The story appears on

Page B5

April 25, 2019

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeFeatureiDEAL

Canadian couple, brewer create Atlantic Ocean salt beer

A Canadian couple that harvest Atlantic sea salt has teamed up with a brewmaster friend to create a new salt beer 鈥 which could become the first drink of its kind to be widely distributed.

Salty-sour gose beers had been brewed for about a thousand years in Germany before disappearing during World War II. But they have made a comeback with the rise in popularity of craft breweries across North America and beyond.

Each day, Colin Duggan wades into the cold, briny waters off Canada鈥檚 east coast with a bucket and returns to fill pots at his home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where his wife Audrey boils down the water and filters out the salt.

The salt is then packaged for sale online and at specialty stores across Canada. Since starting up three years ago, the couple鈥檚 range has expanded to include flavors such as basil, coffee, lime and maple.

鈥淚 grew up around the ocean, that first taste of the salt evokes memories of the beach,鈥 Duggan said.

Recently, their friend, Stefan Gagliardi 鈥 who works at Alexandre Keith鈥檚 Brewery 鈥 had been on the lookout for a drink that would pair well with lobster, of which Nova Scotia is the world鈥檚 largest exporter.

鈥淎 traditional pairing is champagne, which can be expensive, and I wanted a more affordable alternative,鈥 he said.

Gagliardi said he tried a German gose with a lobster dinner, liked it, and then thought to make his own with salt sourced from Duggan鈥檚 Tidal Salts company.

The result: a gose-style German sour wheat ale infused with Tidal Salts鈥 fleur de sel, dubbed Le Passage.

鈥淭he flavors that you get from that salt are very unique and they make the beer unique,鈥 Gagliardi said.

鈥淭he gose has a lemon tartness, a dryness that is accentuated by the salinity.

鈥淚ts hop flavors are reminiscent of dill, with some wheat characteristics that taste like fresh dough, and coriander grown from Saskatchewan seeds to round out herbal flavors,鈥 he said.

The first batch will be available only in Canada鈥檚 Atlantic coast provinces on May 1.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 a success we might grow its distribution to the rest of Canada and the United States,鈥 Gagliardi said.

Alexandre Keith鈥檚 Brewery is among the continent鈥檚 oldest commercial breweries.

Duggan said they鈥檝e stocked up plenty of salt ahead of the regional beer launch, but would need to massively ramp up production to meet continent-wide demand.

Already, they said word has spread and they鈥檙e getting calls from across Canada and the US.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend