We are excited to announce that Waratah 2020 will be available online and for take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (Sydney time) on Friday 5 November 2021.
Waratah is our annual 100% NSW ingredient beer. Wholly native yeast (the culture for Waratah 2020 was foraged off Wattle Blossoms, the same as what made Wattle Drops). A collaboration between the grain farmers [Organically Greenwood, (Coleambally, NSW)] maltsters [Voyager Malt (Whitton, NSW)], the hop farmers [Ryefield Hops (Bemboka, NSW)] and two breweries committed to agricultural beer, Batch Brewing Company and ourselves. Our release of this beer in 2017 marked the first commercial release of a beer made entirely of NSW ingredients, the 2020 vintage marks the fourth.
Raised in three 500 litre puncheons for eight months with an additional five in bottle before release.
At release, it has savoury aromatics, biscuity, dried citrus peel. Warm French oak gives a strong and exceptionally complex aged vinous character. Wonderful palate. Smooth and seamless. Sweet vanilla cake, almond meal, preserved lime, dehydrated orange run rampant. As the acidity draws the palate along the beer shows more vinous notes. Complete and perfectly balanced.
In many ways, Waratah epitomises our goals here at Wildflower. It is an agrarian beer, a product of the harvest conditions of each of the inputs. The recipe was built on what was grown here not on what we could order from international malthouses and hop fields.
It’s also a celebration of friendship, of the growth of an industry and the continuation of the good fight of buying, living and brewing local. Beer is a beverage made for social gatherings and to share with friends. It is not pretentious and coveted. We love beer's place in society and a beer like Waratah helps remind us that it is really just beer at the end of the day.
Like all our beers, Waratah is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
