Toasting 25 years in the old style

The folks at Creemore Springs Brewery have a history of looking to Europe for inspiration, especially when they have a milestone anniversary on the horizon. The company’s 10th year of operation saw the introduction of the urBock, a strong lager with ties to Germany, and at 20 the brewery introduced its Traditional Pilsner, a pale lager that has roots in the Czech city of Pilsen.

This year marks a quarter century since the brewery was founded in 1987, and, according to brewmaster Gordon Fuller, the company was looking for a “great punctuation mark.” Enter the Altbier, the first ale to make its way out of the Creemore Springs facility, and one with perhaps the most old-world history yet. This one is more than just a nod to Europe; rather, it has the continent in its genes.

“It was (Creemore Springs sales and marketing director) Karen Gaudino who had the idea to do the collaboration thing this time,” said Fuller, who travelled to the spiritual home of the altbier with Creemore Springs production manager Brian Egan last spring. The German city of Düsseldorf has one neighbourhood that was spared during English bombing runs in the Second World War, and it’s there, in the cobblestone streets of the Altstadt, that four small breweries continue to brew altbier in the manner that they have for the past 150 years.

Meaning old beer, Altbier has been around longer than lager. It’s typically mahogany coloured, top-fermented and aged at cold temperature. The resulting taste, according to Fuller and Egan, is crisper and cleaner than you get with the various English styles of ale.

While previous anniversary beers had been homages to European styles, Gaudino hoped to make this one the real thing, so before Fuller and Egan made the trip to Europe, a connection was made with Zum Schlüssel, one of the breweries in Düsseldorf’s Altstadt.

Fuller and Egan’s adventures at the brewery have been documented online for all to see at www.creemoresprings.tumblr.com, but suffice to say they received a warm welcome and were given hands-on experience, even brewing their own batch of Altbier at the old brewery to make sure they had the technique down pat.

And when they left, they were given something very special – a few vials of Zum Schlüssel’s proprietary yeast. Thus, the Creemore Springs Collaboration Altbier, as it’s officially known, is more than just an homage – it has an element of the real thing built right into it.

“We’re really pleased with it,” said Fuller. “It’s certainly a big departure for us, and a worthwhile beer to celebrate our 25th anniversary.”

The Altbier will have two official launches – the first took place on the evening of Thursday, August 23 at the new Six Pints Beer Academy in Toronto, and the second will take place at 2 pm on Saturday, August 25, during this year’s Copper Kettle Festival.

While most of the Altbier will be packaged in cans and kegs, Creemore Springs’ traditional modes of delivery for its products, some of the beer will be given a more traditional treatment, worthy of its ancestry. In Düsseldorf, altbiers are stored in 100-litre casks, and rather than being “pulled” or “pushed” to the taps by gas or pumps, the casks are placed right on the bar.

Once tapped, gravity does its thing; glasses are held under the spigot and the beer is poured in. It’s said that pubs in the Altstadt can go through a cask in 17 minutes on a busy night – 17 minutes because that’s as fast as a cask will empty with the tap wide open, filling glass after glass. It’s also worth noting that altbier is served in 200 ml glasses, most likely because, since the beer is served less carbonated than other beers because of the way it is poured, drinking it out of a larger glass would result in a flat beer by the time you neared the bottom.

Some of Creemore’s Altbier will be stored in casks, and expect one of those to be tapped during the launch ceremony on Saturday. At that point, Dirk Rouenhoff, the Zum Schlüssel brewmaster who will be visiting Creemore for the first time this weekend, will have his first taste of the Creemore Springs Collaboration Altbier.

“That should be interesting,” said Fuller. “We’re hoping he likes it.”