Bière De Table Barrel Aged
The Kernel Brewery

 

 

 

 

Bottled and bottle conditioned

Bottle conditioned; Special
Dry hopped with Hersbrucker, blended with London Sour.

Bottle conditioned; Special
Dry hopped with Hersbrucker, blended with London Sour.

 

 

 

 

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London recently, bottle-conditioned in a 330ml brown bottle; bottled on 12/06/2013, BB 12/06/2014, served lightly-chilled in a Hapkin’s branded short-stemmed tulip-shaped sniffer. Notes: this batch is Barrel Aged #4; the back label specifies this beer is dry hopped with Hersbrucker and blended with London Sour.

A: pours a cloudy, pale straw colour, coming with a thin layer of white foamy head lasting very well, while carbonation remains lively but not over the top.
S: tangy lime zest and sour apples come in a savoury-acidic fashion, while funky wild yeasts and farmhouse ale’s exotic esters intertwine to deliver a semi-sharp but not astringent sourness; herbal hoppiness from the Hersbrucker dry-hopping is also vividly felt, while barrel ageing (presumably white wine barrels are used) lends extra grapey-fruity aroma all in all. Given a very good swirl, a creamy estery aroma and light malts emerge to complement the already nicely complex nose.
T: lightly effervescent on the entry, the foretaste is surprisingly settled with very lightly-flavoured tangy funks and sour fruits leading the theme, but quickly ensued by a sherry-like dry-ish undertone likely attributed to the barrel-ageing process, as well as a steady flow of herbal-floral aftertaste probably due to the Hersbrucker dry-hopping. Clean, lightly tangy, well-attenuated in the finish, fairly decent and approachable, not quite tart as the aroma leads me to anticipate.
M&O: fairly lively on the mouthfeel, which is rendered dry-ish at the end of each sip by the oak-ageing process, while the body at times feels a bit thin as the flavour profile is neat and a bit weak (in malts) in general. This is not to discount the depth of flavours though; simply maybe the beer base is not so well suited for barrel-ageing, I wonder? Still, quite successful in terms of skilful blending and this is a very easy drinking saison all in all.