St. Anthony's Quad Beer
Fr. Frank Jasper (left) prays while Fr. Carl Langenderfer blesses the beer mash that will become St. Anthony's Quad with brewmaster Josh Elliott and Brett Kollmann Baker of Urban Artifact Brewery.
The article below was first published on August 9, 2016
It may be worth a double take when you see a Franciscan friar in habit visiting a local brewery and blessing the beer. About a year ago, we were approached by one of the owners of Urban Artifact, a local craft brewery located in Northside, Ohio. Brett Kollmann Baker was inquiring about how we might collaborate to raise money for our ministry and mission.
Urban Artifact
The St. Anthony Shrine is located in the neighborhood (less than two miles away) and the community-minded owners wanted to create a unique platform to help those less fortunate. The Urban Artifact taproom is located in the former St. Patrick’s church built in 1873. So the idea of creating a special St. Anthony's Quad beer was born. “Being a community minded steward is doing good and giving back when you can. In that regard, we related closely to the Franciscan friars and their mission.”
This was certainly an intriguing idea and peaked my interest. Yes, it is different but then, times are different. Many organizations are looking for ways to educate younger people about their mission. The Franciscans are no different. The meeting was set. Fr. Carl Langenderfer, Shrine Guardian and Fr. Frank Jasper, Vicar had the difficult task of tasting some of the beers.
But back to Urban Artifact. How do they harvest wild yeast?
It was really interesting even for me. Full disclosure, I am not a beer fan (yeast allergies) and certainly did not know anything about what it takes to brew a beer. As enthusiastic brewmasters, they explained the fairly complicated process. We kicked around some ideas and decided to go for it. We liked the idea that Urban Artifact makes flavors that are unique and true to the area.
The first step was to place twenty-eight jars covered with cheese cloth and filled with unfermented beer around the Shrine property for about 14 hours to catch the wild yeast. Once collected, it then is left to sit for three months.
On May 16, Brew Day, Fr. Carl prepared a very fitting blessing while Josh Elliott, the brewmaster allowed Fr. Carl and Fr. Frank to help pour ingredients into the mash for the appropriately named St Anthony’s Quad beer.
The St Anthony Quad beer is a Belgian style quad currently aging in wine barrels from Napa Valley. Fr. Carl goes down to check on it every now and then and has been very pleased with the progress. Once the beer is ready for tapping, we’ll have a release party with proceeds going to our ministry and mission. In addition to the keg, they will also bottle the beer for people to buy as gifts or to take home and enjoy.
We hope you will join us. Cheers!
Read Fr. Carl's Beer Blessing.
To learn more about and get directions to Urban Artifact, click here.
Brewmaster Josh Elliott and Brett Kollmann Baker of Urban Artifact.
Posted in: Events, Missions, Newsletter, Prayer, Saint Anthony
