What's Brewing at CBC
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
A Brief Brewery Update
Yesterday we had the pleasure of dragging some oak wine barrels up and down the stairs from the barrel cellar. No, that’s not the exciting part. We spent the day hydrating them so they’d be ready to receive next summer’s batch of Arquebus, the brewing process for which begins today. It’s always a challenge to keep up with the necessary maintenance in the cellar, as heavy barrels and low ceilings don’t generally mix. The day went successfully, though, with nary a backache, let alone any new herniated discs. That left us tired but excited for Tuesday’s brew and we celebrated with a rare bottle of Cantillon lambic aged in cognac barrels. Yum!
Today we hit the brewhouse hard with a half-ton of malt, and the day is rolling. We’re psyched in particular about this brew thanks to our friend Mike Graney http://eatlocalhoney.com/, local beekeeper extraordinaire. Yesterday Mike stopped by and dropped off a few five gallon buckets of some amazing late summer honey which is dark and really intense. Strong herbal and floral notes and concentrated sweetness with incredible depth. We use Mike’s honey whenever possible, not only ‘cause he’s cool and his honey is great, but primarily because all his bees are kept right here in Boston. We love the fact that the honey is collected less than five miles from our little brewery! This will all (180#) be added to the Arquebus 2010, some of it going into the kettle at the end of the boil, and the rest added in over the course of primary fermentation. Yup, wild, unfiltered and unpasteurized honey going into the beer without boiling. I guess we’re renegades or something. Maybe you already suspected that. We’ll bring our wort in from the kettle at about 22*Plato, and we’ll add about 50 pounds of honey each day of primary. From there, on day four, we blend in a mix of champagne yeasts to help finish the job, and at this point we add our white wine grape must and send it to the barrel cellar to finish fermentation and then rest on fine lees until late Spring. Target abv will be about 11%, with plenty of fruity/winelike/honey character. This year we’re also targeting a more sauternes-like flavor profile and body. Check in with us next summer and let us know how we did!
This week, tomorrow in fact, we’re also bringing up from the barrel cellar our 2009 expression of Blunderbuss Barleywine. It’s been aging in vintage port wine barrels for months, and we think it’s just about perfect. Still showing a little heat from the crazy 13.2%abv, but that’ll continue to mellow. Some of you had the opportunity to preview this beer at our Brewers Dinner last month (which was, by the way, a stupendous event. Chef David and his crew knocked it out of the park!) and it has softened up and come together even more since then. Look for it on tap sometime around the 15th or 16th.
Other beers in the tanks currently, patiently awaiting their turn for public adoration, include Weekapaug Gruit (an unhopped herbal beer crafted with sweet gale, Labrador tea, yarrow, nettles, and a host of other groovy things), Darkest Night (our twist on Winter warmer-type beers, subtly roasty with plenty of body and aged on cedar wood for a unique spicy flavor profile. Many thanks to our new friend Wayne Wambles of Cigar City Brewing Company for his inspiration on this! Check ‘em out at http://www.cigarcitybeer.com/http://www.cigarcitybeer.com/), plus there’s an Imperial Red ale just bursting at the seams waiting to assault your palate with malt and hops.
This may be the last post from me in awhile - I’m off to travel the Far East in search of new things to ferment! See ya soon,
Peace,
Will
