Tag Archives: Summit Unchained Series

Summit Unchained #13: Another IPA

Posted on by

Does the world really need another IPA? Aren’t there enough of them yet? According to this infographic created in honor of International IPA Day (Yes, there really is such a thing. Call it the Hallmark day of beer.) IPA made up 16.5% of all craft beer production in 2012. The volume of IPA sold increased 282% between 2007 and 2012. IPA is the single largest category in the GABF competition and the Brewers Association says the style is second only to the nebulous seasonal and specialty category in popularity. Isn’t it enough already?

Not according to Mike Lundell, brewer at Summit Brewing Company and creator of the thirteenth release in the Unchained Series appropriately named Another IPA. Lundell’s previous two contributions to the series were also IPAs of sorts – a brown, rye one and a black one. I detect a pattern. That pattern and IPAs ubiquity inspired this humorous video by Summit’s in-house video dude Chip Walton.

This time Lundell has made an English-style IPA. That’s my favorite kind. They tend to be a bit lower in alcohol than their American cousins with a more substantial toffee/biscuit malt backbone to support the hops. The bitterness is high, but typically lower than in American versions. The same is true for hop flavors, which tend more toward the herbal, grassy English varieties than the citrus and pine resin American hops.

Another IPA is being released today (August 1st) with a party at Barrio in St. Paul and Pat’s Tap in Minneapolis. It is International IPA Day after all. Information about other release events can be found on the Happenings page of the Summit website.

Here’s my notes:

Brews_Bottle_Unchained13Unchained #13: Another IPA
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: English IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Hops and malt vie for dominance, modulating back and forth as to which is on top. Hops barely eke out a victory. The malt has toffee and caramel notes with hints of biscuit. The hop aromas are lovely and complex; marmalade, bergamot, hay and earth. There is even pinch of pine, but in an herbal/rosemary sense, not American pine resin.

Appearance: Full, rocky, off-white to ivory foam that persists. Dark golden with orange hue. Hazy on first pour, but cleared up as the beer warmed up.

Flavor: The whole experience gives an impression of delicacy. Very balanced. Medium-high, stony bitterness lingers into the finish, accentuated by a high degree of attenuation. Hops and fermentation give notes of orange marmalade, melons and herbs. There is a low level of sweetness in the middle, but caramel, toffee and biscuit flavors come through well.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body – surprisingly light for an IPA. Medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: Take the bottle out of the fridge ten minutes before you pour it. When it warms up the biscuit and toast malt flavors really start to pop. It’s so refreshingly light on the tongue. Mr. Lundell did a nice job. I think I know what beer my clients will be drinking in the next few weeks.

[EDIT] Apropos the videos below, the 12/13/2012 date code indicates that I was enjoying beer from batch one.

Summit Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale

Posted on by

Gabe Smoley is one of the newest brewers at Summit Brewing Company. Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale is his first entry into the Unchained Series. He went all out to make a certified, 100% organic brew. Says he, “Most USDA certified organic beers on the market are about 95-99.9% organic because it is extremely difficult to find ingredients like organic yeast. This beer is made with 100% organic ingredients including malts, hops and yeast. Summit microbiologist James Fetherston and I worked together to create our own certified organic yeast strain to do this, as there are virtually no organic strains available from laboratories.”

The aim was to craft a light, yet bracing beer appropriate for spring; a move away from the heavy beers of winter, with a hoppy kick to mimic the lingering cold. Drinkers who are too tied to the style guidelines may take issue with calling this an IPA, but they do say “sessionable IPA.” Just drink it and enjoy it for what it is, whatever that may be.

100% Organic Ale launches this week with meet-the-brewer events at bars around the Metro.

March 12: Release Party/Meet the Brewer – House of Pizza, Sartel, 5-7 pm
March 13: Meet the brewer – Brasa St. Paul, 6-8 pm – Brasa St. Paul and Minneapolis will also feature Unchained 12 food pairings from 5-9 pm
March 14: “Hoppy Meals” pairings – Republic Uptown, 4-6 pm; Republic Seven Corners, 7-9 pm
March 15: Firkin Friday with Organic Ale cask – Grumpy’s NE, 4 pm
March 21: Meet Gabe and sample Organic Ale – Four Firkins, 6-8 pm
March 28: Flight Night at Ginger Hop featuring Organic Ale. Flights include four Summit beers total.

Here’s my notes:

Organic-Ale-BTL-web2Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: “Session” IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Big aromatics from a fairly small beer. Hops hit the nose first – floral and citrus. Biscuity malt comes in shortly to offer support. Nicely balanced between the two. An undercurrent of candied fruit throughout.

Appearance: Dark golden color and clear. The off-white head is full, creamy, and very persistent. Settled after a long while to a sustained film on the surface.

Flavor: Light and refreshing. Very dry with pithy bitterness that lingers well into the finish. Floral and lemon-lime citrus hop flavors carry through from beginning to end. Some peppery spice in there as well. The malt fills in lightly underneath with a biscuit character that brings a vaguely English flair. It offers enough sweetness to temper the hops, but not quite enough to balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: This one leans a bit more to hops than I would like, but then that’s kind of the point of the beer. It’s close, but a hint more malt to back up the bitterness would have been welcome on my palate. Brewer Smoley says to drink this around 40°F. I would suggest a higher temperature to bring out more of the malt. While style-sticklers will have issues with calling this an “IPA,” it fits the brewer’s description of “sessionable IPA” quite nicely; light like a pale ale, but with a bigger hop load.

Summit Unchained Series #11: Old 152

Posted on by

If you do a search online for Kentucky Common, you don’t turn up much. There are a couple of homebrew forum discussions, a Wikipedia page, and a reference to the 1901 Wahl & Henius Handy Book of Brewing, Malting, and Auxiliary Trades. The Handy Books is the only actual period reference, and it doesn’t tell you a lot. It says that Kentucky Common had a grain bill of malted barley and about 25 to 30 percent corn. Some sugar color, caramel or roasted malt was added for coloring. It had an original gravity of somewhere around 1.045, translating to around 4.5 percent alcohol under normal fermentation conditions. Hopping was moderate at one-half pound per barrel. It wasn’t fined or filtered, leaving it with a “muddy” appearance.

This lack of information is one thing that lead Summit brewer Eric Harper to select the Kentucky Common style for his second entry to the Summit Unchained Series, Old 152. Asked about this choice he said, “Nobody makes it. Nobody knows anything about it. You can’t have any preconceived notions about what it is. You can’t say I did it wrong, that’s for sure.”

Harper’s approach to the style was to take the scant historical information and riff on it. As the beer was originally made in Kentucky, he took a cue from the bourbon makers and used a mash of corn, rye and distiller’s malt. A portion of caramel and Victory malt added color and some toasty notes. He hopped the beer with Cluster hops, a variety that is native to the US and that 19th-century brewers would conceivably have used.

Some descriptions of the style make reference to a “sour mash,” another nod to the bourbon industry. Harper says that part of his mash was sour. “At a whisky distillery they are fermenting the entire mash.” he explained. “And then they take a portion of that fermented mash that’s got yeast and whatever bacteria and they add that back to the next batch. So that portion is the sour mash, and they are using that as a ph adjustment. We don’t ferment on the grain, and even if we did we don’t have an old batch of this beer around.” Given that limitation, Harper lowered the ph of his beer by adding acidulated malt, malt that has been treated with lactobacillus, an acid-producing bacteria that is found naturally on malted barley. This lowered the ph of the mash to far below the norm at Summit. “There is some confusion when I talk to people about it that the beer is going to be sour.” he added. But this notion of Kentucky Common as a sour beer is not borne out in the historical literature, and Harper’s version is definitely not sour.

So is Old 152 “to style?” Who knows? You’ll have to judge that for yourself. Release events started yesterday and run all week long.

Here’s my notes:

Old 152
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Kentucky Common
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Toast and caramel with tootsie-roll chocolate notes. Vague hints of spicy and catty hops add some high notes. Like a delightful baked good.

Appearance: Reddish amber with a slight haze. Good stand of off-white foam that sticks around in a thick layer on top of the beer.

Flavor: Toast and tootsie roll lead off with a bit of caramel adding sweetness. Rye spice comes in the middle. Bitterness is moderate, with spicy hop flavors that are almost prickly on the tongue. Light citrusy (lime?) and almost-lactic-tart notes peek furtively in and out of the background. Layered. Finishes quick and dry with lingering toastines, like toasted bread crust. Clean, crisp, and Lager-like.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium light body. Medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: What a tasty, easy-drinking beer. The toasty malt at the forefront puts this one right in my wheelhouse. It’s Altbier-like, except with the wrong hop flavors. It’s a winner in my book.

 

 

Summit Unchained #10: Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Posted on by

Summit Brewing Company’s Unchained Series hits a milestone today with the release of its tenth beer, Belgian Style Abbey Ale. It’s a Belgian Dubbel style beer brewed by Summit brewer Nate Siats, who also brought us the fifth beer in the series, Imperial Pumpkin Porter. Belgian styles are sometimes hard to pull off for American brewers. Many domestic renditions don’t quite live up to their Belgian models, often ending up too sweet or too boozy. Did Siats do justice to the dubbel? Here’s my notes:

Belgian Style Abbey Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Serving Style: 12 oz Bottle

Aroma: Bread crust and subtle dark fruits; dates. Prominent banana and sugary cotton candy (as I call that Belgian yeast character). Background of pepper and allspice.

Appearance: Clear amber/red with some chill haze early on. Creamy, ivory head with very fine bubbles that was moderately persistent; a ring of creamy foam remains around the edge of the glass all the way to the bottom. Nice lacing on a clean glass.

Flavor: Herbal hops kick things off, but quickly give way to bread crust and melanoidin sweetness. Dates, pears and raisins join in and linger into the finish. Highlight notes of sour fruit, like tart cherries. Moderate cotton-candy Belgian yeast character. Alcohol is apparent, but not hot. Dry and slightly tannic in finish with lingering notes of tea leaves.

Mouthfeel: Light-medium body. Effervescent high carbonation. Warms on the way down.

Overall: I love bread crust malt flavor in beer and that is the predominant flavor in this beer (at least on my palate). You have to let this beer warm just a bit to let that flavor come through. In fact, there is a tight temperature range for this beer; too cold and it comes off harsh and slightly sour, too warm and the flavors become murky. The tannic character that I get in the finish detracts a bit, but overall it’s a nicely balanced beer that is dangerously drinkable in the best Belgian tradition.

This new Summit brew can be sampled starting today at launch events throughout the metro.

Summit Unchained #8: Black Ale

Posted on by

Whether you call them Black IPAs, Cascadian Dark Ales, or American-style Black Ales, bitter, hoppy, black beers are becoming more and more popular with brewers and beer fans alike. What had been a fringe phenomenon has become a true emerging style. Production breweries and brewpubs are turning them out all over the country.

Honestly, it is a style that I have had difficulty embracing. The combination of high-level bitterness, intensely-citrusy American hop flavor, and acrid, roasted malts creates an unpleasant partnership in my mouth. There are a couple examples that I like – 21st Amendment’s Back in Black comes to mind – but in general, these are not beers that I am likely to pick up at the store or order at a bar.

It is with this caveat that I offer my impressions of the latest offering in the Summit Unchained Series, Black Ale. Here’s my notes:

Unchained #8: Black Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Black IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz bottle

Aroma: Light chocolate and roast underlie citrusy orange and grapefruit hops. A bit of bread crust.

Appearance: Ample, creamy, tan head that sticks around, maintaining a foamy layer from start to finish. Very dark brown to black.

Flavor: Sharply and somewhat astringently bitter, with intense grapefruit and orange hop flavor. The hop bitterness is enhanced by the bitterness of roasted malt. The malt character is primarily coffee-like roast with light sweetness that increases as the beer warms. The finish is dry, lingering on coffee and juicy grapefruit. The bitterness grabs hold at the start and is the last thing to let go.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with prickly carbonation. A touch astringent.

Overall Impression: This beer has that particular combination of bitterness, black malt, and citrusy hops that sits uncomfortably on my tongue. The high level of attenuation enhances that. I could do with more malty sweetness to balance the hop and roasted-malt bitterness. A hint of chocolate would give the citrus a pleasing foil. As it is, it is a well-made beer, just not one that suits my tastes.

Summit Unchained #6: Gold Sovereign Ale

Posted on by

Photo by Mark Roberts

Deadlines! Deadlines! I’ve had a lot of writing deadlines lately; deadlines for pieces that require me to taste certain beers. Meanwhile, many new and new to Minnesota beers have been sitting neglected in my refrigerator, begging…no, crying out for my attention without satisfaction.

Those deadlines have been met, at least for a few days. I can finally get to the bottle of Summit Unchained #6: Gold Sovereign Ale that has been waiting in the fridge; the bottle that has been taunting me since last week when I interviewed brewer Damian McConn at the brewery.

I have been especially anticipating this Unchained Series release. I am a fan of English style pale ales and IPAs, more so than their American counterparts. I also have a more than passing interest in the history of English beer and brewing. The idea that McConn would reach back into old brewery archives to craft something according to a 19th-century recipe intrigued me to say the least. His decision to put a modern twist on it by using only recently available ingredients made it even more interesting.

McConn said that he was led to that decision by the practical impossibility of replicating an old recipe. “The problem with recreating a beer like that is that we can get a pretty-good, rough idea of the hopping rate, the original gravity, fermentation temps, mashing programs, and stuff like that, but we can’t replicate the ingredients.” He also cites modern brewing equipment as an impediment to accurately recreating these beers. Different processes and fermenter types will yield different tasting beers, and modern breweries are very different from their 19th-century predecessors. “The more I investigated beer from that time, the more I thought that I just wouldn’t be able to do it justice. I’m an all or nothing kind of brewer. I thought, ‘if I can’t do it as closely as possible to what it would have been like back then, then I want to try and put an interesting spin on it.’”

Although the ingredients and processes are new, they do cast an eye back to the old. McConn chose organic, floor-malted barley to reflect the labor-intensive malting practice that would have been standard at the time. In a nod to the cask-conditioning of beers, which was the norm back in the day, he opted to leave the beer un-filtered. The bit of yeast remaining in the bottle will allow the beer to further condition. It’s up to you whether or not to pour the yeast into your glass.

Here’s my notes:

Gold Sovereign Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: 19th-Century English IPA with a modern twist
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Bready yeast comes first. The malt gives a light touch of grainy sweetness. Fruity hops are dominant, but not intense; orange citrus and stone fruits. A background of earthy hop aromas keep it grounded.

Appearance: The ample, rocky, white head sticks around for a while. Deep golden color, veering toward orange, with a dense haze (I chose to pour the yeast).

Flavor: Hops are the star of the show, starting with a sharp, crisp bitterness that carries through and is accentuated by a dry finish. The beer is bitter, but the emphasis seems to be on later-addition, flavor hops. Juicy fruits explode from the glass; tangerine, oranges, and peaches. Especially peaches. Malts form a grainy-sweet, graham-cracker crust beneath the fruit. The malt character was so clearly expressed that it reminded me of chewing on grains of malted barley (without the husk). Faint, earthy, hop flavors appear in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Sharp, dry, and crisp. Medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: If this is what East India Pale Ale tasted like in the 19th century, then it is no wonder that English expatriates rhapsodized about it. Gold Sovereign is an extremely well-made beer; crisp and clean, with distinct layers of flavor. This is one of the best of the Unchained Series beers.

Summit Unchained #5: Imperial Pumpkin Porter

Posted on by

Imperial Pumpkin Porter, the fifth beer in the Unchained Series from Summit Brewing Company, had it’s draft-only release in bars last week. The pre-Halloween timing of the release seemed appropriate for an ominously black pumpkin ale. According to the Summit website, the bottled version will be released the week of November 15th.

Brewer Nate Siats describes his beer as “a dark, chocolaty, full bodied beer with a slight bitter after taste. Evenly spiced with a hint of pumpkin, you would think you were sitting down for thanksgiving dessert. Perfect for a cool, fall afternoon or a holiday feast!”

Here’s my notes:

Unchained #5: Imperial Pumpkin Porter
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Imperial Pumpkin Porter
Serving Style: 12 oz Bottle

Aroma: Sweet caramel, coffee and chocolate. Malted Milk Balls. Molasses. Faint hints of spice come in as the beer warms.

Appearance: Black. Low, dark-tan head that dissipated relatively quickly.

Flavor: Roasted malts dominate; chocolate and coffee. Like the cookie part of an Oreo Cookie. The roastiness is countered by sweet, creamy caramel and molasses. Moderate bitterness from hops and roasted malts. Spicy and herbal hop flavors accentuate the subtle flavor of actual spices. Cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg notes add intrigue and complexity without being in any way overpowering. Pumpkin flavors are almost non-existent, coming in only as a vague pumpkin pie flavor in the long-lingering finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied. Creamy. Low carbonation.

Overall Impression: As this beer is made with pumpkins, it can be called “pumpkin ale.” Based on flavor, however, that designation is a stretch. Brewer Nate Siats stated that he wanted just a “hint of pumpkin.” In that he succeeded. I would like more. This criticism does not mean Imperial Pumpkin Porter isn’t a good beer. It’s mighty tasty, with balanced roasty and sweet malt. And I love what the subtle spicing brings to the flavor.

Summit Unchained Series #4: Belgian Style Golden Ale

Posted on by

Nothing like starting the day off with a strong Belgian beer.

At least that’s what we said as I and my photographer friend Mark Roberts rolled up to the Summit Brewery at 7:00 AM yesterday morning. Hey, the Founding Fathers started the day with a draught of strong beer or cider, why shouldn’t we. For the record, the thought was also uttered that we may have lost our minds.

But roll up we did, because bright and early on Tuesday morning was the first packaging run for the newest Unchained Series beer, Belgian Style Golden Ale, which is set for official release next week. Brewed with Belgian pilsner malt, Belgian candi sugar, Czech Saaz and Styrian Goldings hops, it clocks in officially at 8.6% ABV (it might actually be a bit stronger than that…sshhhh), making it the strongest beer ever to come out of Summit. It’s a nice breakfast beer.

After watching the first bottles roll off the line to be packed for shipment later that day, we headed out to the hospitality room for a bit of tasting. A sixpack emerged still covered in foam from bottling. Caps were popped, samples were poured, cheers were offered, and sipping ensued. It’s a shame brewer Eric Harper, the man responsible for this golden elixir, had not yet arrived. But I will confess to a certain smug satisfaction at having tasted the finished product before even he did.

Harper did come in at about 7:30 and joined us at the bar for a chat. “I’m excited to have this come out.” he said. “It’s a little weird. It’s been in the fermenter for over six weeks. Up until the time we filtered it, it had more yeast in suspension than even the Hefeweizen does. It really changes the character when you take all that out. Plus when you taste it out of the fermenter you’re drinking kind of yeasty, flat beer. It’s a lot nicer when it’s finished.”

Harper’s choice of style for his Unchained Series beer was influenced by his own tastes. “I like drinking Belgian style beers. If I go out I order a Summit or two, but I really gravitate toward Belgian stuff. Making a Belgian also gave him an opportunity to experiment. “Belgians are particularly creative in their brewing method. They don’t have any limits. Bringing in the candi syrup was fun. We haven’t used anything like that here at Summit, or any kind of adjunct for that matter.”

Asked if he was inspired by a particular Belgian beer, Harper responded, “I wasn’t aiming for a particular beer. We tasted a couple of them around the bar and took things from here and there. I liked the fruity and estery characteristics. We tasted some that were pretty phenolic and hot from the high heat fermentation. I wanted to avoid that.”

Belgian Style Golden Ale will be the first of the Unchained Series beers to be released in a cask conditioned version. According to Harper, “Damian racked some casks of this awhile ago and they have been sitting in the cooler. He’ll re-rack them again to get some of the yeast out. He’s talked about priming with the candi syrup and adding a lot more Stryian Goldings.” Sounds tasty.

Harper has a full week of launch events ahead of him. Unchained #4 will be celebrated at multiple locations every night next week. You can check here for the full listing of events.

But enough chit chat. How’s the beer taste? Here’s my notes:

Belgian Style Golden Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Belgian Strong Golden Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Pronounced fruitiness, pear, candied peaches, hints of strawberry. Pepper and licorice. Sweet pilsner malt and sugary Belgian “cotton candy.” Alcohol is apparent.

Appearance: Deep golden color and crystal clear. Raised a substantial, fluffy, and persistent white head.

Flavor: Begins with sweet pilsner malt that extends through to the finish. Alcohol is prominent, particularly at the end, and is accentuated by the dry finish. It’s warming all the way down, but stops just short of hot. Loads of fruit, orange citrus, candied peach, and pears. These increased and developed complexity halfway through the glass as the beer warmed. Peppery and floral hops character balance the sweetness. Moderate bitterness is accentuated by a dry finish. Belgian yeast character remains subdued, a background of banana and “cotton candy.” This beer became much more delicate and complex as it warmed in my glass.

Mouthfeel: High attenuation makes this a medium body beer. High carbonation. Creamy and mouth-filling. Alcohol warming is high.

Overall Impression: Another fine beer from the Unchained Series. Like many American versions of Belgian styles, it lacks some of the subtle complexity and finesse of the best Belgian examples, but is still a worthy effort. The alcohol is a more prominent than I would prefer, but the fruit notes are lovely. It developed in delicacy and depth as it warmed in my glass. I’m drinking this on my patio on a humid 93° evening and it is completely refreshing.

Brewery photos by Mark Roberts.

Summit IRA Release Dinner At Tracy’s Saloon

Posted on by

In the third of three events held on consecutive nights at various locations around the Twin Cities, Summit Brewing Company celebrated the release of India Rye Ale, the newest of the Unchained Series beers last Friday at Tracy’s Saloon in Seward. Summit Founder Mark Stutrud and India Rye Ale brewer Mike Lundell were on hand along with a small coterie of other Summit representatives. Tracy’s offered two-for-one Summit pints and $4 house-cured Tasso ham sandwiches all night long and a lucky few got to partake of a delicious six-course tasting menu paired with Summit beers prepared by Chef Joseph Madigow and Sous Chefs Robyn Carley and Sean McDonald. It was a loud night at Tracy’s and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I observed several pints of the new beer being consumed.

There was a loose theme of rye and cured meat running through the six-course tasting menu, appropriate for the release of the new rye ale. The variety and complexity of the menu was far more than I expected from Tracy’s, which I usually associate with good bar food. The best dishes and most successful pairings in my view were the first two. The meal started with a bouillabaisse crudo of bluenose and opah fish on rye flatbread with a rouille sauce. Paired with India Rye Ale, the flatbread was a perfect complement to the rye toast flavors in the beer while the spicy sauce and the light meatiness of the fish added contrasting flavors and textures. The second course offered rabbit meatballs with eggplant vermicelli in a roasted red pepper vinaigrette paired with Summit Pilsner. The meatballs were a bit tough, but the eggplant was outstanding and paired nicely with the pilsner.

The next three courses included a soup trio that was the most interesting presentation of the night, a potato stuffed ham hock on a bed of rye with a rich parsley and garlic butter sauce, and a baked oyster topped with a Summit IPA Sabayon. These were paired with Summit Horizon Red Ale. An octopus carbonade made with Summit Pilsner was the hit of the soup trio, with little bacon-like bits of grilled octopus floating in a smokey, Dijon mustard flavored broth that smacked of cured meat. It was tasty, but also salty, a trend that continued for the rest of the meal. While I expected the ham hock to be salty, the saltiness of the sabayon on the oyster overpowered the sweetness of the oyster meat and the tarragon in the sauce. I found myself craving a Summit IPA to accompany these dishes.

A most intriguing pre-desert plate consisted of tiny bites of house-cured pork fatback and aspic with a streak of tart cranberry sauce. The aspic had a nicely sweet floral green tea flavor and the combination of the fatback with the cranberry sauce was to die for. Summit Great Northern Porter ended the meal paired with a rye éclair filled with hazelnut cream and topped with a porter ganache.

Following the dinner I led a Q&A session with Mike Lundell and Mark Stutrud. It was interesting to me to learn just how brewer-centered the Unchained Series is. It originated from a suggestion by the brewers and they have total control over it, with neither Stutrud nor the sales department having veto power over the beers that they create. As Lundell said of the process, “I was totally on my own.” Lundell has been working at Summit for thirteen years. He started as a bottler and worked his way up to brewer. He reported that he spent a lot of time tasting ingredients during the recipe formulation process, but said, “In the end I really didn’t know what it was going to taste like. I tasted it every couple days and then all of a sudden at about six weeks I tasted brown sugar. I ran around telling everyone, ‘I taste brown sugar. I taste molasses.’” In answer to the question “why rye?” he answered, “Rye not?” Lundell said that he is thrilled to have his beer celebrated at these release events, but gestured to those in attendance as he added, “It’s not really my beer. It’s all of theirs. I made it for all of them.”

[EDIT] Also check out Alli Wade’s write-up of the event on the Heavy Table with additional photos and menu descriptions.

Summit Unchained #3: India Style Rye Ale

Posted on by

Summit Brewing Company is celebrating the release of the third beer in their Unchained Series this week with events all over the Twin Cities metro. Following up on the success of the first two, German Style Kölsch and 90/- Scottish Style Ale, the third release is an India Style Rye Ale created by brewer Mike Lundell. According to Summit Founder and Brewmaster Mark Stutrud, “Mike’s India Style Rye Ale is a perfect addition to the Unchained Series and really speaks to Summit’s joy in knocking out bold, yet balanced flavor profiles.” I had the opportunity to taste it last night and will confirm that it is both bold and balanced. It upholds the high level of quality that has marked the Unchained Series so far. Here’s my notes:

India Style Rye Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: India Rye Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Malt balanced aromas of grain, bread crust and toast with hints of chocolate. Just the lightest kiss of caramel sweetness. Like rye bread without the caraway. Light lime/citrus hop aromas in the background. Clean, very low yeast-derived fruitiness.

Appearance: Dark amber and crystal clear. The full, fine-bubbled, off-white head collapsed fairly quickly into a fine film on the surface of the beer.

Flavor: Balanced with intense malt backed by a relatively high hop and roasted malt bitterness. A complex malty blend of flavors allows the spicy rye to shine. Toasted bread crust. Light chocolate and caramel. An assertive bite of roast in the finish. Caramel coffee notes become more pronounced as it warms. The roasted malt bitterness and rye spice complement the 60 IBUs of hop bitterness. Highly bitter but not so much as to overwhelm the malt. Hop flavors are restrained with just a very light citrus coming through. The well attenuated finish lingers on roasted rye and caramel.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium carbonation. Dry and crisp.

Overall Impression: The bottle says that this is an India Style Rye Ale and rye is indeed king in this beer. From the spicy flavors of the malted and flaked rye to the roasted notes of the chocolate rye this beer shouts and screams rye. And that’s a good thing. I was expecting a typical hop-bomb American Rye IPA. I am happy that it was hopped with a light hand, achieving a beautiful balance. If I were looking for a flaw it might be that the roasted character seemed a bit heavy, particularly as the beer warmed. But that was a minor problem in what is otherwise another brilliant addition to the Unchained Series line-up. Well done!

Disclaimer: I will be moderating a Q & A with Mark Stutrud and brewer Mike Lundell tonight at Tracy’s Saloon as part of the release festivities. I received samples of the beer from Summit and will be attending the tasting dinner at Tracy’s as a guest. This did not influence my evaluation of this beer.