Welcome to the first episode of Doug and Greg Drink Beers—a new tasting series from Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company. Greg Zeschuk (founder of Blind Enthusiasm) and Doug Checknita (Head Brewer and Blender) crack open a bottle of Earlton Street from our good friends at The Establishment Brewing Company in Calgary.
Join Greg Zeschuk and Doug Checknita from Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company as they introduce the Uncommon Pursuits series of beers - a special spontaneous beer collaboration with Uncommon Cider from Calgary. This new release features four barrel-fermented beers inspired by cider and fruit wine: cider apple, crab apple, cherry, and peach.
Using barrels freshly emptied of cider and fruit wine, each beer picked up unique flavors from both the fruit and the wood, as well as native microorganisms from Uncommon Cider’s fermentations. Expect hints of oak, vanilla, spice, and fruit-driven complexity in every pour.
With less than 24 hours between barrel emptying and refilling, this spontaneous fermentation series captures the essence of both beer and cider craftsmanship.
Shop the full collection of Uncommon Pursuits beers.
Greg: Hi, I'm Greg from Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company and I'm here once again with Doug Checknita, head brewer and blender. Today we're talking about a special new release coming out shortly, Uncommon Pursuits. You, of course, probably know about our Fruitful Pursuits. Uncommon Pursuits is actually collaboration with fruit focus, to a degree, with Uncommon Cider out of Calgary. Doug, do you want to talk about your good pal Brodie from Uncommon Cider, who you've known for years, that led to this great collaboration?
Doug: So I've known Brodie for 13 years about now. We met when I was working down in Calgary and ever since the beginning we've been talking about doing some collabs together: different types of beers, ciders, and once we opened and were using barrels, it became a natural fit to do something with barrels. So we got a new batch of barrels and took eight of them down to Calgary. And at Uncommon we did a variety of different fruit wines and ciders in them.
Greg: And people remember back in the day, it was actually quite a popular time, we had an Uncommon day here years ago. We actually took those ciders to pour in Edmonton. That was the first part of the collaboration: they were at the tap room and really, really delicious. So it's taken quite a few years since Doug. What's what's taking so long? Why are we so slow?
Doug: The ciders and wines that we made at Uncommon took a year in the barrels and then when those refreshingly emptied, they were brought up to Edmonton and we put spontaneous fermentation beer in them. Brodie came for the brew day. Within 24 hours of emptying them, they were filled with spontaneous and off for fermentation.
Greg: And so we actually are releasing 4 beers for Uncommon Pursuits: Cider Apple, Crab Apple, Cherry and Peach. Each of these resided in the respective barrel that had that fruit in it, and they picked up some of the character. Do you want to talk a little bit what people should expect from these?
Doug: Yeah. So after two years in the barrel, you're picking up both character from the wine and from the barrel. So you'll get a light amount of oaky character, some vanilla, some spice character. And then you're also going to pick up a little bit of each fruit. So from the apples you'll get the tannin and the acidity, and from the cherry you'll get some of the pit character, the marzipan, some of the depth that comes from the fruit there. And with the peach, you'll get like bright textural peach character.
Greg: Both Doug and I are drinking the peach right now and it's delicious. These are freshly emptied. That's one of the key things about this because our big scheme on this was to get these barrels as quickly as we could from Brodie at Uncommon. So Doug, do you want to say how quick you guys were?
Doug: Less than 24 hours from the time they were emptied to the time they were that we put spontaneous in them and they were refilled just so that we could maintain both the character of the barrel and the fruit. But also it left some of the natural microorganisms from fermentations as well. So that played a part in our actual fermentation too. Yeah. So in some of them, you get both character of fermentation, character of our natural spontaneous, as well as from Brodie's natural fermentations for his products.
Head Brewer Doug joins Greg to taste Greek Tragedy as it is released in May of 2025. Greek Tragedy is a blend of 1, 2 & 4 year Mixed Fermentation barrels and is dry hopped with a mythological pairing of hops: German Herkules and American Calypso. This combination brings a fun contrast of herbaceous pepper, ripe juicy pear, floral aromatics, and subtle musty barrel character. These flavours complement the subtlety of the fermentation and the round, wine-like acidity.
We are honoured and very excited to win silver at the 2025 World Beer Cup®! Spontaneous Manifesto took home a medal in the Belgian-style sour ale category for the second year in a row!
Greg is joined by Doug, our head brewer, to walk through the ingredients we use in our beers. They go in depth into sourcing the best possible ingredients, and our focus on partnering with Canadian producers to create beer that truly couldn't be brewed anywhere else in the world.
Greg and Doug do a tasting of the 2019 vintage of Measure of Patience, the first beer ever released from our barrel rooms! This beer has been cellaring for 6 years—watch along as they describe the flavours the beer retained and added through the cellaring process. Wait until the end for their verdict of whether this beer is at its peak, or whether you should continue to cellar it.
We're honoured to have been awarded three golds for the second year in a row at one of Europe's biggest beer competitions! Spontaneous Manifesto 2023, Fruitful Pursuits: Cherry 2023, and Substantially Complete 2023 were all judged to be gold standard by a demanding panel of judges from across Europe.
Head Brewer Doug joins Greg to taste Fruitful Pursuits: Shiro Plum as it is released.
Fruitful Pursuits Shiro Plum 2023 is a blend of Mixed Fermentation barrels refermented on Shiro Plums. This unique variety originated in Japan and was grown in the Okanagan. This harvest was supplied by Steve & Dan’s Fresh BC Fruit. The blend of 1 & 2 year barrels spent 2 months refermenting with hundreds of kilograms of Shiro plums. The plums add subtle spice, floral, candy and fresh flavours and aromas. It brings delicate texture with a velvety tannin structure that lightly coats the palate, complimented by the tart, juicy acidity balancing the blend.
Head Brewer Doug joins Greg to taste Fruitful Pursuits: Peach as it is released. This Spontaneous & Mixed Fermentation blend is refermented on organic Angela peaches, chosen specifically for our beer by Steve & Dan’s Fresh BC Fruit.
This blend of 1, 2, 3 & 4 year barrels refermented on the peaches for 2 months. The concentrated peach aromatics and subtle herbaceousness evoke characteristics of classic white wines, complemented by a texture that is reminiscent of fuzzy peach skins. The bright acidity enhances the juiciness of the fruit and light tannin.
Head Brewer Doug joins Greg to taste Fruitful Pursuits: Cherry as it is released. This Spontaneous Fermentation blend is refermented on Okanagan sour cherries.
This cherry variety of unknown heritage was supplied by Steve & Dan’s Fresh BC Fruit. The blend of 1, 2, & 3 year barrels refermented for 2 months on hundreds of kilograms of whole cherries, which showcases the full spectrum of character from the fruit and pits. The result is a stunning, ruby red colour, with pronounced baking spice and marzipan flavour, and a rich, coating texture and acidity.
We are celebrating the release of the 2023 vintage of Substantially Complete by doing a vertical tasting of the all three vintages of our quintessential mixed fermentation blend. Watch as Greg and Doug discuss what makes each beer unique, and the effect of age upon these beers.
Want to do your own vertical tasting? We released a very limited quantity of tasting boxes on our shop. Shop the Tasting Box →
In total, Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company received 15 awards/medals in 2024.
