Off-site review with newly ordained ministers.
First off, we don’t like collaboration beers. Why? Well, I haven’t quite worked out my philosophy on this subject yet, but I do believe that in a competitive market, there are winners and losers, and I don’t want to see any organization get taken advantage of, and I also want the same brewing/ spirits organizations (or any organization I suppose) to be able to stand on their own and deliver a sustainable product to their customer base, no matter how niche the market may seem. But, on the other hand, SBM believes in community, E pluribus unum, Gandhi and the American flag. Maybe I’ll get that sorted out for the book, but for now, I’ll get back to the beer.
Wildfire delivers with the sour. From what I gather, CIB Brewery delivered the yeast, which accounts for the sour, so that may very well have been a successful contribution to the end product. And that’s a good thing, because CIB’s website sure doesn’t deliver any contributions (link below). Let me give them a break; CIB is focusing on their core competency. And the rest I will credit to Firetucker, including the ashy malts, absence of wheat detection (moving it away from gratzer, lichtenhainer, or even gose classification), lack of silt (thank you), and the 5.6 darkness factor. Sour and darkness don’t always travel together, but today they get along pretty ok. The SmokeBeerMinistry conversation moved from the yeast to the ash (less desirable) to the sourness overpowering the smoke (faux pas) to the collaboration, and then someone was overheard saying what we were all thinking, “not a very good beer.” Nobody wanted to own that statement thereafter. So there’s the ugly truth, individuals and score keeping laid out the big picture, and we arrived at a point where the whole proved greater than the sum of its parts. We learned this from the 14th Dalai Lama.
| Brewer | Firetucker Brewery & CIB Brewery |
| Beer Name | Wildfire Smoked Sour Porter |
| Firetucker’s Description | This one is sour up front and a porter in the back! We collaborated with CIB Brewing on a Sour Porter infused with cherry wood smoked grains. We carefully combined our new smoked porter with CIB’s special blend of wild yeast and souring critters. It starts with a Brett tartness on the nose and a medium sour tart taste which then melts into dark malty and smoky porter flavors. A bakers chocolate flavor with roasty bitterness and a bit of cherry smoke lingers on the palate. Beer connoisseurs, this is a limited edition batch, get it while it lasts! |
| Food Pairings | Potlucks |
| Brewery Location | Ankeny, IA |
| Alcohol content by volume | 7.1% |
| IBU (International Bitterness Units) | 35 |
| Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) | 5.6 |
| Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) | 3.75 |
| Sausage detection? Y or N | N |
| Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks | 3 |
| Overall Happiness: 1 – 7 (sad – happy) | 3.4 |
For more info about Firetucker and this beer go to:
http://www.firetrucker.com/beers.php/Smoked%20Sour%20Porter
For a partial image of the label go to:
http://cibbrewery.com/our-beers/wildfire-smoked-sour-porter/
Who wears the pants in this collaboration?
SmokeBeerMinistry 