Beyond the Black and Tan: Unique Blends
When one thinks of blending beers, the classic black-and-tan comes to mind. A blend of Bass and Guinness, it’s Equal parts of two beers that are not meant to be stirred together, but rather are layered for a lovely aesthetic. Blending to enhance appearance is common for cocktails but unusual for beers. However, numerous beers are blended for other reasons, principally to meld flavors; the total is greater than the sum of the parts.
This blending may be done in the glass, as with the black-and-tan, or in the fermenter, cask or bottle. Additionally, beers are often blended with non-alcoholic beverages to produce refreshing thirst-quenchers. All of these options are available to homebrewers, so let’s explore the wide (and sometimes surprising) world of blending.
Lambic: the blended beer of Belgium
Lambic beers are made in the Senne Valley near Brussels, Belgium. Lambics are unique on a number of fronts. The grist often is made from at least 30 percent unmalted wheat and stale hops are added to the boil. The most distinctive character is derived from “spontaneous fermentation,” which means that open fermenting vessels are exposed to natural microflora, including brettanomyces bruxellensis and brettanomyces lambicus. Lambics are aged in oak, further contributing to their idiosyncrasy. The resulting beer is quite acidic.
As one would expect for a brewing process lacking the rigor of modern quality control, the product varies from batch to batch. So lambic breweries retain master blenders. The blender melds the varying oakiness, sweetness and acidity of two lambics to produce “gueuze.” Gueuze is typically a blend of one-third young lambic (aged three to six months) and two-thirds old lambic (aged at least two years). Faro and fruit lambics are produced by adding a candi sugar (similar to our rock candy) or fresh fruit for a secondary fermentation.
Homebrewing lambics appears daunting, as well it should. However, it is not so difficult to produce close approximations with widely available ingredients and a little effort. One popular approach used by brewpubs and homebrewers is to make an ale with a traditional yeast and then add a blend of brettanomyces lambicus and brettanomyces bruxellensis for a secondary fermentation to produce the characteristic tartness.
As the Belgians do, this homebrewed lambic can be aged for up to two years and then blended with a young lambic. This requires patience that I lack. I enjoy blending this lambic, particularly as it becomes increasingly dry, with bocks or porters. These sweet, malty beers serve much the same function as the young lambics: to balance the dryness and acidity of the old lambic.
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Lynne’s Basic Lambic
five gallons, extract; OG = 1.045; FG = 1.016; IBUs = 0
Ingredients:
- 7 lbs. Briess wheat syrup extract
- 2 oz. stale whole leaf Saaz hops
- Starter of Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
- Wyeast 3272 (Lambic Blend)
- 8 oz. oak chips
- 1.1 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Note: You need to use hops that have very little bitterness and flavor left in them. The main purpose of using hops at all in a lambic is for the preservative quality. Stale the hops by spreading at room temperature on baking sheet for at least 2 weeks.
Bring 5 gallons of water to a boil, add hops and wheat extract at beginning of boil. Cool to room temperature and pour into sanitized fermenter. Add Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) yeast, aerate and keep in primary fermenter for two weeks. Rack to secondary and add Wyeast 3272 (Lambic Blend) yeast and oak chips. Ferment at 65° to 70° F for at least three months. Prime and bottle when pH reaches 3.2 to 3.6.
All-grain version:
For the all-grain lambic, replace the wheat syrup extract with 5 lbs. pale malted barley and 3 lbs. flaked (unmalted) wheat and mash at 150° F. Sparge with 170° F water and bring the runnings to a boil in brew pot. Add staled hops and boil for 1 hour. Cool to room temperature and pour into sanitized fermenter. Add Wyeast 1056 yeast, aerate and keep in primary fermenter for 2 weeks. Rack to secondary and add Lambic Blend yeast and oak chips. Ferment at 65° to 70° F for at least three months. Prime and bottle when pH reaches 3.2 to 3.6.
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Blending in the Glass
In Ireland, Smithwick’s ale and barleywine are often blended in equal proportions. The resulting concoction is known as a “barley fill-up.” Smithwick’s ale is a low-alcohol amber ale with a biscuit flavor while the barleywine is a moderate-alcohol, burgundy-colored, full-bodied brew.
Blending beers at the tap is often done to introduce a quality from one beer into another. Beer writer Michael Jackson, while at home in his local Young’s pub, often blends Young’s ordinary bitter, which is low-alcohol and lightly hopped, with special London ale, a hoppy brew of moderate strength. “As a semi-adoptive American,” writes Jackson, “I cannot find a sufficiently hoppy ale in Britain. My ‘hop fill-up’ is rather strong for session drinking but the same is true of American favorites such as Tupper’s Hop Pocket and Anchor Liberty.”
Other reasons to blend in the glass include:
• Carbonation: A beer too low or too high in carbonation can be blended to correct this problem.
• To add hop bitterness and flavor, as with Jackson’s “hop fill-up.”
• Alcohol: High-alcohol beers such as barleywine or doppelbock can be blended with low-alcohol beers to allow for longer sessions.
• Diacetyl: High-alcohol beers with excessive buttery tones can be
mellowed by blending with clean-tasting ales.
• Acidity: Beers lacking the appropriate tartness, particularly wheat
beers but also many pilsners, can be adjusted before bottling with the
addition of lactic, phosphoric or acetic acid. This can even be done
in the glass.
There is one beer that should never be blended — problem beer. Novice homebrewers occasionally make the mistake of trying to salvage a beer that has gone off by blending it with good beer. The inevitable result is two bad beers.
The possibilities of blending beers is limited only by our imaginations. Peter Bouckaert, former brewer at Rodenbach and now brewmaster at New Belgium (Fort Collins, Colorado), has produced La Folie, a wonderfully complex Belgian-style beer blended from several beers, some aged in French oak. Peter says, “Blending beers is not an exact science; you have to imagine what is going to happen to the beer, how it will change. Tasting the beer while it is flat requires you to be able to imagine all of the qualities that the beer will take on. It’s difficult to tell you how to do this, but experience helps.”
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Irish Barley Fill-Up
In a pint glass, mix equal parts of the following recipes for Barleywine and Irish Ale.
Barleywine
five gallons, extract with grains; OG = 1.092; FG = 1.020; IBUs = 90+
Ingredients:
- 0.5 lb. dark crystal malt (>100° Lovibond)
- 10 lbs. Moravian pale malt extract
- 1.5 lbs. corn sugar
- 3 oz. English Challenger hops
- 1 oz. Kent Goldings hops
- Starter of Wyeast 108 (Irish Ale) yeast
- 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Put crystal malt in muslin bag and steep in 150° to 170° F water for 15 minutes. When water comes to boil, discard grain bag and add malt extract, 1.5 lbs. corn sugar and Challenger hops. Boil for 1 hour. Add Goldings for last 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature and pour into sanitized fermenter. Pitch yeast, aerate well and ferment at 65° to 70° F. When fermentation is finished, add 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming and bottle.
All-grain Version:
Replace extract with 12 lbs. pale malted barley and mash with crystal malt at 158° F. Sparge with 170° F water and bring the runnings to a boil in brewpot. Add Challenger hops and 1.5 lb. corn sugar to boil as in the extract version. Boil for 1 hour. Add Goldings hops for last 10 minutes. Pitch yeast, aerate well and ferment at 65° to 70° F. When fermentation is finished, add 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming and bottle.
Irish Ale
five gallons, extract with grains; OG = 1.042 FG = 1.016 IBUs = 33
Ingredients:
- 3/4 lb. Special Roast malt
- 1/8 lb. chocolate malt
- 5 lbs. Moravian pale malt extract
- 1.5 oz. English Fuggles hops
- 0.5 oz. Goldings hops (finishing)
- Starter of Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale)
- 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Put Special Roast and chocolate malt in muslin bag and steep in 5 gallons of 150° to 170° F water for 15 minutes. Discard grain bag and add Fuggles hops and malt extract and boil for 1 hour. Add Goldings hops for the last 10 minutes. Ferment at 65° to 70° F until fermentation is finished. Prime with 3/4 corn sugar and bottle.
All-grain version:
Replace extract with 6 lbs. pale malt and mash with Special Roast and chocolate malt at 155° F. Sparge with 170° F water and bring the runnings to a boil in brew pot. Add Fuggles hops and boil for 1 hour. Add Goldings hops for last 10 minutes. Add yeast, aerate well and ferment at 65° to 70° F. When fermentation is finished, add 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming.
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Mexican Chelada
(beer blended with lime juice)
The reputation of the lime has been unfairly sullied by the ubiquitous slice on bland Mexican beer. Limes, and in particular Mexican limes, are a component of a refreshing blend called chelada. The name is derived from the Mexican slang for beer, “chela.”
Chelada is popular in Merida, the colonial city of the tropical Yucatan. I was exposed to chelada while dining at midday in late August on the central square, across from the Merida cathedral, the oldest cathedral in North America. The sweltering heat begs for a crisp and cold beverage and chelada fits the bill. Chelada is made with either light or dark lager, although the local dark lager, Leon Negra, was more common. Any quality lime juice will suffice, but, as with margaritas, I prefer the small Mexican limes. Chelada is not only a thirst quencher but pairs well with ceviche and fresh shrimp.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 ounces of fresh lime juice (preferably from small Mexican limes).
- Bottle of dark lager or pilsner
Step by Step:
Fill a tall slender glass with ice.
Add lime juice and top off with dark lager or pilsner
Note:
To make “michelada” fill a tall slender glass with ice. Add 2 oz. fresh lime juice (preferably from small Mexican limes).
Add 4 oz. Clamato tomato juice and top off with Carte Blanca beer, add a dash of maggi (if maggi isn’t available, regular soy sauce can be substituted) and sprinkle with pepper.
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German Radler
(beer blended with soda pop)
The blending of beer with citrus can be found in Germany, Austria and England. Hefeweizen with a lemon twist is widely appreciated throughout Bavaria and America. The most common blend in Germany is the “radler,” a fifty-fifty mix of pilsner or Bavarian helles with lemonade or Sprite or 7-Up.
Radler is thought to have originated in Bavaria in 1922 when the proprietor of a pub, short on beer and facing a group of thirsty cyclists, blended lemonade with dark lager. In fact, the name “radler” is German for cyclist. A twist on radler is “russ,” in which the lager is replaced with hefeweizen. Both radler and russ are quite popular, particularly with young Germans. Another popular blend replaces the Sprite with Coca-Cola. The English version is known as shandy, a fifty-fifty blend of light ale and Sprite or 7-Up.
Ingredients:
- 6 ounces pilsner or Munich helles
- 6 ounces Sprite or lemonade
Step by Step:
Blend both ingredients in the glass. To make “russ,” substitute hefeweizen for the Pilsner.
