{"id":561,"date":"2018-06-14T22:13:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T02:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/?p=561"},"modified":"2018-06-15T10:23:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T14:23:17","slug":"adventurous-beers-at-strange-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/allegheny\/adventurous-beers-at-strange-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventurous beers at Strange Roots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/Screen-Shot-2018-06-14-at-9.24.03-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-562\" src=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/Screen-Shot-2018-06-14-at-9.24.03-PM-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/Screen-Shot-2018-06-14-at-9.24.03-PM-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/Screen-Shot-2018-06-14-at-9.24.03-PM-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/Screen-Shot-2018-06-14-at-9.24.03-PM-768x429.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The brewery you&#8217;ve known for several years as Draai Laag has a new name: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strangerootsbeer.com\/\">Strange Roots Experimental Ales<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But there&#8217;s more to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/life\/drinks\/2018\/02\/21\/Draai-Laag-Brewing-Co-now-Strange-Roots-Experimental-Ales-West-Deer-Pittsburgh-brewery-sour-ales\/stories\/201802220004\">the name change<\/a> than just a new logo and new t-shirt designs. There is a new brewery and taproom in West Deer. There is a new <em>terroir<\/em> for Strange Roots&#8217; brewers to experiment with as they continue to push the boundaries of wild fermentation.<\/p>\n<p>And, perhaps most importantly, there is a new approach.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; position: relative; max-width: 100%;margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div style=\"padding-top: 56.25%;\">\r\n<video data-video-id=\"5797347511001\"\r\ndata-account=\"1105443290001\" \r\ndata-player=\"N1VVkFril\" \r\ndata-embed=\"default\" \r\ndata-application-id \r\nclass=\"video-js\" \r\ncontrols \r\nstyle=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;\"><\/video>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1105443290001\/N1VVkFril_default\/index.min.js\"><\/script><\/div><\/div>\n<p>If you&#8217;re a fan of the tradition established at Draai Laag&#8217;s Millvale taproom &#8212; the one with aggressively sour beers making up much of the portfolio &#8212; you&#8217;re not going to be disappointed with Strange Roots.<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;ve found those beers difficult to approach, I think you&#8217;re going to like the Strange Roots beers you&#8217;ll find beyond the old Draai Laag staples. Founder and owner Dennis Hock said a big reason behind the change was to make a slight sift in emphasis, to beers that show off a different kind of complexity.<\/p>\n<p>An example from our tasting session last week: Ordinary Creep, which was listed on the tap list as a hybrid sour saison &#8230; that also happens to be dry-hopped with a hefty load of Mosaic and Azecca hops. Take a taste, and the beer is immediately identifiable as a sour, although the pucker factor is surprisingly light. The earthy, slightly spicy notes of a saison are also recognizable as a saison. And the hops add surprising, bright hints of peaches and other overripe fruit.<\/p>\n<p>Hock said that&#8217;s exactly what he had in mind when he began considering the change from Draai Laag to Strange Root. It&#8217;s a sour, sure, but that facet is dialed back a bit, so Ordinary Creep&#8217;s other elements can shine. The sum is a more approachable beer that isn&#8217;t lacking in complexity.<\/p>\n<p>And if you&#8217;re a purist from the old days, don&#8217;t worry &#8212; we also sampled a 20-percent ABV Flanders-esque ale built nebbiolo grapes and cold-brewed coffee. It doesn&#8217;t yet have a name, but it was stunningly good &#8230; and should be available soon.<\/p>\n<p>And that should be enough to get everyone &#8212; Draai Laag fans and those seeking the softer approach of Strange Roots &#8212; to one of the taprooms in West Deer or Millvale soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The brewery you&#8217;ve known for several years as Draai Laag has a new name: Strange Roots Experimental Ales. But there&#8217;s more to the name change than just a new logo and new t-shirt designs. There is a new brewery and taproom in West Deer. There is a new terroir for Strange Roots&#8217; brewers to experiment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[37,92,83,56,93,91],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}