Wildflower St Phoebe 2024: Ebony Sun Plum is a golden barrel aged ale wholly fermented by a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native flowers in NSW refermented with plums. Saint Phoebe was a first century deaconess from modern day Greece.
Topher's production notes
In 2024, St Abigail was made by blending barrel aged golden mixed culture fermentation ale with 490kg of fresh, hand picked, whole, tree ripened Ebony Sun Plums from Thornbrook Orchard in Orange, NSW. After a four month maceration and refermentation of fruit and beer, it was bottled and allowed to naturally carbonate and mature before release.
I think we have been chasing a memory. I recall tasting the 2020 St Phoebe straight from the tank four years ago and straight away taking that sample for sugar testing. I was convinced that the beer hadn't refermented yet, it tasted too sweet, and there was a heap of residual sugar still left to ferment. I was worried about packaging it in that state because, if there had been insufficient refermentation in tank, there was the potential for over-fermentation in the bottle creating too much pressure/carbonation. Much to my surprise, the beer was indeed dry that year, instead the sweetness I was tasting was apparent sweetness. The flavours of the plum were so jammy and bright, my palate perceived a sugar concentration that was in fact not there.
Ever since that year's release, we have been trying to replicate it. Last year we were close, but this 2024 is the most remiscient yet. I believe this has to mostly due to the growing conditions of this year and the full ripening of the fruit before picking. This growing season was the warmest since that 2020 harvest, with cooler, wetter harvests in the middle combined with our constant back and forth with the picking team at Thornbrook allowing this fruit to spend as much time on the trees as humanely possible. The resulting refermentation with this fruit has yielded a striking beer, both in colour and in flavour.
The base beer is brewed entirely with certified organic cereals from Chris and Sam Greenwood's farm in Coleambally NSW. Organic raw red wheat with organic Schooner barley malted to a pale roast by Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture of microflora wholly foraged from native flowers in NSW. It was bottled in June 2024 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 12 weeks until release. At bottling it was 5.7% ABV and 10.0°P.
The label artwork was done by Phoebe's auntie, Bernadette.
Tasting notes
Perfect pink with a big foamy head, the nose is all jammy plum, bright florals, fruit candy, and vanillin. On the palate, it is generous with sweet fruit, followed by elegantly integrated acid which leaves a clean finish. Perfect park juice!
Like all our beers, St Phoebe 2024: Ebony Sun Plum is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
