The Mash Out and Bière de Récolte

Paul and I in the Mash Pi

On Saturday, August 21, 2010 I attended the "Mash Out" out back of Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments in the Mash Pit.  It's your everyday back yard event... except that it's behind Dr. Gonzo's store.  The store is built into the side of a hill, which starts up on Harvard St. and slopes down to Main St.  There's quite a grade there.  Carved out of the hill is the back patio area know as the Mash Pit.  Stu Esty (Dr. Gonzo) has cook-offs using his products and  other other events, where live bands play and fun runs a muck.

Jared's brewing system

The Mash Out invitation was sent out on Facebook and was forward to me by Pat Gouin.  Brewers could come and make some homebrew, taste each others beer and have a good times and talk about beer.  It was hosted by Stu and Matt Glidden.  I got to meet a few new folks such as Kelly, Paul (who was learning to brew,) Jared (squatting in the image to the left), Crystal, Jess, Ricky, Andy, Rob and others stopped by.  Kelly and Matt made some pretzels and brought cheeses and salami from Ed Hyder's Mediterranean Market. Matt also procured some growlers (and hops for Jared) from the Wormtown Brewery. Stu brought out some great mustard to dip and spread.

We tasted a lot of beer.  Jared first poured his Mango IPA which was sweet and hoppy. There was a nice opposition between the sweetness and hops. He also brought a whiskey barrel porter, bourbon stout and a deep rich barley wine, which we all loved. (I hope I got those all right.)  The Wormtown offerings were the Be Hoppy IPA, Turtleboy, FU IPA, Blonde Cougar and Foxy Brown.  I brought the American Craft Beer Wheat, Tongue Splitter, Smythicks Irish Red and the Strumpkin.  The ladies liked the light sourness of the wheat. The Tongue Splitter has oxidized a bit so it's a bit duller now.  Everyone enjoyed the mellowness yet powerful pumpkin Strumpkin.  I'm impressed with its mellow complexity from the nutmeg power! Finally everyone got a good belch and flavor out of the Irish Red. It's a bit too carbonated for the style, but the taste is good and the carbonation cut through the richness of the cheeses and mustard.

Having a great time.

Jared brewed a large batch of Belgian Wit using his 10 gallon system and I brewed a smaller 3 gallon batch of Bière de Récolte, which is a French farmhouse harvest variation of a Bière de Garde.  I decided to do the smaller batch so it was easier to transport.  Brewing went well... only one very short boil over!  It was great to be brewing a farmhouse ale surrounded by the craggy jointed stone foundation amongst the dust and spiders and daylight spattering through the planks of the stairway and decking overhead, quite reminiscent of a barn construction.  I hope I didn't get any wild yeasts in the pot.

My Bière de Garde used 2.5% AA Alsatian Strisselspalt hops. The grain bill included 76% Pilsner malt, 10% Belgian Munich, 65% Dark Wheat, 2% Belgian Caravienne, Aromatic malts and clear Belgian Candi, which brought the O.G. up to 1.055. That's a bit low for a formal BdG.  When I got home I pitched the Whitelabs 072 French Ale yeast.  Fermentation was active the next day.  You can see the full recipe on my site's recipe page.  

We're looking forward to another Mash Out in the winter. I'll brew an extract with Paul if he wants to and we'll drink the Bière de Récolte.  I'll also drop a flip-top liter off for Stu to wet his whistle and get some mustard!

Bonne brasserie!