06/21/2024
Well it's been almost 10 years since we closed the doors, but I'm finally getting around to this. For those that knew the history and personnel of Fort Bend Brewing, most of us worked our tails off, with a passion to create the best brews around the Houston, TX area.
To that end, and maybe this is the part folks really don't know, FB Brewing worked with the well known Brewmaster Jamie Fulton, who has bee awarded many GABF and World Beer Cup medals, and current Brewmaster at Community Beer in Dallas. I engaged Jamie to co-develop a lineup that I thought would be a strong contingent to the great breweries around Houston, and something we could be proud of.
For various reasons, we never brewed these. The time, effort and expense was wasted then, but I'd like to find a way to resurrect this lineup and see if anyone might interested to brew one or some of these commercially or just do some home batching?
There really is nothing magical about the recipes here, just the use of the right malts to let the hops shine, while keeping the malt character balanced and interesting.
I have the pilot and full scale (36L and 40L) formulas and procedures, along with Jamie's notes about each of the brews.
Using Belgian strain:
Single Blonde – A blonde Belgian style “single” using a base of pilsner malt and noble hops with a touch of dextrose to lighten the body. Fairly low ~4.5% ABV to keep it drinkable and refreshing, with med/high carbonation.
Breakfast Beer – A medium bodied, unfiltered pale whitish beer brewed with oats, wheat, barley malts and honey. Low bitterness, with medium levels of noble hop flavor and aroma balance the pleasing mouthfeel of the oats and sweetness of malt and honey. Fairly low ABV of 4.5% to keep it drinkable and refreshing with med/high carbonation.
Brown Ale – A stronger than usual (~6.5% ABV), off kilter brown ale with ample body, noticeable hop character with hints of fruit (from the Belgian yeast) and chocolate (roasted malts).
Using Chico strain:
IPA – Medium bodied, light copper in color with ample hop bitterness, flavor and aroma from American hops. Plenty of malt backbone to balance the hops, with fairly high ABV of 7-7.5%.
Copper Ale – A medium to full bodied red ale with deep malt complexity from the use of toasted and caramel malts, with noble hop character to match. ABV of ~5.5%ABV.
PM me for details if you have an interest in commercially brewing these, or just want to brew a home batch of one...
