• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Today’s cool yeast strain: Blackberry Farm Brewery’s Great Smoky Mountain yeasts

July 13, 2016Keith Gribbins

Blackberry Farm bottles
These yeast strains reflect the local micro-flora unique to Blackberry Farm’s location in the mountains of East Tennessee.

Today more than ever, brewers understand the importance of yeast and good fermentation practices, but for the average drinker, that part of the process is still pretty invisible. It’s much more difficult to understand and parse out than the aroma profile of a certain hop varietal or the flavor and color you get from this color crystal malt. Yet, yeast plays perhaps the most important role for us over-achieving drinkers — it’s responsible for converting sugar to precious alcohol (and creating carbon dioxide in the fermentation stage).

Being a living organism, yeast can come from a variety of wonderful and strange places (say belly buttons). When Blackberry Farm Brewery wanted to tell the story of its native family of ales, it wanted to feature native wild yeasts harvested from across Blackberry Farm’s 4,200 protected acres at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. Rad idea, right?

These yeast strains have been carefully gathered and maintained for Blackberry Farm Brewery by SouthYeast Labs and reflect the local micro-flora unique to Blackberry Farm’s location in the mountains of East Tennessee. From the press release:

“We are excited to share these beers that begin to tell the story of place and terroir,” said Chief Fermentation Officer Roy Milner. “Native yeasts, inspiration from ingredients and experiences of living in the foothills give these bottlings a special place in our portfolio. Blackberry Rye shows off a fruit we use often, a grain frequently found in whiskey and yeast harvested from honeysuckle that borders our orchards. Tennessee Cream Ale is a complex and delicate journey through corn and how the soft, sweet flavors add nuance to our style of brewing.”

What are these beers all about?

Blackberry Rye was brewed with select heritage barley and rye malts and fermented with a wild strain of native yeast harvested from honeysuckle blossoms found at Blackberry Farm. A secondary fermentation with blackberries and additional aging in Tennessee whiskey barrels lends accents of dark fruit and oak to this medium-bodied ale’s malty profile.

Tennessee Cream Ale is light golden in color, brewed flaked with corn and heirloom grits and fermented with a wild strain of native yeast from the farm for a delicately malty body with a hint of corn sweetness and a crisp, refreshing finish.

In addition to Blackberry Rye and Tennessee Cream Ale, the Blackberry Farm Brewery will release two other beers in this category including Buckwheat Strawberry (August) and Roasted Cherry Stout (October).

Cadaverine: When your beer smells like dead human
beer taps brain distribution cbb crop
Unfiltered: There are weevils in my grain – what do I do?
HGA hop report: Citra HBC 394 had more acres than the entire high alpha category in 2022
HPA
Hop crop update from Hop Products Australia

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ashlie Randolph says

    July 15, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    Ashlie Randolph liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  2. Beargrylls Sum says

    July 14, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    Beargrylls Sum liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Vladimir Abaryshev says

    July 14, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    Vladimir Abaryshev liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  4. Lee David says

    July 13, 2016 at 11:36 pm

    Lee David liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  5. Piotr Nowak says

    July 13, 2016 at 5:22 pm

    Piotr Nowak liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  6. Nate Underwood says

    July 13, 2016 at 4:21 pm

    Nate Underwood liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  7. crsimp01 says

    July 13, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    Blackberry Farm Brewery uses native Great Smoky Mountain yeasts https://t.co/IzsY9oMtje via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Cadaverine: When your beer smells like dead human
  • Unfiltered: There are weevils in my grain – what do I do?
  • Festo takes new approach with VZXA angle seat valves
  • People news: Industry icon John Mallett steps down from Bell’s + moves from Craft ‘Ohana, BrewDog USA and more

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Cadaverine: When your beer smells like dead human
    January 26, 2023
  • beer taps brain distribution cbb cropUnfiltered: There are weevils in my grain – what do I do?
    January 26, 2023
  • People news: Industry icon John Mallett steps down from Bell’s + moves from Craft ‘Ohana, BrewDog USA and more
    January 25, 2023
  • Premium beer products were one of the top growth markets of 2022, says IWSR 
    January 23, 2023
  • Fair State Brewing Cooperative launches Minnesota’s first cannabis beverage fulfillment, copacking and distribution center
    January 23, 2023
  • Fat-Tire-cansFat Tire and other craft beer legacy brand updates to know in 2023
    January 17, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC