It used to be that there were two basic types of alcohol consumers: wine drinkers and beer drinkers. Then the craft-brewery scene and the slow-foods movement took off in tandem in the Bay Area. And eventually the brewers started paying attention to the vintners, who’d been in Napa and Sonoma for a very long time indeed. And then a very strange thing happened: the two started to intermingle.
“We’re surrounded by incredible wine-growing regions,” said Kim Sturdavant, brewer at Social Kitchen and Brewery in the Sunset. “It just makes sense to use their grapes and have a truly regional and seasonal product. It’s very special and unique to the Bay Area.”
“Fans of [wine] are drawn to beers brewed in them. It’s a nice bridge between the worlds of wine and beer.”
For the beer beginners out there, know that, historically, beer was required by law to contain only water, barley, hops and yeast. (Sure, the Belgians put all kinds of crazy things in their beer for hundreds of years, but the rest of Europe frowned upon this.) Until the late twentieth century, American beer mostly consisted of light lagers brewed by corporate behemoth breweries like Coors and Anheuser-Busch.
Then the craft-brewing scene began to take off and with it the rise of more interesting beers — including some brewed with fruit, like the Bay Area summer favorite, Watermelon Wheat from 21st Amendment Brewery. And while notes of sweet melons and citrus are pretty common findings in beer, grape notes really haven’t been common — at least not until now.
“The flavors of these two favorite beverages, beer and wine, go so well together,” said Peter Kruger, brewer at Bear Republic in Healdsburg, who make a Pinot Kolsch brewed with Pinot grapes. “I would expect [the trend] to grow.”
“We’re surrounded by incredible wine-growing regions…It just makes sense to use their grapes and have a truly regional and seasonal product. It’s very special and unique to the Bay Area.”
This year, during San Francisco Beer Week, you can find a dozen breweries that are either literally brewing beer with wine grapes or letting their beer ferment in wine barrels, which causes beer to pick up wine-like notes. There’s even a special Beer with Grapes event at Social Kitchen and Brewery on Valentine’s Day.
For those who have not tried beer brewed with grapes, note that tastes vary incredibly, depending on the type of beer and the type of grape or barrel. Social Kitchen’s Saison Du Sauvignon, a saison brewed with Sauvignon grapes from Oro En Paz winery on Treasure Island, had the tang and gravity of a Sauvignon Blanc and the consistency of a saison. (If you’re not a big saison drinker, they’re a bit like a pilsner or lager in terms of heft.) Saisons often have fruity undertones, and in the case of the Saison Du Sauvignon, those undertones were of a bright, dry white-wine grape. Yet what’s most interesting about the Saison Du Sauvignon is the aroma: if I were smelling it blindfolded, I would have thought someone were waving a glass of white wine in front of me.
“The saison yeast produces some really bright and spicy wine-like notes, so it works wonderfully with the grapes,” said Kim Sturdavant, the brewer behind the Saison Du Sauvignon. “With the Sauvignon Blanc, in particular, we get a lot of tropical fruit and a lingering acidity that gives the beer a very wine-like drinking experience. It sort of feels like a beer but tastes like a wine, if that makes sense.”
The head winemaker of Oro En Paz, James Davids, suggested that they “experiment” with their Sauvignon grapes, Sturdavant said. “They source grapes from small vineyards,” particularly those in the Clear Lake region, which, Sturdavant said, is “a superior region” for white wine.
While beers like the Saison Du Sauvignon are brewed directly with wine grapes, others merely use old wine barrels for the brewing process, taking on wine-like flavors in the process.
“We love barrels contaminated with brettanomyces,” said Dan Watson of Cleophus Brewing, who make several beers brewed in wine barrels. Brettanomyces, a breed of wild yeast that run around in wine, creates the “dry, complex, funky, slightly acidic flavors historically common in aged beers,” he explained. “Although these flavors can also be desirable in wine at low levels, [they] can be sublime in certain beers.”
One benefit of brewing these kinds of beers is the potential for a crossover audience: many wine drinkers who may not consider themselves beer people are drawn to them. “I believe any barrel-aged beer does attract a different audience,” said Jeff Moakler of Laughing Monk Brewing. “Fans of [wine] are drawn to beers brewed in them. It’s a nice bridge between the worlds of wine and beer.”
Local “beers with grapes” to watch out for:
— Bear Republic’s Pinot Kolsch, mentioned briefly above, mixes a Pinot grape from Holdredge Wines with a toasty Kolsch, a light pilsner- or lager-like beer. “We felt that the big fruity character of this juice would play well with the dryness of the Kolsch,” said Peter Kruger of Bear Republic.
— Social Kitchen’s Saison Du Sauvignon (see above) and their Cassini Claussenii, a “Belgian dark strong aged 13 months in red-wine barrels.”
— Laughing Monk’s Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Peach Pulpit, a “Belgian Tripel with peaches aged in Wente Chardonnay barrels.” “Wente barrels [m]ake a big toasty and buttery Chardonnay,” said Jeff Moakler at Laughing Monk. “[Wente] uses their barrels only once, so we can still get a lot of great American oak flavor in the beer. We thought those flavors would complement the soft peach and Belgian yeast aroma and flavor in the Peach Pulpit Tripel.”
— Cleophus Brewing’s “Batch 75 / Fruits De La Forêt,” aged in red-wine barrels, and “Batch 108 / Saison Carl,” which is “fermented with wine lees (yeast from the bottom of a wine barrel) rather than brewer’s yeast.”
