This is my friend, Ryan.
For the last 5 years Ryan and I have enjoyed drinking,
creating, and talking beer together. During my time at Weyerbacher
Brewing Co, Ryan was working for Tanzo’s Beverages, and would
regularly be in and around the brewery picking up deliveries, dropping
off special beer for us to taste, pestering us for a job, etc, etc…
From these encounters, Ryan and I became close friends, and after
about a year and a half with Tanzo’s, Ryan finally got a “real”
brewing job in North Carolina at the Duck Rabbit Brewery. For the past
two years he has been making a go at it, crafting dark ales of all
sort (Duck Rabbit IS the dark beer specialist, after all), and
representing N.C. brewing to the fullest. Recently, a mutual friend,
Shaun Hill (of the Shed fame), offered Ryan a job at his current digs
in Denmark. Never one to pass up a beery adventure, Ryan jumped at
the opportunity, and I am happy to report that he is now the brewer at
Fanø Bryghus.

Two days before Ryan left, he stopped by Iron Hill, W.C, for a little
collaborative brew, if you will. Ryan and I have always been fans of
Farmhouse style ales; saison in particular. We also love love love
citrusy American hops. After a bit of back and forth, we settled on a
red Super Saison consisting of 25% flaked rye malt, with a pronounced
bitterness from the heavy handed use of Columbus, Amarillo, and
especially, Saaz hops. We fermented it with a blend of two yeast
strains; the Dupont strain, for its black peppery phenol production,
and the Ardennes (LaChouffe) strain for its chewy, chewy juicy fruit
ester notes. The beer is named Røde (pronounced “Rude”), which means
“red” in Danish (but, if you’ve ever met Ryan, the rough English
pronunciation may strike you as a more appropriate name for this
beer), and should be on tap sometime in late October. We allowed Røde
to free rise, meaning we didn’t set a fermentation temperature, and as
of yesterday, it hit 28c. Røck and ør Røll!
After knocking out, we filled a freshly used wine barrel (more on the
wine barrels later!) with the inoculated wort, tossed in some KILLER
heather honey that Ryan had brought back with him from Denmark, and
pitched some additional wild yeasts. We hope to have this 100% wood
fermented beer, named Tuff Ghost, on tap next to Røde (or at least
shortly thereafter!) for your organoleptic enjoyment.
What a great way to send off a great pal. Tot wij opnieuw samenkomen!
- Jean