Steph Weber

Session #39: Collaborations

This month’s Session topic (hosted by Mario Rubio of The Hop Press) is “Collaborations”:

Drink a collaborative beer. Who’s brewed some of your favorite collaborations? Who have been some of your favorite collaborators? Who would you like to see in a future collaboration? As the topic is collaborations, working with each other is encouraged.

Fellow Hop Presser PJ and I decided to come up with a collaborative Hop Press article for today’s Session. A collaborative article about a possible future collaborative beer, in fact…

It just so happens that both of us plan to open our own breweries, something which we frequently trade knowledge about, along with several other start-up peeps. So naturally we thought, what would a collaboration between Mad Haven (PJ’s future brewery) and Twin Leaf (my future brewery) be like?

PJ plans to open his brewery in Colorado and I in North Carolina. So PJ came up with the great idea that we should brew two collaborative beers to account for the change in elevation — one of a higher strength for the lower east coast elevation, and a low ABV beer for the mountains. Then I thought, why not make a strong beer, then a small beer from the second runnings? (Sound familiar?)

We decided that PJ would come up with the recipe for the stronger beer, and then I would figure out the small beer based on his grain bill. So, get us started, PJ…

This recipe is the result of something akin to a kid in a candy store. I’m a malt head, I love smokey flavors, and I love big beers. We’re going for a Strong Scotch Ale (9E) here, though I’m pretty terrible at staying anywhere near an actual style. Here’s the grain bill:

• 9 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt (70.6%)
• 1 lb Crystal 120 (7.8%)
• 1 lb German Dark Munich (7.8%)
• .5 lb Special B – Caramel malt (3.9%)
• .5 lb Roasted Barley (3.9%)
• .5 lb Smoked Malt (3.9%)
• .25 lb Peated Malt (2.0%)

We start out with some basic 2-Row malt. A little over 70% of the malt bill comes from this, which is about 9 pounds in a 5 gallon batch. A pound of Crystal 120 will add some color and light hints of caramel. A pound of Dark Munich – my favorite malt – adds some awesome malty flavors and aroma.

Next up is a half pound of Special B. As long as I’m not going for a light beer, I almost always add a touch of Special B. It’s just so tasty! This will add a lot more caramel than the 120, and a slight hint of raisins as well, if we cook it right. We’ll get some good grainy roasted flavors from the half pound of roasted barley.

Last up, my favorite for this batch, we have a half pound of smoked malt and a quarter pound of peated malt. Those flavors go a long way, even at such small proportions.

For hops, I’m going to keep them pretty low. This is a part where Steph doesn’t rely on my recipe. She can hop it out, dry hop it, do whatever. I’m going to use Saaz (US, not Czech). One ounce at 60 minutes and one ounce at 15. That’s it.

The gravity on this big batch should come to about 1.088. It’s going to be a pretty sweet (as in malty. and as in awesome) flavor, but we do want to find a yeast that can get it down pretty far. So, let’s go with one of my favorites – White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale. Also known as the James Bond of yeast. Besides the 007 designation, it is known for its ability to go in, no matter how big the job, kill all the sugar in the room, and come out dry.

Enough puns. WLP007 has an expected attenuation between 70-75%. If we assume an average of 72.5%, our final gravity should be around 1.024 or so. I might even through in some dry yeast to push it toward the end.

I’m going to let my batch age for a bit. Partially because of the complexity. Mostly because I might throw in some oak chips in half of it. But I’m not really sure yet.

This concoction, heretofore known as Mad Leaf Mountain Descent, will be bold. Malty. Smokey. Peaty. Complex. A little raisiny. And damn good at 12,000 feet above sea level next to an alpine lake, 5,280 feet above sea on the banks of some white water rapids, or 0 feet, overlooking the sea level. What do you think?

Sounds fantastic! Now let’s see, how do I turn the second runnings into a tasty little small beer…

Since the strong beer is going to be 1.088 OG, 34 SRM, we’ll probably get a good 1.044 OG, 15 SRM out of the second runnings. About 4.2% ABV and kind of a deep copper color. While the smoked and peated malts may not be entirely traditional, I believe they would suit a Scottish-Style Export Ale.

The heavy caramel flavors from the Crystal 120 and Special B will be much more subdued in the second runnings, as will the smoky/peaty flavors. Still there, just a little less in your face, more subtle. The malt/caramel/smoke/peat flavors make me want earthy, floral hops, so we could use Fuggle hops for bittering and aroma. I’d go so far as to say we should use heather tips in the secondary. Just a little bit, to give it a fresh floral nose. We would probably use a standard, unassuming British ale yeast.

This beer would be easy-drinking, satisfying, and complex. The earthy, floral, woodsy nature of it feels awfully outdoorsy, doesn’t it? We should call it Twin Haven Mountain Pass.

Maybe someday when Mad Haven and Twin Leaf are both up and running, this imaginary collaboration will become a reality. Would you buy some Mad Leaf Mountain Descent and Twin Haven Mountain Pass?

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It wouldn’t be the first time a Colorado brewery collaborated with a brewery from the southeast. Back in 2008, Left Hand (Longmont, CO) and Terrapin (Athens, GA) came up with their Midnight Brewing Project, “a collaborative brewing series of one-time releases.”

I found a bottle of Depth Charge, the second collaborative beer of the series, at my local bottle shop. Depth Charge is an espresso milk stout brewed with hand-roasted gourmet espresso. And yes, it is absolutely as good as it sounds.

It pours a deep, dark brown, almost black, with a creamy, beige head that lingers. The aroma is like the best coffee ice cream you’ve ever had, like, with dark chocolate chunks and everything.

Taking a swig of this full-bodied, creamy, thick brew, you can taste the dark roasted malts and coffee, but there’s no bitterness from either. There’s a hint of chocolate there too. It’s sweet, but not overly so. The finish is just dry enough to make you want to go back for another sip. Then another. Then another. And so on, until you’ve realize you’ve just drank quite a large bottle of beer in a very short span of time. Oops.

I seriously loved this beer. Perfectly balanced, just the right amount of coffee… I want to die in a pool of it with a scoop of ice cream on my face. Mmm…

This is an excellent demonstration of what can happen when you combine two phenomenal breweries. And since PJ and I both plan to be phenomenal, I assume a collaboration between us would be similarly awesome. Totally.

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