wisdom for brewers,
from the world of wine
🍷🍺
But…
🍷🍺
“...cider is different from beer, mead, or grape wine, but they are all similar in some respects, and there is much each discipline can learn from each other! ... I think that after you have spent a long time considering beer, you can learn more by actually shifting your focus away sometimes. A bit like how travel can sometimes help you understand your home country better. Taking a step into something unknown inevitably invites comparing and contrasting with the known, as well as putting what is already understood into a broader context.”
Me! - 2019
https://canadahomebrews.ca/2019/07/01/cider-tasting-and-judging/
why?
“Prehistory”
&
Beyond!
"What we found is something that was turning up all over the world from these early periods," he says. "We don't have just a wine or a beer or a mead, but we have like a combination of all three."
- Dr. Patrick McGovern, 2010
Fast Forward
1968-1972
An American
“Italian Grape Ale”
in the 1960-70’s?
“The DuBois Brewery under the direction of brewmasters such as Walt Eiser and Abel Herring produced a wide variety of beers. One was called Vitalis, like the hair tonic; Wurzburger, a very dark beer; Hahne Porter; Pixie Ale; Burgundy Brau, which had a red color to it ; and the premium, Cloud Nine. But the beer that made DuBois famous was DuBois Budweiser. It also led to a number of famous court cases with brewery giant Anhauser-Busch.”
-Tom Schott and Gene Aravich,
DuBois Area Historical Society, Inc.
“The DuBois Brewery had many successes and some setbacks defending its right to use the Budweiser name for over 60 years that it brewed a Budweiser beer. Starting in 1905 when the brewery began the use of the name for one of its many beer brands, Hahne Sr. and later Frank Jr. maintained that their major label beer’s name was derived from the original Budvar Brewery of Budweis, Germany, in the present Czech Republic. This was the Royal Brewery of the Holy Roman Emperor dating back to the early Middle Ages. Effective October 31, 1970, however, Frank Hahne Jr. was prohibited from the using the Budweiser name by a Federal Court order.”
-Tom Schott, DuBois Area Historical Society, Inc.
Michael Jackson
The Beer Hunter, 1989
The Beer Hunter, 1989
Ep. 5: The Burgundies Of Belgium
“A sour, fruity, red wine-like Belgian-style ale with interesting supportive malt flavors and fruit complexity. The dry finish and tannin completes the mental image of a fine red wine … supporting malt that often gives a wine-like impression … an acidic, tannic bitterness is often present in low to moderate amounts, and adds an aged red wine-like character and finish … dominated by the fruity, sour, wine-like impression … low to medium astringency, like a well-aged red wine … known as the Burgundy of Belgium, it is more wine-like than any other beer style.”
-BJCP Style Guidelines
“Mary of Burgundy was born in Brussels at the ducal castle of Coudenberg, to Charles the Bold, then known as the Count of Charolais, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon. Her birth, according to the court chronicler Georges Chastellain, was attended by a clap of thunder ringing from the otherwise clear twilight sky. ”
-Wikipedia
Wine = 8
Burgundy = 3
Burgundy total elsewhere = 0
“Wine” total elsewhere = 0
Wine total ≈ 80
(Barleywine, Barrel Aging,
X3 - Italian Grape Ale)
Vinous (wine-like) = 13
APPENDIX B: LOCAL STYLES
This appendix contains styles submitted by local chapters of the BJCP for styles that are not yet established, but are more important for homebrewers within a single country. They are not included in the main style guidelines, but are available for use by those who wish to use them.
The guidelines were written by local members, and were not validated by the BJCP.
"Italian Grape Ale"
That term is how the BJCP has (unofficially) recognized the style, and as the BJCP is so influential, that recognition has helped in spreading the style along with the term! But the general style both predates BJCP recognition, and was never limited to only Italy.
Not surprisingly, the "Italian" is almost always dropped in our markets, likely to avoid confusion - these beers (and grapes) aren't produced in Italy after all!
They are more likely to be described as simply "Grape Ales" or perhaps as "Ontario Grape Ales" to reflect the local area of origin for the grapes. Though the market hasn't completely settled on a common term, and some choose to simply describe the product as a beer, with grape juice, skin, or other elements simply being listed as a specialty ingredient in the beer.
A new release of the BJCP beer style guidelines is expected soon.
...
BJCP is currently evaluating to change the name of "Italian Grape Ale" into "Grape Ale"
...
This would be really disappointing for our craft movement that made a lot of efforts in the last years to get recognition of this style that, indeed, has its origin in our country with no doubts.
...
The BJCP style guideline is full of beer styles named with geographical prefixes such as "Belgian, Irish, Scottish, English, German, American" and we recognize this this is important because underlines the origin of the style. Removing the prefix "italian" means not acknowledging Italy as the country where this style was born and most largely produced. Italy is the largest grape harvester in the world and is also the Country where the highest number of grape varieties are harvested. Grape is in our blood and is not simply a fruit... it's much more. it's identity, tradition, diversity, culture, family.
https://www.change.org/p/bjcp-style-guidelines-commettee-grape-ale-is-italian
On Irish Red,
Canadian Styles,
And the influence of the BJCP style guidelines:
https://www.bjcp.org/newsletter/canadian-beer-styles-four-new-unofficial-draft-styles-to-consider/
Here in B.C., grape beers first started showing up about three years ago. Several breweries have dabbled in the style, including Brassneck, Luppolo/Temporal, Twin Sails/Coalesce, Steamworks, Steel and Oak, and House of Funk. But leading the charge has been Field House Brewing in Abbotsford, which has released more than a dozen grape ales.
Parker Reid, head brewer at Field House, said he was first inspired by a beer called Bumo 2 that he tasted at Burdock Brewing in Toronto three years ago. A collaboration with a Niagara winery called Pearl Morissette, it featured a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Rosé and one-year-old barrel-aged saison
Rombu (7.3% abv):
This Grape Ale was aged on whole cluster Merlot skins, bestowing it with that “crunchy” whole cluster texture we love to find in gluggable wines. Yes, we agree, the Merlot grape can sometimes be a bit unidimensional, but with the addition of some Cab Franc Rosé skins, Rombu is loaded with enough pep and pizzazz to power your electric lawnmower (?). Non-hyperbolic tasting notes include but are not limited to: blueberry popsicles with real fruit chunks, cherry-pomegranate spritzer, sun-dried wild strawberries, and someone crushing a single star anise pod in a mortar and pestle somewhere over the horizon.
https://www.dominioncity.ca/collections/buy-now/products/wilderness-gothic-riesling-2
Wilderness Gothic Riesling #3
7% ALC. / VOL. 750 mL
We added 1000L of fresh Riesling juice from Hinterland Winery in Prince Edward County to a blend of one year old barrel-fermented Saisons to produce an ale with bright minerality, ripe fruit aromatics and balanced green apple acidity.
Bottled January 29, 2021.
In honour of the 40th anniversary of Rush’s eighth studio album, Moving Pictures, Henderson Brewing and Rush have teamed up once again, this time, for a very special limited edition ale: only 1600 cases are being released! A Belgian Dark, strong ale with Riesling Must, this ale pours a gorgeous deep, ruby colour with a fine, tan head. The taste is complex, with notes of dark fruit pudding, toffee, dates, cherries, honey, bread crusts and a slight booziness. Perfect for aging, this 14% limited edition ale makes a great holiday gift.
From the vines come the grapes, from the bines the hops. Vines & Bines is a true Canadian product. It is a clear, highly effervescent Kolsch-style ale made with Alberta barley from Origin Malting and fermented with Sauvignon Blanc grape juice and skins from the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region in Ontario. It finishes dry and crisp with luscious stonefruit notes and hints of lychee and lime. It is dry-hopped with the New Zealand hop varietal Nelson Sauvin, known for its aromatic qualities akin to Sauvignon Blanc wine. It comes in a can, but you may want to enjoy it from a champagne flute – go ahead, we won’t judge…
BENCH VINTNER'S COLLECTION: 2020 GEWÜRZTRAMINER SOUR ALE
Pours a translucent gold with blush hues on the edges of the glass, this sour is bursting with notes of geranium and dried sage aroma paired with a lifting acidity, subtle saltiness and soft notes of sweet mandarin orange and honey.
Aged on gewürztraminer grape skins from Fielding Winery
ABV: 8.2%
IBU: 5
Opulence is a foeder-aged Farmhouse Ale conditioned with Pinot Noir grapes and Brettanomyces. The result is a refreshingly effervescent Ale with a mild tartness that has wine-like characteristics and a soft pink hue.”
We start this brew off with 600kg of uncrushed Ontario merlot grapes, which go through a process called carbonic maceration in the fermenter, before we add 10hL of unhopped Princess Wears Girl Pants Hoppy Belgian Ale wort. The natural yeast found on the grape skins begins to work on this juice/wort blend, which we then allow to slowly ferment over the course of a few months. Once primary fermentation is complete, we then blend in some kettle sour beer to add some tartness and complexity. What you are left with is this immensely refreshing wine/beer hybrid.”
Botryotinia was a project dreamt up years ago by Megan, a long time friend of The Exchange Brewery with a background in brewing. In 2015, just after moving to Niagara, Megan visited Big Head Winery and tasted their ’15 botrytis-affected Chenin Blanc, and fell head over heels for it. Megan kept dreaming of this wine over many years, and in 2020, she eventually asked Big Head to team up to create Botryotinia, a Belgian blonde ale aged on pressed botrytis-affected Chenin Blanc grapes for 7 months in wine barrels. Offering gentle floral aromas, notes of honeysuckle and a dry finish, Botryotinia blends the best of both wine and beer.
This is the world’s first and only Verjus Sour. Completely unique to the Niagara Region and the Brewery, the Verjus is made by pressing under ripe (green) Pinot Noir grapes from Lepp Farms. Verjus translates to “green juice” which is precisely what it is. Brettanomyces 3 was propagated by our brewers to create a unique in-house yeast variety. The use of 3 different malts impact the body and mouthfeel: pilsen (base malts), flaked wheat, and whole wheat malts. One hop addition of the Magnum variety adds minimal bitterness, resulting in very low IBU’s.
This style creates a naturally sour beer with characteristics of wine grapes, tart green apples, bell pepper, grass and jalapeño.
methoxypyrazine
Our second release using the elusive Phantasm powder is a hazy, extra juicy, hop-forward East Coast style Pale Ale. This experimental ingredient from New Zealand is a powder derived from Sauvignon Blanc grapes that’s packed with thiols - a juicy and tropical compound in hops. Paired here with El Dorado, Galaxy and Sabro hops, resulting in a hugely aromatic and flavourful brew packed with pineapple, gooseberry and coconut flavour and aroma.
ALC/VOL 5.5%
PHENOM
Pale Ale w. Phantasm
Gil-Brut Grape’d
Brut IPA with 25% Niagara College Chardonnay Must
Nelson Sauvin, Azacca, and Rakau hops
(all hot side additions, no dry-hopping).
F.G. is 1.008
ABV is 8.6%.
Inspiration, of course, flows both ways!
For many years, some beer enthusiasts and members of the brewing industry actively pursued an elevation of beer to the cultural status of wine - a “finewinification” of the brewing industry.
Now, we see some winemakers pursuing something of the opposite, as many enthusiasts and producers attempt to recreate the commercial success (and capturturing of the public imagination) of “the craft beer revolution” - a “craftbeerification” of the wine world!
Inspiration, of course, flows both ways!
For many years, some beer enthusiasts and members of the brewing industry actively pursued an elevation of beer to the cultural status of wine - a “finewinification” of the brewing industry.
Now, we see some winemakers pursuing something of the opposite, as many enthusiasts and producers attempt to recreate the commercial success (and capturturing of the public imagination) of “the craft beer revolution” - a “craftbeerification” of the wine world!
Climate Change = A Growing Wine Belt, A Shrinking Beer Belly?
There is now more area under vine than bine in East Kent!
https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2021/9/24/back-to-the-garden-english-hops-growers
“Back at Syndale Farm, a new crop is growing in the field above the hop gardens: grapes, specifically Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, under contract with wine-makers Chapel Down. If hops are struggling, then grapes have never been more popular in the Garden of England. There’s vastly more acreage of grapes than hops in Kent now, and the disparity is only growing. Once, of course, English wine was a bit of a joke; now, with quality rising year on year, it’s booming.”
“le bon problème”
https://time.com/5777459/france-wine-climate-change/
“Smoke poses a massive threat to B.C.’s wine industry. Most tainted wines smell bad and are unsellable. What’s worse is that these horrid odours usually remain undetected until after wineries have invested money and effort to harvest and ferment tonnes of grapes that may smell perfectly fine.”
Wesley Zandberg, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
Anti-frost towers & Helicopters
Sprinklers - freezing water lose energy, releases heat
“The heat will be gained by ambient materials, such as air or soil or even other water molecules that are in contact with the water that freezes. This is why condensing and freezing are considered warming events, while melting and evaporating are cooling events.”
Antifrost “Ice-minus” bacteria
Pseudomonas syringae
Hail Cannons and Nets
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/07/burgundy-vineyards-experiment-with-anti-hail-nets
Solar Panels
The country’s wine output is predicted to tumble by 29% this year compared with 2020, to the lowest level in decades, according to France’s agriculture ministry.
...
Production in the Champagne region, which includes its eponymous sparkling wine, is expected to plummet by 36% compared with last year, after frosts were followed by heavy summer rains which led to mildew fungus, a disease that causes the grapes and leaves to dry up.
...
The Burgundy-Beaujolais region suffered severe damage from frost, hail and disease, and its total output is expected to fall by almost half compared with 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/07/french-wine-output-frosts-weather
In the Loire (arguably, the most “Northerly” of the french wine regions) in 1991 there was the “Black Frost”, destroying about 90% of the vintage - promoting local growers to “return to the grape” in order “to produce, in all conditions, wines marked with an origin and a quality.”
As a part of this, they established a collective “Massal Selection” nursery hosting 270+ varieties of Sauvignon Blanc
(Thought to be indigenous to the Loire, Sauvignon Blanc “most likely gets its name from the French words sauvage ["wild"] and blanc ["white"] due to its early origins as an indigenous grape”)
So -vineyards dedicated to Sauv Blanc- but not one genetically identical plant, instead 100-200 variations.
More complex wine, more biodiversity, more readiness for climate change.
The Loire, perhaps counterintuitively on account of it’s “Northerliness”, has become a centre of organic and biodynamic winemaking.
Ontario VQA wineries selling organic wines
Ontario VQA wineries selling biodynamic wines
“...and I continue to be troubled by the assertion of “natural.” What is natural about a tractor or plastic picking boxes, used by all? What is natural about a glass bottle, used by all? What is natural about a truck driving pallets of wine from artisanal Loire valley wineries to Ste Nazaire, where they are loaded into refrigerated containers and hauled off in a ship the size of a block of flats, powered by the world’s most polluting fossil fuel, all the way to Singapore, where that wine will be kept under air-conditioning for the three months which will elapse before the bottles are opened by folks who have just stepped off flights from Sydney or New York in a natural wine bar? To fret about 10 mg sulphur added to 75 cl of red wine alongside this colossal mountain of unnaturalness and environmental wreckage seems surreal and symptomatic of a loss of proportion. You don’t just drink the wine when you drink wine; you drink the packaging and the transport, too.”
The Great Debate: Natural Wine with Andrew Jefford and Simon J Woolf. The Wine Scholar Guild, 2020.
https://www.winescholarguild.org/the-definition-of-natural-wine-france-s-vin-methode-nature-page-01
From an environmental perspective, wine is, like beer (or like any other agricultural product) problematic in terms of its environmental impact to produce. To address these concerns, many wine producers have changed their process and practices to be more environmentally friendly, and they communicate this change to customers with labeling terms like Organic, Biodynamic, and Vin Nature; or “Natural Wines”.
Setting aside the differences of these terms, regardless of the details of these various approaches here in Ontario the majority of wines all are alike in that they are imported products. This simple fact is environmentally very difficult to reconcile with terms like “Natural”.
While there have been many different initiatives and funding over the years, the LCBO is sometimes felt to take a rather ambivalent approach to supporting the domestic wine industry, which has led to an often frustrated, or outright hostile industry relationship with our provincial retailer. This issue was only exacerbated by the pandemic, as explained by Rick VanSickle on his website, Wines In Niagara:
“What we’re talking about is saving people’s businesses,” says an exasperated chair of the Ontario Craft Wineries (OCW) Carolyn Hurst, who is also co-owner of Westcott Vineyards in Niagara with her husband Grant Westcott. Hurst and her board members on the industry association that represents most VQA wineries in Ontario have been beating a path between Niagara and Queen’s Park trying to make anyone who will listen understand that wineries are in dire need of serious help both financially and from an image problem they say falls squarely at the feet of the government monopoly Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The financial woes are being piled on at a time when COVID-19 has put many wineries and growers on the edge of oblivion with substantial financial losses, rising expenses and grapes that will be left on the vine with no takers in a vintage that looks so damn promising.
-Grapes of Wrath: Trouble in Ontario Wine Country. Rick VanSickle, 2020
https://winesinniagara.com/2020/10/grapes-of-wrath-trouble-in-ontario-wine-country/
This frustration is…
well understood on the beer side in Ontario.
Consumers often assume that there is a mandate to support local beer producers - provide preferential treatment & promotional opportunity - not really the case:
North American Varieties & Hybrids
North American varieties are generally considered utterly unfit for winemaking, while Hybrids were largely abandoned. (Often prohibited or outlawed, as in the French wine industry) Where hybrids do survive internationally, they tend to be at a similar place to where hops were pre-craft beer revolution: searching for old-world characteristics with new-world disease resistance and agronomics.
New-world character is almost universally considered inferior, often viewed as a flaw. (“American” in hops is “Foxy” in grapes.) The Foxy quality is largely the impact of methyl anthranilate in the wine, typically described as “Musky”, “Earthy”, “Sweet”, or even “Old Fox Fur Coat”. To many North Americans, it is simply “grapey” - the taste of grape juice. It is the signature taste of Concord grapes - perhaps the most famous member of the “Fox Grape” family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_labrusca
In the international wine world, red hybrids such as Baco Noir and Maréchal Foch have the appeal of a tag-team wrestling bout.
They are the blue-collar grapes, the early-ripening, winter-hardy, heavy-bearing hybrids that lack the finesse, the breed and the delicate dispositions of Old Europe's noble vinifera varieties. (You know these as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot et al.)
Yet the contemporary Canadian wine industry owes Baco and Foch more than a debt of gratitude because they replaced the unlamented Concord and other labrusca varieties that made our wines undrinkable.
In December, 1975, The Globe & Mail put on a blind tasting at which Inniskillin Maréchal Foch 1974 bested a noted Beaujolais, Brouilly Château de la Ferrière 1973. "The six tasters had to do a retasting," laughs Ziraldo, "because they thought it was impossible for a Canadian wine to beat out a named-village wine from Beaujolais."
Tony Aspler, 2003
http://www.winemagcn.com/baco-noir-marechal-forch-english.html
It is great to surpass a French wine type in a blind competition, but the French wine will always be the original, and therefore the prototypical example. After all, Champagne will always be Champagne, and only Champagne is truly ever Champagne; all other comparable products will invariably be seen as imitators and knock-offs. Having our own suite of products that will be seen as “true to style” only when produced in our provinces would be ideal. We haven’t seen anything that approaches a similar success as the American Pale Ale since the beginnings of the Icewine phenomenon in the 80’s.
Ideally, we would have not just a local premium dessert wine style to celebrate on an international stage, but a variety of celebrated style types: red, white, rosé and sparkling - all identified as uniquely Canadian - just as we see in the French market.
Outlawing Hybrids/North American Varieties:
Not just in France!
In 1989, over 10,000 acres of Vitis labrusca “fox grapes” were grubbed up in BC and ON, representing nearly ½ of the total area under vine in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/grapes-free-trade-and-selling-the-farm
1960's image of the Calona Jack Wines
(20% fortified wine)
"The fortified wines included the highly successful and notorious Double Jack, Berry Jack and Cherry Jack wines which were introduced in February 1968 to replicate fruit wines of the Gallo Brothers. The cheap Jacks were fortified with spirits made in Calona's own distillery and packed a whallop — as most teenagers around British Columbia inevitably discovered."
- from The British Columbia Wine Companion by John Schreiner
Growers Wine Company- Founded on Vancouver Island in 1922, they made wine from Loganberries. The five founders of the winery were William Bickford, Philip Holloway, Neil Lamont, Clarence Oldfield and Harry Tanner and their first two brands were Logana, made entirely with loganberries, and Vin Supreme, a blend of loganberries and blueberries. Growers obtained a distillery licence in 1936 . The man responsible for running Growers until they sold in 1955 was Herbert Anscomb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loganberry
T G Bright Wines- Founded in 1874 by Frederick Shirriff and Thomas Bright under the name Niagara Falls Wine Co. In 1911 they moved from Toronto to Niagara Falls and incorporated as T.G. Bright and Co Ltd
The winery was successful, and grew steadily until 1920. They were producing 4,000,000 gallons of wine, making them one of the larger wineries in the world but like all wineries, they were hurt by prohibition.
https://www.winesofcanada.com/history_wineries.html
https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-does-concord-grape-wine-taste-like-56292
Old world growers largely grow old world varieties on new world rootstock
New world growers largely grow old world varieties on new world rootstock
Some celebrated Hybrids that have “taken root”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidal_blanc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baco_noir
“Baco Noir was planted throughout the Okanagan Valley in the 1970s for its hardiness and disease resistance. Most was pulled out in the late ‘80s to make way for the classic European grape varieties. Our neighbor Elmer Eidse kept his. Now these old vines are managed organically to create this delicious wine that is a living history of the British Columbia wine industry.”
Some Other Hybrids Of Note:
Marquette (grape) - Recent VQA Approval
Chambourcin - NC Alumni Award Winner
Game Changer Grape is a Little Pearl – Midwest Wine Press
Canadian Food Inspection Agency - Crimson Pearl
6 hybrids in Niagara College Vineyards:
Crimson Pearl
Petite Pearl
Frontenac Blanc
Frontenac Gris
L’Acadie
Marquette
https://midwestwinepress.com/2014/05/20/frontenac-blanc/
“Frontenac blanc, a mutation of Frontenac gris, is the latest member of the Frontenac grape family. Viticulture experts say the variety was first observed in Quebec during 2005 and that the mutation was probably taking place at several Canadian and Minnesota vineyards at roughly the same time.
The parent grape, Frontenac, was introduced by the University of Minnesota in 1996. This dark blue-fruited cultivar originated from a cross of Vitis riparia x Landot 4511. On its website, the University describes the arrival of the blanc variety as ‘an exciting new development for cold climate growers” because of Frontenac’s cold tolerance and disease resistance.”
Viticulture A & M – Grapevines
https://www.princeedwardcountywine.ca/wineries/gravel-hill-vineyards/
https://www.princeedwardcountywine.ca/wineries/domaine-darius/
https://pottersettlementwines.ca/2021/06/25/2018-frontenac-blanc/
https://winecountryontario.ca/vqa-skin-fermented-whites/
This "Orange Wine" spent seven weeks macerating on skins buried deep in the clay soils of the NC Teaching Vineyard
...
The grapes were harvested very ripe, in late October the destemmed and hand-bucketed into fermenters, where it was slowly transformed by wild yeast into a wine with intense, unique aromas and significant tannin structure. Several weeks later the best free-run wine was collected from the traditional basket press, racked, then hand bottled with no additions or filtration.
The result is a fully natural expression of the interaction between grapes and microbes, which is emblematic of the thousands of years that humans have been striving to harness the fermentation process.
https://ncteachingwinery.ca/collections/white-wines/products/underground-series-gewurztraminer
Something to keep in mind: Cascade was not really bred to be the bold hop that we know, love, and hold synonymous with American Pale Ale today. It was bred to be disease resistant. To have good agronomics. It's brash character was a fault- not a feature.
The old-world hops struggled for a variety of reasons, primarily: new-world pests and diseases, and the rules of Terroir, which dictate that even if a foreign plant should thrive in its new climate, it will not taste quite the same as it did back home. Just as Pinot noir grapes grown in France will taste different than the same grape grown in Niagara, (not necessarily better -mind you- but necessarily different.) Tettnanger hops grown in the United States will not taste quite the same as those grown in the Tettnanger region of Germany.
…
Native hops were considered entirely unfit for brewing, but foreign hops floundered. Hop breeders began crossing wild North American hops with established European varieties in search of a hop that could deliver it all. E.S. Salmon, a professor at Wye College in the United Kingdom, was among the first to formally attempt such hybridization in the early 1900's. By the turn of the decade, his pioneering efforts had brought us Bullion.
"Ballantines dry-hopping process was totally unique. It used Bullion hops, a variety very hard to find now, and ground them into a fine powder, added water, and cooked them in a vacuum process that effectively distilled the oils from the hop material. The oils were collected and added to the beer, which gave it an intense, distinct presence unlike anything else available in the United States at the time.”
-Mitch Steele: IPA, Brewing Techniques, Recipes, and the Evolution of India Pale Ale. Page 134
"Ballantine ... beer featured a very distinctive hop variety, Bullion, which, although pungent, was not typically known for a refined hop note. Highly aromatic and assertive hop aromas are now common with craft brewers, but Ballantines use of Bullion may have led to its decline from the nation's third largest brewer in 1950 to being sold in 1969 for a small sum and finally to their liquidation in 1972."
-Ken Grossman: Beyond the Pale, the story of Sierra Nevada brewing co. Page 35
Discovering the hidden history of Ballantine IPA is like discovering a photo of your grandfather crushing a farmhouse sour whilst updating his twitter account. It seems to go against everything we think we know about the past. But it's true. Like a brewery built ontop of a tear in time, they did all sorts of things that were out of place in their own era. Some, like aging the IPA for a year in pitch-lined wood barrels, was charmingly traditional and hopelessly antiquated in the era of stainless steel. Other things, like dosing the beer with hop oil that they extracted themselves, was remarkably futuristic. - Me, 2015
1956
Hop variety 56013 is bred from an open seed collection that includes English Fuggles, Russian Serebrianker, and an unspecified male hop variety at USDA hop breeding farm, Corvallis, Oregon
1972
Coors Lite becomes history's first Cascade-hopped commercial beer!
Coors bought millions of pounds but discovered that the Cascade hops did not mimic Hallertauer MF hops closely enough and gradually scaled back on its usage. “Cascade was unique,” said Dr. Haunold. “Moderate bitterness, more alpha bang for the buck, with a pleasant citrus-floral character. The alpha-beta ratio was similar to Hallertauer mittelfrueh , but the total oil content was higher, and cone yields were dramatically higher.”
“It’s a good thing Coors took the lead on Cascades when they did,” Dr. Haunold said. “We were at the end of our rope. We had tried everything to get brewers to experiment with Cascade. We were just going to toss out those 30 bales and send 56013 over to the germplasm library, where who knows whether anyone would’ve ever picked it up.”
“Obviously, I was very thankful that Coors liked 56013,” said Dr. Haunold, who still prefers to refer to the hops he released by their pedigree number. “Coors broke the logjam. US brewers began to assert their independence from German, Czechoslavakian and French-grown hops. It gave me a lot of work to do over the next three decades. And it helped launch the craft beer movement.”
Roger Worthington, 2010, Hop History with Hopmeister Dr. Al Haunold, Part II
1975
Anchor Steam Wanted to produce special “All-American” ale for 200th anniversary of the ride of Paul Revere - what would become “Liberty Ale”.
Cascade was one of only a few “All-American” hops available at that time.
“Liberty Ale’s debut was an event in culinary America, one that would spawn not only thousands of pretenders and usurpers but also a vocabulary (“hoppier”… “hophead”), wider interest in hops and their role in brewing… and a palatal pivot that would see thousands, millions, of Americans embracing bitterness over sweetness in their favoured drinks.
...
Liberty Ale would become quite possibly the most important beer of the late Twentieth century.”
-Tom Acitelli, The Audacity of Hops
18. PALE AMERICAN ALE
“Worldwide, Americans have something of an outsized reputation. Bold, brash, and brazen. To some, that boldness is perceived as arrogance, but for us it’s just daring spirit and a thirst for adventure. The term “American” in brewing is not necessarily a sign of origin, but rather a brewing ethos and homage to that daring nature we love so much. In the early days of the craft brewing movement, there were far fewer beer styles and what was on record largely comprised the historical ales of the UK and the lagers of Germany. As American brewers began experimenting with homegrown ingredients and their own techniques, they inadvertently created beer so unique it defied conventional categories. Instead of a traditional pale ale, there all of a sudden was American pale ale—a new, rowdy hybrid of the older beer, intense with hop flavor and aroma. American-style beer is shorthand for the kind of brewing we do at Sierra Nevada—a reference to the use of a clean, crisp, and neutral yeast and a healthy dose of hops quite appropriate for the adventurer in us all.”
-http://www.sierranevada.com/beer/year-round/pale-ale
18. PALE AMERICAN ALE
“Every so often invention provokes revolution. Never was that truer than with the birth of the Cascade hop. Worldwide it was thought that European hops were—and had always been—superior to their New World counterparts. That changed in the late 1960s with the development of the Cascade. Born as the first successful example of the USDA Aroma Hop Program, Cascade proved that world-class hops can be grown in America. Its release in 1971 serendipitously aligned with the fledgling American craft brewing movement. These aspiring brewers were eager for something unique, bold, and distinctly American to use in their boundary-pushing beers. Cascade fit the bill. Its unique pine needle, grapefruit, and floral aromas were like nothing out of Europe and the bold aromas and flavors became the flag for the new American brewing upstarts. If one ingredient can be said to start a movement, it would be the Cascade hop—the plant that built craft beer.”
-http://www.sierranevada.com/beer/year-round/pale-ale
“Its flavor and aroma are also distinctly different from the citrusy, piney profile most drinkers have come to associate with American pale ales and IPAs. It is a truly American hop, one that can demonstrate the terroir of our country in a way cross-bred varieties just can't.”
Zach Fowle, Neomexicanus: The Most American Hop, 2014
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/neomexicanus-the-most-american-hop-6545838
“One of the key discoveries of the neomexicanus hops is their increased hardiness as compared to their European cousins. Traditional hops require heavy irrigation while neomexicanus responds aggressively to even small amounts of water. Additionally, neomexicanus plants produce three or six times the cones as traditional hop plants, resulting in higher yields in smaller plots of land. The hops’ hardiness could also expand the hop industry into places like Colorado, New Mexico, and California, places that traditionally do not have much success growing hops.”
Derek Springer, Neomexicanus Hops: A Primer, 2014
...Based on a wild strain, Sasquatch “is its own hop in every way … (and Hops Connect) has the plant breeders rights for it. The plant is patented, has been vetted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and we’ve trademarked the name Sasquatch,”...
https://www.thehomebrewbeeracademy.ca/products/sasquatch-can-hop-pellets
“the most common impression was resinous-woodiness and orange, but mint, soft floral, and even grape have been mentioned as being evident.”
https://www.shopbarleys.com/product/7795/sasquatch-oz
“Aromas of strong cream, caramel, orange, dark berries and hay.”
AMERICAN HERITAGE GRAPES
It’s been over 40 years since Californian wine defeated French wine in the Judgement of Paris. Yet during the intervening decades, American wine producers have made little progress toward developing and crafting wines possessing true American character.
Like most wine producing regions in the world, Californian wines are almost exclusively made from European grape varieties like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. All of these European grapes are in fact varieties of a single grape species native to Europe and Asia - Vitis vinifera.
Across the world, more than 79 different species of grapes have been identified. Twenty-seven of those grape species are native to middle America.
The grapes we grow at TerraVox are varieties that have been bred and cultivated from those twenty-seven American native grape species. They’re known as American Heritage Grapes, and it’s our belief that this bounty of genetic diversity holds the key to developing an entirely new American wine culture.
https://www.voxvineyards.com/our-story
The truth is, we’re selling experimentation and discovery as much as we’re selling wine. But ultimately, I’m looking to get down to 12 to 20 native American heritage grapes that grow well in my soil and make wines I really like to drink. At the same time, while trying to hone down the number of grapes we plant, we’ve discovered a contemporary grape-breeder’s work, so there are more varietals yet to experiment with.
- Jerry Eisterhold, Vox Vineyards, 2019
https://www.feastmagazine.com/kansas-city/article_dd2a416e-6796-11e9-8a51-4b1a3cdc5049.html
“le bon problème”
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/business/2021/10/28/difficult-harvest-for-niagara-vineyards.html
https://barleyharvest.ca/september-3-2021/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/drought-farmers-saskatchewan-1.6140472
https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/beer-input-costs-soar-across-globe
Through a combination of natural hybridizations and human cultivation, Aegilops tauschii provided the D-genome to modern wheat. The D-genome added the properties for making dough, and enabled bread wheat to flourish in different climates and soils.
Domestication, while increasing yield and increasing agronomic performance, came at the cost of a pronounced genetic bottleneck eroding genetic diversity for protective traits to be found in Aegilops tauschii such as disease resistance and heat tolerance.
Analysis performed by Dr. Gaurav and the research team revealed that just 25% of the genetic diversity present in Aegilops tauschii made it into hexaploid wheat.
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-bread-wheat-gluten-impact-long-lost.amp
“...as climate change accelerates, new stressors and ecological threats will emerge that native grapes stand the best chance at surviving. American winemaking stands at a crossroads, and what gets planted today will determine how well the industry weathers the coming challenges.”
“Even without a wine culture, indigenous peoples in North America have likely selected and grown superior native grapes for as long as people in Europe have.”
- Max Paschall, “The Future of American Wine is Native” 2019
https://www.shelterwoodforestfarm.com/blog/2019/1/22/the-future-of-american-wine-is-native
“Captain Smith is returned from cutting the road named Dundas. It is opened for 20 miles. They met with quantities of wild grapes, and put some of the juice in barrels, and Captain Smith told me it turned out very tolerable wine.”
Dame Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, wife of Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor, 1793.
https://flamboroughhistory.com/noble-beginnings/
Nygaard trademarked the name "Wild Grape" after creating the first commercial wine from vitis riparia in 1996. It is a unique wine now sold in the United States and in Paris, France.
...
A large number of the grapes Nygaard requires for his wine are found on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. The vines often grow close to the riverbank and are scattered across the countless grass-covered acres of the reservation. When they're ready to harvest, the miniature fruit shines black in the sunshine. The fruit itself is very tart and tannic.
...
Nygaard organizes a harvesting crew made up mainly of youths from the reservation. The grapes are handpicked as the first step in the winemaking process.
-https://winesvinesanalytics.com/sections/printout_article.cfm?article=feature&content=55047
79% 6 Row
9% Red Wheat Malt
7% Dextrose
5% Oats
Citra First Wort, for 25 IBU’s
Fermented with WildBrew Philly Sour
One pint foraged Frost Grapes, added whole and destemmed to serving keg.
Restrained grape impact - gently earthy with a drying tea-like character - very reminiscent of a hibiscus beer.
73% 6 Row
17% Garden Pumpkin
8% Red Wheat Malt
2% Oats
HBC 472 First Wort, for 42 IBU’s
4lbs, 3oz Foraged Frost Grapes, added whole and destemmed to fermentation keg, which was then packed with C02 and allowed to sit for 24hrs - before flooding with wort, and pitching neutral ale yeast.
Watch for Virginia Creeper!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia
And Moonseed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menispermum_canadense
Racked to serving keg after 8 days of fermentation/ maceration. Grapes were left un-pressed - beer was force carbonated and put out to lager. Beer was NOT done fermentation - keg was violently overcarbed upon tapping!
But very tasty - dry, tart, somewhat leafy, quite woody, deeply earthy aroma (but not mushroomy or musty - more “fresh soil” - very reminiscent of a beet beer.) Similar to the hibiscus character of the lower concentration beer, but much more intense, and pushed down towards the ground. Surprisingly, not really classically “Foxy” or “Grapey” to my palate. Reminded me more of Fuggles than Concord in aroma!
Field House’s main winery partner in this endeavour is Whispering Horse in Yarrow, near Chilliwack. Reid’s favourite of their grapes is called L’Acadie, which reminds him of the Nelson Sauvin hop. Speaking of hops, Reid sometimes doesn’t even add hops because the grapes have so much flavour. In other cases they “use hops to accentuate certain flavours.”
Field House would like to work with bunches of whole grapes directly, but they are very expensive and difficult to find, apparently, so the brewery is putting in grapes at its own farm, a project that began in 2018 to support the food program at the brewery. As well, the brewery is moving its entire barrel program and foeders to the farm, which has its own manufacturing licence: the Field House BRRL Room.
It takes two or three years for grape vines to mature enough to bear fruit, so they won’t be making any beers with their own grapes for a while yet. There are already some Concord grapes there, which aren’t typically used in winemaking, but Reid says he’ll still use them in a grape ale at some point. And why not? As the two worlds of beer and wine blend together, the rules are thrown out along with the pomace and trub. All that matters is that the results taste good.
“We have planted some vines for more wine hybrid beers in the future but those vines still have a year or two to go before they're harvestable. Up to this point we've used grape varietal specific concentrates and juices, fresh grapes, fresh pressed pommace, and wild fermented grape juice in our beers, each bringing a unique character and dimension to the beers.
With any fresh pressings or fresh grapes we've always encountered wild yeast that came along with it into the beer, brett and lactic acid bacteria, which adds funk and acidity to the beer, such was the case with our Cuvee Blanc and L'acadie. However, oxidation is a big issue when adding the grape skins and we've dealt with shorter shelf life due to this.
Grape varietal concentrates and juices are the easiest and likely best way to get a really big punch of a specific grape / wine character, but can come across a but uni-dimensional and I would say are best used in conjunction with a really interesting base beer like a barrel aged sour or brett beer like we did with our Wild Riesling ale.
In general I think white wine grapes work best with beer, especially sour beer, as white wines often have a similar pH to sour beers and people are more familiar drinking cold sparkling white wine than reds. Not to say that it can't be done.”
Dry-hopped sour beer co-fermented with hand de-stemmed Fredonia hybrid grapes from Beamsville, ON
Drinks like tropical purple gatorade pet-nat. Funky purple drink vibes.
A once a year treat!
Trying to innovate on the wine front in the country’s premier wine-producing region, Niess says people in the wine world just don’t get it. … Still, he’s forging ahead in spite of all the eye rolls and the shocked looks on people’s faces when he tells them he’s making wine with hybrids. He’s largely undeterred. “Why wouldn’t we try and use our own grapes and really try to define what American wine can be like?” he says. … “A younger market is adopting the differences, embracing the diversity and seeing past those old biases. They probably don’t care what kind of grape the wine is made with, as long as it’s good, it has a sense of where it came from, was farmed sustainably and has a good story, right?”
https://modernfarmer.com/2021/05/where-did-americas-native-grapes-go/
Matured for one year in a barrel on Chardonnay lees, this sour ale was finished on freshly harvested black berries and black currents to give a bright fruit taste while still having depths of complex funk and acidity.
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 13
As hybrid-type products continue to advance, and the Beer & Wine industries continue to cross-pollinate, lines are softened.
https://www.dominioncity.ca/pages/friends-of-the-dominion
https://shop.paradisegrapevine.com/
https://www.holywatersfestival.com/
In it’s ultimate expression, it represents a sort of post-modern flattening of history, or perhaps something of a return to the earliest “grogs” of humanity!
THANK
YOU!
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Beer Judge Certification Program
National (2017)
Mead (2018)
Cider (2019)
Wine Scholar Guild
French Wine Scholar (2021)
FWS Loire Master-Level (2022)
Victor North - vnorth@niagaracollege.ca