BeanyTink’s Farmstead Ale – The Review

Seeing as how Wednesday’s update was about the brewing of BeanyTink's Farmstead Ale I figured it would be nice to follow it with a review of finished beer.  Once the site is in full swing and my old content is dried up I will no longer be able to do this so with this in mind I sat down over the weekend and cracked open one of my few remaining bottles. 

Once the beers warms any
haze present dissappears

12 ounce bottles poured into a Bruery tulip. The bottle was filled using the BeerGun approximately 1 month ago. Carbonation is still present and white. I’ll have to open up a bottle of Bourbon Barrel Aged Wookiee for comparison but based on the video review that Don did for it I would say the BeerGun method is good for holding carbonation.

Appearance:  The color is a beautiful golden orange, the head fades quickly.  Small bubbles approach the surface overall killer clarity with very slight amount of cloudiness if any.  It could be just minor chill haze as definitely fades away as it warms.  Swirling the glass causes a very small white had to develop which clings to the glass very well.

Aroma:  The nose on this is gorgeous, you detect the brett character as soon as the bottle is opened.   Really nice overall, it’s definitely funky, with slight amount of cattiness, spicy, lemon, maybe peppery with wet blanket notes on it. There is no hop aroma on this bad boy and swirling this beer creates an aroma that is a thing of beauty.  

After some swirling
Better shot of the clarity the beer
possesses

Mouthfeel:  Slightly tangy with nice tiny bubbles that bounce around at tongue with a little bit of fizzle.

Taste: mmm mmm mmm damn this is what I'm talking about.  This is everything that I want in the farmhouse style ale.  A good amount of funk from the brett character. It’s not too tarts definitively crisp and clean with very little bitterness to it.  The hops are definitely not the star of the show it's the brett.  There is an interesting hard to describe taste the very back of the palate.

Overall:  This might be one of the best beers I’ve ever brewed.  I am really impressed with this yeast (the true start here) and I am very glad I bought another vial it while it was still in season.  I’ve already nailed down what I’m going to use it in.  I'm very impressed by the way this came out, it's very nice surprise.  As a person who is very new to using/enjoying brettanomyces in beers I'm amazed at how well the yeast performs.  This is definitely going to be a candidate for my washing yeast experiments. I'm glad I made it I'm glad people liked this because I love it.  Drinking the last bottle of this is definitely going to be that bittersweet.  Definitely the last couple of months is have treated it well and the BeerGun and hold carbonation well.

La Choulette Framboise

I decided on the night of Bonnie and My anniversary that I needed to get a review on the site sooner than later.  So I went out to the beervault and pulled out one of my newer procurements, La Choulette Framboise, that I picked up at The Bruery Provisions the day before.   While drinking it I used the voice to text feature on my phone to send myself an email with my notes and impressions.

12 ounce bottle poured into a Bruery tulip, served at around 44-50. Label lists it as a French farmhouse ale brewed with raspberry juice.

Appearance: Purple-red with a slight garnet tint in head. Reflective light off the glass is a very deep red color. The frothy head clings well to side of glass with some lace lacing which barely sticks to the side of the glass

Aroma: Slight funky with tart raspberry. Bonnie detects an almost metallic smell, it’s very subtle and only something her super sniffer would pick up.  I can barely detect it, it similar to the difference between stainless steel aged chardonnay and chardonnay aged in oak barrels.  Somewhat of a “clean” smell in the back in my nose, by clean I mean the way a room smells after a thorough cleaning.  Not as much funk as I would've hoped for in a “farmhouse” ale but the aroma is very enjoyable and improve slightly as warms.   Swirling definitely helped bring out the raspberry character.

Mouthfeel: very small bubbles, some twang, bubbles pickle my upper lip. It has a very raspberry juice and champagne feel 

Taste: It’s definitely a raspberry beer, this is by far the most predominate flavor in the beer however it is not overpowering like some fruit beers.  The raspberry is very much in balance in this beer not overly raspberry.  It does have very little funk and is not as complex as I would've hoped

Overall: A decent beer but nothing extraordinary. Still it’s very clean very well brewed.  I went in wanting a nice funky soured beer and that probably clouded my review.  While I’ve stated a lot that I would have preferred more funk I am a lot happier with this beer than if it were listed as a farmhouse saison.  A little too fruity of a beer for what I would like in a farmhouse but to me farmhouse means a beer with a great funky bretty character smell and taste.

Cheers,

SNB