Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
If we were to rank fruits best and often used in beers, apples probably would not make the cut. And certainly the aggressively tough Arkansas Black would be too hard to use in a beer. Well, two wild ale maestros disagree with me.
I would side with Jim and Chad and check out this new offering from Barrel Works.
Let’s stray from the IP-Yeah! and head to Belgium for this month’s three picks. Let’s get some tartness and blending going.
~LIGHT
Drie Fonteinen / Cuvee Armand & Gaston5.50% ABV
Assembly of young, half-old and old lambics, brewed by 3 fountains. One hundred one hundred natural and authentic, spontaneous and somewhat stubborn, but always elegant and full of character. Pure passion as Armand and Gaston have always done.
~MEDIUM
Crooked Stave / Surette6.20% ABV
Provisional saison, Artisan ale aged in oak barrels In a particular region of southern Belgium, the reserve or provision saison was called surette, meaning tart. Using time-honored techniques, our saisons employ old-world methods to restore complexity and the classical rustic character lost in modern day saison. Brewed with local Colorado floor malted barley, traditional harvest grains, and noble hops, Surette embodies old-world saison brewing traditions. Each batch of Surette is an expression of the large oak foeders it matures in while taking on an aged vinous quality and a complex tartness. Showcasing citrusy ripe fruits, a light zesty spice, and earthy undertones, Surette’s character exemplifies our mixed culture of Brettanomyces and souring bacteria.
~BIG
De Proef / Surly / Zwart Star8.00% ABV
Old Ale w/ Star Anise aged on wood w/ Brettanomyces.
All of these beers can be found at Sunset Beer Co. (unless they got bought up real quick)
Which is great for us consumers because we get a wide variety of beers we get to choose from. All that being the wind up to the latest round of breweries whose beers we have seen recently and will be seeing in the future.
Mystic Brewing from Boston
Gigantic Brewing from Portland
Crooked Stave from Denver
Look for them at fine beer shoppes and introductory tasting events.
One brewery that I haven’t ticked off my “to try” list is Crooked Stave of Fort Collins / Denver. And these two beers sound great.
YELLOW
With Red and Orange released this past fall, it’s time for more beers in the Wild Wild Brett Series from Crooked Stave. Yellow and Green will be making their way across the Colorado front range starting next week. Keeping up with the series, Wild Wild Brett Yellow is a full fledged experiment which took inspiration from the savory sweet culinary traditions of southern India. Yellow has a pronounced tropical fruit base character with a small amount of spice caring forward an aroma that is both subtle and inviting. Yellow was brewed with honey, turmeric, mango and coriander before receiving a very light spicing during months of conditioning in our oak foeder.
GREEN
Wild Wild Brett Green is our nod to absurdly hopped beers… Showcasing the Australian Galaxy hop, WWBG uses 4lbs of hops per barrel with dank, dark berry tropical fruit hop characteristics dominating the flavor and aroma. The Crooked Stave twist.. WWBG was fermented and conditioned in neutral oak which actually made it easier for us to dry hop the beer multiple times over the aging period. The result, an unfiltered “wild ale” with little wild character. The hops are so dominate like in an Imperial IPA that for now it’s hard to get any Brett character. Over time the hops will fade and our house Brett character will rouse the senses.
Thanks to the Beer Wench for sending the info on this pair of new beers…..
“Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project announced they will release their first two bottled beers, Pure Guava Petite Sour and Wild Wild Brett “Rouge” on Thursday August 11th.
Here’s the run down…
750 ml bottles of Pure Guava Petite Sour and Wild Wild Brett “Rouge” will make their debut at the bottle release party held at funkwerks brewery tap room in Ft. Collins CO. starting at 6PM on Thursday, August 11th. This is the first of many bottle releases from Crooked Stave as we look to roll out with plenty more barrel-aged sour, specialty release and funky Brettanomyces beers. Also available on draft for the releases will be a single keg of Crooked Stave’s Good Glory, a beer brewed exclusively for Euclid Hall Bar and Kitchen in Denver, CO. as well as Wild Wild Brett and Petite Sour.
The bottles of Pure Guava Petite Sour have been quietly conditioning since May 23rd awaiting their release. This refreshingly tart, spontaneously soured, rustic wheat beer, brewed with the addition of oats and spiced with coriander and sumac, was fermented entirely in our distinct oak foeder. Pure Guava is an unfiltered, golden wild ale with tropical fruit aromas and bright citrus flavors created by a proprietary Brettanomyces strain. This will be the only time Pure Guava is released, as each Petite Sour will change to reflect the seasons it is brewed and the mischievous minds of our brewers.
The anxiously awaited first release from the Wild Wild Brett R&D series is over! Historically considered ”wild yeast”, Brett is responsible for 100% of the fermentation in each installment of the series, which looks to play off the colors of the color wheel for ingredients to match with the different strains of Brett. This first installment of the series, dubbed “Rouge”, incorporates hawthorn berry, rose hips and whole hibiscus flowers in an unfiltered, slightly tart wild ale. Rouge pours a reddish hue delivering soft floral aromas and tropical fruit flavors with a tart earthy finish.
With only a little over 100 cases of each bottled, we expect bottles won’t last too long. Not able to make it to the release? Never fear we have made sure to save away some cases for a few of our favorite liquor stores throughout the Denver metro and Colorado front range areas.”