End of Harvest (Small Batch Fruit Experimentation)

As the weather begins to get cooler, our window to acquire great organic fruit has begun to close. We have an abundance of aged beer we want to infuse and re-ferment with the flavors of summer so we are have been busy.

Grand Lake Farmers Market in Oakland, CA has proven to be invaluable in us acquiring fantastic fruit for small batch experimentation. I was recently there to pick up some special peaches and pluots for a few 3 gallon experiments (courtesy of my friends at Kashiwase Farms). I found myself getting lost... distracted by the great weather, colorful fruits, and the fantastic vegetables. I was reminded how lucky I am to live in California where we have access to such wonderful produce.

We have several single variety small batches in various stages of completion including Flavor King pluots, Flavor Supreme pluots, and Indian Free white peach. In addition we have a couple combinations… Boysenberry with Marionberry (picked up directly at Sebastopol Berry Farm) and September Snow white peach and Emerald Beaut pluot.

For another recent experiment we racked 5 gallons of mixed culture golden ale that had spent 6 months in oak onto 2.5 lbs each of Newtown Pippin apples, Moon Glow pears, and quince. All the fruit was certified organic and came from Inzana Ranch near Modesto, CA. To boost the flavors even more... I also added 8oz of local honey from Marshall Farms in American Canyon near Napa, CA.

My plan is to let all these beers go through a secondary fermentation for 2-3 months before resting in bottles for a while. There is a good chance there will be some tannins or aromas produced as byproducts of re-fermentation that will need to round out and fade. We may not see these beers finish for a while but we’re excited to see how they turn out. Will grapes be up next? Time will tell. Stay tuned.