Grodziskie

Grodziskie
Country of origin	Poland
Yeast type	Top-fermenting
Alcohol by volume	2.5% – 5%

Grodziskie (Polish pronunciation: [ɡrɔˈd͡ʑiskʲɛ]; Other names: Grätzer, Grodzisz^[1]) is a style of beer from Poland that is made primarily or entirely from wheat that has been malted and then kiln-dried with oak wood, giving the grain a smokey oak character.^[2]

Description

Grodziskie is a highly-carbonated, low-alcohol beer with a clear pale yellow to golden color, low to moderate levels of hop bitterness, and a moderate to medium-high smoke aroma and flavor.^[1][2][3] Other wheat beers are typically served unfiltered, which results in a cloudiness from suspended yeast and proteins from the wheat, but Grodziskie is filtered with isinglass before bottling, which produces a beer with extremely high clarity.^[3] It is this clarity and its vigorous carbonation that leads to this beer being compared with Champagne, and it is sometimes referred to as "Polish Champagne".^[4] Historically, the beer was made with alcohol levels of around 3.1% abv,^[5][6] but eventually versions were made with alcohol levels ranging from 2.5% to 5% abv.^[2][7] A German brewing reference from 1914 and brewing records from the late 19th century describe the beer as "rough, bitter beer ... with an intense smoke and hop flavor",^[8] but by the late 20th century, the beer's profile had likely changed somewhat.^[2] Modern recreations of this style tend to emphasize the smokey flavor resulting from the oak-smoked malt,^[1] but a technical document from the 1960s stated that in addition to the beer's malting and brewing process, a significant component of its distinct flavors were a result of a unique type of brewers yeast that was used in its production.^[9]

Ingredients

The grain used in the beer is made primarily or entirely malted wheat. After the wheat has germinated, it is dried in kilns heated by oak-burning furnaces. Rather than using the furnaces to produce hot air with a heat exchanger, these kilns use the smoke from the furnaces to circulate among the grains, drying them, giving a light color and an intense, smokey flavor.^[10][2][4] Ordinarily, using exhaust fumes from furnaces that burn coal or coke as fuel would cause the grain to become discolored from the soot and contribute harsh flavors, but the smoke produced by burning oak wood lends only a distinctive smokey flavor to the grain.^[10] The malted grain is highly kilned and has a strong aroma,^[10] although the exact degree of smokiness that resulted from the oak kilning is not known.^[5] Aside from the distinctive flavor, the smokiness of the beer helped to preserve the beer, giving it a high durability despite its low alcohol content.^[11] At various times in the history of the production of this beverage, different brewers also used varying percentages of malted barley, but the style typically used only wheat.^[4]

Water analysis of the water from the wells used by the breweries in the town of Grodzisk reveal a very high mineral content and alkalinity, which lends a unique character to the final beer.^[5] Sulfate ions and chloride ions are present in a ratio of approximately 2.2 parts sulfate to 1 part chloride.^[5] Brewers measure the ratio of these ions because sulfate affects the taste of the beer by accentuating the bitterness provided by the hops, while chloride accentuates the richness and sweetness of the malt. The proportion of each ion helps determine the final effect they have on the finished beer. When used in brewing, the water in Grodzisk will produce a beer that highlights the bitterness provided by the hops.^[12] The hardness of the water from the wells also favors increased hop utilization and bitterness, with the bicarbonate ions affecting the pH throughout the brewing process.^[12] The water also has a very high (31-34 ppm) concentration of magnesium ions, which when used in the production of beer, contribute a slightly sour or bitter flavor to the finished product.^[12]

Two unique strains of yeast were traditionally used, with the primary, highly flocculent strain used in the early stages of fermentation, and the other, powdery and less flocculant, added to finish off the beer and at the time of bottling.^[2][6] Both strains were added to the wort at the same time and fermentation would proceed rapidly, converting up to 50% of its sugars within 60 hours.^[5] At that point, the highly flocculent strain would clump together and rise to the surface, the beer would be clarified with isinglass, and bottled.^[5] The yeast that remained in the beer would continue to ferment the remaining sugars in the beer after it was bottled, and the carbon dioxide that was produce would carbonate the beer.^[9] Shortly after World War II, yeast was imported from the Groterjan Brewery in Berlin,^[13] but the yeast was frequently contaminated with spoilage organisms and of inferior quality until the brewery was able to isolate and maintain its own yeast bank.^[9] Only the primary strain has been preserved.^[2]

The beer used mostly local Polish varieties of hops including Nowotomyski and Polish Lublin, and occasionally included other noble hops such as Czech Saaz, German Tettnanger and Hallertauer Mittelfrüh.^[4] Historical sources indicate that 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) of hops was used for every 100 kilograms (220 lb) of wheat malt, and by the 1960s that rate was 2.4 kilograms (5.3 lb) of hops per 100 kilograms (220 lb) of wheat.^[5]

Production

The beer was variously produced using an infusion mash or a decotion mash.^[11] Fermentation was carried out in open wooden vats at 14–16 °C (57–61 °F).^[13] After one day of fermentation, the Krausen was skimmed off and discarded, and after the third day, the yeast was skimmed from the surface and harvested.^[13] The beer was then pumped with sterile air into clarification tanks and re-innoculated with fresh yeast.^[13] Isinglass was used to clarify the beer.^[13]

After bottling, the beer was stored from three to five weeks at 14–18 °C (57–64 °F) in a dark room as the beer continued to ferment in the bottles, which produced its high levels of carbonation.^[13] On average, four to five percent of the bottles would burst due to carbonation levels exceeding the strength of the bottles.^[13]

History

Location of Grodzisk Wielkopolski in modern Poland

The town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski first built a brewery in the 13th century,^[6] and the earliest versions of what is now known as the Grodziskie beer style were brewed in that town by the 14th or 15th century.^[7][14] In 1601, a brewers guild was formed and by the late 1700s there were 53 breweries in the town.^[4][9] In the 1600s, breweries began to add barley to the ingredients and by the middle of the century it was an all-barley beer, after which the barley content decreased and it once again was made as an all-wheat beer.^[4] When Grodzisk became part of Prussia in the 19th century, the town was renamed Grätz, and the style became known as Grätzer.^[8] The beer was exported to other parts of Europe and the world and gained a reputation as a fine beer.^[4] Between 1863 and 1900, production in the town increased from 7,000 hl to 100,000 hl.^[7] Between 1929 and 1993, this style had a regionally protected designation put in place by the Cabinet of Poland.^[15] Starting in 1922, the production of Grodziskie was continued by only one company, United Breweries Grodziskie. After the Second World War, the brewery was nationalized, and the beer entered a period of decline.^[4] The communist government of the time emphasized the large-scale production of basic products like bread, milk, and sugar, and local culinary traditions were neglected. In part, this was due to restrictions on individual businesses and the inability of brewers to profit from the production of small-scale, high-quality foods, and their inability to advertise local goods and specialties.^[16] In the early 1980s, different variations of the style were created with different colors and alcohol strengths, but production of the beer ended in 1993, when the brewery was closed due to lack of profitability, and commercial production of this style ceased for several years.^[2][4]

It is still brewed by some homebrewers in Poland with 100% smoked wheat grain bills, after the Polish Homebrewers Association formed the Commission for the Revival of the Grätzer Beer in 2011.^[8] The style has taken different forms over the years, but the commission describes a mild version that former brewery workers could identify, even though some brewers and homebrewers have developed variations that include different amounts of alcohol, bitterness and intentional sourness,^[8][14] although there has been some debate as to whether true Grodziskie is a sour beer.^[17] Grodziskie was defined in the Brewers Association style guidelines in 2013.^[18]

Historic Grodziskie label  Commercially produced bottle

References