21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco is well-known for its whimsical and delicious beers. Their 8.3% Monk’s Blood is their version of the “liquid bread” that fasting Belgian monks have imbibed for hundreds of years. Their summer staple is the watermelon fueled Hell or High Watermelon Wheat.
Their newest endeavor is the Pop Tart inspired Toaster Pastry. The 7.6% ABV India Red Ale is so named because their new San Leandro facility was once a Kellogg factory where the famed breakfast treat was made.
Recently, 21st Amendment founders Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan were kind enough to answer a few questions for Crave about this unique brew.
Crave: what is toaster pastry?
“Toaster Pastry is our first new beer to come out of our new brewery and production facility in San Leandro, and it’s a tribute to the former Kellogg Factory space that we’ve moved into. It is also the debut of our new 19.2 oz can size,” says Freccia.
What flavors can drinkers expect?
“It’s a hoppy IPA with a bitter finish. The malts we used give it a crust-like flavor in the beginning, followed by a fruit finish from the hops. It doesn’t actually taste like a Pop-Tart, but that was the flavor profile that inspired the recipe,” says Freccia.
How did you decide what ingredients to use?
“I actually used the 70-80 Dark Crystal malt in one of the first beers I ever made during my first brewing job at Triple Rock, and I knew we wanted to produce something that had a ruby red-like color to match the Pop-Tart idea. It also seemed very serendipitous to use it again in the first beer we were brewing out of our new facility,” says O’Sullivan.
Did you try different recipes before you decided on this one?
“Yes. The end product of Toaster Pastry has been two years in the making – it started as a small home brew at my house, then went to a 12 barrel test brew at the brewpub in San Francisco and so on. When it eventually ended in the tanks at San Leandro, the recipe had been tweaked and evolved each step of the way,” says O’Sullivan.
Why a pop tart beer?
“After we signed the lease on the space, we knew we wanted our first beer to be a tribute to the former Kellogg Factory, and as we were brainstorming well-known products the company has made, Pop-Tart just seemed like an obvious inspiration,” says Freccia.
What foods does it pair well with?
“Toaster Pastry pairs well with spicy ethnic foods, and anything barbecued. It’s definitely a food beer,” says O’Sullivan.
Is this just a gimmick?
“As mentioned, this beer has been two years in the making, far before we ever thought “breakfast beer” would be a thing. This beer isn’t a gimmick and it doesn’t actually taste like Pop-Tarts, the product was just the inspiration. This beer was simply rooted in the history of the building we now call home,” says Freccia.
