Sep 30, 2016
A while back, when we were shooting Grit & Grain in the Goose Island barrel warehouse, there were a series of barrels set aside for a special project lead by Innovation Manager, Mike Siegel. All I knew at the time was that it was a Brett Pale Ale of sorts. Other details were kept close. Today, I got to taste the final results of that experimental beer. But more importantly, I got the back story on the collaboration between Goose Island and beer historian Ron Pattinson—who, over the years, has worked with a number of breweries to re-create ancient recipes down to the tiniest of details. Ron is a prolific writer. He's got a number of books and magazine articles under his belt, and a website that’s about as old as ours is going on 10 years now. Mike Siegel, who you may recall from episode 28 of the GBH podcast, leads innovation at Goose Island’s Fulton Street brewery in Chicago. Between them, I got a couple of words in. But mostly, I tried to clear the way for some of their deeper insight into the challenges—and the fun—of bringing a recipe like English Stock Yard Ale to life.