A Beer Divided: Duke-, UNC-based breweries team up for combination ale
On Feb. 18, a group of brewers from enemy territory on Tobacco Road joined together to form a more perfect union of beer. The resulting American pale ale dubbed "A Beer Divided" is somewhat bitter like the rivalry but also smooth and drinkable by design.
The brewery proprietors are not enemies, actually. Quite the opposite: Scott Maitland, founder and owner of Top of the Hill (or TOPO) in Chapel Hill and Rick Tufts, a co-owner of Triangle Brewing Co. in Durham N.C., play in a bowling league together. Tufts plays for the TOPO team and approached Maitland in January about the possibility of joining forces for a unique beer.
"We wanted to see how we could take something from of our respective breweries and enhance them both," Tufts told The Buzzer. "So we discussed the style of beer we wanted to make over a couple beers after work and developed a recipe."
TOPO, which Maitland opened in 1996 a few years after leaving the Army, typically produces English-style beers like its Ram's Head IPA using yeast from the Shepherd Neame Brewery, the oldest one in England. Meanwhile, Triangle, established by Tufts and co-owner Andy Miller in 2007, focuses more on Belgian and American beers infused with some different ingredients than TOPO proprietors, such as nutty hops and certain styles of grain.
But don't mistake their mutual interest in bowling and desire to share resources for a lack of Blue Devils and Tar Heels fanaticism. Maitland is a devout Tar Heels fan and TOPO, which is just off the school's campus, hosts head men's basketball coach Roy Williams' radio show. And on game days, TOPO's Back Bar gets jammed with fans glued to its TV screens.
It's a similar story at Triangle, which opened its Pint & Plate taproom in downtown Durham last year for crowds to congregate with a cold glass around TVs during Blue Devils games. Tufts is a Duke die-hard as is Miller, whose father David is a retired admiral who played for the the Naval Academy's basketball team at the same time that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski suited up for the opposition at West Point in January 1968.
Before the Feb. 18 brew, Maitland, Tufts and Chris Atkins of TOPO discussed their plan of attack for A Beer Divided.
On tap beginning March 4 but probably not for long.
"We want to make something nice and accessible so people can drink it for a couple hours -- not pass out after just one," Atkins said. "We're going for a nice, American-style pale ale with 5.5 percent alcohol and bitterness at 50 IBUs (international bitterness unit). That's at the high end of the pale ale scale but without getting into IPA territory."
Although if things go south for their respective teams, fans of No. 3 Duke (26-3) or No. 19 North Carolina (20-9) probably wouldn't mind a beer that would severely impair their sensory perception after only a couple pours.
By starting the brew on Feb. 18, the date of the first ACC showdown between Duke and UNC, a thriller in which the Blue Devils eked out a 92-90 win in overtime, the beer will have had time to fully ferment with enough time for it to get "kegged up" behind the bars at the two locations before the second Duke-UNC meeting on Saturday, March 7.
Both TOPO and Triangle were fully represented on the day of the brew and pitched in, producing almost 19 barrels in total (just under 600 gallons).
"It's really light and refreshing and has a nice West Coast hops characteristic from the nugget hop varietal that gives it a fruity, citrusy aroma and flavor," Atkins explained. "It's different from our typical beers because the nugget hops that Rick uses and one type of malt that changes the body and 'mouth feel' of the beer."
That, combined with TOPO's yeast, equipment and the joining of their respective processes resulted in a wholly unique beer ... divided.
"We succeeded in brewing a different product than either of us would have made separately," Atkins said.
They also got a little help from a special guest for whom the entire spectacle was brand new -- the mayor of Chapel Hill, Mark Kleinschmidt, who poured in the final hops addition.
"The mayor got a kick out of the experience," Maitland said. "We sometimes forget because we're so close to it, just how magical the whole process is. It's fun when you've had someone who's never done it before."
Mayor Kleinschmidt (red shirt, scarf) between Tufts and Maitland on the day of the brew.
"A Beer Divided" will be available for consumption by both Blue Devils and Tar Heels fanatics (and nonpartisan beer drinkers, if they exist) at both TOPO and Triangle beginning Wed., March 4.
And though both sides enjoyed the beer-making camaraderie and socializing, there are stakes on Saturday's game (9:00 p.m. ET at UNC). The losing side has to go to the winner's turf to tend bar while dressed in the winning team's apparel.
"We've talked about making this an annual event but we want to see about the outcome of this one," Tufts said. "I guess we'll see how good a job TOPO does at bartending."
