[Matt] For people who are not familiar with a
farmhouse ale, what makes a farmhouse ale?
[Dan Acosta] Traditionally in Belgium, France,
farmhouse ales were brewed for
farmworkers. Very simple beers that were
brewed with the ingredients that was
indigenous to the property that the
farmers worked on. Typically there are
mixed fermentation so Brettanomyces
bacteria were used to brew the beers.
[Matt] So that means it's not just brewers yeast
there's stuff coming from the air into
the beer. [Acosta] Correct. They would just allow the
natural microbes in the air to
ferment the beer.
[Matt] What yeast makes it into this beer?
[Acosta] There are several yeast, it's over 25 different
yeast strains in this beer from wild
Saccharomyces yeast to Brettanomyces to
Lactobacillus which I bet was a
bacteria, Pediococcus which is also a
bacteria. [Matt] A lot of bacteria. How do you
know it's safe to drink?
[Acosta] So a lot of these yeast and bacteria that
we use in the spirit naturally occur on
fruits, specifically figs, so we found
during the R&D period before we actually
start brewing the coolship beers that
there was a large population of fig
trees in this area. So this is
specifically a Long Island City beer.
We're not catching any of that New York
City smog.
[Acosta] Correct. [laughs]
