Mad-Scientist Brewers Bridge the Gap Between Beer and Whiskey
From left: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Distillate, Kiuchi No Shizuku Hitachino Nest, Charbay R5 whiskey, and Schneider Edelster Aventinus.
Source: Vendors
Eight years ago, Belgian brewer Urbain Coutteau tasted a batch of his flagship beer Pannepot, a 10 percent ABV unfiltered, unpasteurized dark ale. As owner of De Struise Brouwers, he immediately realized that some of the wrong hop varietals had been used during brewing and, while the result yielded an interesting profile, it was too much of a flavor departure from the original to be released as Pannepot.
Rather than dump the several batches affected, he thought to distill the beer into a spirit—much the way wine is the base for brandy. “Our vision was very simple,” Coutteau says. “The distillate would have to be as drinkable and complex as its base beer Pannepot, with a similar flavor profile.”