Having lived in and around the San Francisco area most of my adult life, I’ve dreamed of brewing a collaborative beer with an innovative local brewery that values American-grown, family-farmed barley, and adjunct grains. Along came Jaron Shepherd, Head brewer and Jason Sage, of 21st Amendment’s 12bbl pub brewery in downtown San Francisco. Jaron has a deep passion for exploration and is not shy about using new ingredients, which was the impetus for us discussing building a beer using our new Blonde RoastOat® Malt.
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Just before Thanksgiving, Jaron gave me a call at my Stockton office with a brilliant, yet simple idea for brewing a Golden Stout — and before you know it, I found myself strapping on safety boots and wearing safety glasses for a day of brewing at the 21st Amendment Pub in downtown San Francisco.
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What is a Golden Stout you ask? Quite simply I describe it as a beer with a deceptive deep golden color, light coffee and chocolate notes with a smooth full mouthfeel contributed by use of a generous inclusion of oats — in our case Briess Blonde RoastOat® Malt. Mildly sweet Full Pint Malt was used for the base, and a small inclusion of Victory® Malt added light biscuit and nutty flavors. Lactose was added to contribute residual sweetness, and cold brew coffee, as well as cacao nibs, were added to contribute a traditional Stout character while still staying light in color.
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As the Brew West Division Manager at Briess, I find myself visiting a lot of automated breweries. So, was I happy to see a mostly manually operated mash vessel? You betcha, and Jaron put me to work right away by handing me a large paddle to begin mixing after mashing into their 12bbl vessel from atop the brew deck.
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Steve and Jaron kept track of the timing of the lactose addition, and hop additions consisting of Magnum and Hallertau Mittelfrüh. I had the fun of operating a 5-gallon bucket — I think they were going easy on the newbie, but I’m not complaining — and enjoying the view and amazing aroma from the brew deck. The extract level using Full Pint Malt was about 1.3 Plato — higher than we planned at 460 gallons into the fermenter, but we were very happy with the Full Pint and cookie aroma from the Blonde RoastOat® Malt emerging from the steaming Mash.
Finally, after racking/transferring the wort into the fermenter, the time to clean up arrived. While I am sure some brewers dread this part of their shift, the flavor and aroma of the Blonde RoastOat® Malt made the cleanout and transfer of grain a most pleasant experience.
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Jaron Shepherd and Randy Griggs, Marketing Manager, will host our Collaboration Kick-Off Night at 21st Amendment’s San Leandro Tap Room and Production facility on January 18. I personally look forward to trying this Briess Golden Stout on Nitro and I hope you can join us and the 21st Amendment Brewing Team. Thanks to Shaun O’Sullivan and Jaron Shepherd for partnering with Briess Malt and our Family Farmers!