Everybody’s Brewing to Release Biscuit Shooter Sourdough RyePA

18 Jan 2016 --- Chefs Week PDX, the week-long culinary event held throughout Portland, pairs West Coast and local chefs to collaborate on dinners, desserts, and parties. This year, Chefs Week PDX invited two breweries to join the fun. Everybody’s Brewing (White Salmon, WA), and Double Mountain (Hood River, OR) were each paired with prominent Portland chefs to create a beer together.

Everybody’s Brewing was paired with local pastry chef Eve Kuttemann, known for her work at Castagna, Trifecta Tavern, and her own pop-up, Sage Hen. The team from Everybody’s was lead by head brewer Jess Caudill, well known in the beer industry for his brewing skills, and his vast knowledge of yeast. Caudill is also co-owner of the Portland based company: Imperial Organic Yeast.

Their goal was to make a beer truly inspired by Kuttemanns baking, which often explores old American recipes. The result was a very unique concept. They decided to attempt to ferment a beer with the wild yeast strain Kuttemann uses in her sourdough bread. A technique that is rarely used in modern, commercial brewing.

Caudill took a sample of yeast to the lab at Everybody’s to examine.  “Most brewer’s yeast has been propagated to isolate and remove unwanted bacteria. We knew there would be some living in the yeast, and needed to see specifically what kinds.” He was impressed with what he found. “I saw an interesting blend of bacteria, and nothing that needed eliminating. We were able to use her exact culture, which will truly showcase the flavor of Eve’s sourdough bread.”

In classic Northwest fashion, they chose to brew an IPA, highlighted with Citra, Galaxy, and El Dorado Hops. Kuttemann then spent a day in White Salmon, brewing along-side the team at Everybody’s. “Beer and bread-making have so many similarities, but use completely different techniques to extract flavor, so I’m excited to see how the beer highlights the various and complex aspects of the starter.  The entire process was fun, and really exemplified the creativity that Chefs Week PDX is all about.”

The beer will be called “Biscuit Shooter” Sourdough RyePA, a reference to the camp cook on cattle drives in the old American West, where sourdough biscuits were a staple.  It will be available on draft in Portland starting Feb. 1. Chefs Week PDX runs Feb. 3rd through the 7th.