Single-Farm Beer
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Around here, we often say Oregon is a special place for beer. For a perfect case in point, take Alesong’s new release, Single Origin. It takes advantage of our location, which is perfect for growing all the ingredients for beer, and uses barley and hops grown on a single farm. But the Willamette Valley is also one of the best wine-growing regions in the world. To highlight this bounty, Alesong partnered with Goschie Farms for every ingredient in this beer: the barley, hops, and Riesling grapes it’s made with.
As an extra-special component, Alesong doesn’t use laboratory yeast to ferment the beer, either—they rely on the natural yeasts and bacteria that collect on the skins of the grapes. This is a very rare and ancient beer-making technique described as spontaneous fermentation. “It creates a really cool sense of place,” says the brewery’s Brian Coombs. “It's local, and as terroir-driven as you can get.” We sometimes forget that yeast is an important ingredient, but Single Origin highlights the role it plays—and some of the beer’s important flavors derive from the compounds they create during fermentation.
Before beer became an international commodity, it was a product of the land; farmers preserved what they grew in liquid form. Being able to source barley and hops from a single farm today, however, is uncommon; but add grapes to the mix and it's like finding a unicorn. Yet Goschie Farms, near Silverton, grows all three.
Process and Ingredient
Most malting barley is grown in the drier, hot-weather climates of North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. Even in Oregon, only about 5% of the roughly 30,000 acres devoted to barley are located in the wetter valleys west of the Cascades. Goschie and other Willamette Valley growers have been working with breeders at Oregon State University to south barley varieties appropriate to the region—and that’s what goes into Single Origin.
Originally, Goschie sold its barley to Skagit Valley Malting, who turned it into two varieties of pilsner malts. When Skagit Valley closed two years ago (it has since reopened), Goschie started selling to Great Western Malt, and their barley is now sold as Pure Oregon Malt.
What makes this beer unique are the microorganisms Goschie grows indirectly, on the skins of their grapes. Instead of pitching yeast into fresh wort of Single Origin, Coombs just adds grapes. "I went up and grabbed the Riesling and we came back and foot-stomped whole cluster grapes," he explained. "That's how I'm doing all my fruit ferments now, keeping everything on the stem. Whatever was on the grapes inoculated the base wort.”
For those familiar with lambic-brewing, this is a similar process, but different. In those beers, the wort is exposed to the open air as it cools, which attracts ambient yeasts and bacteria. Microbes resident in the wood join in the process when the wort is transferred to oak barrels. With Single Origin, the yeast and bacteria on the grapes are denser and more concentrated, and will fully ferment the beer-wine hybrid in a month.
The Finished Beer
"It's light and refreshing," Coombs said. "It's got an awesome acidity, but I'd say it's a pretty mellow and fun profile overall. Riesling is such a cool grape and I think it shines through a lot more than some of our other beers that we've done with white wines."
In naturally-fermented beer, the yeasts and bacteria add fruity esters and sharp acids to the traditional flavors of malt and barley. “It’s so cool we live in a place where can make a beer like this from one source," he said.
But wait, isn't there one more ingredient? “After we finished, I was like, 'wait why don't we get a couple totes of well water from her farm, too?' Why didn't I think of that? Maybe we'll have to do that the next time we do this beer with Goschie.”
Fortunately, you don't have to wait until the next time they make the beer--it's available now.