My First Interview!

When I first started The Pour Travelers blog back in 2011, it was kind of a hodge podge of beer travel stories, local beer news, beer-related observations, and little tidbits I'd come across from time to time. When my friend Brooks Edmund invited me to attend the release of a collaboration beer he helped brew with Columbia Kettle Works (CKW), I checked my schedule and - lo and behold! - I had a free Friday. I promptly marked the date on our calendar.

As we were driving down to Columbia, I thought it might be cool to interview Brooks to get some insight on how the beer and collaboration with CKW came about. I'd never conducted an interview with someone exclusively for the blog, so I suppose this is something that we'll consider for future Pour Travelers blog content if the opportunity arises.

I've said on a few occasions that CKW is one of my favorites of the newer breweries that have popped up throughout Central PA over the last decade. While they certainly aren't a trendy haven for beer geeks traveling near and far for the next hazy Trillium clone, CKW brews a wide spectrum of styles that run the gamut of an easy-drinking, true-to-style German Helles Lager to a tasty holiday ale brewed with blackstrap molasses, fresh cherries, vanilla bean and cinnamon called Grinch Feet. Best of all, they brew them well!

Pleeps in da hizouse!

Once the crowd thinned out, I got to sit down with Brooks and talk a little about his Kirsche Weisse recipe, how the collaboration came about, and - of course - music!

Tell me a little bit about your Kirsch Weiss and how it came to fruition.

So the Kirsche Weisse is a German style beer. It's a Berliner Weisse, which is a tart wheat beer. I enjoy drinking and brewing that style a lot. It's also somewhat inspired by Belgian Kriek in that when they ferment on cherries, they leave in the pits. This gives the beer a great almond, marzipan-like flavor. So I kind of wanted to put that into a Berliner, but it's really hard to find cherry pits. So somehow on the Internet I found a spice called mahlab, which is a Greek spice. Luckily my great grandma is from Greece and my mom shops at a Greek grocer in Baltimore. So I had her go down and see if they had any and they did. It's actually from the pit of a different kind of cherry, and it's used to make something called Easter bread, which gives off that almond like flavor. So, I thought I could substitute the spice for the pits. So I used my base Berliner Weisse that I've made dozens of times, then used a whole bunch of sweet cherry puree and a little bit of the mahlab spice and it came out great, so I entered it into the iron brewer contest.

How did you get involved in the iron brewer competition?

The competition is held by the Lancaster Homebrew Club, Mad Chef, and Columbia Kettle Works. It's a legitimate BJCP competition with the added bonus of two brewer's choice awards in addition to the regular "best in show" award. So you have to win your category and then the guys from Mad Chef and CKW get to pick which beer they'd like to brew at their brewery. Columbia picked mine, so we brewed it.

How involved were you with the actual brewing process at CKW?

They brought me in and I was here the whole day. Chad let me do pretty much what I wanted to do. I didn't really have to ask a lot of questions because he guided me the whole way, but it wasn't too dissimilar from homebrewing, there was just a lot more liquid to move around. But I did the whole brewing process, and once it went to cold side Chad took care of the cherries and spice when they were ready.

Any other upcoming contest in which you'll be entering beers?

I haven't been brewing a lot lately (NOTE: Brooks recently became a dad), but I've been asked to come back to the Mighty Pint competition in Baltimore because I did win that one last year, and they want to do a "Winner's Row" thing this year, so I've been asked to come back, and I think I'm gonna bust out the kettle and brew up some batches for that.

What's one of your favorite styles to brew?

Man, it's really hard to say, but my passion totally lies in the mixed culture, spontaneous fermented stuff, which is super fun to do but takes so much patience.

I'll bet it's hard to do at home!

Yeah. Like the Kirsche Weiss, I can crank out in 3 or 4 weeks. But those mixed culture batches take like 2 or 3 years and it definitely tests your patience, but the output is worth it.

What about your personal favorite beer style?

Man, favorite beer is a tough one. I think I'd have to answer in two parts. If I had a desert island style, it would probably be either Helles or pilsner, but if I had to pick my favorite beer style, it would definite be Gueuze, and the brewery would be Drie Fonteinen. I got to go there a few years ago and it was a mind-blowing experience.

One final question... I've been intrigued by some recent "Beer and Music Pairing" blogs and Internet posts. I know your a huge Dream Theater fan, so if you could pick one Dream Theater album that pairs well with your Kirsche Weisse, which one would it be?

Oooh, let's see... Dream Theater and Kirsche Weisse. Man, this is a tough question! I think I'd have to go with the album Images and Words. There's just something about the imagery of that album with the beating heart on the cover that reminds me of the color of the beer. It's also kind of a very layered and nuanced album, and the beer is like that too. It's tart but there's a nice crispness. Then you have the sweet cherry in there and the spice has a few layers in it. So that's what I'd go with... Images and Words. 

So get down to Columbia Kettle Works and try some Kirsche Weisse. I had two pints last night, and it's a very good beer. At only 3% ABV, it still packs a ton of flavor. Until next time...