PANTA RHEI
January 2021 tasting set by the Slow Craft Association
Together, we aid craft breweries in difficult times
BREWERIES & BEER
| Bednary – Łowickie Stout FES | Cztery Ściany – JAMA, black IPA with zest | Green Head & Karuzela, Green Karuzel, hazy IPA – premiere | Incognito – Plague Doctor with cherries – baltic porter | Markowy – Kornik – pale ale with spruce |
| Podgórz – Imperialny 652 m n.p.m., baltic porter | Przełom – Leśny Owoc, sour with fruits | Rock Browar Jarocin & Moczybroda – Tripel BA | Widawa – X brett IPA BA | Ziemia Obiecana – Krzyś, sour with fruits |
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!
Bednary
Rafał Łopusiński
Rafał is the owner, originator, author of recipes and the head brewer at Browar Bednary. He used to brew beer at home for many years, and later he also completed postgraduate studies in brewing technology at the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław. Apart from brewing, he has two passions – broadly understood science and cooking. Both are often reflected in his recipes and names of beers.
ŁOWICKIE STOUT FES
FOREIGN EXTRA STOUT, 16,5 degrees Balling, 6.2% abv.
It wasn’t that long ago that foreign ‘extra stouts’ were completely overlooked by craft breweries, but we have been brewing it every once in a while at Browar Bednary since 2014! Now the style is celebrating its comeback, it’s in a better shape than ever before, and will definitely stay with us for longer!
Cztery Ściany
Karolina & Wojtek Ściana
Thanks to their hard work and determination in pursuing the goal of their dreams, after many a year of efforts, Karolina and Wojtek opened a small craft brewery in Trzebnica. Its name tells it all – Four Walls. Their professional life seamlessly blends with their private life, and so the brewery has become their second home. Wojtek mainly deals with production, putting his experience in home brewing to good use, while Karolina takes care of all the rest. Together, they create production plans, recipes, and new projects. ‘There is nothing more important in beer than quality’ is what they believe in, and their hallmark is the characteristic, highly consistent, minimalist label designs.
JAMA
WHEAT BLACK IPA with ZEST – 15 degrees Balling, 5.% abv.
JAMA is a dark top-fermented beer with a distinct flavour and aroma that come from American hops. In this beer, we chose to boost the notes of citrus fruit and resin with a lot of fresh citrus zest. Then again, wheat malt gives the beer a lovely body and smoothness, while its distinct bitterness and delicate roast nature complete its character.
Green Head & Karuzela
Dominik Połeć & Przemek Baranowski & Arek Suchecki
We opened our brewery in mid-2018. What lies at its core is craftsmanship to the highest possible degree accompanied by the work of two owners-slash-brewers: Dominik from Warsaw and Przemek from Działdowo. We both started out as home brewers. Przemek chose to professionalise and created Browar Kadyk (some of the equipment is currently used by Green Head), and Dominik improved his technique and recipes, winning, among others, the 1st place at the 1st Polish Home Brewers Festival with his Mango Sour Ale, brewed in Cieszyn ever since then. He is also a beer judge and member of the Polish Home Brewers Association. Together, the guys have won 5 KPR (Craft of the Year) medals, including gold in the Session IPA category.
GREEN KARUZEL
DDH HAZY IPA, 15.5 degrees Balling, 5.8% abv.
Dominik and Arek live a few streets apart in Warsaw’s Bielany district, so brewing together was inevitable 🙂 One of their dreams was to create a Hazy IPA heavily hopped with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic, because they both love this combo.
Incognito
Michał & Rafał Krzywicki
We set up a brewery because we know how hard it is: to brew something really nice, make an unforgettable label, sell on a highly competitive market, and conquer the market when you don’t have a lot of money and there are only 24 hours in a day. It’s hard to achieve the perfect taste without artificial flavours. It is difficult to convince people choose craft beer in the Lublin Province, especially during a pandemic. But if we succeed, it will only be thanks to our persistence and hard work. Success like this – with a capital S – tastes best, especially if you can raise toast with your own beer. Cheers!
PLAGUE DOCTOR
with CHERRIES
FRUITED BALTIC PORTER, 24 degrees Balling, 10% abv.
Together with Rafał Krzywicki, the champion of the Lublin beer battles, we chose to brew a delicacy based on his winning recipe. The main prize in that competition (believe it or not) were Golden Leg Warmers and he won them for his Baltic porter with cherries. The brewing process was extremely difficult, not only because of the fruit we threw in (we actually used whole frozen cherries), but – most of all – because of the time it needed to mature. It spent more than a whole year in the tank. Anyway, in the meantime, we also released its basic version simply called Plague Doctor, without the cherries, which garnered rave reviews.
Markowy
Marek Dziubonos
Together with Rafał Krzywicki, the champion of the Lublin beer battles, we chose to brew a delicacy based on his winning recipe. The main prize in that competition (believe it or not) were Golden Leg Warmers and he won them for his Baltic porter with cherries. The brewing process was extremely difficult, not only because of the fruit we threw in (we actually used whole frozen cherries), but – most of all – because of the time it needed to mature. It spent more than a whole year in the tank. Anyway, in the meantime, we also released its basic version simply called Plague Doctor, without the cherries, which garnered rave reviews.
KORNIK
PALE ALE WITH SPRUCE – 13 degrees Balling, 5% abv.
Kornik (which is the Polish word for bark beetle) is a top-fermented pale ale. Light and fragrant, it was brewed with spruce shoots from the Białowieża Forest – this is where the spruce forest notes and slightly resinous subtle bitterness come from. Although the bark beetle is a very small insect that feeds on spruce trees, it has become famous all over the world and now every year thousands of foresters and environmental activists come to Białowieża just to try it! The beer, not the insect…
Podgórz
Łukasz Jajecznica
Łukasz is a home brewer who won numerous awards, famous for his phenomenal Baltic porter, the brewing of which he mastered to perfection. He prefers nature over the company of people and he is not afraid of hard work – that’s why he spends a lot of his time at the brewery: always a lot to do and beautiful sights outside his base of operations.
IMPERIALNY 652 M N.P.M.
IMPERIAL BALTIC PORTER – 25 degrees Balling, 11% abv.
A stronger version of its older brother – brewed annually 652 m above sea level (hence the name of these two beers), which is considered by many to be the best Baltic porter in all of Poland. Aged for a year in the tank, it possesses a multidimensional aroma and taste that come the aging process, as well as a smooth mouthfeel and a well-hidden (camouflaged even) alcohol which can only be recognised by the warmth you are going to feel in your stomach after each sip.
Przełom
Piotr Czarny
As with many other breweries, this story began at home in the kitchen. Several hundred home brews, participation in numerous brewing competitions (both as participant and judge) and ultimately, in March 2019, a brewery was opened in Podlasie, in the picturesque town of Białowieża, at the “Białowieski” hotel. Here, thou shalt never be doomed to the unholy trinity “light beer, dark beer, wheat beer”.
LEŚNY OWOC
JUICY SOUR WITH FRUITS, 10 IBU, 5% abv.
Between this year’s explosion of pastry sours and the first wave of fruited Berliner Weisse beers, I created a beer that combines the best of both styles. A Juicy Sour, or – in this case – a fruity, sour beer, but at the same time balanced with a bit of lactose and a pinch of salt. It is refreshing and does not resemble a sugary dessert. The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the forest entourage of many of our beers, as it means “fruit of the forest”, but after all there are forests in other parts of the world where mangoes and passion actually do fruit grow 😉
Rock Browar Jarocin & Moczybroda
Witek Dehr
Witek is a quite a rascal! He feels at home wandering around the Bieszczady mountains. He likes to roam the deepest depths of his soul listening to old long plays. He used to be a photographer and has countless wonderful portraits to his credit. He also is also the creator of a stunning, aquatic world hidden in a 500+ litre aquarium. His university diploma might claim he is a pharmacist, but he recently graduated from Brewing Technology at the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław. As a home brewer, he has been mastering the arcane arts for a great many years. No wonder, his craft brewery has become his passion and second home.
BELGIAN TRIPLE
TRIPEL BA – 8.2% abv.
Bright as a pilsner, strong as many a porter. Tripel has the power to surprise you. Hidden within in abundance is a great wealth of Belgian aromas – from a bit of white and yellow fruit (apricot, gooseberry, pear) to clear spicy accents. The clean base allows you to enjoy the notes of pepper, cloves and subtle herbal and floral hop aromas, both light and creamy. Our Triple was aged with oak staves from a Pinot Noir barrel that we were given by the guys from Jaworek vineyards. The oak enriched the beer with aromas of vanilla, red fruit and light tannicity. The combination of fruity Belgian esters with the addition of oak staves translated into a beer that at low temperature has notes of white wine, and when warmed to a slightly higher temperature, it blossoms with red fruit notes.
Widawa
Wojtek Frączyk
At the end of 2010, after a very hard day’s work, I stood behind the bar in our restaurant and suddenly realised we didn’t have any beer that I would actually enjoy drinking… It was then that a crazy idea exploded in my head: I shall open my own brewery! I basically “pawned” all the property my wife and I owned and took out a humongous loan. Next thing I did was to take up smoking again – that’s how nervous I was. Sometime later – finally – on 7th March 2012, Widawa Brewery brewed its first beer! After two months of learning day-in day-out, I felt ready to start brewing in my own brewery by myself, beginning with all the classics. I was lucky, as it was then that I met Tomek Kopyra – we only needed 5 minutes to catch on like a wooden church on fire and before I knew it I offered him to brew together and gave him full licentia pœtica as to the recipes. This is how “Kruk”, or The Raven, came into existence, the first American Dry Stout brewed on Polish soil. “Kruk” was hopped with Simcoe and some of it was left after brewing, so out of curiosity I threw it into my lager. Before I knew it Widawa’s “Gospoda pod Czarnym Kurem” (The Black Raven Inn) became an unforgettable part of the Polish craft beer revolution.
X BRETT IPA
BRETT IPA BA, – 6.2 abv.
An India Pale Ale with a deep, iridescent, orange colour and an unmistakable character, since it is fermented with such yeast as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Brettanomyces. What also contributes to its unorthodox taste is the fact it was aged in Chardonnay wine barrels. You know you want it!
Ziemia Obiecana
Łukasz Kierski
Łukasz started out as a home brewer obsessed with liquid yeast and intent on perfecting the fermentation conditions. The brewery opened “at the lowest cost possible ever” and – as you can guess – everything that could go wrong and haywire, did so big time… Brewing equipment got stuck on the border, the first beer went down the drain etc. Anyway, in spite of these and a thousand other (more or less) serious problems, the American dream – “from zero to hero” – came true! Over a very short period, Łukasz went from a little-known brewer to become one of the hottest badboys of the Polish craft beer scene. Now, for the first time, you can try his beers unkegged and canned. Oh, the brewery’s name means ‘The Promised Land’!
KRZYŚ
SOUR WITH FRUITS, 16 degrees Balling, 5.5 abv.
Krzyś, also known as Lil’ Chris, had been first presented for the first time at the end of 2019 at the Beer Geek Madness craft beer festival, its Black & Sour edition. The turbo-fruity character, slightly above-average alcohol content, and that surprising sweetness allowed Krzyś to take that edition of BGM by storm, winning first prize and beating many potent Russian Imperial Stouts! These days, this style of beer is under attack and besieged, as critics quibble over excessive sweetness, but in this fruity brew all is well and balanced. For the first time in history not-in-a-keg, meet the third batch of this beer! You’re welcome.