Beer & Campfire

Campfire is a place of togetherness. A place of marshmallows, smoke, bacon, pancakes, ice and fire, cosiness…and beer!

@thebeertrale and @beerisaconversation  (yup that’s me)  settled in Virginia, along the Appalachian, next to Devil’s Backbone brewing to run some “Beer & Campfire” experiments.

Warning: try this at home

Smoke your Beer

Turn up the heat and the volume as we’re going to Smoke (on the Water). Just like Scotch Whiskey and cured ham beer has been smoked for ages. Actually all beers were smoked up until recently.  Not the beer itself but the grains. The old school way to dry  malted barley was to kiln it above wood fire and that was still the case until the 19th Century. As the heat was kilning the grains, the smoke was also imparting flavors. Smoke is a natural heritage flavor in beer.  Some beer styles are still living to that tradition nowadays, using a portion of beechwood or oakwood smoked malts in their bill, like German Rauchbier, London Porter, Lichtenheiner or Grodzikie

In this video we smoke beer on the spot, by the campfire, choosing our smoke in the wild (spruce, pine, oak,…). It’s not smoking the beer itself so much but add a complementary aromatic component floating on the glass and the foam. A beautiful way to turn a Jalapeno Sour or a Baltic Porter into a complex smoked beer! Enjoy and try this at home!

Beer & Marshmallow

We named our best result the Baltic Mallow. Roasted Marshmallow and Baltic Porter!

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HOPPY(TM) is Live

Long time in the making HOPPY™ is now available to everyone (above LDA, I mean).

HOPPY™ started as an ambition to bring beer culture to everyone in a new, different way. Not too academic, not too sophisticated, not too technical,… in a fun, casual and engaging format.

So what is HOPPY™?

It’s a web access app. The look and feel directly sets the tone. A playful smiling beer glass! Because HOPPY™ is a learning game, unlocking badges and collecting beercoins along the way.

The content can be accessed in any sequence. No need to complete the ingredients 101 before you can explore glassware or learn about Octoberfest. You choose to learn what you want and there’s content for every beer lover. How beer is made, beer culture, styles, how to taste, gluten free beer…

The pace is gamified, with quizzes at the end of each lessons (beer flights) and a leaderboard to compete with your friends! The daily challenge (which you can repeat as much as you like) will challenge your knowledge with 5 questions. Nail them 5 right before the glass is empty and you’ll collect extra beercoins!

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