Elf Quarters
Modern Times Beer

 

 

Straight pour from a 750ml/1pt. 9.4 fl oz. crown capped bottle to a tall, narrow pint (Green Cheek nucleated flute). This was bottled in mid- to late-January? I picked this up in early February, and it’s been haaaaangin’ out since then. Given its farmhouse sacch/brett/lacto fermentation, it should be just fine. I really like a good wit, love kumquats, and always enjoy a properly done brett beer, so I’ve been looking forward to this quite a bit.

Appearance (4.0): This sucker pours out a good four-plus fingers of crackly, bone-white foam, capping a pale, straw-yellow body that’s pleasantly, thinly hazy with wonderful translucence. The head is extremely active, dying down at a moderate rate with raucous eruptions of a few big, fat bubbles and countless weak, fizzly bubbles around all sides. It resolves into a few wide, scattered patches of delicate lacing. Sure looks like a witbier, but with the hyperactive head of a pale brett.

Smell (4.5): Bright apricot, tart lemonade, light and dusty cracked grains, floury pain de campagne crust with a sourdough rusticity, straw, dried flowers, slight grains of paradise and a hint of clove. Boy oh boy this is aromatic. Really loving the kumquat as it shines through, post-bottle fermentation—it’s bright and zingy and tart without coming off as cutting or astringent. The dominant notes here really are dusty straw, cracked grains, subtle mustiness, and a lemony citrus note. It’s gorgeous and rustic.

Taste (4.5): Whoa, brett comes through quite a bit more clearly here, with a moderately tart, very funky, slightly phenolic flavor blend that shows off slightly underripe kumquat and all of its pithy beauty. Beside it, a bright, underripe raspberry type of flavor—boosted by the bright lacto tartness—bursts through the floury, crusty, somewhat spicy, bready haze, like spring sunshine. Light clove and sweet orange peel mingle in an extremely tasteful swirl of phenols and esters. Yellow grapefruit tartness ties it all together, balancing the lean sweetness of that pilsner malt and gentle, starchy fruitiness of raw wheat. The brett, while very much present throughout the different components of this beer’s flavor profile, remains balanced in spite of its bombast, thanks to the way the kumquats draw together the brightest, most attractive aspects of the brett, lacto, and base witbier.

Mouthfeel (4.25): Here, it splits the uprights of brett blonde and witbier—it’s a perfect marriage, stylistically. The medium-coarse carbonation fits both, and the slightly starchy malt body also fits both. It’s dry as fuck, too, which again, is totally fitting. Aside from stylistic appropriateness, it’s also just really easy to drink: dry, somewhat on the light- side of medium-weight, a bit starchy, nice and tart, distributing carbonation evenly before washing out with a solid dryness, it’s crushable if you like pale, brett, or wit. It works.

Overall (4.25): Generally speaking, I love everything that’s going on here. It helps that I’m a sucker for kumquats (I had a small kumquat tree in my backyard in Florida when I lived there), like a well-executed witiber, and love brett when handled tastefully. I’m not sure the lacto did much to emphasize this beer’s best qualities, but whatever. I’m just psyched people are making beers like this alongside the avalanche of hazy (D)IPAs (which I adore) and pastry stouts (ehh). If I had my druthers, interesting stylistic hybrids made by extremely competent breweries would be in my rotation regularly. Very highly recommended.