The Frais: Strata
de Garde Brewing

 

Pours a hazy light brown color with a very slight head and lacing
Aroma has hop and Brett hints
Taste has a hop and Brett flavor
A medium bodied decently carbonated beer with a nice sour and tartness
A good Wild Ale

Cloudy opaque golden orange appearance with a full finger of eggshell white foam, lazy lacing abounds. Splintered bright oak, dry hops, orange zest, and big dry funk make up the smell. Taste adds some peach skins, flowers, and a whisper of strawberry skin. Feel is bright, dry, yet wild and decently sour, though hoppiness is strong.

Only have had a handful of De Garde brews. This one is fairly simple. Flavor profile is good, and I love the addition of wet hops in a wild ale. Nice acidity and great aroma, but overall it fell a little flat for me. Perhaps I have come to expect such great things from De Garde. Still a solid beer, but i know De Garde has better.

 

bottled september of this year. wild beer with wet hops is not common, and this was a special treat, so cool to find a bottle on a shelf in tacoma, and to be able to drink this with a close friend and in close proximity to some other exceptional beers from de garde. the appearance of this was a little surprising to me, quite murky, straw colored, and without the amount of bottle conditioned head i am used to in their beers, not unattractive or still looking, but not as refined or as lively either, but it smells insane. im not sure i could pick the strata out specifically though the tang of the wild yeasts, this is tart and mouthwatering right away, and fermentation first, even in front of the hops, but its oily and obviously fresh, liberally dry hopped, and citrus forward, with a slightly candied lemon and orange thing happening along with a deeply herbal note, green tea or something. the flavor is delicious too, mandarin oranges from the can, lemon verbena, white wine, neutral oak, light clover honey, fuller bodied and raw wheaty to me, a little thick and soupy without uplifting carbonation, but its not lifeless either, maybe a little more time in the bottle would have polished it a bit, but it tastes really nice. some pineapple and passion fruit in the hops too, nicely complimentary to the moderate acidity. some kiwi fruit suggests the new school genetics of the strata to me, but its still big citrus. flavorful beer, i just think the overall refinement level is not quite up to what i have come to know and expect from these guys, but i love the idea of the wet hops in a beer like this, and hope to try the other variants it looks like they do. unique as can be, over the top juicy, still woody and funky like all their stuff, real good even if a little raw...