The secret to medal winning for Matt Cole seems to be “Go back to the origin.”  Brew master for Rocky River Brewing Co. since its opening in 1998, Cole has won more medals than any other Ohio brewer.  Most recently he won two medals at the 2005 Great American Beer Fest. 

In January, 2005, prior to making the GABF award-winning Neptune’s Nemesis, Cole visited Poland and toured breweries, talked to brewers, tasted every Baltic Porter he could find, in his effort to “go to the source” to find out how to make a Baltic Porter.  Baltic Porter, so named because it was originally made in countries bordering the Baltic Sea, is a style of English porter influenced by the Russian Imperial stout.  Upon his return to Rocky River, his first attempt at the Baltic porter brought home a silver medal.  It was a similar story with his smoke beer. His research involved tasting all the smoked beers he could, visiting the malt houses and breweries in Germany, and then coming home and putting his own “spin” on it to make the Mexacali Smoke, which won a gold medal.

The Artisan Saison, a beer for which he has won five medals: three GABF medals, one from the World Beer Cup, and one from the Real Ale Festival, was inspired by a visit to Belgium, where he fell in love with the saison style of beer.  Cole gets very animated as he discusses his travels. He says he often drops in to local breweries unannounced and explains – sometimes through an interpreter – that he is a brewer in America. He is usually then given a tour of the brewery.  Sometimes the brewer speaks no English, but with the love and language of beer in common, they manage to communicate.

Going to the source, Cole explains, means more than just duplicating the ingredients, you can do that by reading a recipe. It sometimes means changing the chemical composition of the water he starts with, duplicating the mash profile, and getting a yeast strain as close as he can get to the “origin of the source.”  Sometimes it requires creating different yeasts by blending them.  It means a complete understanding of the entire process.  A technique used in German beer, he found, is carbonating naturally, for a softer, more delicate mouthfeel, and part of the original design for the 7-barrel brewing system includes incorporating the traditional German processes.  

Cole says it’s no accident that so many award-winning dark beers come from Northeast Ohio.  He cited Great Lakes’ Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Crooked River Porter, Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper and Siberian Night as examples, in addition to his own Oompa Loompa Chocolate Stout (four medals) and Merlin’s Black Magic Stout.  The secret is in the water.  He says that the water here is much like the water in Ireland and England, where the styles originated.  There’s that word again…origin.

Cole’s journey to becoming an award-winning brewer is an interesting one.  As a salesman, he walked in to Pennsylvania Brewing Company when they were brewing and said “What’s that smell?” –and began asking more questions.  That was the start of a several-year long journey that included home brewing, brewing at Baltimore Brewing, Great Lakes Brewing, studying at Siebel Institute in Chicago, and studying for one summer with the London Brewer’s Guild in Sunderland, England. He also had the tutelage and guidance of Ohio brewing legends Andy Tveekram and Tim Rastetter.  He learned traditional German-style brewing from his first brewing job at Baltimore Brewing, and that has been his main focus since.

Recently Cole toured northern Bavaria in search of the perfect kellerbier. From the Bamberg area, he rented a Mercedes equipped with a GPS and plotted a tour of local countryside breweries.  He admits that all the beer he tasted wasn’t good, but he did find some outstanding examples of the style.  A kellerbier is an unfiltered lager that dates back to the origins of beer making in Germany.  He brought back an example from Mönchsambacher brewery in Zehender Germany, which he allowed me to taste.  I’m anxious to see, if his kellerbier will win yet another medal.