Flowers
Scratch Brewing Company

L - Golden color, thin white ring around the glass
S - grass, honey, bright floral notes, lemon, faint fruity esters reminiscent of a Belgian pale
T - honey, mild citrus tang, bready, peppercorn, grassy bitterness, a little tannic finish
F - slightly oily, relatively low carb
O - delicious and maybe my favorite bottle from this series

 

500ml

Huge thanks to Wil for my first sample of Scratch, which had to come all the way from NC! Flowers is a pretty beverage. It sits lively and pale golden in the tulip. A very light haze runs throughout, otherwise it's clean. The gold is polished and vibrant while a sturdy, white foam sits dolloped upon the surface. That foam is going nowhere anytime soon. This is what beer should look like.

What an interesting, depthful nose. It's full of bright florals and the house culture. A bright, deep wash of wildflowers begins this brew and runs all the way through. It's like walking through a field of wildflowers, while you pick up patches of this one here and that one there. There's a light, crackery malt base that allows the flowers to shine. It's softly citric, and bright, and acidic. The house culture brings about minerality in the form of rain soaked rock and earthy dampness. Dry, splintered oakiness rounds it out. This beer smells like the Earth produced it.

The flavor profile doesn't quite reach the depth and vivaciousness of the nose but it ain't far off. The floral qualities really round out nicely, It's amazing this beer has so many flowers yet is no way perfume heavy or off putting in any way. A bright citric punch pops up in the middle with sturdy minerality as mentioned above. The oak is soft and peripheral while a stone fruit tartness lingers after the swallow. Each sip brings something a little different to the table and nothing dominates. THis beer is in perfect harmony.

The body fits like a glove. It's light and airy with a softly prickly effervescence. The bubbles are tight and progress through the swallow. A soft tartness grabs the sides of the tongue while the finish is dry and just a touch tannic. Like I said, it's lively. Drinkability is off the charts high.

Scratch has done one hell of a bang up job with Flowers. It's bright and unique with a ton of depth and nuance. Their house culture adds all kind of character and the sheer ingenuity of this beer makes it a complete pleasure to sip. Thanks again, WIl!

 

A: golden as translucent, thin white head
S: sweet, floral, grape, honey, earthy, musty, rose
T: Grape, floral, rose, sweet, tonic, delicate, very light brett, lemon
M: Light with lighter carbonation
O: Very refreshing and unique.

 

Draft at the Beer Temple, part of a tasting event with Aaron and Marika from Scratch Brewing.
Brewed with marigold, borage, hyssop, bee balm and rose flowers.
Described as a Saison by the brewers, it doesn't contain any wild yeast or bacteria.
They also harvest the entire marigold plant (roots, stems, leaves, flowers) for their marigold beer.

Pale hazed yellow with a pastel tint, a finger of sturdy foam that has lasting power and leaves behind some spotty lace.
Floral aroma (duh), marigold seems most the identifiable, camphor and citrus oils. It's much more restrained than fresh marigolds, with a spicy Belgian saison yeast lending white pepper to compliment the floral blend.

Taste has a low level bitterness, with a lightly phenolic and peppery yeast presence. Floral elements are present but take second stage to the assertive yeast. Light citrus and botanicals. Medium bodied with a clean crisp feel, it finishes dry.
Overall this was a pretty cool beer to try. It's a very strong and well-made beer, though it may not necessarily be my first personal preference within this series, i'd happily drink it again.

a gorgeous botanical beer from these guys, brewed with a bunch of different flowers. one of the clearer of their beers i have seen, golden and bright in the glass with a pure white head and nice lace. it smells highly natural, grassy, bitter, and summery. so fresh its almost in bloom, really delicate but layered and interesting too, lightly belgian to me as well. the flowers have a little more aroma than they do flavor, i get a lot of their tea-like bitterness in the taste, especially the finish, almost coming in where hops would be in a more conventional saison type. there is a honey type sweet floral middle to this, really gentle flavors, some esters from the yeast play it up a little bit, and then a very dry finish that comes on almost a little too soon, like before this has a chance to really get going, but its incredibly easy drinking and refreshing, and it is very unique. i wish i could more readily detect specific flowers in here, there is something a little perfumy in the nose, not as intense as lavender but it could be, and then something kind of sweet too. its interesting beer, i wish i had more of it and more time with it, but i really adored this, and all of the scratch beer that has come to colorado this year! absolutely love this brewery!

edit: just had this in a bottle i found in the cellar, price tag of 22 bucks on it, i think i got this in the carolinas somewhere awhile back. its drinking great right now, more tart than i remember, but cleaner too on the yeast side than a lot of the other scratch sours, and the time in the cellar didnt hurt it at all, there is a lot of botanical character here still, really bright and fresh to me. as good as i remembered it being. man i love drinking beer from these guys! so does my lady, i asked if she wanted a glass and she said she wanted a cocktail and not beer, but then i told her it was scratch, she tasted it, and wanted to split the bottle!