Wildflower St Florence 2017

St Florence will be released online at 9am on 14 October 2017. As we have fielded a considerable amount of interest for this beer and as a special release, we feel the online allocation may sell out quickly and suggest purchasing early to avoid disappointment. We will update this page when we have sold out.

Please note, there is a 2 bottle limit per person.

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A beer named in honour of Topher and his wife's first born child, Florence. An annual release around the time of her birthday, St Florence is an ale refermented with wine grapes.

Funk. Juicy. Round. Creamy. Persistent.

The beer has immediate savoury aromas of oak toast that are complemented by white chocolate, lifted herbaceousness, vinous characteristics and hay. Undertones of toffee and cellar funk add further layers to an already impressive nose.

Complex barely comes close to describing the action here. Sauvignon Blanc fruit refermentation add freshness to the usual savoury characteristics of an aged beer, whilst the high carbonation gives the palate energy, drive and persistence of flavours. The result? An assault of pure pleasure on the senses.

In 2017, Florence's birth year, it was made from spontaneously fermented beer from Gerringong NSW and Sauvignon Blanc grapes from Orange NSW. The fruit was hand picked and allowed to undergo a weeklong whole bunch carbonic maceration in the bottom of a 500 litre puncheon.

A barrel of one year old spontaneously fermented beer was racked on top of the fruit to begin maceration and secondary fermentation. The fruit was left in contact with the beer for 10 weeks to allow for near-complete fermentation by cultures both off the skins of the grapes as well as those still alive in the beer at racking. The beer was then moved back to barrel for 4 months to complete fermentation.

Before packaging, it was blended with one year old ale for length and balance as well as a small amount of 4 month old Gold from our cellar to add an element of freshness to the blend.