Eleventh Hour Brewing has created their first Steinbock beer named FOSSL. Don’t know what that means? We had to ask as well!
A Steinbock is a beer made from a traditional method of heating the brewing wort by using extremely hot stones as the heat source. The kettles were made of wood and the stones were typically heated over an open fire, with the resulting liquid having complex layers of smoke, oak, toffee, and leather. See how the Pittsburgh brewery did it here.
Eleventh Hour was inspired by breweries where this method was a necessity (late 1800s Germany), and they brewed it because they thought it would be something much different than the standard brewing process.
For Eleventh Hour’s version, they tore the heads off a couple of leftover barrels and installed sanitary fittings to allow for the transfer of the wort into and out of these makeshift kettles. They then stoked a fire using additional deconstructed bourbon barrels and heated the rocks on the flames.
With the stones reaching temperatures upwards of 500 degrees, they were added to the wort, caramelizing what they touched and adding a smoky layer. Once the boil was complete, they fermented the wort and then transferred it to neutral Pennsylvania white oak barrels where it lagered for 4 months in the cellar.
The winter treated this beer well, and the result is everything the brewery hoped for and more. Beer fans can expect layers of malt, oak, caramel, toffee, tobacco, and of course smoke while packing a punch at 7.0% ABV.
A limited quantity is available, so make sure to grab some soon!
