...is it in that one...or that one...?
When I read all the buzz this winter about Allagash's worthy lambic project, I was left scratching my head a little given that Ron at Jolly Pumpkin indicated to me last fall that their own lambic experimentation had started over three years ago and would be ready for release sometime in 2008. Well, with a hat tip to (the rather unspecified in its own naming) Beer News, it appears Ron has an update posted in the last few days at a beer forum at a web place called ProBrewer:
Hello all,Good thing for that tip as I only read AmateurDrinker forum and read only blogs with names like Seedy Beer Rumours and Half Baked But Full of Ale. But, jibery aside, this is interesting and clearly something that is under the radar. Maybe I will write Ron an email and ask for an update.Don't forget about your friends here at Jolly Pumpkin. Every beer we brew is aged in oak with naturally occurring wild yeast and souring bacteria. When we opened it was our hope to be the first commercial brewery dedicated to sour and lambic style beers.
While most of our beers could be though to be more of a Flanders tradition (steel fermentation, oak aging with wild yeast and sour bacteria), we began our project lambic over three years ago. The beer is to be one of our regular offerings, so we have been brewing it and brewing it. We plan on blending this fall, and releasing as soon as it is ready. Parts of the blend will most likely be over four years old by this time.
At this point we are keeping things as traditional as possible. Turbid mash with a large percentage of raw wheat, extended boil with aged hops, using one of our open fermenters as a cool ship, and racking into our most sour barrels the next day. No culture wild yeast, just what has shown up here over the years. Feel free to give me a call if you would like more details.
Cheers, Ron, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Comments
Adam - April 6, 2008 11:54 PM
Hah!
I got a good laugh at some of the things in this post. Though in all seriousness, I'm negotiating with my domain registrar to allow me to trade back beernews.org for seedybeerrumours.com. No doubt.
I just got webhosting yesterday so look for big changes in the coming weeks.
Adam
ALan - April 7, 2008 8:26 AM
Just kidding, Adam - you know what I kick myself over every day? I could have had "beerblog.com" back in 2003 for 12 bucks a year. I was too cheap. I have to admit that I like "Half Baked But Full of Ale" more and more.
Ron - April 7, 2008 10:30 AM
Hello Alan,
Thanks for the post. I wrote to the folks at Beer Advocate after they ran the article on Allagash, but haven't heard back from them yet. Maybe I'll show up on the letters to the editors page in a few months.
Not much has changed with Project Lambic. Making these beers is slow going. We brewed another batch, have another on the schedule for this spring, and still plan on blending and bottling this fall. After that we should be able to have fairly regular releases.
We just don't seem to get the word out as well as a few of the other folks doing such beers.
Thanks again,
cheers,
Ron
Alan - April 7, 2008 12:03 PM
Thanks for that, Ron. Let me know when the first batch gets close to retail as I think I may have to find a good reason for a family visit to Ann Arbor again right about the same time.
Spencer - April 7, 2008 5:31 PM
Actually, I think the lambic is in these barrels: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swthomas/2396164115/
Alan - April 7, 2008 5:40 PM
That is hilarious. I have the same barrels in the background of the shakey photo with Ron's head in the picture.