b"This Spuds for YouA Calgary, Alta. brewery has brewed a beer using potatoes as its specialty ingredient. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONTHINKING OUTSIDE THE box isnt new for the Establishment Brewing Company. The two-year-old Calgary, Alta. brewery likes to dabble with interesting ingredients when making specialty beers, which is why This Spuds for You made sense to brew.Were kind of poking fun at Budweiser a little bit. Because you know, were craft, were independent and theyre the big guys. So, we're kind of making a joke about that and our motto here at the Establishment is that we don't discriminate against any beer styles, Mike Foniok, head brewer of the Establishment Brewing Company, explains in a phone interview.The 4.5 per cent alcohol content American lager beer was brewed using AAC Connect barley from Red Shed Malting and Russet Burbank potatoes. In the brewing process, adjuncts are usually added to help cut down flavour. These non-malted ingredients are used to make lighter beers taste not as beer-like. CornThe Establishment Brewing Company in Calgary, Alta. has brewed an American lager beer or rice are common adjunct ingredients,using potatoes as an ingredient.PHOTO: THE ESTABLISHMENT BREWING COMPANYbut Establishment used potatoes instead.We replaced almost 20 per cent of the barley with potato. In the mash, we arearoma. There is a hint of potato in theCalgary, a fresh food bank. A portion of able to convert the potato starches intobeers aroma. proceeds from sales of the beer go to the sugars. And then those sugars eventuallyTo go along with the Budweiser pun,food bank which grows produce for not get fermented by yeast to make alcohol,the Establishment Brewing Companyfor profits, charities and food banks in the Foniok explains. packaged the beer in short 355-milliliterCalgary area. The potatoes were first boiled withsix can packs, not the typical tallWhile This Spuds for You is a limited-the skin on and then added to the mash473-milliliter cans craft breweries use.edition beer, the Establishment Brewingmaking for a very labour-intensiveI think in general people really likeCompany is considering brewing other process. It took five to six weeks toit. Some are a little bit confused, becausepotato beers in the future. prepare and ferment the limited-editionwe're a brewery that kind of is known toWere already trying to kick that beer, following many test batches. make extremely flavorful beers, Foniokaround, that idea. But generally, with The beer looks and tastes likesays. So, making an American style lagerthese special specialty beers, we usually Budweiser, Foniok says. It has a strawwith potatoes is an interesting twist. just do one batch of it, and then once its clear look to it with a low hop flavor andThe beer is a partnership with Growgone, its gone, Foniok says. 32SPUDSMART.COM Fall 2021"