The city of Grodzisk Wielkopolski was once a major center of brewing in 19th century Poland, but political unrest, world wars, communism, and then misguided capitalism all played parts in closing the previous chapter of the city’s brewing history in the early 90’s. But the rise of craft beer also led to a resurgence in interest for obscure styles like the smoked wheat beer that made the city famous, and by 2016 a new group of owners relaunched the original Grodzisk brewery with a heartfelt mission—to share this homegrown Polish beer style with the world. In this episode, head brewer Marcin Ostajewski shares history and process for the style, as well as ways that modern brewers are keeping the style vibrant and alive through modern variations.
Through the episode, Ostajewski discusses:
- rebuilding the historical grodziskie recipe through historical sleuthing and first hand reports
- cofermenting grodziskie with two ale yeasts over hundreds of generations
- brewing with tomyski hops
- working with a maltster to produce oak smoked wheat malt where the malt is dried through the smoking process rather than smoked after kilning
- using long mashes to insure success
- brewing grodziskie with aged hops for additional preservative qualities from beta acids
- polishing the beer’s clarity to reduce potential foaming with the very high carbonation
- brewing modern flavored versions of grodziskie
And more.
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