Welcome to another edition of Barrel to Bottle with Binny's Beverage Depot. I am your host, Kristen Ellis. I'm here with Jeff Carlin. What's up, Jeff? Hey, Kristen. How's it going? It's going well. Welcome to another edition of Barrel to Bottle with Binny's Beverage Depot. I feel welcome to you. I'm always welcome. You're always welcome. Thank you, sir. It's a full house. That's why I feel really good. We've got all of Binny's here, right? Basically, all 1,300 of us packed into the studio. So who's here with us today? Roger, the beer guy. What's up? Hey, folks. How are you doing? Thanks for coming in today. I'm excited. We're pouring some of my favorite beers tonight. We've got 2 other people here hanging out. On my left, we've got Greg Versh. Hey, Greg. Hey. What's your role? Communications czar and all around handyman. That's really true, actually. Thanks for making sure my tire was on properly in my car. Yeah. Monique. Hi, it's Monique. Hi, Monique. We're happy to have you. I'm happy to be here. What do you do? I do spirits. I'm spirit. If you distilled all this beer, I'd love to see what kind of whiskey it would make. Today, it's beer. Roger, we're doing beer under cork, so like beer that acts like wine. Absolutely, as well as beer that is literally bottled like wine with a cork. The beers that we're going to be trying tonight are all living beers, so they're all bottle condition. The thing with bottle conditioning is that you're actually packaging the beer with live living yeast in the bottom of the bottle. That's going to continue fermenting any leftover sugars that are left in the beer. That's going to produce a unique type of carbonation. It's softer, smoother. You really notice how velvety smooth these are. The carbonation as you look at the glass with some of these really beautiful tiny champagne-like bubbles. So if you want to try the true champagne of beers, not the one that's famously called that, these are more champagne-esque like any other beers that you're going to be able to purchase. All right, let's get started. We're going to talk about this Lambic first. So renewed interest in sour beer has never been higher. Ironically, for years, these beers were woefully under-appreciated. The American palate wasn't ready for them. They were just too funky, too wild, too sour. What's unique about these is that the fermentation that is employed is completely wild. So they'll open up a big room. They'll let essentially the wind do the fermentation. So whatever microflora is floating around in the air around Brussels and Belgium, that is literally the terroir of these beers. So lambic beer, depending on what your ultimate goal is, can be aged in these large wooden vessels for one, two, three years. You can even blend the three lambics together and you produce what's known as a goose, which is what we have poured here tonight. Spelled B-O-O-N, almost universally mispronounced by us Americans as Boone. It is pronounced Bone, Frank Bone, the brewmaster and owner of Bone. He is one of the most influential producers in saving this style. It was almost on the outs. An extra O, so you know it's good, right? Absolutely. Now people are really kind of seeking out this style. For years, one of the only ways that it stayed afloat was for brewers to back sweeten their lambics. Okay. What would they use for that? All sorts of different methods. You can literally be using a syrup. You could use fruit. Sometimes, you're adding natural fruit sugars. Otherwise, you're just adding plain sugar. Caner beet sugar or something like that. Absolutely. Yep. The name lambic became almost synonymous then with these sweeter, depending on the producer, almost syrupy sweet, almost like a cordial of a beer. Ironically, since the beer itself, when it comes out of wood, is bone dry, very funky. We've kind of gone full circle and now people are really interested in those big crazy flavors, just like we're talking about barrel-age beer. People are a little more adventurous now, their palates are changing. So they're seeking out things that are usually, if you see the labels on these, what we're drinking is Marisch Parfait, and it's an Oud Goose. O-U-D refers to the old method of making beer. This is going to have that very traditional, old school goose flavor. Very complex and bizarre aroma to it. Some people need to kind of warm up to this. Funky, one of the most common descriptors is horse blanket, barnyard. There's also a very nice, bright, lively acidity to it. It's lemony. There's hay. The complexity in this beer is pretty incredible. Yeah, it's delicious. And a little bit of funkiness. Is that influenced by Britannomyces? Absolutely. So in these big wooden vessels, they're not imparting much of an oak flavor. The importance of the wood is to be a home for these microorganisms. So Britannomyces, in some cases, many different strains are at work here, producing all these unique flavors and aromas. And the yeast can change year to year. If it's ambient, sometimes by testing, you'll find that in a brewery or winery, yeast that were there to help make the wine one year just are completely absent the next year. So that's also going to maybe affect the style, no? I mean... Absolutely. These are works in progress. They're true vintage beers. You're never going to have the same product every time. On the back of this bottle, there's a unique thing. So we're familiar with date codes. The best before date on this goose is 2032. And the vintage on the bottle is 2011. Is that a current release? So that refers to yes, this is current. That is going to be the year that they started brewing the first lambic that went into this blend. And the unique thing about this super long shelf life is that it's going to continue to ferment and slowly change over time. We had Fern in talking about wine and like buying a wine for someone to have like 20 years from now. Like, hey, you're born and I got you this great beer. Is that something so many people do? Do you recommend that? Guzes and lambics are the only ones that have quite that intense of a lasting power if you wanted to actually keep it till someone turned 21. They're such a broken down beer. They're so exposed to oxygen. They've already been, quote unquote, infected with what you would normally try to avoid that they have that ability to continue to age. The other ones, though, they have phenomenal cellar ability. They'll start to dry up over time, really change. The double, I definitely recommend you age. The other Chimay, the Grand Reserve, is the most famous of the Chimays. People typically cellar that. It's not uncommon at all. They'll have vintages going back almost a decade. These are really the beers to age. Sometimes I see people filling up their cellars with a lot of beers that are from local breweries. They're oftentimes big stouts, brewed with adjuncts. A lot of those beers really don't have the best potential. Things could go wrong over time. Since they're not bottle conditioned, typically, you're really only hoping that they're starting to oxidize in a good way. There's not really still fermentation or anything happening. Arguably, it's degrading, but you're hoping in a good way. Whereas if you lay these down, if you save these for a while in a cool, dark place, they're developing, absolutely changing. It's fun to try each year, keep replenishing. You can build up what they typically call vertical and do a little tasting of different vintages all at once with friends, family. It's really fun, especially at the holidays. Just like the monks. Absolutely. So how do they make sure that thing doesn't explode? That is part of the reason that we're drinking this in a nice, thick glass, like a champagne bottle, that came cork and cage. Cork and cage would be a good name for a beer club. There you go. So sometimes you get a bottle that's cork and cage, and it's completely dead. The cork is dried up and too thin, and there's no pop at all when you open. Is that a bad sign? Depends on the style. So a true, very old-fashioned lambic, which is extremely hard to come by, are traditionally bottled still, so that wouldn't have any carbonation. Conversely, because this is a blend of new and old beers, the newer beer is going to have a little bit of fermentable sugar left in it, so this should be highly carbonated and effervescent. When done in the traditional style, you do want plenty of carbonation with these. They can be a little challenging to drink something that's sour and funky when there's not that nice carbonation to lift everything up a little bit. Yeah, it really does clean the tongue and kind of, you know. These are wonderful with really rich food. We have holidays coming up. People like serving, you've got your gravies, you've got your hors d'oeuvres, rich cheeses, pates, charcuterie. This combination of acidity and carbonation is perfect for cutting that and cleaning your palate. It really is very much how we would describe champagne, the same reasons. I love it. Hey, Roger, quick question. What did like the 234 double triple quad times what? Another matter of great debate. Unfortunately, there's not a clear cut answer. Double in a way you could argue is almost double the amount of malt required to brew that beer. That is sort of what the known most agreed upon aspect for that or alcohol wise. Monks would typically only drink what's known as a single or a house style. Those very low in alcohol. Typically a double then is twice the strength of a single. That's kind of the easiest way to think of it. So as we're moving up between triple quadruple, that is just higher ABV? Typically, yes. Okay. Higher ABV. The monks are using, like, I'm assuming, strands of yeast that have been using over and over for hundreds of years. Chimay, in fact, is one of the most important of the Trappist breweries for supplying yeast. They actually end up providing these for other monasteries. It's a very modern process, actually. This is a very state of the art facility. They worked for a substantial amount of time picking out those specific yeast strains and cleaning it up and making it very precise to dial in exactly those types of esters and phenols that they wanted. So the monks work on these beers and other than that single or lighter lower alcohol version, they only get to enjoy the stronger styles on holidays one or two times a year. Oh, but I bet they throw down and they do some crazy in the monastery. Get full of their loot out and go nuts. So you know, because you've been here on the podcast a few times, that we have a little Q&A for our customers at Binny's Beverage Depot. So if you write in to us at Binny's Bev on Twitter, you will be chosen if your question is good enough for a $20 gift card to spend in one of our locations. So here it goes. Eric Wilburn, he wrote, What's the wildest original barrel ingredient that you've seen used to age beer? Before you answer, I want you to talk about Rogue when they did that wild yeast beer with the yeast from the Brewmaster's beard. Why and how did it taste? And then answer the question. Unfortunately, I did not choose to try beard beer. Greg can speak to it. I'll take Greg's ear for it. I didn't try it either. It just sounded... What's the backstory? Quick backstory on it. Yeast and micro bacteria are all over our bodies. Hair tends to collect it very well. Especially if you're working in a brewery, you're going to have the yeast up in your... Also, all three men in this studio right now have some form of beard. As they should. I did this morning, but mine's gone. Sorry. It's funny how it seems so kind of gross, but I wasn't that averse to it. I just kind of didn't get around to it, but it's not uncommon. Again, we were talking about these Belgian beers. It's being fermented by whatever is floating around in the air. So, right. So they isolated that yeast microbe that was in his beer, propagated it, and then fermented beer with it. Absolutely. And did your counterparts like it? Were they like trying to get them out on a date? Like what? Right. So, I bought a bomber and then I had serious trouble finding anyone to share it with. Nobody wanted to join in. So, I had this bomber and it was all right. That's it? Yeah. It was slightly hoppy pale, right? Okay. So, I mean. So, interesting, but... Yeah. Most likely the yeast strain wasn't anything that exotic or anything. Sure, sure. No beard terroir, unfortunately. So, then the wildest ingredient that you've seen kind of infused in a beer or used in a beer, what do you think? I've seen mushrooms, wildflowers. That's kind of a funky beer that I thought would just end up tasting like soap. Yeah. But it was actually quite nice. What else have I seen? Sriracha? Yes, sriracha. Donuts. Rogue. We're hitting a lot of rogue beers here. Rogue likes to think outside the box. Living up to their name. Old Bay Crab Seasoning. You know what? Those are the best chips I've ever had. Do you ever have those Old Bay chips? The Old Bay beer was so popular in Maryland, where Old Bay is a very popular seasoning, that they had to stop brewing the majority of their non-core beers at Flying Dog, just to keep up with demand for the Old Bay beer. People are baddie for that. They love it. The Old Bay beer was actually quite delicious. You know, I take it back, I can't believe that I didn't think of this right away. Dogfish had brews with incredibly bizarre things. Oysters. Lobsters. This is the weirdest beer ingredient I've had, was their beer for breakfast was brewed with Scrapple. If you've never had the pleasure of eating Scrapple, it is the old school developed during the Great Depression, where we needed to make an animal last as far as possible. I think people have sort of inferred Scrapple out of it, and probably guessed its intestines, its lips and butt. Think of Spam. It's practically a hot dog. It's Spam with some extra filler in there, but it's a breakfast meat. Yeah, just collagen just right in there. All the... Hooves and hearts, we've got that. Yep, all the weird parts of the pig. But it was a delicious beer. Again, you put these crazy things in there. The beer doesn't really taste like the crazy thing. Scratch Brewing, we don't carry their beers yet. They're a very tiny brewery down in southwestern Illinois. They forage ingredients for their beers. And one of their beers I had... How hipster of them. Exactly. I had a beer at JBF that was brewed with 40 different things. It was a little too much. Sounds like it. So if you really want to know bizarre, check out Scratch. They're about as bizarre as it gets. Well, thanks for that, Roger. Thanks, you guys, for coming today. Monique, Gregory. Yeah. Thank you. For another edition of Barrel to Bottle. I'm Kristen. Thank you so much for joining. I'm Jeff. Also, thank you so much for listening. Right. Until next time. Keep tasting. I think that's your line. Oh, sorry.