Rob Fink, Director of Brewing Operations at Jailbreak Brewing Company continues on his ever forward path of innovation. Hidden Paintbox is Fink’s Nelson Sauvin hopped West Coast Pils collaboration with Port City Brewing Company.
When Fink was assistant brewer at the now-defunct District ChopHouse, he brought the Conan strain of yeast into the cellar and began to ferment a new type of IPA one that hadn’t been made at the brewpub before. And so it is in the milieu of hoppiness that Fink’s most recent creation grows.
We could write that Hidden Paintbox is exclusively hopped with Nelson, but perhaps more accurately it is hopped with Nelson hop products. Aren’t all hops just… hops? Not really!
Fink is using Freestyle New Zealand Hops’ Bliss process Nelson, which is not like other Nelson hop pellets. Bliss process is a reference to processing hops before harvesting, intentionally stressing the plant to produce more thiols, thereby intensifying pre-existing tropical character.
Freestyle describes it thusly: [t]his Nelson Sauvin lot has field aromas of Bliss Process – Guava, Sweet Citrus, Nectarine. In addition to these special pellets is Nelson Cryo. What is Nelson Cryo? Per NZ Hops: Cryo Hops pellets are the concentrated lupulin of whole-leaf hops containing resins and aromatic oils. It is designed to provide intense hop flavour and aroma. As if that wasn’t enough, Fink has added Nelson Hyperboost and Bliss Process Hop Kief, both of which are highly concentrated liquid hop products.
Fink texted me in between checking on the pils from the fermentation vessel. “Might be on to something with this west coast pils thing,” he wrote, noting that he still had “one more liquid hop addition to go!”
Alongside four production team members from Port City, Fink’s hoppy pils will be judged by a jury of his peers. Will their pils be the hoppiest pils in all of metropolitan DC? Is Fink’s pils the hoppiest in all of Maryland? Maybe! I have no doubt that this will be the first pils I’ve ever had with four iterations of the same hop in one beer.
“The hoppiest” is of course subjective. Is it the most bitter pils? Or is it the most aromatic pils? Your miles may vary, but I have little doubt Fink’s pils will be the most posh. It’s fermented with not one but two yeast strains, as if fancy New Zealand hops and hop products weren’t enough. One strain “hails from the Bavarian alps” while the other gets three descriptors from the yeast bank: “elegant,” “Bavarian,” and “monastery.” These strains are reminiscent of the beers from Ayinger and Andechs in my humble opinion. They are used in other Jailbreak beers. If you’re looking for a more traditional-tasting lager I’d advise you to invest in Crabtown Classic, Fink’s Vienna-style Lager at 5.5% ABV. It is a double-decocted lager with classic German Vienna malt.
Pils as a style is in many ways the perfect vehicle in experimentation. American pils will never exactly match Czech or German, but it can come close. American pilsners might also be quite different, look at Miller Lite. On the can Miller touts “a fine Pilsner,” but fine is of course relative. On a can of Pilsner Urquell, you’ll see “the original Pilsner,” but of course Pilsner Urquell and Miller Lite are very different beers.
Fink’s pils will taste nothing like Pilsner Urquell or Miller Lite. It also won’t taste much like Ayinger’s pils or Andechser Hell, the German pils and Helles lagers. It will likely taste like Monty Python’s eponymous 1971 film and now for something completely different.
Though perhaps not entirely different if you’re considering a New Zealand pils from Sapwood Cellars. Or the aromatic Riwaka Snaps from Other Half (or as my wife describes it, “not a pilsner”). Sapwood Cellars’ New Zealand Pilsner is hopped with Motueka, Nelson Sauvin, and Lórien whereas Other Half’s is hopped with Riwaka. Sapwood’s comes in at 5.4% ABV and Other Half’s is 4.5%.
Fink’s inspiration comes from some of the “hoppiest” brewers in the country, in the spirit of Highland Park, North Park, and Green Cheek west coast pils. Fink’s lot of Bliss process Nelson is the same used in Sapwood’s New Zealand Pilsner.
If you fancy a draught or a case, Hidden Paintbox will be released Wednesday 11/26, at both Jailbreak and Port City taprooms in 12oz 6pks and on tap. Jailbreak’s self-distribution means we may see this unique pilsner in Maryland stores as well.
Via Port City: “Join us Wednesday, November 26th as we kick off the holiday weekend with the release of Hidden Paintbox — a special collaboration between Jailbreak Brewing Co. & Port City Brewing Co.
Simply put, Hidden Paintbox is a marriage of lager brewing philosophies, both traditional and modern, as well as the recognition of a longstanding friendship between Jailbreak and Port City. Floor-malted Bohemian pilsner malt, decoction, and spunding, among other ‘traditions,’ seamlessly harmonize with a bevy of flowable, advanced hop products that showcase a very special lot of Nelson Sauvin from Freestyle Hops. Unabashed in its presentation, Hidden Paintbox is a rollicking cornucopia of hop-derived POG juice, pink grapefruit, and the slightest hint of terpene-heavy cannabis. 5.8% abv
Hidden Paintbox will be available on draft and in 12oz cans to go.”
