On Tuesday morning I stepped foot inside DC Brau Brewing Company and was overcome by a Zen calmness. It was atypical for a brewery with almost every fermenter full of product waiting to be canned and kegged. A large part of the mellow mood was due to the soundtrack, a lullaby version of Pink Floyd’s “Time.” Just a couple minutes past 8:00 AM, and only two men stood in the brewery. One was CEO, Brandon Skall, the other was Brian Barrows, Meridian Pint’s Home Brewers Match Up Champion. Brian was opening malt sacks and loading the mill for “Your Favorite Foreign Movie.”
Loading pils in the mill.
While not his first time in DCBrau’s brewhouse, it was Brian’s first time brewing on the DCBrau system. Likewise, it was DCBrau’s first time brewing a DCHomebrewers recipe on their system. While Brian has brewed on some big boy systems before, helping Mike Roy brew India Pale Ale, Russian Imperial Stout, and Rubber Chicken Red at Franklin’s, this was the first time he has brewed one of his recipes to fill about 60 kegs (30 barrels).
Before long DC Brau Brewer Chris Graham had arrived and the music changed to the Steely Dan classic, “Peg.” Chris coined the title of the beer and all who were present found it fitting given that their favorite foreign movies were light, easygoing, and undeniably smooth. This is the aim of the recreation of Brian’s Belgian single ale.
Brian’s beer will be released at DC Brau draft accounts all over D.C. The ale should be available by July 23rd or 24th or somewhere thereafter. Brau will hold a release party at Meridian Pint and you can expect “Your Favorite Foreign Movie” (YFFM) to be on draft wherever you typically purchase Brau pints, across the city. We will release an updated list of venues that have YFFM in the near future.
Is it straw or is it blonde? It's "Your Favorite Foreign Movie."
Beyond your favorite local beer bar, DCBrau is planning on sending several YFFM kegs to Denver, Colorado, for the Great American Beer Festival. Brian, Brau, and I all wanted this beer to be entered in the Pro-Am Competition. However, it cannot be entered due to section four under the subsection “Pro-Am Competition” guidelines. While Meridian Pint’s Home Brewers Matchup had 15 official and 75 peoples choice judges, it was not American Homebrewers Association or Beer Judges Certificate Program Certified.
A single is a smooth, sessionable beer, often referred to as “table beer” or “Patersbier,” particularly when Monks on Monastic grounds brew it for consumption within. Belgian styles have been explained to me (despite being an oversimplification) as: Quadrupels for the Cardinals, Tripels for the Bishops, Dubbels for the Abbots, and Singles for the Monks.
For those brewing at home, Brian’s recipe is largely the same as what will hit taps. Brian used pilsner and carapils malts, the same grains that were used for brewing on Tuesday. Styrian Goldings were Brian’s hops of choice and these were also the sole hop varietal used in the Brau version. They were added to the brew kettle at 90 and 20 minutes, respectively. The only variations were water and yeast. The DC Brau version features their house yeast, the same fermenter as DC Brau’s “Citizen” Belgian Pale Ale.
