Wildflower St Thomas 2023 will be available online and for tasting and take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (AEST) on Friday 1 December.
Topher's production notes
St Thomas is a golden barrel aged ale wholly fermented by a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native flowers in NSW refermented with cherries, named for Chris and Emily’s first son.
This is the first year of St Thomas having a golden base instead of our Amber. We made the decision to switch after multiple years of concurrent tests between golden and amber bases on cherry beers between St Thomas and 'Rose Gold', a cherry beer made for our internal membership group The Collective. We have found, in the end, the fruit character to carry brighter with the golden base and especially over time see the marzipan character from the pits into the future. As I love grower champagne, the extended almond-like pit maceration on Gold won out in the end...
In 2023, St Thomas was made by blending barrel aged golden mixed culture fermentation ale with 650kg of fresh, whole, handpicked, tree ripened Morello sour cherries from Thornbrook Orchard in Nashdale, NSW. After a 7.5 month maceration and refermentation of fruit and beer, it was bottled and allowed to naturally carbonate and mature before release.
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 August 2023 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 4 months. At bottling it was 5.6% ABV and 10.0°P.
Meesh's tasting notes
The nose is marzipan and cherry stone. So much fruit and complexity on the palate. Earthy cherry meets a bright acidity which leaves you with a lingering sweetness. Christmas in a glass.
Like all our beers, St Thomas 2023 is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
