Rock & Rye

Hey Bellingham,
You are getting a new brewery!

You heard me correctly. Plans are in full swing to open one of the first three cooperative breweries in the US, right here in Bellingham, WA. There are currently two other coop breweries in the US, Black Star Brewery of Austin, Texas, and Flying Bike of Seattle, WA. What will make the Bellingham Beer Lab different, is the idea of a brewery incubator, a shared production facility and taproom where brewers will be able to start up and develop a beer brand without having to bear the initial costs of equipment. When a brewers brand is sufficiently developed, he (or she) will move out on their own and a new resident brewer will take their place. There will be 5 initial resident brewer slots at the Bellingham Beer Lab.

In addition, the Bellingham Beer Lab will be community owned. What this means is that funding for this brewery will come from the community. In exchange for the funding, members will receive some great benefits such as the ability to vote on the beers BBL brewers will create, the opportunity to serve on the BBL Board of Directors, all the time Happy Hour pricing, participation in the Community Supported Brewing program, and the ability to say that you own a brewery. I mean really, the one time $150 membership fee is worth the last point alone, right.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to attend a “Meet the Brewers of the BBL Night”, where a group of us were able to meet the brewers (obviously), and to sample 13 different beers brewed by the BBL resident brewers.

Chris McClanahan (Grant Street Brewing)
- Belgian Golden Ale
- American Stout

Zach Brown (Black Fire Brewing)
- Fresh Hop IPA
- Arrow IPA

Josh Smith (Atwood Ales)
- Atwood Brown
- Comrade Fresh Hop Red

Alex Cleanthous and Jesse Nickerson (Arbella’s Ales)
- Saison de Vino
- Northwest Table Ale

Jim and Beth Parker (Happy Valley Brewery)
- Que Sera Saison
- Jittery Pig coffee porter

Caleb Atkins (Finback Brewing)
- Old Town Brown
Scoundrel Wheat Pale Ale

Dave Morales (BBL’s steering committee)
- Belgian Pale Ale.

“This will be your brewery,” Jim Parker, self-described Chief Enthusiasm Officer of the BBL told the prospective member-owners. “We, the brewers, will work for you while launching our own brands.”

With a brewery model that is community supported and owned, with brewers who want to give back to the community, this endeavor looks to be a positive one, both for the City of Bellingham, and for the beer loving community. I am looking forward to the day when the BBL opens its doors. To keep up on their progress, check out their Facebook page, or their Website. Cheers!

Lambic is a brewing style that traces it’s roots back over 400 years, and was probably one of the first “beers” to come out of ancient Mesopotamia. In contrast to the sanitary techniques used by brewers of traditional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer’s yeasts, lambic beer is produced primarily in the Senne valley region of Begium, and utilizes spontaneous fermentation of the wild yeasts and bacteria present in the area. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, often with a sour aftertaste.

Like the beers of old, most lambics are brewed from a combination of malted barley and unmalted wheat, the latter often being up to 40% of the mash bill.
Although ancient brewers would simply leave their beers outside in the breeze to spontaneously ferment, now days it is understood that a majority of the yeasts and bacterias used in Lambic production reside within the walls of the breweries. Lambics are also only produced between October and May, limiting the amount of contaminants in the beer.

Another aspect of Lambic brewing that differs from ales and lagers is the way hops are utilized. Hops have been used for centuries as a preservative, bittering agent, and to provide great aromas and flavors to beer. With lambics, the use of hops is almost solely as a preservative. Because lambics are usually aged for several years in port or sherry barrels, dry aged hops, which have lost most of their bitter oils, are added to the beer in quantity to help preserve it, while keeping the hop bitterness to a minimum.

There are several different varieties of Lambics, and many offerings are actually blends of casks brewed in different locations.

Pure Lambic
Unblended lambic is a cloudy, uncarbonated, bracingly sour beverage which is generally around three years old. Very few offerings can be found outside of Belgium.

Gueuze
A mixture of young and old lambics that have been bottled. It keeps well in the bottle and a good gueuze will be given a year to referment in the bottle, but can be kept for 10–20 years. Use of grain adjuncts and inoculation is allowed. Bottle aging is the traditional way to make gueuze, but artificial carbonation is not uncommon. Filtration and pasteurization can occur. Gueuze is golden to light amber in color. Carbonation can be champagne-like. They are sour, acetic and sometimes harsh, usually without bitterness.

Faro
Historically, a low-alcohol, sweetened beer made from a blend of lambic and a much lighter, freshly brewed beer to which brown sugar, caramel or molasses was added shortly before serving. Modern faro beer is still characterized by the use of brown sugar and lambic, but is not necessarily a light beer. Modern faro is bottled, sweetened and pasteurized to prevent refermentation in the bottle. Examples are produced by Cantillon, Boon, Lindemans or Mort Subite.

Kriek
Lambic refermented in the presence of sour cherries and with secondary fermentation in the bottle results in kriek. Traditional versions of kriek are dry and sour, just as traditional geuze.

Fruit
A Lambic which includes the addition of raspberry (framboise), peach (pêche), blackcurrant (cassis), grape (druif), apple (pomme), banana (banane), pineapple (ananas), apricot (abricotier), plum (prunier), cloudberry (plaquebière), lemon (citron), blueberry (bleuet), or strawberry (aardbei), as either whole fruit or syrup. Fruit lambics are usually bottled with secondary fermentation. Although fruit lambics are among the most famous Belgian fruit beers, the use of names such as kriek, framboise, cassis, etc., does not necessarily imply that the beer is made from lambic. Many of these fruit beers produced in the US are typically artificially sweetened and based on syrups instead of fresh fruit, resulting in a taste experience that is quite remote from the traditional products.

So there you have it, now you know what a Lambic is, now go out and try some. Cheers!

Chicago’s Goose Island, one of the countries premier breweries, is cranking out some fantastic brews, and the other day I picked up a 2011 vintage of their abbey ale, Pere Jacques. Brewed with loads of malt and Belgian yeast, Pere Jacques is an 8%abv, wonderfully fruity, malty ale, with complex flavors standing just a little higher than most.

It pours reddish amber, with a quickly receding head. The aromas are thick with sweet malts, plums, dried figs, and yeasty esters. On the tongue, the taste is dark, sweet and fruity, spice notes pairing nicely with plums, grapes, apple, toffee and honey. Hop bitterness is present to balance out the sweetness, but the aromas are kept muted in the background along with the alcohols. The finish is sweet with a mid level of carbonation for the style. I think this is a fantastic ale that would pair well with rich meats, or stand in for a glass of vintage port, post meal. Cheers!

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Ellensburg WA, is home to one of the up and coming craft breweries in the state, Iron Horse Brewery. They produce around 10 different brews, the most popular being their Irish Death.

Created by the brewery’s founder, Quilter’s Irish Death is what we call a dark, smooth, ale. Any attempt at classifying it just ends up sending beer geeks into a style guidelines diatribe. So forget style guidelines. Is your pursuit of micro beer about tasting copies of a style that fit guidelines anyways? (Neither is ours) We lovingly refer to it as beer candy. While tempting to session this beer, the name is a necessary reminder that despite the surprising approachability, this beer weighs in at a hefty 7.8% ABV.

Irish Death pours a dark murky brown, with a minimal off-white head. Reminds me a little of a cup of french press. The aromas are sweet, with light cocoa, roasted grain, and a slight herbal quality. The taste of this beer is unique and quite fantastic. Dark biscuit malts and molasses, with a nice roasted chocolate flavor. The hops are herbal and a little grassy, but are subdued and mostly in the background, with the bitterness coming in near the finish. This beer is not highly carbonated, but is just enough so to give it a silky smooth, creamy texture that is almost reminiscent of nitro.

While this is not a beer that really fits into a defined category, it is fantastic none the less, and is worth seeking out at least once. Cheers!

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