From Brewer to Distiller, a Change Both Rich and Strange
Posted on June 12, 2009
Filed Under Matthew B. Rowley | Leave a Comment
Matthew B. Rowley (Rowley’s Whiskey Forge) is an advertising executive, former museum curator, and past board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange
~ The Tempest (Act I, Scene II)
William Shakespeare
American distilling is undergoing a profound transformation. And while the changes may seem recent, sudden, and unexpected to casual observers, in reality, they’ve been brewing for over thirty years.
For explosion in the range and quality of spirits newly available and for the burgeoning number of small distilleries making them, thank craft brewers. When they set up stills for vodka, gin, genevers, and other spirits, high-profile pioneers such as Fritz Maytag and Sam Calagione helped legitimize a trend among brewers of pushing into a higher-proof skill set.
This July at Tales of the Cocktail, a panel of erstwhile brewers chaired by Stephen Beaumont will speak openly of their transformation into distillers. Yes, openly. Big whoop, you say, brewer to distiller. Not such a big deal. Except that it is.
A few years ago, in a big, easy, crescent-shaped southern city, I tried to speak to a homebrew supply shop owner about distilling. Since he was selling spirit hydrometers for measuring the alcohol content of spirits, not beer, I figured he’d be up for a little shop talk. He told me flatly, “Get the hell out of my shop.” Not quite the talk I was expecting—If anybody knows more about distilling than the general public, it’s the brewing crowd. As a former brewer myself, learning about distillation was not only intuitive, but a logical next step.
For brewers, the ingredients and techniques—even much of the equipment—used to make spirits are already familiar. Grains, malt, yeast, enzymes, ideal fermentation temperatures, filtration systems, and the water profiles that led to great-tasting beverages—shoot, these are all old hat once you’ve cut your teeth on your own homemade Oktoberfests, hefeweizens, brown ales, Scottish ales, barleywines, stouts, and Goat Scrotum Ale.
On wait what? Goat Scrotum Ale remains one of the more popular recipes in Charlie Papazian’s, er, seminal 1984 brewing manual The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. The puerile name helped no doubt bring a sense of playfulness to what might have seemed an intimidating hobby, letting new brewers know that it was alright to loosen up a little bit, to experiment, to push the boundaries of taste.
Papazian inspired generations of novice brewers with his reassuring manta “Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a homebrew.” Want to add a little ginger to your mash? Relax. How about some licorice or rice? Don’t worry. Molasses? Kid, clean out your ears. I’m telling you—have a homebrew. His readers went to become accomplished amateurs and even professional brewers in the 1980s, joining homebrew clubs, winning contests, and opening brewpubs and microbreweries across America.
Today, many of those brewers have realized that even delicious beer’s potential is sometimes far from realized. Sometimes a beer wants to be more. Sometimes a beer is just crying to be whiskey. And once whiskey is in the barrel, rum, absinthe, or vodka suddenly seem, well, possible. In fact, they practically demand to be made.
Chris Sule, distiller at Old New Orleans Rum and one of July’s session panelists, suggests that brewers grow into exceptionally experimental distillers. After all, many began as home brewers making 5-10 gallons at a time. At those costs, one can afford to learn from many, many mistakes. Armed with firsthand knowledge of how altering recipes or procedures affect drink characteristics, many brewers as a matter of course play with variables such as yeast strains, specialty ingredients, or mashing techniques. Beer yeast in a rum wash? Why not? Sule’s done it. Come to the session and you may get to taste the result.
Join Chris Sule (Old New Orleans Rum), Ray Deter (d.b.a New Orleans and d.b.a. NYC), Jess Graber (Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey), and noted home brewer Charles Sule for a discussion about what brewers bring to the craft once they catch the distilling bug.
Hosted by Old New Orleans Rum, the 90-minute session will include tastings of whiskey mash as well as several spirits made by former and current brewers. Expect an enthusiastic examination of the “new state of American beer and spirits, drawing parallels, crafting contrasts, and telling the story of where we were, where we’re at, and where we’re going.”
Thursday, July 9, 2009 2:30-4:00 PM at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans.
Oh, and that homebrew shop owner? He went on to become a rum distiller. Of course.
