Meet the New Champagne of Beers
We are all familiar with the sound of a champagne cork making its celebratory pop. We are also familiar with the relaxing sound of cracking open a beer can or bottle at the end of the day. This holiday season you might find those two sounds interchangeable, thanks to a growing trend in the craft-beer market. The trend is brut beer, and although it’s only a couple of years old, it has the folks at Miller thinking they might need to change their High Life slogan.
Like most things in the craft-beer industry these days, the brut trend has its roots in India Pale Ales (IPA). Not surprisingly, the brut IPA got its start in California, with credit being given to the brewmaster of Social Kitchen & Brewery, Kim Sturdavant. As most science experiments go, an idea is tested, results recorded and variables changed for the next go-round. In Sturdavant’s case, however, the idea was tested and the first batch results proved exceptionally positive.
The idea was simple (as most good ones are): Use a common brewing enzyme called amylase, and instead of using it to thin a super heavy beer such as a triple IPA, use it to potentially make a standard IPA drier and brighter. The result was a very dry, bubbly brut IPA that had craft-beer drinkers and brewers across the country rearranging their priorities.
Throughout the 2000s, the IPA trends had gone hoppier, juicier, with bigger and bigger mouthfeel. Although these bigger IPAs made craft-beer enthusiasts clamor for more, a large group of more casual fans were being left behind, literally with a hopped-up bitter taste in their mouths. Then along comes the brut IPA and it is dry, bright, bubbly, and a word that had been left out of most craft beers: refreshing! Thanks to Sturdavant’s idea, craft beer had a new style and for many, a new reason to crack one open and celebrate.
The trend of offering a brut IPA at craft breweries picked up a lot of steam in its first year. Locally breweries such as 7 Mile offered Brut Force and Settle Down Easy (a Mosaic hop brut IPA), while Cape May Brewing offered Fizz the Season.
As the trend continued in the IPA realm, other breweries across the country started to adopt the idea of adding the amylase enzyme into other styles of beer, hoping for a similar result. This year saw the emergence of brut lager, which actually puts a name to a concept that has been employed by lager makers since the 1960s. The bonus of using amylase to cut through maltier or more bitter flavor profiles is that it actually cuts the calories, too! So not only is the brut style of brewing making it easier for most people to enjoy craft beer, but also not feel so guilty health-wise about it.
With all that in mind, let’s look at a few brut beer options you might consider popping open for your New Year’s celebration:
Hoppin’ Bubbly
(Terrapin Beer Company) Brut IPA
This brut IPA offering comes to you via a collaboration of Terrapin Beer Company and, ironically, Miller High Life. Yes, the “Champagne of Beers” has actually been incorporated into this brut IPA. The collaboration was a natural fit as Miller-Coors owns the Terrapin Beer Company out of Athens, Ga. The 6.5 percent ABV beer is described as having “a dry finish and champagne-like effervescence.”
Brut IPA
(Sierra Nevada Brewing) Extra Dry IPA
A California stalwart in brewing, Sierra Nevada offers this more citrusy version of a brut IPA, but with all the benefits of the style. This beer is very low on the bitterness scale (IBUs) at just 25, where a normal IPA is in the mid-50s. One reviewer actually recommends the beer in place of champagne for your New Year’s mimosas!
Black Tie Optional
(Kane Brewing Company) American Brut IPA
Kane decided to make a brut inspired by brunch cocktails such as Bellinis and mimosas, and the result is Black Tie Optional. This brut IPA packs in peach and blood orange to complement the dry and bubbly finish.
So, this Dec. 31 when you’re celebrating the passing of one year into the next, reconsider what you might “pop” open as the ball drops. And if your New Year’s resolution(s) contain lower-calorie and lower-carb options, the brut beers just might be the tastiest way to help you keep those resolutions this time.
