One of the highlights of putting together a big beer dinner is getting to work closely with local breweries to select a special beer to pair. In this case, I was welcomed back at Drakes Brewing in San Leandro. Host by Brewmaster Brian, we had the rare opportunity to taste from their barrels, and put together a custom blend just for the dinner.  Last year’s blend went on to be known as “It’s Fity” and was poured at a huge range of beer events all year.  This year we were looking for something darker and richer to pair with a cheese course late in the meal (see the full menu, and get your tickets, right here.)

This year Brian and I were joined by Elianna, Jason and Morgan.  First step: move those barrels.

Once we had access to these long aging barrels, we pulled samples.  This takes a while, since everything has to be sterilized in between each step, as well as we have to create a syphon to get the beer out.  It’s worth the effort.

After all the samples were down, we were finally able to start tasting.  We started by taking all of the sample, and making up tasting notes for each one.  It’s amazing the differences that exist from barrel to barrel.  Like micro-ecosystems, each one has it’s on personality, quirks, and tendencies – and that’s before you even introduce the beer.

After quite a bit of tasting, the favorites at the table emerged:  a Pinot barrel stout has a huge oak character, and was really light on the brett.  A similar Merlot barrel stout – same batch – also was light on brett, but with a more fruity, less oaky backbone.  A brett barreled blonde was young, with a nice spritely character.   Two BrettAmbers, both with very different sour character – number one was farmhouse comfort, while number two was aggressive, bordering on hints of vinegar.  A barrel IPA had just a hint of hops still left in it.

After many, many, many blends, we finally were getting closer, but missing that last, little touch.  Brian went back to the barrels to get more of the favorites, as well as introduce or or two more to the party.  It was then that we found the lynchpin to hold the blend together: a port barrel blueberry stout that had just the right amount of funk, and a great, rich silky mouthfeel.  Combined with the a large amount of pinot barrel stout for oak, and a little brett blonde, we finally found the perfect balance between brett, roast, oak, funk and flavor.   It has a unique character that really well represents the exciting stuff going on in the Drakes barrels – they are alive with wild bug, and change overtime, evolving as the beer ages in the grape infused barrels. We re-blended, remeasured, and confirmed all the details, before bottling off a few samples of the chef. It’s named “Barrel Noir.”

Now all we need is a great cheese to go with it.

This special blend will be served with the cheese course on February 10th at the Scala’s Mostly Barrel Aged Beer Dinner.  Tickets on sale now.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under beer dinner, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.