Brewed Beverage of Choice: A chalice of Darbyste Farmhouse Ale brewed with fig juice
A couple of weeks ago I got together with Alex and Garrett in the tasting room of Upright to discuss what is to become our collaboration for the Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers, Mingus and Monk Strong Dark Farmhouse Ale. Actually, thanks to a miscommunication which I blame on the wonders of technology (Alex did not get the text til the next day), I wound up in the tasting room the night before. After talking with Ezra, one of Portland’s finest bartenders, I drove home with a bottle of the Gose and a slightly higher anticipation for the meeting. But I digress…
The formulation of a recipe is often an overlooked piece of the brewing experience. I have known brewers who put no thought into the process taking old recipes and tweeking ‘em without any thought to the finished product. I also know brewers who rely too much on science without putting too much research into their ingredients. For me, recipe formulation was one of the most important and fun parts of the brew, although it was underutilized because in a “production” brewery such as the Roadhouse many of the beers on taps already had established recipes. But during formulation I got to taste every type of malt at my disposal. I made hop teas or sampled hops to familiarize myself to their characteristics. I dreamed of the overall taste and how I could corral the yeast to achieve such an outcome. These tactics were employed for every recipe despite whether I was familiar with the ingredient or not. As it turns out, this philosophy was well received by the crew at Upright.
Part of the fun of a collaboration brew is the creation of the recipe because we get to share what would normally be a solitary process. Recipe formulation is where the creative juices flow; or if you are three somewhat indecisive people, these juices creep along like a glacier rather than a full flowing river. The glacier of creative juices was perfect for the three of us. We got to geek out on malts, hops, flavour characteristics, and of course beer. And while geeking out, we sampled some of Upright’s offerings as well as a couple of malts from Briess. Creating a recipe requires sampling what worked in other brews. Eventually a malt bill was created, a hop schedule was fulfilled (sort of), some interesting but fun ingredients were discussed and decided on, and the date was set for the brew. We also discussed donating some of the profits of this brew to a local non-profit.
Because this is a competition, I will not divulge any of the fun and exciting things we are planning save for that the actual birth of Mingus & Monk will be on February 20th. We all thought the only thing making this brew more special was to brew it on a day the tasting room was open - something that has not been done before. So if you are in the area on the 20th of this month, come on down to the Upright Tasting room, be there for the special brew, taste some of their special brews, and take home a bottle or two. We look forward to the birth.
Prost!
the confucian brewer