“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.” My favorite season has finally arrived! Today marks the official beginning of autumn with the arrival of the autumnal equinox. And with the change in seasons comes change at Third Leap. I’m happy to introduce several modifications to the website! New Logo After half of decade of…(Read More)
“Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed,” once said King Henry VIII. Of course, 15th century England was at odds over traditional (un-hopped) “ale” and new (hopped) “beer” during King Henry’s reign. Fast-forward 450 years and India Pale Ale is the #1 craft beer style, totaling $342M. This tremendous demand has surged…(Read More)
Failure is our greatest teacher (or something like that). Since the reincarnation of Third Leap, I have been diligently working toward realizing two beer concepts locked away in the deep corners of my mind; a farmhouse ale and a table ale. To date, I have brewed three versions of each, with the table ale being…(Read More)
In the early days of brewing, multiple step infusion mashing was the rule, not the exception. During that time, poorly understood malting and kilning processes rendered malted barley without ample enzymes for proper saccharification. These undermodified malts are nearly extinct nowadays, as is multiple step infusion mashing. But history still has its place! Unfortunately, my…(Read More)
Over the years, Third Leap Brewing & Blending has evolved quite a bit. In 2010, I started with two large spaghetti pots, an old Coleman cooler, and the kitchen stovetop. That lasted all of one batch. The first equipment upgrades came in the forms of an outdoor propane burner, 7-gallon pot, and immersion chiller…(Read More)
I am fascinated with wine. I am equally fascinated with the fascination of wine. On a recent business trip to San Francisco, California, I stumbled across a 2016 documentary titled Somm: Into the Bottle. The film provides an overview to the history, politics, and fascination of wine in just 90 minutes. And while personally, I…(Read More)
Table Ale #2 was the second attempt at realizing my perfect summer session beer. Brewed in February with Flynn, this iteration featured six major recipe/process changes from batch #1. Change outcomes and abbreviated tasting notes can be found below. Higher mash temperature Jumping the mash temperature from 144°F to 160°F should have…(Read More)
After nearly 12 months of foraging microbes, I finally received my first lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolates! These bacteria are significant because the will ultimately be the forces behind the acid solera beer, a continuous mixture of highly acidic (low pH) beer for blending. While preparing to grow the LAB up for sensory analysis, I…(Read More)
Table Ale #3
by
While the table ale has been trending in the right direction, it is still a work in progress. Batch #1 was underwhelming; lacking bitterness, carbonation, and depth of flavor. After making changes to the recipe, water chemistry, and mash/fermentation temperatures, batch #2 (tasting notes forthcoming) was more in line with my vision. However, despite…(Read More)
Not all of last month’s Farm Bière wort made its way into the fermentor. Instead, a small portion was diverted into separate mini-fermentors to evaluate a dozen new foraged yeast isolates. These yeasts were initially foraged from Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire during summer/fall 2016 with the help of Flynn. Once…(Read More)
Drinking
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