Jonathan Moxey of Perennial

Jonathan Moxey of Perennial Artisan Ales (Flash version)

  Non-Flash podcast   

On Dec. 6, 2013 Proletariat hosted Jonathan Moxey of St. Louis' Perennial Artisan Ales. And while it wasn't quite the extreme tap take over by Perennial at Barcade earlier this year, there was plenty of great beer and good cheer to welcome Jonathan back to the city where he discovered the art of brewing!

Full house on a rain drenched Friday night.

Jonathan explained to us how a friend introduced him to homebrewing while working as an editor for the financial services industry in New York, biding his time as he sought to discover what he really wanted to do for a career. He immersed himself the craft brewing world, joining the NYC Homebrewers Guild, becoming a beer judge, brewing scores of beers, entering contests, and taking in all things beer. His success in contests gave him the confidence to return to his hometown and apply for an internship at St. Louis' Schlafly Beer. After an arduous month of brewery hard labor, he applied for a position at Perennial Artisan Ales, where he interned for 6 weeks before being hired on full-time.

Currently, Perennial brews at a full capacity of 2,000 bbls per year on their 8 1/2 bbl system. The brewery is tiny in size, but enormous in stature, brewing some of the most interesting, delicious, intriguing and creative brews you could imagine. A big part of the brewery's identity is their use of fresh, local ingredients. Their Peach Berliner Weisse, which in late summer annually, utilizes local Missouri and Illinois peaches -- 750lbs per batch! Jonathan explained that while they could brew the beer with less expensive and more readily available Georgian peaches, their concept source as many ingredients as possible from local producers.

"Needs more bird!"

B.R. ribbed Jonathan a bit by asking if Perennial uses Cardinals in their Vermilioin Winter Ale. He played along and noted that it is their only non-vegetarian beer! More seriously, he noted that their Walnut Dunkel Weisse uses Black Walnuts from Stockton, MO, and that Woodside honey from Maplewood, MO goes into their triple, and said that coffee is specially roasted for them by local roasters Sump Coffee for their Sump Coffee Stout.

B.R. has that Perennial glow.

When asked about any special brewery projects, Jonathan told us that he recently took part in the blending of Perennial's La Bohéme, which involves fermenting a Belgian Brown Ale with Michigan tart cherries in used wine barrels, allowing the naturally present bacteria and Brettanomyces to transform the beer into something magical. He also mentioned an on-going project involving an all-Brett version of their Aria Strong Belgian Ale. They take a portion of the aging beer out of the barrels each year to bottle and keg, and replace it with fresh beer, adding layer after layer of depth and complexity to the beer over time.

Cory of Proletariat, David of Hearth, B.R., Jonathan and beer writer Chris.

We spoke with Jonathan on day two of the Belgium 2 Brooklyn fest at Mugs Alehouse on Sunday Dec. 8, 2013 and learned a few new things about the brewery, owned and run by Phil Wymore, which adds to our knowledge from previous blogposts on Perennial.

Same crew, different pose.

Bob and Jonathan at Mugs Alehouse.

Menu at Proletariat.

John of the NYC Homebrewers Guild at Proletariat.

Jonathan and Chris O'Leary.

Owl Farm: Brewing Network Meet-Up

Retired potato chip salesman.

On Tuesday July 2, 2013 we ventured to Park Slope to a Meet-Up organized by our pal Fritz for The Brewing Network, an on-line beer and homebrewing website resource that features articles, podcasts and, in general, seems to strive to be informational and entertaining.

Unlikely list -- in best possible way.

B.R. had been to Owl Farm before, one of a family of Brooklyn bars that include Bar Great Harry and Mission Dolores, but it was my first visit. I was surprised by the eclectic draught list. I've been to plenty of good bars with great lists, but there was a quirky randomness to their tap list. I don't think that I've ever seen anything from Beer Here, Emelisse or Alvinne on tap before, but here they were, among a wide range of breweries and styles represented on the 28 taps, plus one cask. And Owl Farm's Steven took good care of us!

Beer networkers.

I had to get the Beer Here beer, naturally. Their Dark Hops looked and drank like a Baltic porter, with a slight cocoa note in the finish and a clean, bitter aftertaste. B.R. went for the Pretty Things ¡Magnifico!, a "3.4% rustic session pale ale", which had a hazy dark golden straw color, a very hoppy, grapefruity nose (thanks to Simcoe, Horizon, Citra and Bravo hops), a very light body, with some citrus flavor up front and some graininess in the finish. The finish was extremely clean and trailed off to oblivion.

Beer Here's Dark Hops left, Pretty Things ¡Magnifico! right.

Next, B.R. tried the Oskar Blues Pilsner, Mama's Little Yella Pils, which was aged in chardonnay barrels. It had a tart, cidery aroma and flavor, and, seemingly, a very light body, though the wine attributes could have pushed perception in that direction. The wine barrel really imparted a lot of wine character -- it was quite refreshing.

Créme Brulee by Emelisse.

I, on the other hand, went to the opposite end of the scale, with a Créme Brulee Imperial Stout from Emelisse Brouwerij of the Netherlands. It had the darkest brown color with a garnet highlight when backlit with a candle, topped off with a thick, dense, tan head, which retreated rather quickly. The nose was rich and sweet with marshmallow, cream soda, and caramel notes. A bitter note peeked out from under the sweet, creamy, malt-dominated flavor, and reasserted itself in the finish and aftertaste with roasted malt flavors. It started out creamy and ended with roasty bitter finish. It's a real piece of art!

Cask version of Perennial's Aria Belgian Ale with brett.

I finished the visit with a Perennial Aria, a Belgian style ale with brett, which was on cask. The Aria had a medium golden color, and an almost pumpkin pie spice-like note in the aroma. The flavor had a hint of pleasant sourness cutting through a somewhat creamy, soft malt quality in the mouthfeel and in the flavor. Perennial is known for making beers with bold barrel aged characteristics, but this one was quite subtle and understated -- much smoother and softer in flavor than any other of their beers I've had. Perhaps being on cask, with the lower carbonation, rounded out the edges a bit. It was a good one to end with!

Three's a parliament.

Black Walnut Dunkel

  [link to podcast page]

Review of Black Walnut Dunkel podcast

We picked up a bottle of Perennial Artisan Ales Black Walnut Dunkel recently from Good Beer. At $17 for a 750 ml bottle, it's a beer that you want to slowly and carefully enjoy -- this is not something with which to wash down some pizza or burritos!

 

This is a dunkel-weizen beer made with black walnuts grown in Missouri, which is where Perennial is located -- in St. Louis to be exact. The beer had a pleasant earthiness in both aroma and flavor, making us think "keller dunkel weizen". There was a nice yeasty ester coming off the thick, solid head, but not the overly cloying esters often wafting off of German wheat beers. It had a somewhat refined yeast character.

The deep brown colored beer had a slight sour tinge and a mild roastiness, along with a woody, earthy quality, and a bit of tannic bitterness. There was more heft in the body than most dunkel weizens that we've had.  B.R. noted that this beer would pair well with a hearty, rustic meal. As with pretty much all of Perennial's creations, Black Walnut Dunkel provides a definitively unique beer experience. 

The walnuts are given a rough chop, put into a mesh bag and are added to the bright tank, similar to dry-hopping. Oddly enough, the nut oils don't seem to bother the beer's head, as one might expect.

The leaf in the logo is that of a ginkgo tree.

When asked about the logo of Perennial, brewer and founder Phil Wymore said, "I'm a fan of ginkgo trees. They're considered a living fossil and are the least related to all other trees. They're very enduring. I tied those basic concepts to Perennial, which means enduring, and I envisioned a brewery that set itself apart from most others." Known for its use of non-standard, locally sourced, and organic specialty ingredients --  maple roasted quash, Missouri peaches, strawberries, rhubarb -- and for barrel aging, not to mention their beautiful label artwork, they certainly have set themselves in their own class!