Fantastical Phantasm
Did you know that if you take a special variety of hop that was picked on the full moon, to the top of Mount Blanc, and cast a handful of the nuggets into a southernly wind while sipping a perfectly chilled vintage of Château de Goulaine, those hops will have magical wine-like properties?
I’m entirely kidding.
But there is an almost as fantastical brewing method using wine-like properties currently being used! One I had absolutely no idea about, until I sat down with the head brewers of G5 Brewing Co. for a little chat.
They use a product called Phantasm in a few of their IPAs - mostly the Hazy IPAs - and it blew my mind when I heard what it was. (It’s amazing what you can learn when you sit down and really listen.)
Naturally, upon learning something new from the brewing world, I had to go ‘all in’ and research everything I could about it.
So let’s learn together.
What?
In the simplest terms possible, Phantasm is grape dust.
In slightly less simple terms, the product is a powder derived from dehydrated New Zealand Marlborough Sauv Blanc grape skins and sold to brewers to increase the intensified tropical flavors, especially in hoppy beers.
But it’s much more science-y-er than just boosting flavor by adding wine grapes to beer.
Thiols are present in Sauvignon Blanc grapes, and this is what makes this particular product so desirous. Thiols are an organic compound high in aromatic molecules, that when placed under the right conditions, will generate intense tropical scents.
Jos Ruffell owner of Phantasm.NZ tells us “Phantasm is an extraction made from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc grapes. They are incredibly rich in Thiol precursors, which when added correctly to a fermenting beer can unlock strong tropical fruit aromas.”
But thiols can be a bit tricky, you can just add them as-is to any old beer and expect good results. These grapes need to be “thiolized” first, before those tasty tropical aromas appear. Think of it as “activating” the thiols, you could compare it to the Maillard Reaction (for you bakers & cooks out there). This “thiolization” can happen during fermentation.
How?
So it’s made from leftover organic material after the Sauvignon Blanc grapes are pressed, including the skins, pulp, and stems. Personally, I love this because that means we’re using every little thing we can during production, and we’re looking outside of individual industries to see where it might be useful! Wineries don’t need the leftovers? Fine! Let’s see if the haze head brewers want them!
It is important to note that Phantasm is a brand name - that’s not just what the seeds & skin of left over Sauv Blanc grapes are called.
And, it’s one of a kind.
The Marlborough wine region, found on New Zealand’s southern island, is known for producing mouth watering, tropical tasting, crips Sauvignon Blanc wines.
The Sauv Blanc varietal is not only grown there, it can be found all over the world! But the Sauv Blancs from that region specifically are very easy to pick out. They have a specific taste and aroma to them that is extremely distinctive.
And, you got it, it’s because grapes from that region happen to have higher level of thiols than others around the world.
Brewers then take this dehydrated organic matter and add it to the wort late in fermentation to help create biotransformation and to increase the tropical aromatics in the beer. Fermentation was the first logical place to add it in the brewing process because we are talking about essentially adding fruit into your brew; grapes skins have sugars that will need to be fermented off.
However, the product is so new that breweries are still playing around with when to add it to the wort. Some do it during fermentation and some add it to the whirlpool with their hop additions, to different results. And that’s not even taking into account the many different malts, yeasts, and hops that are being used and tried with Phantasm!
Who?
It also should be no surprise that it was a New Zealand brewer who first thought this up, and now owns the Phantasm product and brand.
Jos Ruffell, who is owner of Garage Project Brewery based in the Aro Valley of Wellington, New Zealand, is now also the owner of Phantasm.
Being form the region, he was very familiar with the unique and distinctive flavors in NZ wine, so he went about finding a way to harness that power for his beer.
Ruffell has said, “There is a reason that Sauvignon Blanc grown in California or other parts of the world is not the same as New Zealand grown Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Our focus is very much on harnessing the Thiol potential from these grapes.”
Seeing as Phantasm is only made from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc varietal leftovers you might guess that is a wee bit difficult to get your hands on. And it’s entirely dependent on how well the grape harvest was the year before. This means very few breweries have been able to play around with the substance so far.
Where?
So where can you, as a consumer, find a beer with phantasm then? (Since, if you’ve made it this far, I’m assuming you want to try one.)
Look first at Hazy IPAs, as breweries are much more likely to add Phantasm to this style. It makes sense, NEIPAs/Hazies are already packed full of juicy flavor, so if brewers can punch that up a notch, consumers are going to love it.
Breweries like Trillium, WeldWorks, New Image, The Veil, Monkish, Other Half, Anchorage Brewing, The 8th State, and many others across the U.S. have already played around with it, mostly in Hazy or NE IPAs.
Though I have to say, when I sat down with G5 for that chat we tried their New Zealand Pilsner brewed with Phantasm powder, and Nelson Sauvin, and Riwaka hops, and I loved it.
So the little powder is already making its way into other styles, and to great results!
Weekly Adventure
Go Phantasm hunting. Wherever you might be able to buy single cans, I bet you can find one or two with the Phantasm logo on it. Start with the Hazy IPAs or anything with “New Zealand” in the name and you’ll find it.
Cheers,
Molly
References:
https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/phantasm-powder-hop-thiol-boost/beer-brewing-hops
https://www.porchdrinking.com/articles/2021/11/03/phantasm-powder/
https://www.hopculture.com/phantasm-powder-hazy-ipa/
https://www.nibrewing.com/post/introducing-phantasm-the-hot-new-ingredient-in-beer