Beer Style: Specialty and Experimental Beer
Westorval
This is my unauthorized imagined collaboration between the monks of Sint-Sixtusabdij Westvleteren and Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval. The malt, hops, and primary fermentation are inspired by the flawless Westvleteren Blond (Green Cap) and the bottle conditioning is pure Orval. The result is fantastic around two months in the bottle when it has herbal hops, peppery yeast, and a mellow earthiness.
Alsatian Funky Saison
This beer is all about showcasing an alternative universe where Germany developed the saison and wild culture of Belgium. Rather than trying to get my hands on Alsatian Gewürztraminer grapes, I blended in a bottle of wine post fermentation. The fruity notes from the wine meld beautifully with the new German hops and lemony-funky-minerally Brettanomyces. The extended warm conditioning also provides an opportunity for the Brettanomyces to free aromatics from glycosides in the hops and wine, and to work under pressure to create flavors quickly so that the fresh hop nose is still evident.
Against the Grain Kamen Knuddeln clone
Against the Grain Kamen Knuddeln clone Blend 4 parts kettle sour beer with 1 part Russian imperial stout for the clone. Carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes. Kettle-Soured ale (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
Urgwawa – Rwandan Banana Beer
The ratios maybe a little off here as I had to triangulate a few different recipes from my Rwandan friends, but the overall concept is correct.
Tonsmeire’s Acorn Oud Bruin
I brewed a beer with compatible flavors for the acorns: A rye sour somewhere between English old ale and Flemish oud bruin.
SingleSpeed Brewing Co.’s Coconut Migration clone
Coconut DIPA? Yes, please. The Replicator travels to Iowa to try to uncover the secrets behind SingleSpeed Brewing’s Coconut Migration.
Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co.’s Maximum Mocha Porter clone
A chocolate pastry porter with coffee beans and coffee-infused dark chocolate.
Imprint Beer Co.’s Black Forest Cake Stout clone
A pastry stout with cherry puree, vanilla beans, and cacao/
Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Co.’s Funnel Cake clone
Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Company, located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, describes their Funnel Cake sweet cream ale smelling like “old-fashioned Nilla wafer” and tasting like classic Jersey Shore boardwalk funnel cake.
Conshohocken Brewing Co.’s Glazing Saddles clone
This is a creamy, blonde “krapfen-style ale” (from the German word for “donuts”) recipe that includes donut as an ingredient!
Junkyard Brewing Co.’s Peanut Butter Bandit clone
One of the largest concerns with adding peanuts to a beer centers on the slick and unpleasant mouthfeel contributions and impedance of head formation/retention due to peanuts’ significant oil content. When compared to other eating nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, etc.), peanuts share a similar profile to another nut used commonly in brewing, the hazelnut.
Paavo Pruul’s koduõlu (western Estonian farmhouse ale)
A raw ale (no-boil) Estonian farmhouse beer.
