Beer Blending: Tips from the Pros
When are two beers better than one? All the time, of course! Two (or more) beers are even better than one, however, when they taste great together. Beer blending is a fun way to experiment with your homebrews, and These three beer blending experts encourage you to give it a try.
Pro: Marc Kadish, Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston, MA
Our beer menu at Sunset Bar & Grill features several “beertails” and “meadtails.” Some of our most popular combinations are, of course, the old fashioned blends like a snakebite (cider and beer) or a Beery Mary (beer and bloody mary mix), but we have several of our own. We have “Black and Blue,” which is Guinness and a blueberry ale, a “Black Velvet,” which is cider and stout, a “Honey Moon Ale,” which is Hoegaarden and mead and a “Peach Fuzz,” which is Allagash White and Lindemans Pecheresse. We also play with all kinds of different versions of black and tan — for example, Dogfish Head’s Worldwide Stout on top of their 90 Minute IPA. I like to think that when people come here and have the chance to get creative, they might order a better beer than they are used to — and then maybe move on to craft beer next time.
Getting ideas is kind of like coming up with peanut butter and chocolate. We come up with ideas on our own as well as from customers. A lot of the inspiration comes from coming up with a fun name — for example, a favorite here is the “Dirty Ho,” which is a mix of Lindemans Framboise and Hoegaarden. We also mix beers for special occasions, such as when the Bruins were in the hockey playoffs this summer we made a “Bruins Town Black and Gold,” which was Guinness and Blonde Cougar from Wormtown Brewing Company in Worcester, Massachusetts.
It’s easy to come up with blend ideas when you have a lot of different beers — and different styles of beers — on hand, such as in our case where we have 112 beers on draft. It’s all up to your imagination.
Brewer: Ron Gansberg, Cascade Brewing Barrel House in Portland, OR
At Cascade Brewing, we predominantly brew sour beers and barrel-aged sours, so that is what I blend. When we blend our beers, which are finished beers, we look at different flavor profiles as building blocks. We’re looking to take the flavors and attributes of one mature beer and bring them together with another so that the sum is greater than the individual piece. It allows us to layer in flavors.
Our blending process is sensory oriented — somewhat like consulting the brewers’ Ouija board. We don’t use any quantified equations for our blending, it’s all very organic, proportional blending. We also blend with aging in mind — we’re not blending for our tastes now, but also for how they will taste in the future as we will often age our beers for up to three years.
If you’re interested in blending at home, be bold — put some flavors together and experiment. Do as much blending at the tap or with bottles with finished beers that you can. Here at Cascade, we’re constantly taking different beers that we have from the tap and blending them on the fly.
If you have the space, brew a little extra homebrew, or reserve a little bit of beer from each batch and start putting away a varied stock and inventory and library of blending components. Always, however, keep the beer away from O2 as much as you can when you’re blending — keep the oxygen exposure to a minimum.
Pro: Garrett Mead, Long Trail Brewing Company in Bridgewater Corners, VT
I like to blend beers at Long Trail for a couple of reasons: to increase the variety of what’s on tap, to enhance the flavors and/or qualities of each beer — and also to live recklessly!
To come up with our beer blend ideas, we (the staff in Long Trail’s pub/visitor center) look at pairing contrasting styles. For example, pairing our Belgian White with a shot of Coffee Stout, which we named “Oreo” for its dark color, white head, and sweet palate.
We also sometimes blend beers to temper some of the extreme characteristics in a beer, like bitterness or alcohol levels. Once we come up with an idea, however, we simply go ahead and give it a try — usually after hours when the crew is sharing some shift pints.
Also, occasionally a guest will come in and surprise us with an idea to try. My absolute favorite beer blend so far is Long Trail’s Double Bag (a strong ale) blended with our traditional IPA. We call it “Inda Bag.”
The exploration of beer flavors when you are blending is the fun part. If you want to try blending, don’t be shy — two different beers that may not seem compatible at first can often surprise you. Also, keep in mind that everyone’s palate is different, and what may not appeal to one person may be heaven to another. If you’re going to try blending, I say nothing is sacred. Remember beer drinking is about having fun, not being all stiff and snooty.
If you are focused on selling beer — or just getting your friends to try it — think of blending beer this way: if you give someone a blend and they like it, you have just sold two beers instead of one!
On the other hand, if you are in it for the heady joy of brewing only (pardon the pun), you can offer your guest or homebrewing friends a unique treat for their palate.
Finally, experimenting with beer blending can spur creativity in coming up with new brewing ideas. Exploring blends can inspire you to create a finished beer from the kettle that possesses the positive qualities of your blend.
