Preserves Online: Custom Beer Brewing

Thursday 19 July 2012

Custom Beer Brewing

One such libation is Rouben’s collaboration with Flanigan—a Belgian red ale named after the Henri chef’s daughter, Luciana. After their initial meeting, where they determined what beers Flanigan likes to drink (session beers and robust Pilsners) and his cuisine style, Flanigan and Rouben decided on a combination of toasted malt, smoked malt, chocolate malt, rye, Chinook hops, and Belgian yeast. The formula resulted in food-friendly beer with gentle hops, bright acidity, aromatics of fig and dates, and notes of rhubarb and chocolate. Ultimately—and perhaps not surprisingly—those characteristics yielded a brew that could accompany 85 percent of the menu at The Gage and 50 percent of the menu at Henri. At least it would have accompanied the menu, except Luciana never actually made it to Henri. The beer sold out in a lightning 13 days. “The staff [at The Gage] was so into it. We sold 90 beers on the first night,” said Flanigan. After the effort that went into making the beer—“lots of work shoveling and, especially, cleaning” and even a quickly resolved tank malfunction and injury (we’re not naming names)—Flanigan has even greater admiration for the brewing process. “It’s fascinating. It’s so exciting. And I’m totally addicted to it,” he says. “And I have a total appreciation for what [Jared’s team] does. I would love to have [Luciana] as a house brew.”