I just went and looked. Mine is 1854! But mine is bound in tattered leather, and the pages are yellow--a subtle reminder that by 1854, medicine had not yet advanced much beyond Maimonides.Yippee, I found a free PDF of the 1854 version!
Bob
I just went and looked. Mine is 1854! But mine is bound in tattered leather, and the pages are yellow--a subtle reminder that by 1854, medicine had not yet advanced much beyond Maimonides.Yippee, I found a free PDF of the 1854 version!
Super exciting! I hope you keep it up. Seems like a lot of these experiments Peter out; but this beerique seems too awesome to not take to fruition. Thanks for doing and sharing the project!I know everyone has been waiting on the edge of their seat for an update, so I will bow to the pressure and deliver. It's kinda like waiting for GOT season 8 to start! LOL
I checked on the original Perique culture jar this morning, and found that it was very thick and cloudy. Big changes since Saturday. Mustering my courage, I popped the lid and took and very delicate sniff to see what was happening. Expecting a nose full of unpleasantness, I was very surprised to be rewarded with a lovely bread like aroma. Seems that the P.a. was finally starting to assert itself! After work I made another slide for confirmation. I took a scrape from a biofilm growing on the piece of leaf, and a swab of the gel growing on the bottom of the jar. Sure enough, looks like yeast!
Encouraged, during my lunch break, I escaped my prison and hit the local brew store and picked up some fruity red wine and Belgium ale yeasts. I stuffed 3 jars each with some BB red tip Virginia and Burley. To each jar I added enough brown sugar water to just cover the leaf. (I had a brain fart and forgot to pick up some malt while at the brew store - getting old is h***.) Then I added some of the Perique culture, the wine yeast, and the ale yeast to one jar of each of the Va and Burleys. Finger tightened the lids. Now the wait begins! I plan on removing the leaf and spreading it out a few times to allow O2 absorption, which should hopefully darken the leaf like a true Perique.
Also today, on doing some more online research, I found that Russ Ouellette, a prominent pipe blender, talked a Perique farm in Louisiana to process two barrels each of Virginia BL and Fire Cured tobacco in the Perique technique, and then used the resulting tobacco to produce some limited edition blends (RO Arcadian Gold, RO Fire Storm, etc.). So, it's not unprecedented to experiment with other varieties in this way. However, I haven't found anyone yet using beer / wine yeast in a similar manner.
View attachment 27260
Today's view of the culture. Very different from just 2 days ago!
View attachment 27261
All set and ready for the magic to begin!
I would have been more impressed if Russ had just made the stuff himself, in his basement or garage. I suppose his commercial sponsors wanted the marketable hype of St. James Parish.Russ Ouellette, a prominent pipe blender
Also today, on doing some more online research, I found that Russ Ouellette, a prominent pipe blender, talked a Perique farm in Louisiana to process two barrels each of Virginia BL and Fire Cured tobacco in the Perique technique, and then used the resulting tobacco to produce some limited edition blends (RO Arcadian Gold, RO Fire Storm, etc.). So, it's not unprecedented to experiment with other varieties in this way.
This type of experiments have already been done in the past.
I remember McClelland asked perique producers to make some perique with fire cured virginia. It became «cajun black» and was used to create 3 main blends (Royal Cajun Dark, Royal Cajun Ebony and Royal Cajun Special)
I smoked those and they were very interesting, very sweet and not biting at all.