We often get the opportunity to introduce new beers. Heck, we do it every month now. But it’s not often we get to introduce a new beer style.
But that’s what we’re doing on Black Friday this week.
To fully understand how this style was born, you must first understand the nature of meetings around here.
Like most companies, we frequently gather for meetings, for distinct reasons and with specific agendas on hand. There, however, the similarity with other businesses ends.
Once assembled, the ensuing group conversation will invariably drift from random topic to random topic before the business at hand actually gets addressed. One recent meeting contained, I kid you not, references to Peter the Great, medical ethics, Native American tribes indigenous to North Carolina, the comet landing (with accompanying confessions that some of us can’t even parallel park), and a detailed discussion on the merits and drawbacks of colored and/or blinking Christmas lights. All within a span of 15 minutes. Recently we adjourned a meeting with no decision made on the topic at hand, but with a great deal of newly acquired information on 70’s reggae bands (courtesy of our brewmaster and resident reggae enthusiast Jamie. He says check out The Heptones).
It is from that unorderly and chaotic process that greatness implausibly springs. At least around here. And so it was that, during a debate on who invented the process for vulcanizing rubber (it was B.F. Goodrich, not Charles Goodyear), the subject of holiday beers came up. Logical segue.
We’ve never really done a holiday beer per say; but as we approach our tenth anniversary next year, we’ve begun to wax nostalgic about our Winston-Salem home, and all that makes the Triad a truly great place to live. A big part of that is the Moravian heritage of this area. Winston-Salem and Bethlehem PA are, to this day, home to the two largest Moravian communities in the United States.
Quick background: the Moravians are the oldest Protestant denomination, and purchased close to 100,000 acres of land here in NC in the 1760s. They subsequently named the region Wachovia and settled here, bringing their unobtrusive lifestyle and simple ways to our part of the country.
And cookies. They brought killer cookies.
If you’ve never had them (you poor soul), Moravian Spice Cookies are a paper-thin mix of molasses and spices seemingly sent straight from heaven. They’re as integral to a Triad Christmas as Moravian Star ornaments and gridlock traffic on Hanes Mall Boulevard.
So back to the holiday beer thing. We talked about our area’s shared Moravian legacy, and decided it should be honored with a brew inspired by the simplicity and fellowship central to the Moravian way of life. And one that uses their cookie stuff as well.
So our head brewer T.L. got busy brewing, using People’s Porter as a base and adding nutmeg, cinnamon sticks and fresh ginger in the same proportionate amounts that are used in traditional Moravian cookie recipes. For a little Foothills twist, he also added blood orange and mandarin orange essence. The result is a dark, rich, robust porter with spices and citrus in the nose, and a full complement of cookie-ness in the taste.
Let us know how you like it. If you need us we’ll be in a meeting.
NOTE: this beer is a draft-only, pub-only release.
Pingback: Wait! It’s Not Christmas Yet | The BCM Spotlight Blog
Pingback: Foothills Brewing Moravian Porter Releases Nov 24 - BeerAlien
December 19, 2014 at 1:17 pm
Just heard you were out of the Moravian Porter. I’m so sad, my Moravian Sunday School class was planning on visiting your pub after Christmas. (We’re so busy with the Lovefeasts) We were looking forward to trying your new beer and raising a toast to Moravians worldwide.
December 19, 2014 at 10:01 pm
aww, Cynthia, I’m so sorry! It’s the first year we’ve made it, the response was overwhelming — we ran out in less than two weeks.
Lookign forward to a Lovefeast this week!
December 20, 2014 at 6:07 am
Kernersville Moravian Christmas Eve Lovefeasts will be December 24 at 5pm, 8pm, and 10:30pm. Overflow seating will be available in the Historic Chapel with an audio-video feed of the service in the sanctuary. Coffee, buns, and candles will be served in both locations. You will want to be in your seat at least 45 mins prior to the start of the service.
December 2, 2014 at 11:21 am
Please, oh, please bottle and ship! From a Moravian up in Bethlehem, PA. Did you know that the first industry the Moravians established in Bethlehem was a brewery?
December 2, 2014 at 11:25 am
I actually did know that! Found it out in my copious research on Moravians for the blog. Same thing happened here, when they settled Wachovia one of the first businesses established was Single Brothers Brewery.
As for bottling, this Moravian Porter was sort of a test batch, it’s actually almost all gone already. Which might help lobby the brewmaster to put it in bottles next year.
December 2, 2014 at 11:29 am
You would have a great following up here in Bethlehem, for sure, if you did and if you could sell it by the case. Trust me, we like our dark beer here as evidenced by Weyerbacher’s popularity of their Big Beers lineup.
December 2, 2014 at 11:33 am
our brewmaster grew up in that area, his folks still live there
December 1, 2014 at 9:08 am
Moravians came to the colonies as missionaries to share Christ with the Native Americans.
December 1, 2014 at 9:57 am
thank you reverend, appreciate your insights
December 1, 2014 at 9:05 am
Just a few corrections, the Moravians did not come to the colonies because they were being persecuted, we had religious freedom in where now call Germany. And the somewhat militant label is deceiving, since we were pacifists from early on in our history.
November 29, 2014 at 4:42 am
I love this! I wish it were avalabile in bottles! I would order some. I am a memeber of the Moravian Church, and every year I miss seeing the MOravian stars, ( I have one tattooed on my arm), and the fellowship of the Moravian church! Christmas is a great time in the church, and as an adult, and nice spiced beer would remind me of the lovefeast in the santuary… If you ever bottle this up, im sure Moravians all over the united states would buy a six pack
November 29, 2014 at 10:06 am
agreed! wish you’d bottle so I could get it from a friend who lives in NC!
November 28, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Will this be available throughout the state, like the other Foothills beers?
November 28, 2014 at 1:21 pm
No, only at our pub on draft
November 28, 2014 at 8:41 pm
Time for a trip home to Winston! 🙂
November 27, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Loved your blog and eager to try this new beer style