...I do enjoy them and look forward to scoping them out...however, I think I find more examples of beers using heritage ingredients more so than trying to copy a historical beer style per se... ...Hanabi Lager Co. comes to mind as they use a lot of relatively unique heirloom grains in their beers as opposed to trying to recreate a past beer style... ...Jack, I know you weren't too impressed with the one Hanabi beer I sent you (and I don't recall which one), but their just-announced Fall release features Hourani wheat as a main ingredient ("...an ancient wheat once buried for safekeeping nearly 2,000 years ago at Masada, a Roman–Biblical era fortress located in present-day Israel")... ...as for old styles, I have enjoyed Dogfish Head and Boston Beer Co. stabs at older beer styles, but those now seem to have fallen by the wayside over the years...
Because of a very generous benefactor I was able to drink two Hanabai beers: Hanabi Hana Pilsner “Overall: While I enjoyed drinking this beer it was too one dimensional with the white bread malt dominating the flavor with little hop flavor/aroma to balance the beer. A true to style Pilsner should have notable hop character.” https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-118.669468/#post-7631800 Hanabi Helles “Overall: This beer is pretty good but the one-dimensional flavor of candy (marmalade) was not exactly in my personal sweet spot (no pun intended). There were no flavors of “cedar, hazelnut, peppermint” from the brewery’s marketing story but perhaps “honeycomb” might be applicable.” https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-120.669667/#post-7641200 I considered myself fortunate to have tried these two beers but as can be discerned above they were indeed not what I would characterize as being high quality beers. There is more to brewing high quality beer than just utilizing ‘novel’ ingredients. This is where the experience/skill of the brewer comes into play (or not). Cheers!
...I do not judge...to every palate, their own joy ...glad to see you to see you have had at least two examples to base your opinions on...
I like reading and trying historical style beers. I don't expect to be blown away, but I have generally liked them. I have a membership at Mad Fritz Brewery in Napa Valley. The owner/brewer likes to make old styles and has done Graff, Gruit, and Grisettes, along with beers with grapes and other fruit (Plum and Peaches).
I definitely enjoy trying them. Zebulon outside of Asheville is one of the breweries I'd most like to visit because Mike Karnowski's appreciation and presentation of historical styles. The Evolution of IPA and Porter box sets they've done are two of the coolest releases I've heard about in beer in the last few years. The last historical beer I tried was Pumping Iron, a collab between Gravel Road and Southridge Brewing based on the rediscovered Mercer's Meat Stout recipe. Honestly while I found the bouillon-y notes upfront kind of strange, it was ultimately an enjoyable English style stout and I found myself liking it more and more with each sip. I think one of the main appeals of trying historical style beers isn't just for novel and forgotten flavors but also the chance to learn the story of the beer as it appeared in a given context and also how a contemporary brewer attempted to recreate it today. This is one of the things I most appreciate about Mike Karnowski's presentation of the styles he tackles, as well as the late Martyn Cornell's articles like with the Mercer's above.
Mike is an awesome dude, a great brewer, and a wealth of knowledge. God I need to get back down to Asheville! Mike Karnowski | Craft Beer & Brewing Mike Karnowski – Zebulon Artisan Ales Homebrew Beyond the Basics: All-Grain Brewing and Other Next Steps - All About Beer
I think it's important to take any claims of historical authenticity with healthy skepticism... but some deserve more skepticism than others. If a mass-market euro lager has the claim that it's the original recipe from 150 years ago, I'll usually just consider it untruthful marketing. If a brewer works directly with Ron Pattinson and tries to produce diastatic brown malt or build a porter vat, they are clearly putting in the effort. I'm usually very interested in trying any historic recreation (even if it's a recreation of something from as late as 1990), but I don't pretend that I'm in a time machine. As @JackHorzempa 's OP outlines, there are many ingredient variables, but there are always commercial and practical realities as well. Unless they state otherwise in specific cases, I would assume that any Kernel beer that's based on an old English recipe to be made with "Chico yeast" (and in the case of the beer in the video in Jack's post - Stigbergets house yeast). You have to take into account that the Kernel is going to produce things partially through a US craft beer lens (even though they aren't a US company). I'm not trying to diminish what they do (or what others do)... I'm just trying to describe what it is. I'm happy to try any of their beers inspired by old recipes.
Agreed. Any brewer curious enough to work with a historian on recreating a beer or a series of beers should be commended and definitely has my attention and, very probably, my hard earned money. Too bad more brewers aren't doing it or haven't continued their programs (RIP Dogfish Head Ancient Ales)
Why do you think The Kernal brewery would use Chico yeast? In a clone recipe entitled “The Kernel Brewery’s Export India Porter clone” on the BYO website, the suggested yeast strains are: “White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) yeast.” Cheers!
I think they mainly use Chico. Could be wrong. I think they've played with "London Ale" for bitter and whatnot. I'm only basing that on an old podcast episode. Give this a listen if you want (and see if I'm off) - you'll probably find it very relevant to your initial post. Reading the intro at this link, it seems totally on target. https://beerandbrewing.com/podcast-episode-336-evin-o-riordan-of-the-kernel/
I like to try beers I have never had. I like history. So I am game unless the beer has eggplant. I don't do eggplant.
The first British settlers in the US stretched their meager malt supplies with root vegetables and other starchy vegetables. One that still exists today, although very different from what it was 400 years ago, is very popular this time of year: Pumpkin Ale.
I would love to try this. I'm a big fan of the savory background notes in Oyster Stouts, and the one Crab Stout I've had.
Using some molasses as a fermentable was also popular with colonial brewers. They were genuinely innovative using a whatever they could to economically and readily create wort to produce beer. The first ‘craft’ brewers!?! Cheers!
Would you have recommended the Yards' Founding Fathers (or whatever they called it) series to folks interested in historical US beers? I know I was a fan. I know AleWerks also has a Washington's Porter, but it's different than Yards, And Starr Hill worked with the Monticello foundation to recreate the beer that was brewed there, and while pretty similar the Yards' TJ Ale, it was 100% wheat malt and EKG.
I liked them as well. Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale | Yards Brewing Co. | BeerAdvocate Washington's Porter | Yards Brewing Co. | BeerAdvocate
My apologies upfront for a somewhat rambling response. It has been a while since I have consumed any of the Yards historical beers (sometimes marketed as Ale of the Revolution). There are three brands as regards the Revolution branding: · George Washinton’s Tavern Porter · Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale (now branded as Gold: Strong Golden Ale in a standalone six-pack) · Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale (the Ben Franklin beer) These beers do not seem to be listed in the Yards website (I couldn’t find them) but a quick web search seems to indicate there is a variety pack with all of these three beers included. You can definitely purchase the Thomas Jefferson beer since it is now marketed as Golden Ale. My preferred beer of the three is George Washinton’s Tavern Porter. I think that Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale (Golden Ale) is OK and I am personally not a fan of Poor Richard’s Tavern Ale since for my palate it has a medicinal aspect to it. When I was researching an article I wrote about Spruce beer, I spoke to a brewer at Yard’s to learn (with some emphasis in bold): “I recently attended a beer festival at Yards Brewing Company and I was able to briefly speak to one of the brewers. He provided the additional detail that they add the blue spruce clippings for the last 20 minutes of boil.” When I homebrew with Spruce I choose to use fresh growth tips. My supposition is that Yard’s decision to instead us “clippings” will add a sort of turpentine aspect to the beer and hence my perception of medicinal flavor to the beer. My wife enjoys drinking Yard’s Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale; I tease her and say she is drinking Listerine. Now, if the question was more aligned with how accurately did Yard’s recreate these beers? I am uncertain how to respond. I can relate that when Ben Franklin wrote a recipe for brewing with Spruce he detailed the ingredient of “Spruce essence”. Below is a video by a Colonial reenactor and you will see he brewed his beer using Spruce essence (around the 7:00 mark). Here is an article which provides more details on how Tom Kehoe formulated the recipes for the Porter and Golden Ale: https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-bee...ards-modernizes-first-presidents-beer-recipes Cheers!
Looking through the Yards "All beers" page here on BA, and I can't find the original version of the Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale, only the Barrel-aged. Is this Mandela effect or did no one add actually add this beer? Edit: @JackHorzempa just helped with my confusion in his post, the beer has now been renamed. For my money, the best TJ or Monticello based alcoholic beverage (there are also a couple of VA wineries that talk about Jefferson's legacy) is Albemarle Ciderwork's Jupiter's Legacy, based off of the enslaved brewer at Monticello's cider recipe. It's an awesome dry cider, and will develop a little funk if you age it for a couple of years.
