Flash forward two years later to present day and the brewery has debuted the very first batch.I'll appeal to the brewery to see if I can somehow get a sample. (Without, you know, buying a plane ticket to Maine. Though that's not out of the question.)Unfortunately for most BN readers, it took place in Belgium at The Day of the Lambic, a festival featuring more than fifteen unblended Lambics from nine breweries....
The City Paper interview with Tod has some other interesting tidbits: there have been eight batches total, each with what appears to be a few to several barrels a batch). The brewery is experimenting with a lot of different fruits like cherries, raspberries, and Maine blueberries.
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Photo: the Allagash koelschip (cool ship), where hot wort is left to age and frolic with wild yeasts that float in through those open windows.
Thanks for the link. I should probably take up the habit of editing my work before I hit the publish button.
ReplyDeleteI edited the article to cross-reference your article from last yr.
Cheers
Adam
So why doesn't Grey Parrot's wild ales count towards "First US Lambic"?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand they are ambient fermented. Is it a lack of a cool-ship?
Yeah, I followed the link thinking of the Grey Parrot, too. Their was an article in Beer Advocate about that place. We went there a few years back . Woo hoo for doublewide brewpubs!
ReplyDeleteI was pretty careful in my article to use Jason Perkins' exact wording which involves use of the coolship. Could be hard to prove the first Lambic-style beer brewed on American soil.
ReplyDeleteBN--thanks.
ReplyDeleteDA, I just repeat the same claim I hear. This is a blog: my standards are the highest levels of commitment to gossip and rumor. As to the Gray Parrot, maybe they do get the credit. Would be interesting to know for sure. I wonder if either one is drinkable. To me, that would be the brewery who gets bragging rights. Any brewery might have left a batch out in the open air--that's not particularly accomplished brewing.
Interesting that it was two coastal breweries, though.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI've had the Grey Parrot one... interesting, although far from the traditional Lambic flavor profile. It was a dark "Lambic", fairly salty tasting and reminded me of olives.
U roept één nacht in een koelschip het verouderen verwerkt? Dat is vrij stom.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone find a source online that says Grey Parrot was the first to do a wild ale? Also wondering who was the first to do a 100% spontaneously fermented ale.
ReplyDeleteNot to refute what you guys say but trying to solidify the source for an upcoming article.
Looks like they opened in 2005 according to Red Diamonds post on Beer Advocate.
ReplyDeletehttp://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14250/?view=beerfly