"Beechwood Aging" - WTFDIM?

[kinjar]

This may be a naive question, but...

I caught the new Budweiser commercial last night that has (I believe) George Clooney doing the voice over - its the one that talks about how Beechwood Aging is a traditional & expensive way to make beer. It made me wonder what that really means. Anyone know?

I did a quick internet search but only found "Bud or Die" type sites that basically just said the same thing - it's some kind of expensive brewing process.

Needless to say, I find that (and the product) hard to swallow.

Curious if any real brewers out there could explain what it means.

[HogieWan]

From what I understand, it helps speed up conditioning to reduce lagering time and SAVE MONEY.

[neelyjr1]

From what they say on the tour, the wood actually increases the surface area that the yeast can cling to, giving it a cleaner finish. All of a sudden I sound like an industry shill :)

[newportstorm]

Beechwood aging is a term that causes confusion as most people have no idea what it means or assume something (like Bud being aged in wooden barrels) that is completely untrue. It sounds romantic, but really isn't.

Dunno why you couldn't find more info on the net. This response, directly from A-B, was the second search result in Google:

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/abletter.html

Cheers!

[Halgarmeister]

Originally posted by newportstorm
Dunno why you couldn't find more info on the net. This response, directly from A-B, was the second search result in Google:

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/abletter.html

Cheers!


LOL I liked those letters! Pretty funny stuff.

[unkle bik]

When I toured the A-B facility in columbus some years back, they told us beechwood chips were added during the secondary fermentation process. There were burlap sacks of them lying around the floor.
Whether they still do this is a mystery.

[danno]

the more exposure beer has to yeast, the faster it ferments and ages. various brewers use this to their advantage (some British brewers use 1 foot deep, wading pool sized open fermenters), but only Bud uses it as a marketing ploy...

[chazwicke]

My neice who interned at AB - Williamsburg said the beechwood is boiled / cleaned beforehand to make sure it won't impart any flavor. And that it was to create more space for the yeast to allow for faster fermentation.

[kinjar]

Bottom line seems to be it is just a great marketing term for a fairly common methodology.

And Newport, I'll credit user error & not using Google as my search engine for not getting the answer. . . I surf as well as Greg Brady.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by kinjar
I surf as well as Greg Brady.

Damn that tiki!

[steveh]

Originally posted by newportstorm
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/abletter.html


In all fairness, be sure to read Fred's response. I've met Mr. Eckhardt and spent an hour or so quaffing real ales and beer-talking with him -- he's a true gem and great beer proponent.

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/fredab.html

S.

[hops99]

Thanks for the link to Fred's response. It's refreshing to see how gloriously unapologetic he is.

As for Mitch's letter:

We, along with many other traditional brewers and beer enthusiasts, object to those who mislead consumers by marketing their beers as "craft brewed," when in fact their beers are made in large breweries.

Pathetic.

[HogieWan]

The REAL question is: Can homebrewers use some beechwood chips to speed up lagering or ecen ale conditioning?

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by hops99
Thanks for the link to Fred's response. It's refreshing to see how gloriously unapologetic he is.

As for Mitch's letter:
"We, along with many other traditional brewers and beer enthusiasts, object to those who mislead consumers by marketing their beers as "craft brewed," when in fact their beers are made in large breweries."


Pathetic.

Agreed. That's sad. Is that the company line or is he referring to someone specific? Only one I can see might be Sam Adams. I still consider them (BBC) a craft brewery, size be damned.

If he's referring to anyone else in the industry....pot...meet kettle. Mitch is now working with Stone Brewing Co., whose new brewery will have a 200,000 barrel per year capacity. Pretty damn big. Wonder if he'll consider his new employer a craft brewery if/when they approach that capacity?

Cheers!

[steveh]

Originally posted by newportstorm
Only one I can see might be Sam Adams. I still consider them (BBC) a craft brewery, size be damned.

That does refer to Sam Adams - that whole rift came about back when A-B was slamming Boston Beer for "claiming" to be craft, local, regional - whatever. A-B thought they were uncovering a conspiracy when they pointed out that Sam Adams was contract brewed in various places around the country.

They failed to point out the bigger conspiracy: Sam Adams has boat-loads more flavor and character than any A-B product, no matter where either are brewed.

S.

[HarkJohnny]

beechwood = 2x4s

[smeyrt]

in any case bud is a bad one who cares how they brew it because they failed to make a beer that tastes good. Even before my taste bud matured into good beer I couldnt stand bud

[Mill Rat]

A few points on which I feel the need to pontificate:

Beechwood aging has nothing to do with flavor. The beechwood was chosen for its very lack thereof. Its real purpose is to provide greater square footage at the bottom of the fermenter on which the yeast will settle, so the yeast cake is spread thinner and the yeast does its job faster. Simple case of getting greater production out of the equipment they have. I'd be very surprised if M and C don't have a similar set-up at the bottom of their fermenters, and whether it is made from beechwood or some other material is immaterial.

As far as the size of BBC goes, so what? BBC has made good beer from day 1, and I have yet to notice (or see posts from those claiming to notice) any decline in the quality of BBC products. Speaking as someone who appreciates good beer, this is good news and more of it. I'll bet there are many craft brewers who dream of the day that multi-location brewing becomes an economical choice for them. The fact that BBC is finding satellite brewing both economical and controllable is really a watershed event in the US beer market. Craft brewing can no longer be dismissed as a fad. Those of us who appreciate craft brewing can no longer fear the day when the sun sets on good beer and we drown in a sea of well-marketed harnwasser. We can hear the quaking boots in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Colorado as Burnin' helles and other attempts at out-crafting the crafters pour out of BMC. Hot damn!

If BBC brews in more than one place, e.g. contracting with Capital Brewing, I can't see a reason to complain as long as the quality and consistency are maintained. All else being equal, brewing in more than one place, once a brewery's presence becomes more than regional, is really a boon to the consumer, as more of our beer dollars go back to brewery (or stay in our pockts) instead of buying diesel fuel. It also means that the trip from the brewery to your taste buds is shorter, improving the quality of the beer you actually get.

When I lived a little further east, I remember Genesee ads claiming "our one brewery makes it best." Rolling Rock made a similar claim. I think I can predict the outcome of a blind tasting of a BBC satellite-brewed Boston Lager versus either of these products from their home brewery (better be quick with the RR taste test, though).

[ratman03]

Great post Mill Rat. Couldn't have said it better meself.

[Mad Scientist]

Yeah, excellent post. I do, however, notice a loss in BBC quality, mainly in that Boston lager does not have the hop flavor and aroma that it used to. Maybe the Bud distributor leaves all same stuff out in the hot west Texas sun or something.... I notice that proabaly five years ago or so (in Boston Lager), and there has been ups and down in the quality in the mean time. Granted, I do not buy BBC products a whole lot, but at he same time regardless of the percieved quality of Boston lager, I will always recognize BBC as a top notch brewery.