We are excited to announce that Old Amber will be available at our cellar door and online store (at 2pm) on 2 August 2019.
Old Amber is the aged side of our Amber beer. This bottling is a single blend of two more mature Amber to express and highlight the nuances of our Amber blend. In early March 2019, when we were bending Amber Blend #21, we noticed a number of Amber barrels which both did not fit the profile of our Amber blend, but in their own right were tasty aged beer.
For our Amber blend, we are generally focused on maintaining a sense of energy and youth. Adding more intense oaky or sour barrels throws the blend out of balance, so our Amber blends in general rarely are composed of any beer greater than one year old. Our Amber has developed this way naturally. When we were a younger brewery and our barrels were also younger, the profile of this beer came to become something with a bit more life, instead of tired and oak or brett dominant. While I was initially inspired by beers that spent more time in barrel, and maybe desired that for Wildflower some day, we've come to prefer keeping vitality in the Amber. Each time we release a new bend, it comes with accompanying notes which tell the ages of the barrels from which the blend is composed. If you look back, you will see there is generally a younger 4-5 month old barrel in the final blend.
The purpose of this bottling is to give some insight into the decisions Luke and I make while blending. These two beers were blended on the same day from the same stock of barrels. One (Amber #21) we blended to what we now believe to be the profile of our Amber, while the other (Old Amber) we blended two show what the Amber is not. These two beers call for different occasions and different pairings, they each have their place. We may blend Old Amber again in the future when the barrels present themselves.
Old Amber is a blend of barrels 1715 (12 month old Amber) and 1743 (16 month old Amber). It was packaged on 19 March 2019 and allowed to referment and compose in bottle for 19 weeks before release. At bottling it was 6.0% ABV and 1.8 P (1.007 SG).
This bottling opens with aromas of dried fruit, vanilla, aged savouriness and cellared oak. The palate very much dominated by Brett, acid and oak which keeps the palate very taut and focused. The length of the beer certainly warrants a food pairing with the increased oak tannin.
Like all our beers, Old Amber is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures.
There will be a 4 bottles per person limit to purchase online and at the cellar door. We will make around 150 bottles available online while the remaining 100 will be sold at the brewery. A very small number of cases of Old Amber will be distributed outside the brewery.
-topher
