From the Beer Writer: Much like saisons, I enjoy biere de garde because there’s a good amount of leeway, stylistically, meaning few taste exactly alike. The unpredictability of this more free-form French beer style is what gets me excited whenever I see one available at a local brewery. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen all that often, so when Booze Brothers Brewing Company (2545 Progress Street, Vista) asked what type of beer I might like to see them brew for my Beer to the Rescue charity campaign, I not only went in this direction, but took a detour, asking if they might be able to create a version that was deep brown or black in color, yet not overly roasty. This was what they came up with. Given its dark appearance and the fact a portion of proceeds will go toward fighting lupus, I felt the name Lights Out, Lupus was appropriate. Ditto the fact it produces the acronym, LOL, as I like the thought of guffawing at this auto-immune disease as I help to hopefully put a nail in its eventual coffin.
From the Brewer: “All of us at Booze Brothers think lupus is pretty lame, so we thought we’d brew a beer to combat it. Lights Out Lupus is a 7.7% alcohol-by-volume, funky, black biere de garde spiked with Brettanomyces. The idea was to brew a dark but not roasty, tart but not sour, fruity and malty yet dry, French-style ale without the douchery. We used dark roasted wheat late in the mash to make it dark, and the Brett with a touch of acidulated malt for acidity and complexity. We’re quite happy with the result. In the light, the beer shines a deep, ruby red from its variety of dark, caramelized malts; otherwise the beer looks black. The esters from the yeast remind me of raisins, blackberries, dried plums, guava and perhaps a touch of banana. The beer has a wine-like consistency and the flavor flows uninterrupted from start to finish in a way where the malt and fruit are almost indistinguishable from one another.”—Donny Firth, Co-owner & Brewer, Booze Brothers Brewing Company