Wildflower Field Work: Grassland Oats will be available online and for take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (AEST) on Friday 3 November 2023.
An ale made for research and development, Field Work: Grassland Oats aims to highlight the characteristics of Northern NSW grower Bruce Maynard’s raw oats grown within his innovative No- Kill Cropping system on his family property at Willydah. Brewed on our old-world brewery in Marrickville, fermented with our house culture containing a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native flowers from NSW then transferred into ex-wine oak barrels for 8 months maturation before being blended and bottled where it rested for conditioning and natural carbonation until release.
Topher's production notes
I have, from time to time, harped on about my friend Bruce Maynard. I'm honestly so fascinated by this gentleman's mind and the unique agricultural systems that mind has developed. Out of fear of ascending to this soap box once again, I'll reference this Instagram post which explains a bit about why it's so special.
We have been using Bruce's wheat in our beers for some time and attempted a beer with his oats for our 'Summer' release last year, which unfortunately didn't turn out. In a way, this beer is the first we've released really highlighting his grain.
What is interesting about these oats, though, is that they are grown in a full grassland, rich with biological diversity, an oat crop grown in-amongst a complete polyculture of hundreds of different grains and grasses. In the photo up there, you can see a lot of small-oats that didn't meet grading, but if you look closely, you can see a multitude of different grains, native grass seeds and the like that make up the screenings (ie the stuff that gets cleaned out to make a clean oat-crop). The grain when milled had the most evocative aroma, earthy and rich soil, it's a special crop.
This Field Work beer, like the others, really is an exploration of how this grain would affect our original Gold recipe if one element was changed... for this one we replaced the 40% raw wheat in the grist with 40% raw oats.
The mash was incredibly difficult, oats are canonically hard to work with, and after primary fermentation this beer rested in puncheon for 6 months before bottling. I really love it, it has got a sort-of pale ale body to it... will look good for ages to come I reckon.
Meesh's tasting notes
A fresh, ester driven nose showcasing plenty of textbook Wildflower house culture funk and a gentle element of spice. On the palate, it starts soft, round and creamy, then finishes quickly with an assertive bitterness. There's a play of fruit throughout and a mild element of acid which keeps the experience fresh and moreish.
Like all our beers, Field Work: Grassland Oats is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
