Tag Archives: Gruit

Gin barrel aging of beer


Posted by Aschwin de Wolf

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 beer (which is not always unwelcome, as in the case of imperial stouts), the pale ales and sour beers usually require a lighter approach, and the herbal and dry character of gin is an obvious choice in theory. In practice, the choice to age a beer in gin barrels is not so obvious because gin usually is not produced or aged in barrels.

The origins of gin go back to Dutch jenever (genever), a juniper-based spirit from which gin originated. Supposedly the tradition of adding juniper berries to distilled malt wine was to mask the poor flavor. When distillation methods improved, the use of juniper berries and other herbs was retained and jenever has been a popular drink in the Netherlands and Belgium since. Contemporary jenever can range from industrial neutral “jonge jenever” made with whopping amounts of sugar and juniper extract to authentic “oude jenever” made from 100% grain and fermented juniper berries, aged in barrels (unfortunately, modern oude jenever is often colored and sweetened with caramel). Naturally, only the rarer practice of using wood aging in jenever and gin produce barrels suitable for barrel aging of beer.

There are at least three approaches in which gin (or jenever) and beer can meet. Gin can be blended with beer, such as in the making of beer cocktails. Beer can be brewed with juniper berries and herbs that are typically used for gin to give a gin-like property to beer. Finally, beer can be aged in used gin barrels to impart the flavor of gin during barrel aging of beer. I will leave a treatment of beer cocktails to the side except to note that I once got reasonably interesting results from mixing gin and a pale ale (one needs to experiment a little for arriving at the right proportion). Distillerie Claeyssens de Wambrechies in France actually makes a top fermented beer blended with gin during the brewing process called La Wambrechies.

In Oregon, Rogue Ales makes a Juniper Pale Ale that has some subtle gin connotations. Of much greater interest is Rogue’s limited John John Juniper, which is aged in spruce gin barrels. Unlike Rogue’s regular Juniper Pale Ale, this beer had an unmistakable dry and spicy gin character. Another beer that was inspired by gin is Midnight Sun’s Bathtub Gin Gruit Ale.

But the most interesting application of gin barrel aging, in my opinion, is for wild and sour ales. Gin barrel aging can greatly enhance the aroma and taste of sour beer. Lambic is traditionally associated with the use of fruit but brews such as Cantillon’s Mamouche show impressive results for blending herbs into sour beers.

One of the pioneers in gin barrel aging of beers, and sour beers in particular, is Portland’s Upright Brewing. Aside from being the most innovative sour beer brewery in Portland to date, Upright has done gin barrel aging for a number of its beers using Ransom Old Tom Gin barrels. In fact, Upright seems to like the idea of a meeting between beer and gin so much that they brewed a special beer to be matched with Dutch jenever called Kopstootje Biere. Kopstootje is a Bière de Garde made with the same botanicals as Bols Genever. This beer was launched to great enthusiasm at special pub events where it was consumed in a challenging one-two punch with jenever, according to Dutch ritual.

Other recent and upcoming gin-inspired and gin barrel aged releases include Breakside’s Gin-Barrel Double Wit, Soursop Wheat, Citra Gin IPA, and Simcoe Gin IPA; Ninkasi’s Ransom Old Tom Gin Wood Barrel Aged Maiden the Shade; Oakshire’s Gin Barrel Saison and Gin Barrel Aged Imperial Overcast Stout; some beers in B’ United’s Zymatore series; and Stillwater’s Artisanal Kopstootje.

One of the common observations about beers that have been aged in gin barrels is that the aromatic properties this procedure confers tend to produce some variability in detection. There is little information to date how the “gin” character of gin barrel aged beer evolves over time. For example, I recently sampled a bottle of Belmont Station’s 14th Anniversary Commemorative Ale and Upright’s Special Herbs (a gruit aged in Old Tom Gin barrels) and I could not detect much gin character — in the case of Upright’s beer less than I recall originally tasting on tap. In the case of Rogue’s John John Juniper I was struck by the difference in gin character between the bottled and draft version. Such observations about gin barrel aged beers are not confined to my own, and I have read similar statements from other people. These complexities notwithstanding, gin barrel aging and brewing with traditional jenever herbs offer great potential for producing exceptional sour beers and lambics.


Avery Fifteen and Ommegang Ommegeddon


Posted by Aschwin de Wolf

Avery Anniversary Ale Fifteen and Ommegang Ommegeddon have one thing in common; the use of brettanomyces yeast. What makes the Avery Fifteen stand apart from the Ommegang Ommegeddon beer is that it was fermented with 100% brettanomyces and various herbs and spices. Depending on how strict one wants to be about the hops (Sterling), Avery Fifteen can be characterized as a wild yeast gruit.  The beer was brewed with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, malted wheat, hops, black mission figs, hibiscus flowers, white peppers and a “very unique strain of brettanomyces.” Rumor has it that this strain of brettanomyces comes from the Belgian lambic brewer 3 Fonteinen. Avery 15 pours a golden blond with a thin head. A beautiful aroma of soft brett, fruit, oranges and spices. Taste of fig, flowers, pickles, pepper, and, of course, the characteristic taste of a brett-fermented beer. The beer smells sweeter as it warms up. The finish has a lingering pepper note. Overall, I preferred the aroma to the taste because there was one dominant note in the taste that I did not like all that much. Perhaps the pepper is somewhat overdone as well. But as it goes with such beers, this is highly subjective.

The Ommegang Ommegeddon beer is quite mild in comparison, in the positive sense of the word. The blond / sunset orange appearance is quite appealing. It has a light citrus aroma and the brett is less prominent than in the Avery Fifteen. As a matter of fact, the best way to characterize this beer is by its overall mildness.  The brett, citrus and hops combine to produce a very pleasant balanced beer with a dry finish. If it was not for the relatively higher, but well hidden, alcohol (8%), limited availability, and price, I would recommend this as a great session beer! Ommegang Ommegeddon is not a 100% brettanomyces beer, as the brettanomyces were added during secondary fermentation. In a sense, this procedure is more “natural” because spontaneous fermentation also involves various yeasts. That is not to say that 100% brett beers are inherently inferior. It all depends on what other properties a brewer adds to such a beer (souring bacteria, herbs, hops, fruits etc). The rich history of gruits suggests numerous possibilities.


Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense Ale


Posted by Aschwin de Wolf

As discussed in the post the domestication of beer, the practice of wild fermentation must have ensured that many traditional gruits must have been quite sour in taste.  It was therefore only a matter of time before modern craft brewers in search of tradition sought to re-create such brews.  A recent and interesting attempt at a spiced sour ale is Old Odense Ale, a collaboration between Dogfish Head and Nørrebro Bryghus based on a 15th century Danish gruit recipe.

The following notes were taken on Tuesday, March 24, 2009:

600 ml in a snifter.

Appearance: Opaque, reddish / orange color, pours with two finger head but little head retention and no lacing.

Smell: Fruity, sour apple, hay, yeast, caramel/maple syrup.

Taste: Sharp, sour apple with a subtle sweet caramel candy apple note. Ends on a slightly bitter herbal note. Could not detect the anise.

Mouthfeel: Thin and smooth with a vinous astringent note. Carbonation is moderate and in balance with the beer style.

Drinkability: Very drinkable. Goes down easy and light.

There is no established beer style for Old Odense Ale but the flavor profile reminds me more of a  subtle spiced Flanders Red than a traditional lambic.  This is far too good to go down the memory hole as  a one-time limited brew and hopefully it, or a similar brew, can be made available again in the future.  Old Odense Ale is highly recommended. There is a future for spiced tart beers.


The domestication of beer


Posted by Aschwin de Wolf

Traditional lambic brewers are among the few remaining producers of alchoholic beverages that  allow spontaneous fermentation and the unruly behavior of  bacteria and yeasts to influence their brews. Such practices have been increasingly rejected by modern brewers who want complete control and a consistent end product. This development is not the first step in the “domestication” of beer, as evidenced by the history of “gruit.” As Theodore Schick writes in “Beer and Gnosis: The Mead of Inspiration” (in the collection Beer and Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking):

In the fourteenth  and fifteenth centuries, many Europeans began to look askance at the lavish and hedonistic lifestyle of many church leaders. Their promotion of the highly inebriating gruit was emblematic of their decadence…So the movement toward hopped ale was in part an anti-drug movement. The passage of the German beer purity laws in 1516 which mandated the use of hops was a form of prohibition not unlike that passed by the US congress in 1919.

Because for hundreds of years all beers were brewed using spontaneous fermentation, there must have been beers that combined the sour character of the traditional lambic and the herbal characteristics of medieval gruit. A recent attempt to create such a beer is Old Odense Ale, a collaboration between Denmark’s Nørrebro Bryghus brewery and Delaware’s Dogfish Head. As has been highlighted before in the discussion about “barnyard IPA“, the use of wild yeasts does not have to be confined to lambic beers.