county, is not affected by the change and will go ahead as planned. [Via Loudon Times]

Hops yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Hops yesterday, today and tomorrow (part two).
The decline and rise of hopping rates. [Via Shut Up About Barclay Perkins]

ENOUGH HOPS? HOW ABOUT THESE?

From Vikings To The War Of 1812: An Interview With Right Proper Brewmaster Nathan Zeender On Recreating Historic Beer Styles.
I’m pointing to this even though it includes a favorable shout out to Stan Hieronymus (always a bit embarrassing) because it serves as an excellent reminder that the theme The Session #100 on Friday is Resurrecting Lost Beer Styles. [Via War on the Rocks]

5 craft beer bits from Founders, New Holland owners.
Among the takeaways: What aspect of the job has gotten tougher over the years? “The hangovers are worse.” [Via MLive]

Czech village toasts success of self-service pub.
Machine dispenses homebrewed beer for the same prices as lemonade, 20 Czech koruna (80 cents) a pint. [Via The Guardian]

I Started a Fantasy Beer League, and So Can You.
You’ll just have to read it. [Via Paste]

Vaping hops, of the dankest kind

Sentences you would not have read in the Washington Post in 1980, or likely many years after, from a story about events around the District during SAVOR:

“And on June 4, Lagunitas is serving up hops in an unusual manner. The California- and Chicago-based brewery will have a vaporizer set up with fruity vape juice the at Smoke and Barrel (2471 18th St. NW; June 4, 5 p.m., free) so patrons can vape hops while getting buzzed on eight of its dankest drafts.”

What happens when clever beer grows up?

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 05.25.15

Cult breweries go global.
There’s this question from Joe Stange: “So, is BrewDog — which has branded itself ‘punk’ from the start — becoming the ‘McDonald’s of craft beer’?” and he quotes Tim Webb thusly, “Clever beer has outgrown its infancy and is becoming an attitudinally challenged adolescent.” A nice turn of phrase and I enjoy many of the beers I’m pretty sure Webb is talking about, but I’m still trying to decide how clever I want my beers. [Via DRAFT]

‘Craft’ beer’s pandemic of quality un-control?
Tom Cizauskas apologizes for “the breathless Buzzfeedy-ness of the title” of the post, but wants you to read it. In it he revisits the concern that when Brewers Association director Paul Gatza called out some brewers about the quality of beer he drank at a particular festival that it “could easily be read as an attack by big ‘craft’ on small ‘craft.'” A BA subcommittee since created the pyramid shown here (Gatza included it during the “state of the industry” presentation at the recent Craft Brewers Conference and it appeared in New Brewer, the publication for BA members earlier this year).

The Beer quality Priority Pyramid

The pyramid reflects things that Alastair Pringle has been telling decision makers at smaller breweries concerned with quality for the last several years. Pringle worked at Anheuser-Busch for 25 years before retiring in 2009. He teaches microbiology at a small college outside of St. Louis and consults with several relatively small breweries. He advocates a practical approach to beer quality — which could be focused on process improvement and control or beer flavor and stability — telling brewers to identify the major factors they can control. They don’t need to be using the same checklist as MillerCoors if they aren’t planning to ship their beer all over the universe.

“That’s usually seven or eight things, rather than making it very, very complicated,” Pringle says. When he worked at Anheuser-Busch, then CEO August Busch III famously demanded one-page solutions, so that people in production could easily implement them. “You didn’t get anywhere at A-B giving complicated talks where you looked clever.” And there’s that word again. [Via Yours For Good Fermentables]

CAMRA and Lager: Eurofizz or Pure Beer?
In its 44 years of existence, the Campaign for Real Ale has had a more complicated relationship with lager than cries of “fizzy piss” from some members might have you believe. Complicated, indeed, and a longish read worth saving to Pocket. [Via Boak & Bailey’s Beer Blog]

Twelve Years Spent A-Writing About Good Beer.
I’m stealing this from Alan McLeod for my business card: “My hobby is writing about beer. And it serves a purpose. It allows me to play out ideas related to standards touching on research, value, ethics, clarity and human weakness that I apply in my job and the rest of my life.” Except for the part about it being a hobby. Hobby and craft. Should we be talking about their relationship? [Via A Good Beer Blog}

Beer Money: How Industry Dollars Go to Work.
This is the first of eight posts from Bryan Roth (a series that is just wrapping up). He explains this goal is to “share a compilation of data sourced from public record for major beer companies and organizations who all play a role in shaping the politics of beer.” The series (links at the bottom of each post) examines both individual brewing companies and organizations. [Via This Is Why I’m Drunk]

Washington drought may threaten future of craft brewers.
Come down off the ledge. It isn’t quite that scary. In fact, “For the most part this year’s crop is okay, next year’s yet to be determined.” But down the road, less water, lower yields. [Via KOMONews]

Snake Charming and Herding Cats.
A day in the life of Tyler Nelson, who sells beer in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina for Green Flash Brewing Company. [Via Beer Connoisseur]

Post-Meantime sale thoughts: Mind the gap

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 05.18.15

1) Global giant in grab for Meantime.
2) Why Meantime sold up to SAB Miller – the inside story
3) Why SABMiller’s acquisition of Meantime is a good thing.
4) Meantime brewery: craft or industrial?
5) What Meantime means to us.
6) Raising the bar.
The most important story of the week, although it may not have been obvious on this side of the Atlantic. The first post includes the basic news. In the second, Martyn Cornell explains why it happened, and in the third Pete Brown suggests what it means. The fourth and fifth remind us there are thousands of small pictures as well as the Big Picture. The last word goes to Meantime founder Alastair Hook gets the last word (6).

Aside from my own musing, of course. Brown writes, “I don’t think there should be a huge gulf between craft and mainstream.” On one level, this seems to be happening in the United States. Large brewing companies are expanding their portfolios, either by making a wider range of beers or acquiring breweries that do. Newer breweries that want to grow bigger are paying plenty of attention to efficiency and consistency. What’s different than much of the twentieth century is there’s room for other breweries, ones purposely less efficient. There are myriad reasons, so I will leave it there.

New Belgium expressed interest in buying Elysian before Anheuser-Busch deal.
I missed this one a week ago Friday (these things happens on four-brewery days), but worth your time. Pair it with the next story. [Via Denver Post]

First Beverage Founder: Flood of Craft Deals Forthcoming.
“I think there could easily be 25 more transactions in the next 12 to 15 months,” says the CEO of an investment and advisory firm. “The business of craft beer is going to radically change.” [Via Brewbound]

Enough business. Some agriculture:

Here’s how much water it takes to make California’s craft beer.
Growing the barley and hops to make just one gallon of beer requires 590 gallons of water. [Via Quartz]

Local Grains: Farm To Bakery Bread Is Hot.
“Leaps forward in decentralizing the production of staple crops don’t register as significant, not yet. But the more that bakers seek local flour, and the more that farmers seek noncommodity marketing options, the more consumers will learn to understand and appreciate the small food mountains people are moving.” [Via Zester Daily]

Postscript

Musing here previously mentioned a story about the etymology of the term “craft beer” that I wrote for All About Beer [print version]. AABM has now posted it online.