Broken Boundary Brewery

When we approach a traditional style, we begin where any good beer lover should begin. We start tasting. We talk about what we like and what we don’t like, then we look at how the beers we like are brewed. Belgian beers are a great example. The Belgians take their mashing very seriously. They know they can produce different flavor profiles by stepping their mash through a variety of temperatures. Not to geek out too much here, but what this does is activate different enzymes that break down various molecules in the barley to produce different flavors. It’s a huge part of the reason that many European beers have such an intricate malt profile. The Belgians though, are unique, in that they selected for yeast strains that also produced a myriad of flavors. These yeasts are very often cited as the cause of “that Belgian flavor”. But the Beligians let their beers ferment at a variety of different temperatures to allow different flavor molecules to be introduced to the final beer. When we set about making a Belgian beer, we push our equipment to the limits of its capabilities to mimic these authentic Belgian brewing techniques. With every beer style that we try to emulate, we research how the beer has been made, then do our best to use authentic ingredients and to replicate techniques so that our traditional styles are legit. This is our respect for tradition. When we look at the hot new beers, we look at the science behind them to understand how these flavors are being produced in the beer. Hazy IPA’s are a great example. As craft beers in the US have been pursuing ever greater hop flavor in their beers, the researchers have been keeping pace. We know more now about what makes hop flavor than ever before. When we look at this research at Broken Boundary, we are inspired to apply this knowledge in our own way. From trying to get unusual aromas from a pale ale without dry hopping, to choosing yeast strains that are specifically able to unlock the aroma potential of specific hops, we look to contemporary scientific research to guide us. As for Innovation… well, beer is a complicated beverage. You’ve got, at the least, 2 agricultural products in barley malt and hops that are subject to variation in strain, climate, and farming technique. You’ve got water chemistry that varies from location to location, and you’ve got a living single celled organism in yeast that, in their trillions, turn a sweet barley tea into beer. And never mind that various yeast strains go about their molecular alchemy in stunningly different ways. We’re drastically oversimplifying here, but you can see the permutations are enormous. Beer styles evolved in a world where brewers were largely limited to the local ingredients available to them. Pilsners are incredible because the malt that grows near Pilsen is uniquely suited to a crisp flavor profile and the water chemistry is a perfect balance for it. Porters employ roasted malts because the water chemistry in London was soft enough to round out the astringency that those roasted malts can bring. IPA’s emerged in Burton on Trent where the water chemistry helps to pop the bitterness of the hops. When we step back and look at the availability of ingredients today, positioned as we are in the middle of the global economy, we see an incredible amount of potential. Science has taught us how to mimic water profiles. Various forms of malted barley are available. Hops strains are traded around the world. And yeast can be shipped, fresh and healthy, overnight. The sky is the limit. [title text=”About our logo” color=”#428095″] Our logo expresses who we are and how we feel about beer. The three b’s that compose the logo contain a message about who we are. The circle represents the innumerable ways that beer has been made in the past, and the styles that describe them. This is our anchor. That’s why the circle is anchored in the bottom of the logo. The arrows represent our pursuit of new styles… new ways of combining ingredients and techniques to produce novel beers that have never been tasted before.