WILMINGTON — Every fall Christopher McGarvey, brewmaster at Front Street Brewery, makes the official beer for the St. Stan’s Polish Festival — the Baltic Porter, a hybrid of English, German, and Baltic brewing techniques.
He said the amount of porter consumed at the festival, held on the first Saturday of every November, gives Saint Patrick’s Day a run for its money for the most dark beer consumed in Wilmington on a single day.
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The porter was first invented in England and became the most popular beer of the 19th century, named after the porters who unloaded wagons and hauled bags of food and grain during the industrial revolution. It became the beer of the working class.
It was then exported to the Baltic countries, including Poland, who began using local brewing ingredients and techniques learned from German beer traditions.
“It’s a hybrid of world influences in a really special beer,” McGarvey said.
This included using the German lagering process and adding their own local grains. As opposed to English grains, Baltic brewers removed the husks of the barley before they were roasted to avoid the burnt, charred flavor common in the English porters, according to McGarvey.
“So they were able to get a much smoother dark beer but more of a soft, gentle, chocolate feel instead of big, intense, burnt grain flavors,” he said.
The St. Stan’s Polish Festival begins 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 2, at the St. Stanislaus Catholic Church (4849 Castle Hayne Road). The annual event is held on the church lawn and features the Baltic Porter, Polish music and dancing, Polish food, and craft bakery goods.
“The Polish Festival has such a draw,” McGarvey said. “I think people are interested to try something they’ve never had before. Polish beer isn’t something we see on a normal day-to-day basis.”
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@Localvoicemedia.com or (970) 413-3815
