OnTap Magazine

STAY THE NIGHT Since our beer, aWest Coast IPA, is inspired by the early days of American craft brewing, we decided that there was only one hop up to the job – Cascade. Developed in the 1950s in the Pacific Northwest, Cascade was first used commercially by Anchor Brewing in 1975. It went on to define early American pale ales and IPAs with its grapefruit character, and has been called “the hop that launched a beer revolution”. Having opted to make it the star of our beer, we got hold of a box of Cryo Cascade, generously sponsored by BeerGuevara in Cape Town, and started to discuss when and how to add it. In the end we decided to go all out, performing just over 60 hop additions throughout the course of the boil. Each addition is small, of course, but the continuous hopping is said to add a smooth bitterness and a distinct depth of flavour, with different oils, flavours and aromas revealing themselves at different stages of the boil. Also, after the continuous sipping that’s been going on since our mid-morning mash-in, having to add hops every 60 seconds is a good way to keep us focused on the task in hand. With the beer boiled and cooled and safely in its fermenter,wemove to thepart of the farm that really sets Folk &Goode apart from many other craft breweries in South Africa – the accommodation. To my mind there just aren’t enough breweries around where you can ditch the car and stay the night. Breweries that save arguments over who is going to be the designated driver, or save your weekend when you realise you can swap your car keys for a room key and actually stick around for more than just a quick round of tasters. The four cottages at BlackOystercatcher are simple but smart, with good kitchen facilities and great braai areas. We light the fire and continue working through the brews as we eat. No-one thought to bring dessert, so instead we crack open a couple of bottles of Folke & Goode stout, its subtle chocolaty notes providing a lovely liquid alternative to cake. We’re still not sure why it’s taken us so long to get around to brewing a special On Tap beer, but after the great day we’ve had at Folk & Goode we certainly know one thing – we’re not going to wait so long next time. TELL ME WHY… So why did decide on an IPA and how on earth did it end up being named for a Backstreet Boys hit?Well, the beer came first. We quickly decided we wanted to make a classic West Coast IPA – one with great clarity and relatively high bitterness; an antidote to the ongoing trend of hazy, juicy IPAs. West Coast IPA has become kind of an old-school style, a style that has its roots in 1990s America, so we started to explore 90s culture in search of a name for our brew. As we went from mashing to sparging, sparging to lautering and lautering to heating, we worked through a list of classic 90s movies and TV shows, but nothing resonated. Then, as the boil commenced – and the requisite collab brewday beers flowed – we switched our focus to music and plucked a random 90s playlist from YouTube. There, among an onslaught of videos featuring comically baggy pants, endless running man moves and more neon than you really need to see in one sitting, the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 super hit I Want It That Way began to play. Suddenly something clicked. Because when it came to IPA, we did want it that way – the way that made us fall in love with craft beer. So we put the song on repeat, transferred the beer to the fermenter and asked our designer, Rachel, to come up with a label that would take you all back to your mix tape years. I Want It That Way will be released in early February. Grab some from: bestcraftbeer.co.za or from the Black Oystercatcher shop at the farm. Fraser Crighton (Folk & Goode brewery), Andrew Thomas (On Tap's publisher) and Lucy Corne (On Tap's Editor) kick off the brew day with a pint Folk & Goode owners, Karen and Peter Dickens 22 | Summer 2021 | ontapmag.co.za