Weiss takes Kanawha fruit beer title

While Charleston brewer Eric Weiss may be better known for his German-style lagers, on Saturday he was the king of fruit beer. Weiss took first place in the summer fruit beer competition conducted by the Kanawha Valley Homebrew Club (KVHC) with his brightly-flavored Raspberry Göse.

Thirteen club members submitted beers in hopes of winning, and three stood out as the best. Snagging third place was Jeff Adkins of Ripley with his Blackberry Vanilla Pilsner, a beer that Brilliant Stream named the beer recipe with the most commercial potential. Taking second place was Chris Butler of Fraziers Bottom with his understated Tart Cherry Cream Ale, which was extremely well made and so well balanced.

A win for Raspberry Göse

The Raspberry Göse was definitely a commercial quality beer, which would hold up well against those of well-known breweries. The fruit was bright and shone through; the base beer was clean, crisp and fresh. The drink was light and very refreshing. But that kind of high quality is not particularly uncommon among competition winning homebrews. Several brewers in the club consistently demonstrate their talents and it is a pleasure to experience their brews.

For his Raspberry Göse entry, Weiss says he wanted to do a balance of sour and fruit flavors so he chose a traditional göse as the base beer. “Göse was a good base style because it naturally has slightly fruity esters from using a Kölsch yeast strain,” he said. Weiss reported that the recipe was very traditional with an even split of Pilsner and wheat malts, minimum hops for balance and a touch of salt at the end of the boil. The beer was naturally soured with a pure lactobacillus culture. Once the base beer was fermented out, it was transferred to a secondary fermenter and mixed with the raspberry purée where it conditioned into the final product.

For his winning effort, Weiss was awarded a $50 MoreBeer gift card by first place sponsor Brilliant Stream. The competition took place at South Charleston’s Little Creek Park. The event was accompanied by the clubs’s annual picnic. Plenty of hot dogs, hamburgers and sides were on the table and enjoyed by the attending crowd.

Homebrew club are bedrock

Homebrew clubs are the bedrock of the U.S. craft beer movement, and we are fortunate to have a number of good ones in West Virginia. Homebrew clubs provide the best training ground for aspiring brewers by affording a friendly environment of helpful assistance and constructive criticism. Nationally and in West Virginia, many current commercial brewers got their start in local homebrew clubs.

Check out the KVHC’s Facebook page. If you have a keen interest in craft beer, there is no better outlet than a local homebrew club. The club’s vision is to bring together home brewers in the Charleston, WV area on a regular basis to: Share beer, give and receive feedback, learn new skills and techniques and enter into competitions/events with other clubs all for the sake of collectively growing in our homebrew abilities as well as networking and building relationships centered around brewing.

Brilliant Stream photos by Erin McCoy and Jeffrey Adkins.