What happens when a winemaker and brewmaster cross paths at the top 40 under 40 awards gala? A brand new idea gets hatched for a beverage never seen before in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The Exchange brewmaster Sam Maxbauer and Stratus winemaker Dean Stoyka were both honoured with a Niagara 40 Under Forty Business Achievement Awards this year, which recognizes young professionals who drive innovation, business success, and community impact.

They ran into each other at the awards ceremony back in May, and of course their conversation turned to beer. And to wine. And to, “Could we do a ‘Beer-jolais Nouveau’ together?”

Beer-jolais Nouveau is a play on Beaujolais Nouveau, a tradition born in France that celebrates the end of harvest season with the early release of a very young, fresh Beaujolais wine made with Gamay Noir grapes.

Every year, the wine is released on the third Thursday of November, and raced to market with great fanfare and boisterous parades.

That night at the awards dinner, Stoyka and Maxbauer decided they could collaborate to make a “Beer-jolais Nouveau”, by fermenting beer and Gamay Noir grapes together.

“A couple of months ago, Sam reached out and reminded me. He said, ‘Hey, are we doing this’?” recalls Stoyka. “I was like, yeah, yeah!”

Maxbauer chose witbier as the style of beer to use in the co-ferment.

“We tried to keep a good balance so we could show off the wine aspect of it, but still have it taste like a beer. That’s why we chose the witbier style. It’s light, but it has a little bit of body,” he says. “It typically has some citrusy kind of flavours to it, and a little bit of coriander, so we thought it would work with the Gamay Noir wine flavours.”

“We’ve done some beers that were aged on grapes in the past, but we’ve never actually done a co-fermentation with the grapes,” he adds. “This was brand new for us. So it was really nice to pair up with Dean and talk through the logistics.”

“When we picked the Gamay, I did a light press and kept that juice to make wine with,” says Stoyka. “Then I threw the grapes into a plastic bin and drove my truck over to the Exchange. We just loaded up the tank there full of grapes.”

“On the day of the brew, that same day, we steeped the grains and boiled them, added the hops, and then immediately transferred that into the tank that was full of grapes. So the beer fermented with the fresh grapes,” adds Maxbauer. “We wanted to stick close to the Beaujolais style, so it was all done in a very short period of time, so it’s very fresh.”

“We let it all ferment only for about a week, so it’s true to the concept of Beaujolais,” says Stoyka.

“It was really fun, and we’re really happy with it,” says a smiling Maxbauer.

Since Beaujolais Nouveau is always released on the third Thursday in November, “Sam and I were talking about the timing. We thought Friday is more of a beer kind of day, and we didn’t want to do the same day. So we picked Friday,” says Stoyka.

The resulting Beer-jolais was released at the Exchange last Friday.

It’s a festive, cheery red colour, and the citrusy witbier balances refreshingly against the classic Gamay wine flavours.

While it is typically intended to be consumed while young and fresh, both Maxbauer and Stoyka say it can be aged, probably for up to three years. 

The Exchange also released some new menu items on Friday, and reminds locals they can get 40 per cent off food items on Tuesdays, or enjoy oddBar pizza and a pint for $29 on Thursdays.  Beer-jolais is available on tap, and can be purchased by the bottle as well.  

“Who knows, maybe it will take off, and this will be a new celebration we do every year, every third Friday, every November,” says Stoyka. 

In the meantime, the collaboration was deemed a success by those who tasted it on Friday, and the Exchange welcomes everyone to give it a try for themselves.