Avery Maharaja Coming 12/12, New World Porter 12/19 & Barrel Program Update

Scimitars of Simcoe®!

Big kings need big beers, and to defend his kingdom, The Maharaja swings a huge scimitar of hops! An entire half of his hop legion is comprised of Simcoe® soldiers – hops so intense that you’ll think a pine tree and grapefruit tree made a baby, and it’s kicking in your nose.

Arriving to port at the Avery Tap Room on December 19th, we celebrate the seasonal return of New World Porter! Since 1998, we have sailed through the late winter and into early spring with the help of this robust porter that has been dry-hopped for the long voyage from bottle to palate. These days, they call it a "black IPA", but back then it was a New World! Colorado retailers will begin to see 6-packs and draft in late December, and it will reach further ports by mid-January. Ahoy!

We get a lot of questions about barrel-aged brewing, and like many brewing processes, the details can really pile up. To make this long story shorter, I usually like to begin the discussion about those tiny living things that do all the real work, and how they fit into the Avery Barrel Program. While there can be hundreds of different organisms at work in something as complex as a spontaneously fermented Lambic, we focus on 5 major categories of microorganisms to get them to create some amazing brews.

First, we have good ol’ Saccharomyces brewing yeast, a genus of yeast that includes ale and lager strains. The vast majority of beers in the world are brewed using solely Saccharomyces strains. They’re very good at converting shorter-chain sugars into alcohol and clean flavors. Some Saccharomyces strains, including many Belgian yeasts and German hefeweizen strains, have been domesticated over time from the wild in order to produce certain "wilder" flavor compounds. For example, the yeast we use on White Rascal is chosen specifically for the spicy/clovey flavors it produces. If we used our house ale yeast on White Rascal, the beer wouldn’t have those flavors that create a Belgian White. If we used the White Rascal yeast on our IPA, it would add clove flavors to the IPA that we do not want. Saccharomyces yeast strains live everywhere, and dozens of strains are probably on you right now. Hundreds of strains have been commercialized, but many thousands exist.

Next, there is Brettanomyces brewing yeast, a genus of "wild" yeast that frequently lives on the skins of fruits and grapes. When you hear about a "wild" ale or lager, the brewer probably used a strain of "Brett". They are usually able to ferment larger-chain sugars that Saccharomyces strains cannot, and can add more rustic, musty flavors. They live everywhere, and while fewer than ten strains have been commercialized, hundreds or thousands likely exist. Most strains will take many months to do their job.

In combination with yeasts, we can also make sour beers by using bacteria that create lactic and/or acetic acid. Lactobacillus is one, and it lives everywhere. It can convert sugar into small amounts of lactic acid, a mildly sour acid with very little aroma. A few strains have been domesticated, and it usually functions better in the beginning stages of a sour beer.

Avery’s main method of souring beer is by the addition of our very own in-house Pedicoccus strain. This bacteria lives pretty much everywhere as well, and it can convert sugar into large amounts of lactic acid. If we’re not careful, it can produce off-flavors, but with some finesse and assistance from our wild Brettanomyces yeast, we can nudge it toward the creation of some outstanding sour ales. A few strains have been domesticated, and it can take years to complete its job.

Acetobacter is another sour-producing bacteria that lives everywhere, and is frequently found in wine barrels. It converts ethanol into acetic acid (vinegar), a strong sour acid, but only if oxygen is present. Too much acetobacter can overwhelm a beer, but with proper technique it can actually contribute to a successful barrel-aged sour ale.