PANTA RHEI
August 2021 – tasting set by the Slow Craft Association
Together, we aid craft breweries in difficult times
2.
ORDER OUR TASTING SET PLN176,51
3.
RATE UNIQUE CRAFT BEER WITH US
BREWERIES & BEER
| Absztyfikant – Quad Kumaru – imperialny tonka stout | broVca – Hopnoza – DDH IPA | Czarna Owca – Kosmiczny Portal – conteporary wheat IPA | Lasowiak – Pan Rabarbar – sour ale with rhubarb |
| Monsters – Gunned Down – hazy IPA | Nieczajna – APA | Palatum – Smokehead – smoked porter | Pałacyk Łąkomin – Belgijski Byk – quadrupel |
| Piwne Podziemie – Juicy Trap 3 | Przystanek Tleń – Brett Barley Wine | Tabun – Brown’s – sweet cider | Trzech Kumpli – Unplugged IPA – non-alco IPA |
The beers included in this set come from small craft breweries which quite often are basically a one man show. Some beers are still fermenting; others are waiting to be bottled. Some of them were brewed in super small amounts… The last mile (before they land in our hands) may be full of surprises. Together with the brewers, we want you to receive the freshest beers in the best possible condition – that’s why should they choose to withdraw their beer, because it doesn’t meet their high standards, they will have the right to do so. It is also possible that for reasons unforeseen some of the beers might run out or another problem will arise that we cannot predict now. In situations like these, we will replace the beer(s), to the best of our knowledge, with a similar one. We hope you will enjoy this set just as we did while we were preparing it!
THE NUMBER OF SETS is highly limited!
Absztyfikant
Łukasz Szynkiewicz (on the left)
Łukasz Szynkiewicz, civil engineer by profession, “built” his contract brewery in 2013. An admirer of tonka, Brettanomyces yeast and grodziskie beer. In his spare time he eats pizza, drinks beer and plays tennis, not necessarily at the same time. His favourite painting is “The Dream” by Henri Rousseau.
QUAD KUMARU
IMPERIAL TONKA STOUT
31 degrees Balling, 10.5% abv..
Quad Kumaru is a sweet, thick imperial stout with lactose and tonka beans. A plethora of flavours and aromas, from almonds and marzipan to vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon and coconut.
broVca
Tomasz Michalski
Though he comes from Belgium, he is inspired by the American beer styles. He specialises in economics. Besides beer, his hobbies are cigars and sports cars. You need to ask him yourself why did he come back to Poland and rebuilt the old barn with his own hands – with brewery on the ground floor and living quarters on the first floor. In his spare time (sic!) he paints pictures and then turns them into his beer labels.
HOPNOZA
DDH hazy IPA
11.5 degrees Balling, 4% abv.
Here’s the second batch of Hopnoza. A hazy IPA hopped twice as hard with tropical and citrus fruit profile. I used four American varieties: Citra, Amarillo, Sabro and Sorachi Ace. I wanted to accent the less common tropical fruit than the more popular citruses. Aromatic sweetness is countered with dry profile and smooth texture. Yearning for Kvasovka (sour NEIPA), I recommend a slight tuning especially for the summer – refrigerate Hopnoza below the suggested temperature and add a half of lemon, to achieve a drinkable, very hoppy sour beer.
Czarna Owca
Łukasz Kortas (to the right)
Łukasz Kortas believes in the German way of brewing that emphasises the perfect balance and the composition of elements contributing to the taste of beer. He spends a lot of time choosing the ingredients, a key step of the brewing process. He has been dealing with beer for basically his whole adult life. In his spare time he rides his motorcycle (not only to and from work).
KOSMICZNY PORTAL
CONTEMPORARY WHEAT IPA
15,5 degrees Balling, 6% abv.
Very juicy texture, hoppiness and yellow fruit in flavour and aroma. Delicate, smooth bitterness (in mathematical terms 35 IBU), craftily composed and balanced. Citra, Ekuanot, Strata and Columbus hops were used.
Lasowiak
Rafał Radziejowski
We are a small Sub-Carpathian brewery – look for us in Jata, about 40 km. from Rzeszów (Jeżowe commune). Our name relates to the history and tradition of our region – Lasowiacy is the ethnographical group once inhabiting the region of Sandomierz Forest. All our beers are unpasteurised and unfiltered, that’s why we pay special attention to the quality.
PAN RABARBAR
SOUR ALE Z RABARBAREM
10 degrees Balling, 4% abv.
With Pan Rabarbar (Mr. Rhubarb) we start our adventure with sour beers. We soured it with lactic acid bacteria to 3.4 pH and then added rhubarb juice. The aroma is dominated by rhubarb but you can also smell citruses, forest fruit and lactic acid bacteria notes. Really refreshing on hot summer days.
Monsters
Janek Gadomski
An enthusiast who climbed all the rungs of our industry ladder. He started his career as a consumer and then became a homebrewer, if only to get the hot Brewer of the Year title (awarded for high positions in the contests). He also became a beer judge to give back the kindness he had received earlier. Finally he established Monsters brewery, jokingly referred to as a wholesaler by friends and enemies alike. He brews beer, sells it, designs labels and delivers kegs. In his spare time he popularises home brewing by means of his famous Alchemia podcast. One man show. Just for your own pleasure.
GUNNED DOWN
Hazy IPA
15° Blg, 5,5% alk., hoprate: 18g/l
Light, smooth and extremely drinkable IPA hopped with Australian variety Enigma and American Citra and Sabro. The hops enriched the bouquet with aromas of tropical fruit, citruses, coconut, aloe vera and kerosene, complemented by peach esters produced by London Ale III yeast
Nieczajna
Mikołaj Pieczyński
The brewery consists of Marek Szmyt, Tomasz Wawrzyniak and Mikołaj Pieczyński. We are a group of home brewers. Both Tomasz and Mikołaj had been appreciated in the national contests. The concept of their own brewery was born in 2017. The beginnings were not easy but we carry on and we have a lot to tell about it. Finally we managed to go full steam ahead in the beginning of this year, after putting bottling into operation. We brew beers that we want to drink ourselves and that we want to share with the world. We have already brewed over a dozen of batches but we are still learning and modifying our recipes. Our goal is to create even better beers. Cheers!
APA
AMERICAN PALE ALE
13.8 degrees Balling, 6.3% abv.
Our interpretation of the classical APA style. By definition we strived to create an extremely drinkable brew. The beer is top-fermented with US-05 yeast and hopped with Centennial and Falconer’s Flight. It has citrusy, floral, fruity and slightly resinous character.
Palatum
Łukasz Kojro
It’s a story straight out of a movie. An experienced homebrewer quits his corporate job and establishes a small craft brewery at home. Supported by his family, he struggles with everyday problems, seeking to find his place on the quickly-changing craft beer market. We can observe him working hard, playing with his dog Amarillo, designing labels with his daughter. He makes plans. Just when he thinks that he achieved success, the global pandemic erupts and then the government locks down all the premises to where he was supplying his beer. At first Łukasz has no idea what to do, but with time a new plan forms in his mind…
SMOKEHEAD
SMOKED PORTER
20.5 degrees Balling, 8.0% abv., hoprate 15 g/l
The grist is composed of smoked malts – mainly alder, but also a bit of beech and peat plus a long list of specialty malts. All of this served to achieve a rich and intense beer, both drinkable and multi-layered. A real must have for smokeheads and dark strong beer lovers.
Pałacyk Łąkomin
Adam Śmiglak
When ten years ago Adam had been opening his first homemade beer, he would never have believed that one day he would become a professional brewer in his own brewery. Six years ago he opened a tiny (production capacity of only 90 litres, later 800!) hand-operated Łąkomin brewery. Now, while enjoying his beer, he wonders where he would get in another ten years… Adam specializes in classic styles but he also likes to experiment, combining classics with the new wave. He loves the magic of oak barrels. Because of his second passion in life his favourite beer is “Mustang: I am Legend”.
BELGIJSKI BYK
BELGIAN DARK STRONG ALE / QUADRUPEL
24 degrees Balling, 10.5% abv., 30 IBU
One of the strongest Belgian beers made by Browar Łąkomin. It has a lot of peach/apricot esters and peppery phenolics in the aroma – specially selected Belgian yeast strains are responsible for that. In the background there is a firm, solid malty base with biscuit, toffee and nuts characteristics. In the taste the yeasty notes appear again, as well as the solid malty foundation and noble, warming alcohol. Despite its intensity the beer is really drinkable.
Piwne Podziemie
Darek Piecuch
Dariusz Piecuch is a home brewer with many years of experience, whose exquisite recipes are universally acclaimed on the craft beer scene. His first commercial-scale brewing steps were taken at the source of the Beer Revolution – in the USA. Using his knowledge, skills and unusual ideas, he has been enriching the Polish reality for years.
We have been operating as Piwne Podziemie since December 2014 and almost from the beginning we became one of the most appreciated craft breweries in Poland, as well as conquering many hearts abroad. Most of all we value quality and unique taste, that’s why we brew our beers using traditional ways, using high quality malts and new-wave American hops. Our trademarks are bold experiments and uncommon additives, such as tropical fruits, coffee, vanilla or cocoa beans.
ince 2020 the brewery has been producing its beers on a contract basis. Currently we brew at ReCraft brewery.
JUICY TRAP 3
IMPERIAL NEIPA
18.0 degrees Balling, 7.9% abv., hoprate 24 g/l
Double IPA trapped in this bottle looks and tastes just like juice freshly squeezed out of tropical fruits. Its taste and aroma are credited to the hop duo Sabro (also in the Incognito® form) and Sorachi Ace, that create an unforgettable mix. Sorachi Ace enriches the beer with lemon peel, lemon grass, cilantro and orange notes. Sabro is going to assail you with coconut, tangerines and Spanish cedar.
Przystanek Tleń
Romek Pękała and Michał Semrau
It all started with a shy idea, conceived obviously over a glass of beer by one of our guests, a friend of our boarding house. After that there had been a year of hard work: analysing, tedious acquiring of necessary permits, projects, arrangements, trainings, many brewed batches. And our faith that what we are doing makes sense. At the beginning of 2015 we installed the brewery: a mash tun and a lauter tun (both with the capacity of 550 l) in our restaurant and the first fermenters in our lagering room. Now we have ten of them. Over time we started to experiment with wild beers, we built a barrel cellar where we store several dozens of barrels with various wild beers. That’s where the real fun takes place! The fun that gets us a lot of enjoyment and awards at the contests.
BRETT BARLEY WINE
24 degrees Balling, 8.2% abv.
We go a long way back with Janusz from Browar Domowy Garaż (Garage Home Brewery). We really value his ideas, openness and courage. One day we decided to make a new beer, thinking: let’s combine our experience, with everyone adding what he likes best. And the effect? Janusz suggested Barle Wine and since we are familiar with his home batches in this style, we didn’t even hesitate. We threw in the rye whisky barrel and wild yeast. We hope that the beer meets your approval. Recently it received an award in Poznań.
Cydrownia Tabun
Michał Ponikowski
A huge cidermaker from the smallest Pomeranian cidery. Inspired by his wife, he changed his garage hobby to an everyday job. A hedonist with a capital H. He doesn’t like cargo bikes and electric cars. Collects hotel soaps. He perceives cidermaking as a constant journey – metaphorically and literally, because thanks to his trips to France and England he became fascinated with the English apple varieties and British cider tradition.
BROWN’S
Sweet cider
2.8% abv.
Brown’s is a single variety cider, naturally sweet, with a low alcohol content. Amber-coloured, slightly sparkling. Minimal acidity, delicate tartness, solid body and “fruity” impression is credited to the common English Brown’s Apple variety.
Trzech Kumpli
Piotrek Sosin
For us beer brewing means a constant progress and exploration. Every day we learn something new and we try to use this knowledge the next time we brew. We want every batch to be better than the previous one. It’s our ambition to have the world-class beers. We brew beers that we would like to drink ourselves and that we to share with the others.
UNPLUGGED IPA
7.0 degrees Balling, <0.5% abv., 20 IBU
For their first ”unplugged” beer Trzech Kumpli chose a non-alcoholic IPA. It represents everything that we love about the beer revolution IPAs: it’s very aromatic and heavily bitter. It contains Iunga, Kohatu, Mosaic, Galaxy and Amarillo hops, so you can expect the intense citrus, tropical fruits and resinous character, backed with a surprisingly full, malty body. Juices and fruits aside, after opening the bottle you’re just getting a classic, bitter, non-alcoholic IPA with a familiar flavour.