Oct 20, 2018
Orpheus Brewing and The Woodlands talk sour and wild beers
Wild and sour beers continue to grow in popularity. From "simple" sour beers like Berliner Weisse and Gose to complex, spontaneously fermented ales with funky, earthy, cheesy character. There's a huge variety out there.
When you think of SweetWater Brewery, you may not think of sour beers - but you should. Nick Burgoyne, Lead Brewer and Blender at SweetWater's The Woodlands focuses on brewing wild, sour, funky and barrel-aged beers. He recently won a Silver Medal for Cambium (an American Wild Ale) at the US Open Beer Championship.
Orpheus Brewing opened in Atlanta in 2014. Brewmaster and President Jason Pellett had a goal to introduce an approachable, sour beer that anyone could afford and his Atlanta (Tart Plum Saison) did just that. In the past 4 years, Orpheus has brewed many more sour beers, and recently won Bronze for Lambic-style Ales at the Great American Beer Fest.
Burgoyne and Pellett join us this week to talk about the adventure of expanding the acceptance of sour beers. We talk simple kettle sours like Berliner Weisse and Gose, and more complex sours like Lambic and Gueze. We also discuss the challenges facing American brewers as they mimic these styles and try to name them without offending traditional Belgian brewers, and how that brought about the move towards the Méthode Traditionnelle under the guidance of HORAL (High Council for Artisinal Lambic Beers). As we sip through several beers, the conversation moves to the process of traditional spontaneous brewing and blending sour beers.
The show was taped at SweetWater Brewery during ZCON Atlanta's brewery night. We talk with Z Car Club Association President Chris Karl about Z Cars, the club and ZCON - their annual national convention.
Beer Guys Radio Craft Beer Podcast 147
Guests: Nick Burgoyne,
SweetWater Woodlands | Jason Pellett, Orpheus Brewing | Chris
Karl, ZCCA - The Z-Car Club Association
Topic: Sour
and Wild Beer Primer and intro to Z-Cars
Episode Guide
- Sponsor thanks and show intro | 0:00
- Nick Burgoyne intro | 01:50
- Jason Pellett intro | 2:08
- Week in Review | 2:29
- Woodlands Circle Beer Club | 3:04
- Blue Ridge, GA Brewery visits | 3:59
- Brian's wrong opinion on stouts | 5:08
- Beers of the Week | 6:58
- Craft Beer News | 7:45
- Climate change and craft beer
- Sustainability in brewing
- Orpheus "Even the Furies Wept" and Tribute Barrels | 12:52
- Breaking down "sour" beers | 14:13
- American brewers naming of sour beer styles | 16:10
- Orpheus process in canning sours | 16:32
- Kettle sours: Berliner Weisse and Gose | 17:35
- Substituting lactic acid for lactobacillus | 19:23
- Heavy fruit blurring Berliners and Goses | 20:59
- Z-Car Talk and ZCON Atlanta | 23:50
- Oud Bruin / Flanders Red discussion | 29:27
- How not to pronounce Belgian beer names | 34:40
- Lambic and Geuze discussion | 35:32
- Spontaneous fermentation and koelschip/coolship | 35:32
- Kriek, Framboise, Faro | 38:40
- Méthode Geuze / Méthode Traditionnelle | 40:35
- HORAL (High Council for Artisinal Lambic Beers) | 42:07
- American Wild Ale |
43:00
BEGIN 5th SEGMENT | 44:40 - Orpheus Everything Last's Forever / Méthode Traditionnelle MT III | 45:15
- ABV potential in spontaneous brewing | 47:34
- Wild wine | 45:55
- Introducing sour beers to America | 52:58
- Orpheus markets sours to the masses | 54:55
- Tim gets tipsy, rambles | 55:15
- SweetWater introduces hop heads to sour ales | 56:18
- How SweetWater got involved with sour brewing | 56:50
- SweetWater alumni | 59:50
- Blending sour beers | 1:00:20
- Alternative lambic brewing - Labeau and DKZ methods | 1:04:50
- Green bottles and skunking your lambics | 1:07:28