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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2021)
PAGE 10 • GO! MAGAZINE Thursday, June 3, 2021 • The BuLLeTIn BEER, WINE & MORE bendbulletin.com/godrink BARREL-AGED OREGON COMPOUND IS ONE UNIQUE BREW Story and photo by JON ABERNATHY • For The Bulletin W hen it comes to brewing with wild yeast, or barrel aging, most breweries might experiment with small batch releases, while larger breweries might maintain a dedicated program for such beers. In most cases however, the main focus remains on standard ales and lagers. Not so with The Ale Apothecary, which has been brewing entirely wood-aged, wild yeast-fermented beers from day one. It would not be an exaggeration to say that brewmaster Paul Arney is crafting some of the most unique beers in Oregon, if not the country. A recently released brew, Oregon Com- pound, is a terrific example of this. At first glance, Oregon Compound might seem similar to other specialty offerings, a strong ale fermented with wild yeast cultures and aged in rum barrels from Oregon Spirit Distillers. However, the approach to brewing this particular ale stands out. The brewing process is the same for all brewers: malted grains are mashed with hot water to produce sweet wort, which is boiled and cooled, transferred to fermentation vessels, fermented with yeast (a proprietary wild culture, in this case), then aged as needed and pack- aged. Core beers such as Sahati and La Tache are brewed following this pro- cess. After boiling and cooling, there is a layer of sediment left behind that has settled out of the wort, called trub. This is typically discarded, but Arney is not one to waste any part of the brewing cycle. “We capture and ferment our trub after letting the wort settle overnight to remove the hot and cold break,” he said via email. “We tend to have about 3-6 gallons of this trub left over after removing the clean wort. We simply dump the trub into a carboy and add a bit of our yeast.” The yeast slowly ferments this left- over wort material, which further set- tles out to leave clear fermented beer on top. It takes a fair amount of trub to produce enough beer to package. “Once we have enough carboys, we Top 5 Beers of the Week Tanger-Dream Cream Ale — Worthy Brewing Hefeweizen — Crux Fermentation Project Anchor Steam Beer — Anchor Brewing Rock Crawler Red — Bridge 99 Brewery Wanderlust IPA — Breakside Brewery Submitted photo Fans of sour beers will find much to like about Ale Apothecary’s Oregon Compound, which has deep and layered characteristics of oak, acidity and tart fruitiness. rack into a barrel and age and finish like our other beers,” said Arney. “Out of about 200 barrels in our cellar, about 8-10 are these recovery beers, so it’s a worthwhile step to take to recover what would be a waste product in other breweries. Plus, we end up with totally unpredictable and unique blends that aren’t directed by us, they just happen.” For Oregon Compound, Arney and his team felt aging the beer in the rum casks would complement and showcase its complexity. It’s an intense beer as well as com- plex, with deep and layered character- istics of oak, acidity and tart fruitiness. Poured into the glass, it’s a deep am- ber-brown color with a bit of cloudi- ness stirred up from sediment (the re- sult of natural bottle conditioning with honey). Aromatically the first note is balsamic vinegar, followed by dried cherries, light vanilla-like oak, and a touch of caramel. It’s quite sour, akin to an unsweet- ened lambic (a Belgian style of wild ale that can develop intense levels of acid- ity), and my initial flavor impression is of tart green fruit drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. As it warms, there’s a light kiss of dark rum flavors, such as caramelized brown sugar and rum rai- sin, though there is almost no boozy or alcoholic heat at all, which is surprising considering the beer is 9.13% alcohol by volume. The acidity tempers as it warms, and there’s a puckering finish that’s tart yet mellow, and the impression of a lightly oaked lambic lingers with a dry, vinous presence. Fans of sour beers will find much to like with Oregon Compound. It’s an extremely limited release due to Arney’s specialized trub recovery brewing process. If you’re interested in trying Oregon Compound, bottles are available from The Ale Apothe- cary’s tasting room, and also avail- able for purchase online and curbside pickup. e e Jon Abernathy is a beer writer and blogger and launched The Brew Site (www.thebrewsite.com) in 2004. He can be reached at jon@thebrewsite.com.
