Forgotten Flem Farmhouse Ale
Brau Brothers Brewing Co.

Forgotten Flem Farmhouse Ale pours a somewhat hazy golden and the head is a little thin and there is not a lot of lacing. The nose has light fruit and biscuit and a trace of hops. A slight over ripe fruit seasons peach and biscuit on the palate with traces of spiciness. Medium body and carbonation.

 

 

 

 

 

A: Golden brown with a huge white head. Great retention.
S: Yeast is very pronounced – a musty, onion-like earthiness. Underneath, a nutty brown malt.
T: Apples, honey, just a touch of sweetness. Malt is restrained with a faint tartness somewhere in there. Also shows a bit of earthy hops, but nowhere near what the aroma suggests. Finish is dry and a bit hoppy.
M: Medium to light body with crisp carbonation.

Based on the aroma, I was expecting this to be more of a saison, but the flavor was closer to something like Duvel. Not really a clone of any of the classics, but a nice beer if you like a crisp Belgian style pale ale.

Extremely high head retention.

 

 

 

Bottle: 12oz.

A- deep hazy orange, two finger head which disapates quickly leaving a thick sticky lacing behind.

S- smells dank, with a tart and hoppy smell, apricot, and pear. A lot of citrus hop and a dash of earthy hoppness. Not a sour smell like a lot of farmhouse ales.

T- hoppy up front Amazing Hop balance, sweet citrus hops start the flavor well, tricks you into thinking its a light malt ipa. Then the fruit kicks in the middle. Warm apricot, almost a Riesling wine flavor. Finishing with a light dank biscuity English malt. Well done, a remarkably well rounded ale. I wanna be at this farmhouse.

M- weird. Much lighter than expected. Medium carb. Fresh.

O- I rate my beers from the first smell/drink. My first impression was this is a good looking strange smelling brew. As I drank it, let it warm just a bit, I began to pay attention to the detail of the balance. Awesome balance. For the style, which I don't do a whole lot of a great brew.

 

Brau Brothers Forgotten Flem. Such an odd name. Despite the spelling, it makes you think of bodily fluids. Once you taste it, though, you know what they mean. It's also called a Farmhouse Ale on the label, and no farmhouse ale that I know of tastes like this.

Other than restating the population of Lucan, MN, there is no other information on this label, it is 100% gobbledygook-free. I can always search online, or even call up the Brau Bros myself, but until that happens, these notes, will, as always, take shape as I sip and slurp.

Before I do that, though, I will return my Brau Brothers pint glass to the cabinet, and pull out an appropriate Belgian-style glass, the least I can do. And does it ever look nice, now that I have!

Clear, and apricot toned, until prodigious head, leaving delicate lace, lasting long.

Aroma: sour, funky, fruity and weird, right from the get-go. Definitely some wild Belgian yeast strains at work. Particularly pickled and pungent. Sour cherries plus vinegar meets Jolly Ranchers candy. And then jumps in a box of old unwashed gym socks. (I only half mean that. Casting a wide net in order to nail down this peculiar permutation.)

I may have forgotten to mention that I like it, and that it does, eventually, veer closer to a true Flemish Red aroma.

Taste: Oooo! Ow! Yeow! Huh! Jump back! Make it funky now! Popcorn! Hah! The big pay-back! Maceo! Maceoooo!

(Sorry, sometimes my guttural exhortations transform me briefly into the ghost of James Brown.)

Where was I? Oh, man, this is sour stuff to start off with! What did they do, what yeast, what barrels, how aged, etcetera? All will be know eventually, I can only speculate and sip. So, again…odd, funky, wild, then sweet, then sour again. Definitely Belgian yeast action. Then malt and fruit shine brightest. (There is no expression of hops felt here.) Body gets lean and mellow, starts feeling smooth and lovely, and acts utterly consumable. Let's try it again, shall we?

Fresh and zesty, despite it's age. (This is not a new product, and I feel fortunate to still find it at Chicago Lake liquors, not a store known as a secret haven for the connoisseur.) The spark and the spank on the palate continues, although it definitely cools from the initial slap. Lays rather light, inevitably, on the palate, though all the flavors remain in place.
What we have, it seems, is a south western Minnesota version of a saison, hit with funky Belgian yeast. Tasty, refreshing stuff. Slight bitterness emerges, unfelt earlier. I'm liking this more and more, and feel like I'll end up liberating the remaining 6-ers from that shop.

Poured from a 12 oz. brown bottle into a clear tulip glass.

Appearance: A slightly hazy deep golden color with a one finger off-white foam head. Foam receded quickly and left some nice lacing.

Smell: Sweet and tart aroma with an interesting tang from the yeast. Slightly sour smelling, like green apples.

Taste: Like it smells, it is very sweet with light malts and some hops, but the real star of the flavor is the interesting yeast flavors. They offer a little tart fruit and a bit of spice. Very unique yeast flavor and I like it.

Mouth feel: Good soft carbonation and a sweet finish.

Overall: Saison farmhouse ales come in a wide variety of interpretations, some work and some don't. This one works for me because of the prominent yeast profile and the yeast flavors. Might not be for everyone, but I like it quite a bit.

Hazy orange, lighter along the bottom and growing murkier toward the top. Cap is thin but sticky.

Aroma betrays a little sourness but mainly a chaff-y mustiness. Slightly spiced but sweet.

Flavor has a slight vanillin flavor behind a tartness up front. It's all a facade, as the carbonation pulls everything away all too quickly. Musty peppers towards the middle-back.

Body is light, carbonation high, finishes lemony but thin. Lacks a joie de vivre that would really kick this up to a Flemish level, but for an American midwest saison it's not too bad.