Brewery Visits

August 4, 2019 by Jeremy Sulzbacher

1st August is usually the start of the quiet season, not much happens, and the day started quietly as expected. Until…

Lost from Chicago

Two guys from Chicago, Andy and Theaumas, were visiting Antwerp’s De Koninck brewery about 5 minutes from my slightly smaller one. But they wanted to go for the real craft beer event and visit Ginger Tipple, which they had discovered on Google Maps. They were a bit lost finding us, and were talking to a neighbor when my wife, Shifra, walked past and rescued them.

They wanted to tour the brewery, which takes about 93 seconds. The tasting takes a lot longer. They were overawed by our brews and especially enjoyed the pre-launch tasting of ‘The Strongest Ginger Beer in the World” and are looking forwarding to buying Ginger Tipple in the USA.

The Political Visit

Soon after they left, the next visitors came. This time it was Flemish politico Kristof Luypaert and his Duvel loving friend Natalie. Kristof heard about the brewery from my wife, Shifra, when he was out campaigning a few months ago.

They were astounded by the novel sensations on their taste buds and spent over an hour enjoying 6 different types of Tipples, especially our exclusive Ginger Kriek. There is only one bottle left of the 2018 vintage; this year’s production is bubbling away.

Come and Visit us

You don’t travel 6,000 km to come from Chicago be a politician to visit the brewery, everybody is welcome.

Come as a group of 2, 3 or 4 people and allow about an hour for the visit. the price is Eur 10 which includes lots of tastings and a gift pack of 3 bottles to take home.

As you might be legally allowed to drive home after your visit, we are 2 minutes walk from tram and bus stops.

Click here to book your visit or send an email to sales@sulzbachers.com or message us on Facebook.

An Even Bigger Family

September 4, 2018 by info@gingertipple.com

More Types of Tipple

This week sees the delivery for the first time of two new styles of Ginger Tipple, the Tipple Hop and the Ginger Quad. Developing new styles of a beer can be extremely enjoyable and incredibly frustrating. The inspiration for a new beer usually starts with reading about other beer styles and, of course, drinking them. It takes four weeks to brew a batch and then after bottling a further two weeks to second ferment in the bottle. Only then, can I start to taste the finished product.

And if it is not good enough, which is frequently the case, it is back to the beginning and waiting another six weeks to try again. And this is frustrating.

Tipple Hop

Some of the feedback from customers who enjoyed the regular Ginger Tipple was that at 8.2% ABV it was a bit too strong. On the other hand, customers who enjoyed the Ginger Tipple 4 4.5% ABV felt that it did not have the depth of flavour of the regular Ginger Tipple. So I started to design a 7% ABV version.

Also, I wanted to make a ginger beer which was more hoppy, going in the direction of an IPA, or in this case a Ginger Pale Ale.

If you add too much hops or leave them in for too long, you end up with a bitter aftertaste in the mouth. Not enough hops or not hopped for long enough and you miss out on the wonder flavours of the 500 chemical compounds in hops. Get the balance right and it is a real pleasure. Too many IPAs suffer from overhopping.

I had to brew a few batches before I achieved the desired level of hoppiness and citrus zing, but now we are ready to launch.

Ginger Quad

I also wanted to develop a stronger Tipple aged with oak. We tried initially using both French and American oak in parallel batches. The American oak was too harsh; you can taste this in a lot of the bourbons, and even beers aged in bourbon barrels.

The batch with the French oak was more subtle, but as with the hops, timing was critical, if the aging goes on for too long, you end up with a mouthful of oak, a problem common with wines aged for too long in oak barrels.

A further challenge was which hops to use, how to hop and how much. Lastly, there was the quantity and type of citrus juice to be added before bottling. If I tell you that it took two years to reach my desired quality, I am not exaggerating.

At 11% ABV, it is a real pleasure with smoked meats, heavy cheeses or with a cigar.

For the Future

We now have five styles of Ginger Tipple, and in the future I want to develop a 13% ABV winter tipple with cinnamon and a 7% ABV stout tipple with toasted ginger. And I have a lot of demand for a sweet tipple at around 3% ABV.

Watch this space……

Time to Kriek

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018 by info@gingertipple.com

The Short Kriek Season

Regular cherries have quite a long season during the summer here in Belgium. However, noordkrieken, better known as sour morello cherries which are used to make Kriek have a much shorter season. You can only buy them for about two weeks each July.

Why they are special

The krieken are softer than regular cherries and are more sour. Because of this sourness, they are less prone to infiltration from worms, but they are sensitive to other infections and infestations.

The most prized krieken used for the best Lambic Kriek beers are Schaarbeeekse krieken which is a rare morello variety grown in Schaarbeek, a suburb of Brussels. Demand for them is now so high that some brewers, such as 3 Fontainen, have started to plant their own trees.

The cherries have a pleasant sourness which when fermented into an already more sour beer such as a lambic, oud bruin, or Ginger Tipple give the beverage a refreshing tartness. This is why they are sought after by brewers.

Don’t Rush

It takes us 6 months to create our Ginger Kriek. First we brew a Ginger Tipple for 4 weeks. Yesterday, we bought the krieken for the 2018 vintage. We checked each cherry before washing to remove the insecticides and adding to the Tipple to ferment.

After about 6 weeks, the cherries sink down in the vats to show that their sugars have fully fermented. Then we sieve the brew before bottling; we do not filter!

After bottling, the 3rd fermentation takes about 2 weeks, but the bottles need to sit for a further 3 months before we can release them onto the market.

Unique

Our Ginger Kriek is the only ginger and sour cherry alcoholic beverage in the world and the 2018 vintage is 90% pre-sold.

Perhaps in 2019 we will produce more.