Lambic and Wild Ale

German sours

Aschwin de Wolf — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:25:28 PDT

Although the theme of this website does permit it, I have never published on German sour styles such as Berliner Weisse. But a recent visit to Portland’s Belmont Station rewarded me with no fewer than four sour German beers: Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse, Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse Brettanomyces Lambicus, Dr....

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Upright Fatali Four

Aschwin de Wolf — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:19:03 PDT

In my opinion, Upright Brewing from Portland, Oregon, is one of the best and most innovative breweries in the Pacific Northwest. I do not particularly care for their year-round brews but I have been quite impressed with many of their seasonals, sours, and barrel-aged beers (see this post on gin barrel aging). Not unimportant either, sampling [...]

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Stillwater Artisanal Premium

Aschwin de Wolf — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:19:28 PDT

One of the developments that is associated with the increasing popularity of using wild yeast in craft brewing is that almost any kind of beer style has been combined with “brett.” There are now even new breweries whose sole aim is to brew traditional beer styles augmented by wild yeast. Many craft brewing experiments with [...]

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Ordonnantie van 1560

Aschwin de Wolf — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 09:20:09 PDT

One of the pleasant surprises for those who utilized the HORAL buses during the 2011 edition of Toer de Geuze is that the organizers distributed a reproduction of the 1560 Halle ordinance for lambic brewing. The accounting document that includes the ordinance does not explicitly refer to “lambic” yet, but the proportions of grains and...

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Gin barrel aging of beer

Aschwin de Wolf — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:56:42 PST

One of the most interesting developments in the Pacific Northwest has been the increasing popularity of gin barrel aging of beer. In particular, gin barrel aging of sour beers produces an interesting combination. This should not be surprising. Whereas whiskey, bourbon, and rum barrels can confer an overwhelming, “oppressive” note to...

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Vanberg and Dewulf lambic imports

Aschwin de Wolf — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:22:50 PST

Tonight the founders of Vanberg and DeWulf, Don Feinberg & Wendy Littlefield, will be hosting a tasting of their artisanal Belgian beers at Belmont Station. I have been following Vanberg and DeWulf recent endeavors with interest because they have introduced no fewer than three new lambic products to the United States and innovating while doing...

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Jolly Pumpkin Baudelaire Beer IO Saison

Aschwin de Wolf — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:18:03 PST

It may strike the reader as strange that I have never reviewed a Jolly Pumpkin beer. After all, Jolly Pumpkin is one of the major brewers of wild and sour ales in the United States. As a matter of fact, I like many of their beers. Their Bam Bière is one of my favorite year-round [...]

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L’enfant Terrible

Aschwin de Wolf — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:53:28 PST

The label of De Dochter van de Korenaar’s L’enfant Terrible informs me that this is a “special, gueuze-style ale brewed with wild yeast.” I am not completely sure what distinguishes a “gueuze-style” beer from an ordinary gueuze but perhaps it is intended to convey that this beer was produced outside the...

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Mikkeller Yeast Series: Brettanomyces

Aschwin de Wolf — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:43:23 PST

Admittedly, I was a little hesitant about this beer because Mikkeler seems to show little restraint in what it releases to the market. But this “educational” beer designed solely to showcase the Brettanomyces yeast was too tempting to leave untouched and I was not disappointed at all. The base for this beer (and all the [...]

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Hanssens goes experimental

Aschwin de Wolf — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:34:12 PST

Cantillon is my favorite brewery in the world, but I have a weak spot for gueuze blender Hanssens Artisinaal from Dworp, Belgium. Everything about Hannsens screams “authentic.” The brewery goes back to 1871, it is a part-time, wife and husband farmhouse operation, and there are few concessions to modernity. Seeing the archaic...

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