Beer, Bars & Brewers #31
Welcome to our beer board! This week Munchies talks to a Brooklyn brewer (because, where else?!) who uses ants to make his beer sour, Stone announces a project inwhich it uses sewage water to make a new beer, BrewDog withdraws its legal claim over a pub name, and Jameson teamed up with craft brewer Hanscraft & Co. to produce a collab brew. Cheers!
Curios about Sour Beers? Make use of Lucky Peach as long as you can (we’re still crying about the news that they’re shutting down) and take a look at their Guide to Sour Beers. All our favorites are there. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest print shop so you can savor the amazingness that is Lucky Peach for as long as you chose.
Meet the Guy Brewing Ants into His Beer
Dailey Crafton is taking a leaf out of Rene Redzepi’s book and making sour beers with ants. Munchies notes that “He’d heard that bumblebees carry natural microorganisms able to not only ferment beer, but trigger bright, tart, even juicy flavors”. Sour beers often make use of yeast and bacteria. “Crafton, who teaches brewing at The Brooklyn Kitchen, first learned that insects carry beneficial microbes on their bodies and inside their bellies from Jeff Mello, who’s cataloging yeast and bacteria from every zip code in the United States”. He plans on opening his own brewery in Yonkers soon.
Stone Brewing Beer using 100% Recycled Sewage Water
Oh those crazy California hippies, what will they think of next? “San Diego’s Stone Brewing has created Full Circle, a pale ale made from 100% recycled sewage water”, the drinks business reports. Made from treated sewage water from San Diego’s Pure Water demonstration, Stone Brewery released its new beer Full Circle, which isn’t currently for sale, last week. “The verdict has been overwhelmingly positive with the beer also contributing to San Diego’s Pure Water project, which has set itself the goal of ensuring that recycled water constitutes one third of the city’s drinking water by 2021. Stone Brewing hopes to make Full Circle pale ale available soon”.
BrewDog Withdraws Legal Threat over Pub Name
“BrewDog has backtracked on its threat to force a Birmingham pub to drop the name Lone Wolf – the moniker of the firm’s vodka brand – claiming its lawyers were ‘a bit trigger-happy’., the spirits business reports. On their blog they go into more detail: “However, hands up, we made a mistake here in how we acted. Almost all companies always look to enforce trademarks, whereas at BrewDog we should take the view to only enforce if something really detrimental to our business is happening. And here, I do not think that was the case. As soon as I found out, I reversed the decision and offered to cover all of the costs of the bar. I also invited them up to Ellon to make their own gin with us. This is a mistake that hurt a lot; but like all mistakes, it made us better. This will not happen again”. Well, it’s nice when mistakes are acknowledged?
Craft Beer Meets Irish Whiskey
It’s been done before but Jameson thinks they can do it better. Called Taithí Nua, the Franconian brewery Hanscraft & Co. teamed up Jameson to produce a barrel aged bock. The light Bock was aged in Jameson casks, the two companies hope to honor both the long standing tradition of beer and whiskey with their new product. Taithí Nua is said to be malty with toasty wood aromas and an additional honey-like sweetness that convey the taste of whiskey. Sláinte!
Credits
Foto: Photo via Tim Klöcker.