Accelerated to an outrageous standstill by endless possibility, it was finally time to season the old Foeder. Planned to propagate a unique house culture of fermentative microorganisms, we reasoned that it would first be safer for a short spin with something fairly innocuous. Housing a relatively safe saccharomyces strain while also removing some of the more intense tannin structure, sounded like a good idea. Concomitantly, as Oktoberfest emerges, we wanted to properly lager something without losing a tank for an extended period of time. Boom, a pen pineapple apple pen of Foeder lagered Festbier.
While the adoption of Festbier as the main style drunk at Oktoberfest is a relatively modern exercise, Festbier has been produced for about 200 years; well before the advent of refrigeration. Thus, like its predecessor the Marzen, Festbier was brewed in the cooler months and stored in caves to “lager” before Oktoberfest. And while we don’t have access to a cave, as such, Doggett St shares many of the same elements; its dark, has an odd stench, and many strange visceral screams emanate from its depths.
Foeders are un-charred, neutral oak barrels ranging in size from thousands to tens of thousands of litres. Being un-charred and virgin, they give a soft, textural impression of wood, rather than the vanilla and coconut you might expect from other barrels, not to mention any addition from previous liquids like bourbon or wine. They also become a home from whatever microbes you add to them. And while you can go to lengths to sanitise a Foeder, half the point is to inoculate and propagate a unique flavour, idiosyncratic to your brewery.
We see this project as a liquidification of Working Title. Something that adapts and evolves over time but has that same stinky butt hole core flavour that’ll never change. From Saisons to Golden Sours and probably something Spontaneous one day, it’s the start of something pretty exciting. Knowing it’ll always have that lager core, though, is ironically satisfying.
Pen pineapple apple pen.
Fermentation
