Barrel Aged Morning Breaks
White Birch Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somehow haven't cracked this yet, but I've really been waiting to. Batch 1, shared with many friends. White Birch is like the epitome of hit or miss, and I remember this one really hitting well.

Pours no head, clear golden pilsner color.

Nose sour malt, malt vinegar, tart fruit like but no real fruit, lacto like sour funk,

Taste plenty of sour funk, tart fruit like, light oak barrel, vinegar, etc. Light lacto creamy but sour, light acidic, hint grainy bready funk. Finish is quite tart, pear like fruit, sticky sour funk bit some bitterness too.

Mouth is med bodied, lower carbonation surprisingly for a wild.

Overall quite nice, great sour flavors and funk, not really a fruit sour more a malt and funk sour beer, but quite nice.

 

Batch 1 bottled 11/23/2010
I have found that White Birch corked and caged bottles are best open with a corkscrew. That's my PSA for today. Pours a crystal clear golden color with a decent sized white head that recedes rather quickly. Smells a little tart and a little funky with lemons and sour cherries mixed with some earthy funk and enough of the barrel aromas to keep this really interesting. Taste is less inspiring than the aroma lead on. Tart lemon juice up front quickly sweetens with brown sugar then fades quickly to a bit of oak and bourbon. Light level of carbonation with a sweet tart kind of mouthfeel and a medium body. This smells fantastic, tastes ok but really needs a bit more complexity. There's a huge deficit of bubbles which if added could really wake this up.

 

 

This is a lovely beer.

Bright, golden, tropical, sour, tasty.

The sour is subtle and takes an off stage roll to the notes of pineapple, mango, and citrus that are the star. It's has a Chardonnay taste with slight hints of champagne carbonation. By slight hints I mean slight hints. I think it needs more bubbles.

On a side note I love the taste of sours but not the smells.

Batch one. Bottle 194 of 288

Picked this bottle up on my usual visits to NH at Berts Better Beer store. Bottle is Batch one and cant recall the exact bottle number.

Shared this at a local NOVA BA tasting this past weekend, and everyone loved it. This brew took everyone by suprise as it was not what we were expecting. The brew poured a golden color with clouds swarming around inside. A bit of white head formed and hung around a bit. A bit of carbonation with a medium body took people by surprise as it was not overly sour. The sweet flower/fruit flavors were the prominent flavor in this brew. The sourness was there and helped add deminsion to this drink and the other flavors. Really enjoyed this and hopefully will see it again, though I am happy i have one bottle left!

Poured from a bottle shared by whiterascal into a snifter.

Pale, clear honey in color. A few bubbles appear upon the pour, but they disappear like water. Only a microscopic ring of bubbles remains.

Funky nose, like hay in the saddle. Light tartness, green and red apple, some citrus, grass. Maybe a hint of white grape and oak.

It seems before the swallow that it’ll be more tart than it is, but the puckering blast never really strikes, though it still retains a bit of funk. Red apple, hay, wheat, light lemon, pear juice, a tiny hint of oak.

The beer feels nearly flat, with some extremely light massaging carb. The body’s a nice, velvety medium. The tartness is good, never getting out of control, though it does feel a little funny on the teeth. Crisp finish.

I wouldn’t say that I’d go out of my way to get Morning Breaks, but it is a brisk, drinkable sour with nice tropical fruit notes. It’d make a good summer beer.

Thanks to Kurt at Gordon's for hooking me up with this bottle, #51 out of 288. It comes out a nice glowing golden color, with a small amount of lacing. While initially the nose is full of tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, lemon), there is something a little off in the background. I have detected it is some bottles of the Berliner Weiss, so I am guessing it is some sort of issue with the yeast being used. Fairly lactic beer here, exhibiting some cider qualities. Not too much carbonation, and the sourness is kept pretty mild. The alcohol is masked well; I would have never guessed it at 9%. I am having no problem getting to the bottom of this bottle. Final thoughts are that this is a nice, and interesting version of an American Wild. If the off aroma was eliminated, this would place very high with me in this style. Worth a try for sure.

Good out to bobby for crackin this out.

A: poured a murky pale golden orange with pale yellow highlights and had a very thin head leaving very little lacing sticking to the glass.

S: upfront had lots of acidic sour notes with oaky, bretty funky, and citrusy aromas but had very mild vinegar character.

T: the vinegar was more apparent on the taste alongside citrusy, oaky, bretty funky, apple, sour acidic accents and a touch of vinous notes coming through as well.

M: the brew was medium in body with a low amount of carbonation which had a citrusy, oaky, fruity, vinous, and sour finish.

D: it was a easy drinking wild ale but was just decent all around. It was still pretty tasty and glad to have the opportunity in trying it out. .

Presentation: 750 mL bottle poured into my tulip glass. Served slightly chilled. Bottle #79 of 288, 9% ABV.

Appearance: Golden pale straw yellow with yeast suspended throughout. A touch cloudy as well. Not really an head or retention.

Aroma: Tart green apple and lemon zest notes. A good deal of lactic acid sourness. Slight oak and vanilla barrel notes weave quite well into the flavor. More tropical fruits and barnyard funk round out the aroma.

Taste: The lemon zest notes really are prominent here. The barrel backing notes are a bit more noticable than in the aroma. More musk and funk as well. The sourness is nowhere near as well developed when compared to the aroma.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and rather low carbonation.

Drinkability: The alcohol is very well hidden, like most White Birch beers. The flavors are balanced enough and there is nothing really that offends to keep me from finishing the whole bomber.

Overall, a nice wild ale with some good charateristics. I think there needs to be a more prominent sour character to this as the muskiness really dominates the taste. The barrel components are also quite nice. Definitely a nice beer, just nothing too spectacular.

A rare White Birch tick shared by Bobby. Thanks!

A: The beer pours a clear golden color with a short lived white head.

S: Smells incredibly fruity. A lot of typically Belgian Pale Ale type notes here like pears and sweet apples, but there is quite a bit of lactic acidity which makes it quite lemony. The oak is very prominent and provides an intense vanilla sweetness. There is just a bit of funk to it, and it's mostly must and grass, perhaps some cork.

T: Intensely lactic with a big lemon tartness. The strong oak character is present on the palate as well. A big vanilla sweetness exists as a result. There is a bit of spice, again indicating some sort of Belgian beer, and there is a bit of pineapple, too.

M: The body is medium with a moderate level of carbonation. The finish is slightly dry.

D: I was expecting the worst going into this one, but it turned out to be pretty decent.