Blends

Last November, I had the privilege of attending San Diego Beer Week with some great friends. I won’t get into the details, but it was amazing. The Beer Wench has a nice write up on her blog all about our time there (all three posts can be found here).

My second night in town, we went to Stone Brewing – aka Disneyland – for some food, beer, and a release party. The release wasn’t for Stone. It was for Firestone Walker 13. Firestone Walker is known for making pales. However, their anniversary brews are dark. Really dark. And absolutely amazing.

Before the bottles of 13 were opened, the individual components that were blended to create the achievement were available on tap. The final blend contained varying proportions of 7 different brews. They include:

• Parabola – Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels – 39% of final blend
• Bravo – Imperial Brown Ale, 1/2 aged in bourbon barrels, 1/2 in brandy – 24%
• Velvet Merkin – Traditional Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels – 15%
• Opal – Wheat Wine aged in rye barrels – 6%
• Rufus – Continental Imperial Amber Ale aged in rye barrels – 6%
• Double Double Barrel Ale – Double English Pale Ale aged in FW union barrels – 6%
• Saucer Full of Secrets – Belgian Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels – 4%

For more information on this blend, all the work that went into it, and the individual details of each component, visit the Firestone Walker site and download the fact sheet.

We were able to try most of these, individually. Some were amazing at the start, but lacked finish. Some had great body, but not much in the way of kick. Some were just amazing.

Then Dr. Bill opened the 13, and the 12 for comparison. And a Firestone Walker brewer had a bottle of 11 as well.

My world changed this day.

I make beer. I’ve been working on a breakfast stout recipe, trying to get all my flavors into one batch. Trying this masterpiece opened my mind to new possibilities. Rather than trying to balance different flavors and experiences in one recipe, I can make multiple recipes, focus on individual components, and then find the perfect blend to make everything right. I believe this is how world peace will be accomplished.

When we talk about blending beers, there are a few different ideas to come to mind. Ever had a Black & Tan or a Snakebite? What about a Great Divide Yeti mixed with their Wild Raspberry Ale? Michael Agnew wrote a post on many variations of blending two or more beers into a beer cocktail, and there are a lot of creative ideas.

These are blends occurring after commercial packaging. What I’m talking about happens before the beer is packaged. When you open the bottle, the blend is inside.

Many larger brewers blend their beer, and I’m pretty sure all of the macro ones do this. They’ll make 10 batches of their premium light lager, blend them together, and package the result. This helps with consistency across brew days.

I’m not really referring to that either.

I’m talking about art.

Avery and Russian River have a collaborative blend called “Collaboration not Litigation“. The story goes thusly:

Salvation. The name of two intricate Belgian-style ales, created by us, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. After becoming friends a few years ago, we realized we both had a Salvation in our lineups. Was it going to be a problem? Should one of us relinquish the name rights? “Hell, no!” we said. In fact, it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex and rich libation.

Dogfish Head blends their 90 Minute IPA with an oak-aged English Strong ale to create Burton Baton.

Then there’s Isabelle Proximus. This is essentially the same recipe, brewed on different systems, with house sour yeasts, blended to perfection. It’s a collaboration between Dogfish Head, Lost Abbey, Avery, Allagash, and Russian River. Yes, I just named the heavy hitters. Yes, their owners got together and made beer. Yes, it’s amazing.

I mention it often, but Lost Abbey’s Duck Duck Gooze is also a blend. This one is a blend of young and old barrel aged brews. It allows for some of the fresh tartness of a new brew and the mellow smoothness of an old brew.

If you’ve never had a blended beer, fear not. Blending is very popular in wine. I don’t know very much about wine, but I often see things like “67% Malbec, 33% Syrrah” or something. That might not be an actual combination. But anyway, blending wine is a tried and true tradition. In fact, the brewers at Firestone Walker invite experienced wine blenders (they probably have a sexier title than that) to assist in the anniversary blending.

I plan to have a party when my components are ready. My friends will each get a bottle of each component, a measuring device (shot glass?) and some paper. We’ll try different ratios, and see what happens. You know you want to be there.

Blending is definitely something that is fun, exciting, and opens many new possibilities within the industry. What are some blends you’ve tried, or some crazy blending ideas you’ve thought of?

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