Sam: You can make a great beer with just four
ingredients, barley, hops, water and yeast.
But to make an extreme beer, those four ingredients
put together the same old way isn't enough.
This is Project Extreme Brewing.
Sam: I met with the Alstrom Brothers of BeerAdvocate
here in Boston before the doors of the Extreme
Beerfest opened to talk all things extreme.
When it comes to extreme brewing, there are
tons of thoughts and perspectives floating
around about what the word extreme actually
refers to.
From some initial thoughts that extreme
only equated to high ABV, to the celebration
of the wild stuff that has been hitting the floors
of EBF since the early 2000s.
The Alstrom Brothers and Dogfish have done
a collaborative brew
for the EBF pretty much every year since we've
been a sponsor brewery.
And we don't front it.
It's not like a call or an e-mail.
You guys come down every year and you're
there.
So let's have this year's collaborative
beer.
Jason, why don't you talk about because
this really came from your-- this year's
was your brain child.
Alyssa, thank you for pouring us a beer.
Jason: So Christmas pudding.
Sam: Cheers, gents.
Jason: So it's based off of just that decadent
desert over Christmas time.
Sam: What are your key ingredients when you
make a Christmas pudding?
Jason: Lots of nuts, dry fruit, a healthy
amount of booze, a little binder like flour
or granola and some eggs.
Sam: We incorporated a bunch of the traditional
ingredients, putting some of your favorite
ingredients forward.
What do you think of the beer?
What do you guys get when you try it?
Jason: I love the addition of the barrel aging.
Sam: The port.
Jason: Yeah.
Sam: It softens the booziness.
It doesn't taste like 12.
Todd: But there's this really nice like--
a little bit of a tartness, like a little
bit of a bite in the middle.
Sam: Tell me what you think about just the
general definition of extreme beer, what it
might have meant at the first-ever tiny event
in cyclorama, the definition of extreme beer,
where it started, where it is now.
Todd: We had defined it very early on.
Just extreme beer is literally just a beer
that pushes the boundaries of brewing.
It's not tied to a certain style or ABV.
So those early days of the festival, we really
tried to push and reinforce that, no, this
is the actual definition.
There wasn't one up until then.
We defined it out of a necessity.
Sam: Because the perception was starting to
grow that extreme meant strong.
Todd: Right and we were trying to change everyone's
mind.
I think over the course of all these years
doing the festival, working with you with
the book and all that, I think it's finally
getting out there.
Sam: We have a tradition every year at EVF
and that's to wander the floor in search
of some of the most extreme beers we can find.
With so many awesome craft breweries in attendance,
sometimes that's hard to do.
But, we've got to take one for the team.
Why do you think the evolution of EBF has
been successful?
Todd: I just think it's because of the concept.
I mean these breweries are bringing it.
It's all about creative brews, innovation,
different types of brewing techniques.
Jason: That's part of the American beer
culture now.
Todd: Yeah.
Sam: To brew outside the Reinheitsgebot, to
do different things with processes not just
ingredients and to go for it.
Todd: In a way, it defines modern American
brewing in many ways.
Sam: Which is "don't fence me in."
Todd: Yeah and just constant creativity.
Sam: But-- and also, if you think of it, every
single beer that every craft brewer makes
is extreme relative to the homogenized light lager
that most people think of as beer.
So even our pals a Sierra Nevada; imagine
how extreme Sierra Nevada pale ale tasted
in 1980, right?
So boundaries have spread out, but even that.
Todd: Yeah.
That goes right to our goal.
It's about getting people to think and drink
differently, and that's what it's really
all about.
Sam: And the Alstrom Brothers are doing just
that.
By opening the doors to this historic Boston
building and bringing in hundreds of brewers
and craft beer enthusiasts alike, we are all
encouraged to think and drink differently.
That's what we're trying to do with Project
Extreme Brewing.
And I'm insanely excited to see what extreme
beers we make down the line.
Sam: So this is a growler of Puddin' Wine,
the beer that Dogfish, Jason and Todd Alstrom
came together to brew.
We had a blast coming together in the Extreme
Beerfest hall in downtown Boston and kind
of finding some of our creative brethren and
inviting them to be part of this project.
So Puddin' Wine clocks in at 10.5 ABV;
traditional English barley wine, but on steroids
with both the additions of the fruits and
the Christmas-sy spicing.
We love this beer.
Cheers.
Sam: So if you're thinking about maybe getting
into brewing outside of the box and brewing
with culinary ingredients or just taking some
risks and being more adventurous with your
brewing, pick up a copy of Project Extreme
Brewing, the book that I wrote with the
Alstrom Brothers and with the wonderful aid
of over 30 amazing talented extreme brewers
from coast-to-coast who added over 40 recipes
to this book.
You can buy it anywhere you buy awesome books
or of course, at Dogfish.com.
Get brewing.
