Exclusive: Don Barkley, The Interview Excerpts #craftbeer
A couple of months back I had the honor, and opportunity, to interview brewing royalty Don Barkley (New Albion Brewing Company, Mendocino Brewing Company) of Napa Smith Brewery. I’m thinking every few weeks I’ll throw down an excerpt from our interview that I didn’t use in a soon-to-be published article in a not-to-be-named craft-beer magazine.
This Week: Crush Beer - Crush Beer is an ale developed by Napa Smith in tribute to the grape harvest in Napa Valley.
Beernerd: Can you explain the process of making beer with grapes and how you get the right flavor balance?
Barkley: Sure. Because it’s Crush Beer and we’re celebrating the whole crush season in the Napa Valley, we decided we’d make a beer not only to feed all those thirsty people [crushing grapes], but we would actually incorporate grapes into the beer itself. Why not utilize some of the resources that are around us? Because grapes have a lot of wild yeast and bacteria all over them, you can’t really add grapes later in the brewing fermentation process because the opportunity for contamination is too great. So, the grapes had to be either added at the boil or before the boil of the wort. So, we added the grapes about 15 minutes before the end of the boil. We stripped the grapes from the stems and used whole grapes, placed the grapes in cheesecloth bags, great big bags, and we just threw them into the kettle, and off they went. We used cabernet and merlot grapes and I think that might have added to the color slightly. We weren’t quite sure where the beer was going to end up but it turned out nice. Next year we’re going to add more grapes and see if we can’t get something a little more distinct. I had one person that smelled the Crush beer, and the first thing that came out of her mouth in regards to what she perceived there was, she thought gummy bears. Now, as a beer drinker, I don’t smell gummy bears in there, but you know maybe she has a really good nose. I don’t know what it is, but if she did kind of catch that kind of aroma, that had to come from the grapes. Beer doesn’t have gummy bear flavor.
