Brewvine: Soo Brewing Company

They say good things come in pairs but at in Sault Ste. Marie, they know that the best things come in threes.

In this week’s Brewvine, we take you there to learn about “The Trilogy of Lagers”.

“We do this every year,” said Ray Bauer, owner and brewer. “I do a group of beers called the ‘Trilogy of Lagers’.”

The Legend, The Legacy and The Gift.

Three beers each with their own unique story.

“The Legend that comes out in the spring is actually the last beer we brew in the calendar year but the one that’s on tap now, the second beer in the trilogy is called ‘the legacy’,” said Bauer.

The Legacy is an Oktoberfest style, autumn lager that is nine years in the making because each year, the new batch is added to some of what was made the previous year.

“The first ‘Legacy’ that we ever brewed, rolled into the second year and the second year rolled into the third,” he said. “So you do have some molecules in that glass that are from 2011.”

Last but not least in “The Trilogy of Lagers” is a top secret concoction that has to be preordered called The Gift that of course is released on Christmas Eve.

“The Gift is as much like an actual gift as possible,” he said. “I mean, number one I charge the lowest possible price on it but the cool thing is the recipe changes completely. It’s a different beer every year. One year I did an imperial pilsner, one year I did our most popular beer Maggie’s Irish Red in lager form.”

And just like any other Christmas gift…

He says “Some years you get a golf club and some years you get a sweater. You don’t know what you’re getting when it’s The Gift but you know it will be good because we try very hard to make it a beer that people are going to like or they’re not going to buy it next year.”

And to get a real taste of the season, Bauer uses the boughs of a blue spruce to brew his Oh, Tannenbaum Christmas IPA.

“It used to be the full tree, like uncut whole Christmas tree, jam, jam, jam into that mash. Well that has given way over the years. The boughs are cut now and so we leave the trunk out but still it’s incredible because it tastes like a spruce tree,” said Bauer.