Native Cultures

The lack of any beer fun from me results from my diverted attention to law school.  Apparently that is supposed to be my sole attention, something about my future being important?  Unfortunately, using the word tortfeasor is only fun for so long and my Contracts professor can only use so many puns (I guess you could say the milk business was going sour).  I'm the weird kid that laughs in class.

Fortunately I have been able to throw academia off my shoulders for a short period of time so I can write an entry no one will read.  Last months BeerAdvocate Magazine included an article about the new practice by American breweries of using native wild yeast cultures.  Since I am a fan of all things funk related, this of course immediately appealed to me.

The basic theme of the article deals with the new trend of American breweries using the natural fermentation style of the Belgian lambic.  For those unfamiliar, the wort of a lambic is usually placed in a coolship (a wide shallow tank) and exposed to air overnight.  The wild yeast in the air then make their way to wort and begin its funky transformation over the next year to a year and a half.

This was largely thought to only be possible in specific areas of Belgium as the wild yeast used in different in each area of the world.  Lately, American brewers have challenged this idea and moved the process to the states.  Most notably, Russian River and Allagash have ventured successfully into the wild fermentation area, with Allagash even building their own coolship to match the fermentation techniques of the Belgian brewers.  Some such as Mystic Brewery are even going as far as isolating particular strands and experimenting with the vast array of wild yeasts available.

Although the results may not be considered the classic lambic, the American Wild Ale has emerged as its own distinct (and delicious) beer.  The best part is, any homebrewer can try their hand at spontaneous fermentation with the results being unique to the area you brew in.  For some more instructions, check out the attempts of The Mad Fermentationist.  Although this process is a little unpredictable, the experimentation is worth it for a unique beer.  I would love to try this myself, but I suspect that wild yeast found in Chicago may not be quite what you should be looking for.  Shucks.

Hey!  I didn't have to use a crappy camera for this post!  Phew, now you only have to deal with the abundance of brown in the blog!