Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Some people say cucumbers taste better pickled...

Today we embarked down uncharted territory for the brewery, the world of what we will call session beers (or, for us, anything below our current 7.5% ABV floor). With the pub now open, and with some people searching for a easier to drink, lower abv alternative to what is currently available, we decided that the time was right to delve in. What did we come up with? Let's take a look...

Three years ago my brother, Matteo (as he is called here because having two of the three people who work at the brewery named Matt is confusing), made a cucumber hefeweizen for our annual vacation to Kinzua. He named it Kinzew-Brew and it was the perfect summer beer; light, crisp, refreshing and with just the right amount of cucumber to compliment the beer. Everyone loved it. After we shipped out a few orders in the last week to our distributors, we decided to tie up one tank for a new beer for the pub. Matt, Matteo, and I got together and based on the recent heat wave and the time of year, we all felt that a lower abv Belgian wheat beer was the right place to start. Matteo and I recalled the Kinzew-Brew and wanted to incorporate aspects of his beer into this new one. After some discussion, it was settled: A 4.5-5%ABV Belgian wheat ale, fermented with our proprietary Belgian yeast and aged on fresh local organic cucumbers and lemon grass.

The recipe for this beer is indeed different from the base beer in White Magick, it isn't just a watered down version. This is closer to a 1:1 ratio of premium 2-row and wheat. We also added some unmalted wheat to soften the beer up a little bit. This new beer, like White Magick, is minimally hopped. We are hoping to have this beer for next weekend, July 28th, so we'll see how it goes. 

Lastly, here is where the name came from in case you've never seen it before.. and if you haven't seen it, shame on you.

Now, I've got about 300lbs of cucumbers to peel and puree...

-Curt

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