What would you ask Eric Salazar (New Belgium Sours)?
San Diego Beer Week is almost upon us.
There are a crazy amount of events but the one I am really looking forward to is a special tasting with Eric Salazar of New Belgium.
He will be explaining about brewing the following beers and also open it up to questions.
- La Folie (Flanders Red Ale)
- Eric’s Ale (Sour Peach Ale)
- Belgo IPA (Belgian IPA)
- Biere de Mars (Brettanomyces fermented)
- Trans Kriek (Blend of Boon Kriek--a sour cherry ale from Belgium)
- Sahti (Finnish-style beer, spiced with Juniper berries among other things)
I have so many questions running through my mind. I was wondering if anyone had questions and I can try to get them answered.
La Folie is very acidic. Almost aggresive compared to some of the others.
Eric's is nicely balanced.
Biere De Mars is very floral no real sourness at all.
Since temperature can drastically affect the way brett can react as in the amount of acetic acid versus lactic acid. Are all of these cellared at the same temperature or is it purely the ingredients that are making a difference?
A Flanders Brown. I didn't think it was that sour but then again I'm use to drinking Cantillon and many Gueuze's.
Primary- 10 Gal Oatmeal Stout
Kegged- Sorachi Ace Pilsner, Wet Hop Citra Pale Ale, 10 Gal Black IPA
Bottled- Berliner Weisse, Zeus IPA
Next batches- Kolsch, Pale Pale #4 w/Greenbelt Yeast
Since switching over La Folie to the “Lips of Faith” series the flavor has changed substantially (less acidic, less complex). Is this change a result of the flash pasteurization, or is the beer being blended to be more marketable?
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Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).
Oldsock the biggest thing I have questions about is how La Folie is blended. To my understanding but if people know more please chime in.
New Belgium makes Love which is like a 6% pretty tart, pretty sour almost lambic style beer. I've only tasted it once it was amazing with a great sharp acidity. This beer is aged in their giant "Rodenbach" style foeders. Then my questions kick in, how is this blended beer made?
In what proportion is it blended?
Does this blended beer age a while before it is bottled or kegged?
What is malt profile on Love?
Some other generic questions
How are your yeast and bugs produced, maintained and do you continually repitch them?
Do you start with a mixed culture or do you add different bugs at different times?
What sort of adjustments can you make to the beer while it is brewing?
When do you add fruit to you sour beers? (like Tart Lychee)
Is there any way a homebrewer can get your souring bugs?
There was an issue of BYO awhile back that had a chunk of those answers. They had some info on blending (50% 3 year old beer IIRC). I was under the impression that Love was just the starter culture they use to propagate the bugs.
I used dregs from the old corked and caged La Folie with good results, but the new Lips of Faith bombers don't have anything alive in them so I'm not sure if you can still harvest their bugs from any of the bottles (do they still sell the corked and caged at the brewery.)
Interested to hear what sort of answers you get.
__________________
Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).
What would you ask Eric Salazar (New Belgium Sours)?
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