Epic/Crooked Stave Elder Brett tasting

I learned of this new collaboration between SLC’s Epic & Colorado’s Brettanomyces-focused Crooked Stave earlier this week via the Utah Beer blog.  It’s fairly big saison that was then aged with four strains of Brett in white wine barrels that previously held Epic’s Belgian golden strong ale fermented with peaches, Brainless on Peaches.  Snagged a bottle of this yesterday, and after allowing it time to settle and chill at home, enjoyed it last night.  It certainly made an interesting accompaniment to watching The Two Towers.

Date - 27 January 2012

Venue - My house

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Poured gold with a substantial head that collapsed after a couple minutes.  White wine and green apple in the nose; the taste brought more white wine, phenolics from the  yeast, light tartness, and maybe a little fruit.  The mouthfeel was pretty light, with medium carbonation; it didn’t sit heavy in the mouth, and definitely didn’t come across as nearly 9%.  Overall, it was interesting, but didn’t deliver the funk I was expecting.  That may simply mean I need more experience with various strains of Brett, but for me, this beer was dominated by the wine that was originally in the barrels.  Given that there’s been a full run of another strong beer through those barrels prior to this, that wine character really seems to be going the distance.  I’ll be curious to learn if the Brett is still active in the bottles; if so, I’ll probably pick up a couple more bottles to age and see if any more barnyard/musty/funk character develops.

- Br. Absalom