Toasting the World Cup with Goose Island's new beer

Chilled beer is a perfect remedy to cool down the summer heat, and there is no better way to celebrate the month-long World Cup tournament than by drinking one of your favorite brews and enjoying some game day snacks.

Goose Island Brewhouse has just celebrated the launch of a new summer beer, Diaochan, the second of the brewhouse’s Chinese Beauty series, after Mistress Li (Li Shishi).

It took one year to make Diaochan by fermenting this Belgian inspired barrel-aged beer with Belgian wild yeasts, nectarines and peaches. 

The slow fermentation process allows the beer to gain a strong peachy flavor. To pair the beer, the brew masters recommend bold and rich dishes like the braised pork belly for contrast experience and barbecued ribs or desserts to complement the fruitiness.

“It was directly influenced by what we had in Chicago — the Sour Sisters. It’s about taking both the concept and process to make a local idea for the brewhouse in Shanghai,” said Fraser Kennedy, brew master of Goose Island Brewhouse, who constantly pushes limits in flavors and techniques.

Innovation is the key word in beer brewing at Goose Island. Mark Weinert, senior brewer at Goose Island’s facility in Chicago, who specializes in beer innovation, visited Shanghai to work on collaborative beers with the local brewery. “Most of the innovation projects we work on are in very small batches. We’ve done everything from second-use barrels like the Bourbon County series and Sour Sisters series. We’ve taken and reused the barrels for secondary projects,” said Weinert.

On top of doing the collaboration brews with the brewhouses worldwide, the company is also working with outside breweries. 

“We are trying to innovate in the industry by working with brewers and trying to pick up new styles and techniques,” said Weinert.

Weinert said the brewers learn something new every time a new beer is made. Right now, the focus is hoppy beers, and brewers experiment with different hops to create new flavor profiles. 

Goose Island actually has the largest single hop farm in the world that does cross-breeding for new strains of hops. “It’s a blend of art and science, if you get it just right and see people really enjoying it. That’s the best part of brewing the beers,” said Weinert.

Last year, the Shanghai brewhouse launched 18 new beers, many of which highlighted local ingredients and Chinese culture traits. 

For example, the Mistress Li creation featured a subtle blend of lemon peel, crushed juniper berries and a dash of Sichuan pepper. The inspiration was giving the gin and tonic flavor a Chinese twist.

“And we want to have at least one native Chinese ingredient. We want to keep one thing about the beer that has something from China,” said Kennedy. 

Kennedy is working on projects to connect the Chinese huangjiu (rice wine) with beer brewing. 

Having traveled to Shaoxing to understand the traditional Chinese fermentation process in huangjiu making, he’s looking for ways to use the ingredients, tools or techniques in creating new beers. 

“We can also entice some different consumers to try our products. People might not particularly like traditional beer, but they might want to try this product because it has a different flavor,” said Kennedy.

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