Tapping a new batch of Biersch
By Colin Burch
For Weekly Surge
The first tapping party at Myrtle Beach's Gordon Biersch Restaurant Brewery involved a ritual that could have made chief brewer Pete Velez a bit nervous.
The brewpub, located in The Market Common on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, slowly became crowded with patrons as the late afternoon hours of June 25 moved into the early evening.
Velez had already been serving his Gordon Biersch summer seasonal, the Sommergold Kolsch, since about 5 p.m., from an aluminum keg sitting in an iced bucket behind a table in the bar area. The table displayed a banner for The Surfrider Foundation, the nonprofit environmental organization receiving the proceeds from that evening's tapping party. For a $1 donation to the local Surfrider chapter, each person would receive two tickets good for two approximately 12-ounce plastic cups of beer. After that, each cup was a dollar, and each dollar went to the nonprofit.
I found it easy to agree with Gordon Biersch's standing description of the Kolsch, which Velez said was true to his work: crisp, dry, with a touch of fruitiness. The Sommergold Kolsch was made with German hops and a private yeast strain, Velez said.
I asked Paul Milligan of Columbia, Md., in town to visit a brother who lives on the Grand Strand, what he thought of the Kolsch. He agreed it was crisp. "It's got a maltiness to it, but not overpowering," he said, "A subtle maltiness."
Velez said Gordon Biersch began serving the Sommergold Kolsch the day before, but there was no mistake that the tapping party was June 25.
On a second small table stood a chilled wood barrel, old-school in style but smaller, appearing not quite as big as the regular aluminum kegs. Inside that barrel was a special batch of unfiltered Kolsch. Unfiltered means the beer is still cloudy with yeast, along with the full impact of its flavor.
After knocking a brass tap into the barrel with a rubber mallet, Velez poured the unfiltered Kolsch into a large glass boot, a preparation for his public ritual. He walked around the bar and went inside the barkeep area.
Then he stood on the bar in front of the crowd.
He introduced the boot, thanked everyone for coming out to the first tapping party, gave a shout out to his Mom, who was in the audience, and gulped as long as he could.
He offered the boot to the first person who wanted to take it. The boot started making its way around the bar, each person who took it helped himself or herself to a big gulp.
Back at the barrel, Milligan said the unfiltered version of Kolsch had more texture and was thicker than the filtered. Velez said, "I never would have imagined liking an unfiltered Kolsch," adding that it has a more citrus-like flavor than the filtered version that's on tap.
"It's got a whole other flavor profile to it, doesn't it?" said Mike Schuster, the Gordon Biersch general manager.
The unfiltered version of the Sommergold Kolsch from the barrel was just a special part of the tapping party.
But you'll have no complaints about the filtered version that's on tap now.
Contact Colin Burch - the Beerman - at beerpour@yahoo.com or visit his beer blog at http://maltyhops.blogspot.com