Berken and her husband (Sweatt) are among the few who attempt to brew on the playa. They brew twice during the festival. One batch is brewed early, to be served later in the week using a fast-acting yeast to compensate for the short time frame. With only a couple of days to ferment this is an exercise in letting go and seeing what happens, a common mindset among the residents of Black Rock City.
The beer is left out in the direct sun to ferment in a plastic bucket while they set up for a second batch, this one a Dunkelweizen. “We’ll serve this batch at the regional burn in San Diego,” Sweatt explains while one of his camp mates rubber stamps a stranger’s ass as admission to the bar. They have been doing this “brew to burn process” for a year now and have brewed at four events only to pack it up to share at the next one.
Berken sees a natural connection between homebrewers and Burners, “Burning and brewing go hand-in-hand. Both take hard work, a DIY ethos, and a desire to share. … Hopefully, each glass gives people a unique experience they take with them, opening them up to try new things in the future.”
The powers that be seemed to agree. When organizers determined that Burning Man needed its own brewery five years ago, Anne Simmons stepped up to the plate and formed the Black Rock Brewery. Anyone can submit beer to be distributed under the Black Rock Brewery label and this year it had over 400 bottles donated.
It is easy to find Simmons’ purple hairdo in the crowded tent. Also known as “Quick Draw Annie,” she is busy darting between the line of eager visitors and designating bottles to be served. A homebrewer from Salt Lake City, she started the camp with a goal “to educate people about the different styles of beer and to promote homebrewing.”
The tastings last about an hour and are packed from the first pour to the last drop. Visitors stand shoulder to shoulder as Black Rock Brewery camp members pour 1.5 ounce samples into branded shot glasses. The festival’s policy of leaving no trace makes full pours problematic since all liquids need to be either carried out of the city or evaporated. Pouring anything on the ground is not an option.
Simmons admits that the hot temperatures and dry climate aren’t her preferred beer-drinking environment. “I drink beer more for the flavor than the buzz, so I love a good craft brew that I can savor… but I have trouble handling alcohol in the sun.” She didn’t even care for beer before she started homebrewing. While living in New York she said she was “growing everything I ate, so I decided why not try making beer?” Now she runs one of the most unique breweries in the United States and is on the planning committee for Utah’s regional Burn event, Element 11.
“I see more and more people drinking good beer at Burning Man and more people seeking it out. … The popularity seems to match what’s happening in the default world.”
Art imitating life indeed.