Let’s be honest, January kind of sucks. After hearing every iteration of “New year, new ___” that’s humanly possible, I think we’re all just ready for springtime. Yeah? Yeah.
So alas, we put our hope in the only scientific reasoning that can truly tell us how much winter we have left: Punxsutawney Phil aka The Groundhog. That’s right, Groundhog Day is right around the corner and we thought it only appropriate to celebrate with two of our favorite things: beer and movies.
Our friends over at Burnt City Brewing got wind of the idea and decided to brew a special beer inspired by the movie, Groundhog Day. The beer, appropriately dubbed, “Groundhop Day IPA” will be released in conjunction with a one-night-only screening of the movie at The Logan Theater on Thursday, February 2nd. Yep, it’s going to be a party. And Bill Murray, if you’re out there listening, you can come too.
We tagged along with Burnt City for the brew day of Groundhop Day IPA, a repeatedly hopped IPA.
Groundhop Day IPA
It’s a dreary Friday morning in January and Christian Burd is taking the lead on the brew day. He’s in charge of managing Burnt City’s Lincoln Park Brewpub which includes 15 draught lines of year-round and experimental beers. Along with brewing, he’s transferring batches between tanks, ordering ingredients, emptying barrels, you name it — he’s doing it at the brewpub.
Hops Science
In order to play on the cyclical theme of Groundhog Day, Burnt City decided to “repeatedly hop” the beer. This entails adding 4 oz. of hops (2 oz. Simcoe; 2 oz. Amarillo) to the beer every minute for the final 30 minutes of the boil.
“It’s really interesting because the later you add hops [to the boil], the more the profile of the beer is about aroma than flavor,” says Christian. “So if we’re constantly adding hops, we’re going to have this transition from flavoring hops all the way to aromatic. I’m excited.”
After fermentation, Christian will dry-hop the beer with more Simcoe and Amarillo hops to add a bit more aroma to the final product. In total, they’ll use 23 pounds of hops for the seven barrel batch.
Sweet vermouth on the rocks with a twist, please.
“We’re also adding lemon peel,” says Christian. “After the boil is done, we’re going to whirlpool the beer, let the beer rest, and then right before we transfer it to the fermenter, we’ll throw in two pounds of lemon peel.” The lemon, for those of you die-hard Groundhog Day fans, pays respect to producer Rita Hanson’s favorite drink.
The Party
Like we said, this beer calls for a party. So we’re throwing one with the help of our friends at The Logan Theater (2646 N Milwaukee Ave). On Thursday, February 2nd they’ll have Groundhop Day IPA on draft as well as a special beer cocktail. Plus, tunes from Cage & Aquarium and a Phil Conners photo-booth. You won’t want to miss this.
No ticket is required for the party, however tickets are necessary for the 10:30 pm screening of Groundhog Day.
Enter to win a pair of tickets to Groundhog Day using the form below!
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