When making beer one of the first steps is the conversion of malt to its constituent sugars and nutrients when is then converted to beer. This initial conversion to sugar and nutrients is done by adding water to malt then heating it to various temperatures to trigger and enhance enzymatic conversion. This is common to all beers though there are many different mashing processes that can be used to create unique beers. We’ll give you a quick outline of the turbid mashing process we use.
Mixed fermentation is the process of fermenting wort into beer by manually adding lab grown microorganisms to the wort the morning after it is brewed. This wort destined to be a mixed fermentation beer is cooled in a sterile tank over night and the next morning we introduce a blend of microorganisms into the wort before it is pumped into barrels.
A couple years ago we had the great privilege of pouring beer at Foudres Unis, a beer festival hosted by Brasserie Dunham in Quebec. Once we arrived in Dunham, we were told that we would be sharing accommodations with the folks from Twin Sails. We had never met the Twin Sails team before but weren’t concerned as most folks in the brewing business tend to be easy to get along with. To make matters even better, the generous folks at Dunham provided each accommodation with a case of their beer, so we got to work sampling the wares with Cody, Clay and Eli and got to know each other over a few beers and next couple days. As tends to happen in these circumstances we thought it would be a great idea to do a mixed fermentation collab together at some point. We didn’t have a specific plan or date in mind, but the intention was clear.
In early 2019 we heard that Eli was traveling to Edmonton along with Jeffrey, one of the Twin Sails sales team, for a local festival and tap takeover so we put our collaboration plan in to action. Eli and Doug worked together to plan out the recipe opting to go with something different thqn our standard base wort. Typically, the Monolith beers use just Pilsner Malt and Unmalted Wheat. The idea was to change it up with the addition of Caraaroma and Munich malts to add fruitiness and depth, which would highlight the use of freshly emptied Spanish red wine barrels we happened to have. The wort was made using the turbid mash method typically used for the Monolith beers and placed into the fresh 500L Spanish red wine barrels with a house blend of microorganisms. As you may have noted from a prior post, we’ve learned that our mixed fermentations beers peak after 12 to 18 months in barrel, so true to form we waited until 16 months before blending the batch and some additional barrels to round out the blend. As we bottle condition all of the Monolith beers it spent nearly 9 months in the cellar until we felt the secondary fermentation and conditioning were complete.
It also picked up some tannin from the barrels which helps round out the texture. We don’t have any special hop additions in this beer beyond our standard aged hops, so it has low bitterness. Finally, it has a medium level of acidity that does a great job emphasizing the red fruit notes that characterize this beer.
The name of this beer and branding stem from its origin. One Night in Dunham we met the folks from Twin Sails and agreed to make a beer with them. The label is an homage to their iconic style combined with our passion for landscape art on our expansive beers. We hope you like it.
Our first release of 2021 is Mentis Oculi, an addition to our Dry Hop Series from the Monolith. Like its sibling Un Petit Peu we used a blend of mixed fermentation barrels from our first batches of beer fermented in Marsala barrels. You’re likely wondering why it’s taken much longer for this beer to be released in comparison, and there is a very good reason for it. Barrel fermented beer can be fermented for between one and four years, changing and developing character over time.
Previously we have made blends when our barrels were younger (about 1 year) as they showed great characteristics for young barrels. We did however sit on the remaining barrels for another six to eight months and discovered that additional fermentation time further rounded out their character and made for a more delicious beer.
Mentis Oculi differs from previous Dry Hop Series beers due to a change in hop varietal in the dry-hopping regime. Dry-hopping is a process where we add fresh pelletized hops to a finished beer in order to extract hop oils and resins to add hop character to the beer. For Mentis Oculi we wanted to combine both old world and new world hop character. To achieve this, we used a combination of German Tettenang and American Simcoe. We expected the combination of these two very different hops would result in something more than the sum of their parts.
Like other beers in the Dry Hop Series this one also features art from the mural on the back of the Monolith by the amazing Mr. Cenz. The piece of the mural we chose the label also happens to reflect the title of the beer (Mentis Oculi means “of an eye”).
The fourth release from The Monolith is another first: it is our first fruit beer. Fruitful Pursuits: Plum is the first in a series of fruit beers from The Monolith. We’ll be doing a number of fruit beers under the “Fruitful Pursuits” umbrella that will be accompanied by the fruit or blend of fruits in the name. To create this beer, we used more than 750kg of ripe Damson and Presidents plums shipped directly from the Okanagan. We processed the plums by hand (removing about a third of the pits and squishing them to disrupt the skins), and then added the crushed plums to our specially designed fruiting tanks. We have very fond memories of “Plum Squishing Day”!
We used whole fruit to make this beer, the hardest and most time-consuming way to make a fruit beer. But it’s absolutely worth it.
The barrels selected for this blend were from batches of mix-fermentation beer from our first year of production. We selected nicely balanced and fruit forward barrels to enhance the Plum character with the knowledge that the plums will add some brisk acidity to the beer. The plums sat on the beer for two months and the mixture went through another round of fermentation as the sugar from the plums was consumed. The resulting beer has a beautiful ruby-purple color, lots of bold plum character and a medium-high acidity. We always aim for balance in our beers, and even though Fruitful Pursuits: Plum is our most acidic beer to date it is still has a delightful fruit character and full texture.
Fruit beers are fairly common and there are several different processes that breweries use to create them. If one were looking for just fruit flavouring, one could simply use a fruit extract, a chemically processed syrup that contains “fruit essence” or artificial fruit flavour. Many breweries wanting a natural fruit flavour use pureed fruit, which is mechanically processed fruit, processed and often pasteurized to be easier to transport and utilize. Traditionally breweries would use fresh, unprocessed whole fruit, which not only adds flavour of the fruit but also character from the skins, seeds, and stems. The fruit (whatever the source) is generally added after primary fermentation. With almost all methods, apart from fruit extract as it adds next to no sugar, the beer and fruit will go through a secondary fermentation. This fermentation will vary in time and complexity depending on the availability of the sugar and complexity of fermentation. A puree has fermentable sugars that are well disrupted and readily accessible, thus fermenting quickly and cleanly. The puree processing removes parts of fruit that could also add further complexity. Using whole or lightly crushed fruit leads to a slow fermentation process because the sugars are not as readily available. This benefits different microorganisms from the beer and fruit allowing time to create different compounds adding to flavour complexity and depth. Different parts of the fruit such as the stems and seeds also have time to break down and release tannins, phenolic compounds, and acids further adding to the depth of flavour and colour.
In many ways Fruitful Pursuits: Plum is an homage to the great fruit beers of our favorite traditional breweries. There for, as you may have guessed, we used whole fruit to make this beer, which admittedly is the most labour intensive and time-consuming way to make a fruit beer. But it is absolutely worth it! Fruitful Pursuits: Plum was a lot of work, it was also a true labour of love. We’re really proud of this beer and look forward to its imminent release on Friday, August 21st. We’ll have 750ml and 375ml bottles available at our location, as well as select liquor stores throughout Alberta. We hope you like it.
Our third Monolith beer launch was actually our second blend, and the process we used required more conditioning time before it was complete. Un Petit Peu is dry hopped, meaning we added hops to the beer after it was blended and conditioned in our blending tanks. This is our first dry-hopped beer from the Monolith, and we are already planning for more as we like the unique character from the additional hopping.
Un Petit Peu was blended from the original sets of mixed-ferment barrels, the same sets that we used to create Measure of Patience and Substantially Complete. As mentioned in prior columns we use a standard process for creating wort that is put into barrels for fermentation. We get unique variation due to the natural variance in character development barrel to barrel. We use aged, whole-leaf hops in the boil during wort production, giving our beers a very low bitterness and subtle aged-hop flavour (they can sometimes be perceived as tea-like).
For our first dry-hopped beer we elected to use two fairly uncommon French hops—Barbe Rouge and Mistral. These impart subtle red berry and floral notes to the beer. We made the blend knowing it would be dry-hopped, so the goal was a more balanced, light-acidity blend. This profile enhances the berry and floral notes we knew we could expect from these hops. We are very happy with the outcome.
You will likely notice the unique art on this bottle. It’s the first in our series of dry-hopped beers and each of these beers will feature a piece of the mural on the back of the Monolith. Each of our family of beers has a consistent theme or source of art. We will talk more about these themes, as well as the actual artists doing the work on our bottles in a future story.
The 2019 vintage of Un Petit Peu is available in both 375ml and 750ml bottles and will age for up to 10 years. It will be available at our brewery and restaurant, as well as select liquor stores across Alberta.
Our second release from the Monolith is called Substantially Complete. As with many of our beers this name is a play on words. It combines references to the Monolith largely being complete as a brewery (finally), the physical manifestation of the building, and the second beer representing the realization of our objectives for the mixed fermentation program thus far. Here is the description from the label:
In the story of Measure of Patience we cover many of the same items that are important to Substantially Complete. It’s a mixed fermentation beer, it’s fermented for a year in the same type of barrels, it uses the same wort to create the base beer, and it’s about the same age as Measure of Patience. The primary difference in Substantially Complete is the approach to blending.
Substantially Complete uses similar sources of blending stock as Measure of Patience. The difference between the two beers is a reflection of the different goals we had for the blend. Measure of Patience was a blend to satisfy and impress people that have tried a range of mixed fermentation beers, while being a balanced beer that would not be overwhelming in any way for people new to these beers. Substantially Complete by comparison was blended to be more direct in both its fruit character and acidity. To do this we pick different barrels and blend them in different proportions to highlight the characteristics we’re seeking. The result is a beer that is more assertive than Measure of Patience, but also with a balance that will surprise and delight drinkers. As a beer, we feel it’s Substantially Complete.
Now that we’re entering our second calendar year of releasing barrel-aged and barrel-fermented beers it’s a good time to explain our method for the vintage (or year) dates on our bottles. Our bottled beers can be aged for many years so it makes sense to have a clear, sensible, and consistent way we label each beer for sale and future consumption. Like most things we have a process for this, and we think it’s important to share it with you.
The super-quick summary is that the dates published on the bottle are the year and exact date it was first put into the bottle. We establish consistency, particularly with our barrel-fermented beer which features a cork and crown-cap, by printing the year of packaging on the cork matching the year and date printed on the label. On our barrel-aged beers we use a type of crown-cap with a bidule, an insert that seals the crown-cap to better maintain carbonation when aging. Therefore we don’t have an option for a date inside the bottle as with the use of a cork. The labels of the barrel-aged beers do feature the date and year they were bottled.
The primary reason we want to communicate our method for establishing vintage dates for our beer is because we bottle condition and cellar all of our bottled beer and this process takes time. Bottle conditioning is a process by which carbonation is naturally generated within the bottle, and cellaring is the time the beer takes to clean up and age after the conditioning. For our barrel-aged beers this process can take as long as a few months, while our barrel-fermented beers can take much longer. For example, in our mixed-fermentation beers the process normally takes at least six months and our spontaneous beers will take even longer. Because of the time put into conditioning and cellaring, many of our batches will not be released in the year that is displayed on the bottles. We take this extra time because we want you (the consumer) to know that we feel that the bottle conditioning is complete, and that it has had the appropriate amount of time cellaring. You can be confident that each batch released is ready to drink as soon as you get it.
That’s the summary of our approach to bottle vintages. It’s an important topic for us (and you!) because unlike most beers, all of our bottled beer can be aged. We want you to be fully informed about what you’re buying and when it was made.
