You Live arose to us on a blending day in 2023 with some Gold that had ripened beautifully in an ex-Foggy Morning barrel. There was really no feasible way to blend that barrel into any fruit beer, or Gold blend for that matter, as the smoke character albeit nice would have been far too prominent. So instead of hiding it, Brayden and I started to consider how we could promote it.

Brayden has a background in bars, as some of you would know, and makes some of the better cocktails I have tasted. We have talked about a mezcal-adjacent beer for probably two years, as we both love it, so when this base turned up we sort of knew what to do.

What helped, though, was that in his time in London, Brayden made a beer in this same vein so we had some touch points. The beer was racked onto no small sum of organic agave nectar (we have tried many such syrups in our time and none has compared to the balance in this one... often they can be overly sweet, but this one... which used to be sold at Alfalfa house [rip] did not contain the fake-honey-golden-syrup cloying character so often found in agave syrups) and allowed it to ferment... which took over 6 months! We had really thought this would be a quick one, just like Hive but the agave syrup had different ideas, whether that was a result of density or available sugar, I am not sure... but the ferment required attention and assistance during to complete. 

Once completed, Brayden racked the beer over toasted Ancho and Guajillo chilis for three weeks before returning to oak for further maturation and eventually bottling with honey for refermentation.

The beer is truly delicious, the smoke, the spice and the acids are in just the right place. I knew I was always going to love this beer, but I didn't know I was going to love it this much. Ageing potential is 1-2 years I would say with the pepper slowing down but the smoke remaining an ever-present element in this bottle. Enjoy.

The label for You Live We Survive was a trial oil painting by Bernadette.

750ml, ABV: 6.0%
Approximately 3.6 Standard Drinks
Bottled: Jun 2024
Best Before: Jun 2028

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Each member will receive 1 x 750ml bottle of You Live We Survive 2024 as part of their membership.

We have an additional 108 x 750ml bottles available for Collective members to purchase on a first come basis from 12pm (AEDT) on Wednesday 19 February 2025. There is no bottle limit.