Spontaneously fermented beers from Portland breweries Rising Tide, Allagash and Liquid Riot. Photograph by Caitlin Enz
Whereas coolship beers are most carefully related to Belgium, Maine brewers are effectively practiced on this romantic fermentation technique.
A coolship (koelschip) is a protracted, shallow vessel that scorching wort (a combination of malt and different brewing components that may make beer) is poured into. The wort cools within the open-air vessel till it reaches the yeast’s most popular temperature and the appropriate circumstances for fermentation and the creation of beer.
As a result of the coolship is open, the beer is fermented by wild yeasts floating round within the air, which is why such beers are additionally known as spontaneously fermented beers. That is distinctive as a result of the yeast launched to wort is normally fastidiously managed and fermentation takes place in a closed tank. Spontaneously fermented beers are sometimes aged for a number of years (lambic type) and is perhaps a mix of a number of batches of beers aged from one to a few years (gueuze type).
Rising Tide Brewing Co. lately launched its second batch of Hestia, a spontaneously fermented beer with raspberries. I spoke with the Portland brewery’s high quality management specialist, Missy Littlefield, to be taught extra about what makes this beer particular.
Littlefield’s job is to make sure that beer high quality at Rising Tide is constant. She does this by analyzing beers from a microbiological standpoint. She checks fermentation by taking a gravity studying. Beers fermenting in a tank are checked as soon as a day and beers ageing in barrels are checked as soon as a month till they attain the specified gravity, when they’re then allowed to age.
She defined that the wort for Hestia was poured into two maple syrup cooling trays (retrofitted with a display screen to maintain the wort protected) that have been situated behind the brewery and the place it was cooled and fermented by wild yeasts. As soon as fermentation was full, it was then aged in barrels. Hestia was created from a mix of beer from 4 totally different barrels crammed between 2016 and 2018.
Littlefield began working within the lab six years in the past, and the primary time she seen a spontaneously fermented beer up shut, she stated, it was a bit scary. Usually she strives to make sure that no wild yeasts or micro organism present up in her samples, however with Hestia and different coolship beers, she checks to guarantee that these organisms are current and doing effectively.
I tasted Hestia on faucet within the Portland brewery and from a bottle, together with spontaneously fermented beers from fellow Portland breweries Allagash and Liquid Riot. You may as well discover examples of coolship beers from Newcastle-based Oxbow Brewing and Sidereal Farm Brewery in Vassalboro.
Coolship beers are amongst my favorites as a result of they’re like ingesting a time capsule. The yeasts that ferment them have been within the air at a particular time and place. Right here’s what I considered the three I sampled:
HESTIA, RISING TIDE BREWING CO.
Model: Fruit beer
Tasting notes: Stunning pink with a white head. Smells like over-ripened raspberries with a touch of vanilla and slight funk. Tastes like raspberries and is barely tart and funky.
COOLSHIP RESURGAM, ALLAGASH BREWING CO.
Model: Spontaneously fermented ale
Tasting notes: Gentle gold with a white head. Smells funky and fruity, like apples, earthy and vinous. Tastes like apricot, fruity and funky with a touch of lemon. Dry and tart.
LRV (LIQUID RIOT VESSEL), LIQUID RIOT BOTTLING CO.
Model: American spontaneous beer
Tasting notes: Gentle gold, thick white head. Smells fruity, funky, vinous, barnyardy with a touch of honey. Tastes fruity, funky, vinous and barnyardy. Dry, with excessive carbonation, tart and tannic.
Caitlin Enz is a Licensed Cicerone® who lives in Portland. Comply with her on Instagram at @hops_and_brains.
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