Who in their right mind makes a stein beer in 2015 just for the fun of it? Urban Artifact does… and from the Northside brewery, who lives in the world of tart and wild beers… I suppose it makes perfect since that they are doing it as well…
What’s A Stein Beer?
Traditionally these were made by dropping super hot rocks into the wort to bring it to a boil. This was a necessity because in these “olden days” the brew kettles were often made of wood, making a direct fire boil a little difficult to say the least. The process creates a beer with some caramelized flavors that you don’t typically get from a “normal” beer when sugars directly on the hot rocks caramelize. In addition, brewers often dropped the rocks into the fermenting beer after they cooled, to allow the yeast to munch on the sugars that had caramelized on the outside of the rocks.
If you watched the Hawaii episode of BrewDogs where they used lava rocks to boil a beer…or if you’ve tried The Lost Abbey’s ‘Hot Rocks’ or maybe Port Brewings ‘Hot Rocks Lager’ you might be a little familiar with this style whether you realize it or not.
So… What Is Urban Artifact Doing?
Urban Artifact has developed a great reputation for doing this a little different, which is why when they uncovered some Granite stones that were used to build their church while doing construction it only made sense that the final plan ended up with them deciding to brew a Stein Beer with them.
The Beer will be an Imperial Maibock fermented with their wild yeast, and the brew day has been set for October 10th. The day is being marked as a celebration of sorts… a time for fellow beer geeks to get together and watch the brewing of this odd beer on their 1bbl pilot system. Doors will be opening at 12pm and brewing will most likely kick off around 3pm. There will be marshmallows to roast… a DJ playing music, and of course lots of beer being drank.
As for when you get to taste the beer? Unless you’re a member of their stein club, you won’t. This is a limited release for the club members only… It will be lagered a way for a while and released to the club come April. (Note: you can still join the club here)