Brooklyn Brewery Brewer Peter Salmond with homebrewing collaborators Erik and Oskar Norlander
A great toast is being raised at the Brooklyn Brewery today in honor of Peter Salmond, one of our treasured brewers, and his fellow homebrewers Erik and Oskar Nolander. At this past weekend’s National Homebrew Competition in San Diego, the men took home Best Sour and Best in Show for their Gueuze and earned the prized Homebrewer of the Year Award, bringing great honor to themselves, their city and the New York City Homebrewers Guild. Well done, gentlemen!
As Peter modestly puts it, “it’s been a good year for our sours.” In February they swept the sours category at Homebrew Alley with their Gueuze, Passionfruit Lambic and Frambois Lambic, with the Gueuze also winning Best in Show. At the National Homebrew Competition New York Regional, the Gueuze and Passionfruit Lambic clocked another one-two finish, moving on to the finals and nationwide glory.
Oskar and Peter celebrating with their prizes at Homebrew Alley in February.
The Gueuze in question is the product of four years of a solera system, aging rotating batches of lambic in a California zinfandel barrel for four years. The barrel came from the Norlander’s father in California, and the hops for the base beer were grown by Peter’s father in his backyard in Portland, Oregon. The final beer is an incredible culmination of time, effort, brewing smarts and a bit of beer magic.
We’re proud to congratulate Peter, Erik and Oskar on their victories, and we fervently hope that they share some of their Gueze with us on their return from California. Cheers!