Summit Unchained #4

Summit has just released their 4th beer in the Unchained series. I've really enjoyed the Unchained beers, which are the limited releases, one off creations of an individual brewer. One was a Kolsch, Two a Scottish Ale brewed with heather, Three a Rye IPA, and now a Belgian Golden Ale. Brewer Eric Harper has created a beautiful Golden Ale that also is the highest alcohol beer brewed by Summit.
Last week Summit was nice enough to contact me about receiving some samples. I have to say that this is my favorite of the Unchained series. The Golden Ale pours a perfect clear golden color with a thin white ring of foam. Wonderful floral and spicy aromas at first, with a faint hint of alcohol and some slight yeastiness and fruitiness. The Golden Ale is sweet at first, with some nice spiciness coming through. Light in body but with some stickiness and some very faint burn from the alcohol. It finishes with some lingering sweetness and fruity tones. Its just crisp enough to beg you for another drink.
I have to say I'm quite impressed. For a brewery that has been the steady constant in the Minnesota craft beer landscape, they've taken some bold steps in recent years. Horizon Red, a fairly hoppy red ale, has quickly become their second best seller. The Unchained series has allowed Summit to head into new directions with interesting one offs. While a Kolsch and Scottish Ale don't scream bold necessarily, the Rye IPA and now a big Golden Ale are moving in a bolder direction. Summit is known for making consistently solid beers. In my opinion, this Golden Ale puts Summit in the discussion for American breweries making great interpretations of Belgian Ales. I'll be making sure to stock up on Unchained 4 before it leaves the shelves and anxiously waiting to see what #5 brings.
I'm heading to North Carolina next week and hoping to find some local goodies or at the very least some southern and/or East coast favorites. I also will post about the recently brewed Burning Beard Belgian Ale soon.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Gluten Free IPA

This summer I decided to try to brew a gluten free beer. I've only had one before, New Grist by Lakefront and while it was decent, the truth is that beer brewed primarily with sorghum doesn't really stand up to the good old malt based beverage I love. However, my friend and colleague has a gluten allergy. Before she realized that gluten was the cause, she was a frequent recipient of my beer, and I feel guilty that I continue to give her beers to pass along to her fiancee. She asked me to brew her a gluten free beer and I was intrigued by the challenge. As she sampled the commercial examples, she complained that the one thing that they lacked was hoppiness. Her favorite beer was Bell's Two Hearted and she craved the citrusy hops in a gluten free beer.
I did a lot of research looking up gluten free recipes. Not knowing much about sorghum and how it would react with hop bitterness, I wondered why you couldn't just hop the shit out of the extract. The main problem with sorghum it seems is that it is fairly sweet, and most things people can add to get color, body, and mouthfeel seem to be more fermentables like molasses or sugar. I found a couple recipes for gluten free IPAs, and taking some of their additions, with my own thoughts on trying to see what happens when you just add a lot of hops I came up with this recipe:
Steep: 1/2 lb of oatmeal
6lbs of Sorghum extract
1 lb of sucanat -(which is basically pure dried non refined cane sugar. It retains molasses flavor and color as a result)
8 oz Maltodextrin (to add body and head retention).
Hops:
1 oz Chinook @ 60
.5 oz Chinook @ 30
.5 oz Centennial @ 15
.5 oz Chinook @ 10
.5 oz Centennial @ 5
1 oz Centennial @ 1
Yeast: Safale US-05 (* apparently many liquid yeasts aren't gluten free)

Here's the weird thing, fermentation. The beer started fermenting early on, and has held steady for more than a week now. The weid thing is that there isn't a lot of foam or krausen at the top (I'm assuming this must be due to the lack of glutenous material?) It's odd, check out these pics. It has dropped in gravity, so I know it's doing the job, but it just seems to be slow and steady. If anyone who has experience with brewing gluten free can explain this, please let me know.
More to Come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer