I don’t make any claims as to how ‘authentic’ this recipe is. I just know that it tastes great to me. This is one of very few recipes I’ve come up with that hit the mark on the first try; I’d brew it again with no tweaks.
Amarillo gold pellets (8.25%AA) - 0.5 oz. / 60 min.
Amarillo gold pellets (8.25%AA) - 0.5 oz. / 20 min.
Dried juniper berries, crushed - 0.25 oz. / 20 min.
Irish moss - 0.1 oz. / 20 min.
I don’t know about the dried juniper berries (I use fresh) and Irish Moss shouldn’t be anywhere near the kettle. Amarillo just doesn’t seem like anything they would have on that island. I’m assuming you mashed your grains.
I believe that the recipe you posted is one of the ones that I looked at when doing my planning. I think I also looked at recipes in Papazian’s Microbrewed Adventures and in The Home Brewers Garden. All of these are much more authentic than what I posted. Use of juniper berries alone, rather than branches is obviously inauthentic. What I came up with is more of a ‘Gotlandsdricke Inspired’ American version than the real deal, but it sure does taste good.
If I’d had some Tetnang on hand, I probably would have used that rather than Amarillo, but between the smoke and the juniper, hop character is pretty hard to pick out. I did a long protein rest (1 hr. at 122F) before mashing at 155F. Between that and the Irish moss I got a crystal clear beer, even with the wheat and rye.
Sorry if I mislead anyone regarding the authenticity of the recipe. I probably should have made a stronger disclaimer up front, and titled the recipe something like ‘American Gotland Ale’.
Dogfish Head teamed up with homebrewer, Kyle Kernozeck to brew this one for the 2010 GABF Pro-Am Competition. I was serving during the shift that it was flowing and it was by far the most interesting beer that I had during the entire festival. Surprisingly complex for a “smaller” beer & dangerously drinkable! I honestly think it should have won something in that category. ???
Re. ‘smaller’, any idea of what the %abv is on this? I wish DFH had bottled some of that stuff. I took my shot at this style mostly because my brother is into all things Swedish. I was really pleased with the combination of smoke and juniper flavors. I now feel that this is a beer style that deserves a lot more attention. I agree that ‘complex yet dangerously drinkable’ is an accurate description.
p.s. Although I’m well satisfied with my Americanized version, if anybody knows of a commercial example of this style that they recommend, please PM me.
About what I was afraid of. Sounds like an untapped market for craft brewers. One reason I didn’t feel too bad taking major liberties in my recipe is that from Papazian’s writing about visiting Gotland there are as many different recipes as there are brewers on the island.
The only other information given on this beer at the Pro-Am Booth was this:
TAP 3 – Gotlandsdricka – Traditional Swedish Smoked Beer with Juniper From Radical Brewing, by Randy Mosher: “Many believe that Gotlandsdricka was the everyday drink of the Vikings, with mead being reserved for more important occasions. Gotland is an island off the south coast of Sweden, and the name means “good land.” Its remoteness from the mainland has helped preserve this quaint old brew….Gotlandsdricka is a farmhouse ale made primarily from barley malt, with additions of other grains: rye and wheat heavily laced with birch-smoke, which has a faint wintergreen tang. In its traditional form it is unhopped, bittered instead with bog bean, carduus (blessed thistle), and/or wood sage. Like all Scandinavian folk brews, it reeks of juniper.
Gotlandsdricka is made in a number of styles: fresh, still, and sweet; aged still, aged sparkling; strong, sour, aged, sparkling; and blends of aged still and sparkling. Gotland malt is quite smoky, due to six or seven days over birch fires. Juniper gets into the brew in the mash liquor, preboiled for an hour with berry-laden branches; and used as a filtering base in the bottom of the combination mash/lauter tun. Historically, Gotlandsdricka was fermented in oak vessels. Some of the stronger longer-aged versions develop an aromatic sourness.”
Q: Re. ‘smaller’, any idea of what the %abv is on this? A: I may have been deceived by the previous days binging, but it couldn’t have been more than 5%ABV? :
I remember that in his book Charlie made a big point about the bread yeast and the tiny amount of it that they pitch. I wasn’t brave enough to go that route, but I did try to find WY1742. I’m not even sure they make it any more.
Sounds interesting! In a similar vein, I have a keg of 1.052 OG beer that is 50% pils, 30% wheat, and 20% rye malt, Tettnanger hops, and juniper berries that I will tap next week at the office Christmas party…I like the idea of using some smoked malt…maybe next time.
I fermented this with WY1007 German ale yeast…as far as WY1742 Swedish ale yeast, that’s the old Carnegie Porter strain…which Wyeast discontinued as they discovered that it is the same yeast as the Ringwood strain. I’m too chicken to use bread yeast as well…I’d hate to ruin a perfectly good batch of beer.
chumley, please let us know how your recipe turns out; sounds great. It’s interesting that Papazian’s recipe uses all barley malts, while both MDixon and Homebrewer’s Garden include both wheat and rye in various forms. I think even a small amount of rye adds a nice spicy dryness to a beer. Although I don’t like to be beaten over the head with rye, like in a Rye PA, I think rye has a lot of overlooked potential in a lot of styles when used at as little as single-digit percentages in the grain bill. I recall hearing a craft brewer talking about ‘house flavors’ in a back episode of Brewers Network. Subtle use of rye my turn out to be a part of my ‘house flavor’.
What really sucks is most of the web searches come back to my recipe and posts. I did find this interesting link Brewing Gotland Drink and some information which indicates at one time Gotland had a brewery Swedish Breweries - Vivungs Bryggeri
