| On an early October morning, when most Calgarians were just waking up, one of my dreams was just coming to life. I was meeting Brian Smith, brewer for Wildwood Grill & Brewing Company (2417-4th Street S.W.) to help him brew a beer. But not just any beer – a beer I had dreamt about for years. The beer, a Black Forest stout, will be Wildwood's next seasonal offering. Opening night is November 10.
The idea to brew a Black Forest stout was one I came up with several years ago, but had held secret until the right opportunity presented itself. I had sampled chocolate-flavoured stouts and I had sampled cherry-flavoured stouts. But, to my knowledge, no one had ever combined chocolate, cherries and stout in one beer, even though I thought it was obvious that the three flavours would work together beautifully.
The result is intended to mirror, in liquid form, Black Forest cake. Known as Schwarzwälderkirschtorte in German, Black Forest cake is rumoured to have originated in the 16th century in the southwest region of Germany. Aside from cuckoo clocks and the forest itself, the region is known for its sour cherries. These cherries were combined with chocolate, resulting in the world-famous dessert. It has taken only 400 years to produce a liquid version of this decadence. Wildwood Black Forest Stout, though, will have far fewer calories and almost no fat.
The stout drought will finally end on November 10, but the story began last spring. After months of arm-twisting, Smith agreed to allow me to help formulate Wildwood's next seasonal beer. Recipe formulation and intensive research began immediately. Because brewing with chocolate is still not that common, literature on how to achieve best results is sparse. It has taken almost six months, but the beer is finally ready for its debut.
The underpinning of the beer is Wildwood's stout, which was retired when Wildwood's former brewer, Jim Anderson, did likewise. For our purposes, the beer was brewed with eight different grains and two types of hops. This makes it a stout of exceptional complexity, featuring a gentle sweetness balanced against a subtle, smoky bitterness. The firm malt underlay of the beer and the subtle bitterness are necessary to form a solid foundation of flavour similar to that of chocolate cake.
This stout is an English-style oatmeal stout, rather than the Irish-style stout with which most beer lovers are familiar. Guinness, an Irish-style stout, is dry, with a light acidity and a relatively thin presence in the mouth. English-style oatmeal stout, on the other hand, has a gentle sweetness and a light viscosity. This gives the beer presence in the mouth and, again, better imitates actual cake.
To this recipe was added chocolate, in two additions during the brewing process, and two different varieties of cherries, both added during fermentation. In keeping with Wildwood's philosophy of brewing with only the best ingredients, real cocoa and actual cherries were used in the all-grain beer. No extracts or syrups ever see Wildwood's brewery.
Because Wildwood's stout was itself perfectly balanced, it was important that the new ingredients not skew the balance. For this reason, a more bitter style of chocolate was selected, which balances its own sweetness, and both sweet and sour cherries were used, in equal quantities. While both the chocolate and cherry aromas and flavours should be easily detectable, they play only supporting roles, allowing Wildwood's stout star billing.
Bring your own whipped cream – it should go beautifully with the beer. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.