William Couch – We Love DC https://www.welovedc.com Your Life Beyond The Capitol Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:29:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.9 We Love Drinks: Nahem Simon https://www.welovedc.com/2011/04/14/we-love-drinks-nahem-simon/ https://www.welovedc.com/2011/04/14/we-love-drinks-nahem-simon/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:00:35 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=68247 Nahem Simon

We Love Drinks continues our series where we loo

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Nahem Simon

We Love Drinks continues our series where we look behind the bar, profiling the many people – from mixologists to bartenders, sommeliers to publicans – who make your drinks experience happen.

I swing open the hefty, wide birch door on a cool, clear Sunday evening in March, ascend the metal staircase, and enter into a narrow but deep room, filled with lively chatter and the aromas of sweet and sour beer and freshly-cleaned tap lines. I take a seat at the bar and am immediately approached by one of the bartenders. He reaches out to shake my hand.

“Good evening, Bill! Great to see you. How’s everything going, buddy?”

That’s Nahem Simon, and this is ChurchKey, the acclaimed beer bar brother to its downstairs sister Birch & Barley in Logan Circle. Much has been written on this relatively recent addition to the DC nightlife scene, and if you’re a beer geek you’ve surely heard of Greg Engert, the famed beer director of the two restaurants. But, you may not have heard of Nahem, who on almost any given day can be found pouring one of their 50 taps, hand-pumping a cask ale, or wiping down the bar in a move he calls “the Zamboni.”

Nahem plays Greg’s right-hand man; while Greg researches beers, hosts tastings, and appears in the media as the face of ChurchKey, Nahem’s running the show behind the bar. The two have been close friends for several years and their collective enthusiasm toward craft beer has helped permanently transform DC’s beer scene.

I settle in at the bar as Nahem pours me a glass. He introduces me to some fellow patrons: another ChurchKey bartender off-duty, relaxing with his girlfriend and enjoying a hockey game on the flat screens over the taps, and a general manager of a local restaurant who has stopped in after a busy weekend. Soon, Nahem finds a moment to step out from behind the bar, and we take a seat in the secluded lounge area near the back of the room to talk.

In 2003, during the summer following the sophomore year of his undergrad program at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, Nahem found a job back in DC at the Brickskeller, the once preeminent beer bar in the area which has since become the Bier Baron. He was 20 years old, had heard they were hiring, that it was an easy-going place, knew a friend who was working there, and so he applied. He didn’t know anything about beer at the time, and the Brickskeller was of little help, with only a 30-minute training session at the start of the job. Prior to his experience at the Brickskeller, his primary introduction to craft beer happened, naturally, during college.

“In Canada, you would go to the beer store, you’d see all these 6 packs, and different beers that had really, really interesting labels, but you never really knew what it was all about. The first craft beer I got into was Maudite and I just thought it was devil beer, I just thought it was really cool.”

He realized he needed to fully educate himself on craft beer if he was going to continue with this career. He went on to spend the next four summers at the Brickskeller.

In his second year, Nahem met Greg Engert, who had also started working at the Brickskeller, by way of a mutual friend. When they all had a day off, the three of them would go out to party, but also to learn as much as possible about craft beer, so they spent a lot of time visiting various bars, trying out new styles and different beers.

After his second summer there, he completed his undergrad degree back in Ontario and then returned the next year to the Brickskeller to become a bartender/manager. He and Greg’s schedules aligned which allowed them to spend more time building each other’s interest in the hospitality industry as a whole, understanding what works and what doesn’t, particularly based on their experience with the Brickskeller’s operation.

“One of the things we learned was what you don’t do when running a business. You don’t sit on your laurels, you don’t cast aside your clientele, you don’t tell them, ‘Oh, we’re a beer bar, we’re not going to get you this and that.’ Why can’t you make a martini, why can’t you instruct your staff to be able to be as knowledgeable about the beer as they would about the wine, as they would about the spirits?”

They took note of the staff’s passive-aggressive behavior and general lack of direction as a part of the frustrating experience. Under the previous management of Maurice Coja, there was a six-week training program for new employees, but when the bar came under new management, that six-week program turned into a half-hour lecture.

“I don’t think it was fair to not only the staff, but also the customer. And we had great clientele there, we had people that would come in that would want to try these different beers. There’s nothing more disheartening than somebody getting their hopes up about, ‘Oh my god you have this beer!’ ‘I’m sorry we don’t have that.'”

Nahem put together a beer school to help educate the staff since the days of Coja’s formal training were over. Greg took on the program while Nahem returned to school to pursue an art fundamentals course, but then later left the Brickskeller to become the beer director at Rustico in Alexandria. Nahem spent a year back at school before he realized he preferred the hospitality industry, and so he returned to DC and the two ended up together again at Rustico.

A little known fact about Birch & Barley is that it was originally slated to become Rustico 2. The plan was to have Greg move to this new venture in DC as its beer director, and Nahem would take on that same role at the Alexandria location. However, once Greg settled in at what became ChurchKey/Birch & Barley, he found himself spread too thin, and needed help organizing the program, a perfect job for Nahem.

“When this place opened, 150 people rushed in … and then all of these bartenders were getting asked these questions about 50 drafts — not even the bottles — and I was able to tell them this is this beer, this is that beer. I became kind of a liaison behind the bar, and Greg’s face there while he did the more formal presentation downstairs.”

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whiskey tasting

With his obsessive-compulsive nature, Nahem took it upon himself to make the system at ChurchKey remarkably user-friendly for both the staff and Greg. This allowed Greg to spend more time learning about beer, working in the office, and managing the business side while Nahem took on the work of running the bar, coolers, kegs, lines — the whole system.

“I did a lot of research online etc, and found these beverage dispensing tracks to make sure you’re always able to see what you have, you don’t have a mess of bottles that are falling over on one another as we used to have [at The Brickskeller].”

Bottles

If you’re ever looking to find Nahem juggling the kegs in the loft, or more likely manning the bar at ChurchKey, it’s probably best to stop by on a Sunday, which is his favorite day of the week to work.

“Friday and Saturdays, you get more of a demographic that comes in … looking to get fucked up. That’s totally cool if you want to get fucked up, but you can get shots anywhere. I want to make sure that if people are interested in craft beer or people are just interested in what we do, whether it be the food being straight from the farm to the kitchen to your plate, or the kind of care the staff takes in learning about the product and really just getting to know people. That’s what I like about Sundays, a little more laid back, everyone’s a little more comfortable, moving at a slower pace after the weekend.

With as much as Nahem cares about giving the best possible experience to customers, I wondered what his take is on mobile devices in use by those sitting at the bar. On any given night at any given bar, you’ll invariably see heads tilted down, faces aglow in blue light. Some criticize that we’re mitigating the conversationalist strength of bartenders, but Nahem doesn’t quite see it that way.

“I know when I’m at the bar, and even when I’m with friends, I end up turning to my phone. I think it’s just some sort of nervous twitch that humanity has gotten into, because we like to be up to date with information and it’s funny because often times that does actually aid in opening up conversation. Sometimes, just asking, ‘What are you doing there, a little work or you know looking something up?’ it’s amazing how forthcoming people are about what they’re doing, even though they might be doing something very, very personal, very private. … Those three feet of concrete between the two people I think creates a dynamic of interests where, because they’re at the bar whatever they’re doing, they’re trying to get as much of that surrounding as possible even though they’re not trying to engage with it directly.

Two-Hearted Pour

Regardless of what people are doing at the bar though, they’re almost always there to have a drink. At a place with as wide a range and as varying in options as ChurchKey, visitors, both new and seasoned, often ask for a recommendation.

“It’s first about what do they like. I think a lot of people are extremely intimidated and feel that they’re going to look stupid if they don’t know about the beer, I’ll usually ask them — they might be a little hesitant — they might be more towards the whole macrobrewery world, and I’ll tell them we don’t offer that, but I can get you something similar. I always use the same kind of breakdown — I’ve used it since the Brickskeller — ‘Do you want something light, dark, pale, hoppy, sweet, bitter, sour, smokey?’ ’cause, from there, they’ll say, ‘Something dark.’ ‘Oh okay, well something dark and sweet, dark and bitter, dark and sour, dark and smokey?’ and then from there, just keep breaking things down. It’s all word association.

Sometimes though, you want a beer that’s easy and cheap. I think everyone has a favorite shitty shitty beer and there’s a bit of a story behind Nahem’s.

“For me, for nostalgia sake, and I don’t even get it all that much anywhere, but if I can find it, Keystone Light. John Jarecki, who’s the owner of Light Horse in Virginia, was our original bar manager at Rustico, and even though he builds some of the beer selection there — he loves his different beers, and he was from Boulder, and he loves his Avery, his New Belgium, you name it, anything over there — but one thing that I always remember him saying, ‘If you’re having the worst goddamn night in the world, and all hell’s breaking loose, you can always count on the fact that you’re going to be completely refreshed and just completely relaxed by the pedestrian experience of just crushing a Keystone Light. ‘Cause it just kind of brings you back from everything. You’re just like, you know what, it was the worst night ever, but I’m enjoying a Keystone Light. It tastes like absolute garbage, but it just kind of reminds me, hey, I’m having a crappy beer, but I’m enjoying it more than all of the shitty things that are going on. And it’s just a way to keep perspective. And he’s always good. Uncle John always taught us much. He would tell me, he always would tell me, don’t forget to breathe. I still need to work on that.

Nahem Simon

Usually, the first kind of beer everyone has is shitty beer, but Nahem had a different introduction to the beverage.

“It was the Spaten Lager, I was 14 and like, ‘Oh my god, this is great.’ This is also the first time I got wasted. But the beer that really made me like craft beer, was Maudite. I would get it when I would go to poker night during my sophomore year in Canada, I’m like, oh it’s 9%, I’m going to get double the beer, it’s so fucking metal! It’s so fucking punk rock! And we’d get there and we’d all be hanging out, I punished two of these beers before we’d start playing, and by the time the second hand had gone through, I’d already boughten in like four times somehow. Like, I never made a fucking cent, because I was wasted off of fucking 9% beer. But then after that I’m like oh wait, that’s a Belgian style? Teach me more!

We started talking about the last beer we’d ever drink, and Nahem was himself conflicted.

“Holy shit! God, it’s like you’ve got 18 kids, and which one would you say is your favorite before you die. You know, probably the last beer that I like really, really enjoyed in just a good setting. That just really, really depends, but the last time I ended up having a really, really amazing time enjoying that beer ’cause if I’m on my deathbed, I want to think back to that last great time, and I’d probably be like, oh that was good, I’ll have that. I don’t think it’d matter so much on the beer than the correlation, and the emotional investment that I had with that beer.

Where people in the industry eat and drink in their city is always notable, but Nahem found coming up with places difficult, as his days off are rare and he doesn’t go out that often.

“I love Urbana, the bar at the [Hotel] Palomar, just ’cause it’s chill and it is a hotel bar but it’s also chic, and they’ve got good food, a couple good beers. I like going to The Big Hunt, Dave’s a good friend of mine, I love the bottles that he carries. I like going to Estadio as well, the food’s really, really good. I don’t really get out that much.

The night’s getting late, and we wrap up our conversation. If there’s one thing that’s evidenced from all of this though, it’s the groundswell of craft beer interest and venues in the DC area, including the opening of DC Brau tomorrow night. Nahem agrees:

“All these different places, even Matchbox stepped up their stuff a little bit, you’ve got all of these brasseries like Brasserie Beck and even Meridian Pint just opening up. But it’s funny ’cause it’s a healthy competition and at the end of the day, we’re all friends. Let’s all get on the fucking same page, not try to one up one another, just offer cool different things.

The bar has emptied out a bit now, as the city prepares for another Monday. Nahem returns behind the counter to tend to the remaining die-hard barflys, and run his “Zamboni” up and down the bar. The kegs that emptied over the weekend will be swapped out, the lines cleaned, and the draft menus updated for the following day.

When I arrived in DC three years ago, I had been repeatedly told of the Brickskeller as the beer destination in the District. And yet in this short time, the Brickskeller faded out, and a crop of new beer venues have been born in its likeness, learning from its mistakes, and expanding upon its success. In conjunction with mainstays like The Big Hunt and RFD, DC is firmly planting itself as a notable and reputable location for craft beer. And with bartenders like Nahem at the helm of this new wave, you can be assured your time exploring craft beer will be an experience worth having.

All photos by the author.

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Drinks Special: Birch & Barley’s Beer & Whiskey https://www.welovedc.com/2011/03/28/drinks-special-birch-barleys-beer-whiskey/ Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:00:40 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=66685 Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whisky tasting

Last week, Birch & Barley hosted their firs…

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Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whisky tasting

Last week, Birch & Barley hosted their first-ever beer and whiskey tasting. At the helm was the inimitable Greg Engert to guide the evening’s attendees through three different beers and three different whiskies, one of each presented on its own, and then two of each paired together.

While I’ve had several meals at Birch & Barley and have spent too much time upstairs at ChurchKey, I had not yet attended one of Birch & Barley’s tastings or beer dinners so I wasn’t sure what to expect—in its format, presentation, guidance, sociability—but based on my past experiences with the brother-sister venues and the heavy promotion the tasting received, I figured it would be worthwhile. By the conclusion of the event, it had certainly met expectations—I left better educated, with a few new acquaintances, and with a pleasant buzz.

Greg Engert

The event was communal in its setup, and for those participating equally convivial. Greg took the stage in the center of the packed restaurant, microphone in hand, to talk through the flavors and nuances to note about each pairing. Every place-setting was accompanied by a menu of the event’s offerings, a golf pencil, and a custom tasting note card containing a grid with spaces to jot down your thoughts on each item’s appearance, aroma, taste, palate, and overall impression—a very nice touch.

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whisky tasting

Coastal Brewing's Millenium Oak Aged w/ Brett 2008

Greg started everyone with the 2008 Millennium Oak Aged with Brettanomyces from Delaware’s Coastal Brewing Company which was sweet, malty, slightly spicy, and lightly bitter. To accompany the 10.5% barleywine, a platter of cashel blue cheese with port-glazed figs atop multigrain toast was served. The cheese was sweet and creamy, paired for its funk, and finished well, but felt a bit more powerful and funkier than the beer and thus overwhelmed it.

Cashel blue with port-glazed figs on multigrain toast points

The next solo offering was High West’s Rendezvous Rye, a 46% rye whiskey that was astringent and dry in its aroma, but had a spicy, intense, slightly earthy taste. It finished light and spicy and our table seemed in agreement this was a very pleasurable pour, especially in conjunction with the braised lamb belly served beside toasted bulgur wheat with plumped golden raisins. The lamb belly melted in your mouth and the bulgur wheat complimented the earth tones of the whiskey quite well.

High West's Rendezvous Rye

KBS '09 + Willet Pot Still Reserve 94 proof

The third portion of tasting was a pairing of Founders’ very rare 2008 Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Kentucky Bourbon Distiller’s Willett Pot Still Reserve 94 proof which were both fantastic. The 11.2% KBS was dark and oily in the glass, but filled with notes of coffee, malt, oats, and even marshmallow and finished sweet and light, and the 47% bourbon was spicy and subtly intense. The kitchen prepared one of the season’s last runs of its butternut squash arancini which were the usual mix of crispy and gooey, but seemed comparatively pale to the alcoholic offerings.

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whisky tasting

The final pairing of the evening was BrewDog’s whisky cask-aged imperial stout, Paradox Isle of Arran, and Isle of Jura’s single-malt whiskey Superstition. While I’d had this variant of BrewDog’s Paradox series before and was yet again underwhelmed by it, as were many of my tablemates, the Superstition wowed even the most discerning attendees. While the Isle of Arran seemed lacking in flavor and complexity and really didn’t live up to its expectations, the Superstition was the complete opposite; it surprised with with its salty, briney, peaty flavors, and demonstrated a lovely complexity—I’ve never tasted a whiskey like it before. In conjunction with the Paradox, it felt like the night’s Trojan horse. Paired with a round of beechwood-smoked malt sausage and roasted cipollini onions, and the evening ended on a rather pleasant note.

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer and whisky tasting

While this was Birch & Barley’s first run at a beer-whiskey tasting event, they did a wonderful job, which isn’t a huge surprise considering their accolades and experience with food and drink pairings. There were a few missteps though it felt, in the selections and pairings, but in consideration of the whole experience—the usual wealth of knowledge provided by Greg, excellent service, great setting, and lively attendees—you should look forward to the next iteration of the event. I certainly will be, and judging by the slightly stumbling exits of happy guests, many more will be as well.

All photos by the author.

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Beer Dinners at Lyon Hall https://www.welovedc.com/2011/03/04/beer-dinners-at-lyon-hall/ https://www.welovedc.com/2011/03/04/beer-dinners-at-lyon-hall/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:00:52 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=64915 Lyon Hall's Ommegang Beer Dinner

Beer dinners have been growing in prevalence an…

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Lyon Hall's Ommegang Beer Dinner

Beer dinners have been growing in prevalence and popularity in the area as the number of beer-inspired restaurants and bars continue to build. Pizzeria Paradiso, Birch and Barley, and Meridian Pint have all played host to beer-pairing dinners, and you may now add Lyon Hall of Clarendon to the mix.

Tuesday saw their first beer dinner since opening just under a year ago, and I was lucky to attend as a guest of the restaurant’s beer director, David McGregor. He’s long planned to do the pairings, which will occur on the first Tuesday of every month, and finally had the opportunity to start this week. Talk with David and you’ll sense his sincere passion towards all things malt and mash, and a genuine excitement to share in his explorations of their interplay with deftly prepared dishes.

For the inaugural dinner, David invited in Brewery Ommegang’s local director, Steve Cardello, and together with Lyon Hall’s chef de cuisine, Andy Bennett, put on a four-course meal catered to and built around the flavors and textures of Ommegang’s classic and unique offerings.

Steve Cardello

David and Steve walked the beer enthusiasts through four courses: a scallop ceviche, grilled pork belly over house-made kimchi, roasted duck breast with crispy leg, and soft chocolate covered with whipped Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence.

Ommegang Hennepin

First course

Steve introduced the scallop ceviche with Hennepin, a 7.7% golden farmhouse saison ale and one of Ommegang’s staple brews. The ceviche was prepared with a citrus salad which comprised of blood oranges, fennel, and poppy seed, which collectively accented the Hennepin’s notes of orange peel, coriander, and ginger, while also adding a bit of coarse texture with the seeds. The scallops were wonderfully fresh and light and pressed into a flat, round shape that played host to the salad. A fine start to the meal, and all those dining were in full agreement.

Ommegang Rare Vos

Second Course

The second course, the grilled pork belly with house-made kimchi topped with a fried oyster, was served in conjunction with Rare Vos, a spicy Belgian amber ale (and appropriately so). The spice of the kimchi beautifully complimented the peppercorn and Grains of Paradise with which the Rare Vos is brewed; each built on the spice of one another, and together with the fatty pork belly (which was also braised in Rare Vos) that fell apart when met with a fork and the cool relief of celery leaf, this pairing was my favorite of the evening. That said, I was a little dismayed by the kimchi as an example of the dish. On its own, it wasn’t as spicy or fleshy as the authentic Korean preparation, and the vinegar from the pickling was a bit overpowering. Lyon Hall models itself after a French brasserie with German influences, so while it was still delicious, preparing kimchi was a bit of an experiment for Bennett.

Main Course

The main dish of the evening was a roasted duck breast, prepared exquisitely medium rare, with crispy leg, cabbage, turnips, and a Three Philosopher’s cherry gingerbread jus. As a surprise, Steve brought out a tiny sampler of Three Philosopher’s, a 9.8% Belgian quadruple brewed with 2% Liefmans Kriekbier, a beer wildly fermented with cherries. The quad has strong notes of toffee and caramel paired with a subtler taste of tart cherries and fruit from the kriek. This sampler appropriately complimented the cherries served as part of the full dish, but otherwise felt a bit misplaced. The primary beer for this course was the classic Ommegang Abbey Ale, a Belgian-style dubbel brewed with star anise, cumin, and licorice root. This, this was the beer to go with the duck, and it did so wonderfully. The tissue of the crispy leg, crunch of the cabbage, sweet peels of turnips accented the dark but approachable Abbey and together formed a very satisfying conclusion to the savory portion of the dinner.

Fourth course

The final preparation of the evening piqued the curiosity of those in attendance as plates of what appeared to be the fanciest Hostess cake you’d ever seen topped with a delicate caramel-colored foam was placed at everyone’s setting. This dessert was nothing near anything from Hostess though. It comprised of a smooth but reasonably firm chocolate base—imagine a thick pudding that could hold its shape—that tasted of the perfect cup of hot chocolate, coated on top with a hard chocolate shell, a dollop of mocha ice cream and finished with foamy, whipped Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, which not coincidentally was the beer to top off the night. This seemed like the least difficult of pairings with so many shared flavors—Chocolate Indulgence is a 7% Belgian dark ale brewed with chocolate nibs, a sort of unprocessed form of cocoa beans, and cocoa powder—but was expertly executed.

David McGregor

By the end of the night, it seemed as though everyone in attendance was quite content, convivial, a wee bit tipsy, and would soon be ready for the next month’s dinner — and you can count me among them. While Lyon Hall may not be the first place on your list of beer venues (especially if you consider Virginia a separate continent), I’d caution you not to write off it, or its very promising future. It’s worth the trip over the river.

Lyon Hall’s next beer dinner will focus on lighter spring beers including saisons, and should land on April 8. Watch on Twitter and Facebook for announcements.

All photos by the author.

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We Love Drinks: Homebrew Your Own Hard Cider https://www.welovedc.com/2011/02/24/we-love-drinks-homebrew-your-own-hard-cider/ https://www.welovedc.com/2011/02/24/we-love-drinks-homebrew-your-own-hard-cider/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:00:02 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=64001 Start your fermenting!

February may seem like a strange time to think ab…

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Start your fermenting!

February may seem like a strange time to think about cider, or even autumn. But when Mother Nature seduces us on a Friday with the sweet smell of spring, then turns her back days later with a sick smack of sleet, I’m happy to exercise a flagrant disregard for the season. More importantly however, we’re about 8 months out from the peak of autumn, the same amount of time it takes to make a seriously strong batch of hard cider, which makes this the perfect time to start brewing.

I had never seriously considered brewing my own hard cider, let alone any sort of alcohol, until last September on a trip to Denver. I visited with my buddy, Nick, who is an avid homebrewer and we spent a day-hike discussing the ins-and-outs of brewing; I became very excited by the idea. He suggested cider as a good first step. Before I was on my way back to DC, I’d already ordered some supplies to get started.

But, I needed more. I purchased the first round through Northern Brewer, a fantastic homebrew supply site, and then went to a local homebrew supply shop for the rest. There are three shops in the area: Maryland Homebrew in Columbia, MD, Danny’s Homebrew in Leonardtown, MD, and the most convenient to the DC-area, My-Local-Home-Brew-Shop, in Seven Corners of Falls Church, VA. My-Local-Home-Brew-Shop is a tiny little store hidden at the base of a building you would not expect a retail store to exist in but lo, inside, you’ll find it filled to the brim with all sorts of brewing supplies. The foreign nature of the objects and tools found on the shelves made it the closest thing I’d seen to Slug and Jigger’s Apothecary of Diagon Alley. (While I’ve provided links for reference to Northern Brewer for the majority of the supplies listed below, I’d encourage you to support your local homebrew shop. Homebrewers are a tight-knit, friendly bunch who do this out of love of the craft—why wouldn’t you want to support that?)

Nick also provided the recipe he used after his own success with it. Notably, it’s actually a recipe for apfelwein, a traditional German “apple wine.” The wine character largely comes from the Montrachet yeast, which is of French origin and commonly used in chardonnays. It will provide a less tart, much drier taste than you might expect from a hard cider. Additionally, while the recipe provides instructions for 5 gallons, I don’t have a huge fridge or that many brave friends, so I scaled it down to one gallon. Accordingly, here’s what the revised requirements look like:

*WLDC reader FN notes in the comments that through experience apple juice is better. I used cider, and if you want to as well, I’ve found it available this time of year at the grocery store, usually nestled somewhere in the prepared fruit cooler.

Apfelwein Preparation

If you’re interested in bottling the stuff (one of the coolest parts, in my opinion), you’ll also want:

*Alternately, you can be fancy and purchase a 12-pack of empty bottles. I played it cheap, but the liquid will look much better in clear glass bottles.

The actual mixing process only takes about 20 minutes, so let’s get started!

  1. Sanitize the glass jug, funnel, stopper, airlock. Two notes about using Star San: (1) it’s extremely concentrated, so you’ll only need a small squeeze (less than half an ounce) of it to mix with ~1 gallon of water to sanitize all of these items, and (2) you can easily measure out an ounce by squeezing the bottle, forcing the fluid down the main container and up the small chute along the side of the bottle into the pouring chamber. It’s an unexpected but clever mechanism to accurately measure the liquid before pouring.
  2. Pour half of the apple cider into the glass jug through the funnel. Divide the sugar into two separate but equal amounts, and add one half to the jug through the funnel. Mix this well.
  3. Repeat step 2 with the second half of the cider and sugar in the same jug, but leave about an inch of the cider out.
  4. Add the yeast to the jug through the funnel, then pour the remaining cider in, clearing out any remaining yeast stuck to the funnel.
  5. Plug the jug with the stopper, and wedge the airlock into the stopper. Pour about a shot’s worth of vodka into the airlock to form a liquid seal on the stopper.
  6. Place the jug somewhere where it’ll remain undisturbed so it can ferment for at least four weeks. I placed mine along the wall on my kitchen counter, under cabinets, so it was partially obstructed from direct light as well.

Brewing Apfelwein

This stage in the process was very gratifying for me. Watching the yeast bubble and eat through the sugars, transforming the dark brown liquid into hazy, translucent gold felt like I was back in chemistry conducting some important educational experiment. Instead, I was just making alcohol through zymurgy!

While you wait for the fermentation process, collect empty beer bottles to use for bottling. Removing the labels is aided by soaking the bottles in a mixture of hot water, dish soap, and vinegar for a couple hours. If the bottles had particularly cool labels, with a careful, steady hand, you can peel them off in full after they’ve soaked, dry them out and preserve them if you so choose. Let the bottles dry out once the labels are off and set them aside until you’re ready to bottle.

After about a month, you’ll notice a thick layer of sediment at the bottom of the jug; the yeast has settled out, and the fermentation process is complete. It’s time to bottle!

Before bottling, again prepare a tiny amount of Star San with a gallon of water and thoroughly rinse all of the bottles and funnel. Remove the airlock and stopper, dispose of the vodka and slowly pour the liquid into each bottle through the funnel. Be careful near the end to not pour much if any of the yeast sediment into the bottles. I left a portion behind in the jug to spare the sediment.

Yeast sediment

After you’ve filled all the bottles (leaving behind the liquid + sediment left me with 10 full bottles), add about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle to add a little carbonation, and then use the Red Baron capper to seal the bottles with the crown caps. Refrigerate, and soon you’ll finally have your finished apfelwein.

Bottled

I let my batch stay in the fridge for about two and a half months, but you can let it extend out for up to eight months which is apparently when it gets very, very good. Just last week, I tried the first bottle. I was hesitant and nervous that somewhere in the process, I’d made a mistake and the brew would have a displeasing taste, but it was in fact fantastic. Imagine a strong, dry wine brimming with apple; different from a cider but quite satisfying for my first run at a homebrew.

Now, come October, you can invite some friends over and share your creation among the colors and crisp of the season. It’s well worth the wait!

All photos by the author.

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