Hybrid Beer Styles: Tips from the Pros
Brewer: John Mallett, Bell’s Brewery, Inc. in Galesburg, MI
When you brew out of style, you’re heading into the green sections of the map, seeing what’s out there. Maybe there’s a good reason why no one’s done it before, but it’s fun to explore. At Bell’s we like to play and as we develop we’re honing in and narrowing down what’s possible.
Often times we’re talking about doing a beer because we may have a particular flavor that we’re looking to highlight — or to explore the permutations of a particular ingredient. For instance, this summer we brewed Poolside, which was a cherry wheat beer brewed with a Belgian yeast. We decided to make it that way because we make a beer in the winter that is not a witbier, but had a lot in common with a witbier including the wheat and yeast. As we went into the summer and that beer was going away, we thought about the banana characteristics of the yeast we used, and banana with cherries sounded delicious.
Experiments are not always successful, though. I did a beer called Get Lucky that was not super lucky. It may have been too adventurous. I brewed a beer using Lucky Charms breakfast cereal and spirulina for color and then also threw in a little yerba matte green tea as well and the whole thing came out just crazy — not particularly drinkable. I think that the adjunct cooking stage of the Lucky Charms volatized some flavors that were never supposed to be in beer. Plus it turned just a sick, grey color — kind of nature’s way of saying “stay away.”
I love the playful spirit of homebrewing and the great, funny combinations people come up with, especially with adjunct sources like distinctive fermentables and distinctive spices, and the different flavors you can get from them that you wouldn’t really play with on a commercial level. My advice is to try taking chances. Have a great time — that’s the big thing. Be playful and don’t be afraid to sewer a batch if it doesn’t work. Not every experiment is a success — trust me, I know.
Brewer: Todd Charbonneau, Harpoon Brewery in Boston, MA
When it comes to making these kinds of beers, there are a couple of ways to look at it. In some cases a brewer may want attributes in a beer that traditionally come from different styles of beer. It can also be driven by a feeling of being restricted by a certain style. You may want something close to a Pilsner, for example, but have a twist in mind that doesn’t fit the traditional Pilsner guidelines.
This is the beauty of American craft beer. Breweries have forever been forging ahead with flagship beers that may not fit exactly into a category or meet certain drinkers expectations. This doesn’t make these beers bad. On the contrary, these are flavorful, satisfying beers that take house character and personal interpretation and run with it. One of our originals, Harpoon Ale, has been called a pale ale, an amber and an alt. We just call it ale.
We brew a lot of small batch stuff pushing the limits of gravity and ABV, as well as flavor and aroma profile. I think typically we try to accentuate the things we like about beer. The whole double this, imperial that — it’s driven by what people love about beer; the flavors and aromas of malt, hops and yeast. We recently brewed a very dark wheat wine with German hops. Not to style, but that’s how we wanted it.
We’ve brewed beers that never made it to production that even we wouldn’t drink. Usually, problems arise when a brewer goes overboard with a wide range of flavor additions, such as fruit, spices, etc. Those things can be great additions but the flavors have to fundamentally match and get along to work.
Have fun and relax. If you like the malty breadiness of a Märzen, and the green, pungent hop aroma of an IPA, then make a beer that gives you those things. Studying styles is fun and rewarding, but don’t let it bog you down if you haven’t found just what you want. Also, be open to adapting to your environment. One of America’s own styles, steam beer, was born out of necessity. If your fermentation is too warm and your British bitter isn’t tasty, try a strain that works better in that temperature range next time. Don’t worry about what the style snobs tell you.
Brewer: Nathaniel Davis, Research Pilot Brewery at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in St. Louis, MO
From my perspective, flavor and balance in brewing is king and it ought to trump style at the end of the day. I like to think as brewers that we are constantly interpreting style and that we can bend and break the rules. The attraction to brewing this way is that in order to surprise and push the boundaries you need to understand the style, then you can brew something truly new and that’s when the magic takes place.
What we do is start with a target profile in mind because sometimes style is a good way of explaining to people what to expect. This is different than what I would do if I were homebrewing. Sometimes you want to brew in order to see if you can do a classic, traditional approach to the style, and a lot of times you want to put your fingerprint on that style. For example, our Shock Top is quite traditional in the Belgian-style witbier, but you won’t see a big, spicy yeast. We also layer in lemon and lime peel with the orange peel and coriander, which is a different twist on the style. If you’re brewing at home the same kind of thing happens.
To experiment, think of some of the classic styles that have unique features that distinguish them, such as Belgian-style witbier I mentioned, Bavarian-style hefeweizens with spicy, fruity characteristics or American-style pale ale with a pine and citrus hop character. These styles all have elements that you can lift out and apply to a different style. Mix and match and you can come up with some really interesting things.
If you go back to this matrix approach, though, sometimes you can take the head of one style, the body of another and the legs of still another and you can end up with a frankenbeer with characteristics that clash, like taking the oomph of a doppelbock and applying that element to a lighter beer like a hefeweizen.
The basic process and the passion of homebrewing and how that can apply to being creative is exactly the same, whether you’re brewing 5 gallons or more. Most homebrewers I know spend a lot of time studying the style and what defines them, and spend a lot of time trying to recreate that. When you’re doing that, try writing down elements of a style you love and if you think those elements might lend themselves to another style in a harmonious way. It’s either going to work out like you thought it would, or it will surprise you and you can learn from it.
