Today we are working on the Pinstripe variant that I have been looking forward to the most. While people love the flavored variants, my favorite thing with brewing has always been experimenting with malt, hops, and yeast. It is somewhat unfortunate that yeast is the most commonly overlooked ingredient in the brewing world since fermentation accounts for over 90% of the flavor compounds in every beer we drink. Our twist on this Pinstripe variant will exploit that statement in a pretty extreme way... Today we are brewing the first 100% Brettanomyces fermented beer to go in bottles in Alabama.
One of the fun things about Brett is that it seems to have a mind of its own. Even the brewers most experienced with Brett fermentations will tell you that it is unpredictable. Even when brewers repeat beers with the exact same recipe, temperatures, pH levels, water chemistry, etc. Brett seems to behave a little bit differently every time you brew with it. The unpredictability combined with the fact that brewers get concerned about cross contaminating "clean" beers is the main reason that we don't see more beers on the market.
I am hoping that by brewing this beer we can clear up a few common misconceptions about Brett beers. I was a huge fan of Yazoo's naming of their recent beer "Brett... Not Sour." So many people think of Brett beers as sour beers because Brett is a common component in sours. Brett on its own though does not produce *much* lactic acid. In fact, when used on its own, a lot of times Brett resembles normal Saccharomyces fermentations as far as flavor goes. The Brett strain that we chose for this Pinstripe variant is well known for its pie cherry flavor.
Another common misconception is that Brett beers have a horse blanket flavor. However, when Brett is used on its own, it does not have another yeast strain to compete with and it is unable to re-esterficate another yeast's byproducts. It is possible to still get a little bit of barnyard funk, but the dominant flavored typically involve more spicy flavors, or (my preference) fruity flavors. In some cases, Brett flavors can even be confused for fruity hop characters.
Lastly, people always expect Brett beers to take years to be ready to drink. In actuality, Brett fermentations can be done in the same amount of time as most lagers (12 days or so). Some of the confusion comes because Brett has the ability to ferment much larger chains of sugar than Saccharomyces can. When Brett is added to a clean fermentation, the Saccharomyces strain will only leave behind the larger sugar chains and the Brett works slowly to metabolize them. She used on its own though, the Brett is much more active and will tear through the larger sugar chains with ease. However, the timeline that Brett follows is very different from Saccharomyces... Instead of having a lag phase, log phase, stationary phase, and death phase, it will go through a lag, log, lag, stationary, and then a very long lag phase before dying.
Because of this unique timeline, Brett can live for a very long time. It will also continue to evolve the flavors in a beer for its entire lifespan. For this reason, I recommend buying several bottles and collaring them to experience all the different flavor profiles that Brett can develop. A lot of breweries will age Brett beers before sending them out, but we want you to be able to enjoy a fresh bottle, as well as aged bottles. If everything goes well with our fermentation, this beer could be ready to drink in as little as 4 weeks. I will be cellaring a case myself and I plan on drinking a bottle fresh, one at 3 months, another at 6 months, another at 12 months, and then one every six months afterwards. The maximum amount of pie cherry flavor should be present in the 3-6 month age range.
This should be a very unique beer for our area and even pretty unique for beers brewed in the U.S. New Belgium and Lost Abbey are frequently credited with being the first breweries to brew 100% Brett beers and that was only in 2004 that the first batch was brewed. Since then, very few breweries have taken the risk to brew 100% Brett beers, and I am very excited to be included in that group after today!
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