We are very excited to announce that Wildflower St Thomas 2022 will be available online and for tasting and take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (Sydney time) on Friday 5 August 2022.
St Thomas is an Australian Wild Ale made with cherries. It is named for Chris and Emily’s first son. Saint Thomas Aquinas was an immensely influential 13th century philosopher and theologian. In 2022, St Thomas was made by blending barrel aged amber mixed culture fermentation ale with 748kg of fresh, whole, tree ripened stemmed and destemmed Morello sour cherries from Thornbrook Orchard in Nashdale, NSW. After a five month maceration and refermentation of fruit and beer, it was bottled and allowed to naturally carbonate and mature in bottle before release.
Tasting the Amber and St Thomas side by side really highlights the beautiful fruit expression of the cherry whilst at the same time, reminding us that a good base beer is the foundation of any fruit beer. Thomas this year really shows how the base beer supports the fruit with less overt fruit expression and more of a harmonious blend. Really something different than what we have seen in the past, more chocolate, more amber, less juice. I like it a lot. More than I expected actually.
Sweet perfumed cherry nose with a floral rose petal lift. Savoury cherry pie, cola, toasted spices and biscuity oak give wonderful complexity alongside a gentle minty note. Plump ripe red fruits upfront before a rich rounded malt driven mid palate that is full of cooking spices and texture. Wonderfully seamless and integrated with a beautifully balanced acidity.
The base beer is brewed entirely with Organic cereals from Chris and Sam Greenwood's farm in Coleambally NSW. Organic raw Red wheat with Organic Schooner barley malted to Munich, Vienna and chocolate roasts by Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 7 June 2022 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 8 weeks. At bottling it was 6.7% ABV, 18 IBU and 2.3°P (FG = 1.009 SG).
St Thomas 2022 is packaged in 750ml bottles and 1.5 litre magnums. Please see the product page for allocations and limits.
Like all our beers, St Thomas 2022 is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
