Halfway To Whangarei Grissette
8 Wired Brewing Co.

 

Bottle from Market of Choice.

A clear light yellow with a dense, white head with good retention and lacing, this looks great. Age has diminished the dry hop character, but has allowed the Brett to fully develop. Raw, rustic, grainy, funky and earthy, this is a delight. Light mint and lemon hop notes are present. Clove and a little plastic are present. As it warms up, the nose opens up beautifully with notes of melon and pear, and a delicate spice note. The palate opens bone dry with crisp carbonation, almost scrubbing the flavors off before they have a chance to register. Light floral honey, pear, light lemon and citrus peel notes and a modest funk are present. A nice balance of clove and pineapple is present, complementing the straw and pils malt notes. Light in body and highly effervescent, this beer has a lingering Brett note on the finish. Excellent, though I wish this was cheaper than $10/bottle

 

A: Pours up a clear gold, with a pillowy, white, three finger, head.
S: Hints of brett and pilsner malt come out immediately, followed by a slight wheaty tartness.
T: Very clean graininess with understated brett up front, followed by a slight tartness and a well proportioned bitterness, some hints of lime and pear, no real sourness.
M: Dry.
O: A very pleasant grissette, it handles what bretty characteristics it has with an uncharacteristic grace, if I had any complaint it would be that the beer comes off watery at points. Good, worth at try if you see it.

Bottle

A: Light mineral and funk with yeast esters of fruit and light spice.

A: Gold color, light haze, dense, uniform, white head with solid retention, light lacing in the glass.

T: Lightly crisp, moderately light brett funk, lemon, lightly foral with a dry finish.

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

O: Solid; the beer has a nice brett addition without being overwhelming, though could be a bit more expressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slightly hazy straw colored pour with a big fluffy white head. Aroma of grain and barnyard funk. Taste is has lots of spice flavors with black pepper standing out. Can also taste some light lemon and cracker. Highly carbonated and very dry.

Poured into a tulip glass. A hazy pale yellow straw color with a very large and frothy bright white head despite a careful pour. Spicy and peppery on the nose. Some citrusy and floral notes. Also a bit of white bread. I noticed the spiciness on the early palate. Dry and peppery. The fruity and floral elements were there but subdued. White bread again on the back palate and an earthy Brett presence. A bit overcarbed IMO and light-bodied with a dry finish.

 

 

 

500ml bottle - made in collaboration with San Diego's Modern Times Beer, who provided their house Brett strain to the project.

This beer pours a hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and pillowy bone-white head, which leaves some randomly splattered chunky lace around the glass as it steadily recedes.

It smells of bready and doughy pale malt, fruity Kiwi hops (orange, gooseberry, and guava), a softly funky yeast/bacterial infection essence, some rainbow peppercorn spiciness, and very subtle leafy and floral green hop bitters. The taste is big (yet restrained) mixed fruity esters - gooseberry, lemon, orange, and peach - gritty and grainy pale malt, wheat crackers, a softy earthy minerality, strangely coy yeasty notes, a thankfully ephemeral Brett funkiness, aerosol ground pepper, and more rather understated floral and musty hoppiness.

The carbonation is obviously quite overzealous up front, but soon settles to a nicely coddling frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, just a wee, wee bit of yeastiness kicking about. It finishes off-dry, the blended malt persisting, alongside some fading fruit and still reserved-seeming beasties.

Overall, this is a very well-made version of this unacknowledged style here, given the handful of prior examples I've had to go by - the yeast/Brett combo is kept well in check (always a fan of that), and the fruitiness from the NZ hops does a bang-up job of further flavouring this offering. I had to look up what 'Whangarei' even was (a city, apparently), and I'm now glad to have made its acquaintance, in this roundabout manner.