Raised Bed
Plan Bee Farm Brewery

 

 

Small note: buddy mentioned it could be the beginning of a pediococcal fermentation. Plan Bee noted it occurring with a bottle of Pickle back in 2019, possibly the culprit here as well

Poured from a bottle (23Sep2020) into a plan bee stemmed glass

L: gusher and then some. Incredibly carbonated, even after sitting in an open bottle for ~20 minutes. Came from the 42 degree fridge, had been in there for at least a week - strange. Huge chunky white lacing left as the head eventually dissipates. Pour is a completely opaque darker orange yellow (imagine lees kicked up given the level of carbonation?), aggressive visible carbonation at the edge

S: mixed views on the nose here. Get some of that great plan bee wild ale base, herbs come through nicely as well. Some lemon, pineapple. Fighting against it is some of that band aid phenol aroma, which isn’t great - and grows as it’s warmed

T: yeah, follows the nose in a bad way. The band aid phenolic character takes over shortly after those fruit and wild ale funk notes. Medicinal and sour in an off-way, not to the point of being revolting but enough that I’m good after half a glass

F: weird. It’s almost thick from the level of carbonation or being infected or something. Very off for a wild ale. Slightly drying

O: miss for sure. There’s something positive in the aroma, and the flavor has some rewarding moments, but that phenolic character is a significant detractor and the mouthfeel is just not good

Not a bad version of the style. Big time fluffy white head on this one-opened a gusher. Plenty of funk, tartness, and lemon on both the smell and taste. Fresh, light, and acidic with a dry finish. Boozier feel than it actually is. The lemon has a viable presence, but I’m wondering if it would have been stronger fresher.

 

 

Almost clear, light gold pour with a finger of fluffy foamy that quickly kicks back to lasting ring.

Full aroma and then some, vinegar and overripe fruit funk with some sharp citrus and tang notes.

Wow, a blast of flavors, lemon limey funk, acetic tart, overripe fruit, earthy bite with a spicy edge to it, and end of sip is some righteous rotted fruit funk with vinegar and deep composty notes. Aroma prepares one inadequately for this. Outstanding.

Very easy drinking for this much flavor, full bodied for style with just the right spritzy carb. Finish is monstrous and delicious sharp linger.

Full flavored and very tart, full of great flavors, intense, refreshing, delicious, satisfying. Highly recommended for those who enjoy strong flavors brightly and abundantly portrayed.

 

of all the plan bee beers we had in an awesome session, this i think was the one i was most looking forward to, but was also the one that delivered the least in my opinion. it is far more sour than the others we had, a really pretty sharp acidic profile to it, and i think thats a bit too aggressive and dominant for all the mellow herbs its brewed with, their subtlety and definitely their delicate nature is lost to the sourness, which for me is a shame, if this was tamed back and it had the bretty funkiness of most of the rest of them, it would be incredible. still neat to have these herbs in here, big tea and lemon notes for me, lemongrass, even light basil or something savory and culinary, floral like lavender but not too intense or perfumey, its more lively in aroma than flavor, where citrus meets acid, and there is little room for anything else, some musty funk and a little white wine oak perhaps, but its not as complex as i hoped it would be. overall a cool idea, but surprisingly the execution isnt quite there, or else it got too sour in the bottle over time, i didnt see a date on it, but this was markedly more sour than the other plan bee ales we popped. delicious still, but not what i had hoped for with all the cool botanicals in it...

Plan Bee Farm Brewery "Raised Bed"
375 ml. brown glass bottle, capped and waxed. Seemingly without production codes or freshness dating.
$12 at the brewery on 1 September 2018

Notes via stream of consciousness: From a longstanding bottle it's poured a clear yellow gold body beneath a short head of bright white foam. The aroma suggests "tartness", and is a little like dill, well, actually a lot like dill, and otherwise herbal with some almost basil but not quite sweet Italian basil, and sage... and then a drop of pineapple juice. It's interesting, and if you like herbal and botanical beers it's great. This is one of the things they do best. Looking at the label by the way, it's lemon verbena, lemongrass, lemon basil, bee balm, and pineapple mint. Hmmm, I didn't get any lemon until reading that, but yes, lemon as well. On to the flavor... it's pretty tart but not super tart, it's not puckering. As a fan of sour beers I may be more used to it though. I'd cal it a five on a chart of one to ten. There's some sweetness to the malt as well, and a bit of mineral. It's a little like a Flintstones vitamin if they had an herbal flavor. And speaking of herbs, or the herbs in use, I get lemon something, what I think of as sage but is apparently not, a touch of basil, and just a very little bit of pineapple and mint, both mainly in the finish, which is dry and lightly acidic. I don't seem to be finding any bitterness in here although I'm sure there's some. Back to the flavor itself, I'm finding something that's a little like melon, and is there some cucumber? I guess those are just coming from a combination of things, or I'm completely imagining them based on what my brain knows of the things I am really tasting. It's one of those beers that you just sit with and linger over, sometimes thinking about what you're tasting, and other times just letting it go. It's a nice beer to sip at. In the mouth it's light bodied and gently crisp. Any more carbonation would make it too sharp and bristling. So, what to say about it? Number one, Plan Bee makes some unique beers. I don't think they're for everyone but I wonder how they would sell in Belgium. They certainly wouldn't sell in Germany, at least not yet, maybe in ten or fifteen years. Number two, their beers are all well made. It's hard to balance sour beers, and botanical beers in general, but they've pulled it off in all of the beers I've had from them; well, at least the sour part, not all of them have been botanical beers. I have to say that for anyone who's adventurous with their beers this is definitely worth checking out!
Review#6,354

Liquid sweeTarts. Super tart but very enjoyable.