Barrel Aged Blackberry And Raspberry Farmhouse Vultures
Werk Force Brewing Co

 

Pale brick red with a moderate off-white head of foamy bubbles settling to a sparse film and thin ring.

This exhibits plentiful herbal bush berries that translate as vinous to an almost wine-like degree bolstered by an acidity that is in good balance.

Blackberries up front, raspberries in the back. It's nice to have a fruited beer with both that still distinguishes between the two. This one is lovely, gentle, and vinous, in keeping with the wine barrels the base beer rested in with the fruit. There are still soft hints of a saison base, with some straw and malty biscuit on the mid-palate and finish. It works well to complement the fruit and barrels, instead of the same generic golden sour that many breweries dump fruit into these days. Well balanced and deserving the recent gold medals it garnered from FoBAB.

12oz draft pour into a snifter shows a robust, ruddy, reddish, purple and floats a 1/2" head of tight pink bubbles that fade to an island and ring. Easily regenerated with agitation and legs it out back to the ring leaving the glass clean behind.

Aroma is an exciting blend of berry(mostly black), oak, and wine. I think I could smell this all day. Air freshener, Werk Force?

Flavor seems muted at draft temp, but still the tart berries shine through, highlighted with oak, wine grapes, and tannins. Raspberries are prominent up front, with blackberries coming in close behind and currents maintaining and rounding out the finish. No indication whatever of booze in the flavor: dangerous. As it comes up to room temperature,
Reminiscent of sangria, maybe a slushie is in the future?

Mouthfeel is light and bubbly, yet a tannin influence induces a slight chew.

Overall a nice change of pace for the summer.

2020 vintage. Poured a dark ruby with a fizzy head. Thin bodied on the pour.

On the nose are light fruit with blackberry winning out, light dry red wine as well and no funk detected.

Flavor was subtle berries and dry red wine backbone and tannins. No funk here either with light tartness. Mouthfeel was not overly carbed, light body.

This is a nice fruit beer between styles that plays well with the wine but is too subtle to stand out. Maybe better as a summer beer but would need to be a little more refreshing.

Nice beer but wouldn't qualify this as a saison or even a farmhouse ale...

Super dry.. lots of fruit... not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this. Hoping for a little more funk from the barrel...lots of vinousness ..

Shared with the wife and she enjoyed it a bit more than me. First can seemed better than this one as well..

Pours a dark saturated reddish-purple tone, with a couple fingers of pinkish purple foam. Looks like a ton of blackberry in this.

Aroma is fruity like juice, with some deep raspberry tones.

Tart with a big presence of juicy, seedy blackberries and raspberries, as advertised. Dense and flavorful with some yeastiness on the back end. It has some texture and light effervescence, but fairly thin-bodied and juice-like. Light tartness. Overall it’s a tasty fruit bomb if that’s what you’re after, could use some barrel complexity as it seems lost in the mix a little bit.

Thanks to Bill for this one!

 

Appearance - The beer poured a purple-ish color with a white head and visible carbonation.

Smell - There was a nice berry nose that revealed little funk. Blackberries were stronger than the raspberries.

Tastes - It was not corrupted by a ton of fruit puree, but this was very berry forward. There was more tartness than sweet, but it was balanced. I did not detect much farmhouse funk.

Mouthfeel -The berries contributed to the gritty farmhouse feel that allowed the profile to linger.

Overall - I thought this one was a very drinkable farmhouse, though not necessarily true to style.

Had on tap. Best beer from werk force in a while. Taste has this amazing combination of jammy berries, a bridge of oak sour and tartness combining with the berries leading into a finish with wine and funky yeast. Very pleasant in flavor and body. Very fruity and refreshing in the feel but a tad watery in some sips. Nice work!

Farmhouse Vultures with Blackberries and Raspberries

11/17/18 (Chicago): 8.0% ABV 2 oz pour into taster glass at 2018 FOBAB (Booth 030). I worked this row as a volunteer the previous evening, and this was my favorite fruit beer offering which the FOBAB judges concured as this was awarded the 2018 FOBAB Gold Medal in the Fruit Beer category. Werk Force also scored a silver in the Fruit Beer category The Legend of Birger which was very good as well.

Light red pour, foamy pinkish head which dissipates after 2 of minutes. Excellent balanced aroma, wine and blackberries, not too sweet. Excellent tasting saison, blackberries and raspberries forward taste, slightly dry. Wine blend works really well. Light mouth feel, very crisp clean. This is one of my favorite saisons ever. Plainfield is hard for me to get to, but will look for their products down the road. Well done and congratulations!