CRIME REPORTS
December 2, 2015
Joy Boudreaux
December 2, 2015
Jacob Rebstock loves a good, homebrewed beer. He loves the specialty sip so much, in fact, that he has been whipping up his own signature pours in his spare time, an endeavor that earned him rave reviews at last month’s Bayou Beer Festival.
The Cut Off native began dabbling in the world of craft beer six years ago, a time when the Bayou Region was lagging behind in a market that now churns out almost 200,000 barrels of the drink created in Louisiana each year, according to the Brewers Association.
“About six years ago, I just loved craft beer and there wasn’t really a big selection in Cut Off,” Rebstock explained. “So I just started brewing my own and making what I liked.”
After perusing books on the subject for about a year, Rebstock set out to purchase all of the necessary equipment to set up his own personalized brewing system at home. Because he didn’t have anyone to teach him the process from start to finish, he utilized what he acquired from the books and began experimenting with proper techniques for the perfect pour.
Rebstock’s specialized process begins by putting grains into a mash tun, where the ingredient steeps for roughly an hour in warm water. This mixture then goes into a large pot, where the rinsed grains are boiled. This step is where the magic happens, according to Rebstock, who operates as Swamp Dog Brewing.
“You boil your kettle for about an hour or two and that’s where you add things such as hops and various other specialty ingredients, such as spices if it’s a spice beer,” he said.
From there, the beer is cooled and goes into a primary fermenter for a week. Although many people skip this step, Rebstock then drops the beer into a secondary fermenter, a tried-and-true process he swears by.
“Secondary is basically your aging process,” he explained. “I let it sit in the primary fermenter for about a week and then I’ll drop it to secondary for another two weeks and then keg it. I usually don’t serve until two weeks after because beer actually needs a little time to age in the kegs or bottles, if you do bottles, to get a good taste out of it.”
For the Bayou Beer Festival, an annual beer lover’s paradise hosted by the local Bayou Beer Society, the homebrewer brought two of his pours, Bourbon Pecan Pie Porter and a seasonally-flavored sip, Placid Pumpkin, for attendees to try during the Brew Dat Home Brew Competition. Those who sampled the sips were encouraged to drop a ticket in the box of their favorite and Rebstock’s porter, a drink he says many people have favored in the past, was announced as the people’s choice. The win is the second in a row for the homebrewer.
“That festival is actually the first time I really went out and let hundreds of different people try my beer,” Rebstock said. “The response I got was just fantastic. It was really amazing, humbling actually. I love talking to people and telling them my processes and giving advice and getting advice from other brewers over there. it’s just a great atmosphere and a great experience.”
Although his hobby is also one that takes immense amounts of time, it’s a process he loves and is constantly fascinated by.
“I would say beer is an art form and something people can enjoy with all five of their senses,” Rebstock explained. “The sound of carbon dioxide escaping from a freshly opened beer, your different colors of beer, your different flavors of beer, the many different aromas, mouth feels from beer to beer. It’s just a very tantalizing art form for people to experience and I’m just in love with doing it.”
Second and third place People’s Choice winners are Pelican Point Brewers and Laughing Bayou Brewing. Judge-selected winners of the homebrewing competition are: Laughing Bayou Brewing (1st and 2nd place) and Brody Bearb (3rd Place). •
Jacob Rebstock (on right) serves up samples of his homebrews, Placid Pumpkin and Bourbon Pecan Pie Porter, during Bayou Beer Festival on Nov. 14 at Southdown Plantation. Rebstock’s porter earned the event’s people’s choice award for the second year in a row.
