Are you ready to be introduced to your new favorite unofficial beer style? We say “unofficial” because it’s not technically a Beer Judge Certification Program style. Thankfully, the fine folks at  Amorphic Beer don’t care about those kind of rules and categories.

Outside the Box

We were lucky enough to try They’re Here Aren’t They, which the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, brewery has dubbed a Czech Imperial Pilsner. Yes, you read that right, an Imperial Pilsner. While it might not be an official competition style, we think it’s officially delicious!

“Oftentimes when breweries do brew a beer like this, it ends up being overly sweet,” said Amorphic co-owner Ron Hockersmith.

It’s similar to what happens with an Imperial Stout, a style the sweetness works well with. Hockersmith explains that the Amorphic team wanted to dry the beer out a bit. Most breweries use dextrose (corn sugar) to do that, but Amorphic went a different route.

“We have experimented in the past with wine grapes in IPAs and seltzers with great results, so we decided to use Sauvignon Blanc grape must as a ‘sugar’ to dry out the beer while also adding a unique flavor,” Hockersmith said.

It Must Be Good

Hockersmith explained that must is just crushed grape juice. One of the brewery’s suppliers sells must for about a dozen wine varieties. The must comes concentrated with a large portion of the water removed by a very low-temperature vacuum boiling process that doesn’t negatively affect the grapes.

“We knocked out as normal, and then once the yeast was done chewing through most of the normal beer fermentation, we added the grape must and let that ferment for the latter part of fermentation,” Hockersmith said.

Pardon My Blanc Stare

Let’s dive into the details and flavor of the beer, shall we? As Hockersmith suggested, Amorphic’s They’re Here Aren’t They is a unique beer, for certain. Everything in it works well together. The grape must and the hint of French oak are what really set the Czech-style Imperial Pilsner apart, though.

Initially, a taster gets the slight bitterness of the Czech-style Pilsner, followed by the taste bud tantalizing notes of French oak. The grand finale is the appearance of the star of the show: Sauvignon Blanc! We could spend all day describing how well every part of this beer works together, but it just wouldn’t do it justice. It’s a marriage — or a domestic partnership — of everything you love in a Czech-style Pilsner with the addition of the French oak and grape must.

The grape must presents a hint of fruitiness, and then the aged oak imparts a bit of toast to the flavor profile. The oak also helps to cut down on the sweetness just a smidge. The beer is moderately dry as is, so it’s not overly sweet, but the oak helps take it to the next level.

Secrets

“A secret to this beer is although we have dozens of oak barrels in the brewery, we wanted this one to be done in time for the Great Taste of the Midwest festival in August, so we needed notes of oak quickly,” said Hockersmith. “So we cheated and used French medium toast oak staves at a rate that would make it possible to detect quickly.”

The staves went in the lagering tank for just four weeks  prior to packaging, basically a simulated foeder lagering process.

Cheating? Nah, that’s just working smarter and not harder. Thinking outside the box again helped the Amorphic team create a truly unique beer that the PorchDrinking.com tasters were blown away by.

Due to its popularity, Hockersmith teased the possibility of bringing the Czech Imperial Pilsner back in the near future — perhaps even in a non-Imperial form since Amorphic’s patrons have recently indicated a preference for lower ABV beer.

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