Bell's Oarsman Ale

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54BelAir

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I have been enjoying Oarsman Ale over these crazy hot days. Is anyone familiar with a clone recipe or something similar?
 
Oarsman is a Berliner Weisse with only modest souring. I'd say that Bell's formulated the beer in a more 'training wheels' manner so that the typical drinker that is not familiar with the style will be willing to drink the beer. A normal Berliner Weisse is powerfully, yet pleasantly sour.

In Germany, flavored syrups are added to moderate the sour and make it more palatable for the typical drinker. That isn't really possible for the typical 6-pack serving.

This is a high wheat content grist with very little hop bittering. The beer is fermented with both yeast and lactobacillus. The acidity of the beer provides the balance instead of hop bittering. This is more the style of a wine with sweet/sour instead of beer's typical bitter/sweet.

Enjoy.
 
I've had a Berliner Weiss a couple of times and really enjoyed them. They are unfortunately hard to find.

I would like to brew something like this to keep around in the summer months. I think that something as sour as a B W might be a bit much for some of my guests, but I think I could get them to try a beer closer to Oarsman.

I will research Berliner Weiss and see what is involved with brewing that style. I am almost certain that itmay be above my ability at this point.
 
You can brew a berliner weisse and serve it young. It takes time to develop the tartness. Usually mine take about 6-8 weeks. Im sure you could brew one up and drink it around 4 weeks and the tartness will be light. Once you chill it, the lacto wont work any longer as it needs warmer temps to flourish
 
Oarsman is not a traditional Berliner Weisse and Bell's has actually said on a few occasions that it's not a Berliner Weisse at all (despite some marketing to the contrary).

Brewing a clone should be pretty simple. It says right on the bottle that they use a sour mash. So I'd do 60-40% malted wheat, the rest base malt (probably just domestic 2-row but German Pils wouldn't be a bad idea either) and then do your sour mash. I don't detect a lot of hop character so I'd just do a 10-20 IBU bittering charge with any german noble hop @60 mins.
 
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