Symphonic
Wiseacre Brewing - Broad Ave OG

Clear gold, highly effervescent, with a finger and a half of yellowed head. Settles into a cap and leaves thick wavy lacing.

Pear, light funk and light wood in the nose.

A little juicy pear and honey crisp in the taste, but overall quite dry and oaky.

Fairly thick feeling with strong carbonation.

Not a ton of depth, but very pleasant nonetheless. I’m enjoying it. 2016 bottle.

BOTTLE: Brown glass bottle with a black and silver pry-off cap. 1 pint 6 fl oz "bomber" format. Ran me $6 USD plus tax on-sale at a beer store in New Orleans, LA. 2016 vintage.

"American wild ale fermented in oak barrels." 6% ABV.

APPEARANCE: Clear obviously filtered golden copper. No yeast/lees are visible. Head is soft, white, and fluffy but dies within 1 minute. Thin and short-lasting.

AROMA: Berries. Tartness. 2-row barley. Pink peppercorn. Muted white oak. Wine grapes. Floral aromatics. Strawberry. Pear. Some barnyard brettanomyces bruxellensis funkiness. Subdued clove.

The brettanomyces lends a nice funkiness that captures my attention when coupled with the oak, but one could imagine it still more expressive and evocative and I'm not picking up on any bacterial complexity or microfloral intricacy. Hints at subtle soft juicy pear to good effect.

Aromatic intensity is average.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Sourness is minimal (maybe a 2/10 in terms of intensity), but it has a clean funkiness from brettanomyces bruxellensis (no lambicus here) and some mild tartness that accents the fruit. Soft pear is hinted at but isn't explicit. 2-row barley. Grass. Barnyard twang. Hay. Scintillae of clove and peppercorn. Smacky apple cidre vinegar. Apple skin.

Acidic but not egregiously so. Refreshing. Light to medium-bodied. Smooth. Wet. Not oily, astringent, harsh, rough, scratchy, or otherwise problematic. Could be softer.

The oak isn't overt enough, and just sits mild in the background. I swear I taste wine grapes...maybe I've had too much? But estery pear-emphatic Chardonnay is there, meseems.

It's well-executed for a wild ale, throwing out all the right notes just not with the right intensity or balance. I want more rich white oak, more pear, more brettanomyces, more funkiness...more!

OVERALL: A nice $6 pear-forward Summer sipper, but not top tier for a wild ale - not even trying for bacterial or microfloral complexity and downplaying the oak to its detriment. More chamber 4-piece orchestra than symphony by my estimation, but nevertheless worth the price of admission.

B- / WORTHY

 

Poured into a snifter. A hazy golden yellow color with a medium white head. The aroma was faint pears with hay, grass, and slight barnyard funk. This was not too tart on the palate. A gentle funkiness with the pear and grassy notes. Dry finishing. Overall a very enjoyable beer.

 

Boy I was really looking forward to this one, but ultimately fell flat for me. Not that it isn't good, but it is pedestrian. The lager yeasts seemed to clash with the wild and cherry notes of the smell and especially in the taste. Would have been better served with different type of cherries I think. Just felt in between styles, and not in a good way. Again, taste ok, but not what I was hoping for

Not being a fan of this fad in American Wilds, I can confess ignorance that a lager can be made into a Wild.
Yet, here is such a transformation and it is done very, very well.

You don't have to be pretty to be a good beer and these Looks prove it: murky and flat, bordering on the confused.
Smells tell me all sorts of fruit coming my way... and they have been tarted-up.
Just enough tart to please a brett-phobe. How a Taste this refined is produced, only a Wiseacre can say.
While not full in the mouth, it finishes pleasantly dry and went well with both a pasta red sauce and a basil pesto.
Big points for those pairings.... and the audacity to subject a doppelbock to brett... and the skill to get away with it.

Got in a BIF from jdell15. 22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, no bottle dating. Pours fairly hazy pale golden/straw color with a 1-2 finger fairy dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings around the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the lace. Aromas of big lightly tart/sour lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, honeydew melon, raspberry, strawberry, red/green apple, white wine, hay, straw, grass, oak, wheat, and cracker; with light notes of leathery/musty funk, vanilla, white vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/funky/light acidic yeast, oak barrels, and light-moderate pale malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big lightly tart/sour lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, honeydew melon, raspberry, strawberry, red/green apple, white wine, hay, straw, grass, oak, wheat, and cracker; with light notes of leathery/musty funk, vanilla, white vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light fruity/lactic tart/sourness and yeast/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, honeydew melon, raspberry, strawberry, red/green apple, white wine, hay, straw, grass, oak, wheat, cracker, light funk/vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/light acidic yeast, oak barrels, and light-moderate pale malt flavors; with a great malt/tartness/spiciness balance, and zero puckering flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from tart/spiciness. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, and fairly grainy/acidic/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Fairly crisp/clean finishing. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6%. Overall this is an excellent wild ale. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/light acidic yeast, oak barrels, and light-moderate pale malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink with the mildly lactic/tannic/drying finish. Not a ton of Lacto, but decent; was hoping for more. The Brett complexity is awesome, and really spot on in complexity. Great oak presence and balancing pils/wheat malts. A very enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

 

Pours an effervescent & loud gold/bronze color with a thumb of cream colored head that just vanishes befor my very eyes. Minimal head retention & less lacing, becomes murky as bottle is drained

S: Wet hay, Golden Delicious apples, sourness

T: Honey crisp apples, a little lemon sweet tart, dryness , white grape. Apple, raspberry & lemon tartness, some dryness & sourness as well along with crisp pear, along with a touch raspberry vinegar once warm. Finishes with raspberry, unsweetened applejuice, white wine notes to include oakyness,

MF: Light body, delicate carbonation, acidity builds as it warms & tooth clinging stickyness

A tasty & drinkable take on the style. If you like sours/wild ales, seek this one out