The Jax & Odell Emersum Oyster Stout V1.0

January, 2012

Early one January morning, a rag-tag crew of Jax Chefs and Bartenders left the comfortable surroundings of our restaurant on College Avenue in Fort Collins, CO and headed out to Odell Brewing Co.  No one was quite sure what to expect from the outing but the mission was clear and straightforward: Join forces with Odell to cook up an old skool, traditional style Oyster Stout, brewed with an addition of real, live, tasty Emersum Oysters from Rappahanock River Oysters in Topping, Virginia. Oysters and stout have a long and successful association, dating back to the early 18th century when London pub-keepers first paired the two local favorites. We wanted to create something special to pair with our 21st century Emersum Oysters.

Our yawning, sleepy-eyed crew was warmly greeted by Odell stalwarts Brent Cordle and Josh Leeman, who would be our hosts and mentors for the day. Odell is renowned for brewing delicious, innovative beers and is committed to experimentation, brewing over 100 small batch beers every year. After an early-AM, “get acquainted” tasting session and an overview of the brewing process we headed to the Odell 5bbl Pilot System and got down to business.

Once out on the brewhouse floor we combined 360 lbs of premium malted grains, 4 lbs of TCZ hops and 25 lbs of Emersum Oysters; 12.5 lbs during the mash and 12.5 lbs during the boil, shells and all.  Along the way we sipped ice-cold Odell beer and sampled fresh Emersum Oysters. We laughed, we joked and everyone got to tell a story or two. They taught us to brew beer and we taught them to shuck and slurp oysters. Four hours and one stuck-mash later we put our creation into the fermenter where it was combined with Odell’s proprietary, house-strain of saccharomyces yeast and left to bubble away for a few weeks.

Preliminary tasting notes are extremely positive, with descriptors like ”rich & creamy”, “crisp and full flavored”, “outstanding taste and color”, “a really great beer”. We can hardly wait to share this uncommon collaboration with the world of food and beer lovers that depend on Jax as the destination for the very freshest seafood and the finest craft beers from around the world. Come on in and grab a pint of Jax Emersum Oyster Stout. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.