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Jul 09
2009
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Before copper and stainless steel became standard materials for brew vessels, beermakers mixed malt and hops in wooden vats. Lighting a fire under such a vessel could burn down the house, so brewers boiled the wort (the unfermented beer) by tossing in red-hot rocks, causing a partial caramelization of the malt sugars and adding smoky overtones to the beer.
Sah'tea is Sam Calagione's take on sahti, a type of Finnish home-brew. He flavored the strong ale (it measures 9 percent alcohol by volume) with juniper berries, a traditional ingredient that adds an "earthy, perfumy" flavor, and black chai tea, a nontraditional ingredient that augments the beer's citrusy character.
"It gives us a chance to look backwards and forwards at the same time and put our own off-centered spin on Old World traditions," says Calagione, president of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del.
Read more in the original article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070603892.html

