We are excited to announce that Wildflower As it Were Batch #2 will be available at our cellar door and online (at 2pm) on February, 1 2019.
As it Were is a barrel fermented mixed culture ale heavily hopped with Hallertauer Mittelfrüh. It's our idea of beer as it was. A dry beer made with malted barley and raw wheat, fermented in oak without temperature control by a mixture of yeasts and bacteria. Made bitter by noble, spicy hops and allowed to condition in bottle for a number of months. It is my homage to the classic Saison style... not encumbered by fruity hop aromas or excessive tartness and funk. It is simple and drinkable. Its a beer I will spend a very long time trying to perfect.
This batch, our second attempt, has strong aromas of lemon marmalade, lifted spices, a distinct sweet hay character and subtle, spicy hop notes. A direct palate primarily with melon and bready flavour through the mid palate. The back palate bursts with Wildflower flavours of citrus and rustic earthy spice. Moderate acidity but beautifully crisp.
The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Moree, NSW grown Gairdner ale malt and North Star, NSW grown Spitfire S.O. raw wheat thanks to Provenance Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Hallertauer Mittelfrüh (GR) 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 September 26 2018 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 18 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 65 IBU and 1.0°P (FG= 1.004 SG).
Like all our beers, As it Were is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
