Actual Brewing bottles first beer

Actual Brewing Company, which started selling beer in kegs earlier this year, has bottled its first beer, Orthodox Winter IPA, which is now available at select stores in Columbus.

“We didn’t want to make a winter beer with pie spices, so we used roasty malts and musky hops to get a frosty feel,” said Actual owner Fred Lee. “It’s made with Ohio-grown winter wheat and Ohio oats and a handful of Ohio-grown hops varieties, plus some from Yakima Valley. When we brewed the beer we also employed methods that slightly increase tannin extraction and add a nice silky bitterness much like wood or barrel aging does. The beer looks black, but if you hold it up to the light, it’s really this ultra dark red color and has a spooky clarity.”

“The head comes from the beer itself, it’s almost completely naturally carbonated – we do add some CO₂ during kegging – but the beer was spunded to retain the soft bubbles that yeast naturally form,” explained Lee. “Spunding is this old German process of closing up the fermentation tank to trap in the CO₂ from the yeast. It makes the softest tiniest bubbles and if you do the math right, the head takes on this firm and thick creaminess and makes the best Brussels lacing. If you do the math wrong, your beer tank blows up.”

Only 1,000 bottles of the beer were bottled, so grab one while you can.

Orthodox is available in 750ml bottles at House Beer, Palmer’s Beverage and Weiland’s for $8.99, as well as at the Actual Brewing Company tasting room, which is open Thursday and Friday nights weekly and located at 655 N. James Road.