Indochine Kumquat Saison
We've had fantastic responses to all our beers, our lineup consisting of:
- Biru 101 - Rice Lager, Taiwanese-inspired, featuring Oolong tea (our best seller, and award winner)
- Nagoya Nights - Japanese-inspired Pilsner, featuring Genmaicha.
- Chimeko - Kolsch-style Ale, inspired by all the chicken lovers out there
- Luna Más - Cerveza Negra Asiática - Dark Lager, our take on a Mexican dark lager with an Asian twist
- Indochine - Kumquat Saison - A fruit-forward Saison, inspired by Southeast-Asian cuisines.
Indochine seems to have gathered an extremely passionate fan base. When people like it, they really, really like it.
Inspiration came, as it often does, while at the grocery store – This one being a Chinese market in the Richmond district, where I saw boxes of kumquats out on display among the sidewalk fruits. However, this isn't my first time using kumquats, it just reminded me of the time I made a saison with kumquats. It was an inadvertent result, and the results were not what I wanted. Nonetheless, I noted in the back of my mind how good the kumquats made the beer.
Using citrus isn't without precedence, modern beers aside, Belgians (and others) have used orange peels in beer for centuries. You might be familiar with witbier, like Allagash or Hoegaarden or Blue Moon. This style, other than a high level of wheat is defined by an infusion of orange peel and coriander. This style originated in the 15th century in the Flanders region of Belgium (the North), nearly lost, and revived in the 60s, and often called the original "hazy." Indochine however is not a witbier, it's a saison. The saison style itself hails from the Wallonia region of Belgium (the South). "Saison" meaning "season" in French, these were made by the seasonal workers ("saisonnier") during the winter and spring, for refreshment during the farming seasons. What defines a saison is very much up to interpretation, since they typically were made with anything available, resulting in uniquely characterful beers that could be different each year.
In this tradition, we procured some very limited edition grains to make a truly special beer.
WRC Feldblume
This hearty malt is a limited edition release from Admiral Maltings, and at it's core, demonstrates the best that the West Coast has to offer. From their description:
Western Rivers Conservancy grown, no-till, dry farmed, Salmon Safe, floor malted, Thunder barley is of the highest quality at 9.2% protein. This barley, first bred by Pat Hayes at Oregon State University, is grown on a portion of 11,1154 acres of land which the WRC purchased and conveyed to the Bureau of Land Management in 2019. Perhaps you've already hiked or fished there, but this land includes the historic Rattray and Campbell Ranches along 10 miles of the John Day River and 4 miles of Thirtymile creek. The John Day River is home to the most robust population of Steelhead salmon in Oregon, a good reason for it to be Salmon Safe. The land is an arid, shrub steppe in North Central Oregon, near Condon, which is why the barley makes such flavorful malt. This is available in Admiral Pils, Feldblume and Gallagher's Best styles - floor malted with Thunder barley.
Hourani Wheat
Admiral Maltings also had a limited release heirloom wheat variety that we were thrilled to be able to use. (We were originally going to use their excellent Yolo Wheat). Not only does it provide a robust bready character to beer, but it has a fascinating backstory. More from their own words:
Hourani wheat is an ancient heirloom grain. These seeds were first unearthed deep from within the Masada Fortress during an archeological dig in the 1960s. The Hourani seeds had been stored there in earthen jars for over 2,000 years. Masada, originally constructed in the Judaean Desert between 37-31 BCE by Herod the Great, was overrun by Sicarii rebels in 66 AD, only to fall back into the hands of the Romans in 73 CE after a lengthy siege. Naturally drought tolerant and able to adapt to warming temperatures, Hourani is sparsely grown in various parts of the Mideast. Now, some 2,000 years later, one can argue, that Hourani and other ancient grains face a new kind of siege from industrialized farming practices designed for industrial grains. This Hourani wheat was grown organically by Full Belly Farm for Honoré Farm and Mill. It makes a spectacular wheat beer and, as a durum wheat, it is so hard that it has been successfully mashed and fermented at 100% inclusion.
Special Touches
From the grains, and yeast, you can make an excellent saison, but we didn't start out with making a saison, we started with kumquats.
The kumquats are Californian-grown, and I went out to buy a food processor and lots of food-grade buckets just for this (with the idea that this will not be the last time).
They were pureed. Ginger was grated. Coriander seeds were crushed. All of it bagged to infuse into the boil (what's called "wort" pronounced "wert").
It's typical for Belgian beers to utilize sugar as well to add dryness to the beer, but I decided to use glutenous rice instead. This has extra proteins and starches, yet will ferment dry like sugar.
Oftentimes saisons can be challenging because they have this bracing dryness (and many use yeasts to give it an even more intense "wild" character). It's characteristic of the style, but with the addition of the wheat and the rice, there's a roundness that takes the edge off, while the kumquats and ginger and coriander give it a spicy citrus pop that supercharges a lot of flavors that come from Belgian yeasts.
Finally, we haven't talked about hops. This is not a particularly hoppy beer. But they play a critical role is balancing out everything else. Not only is there a pleasant herbal bitterness, but an intense floral aroma. This is a combination of Willamette hops (once one of the most used hop in the US), and Strissel Spalt, a unique hop from France, known for being quite floral.
During fermentation the fermentation was so vigorous, it overflowed the blowout bucket. Good strong yeast! And fortunately, there was minimal loss of beer.
The packaging is in unique "Normandy" style 500ml bottles, and the artwork of kumquats was done by my own hands inspired by a vintage Japanese poster for oranges, and label design by the talented Bree Sanchez, who has designed the Sugoi logo and labels.
Sometimes, with all the worries, and unknowns, things miraculously come together.
A pitfall of having an engineering background is the temptation to over-engineer things. It's a very problem-solving mindset, so adding complexity, simply adds more problems to solve, which, to an engineer, that's what we're trained for. However, as anyone who has gained experience over the years knows, you are not as capable as you think, and problems have a way of multiplying, so the "KISS" principle becomes your mantra "Keep it Simple, Stupid."
The above may seem complex, but honestly, it was simplified, and can probably be simplified further.
The drive for simplicity, not only forces one to choose, and really think about one's choices, but it allows what's chosen (if chosen correctly) to work in concert and to really shine — unencumbered by extraneous bells and whistles that muddle.
Pairings
The beers we make are meant for pairing experiences, and this is no different. This beer has a great deal of character, and can work with lot's of dishes in Southeast Asian cuisine, like Thai, Vietnamese, or Burmese. Spice is no problem since the beer's mild bitterness doesn't clash, and the ginger and coriander compliments any heat thrown at it. Citrus works with a wide array of dishes from fish, to vegetables, and though this made as a summer beer, ginger, and the beer's natural heft, make it surprisingly nice on a cool California winter's day.
The new 2026 vintage is in the works, awaiting kumquat harvest this year. Stay tuned!
The Road Ahead
There's lots of exciting things for 2026 that we'll cover in future newsletters, but some things in planning:
- Special Ramen pairing event for January
- Repeat of the grand-slam Beer and Sushi event at Admiral Maltings in collaboration with Chef Kaz Masune during SF Beer Week
- Many festivals, Spring, Summer, and Fall
- Possible new taproom
- Website, hopefully very soon
- Of course, more beer
- Follow on Instagram to see latest https://www.instagram.com/sugoibrewing/
As always, we're trying to make the beer more and more available, so if you know of any great shops and fine restaurants that our beer would be good for, please let us know (and let them know).
Where to Find Us
Oakland/Berkeley/Albany/Alameda
- Joodooboo, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Aburaya, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Best Friends, Albany (Wine Bar)
- Ale Tales, Albany (Retail)
- Everest Kitchen, Albany (Restaurant)
- Cask on College Ave, Berkeley (Retail)
- Cask Taproom, Berkeley (Bar)
- Ramen Shop, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Umami Mart, Oakland (Retail)
- The Rake, Alameda (Bar)
- Schmidt’s Tobacco & Trading Co. aka The Pub, Albany (Bar)
- Eureka!, Berkeley (Restaurant)
- Woo Can Cook, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Monk’s Kettle, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Commis, Oakland (Restaurant)
- Soba Ichi, Oakland (Restaurant)
San Francisco
- The Rabbit Hole (Restaurant)
- Haru by Sams American (Restaurant)
- Nara Restaurant and Sake Bar (Restaurant)
- Jilli (Restaurant)
- Yuja (Restaurant)
- Crafty Fox Ale House (Bar)
South Bay
- Duan Chun Zhen, Cupertino (Restaurant)
- Danbi, Los Gatos (Restaurant)
and more...
