English 
Romanian 
Experimental batches of new beers
There is a time in the life of each brewer when it comes natural brew beers in collaboration with other brewers. The craft beer scene is very friendly and is a continuous exchange of experience and knowledge.
The story of our collaborations starts simple and we chose the month of September to brew both beers.
The first collaboration brew was with Sunstone Ale from Chisinau, Moldova. We’ve known Kirill for some years now from the time we were homebrewing and it was obvious to make a beer together. We got along from the first time we met and we have always tried each other beer and loved them. So it was normal to start thinking in making a beer together.
Choosing the recipe wasn’t so difficult because we are into Belgian stuff and he is into hoppy beers, so the winner style was a Quadrupel IPA, brewed with lots of hops and fermented with Belgian liquid yeasts.
The brew day was as much fun as it could be, honestly since we opened the brewery we haven’t considered that the stuff we are doing are working stuff because we enjoy it, maybe except for the bottling because it takes a lot of time. Returning to the main subject, it was a super fun day where we talked about beers and beer things related. Stas from Elvis brewery from Chisinau joined us in discussions and we tasted beers meanwhile brewing.
For our usual beers we don’t focus so much on hops, because it is not the front ingredient, but for this Quadrupel IPA we used a couple of kilos to boost the citrus and floral aromas into beer. And because we like strong beers, we did this one the same. Eventually it will have around 11.5% ABV and will be a beer full of flavours. Being a strong beer, the fermentation takes longer and the releasing time of it will be around the beginning of November.
We liked his ideas and creativity and we knew he brewed good beers since he won a lot of awards in important brewing competitions.
That being said, we started to think in brewing a beer together. And we wanted to make it with a Romanian – Belgian touch. So the winning recipe was a Tripel brewed with Belgian hops and lemongrass and aged in Tuica barrels. Tuica is a traditional Romanian brandy made of fruits (plums, apples or pears) that has a special flavour that is not found in other spirits.
The brew day started smoothly and the brewing went perfect. The cool, fun fact was that we tried for the first time each other’s beer and we liked them a lot. Sam brought loads of his beers, besides the Belgian hops and lemongrass from his baggage and we had ours and we shared feedback about them.
Is always great to receive good feedback from a Belgian that knows so much about beer. And his beers were awesome! We still have some Nonniversaire kept for a special occasion.
That being said, we left the Tripel for fermentation and after that, it will age in Tuica barrels. We have three barrels made of different wood (oak, cherry and mulberry tree) that kept different types of Tuica (apples, pears and plums). The releasing date will be sometime next year, but we will announce it in advance.
Both batches of our collaboration brews are in limited edition and we are looking forward to be ready.
Special thanks to Kirill Zmurciuk (Sunstone Ale), Sam Vanderstraeten (HopSaSam), Charlotte De Clippel (HopSaSam) and Stas Iachimov (Elvis Brewery). It was a pleasure brewing and talking to you all and hope to see again soon.
Keep drinking good beer!
Cheers,
Ioana
