Isaac wrangling Linden flowers in Minneapolis. Cuz that’s what we do.
For impatient readers: The Pre-Sale details are here!
For a detailed recap of what Bootleg has been up to recently, keep on reading:
Homebrew Con 2017
We recently got back from Homebrew Con 2017 in Minneapolis. It was such a blast! If you haven’t made a Homebrew Con trip happen yet, you owe it to yourself to go next year in Portland. Three plus days of beer festivals, cutting edge educational seminars, celebrity sightings, nonstop geeking out…oh, yeah, and the endless supply of hombrew.
I can’t tell you how fun it was to meet so many Local Yeast Project Contributors (Tony Schubert’s LYP Culture beer was out of this world), or just chat with fellow homebrewers who had experimented with our cultures. We also had a blast hanging out with the Brülosophy Crew throughout the Conference.
Milk The Funk Bottle Share
Of course, a must-attend event at Homebrew Con is the Annual Milk The Funk Meet Up Bottle Share. If you’re not familiar with Milk The Funk, it’s a Facebook group full of thousands of professional brewers and homebrewers dedicated to sharing their knowledge of alternative fermentation brewing with the world. Last year in Baltimore, we collected the bottle dregs from all our favorites and made available a mega culture blend for homebrewers to ferment their beers. So many interesting beers came out of it, that we just had to do it again!
Colin’s Baltifunk Golden Was Stellar
So I’m excited to introduce the MTF Funkapolis Mega Blend! This culture blend will be available only once during our next Homebrew Culture Pre-Sale. Don’t miss this one, because when it’s gone, it’s gone!
Homebrew Pre-Sale Starts July 5 at Noon CT, Ends July 10
The Pre-Sale officially begins Wednesday, July 5 at Noon CT, and ends on Monday, July 10 at 7pm CT. Once the Pre-Sale closes, we’ll get to propping your cultures ASAP. All orders will ship between July 24 and August 2. Just watch your inbox for notification of shipment.
I know you all have been patiently waiting for our next Homebrew Culture sale. It’ll definitely be worth it, because…
…for the first time we’re releasing SOUR WEAPON L!
Sour Weapon L is an entirely unique blend of Lactobacillus plantarum cultures sourced exclusively from traditional Norwegian Kveik breweries. This bacteria blend is brutally effective at rapidly producing Lactic Acid, and can drop wort pH to 3.0-3.2. So keep an eye on this culture when quick souring, it’s a monster!
Of course, we’ll be rereleasing the rest of our awesome culture bank:
- The Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend – Fantastic at making hoppy funky saisons with a hint of tartness. Personally curated by Mike Tonsmeire!
- Sour Solera Blend (Summer 2017) – Our ever changing Barrel Culture blend of microbes. Use to start your house solera or make a long term Lambic-style beer.
- Funk Weapon #1 – Terrific Brett for producing traditional farmhouse funk. This is my favorite for making Orval style beers.
- Funk Weapon #2 – THE Brett IPA culture. Tons of ripe tropical fruit, with a strong punch of pineapple juice!
- Funk Weapon #3 – The most complex Brett culture we’ve worked with to date. Awesome in primary or secondary. Beautiful candy fruit and strawberry aroma and flavors.
- Saison Parfait – Our take on a New World Saison. This ain’t your daddy’s Saison culture.
- Sour Weapon P – Formerly just “Sour Weapon”. THE FIRST quick souring Pedio culture! Creates a complexity and mouth feel you don’t find with traditional Lacto sours.
- Chardonnay – Originally sourced from grapes, this makes a super unique wild take on a cloudy IPA.
- S. arlingtonesis – The culture that started it all. Creates complex lager/ale hybrids. You haven’t tasted a beer like this before.
Don’t forget, we’ll be shipping in July. It’s going to be hot! Please be sure to ship your order to a location that can immediately refrigerate your cultures once they’re delivered. We ship every order with an ice pack for free, but can’t guarantee it will stay cold throughout transit.
If you own a Homebrew Store and are interested in carrying our strains, please contact us.
Local Yeast Project Latest
Speaking of summer, it’s now full on local yeast wrangling season! Time to get out there and start capturing a house yeast culture from your backyard. Of course, I happen to know a place that you can get all the supplies you need to wrangle your own backyard yeast. 😀
If you need inspiration, check out these recent articles on Bootleg and the Local Yeast Project in All About Beer, Growler Magazine, Orange County Register and Longmont Times-Call.
We’ll also have exciting news to share soon about the genetics of our Local Yeast Project strains!!
Don’t forget you can become a Contributor and join us as we catalog the whole wide world of wild yeast.
Until next time.
To fermentation!