Kyle Vetter, founder of 1840 Brewing, talks about his gold-winning kriek-inspired beer, including using oak as an ingredient, alternative brewing grains, selecting barrel stock, and Brettanomyces strains. Joel Stickrod and Spencer Longhurst from Barrique discuss their gold-winning Wet Hop Strata, including open-top fermentation, blending libraries, unmalted Tennessee wheat, aged Cascade hops, and building unique beer blends.
Barrique Brewery focuses on open fermentation in wine barrels to enhance complexity and depth.
Barrique focuses on blending a wide variety of beers from the beginning to create complex and multi-layered flavors.
Barrique carefully ages their beers through summers, blending throughout the process to achieve desired complexity and flavor.
Deep dives
Wet Hop Strata: A Gold Medal-Winning Mixed Culture Beer
Joel Stickrod and Spencer Longhurst of Barik Brewing discuss their gold medal-winning mixed culture beer, Wet Hop Strata. The brewery focuses on open fermentation in wine barrels, enhancing the complexity and depth of their beers. They emphasize diversity within their stacks and create various flavors and colors to blend later on. Barik sources their ingredients locally in Tennessee as much as possible, with the exception of cherries, which are sourced from Michigan. They also partner with Crosby Hops for their wet hop additions. The team at Barik understands the challenges of brewing mixed culture beers but remains committed to producing innovative and complex flavors.
The Creative Process and Logistics of Barik's Mixed Culture Beers
Barik Brewery focuses on blending from the very beginning, creating a wide variety of beers to blend later on. With around 500 aging casks, they evaluate the flavors present and determine which types of beers they need to brew. Barik's workstream focuses on categories such as general sour beer, funky beer, saison estery beer, and bright lemon citrusy beer. They carefully craft each brew to combat acidity and ensure complexity. Barik also uses locally sourced ingredients, except for cherries, which they ship from Michigan. Their commitment to quality and flavor is evident in their multi-step blending process.
Building Recipes and Aging Barik's Mixed Culture Beers
Barik focuses on aging their beers through summers, developing complexity and depth. They carefully blend their beers throughout their aging process, resulting in a multi-layered flavor profile. Barik evaluates their barrels to determine what needs to be brewed, such as general sour beer, funky beer, saison estery beer, and bright lemon citrusy beer. Their recipes evolve as they combat acidity and experiment with different ingredients. Barik partners with Crosby Hops for wet hop additions and sources their fruit locally, shipping cherries from Michigan. By blending throughout the aging process and using the finest ingredients, Barik achieves the desired flavors and complexity in their mixed culture beers.
Designing Recipes with Tennessee Grains
The podcast discusses the process of designing mixed culture beer recipes using Tennessee grains. The brewers source local ingredients such as malted barley and unmalted raw Tennessee ground wheat from nearby farmers. Recipes typically include 40-60% unmalted wheat to create a unique flavor profile. Despite challenges like lautering issues, the brewers are able to brew consistent batches using their 20-barrel system.
Blending, Hops, and Fruit in Mixed Culture Beers
The podcast explores the blending process and the use of hops and fruit in mixed culture beers. The brewers rely on blending to create balanced and complex flavors in their beers, drawing inspiration from the diversity of hop varieties and fruit options available. They experiment with different combinations, such as blending fruited beer with wet hop sour beer or aging beer on wet hops for extended periods. The goal is to build contrast and complement existing flavors, resulting in unique and layered beer profiles.
In this special episode, two 2023 gold-medal-winning breweries discuss their methods and approaches to making wood-aged sour beer. First up is Kyle Vetter, founder of 1840 Brewing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose kriek-inspired "I Don't Want To Wait" won gold in the fruited wood- and barrel-aged sour beer category. He hits on the details behind how the beer was made, including:
using oak as an ingredient not just a vessel
building body with alternative brewing grains
selecting barrel stock to best support fruit
preparing fruit and aging over six months
selecting Brettanomyces strains
And more.
Then, we're joined by Joel Stickrod and Spencer Longhurst of Nashville's Barrique, who talk through the methods behind their gold-winning Wet Hop Strata 2023, including:
open-top fermentation in wooden barrels
building a blending library with four schools of wood-aged beer
using high loads of unmalted Tennessee wheat
brewing with aged Cascade hops
long-term aging on wet hops
building compelling blends of old and young beer
And more.
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