2 Crows Brewing – Letna Smolny Lezak (Pilsner) (500ml)

For their 9th anniversary, 2 Crows Brewers took their Letna Czech Pilsner and aged it in a pitch lined oak barrel. Before stainless steel tanks were commonplace for conditioning beer, brewers often used large oak barrels and lined them in brewers pitch, a mix of beeswax and pine resin. This process creates an (almost) inert vessel that does not contribute much flavour or bacteria into the beer – something that non-pitch lined casks don’t do. 

The final result usually ends with a Pilsner with more refined bitterness, and some subtle pitch character. Between the making of Letna, with it’s decoction mashing and long lagering times, and the effort involved to pitch line a large cask and then condition the beer in it – this is certainly a labour of love.