Smokey the Pear

From Homebrew to Uiltje special

In 2022, we gave the brewery carte blanche for the specials. What do they want to brew. One of these letter fruits, or rather, barley fruits is the Smokey the Pear. This beer was not created and sucked out of thin air. The recipe was created by James, our Packaging Manager. He tells us about the creation of his Smokey the Pear. 

Cannibale Royale & Two Chefs Brewing

'It actually started with a homebrew competition run by Cannibale Royale and Two Chefs Brewing. Here homebrewers could send in their recipes and beers that were then actually brewed and poured at Cannibale Royale. A buddy and I had the idea of brewing a smoked saison. We thought that could be an interesting beer. It was just a little different than people are used to and it stood up as a homebrew. In fact, we had brewed it once before. The organization thought it was a good recipe, but they said it could possibly become a somewhat bland beer, although I think there were also objections to the yeast we used. They didn't want that in the brewery.'

"Me and a buddy had the idea of brewing a smoked saison.

Major error in judgment but good result

'Fortunately, the organization came back to us because they saw that we could brew good beer. Still, we did have to make another beer. That just fell a little raw on us, because on the one hand it was huge opportunity, but on the other hand...the deadline was in four weeks. Brewing-wise, that's tight. As a result, we couldn't order new stuff and had to row with what we had. However, we had enough to brew a Smoked Wheat Ale. With the judges' comments in mind, we didn't know if they would then find this beer more interesting than a smoked saison. Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea to add fruit to the beer. After all, it was a summer competition and therefore the beer would fit in well with the season. Anyway, we had a gut feeling that pear and wheat would go well together. So, we made a smoked wheat beer with pear. However, we kept worrying about the deadline. Therefore, I had made the choice to throw in a mess of pear right at the first fermentation. So that was a big mistake ... because it obviously gave the yeast too much sugar so it spilled out everywhere. A big mess and we lost 1/3 of the batch. But ... the end result turned out very well.'

Smoked beer & home brewing

We unfortunately did not win the competition in the end. My guess is that this beer had too distinct and specific a flavor. Smoked beer in general is something brewers and beer geeks love because of its layered and complex character, but it can scare off Jan with the hat. This is also the same reason I enjoy home brewing so much. You can do whatever the f*ck you want because you like or seem to like a beer. The bottom line is that home brewing allows you to brew what the finance department doesn't really allow you to do. And if it goes wrong, then you have to drink beer that is less tasty for a while.

 

In fact, when Uiltje allowed me to submit a recipe or an idea for a beer, this beer was right in my top three. It's a cool and interesting beer. In addition, I was curious to see how a recipe like this would do on the large scale of a macrobrewery. Therefore, I am extremely curious to see how the large market will react to my beer. I can't wait. I think it turned out really well. And it's just incredibly cool that your beer is going to all kinds of liquor stores, pubs and customers. And especially that my name is on the owl's hat. That makes it extra fun.

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