Beer-Wine Hybrids Tempting Oenophiles, Zythophiles - and Everyone in Between

GRAPES AND GRAINS

May seem an unlikely combination at first, but visionary brewers and vintners know that beer and wine may just be the new peas and carrots. Now that I’ve had a chance to taste Annata, a beer-wine hybrid crafted by Fox Farm Brewery in Salem, CT, I feel like I’ve been invited to sit at the cool kids’ table.

experience the delicious harmonythat is a beer-wine hybrid

It turns out that crafters of these perennially popular beverages have been breaking down those barriers for some time now. Zack Adams, brewer and owner of Fox Farm Brewery explains that they are not the first to create the delicious marriage of wine and beer, but for Adams, this pursuit is personal. He owns Fox Farm Brewery with his wife Laura, and together they incorporate grapes grown on her family’s farm, Salem Valley Vineyard, which is just down the road.

A delicious marriage of wine and beer

In 2017, the Adamses used nearly 800 pounds of St.Croix grapes harvested from the family farm to produce the Annata Grape Harvest Farmhouse Ale. Annata means “vintage” in Italian, and it quickly becomes evident to the taster that the family’s grape-harvest had a particularly good year. The brew has a vibrant red hue that nicely mimics the tartness and sour highlights of the ale, while bringing happiness to the wine-lover’s heart.

The pale, tart, somewhat funky farmhouse beer and sour beers that are brewed at the farm bring forth a presentation of fruit that is well-suited for a beer-wine hybrid. He adds that it’s exciting to hit on some of those flavors that we like in wine that you might not find in beer.

Fox Farm has brewed a Double IPA called Near and Far that uses the grapes from the family vineyard, and hops (Nelson Sauvin) from New Zealand that are aromatic and heavy with white grape flavor. They recently brewed some beers with plums, blackberries and black currants, with Maple Lane Farm in Preston supplying the black currant juice for this brew.

The Adams’ style of farmhouse brewing carries on a strong tradition that integrates ingredients in the beer that are specific to the farmer’s specific region, and uses locally-occurring yeast and variations of bacteria for robust culture fermentation. Fox Farm Brewery’s beer character can be credited to their unique culture, as is true with all traditional farmhouse breweries. This approach embraces the inherent variabilities of these beers, which is a boon and a benefit to those of us who enjoy the character and creativity of their craft.

The brew has a vibrant red hue

That nicely mimics the tartness and sour highlights of the ale, while bringing happiness to the wine-lover’s

heart.

Fox Farm Brewery’s beer character can be credited to their unique culture

Fox Farm uses local grains in its farmhouse brew. “What we love about a small, local maltster is the one-on-one connection. We work closely with them to understand how the grain was grown and malted,” Adams said. They source from Thrall Family Malt, who has been farming since the 1600’s in Windsor, growing broad leaf tobacco for many decades, but is now growing and malting their own barley, called “Yankee Gold.”

The 18 vintage Annata will debut in 2019. To experience the delicious harmony that is a beer-wine hybrid, pack some light snacks, point your map to Salem and check out Fox Farm Brewery.