Terroir Series - Napa Ale
Mad Fritz

Unkown vintage; drank 6/22/23 @ the Beer Temple.

See-through yellow/orange appearance.

Small off-white head; decent lacing remained.

Dandelion & lemon peel notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Dandelion & lemon flavors; mild dry booze heat notes on the finish.

A nice beer!

Ok, I didn't know what to expect. When I read the description, I was expecting more an amber pale ale, but when I poured it, the look was of a Belgian pale ale with a lovely head on it. The smell didn't help as I didn't really pick up anything beyond an earthy smell. However, after the first taste, I realized this was a really good tasting beer. Fresh, balanced, and just the nice amount of malts, hops and a yeast which is not too front and center. This is a great spring/summer beer. So refreshing!

 

each time i have a beer from these guys i am more and more impressed, its all so good and so interesting. this is a single origin ale as they call it, with grain they grew and malted themselves, napa hops and water, and a belgian sort of yeast. this crosses a lot of styles to me, but might most closely resemble a belgian pale, on the maltier side, which is why i listed it as such, but it also sort of tastes like an esb to me, with the malts really having a bready almost english complexion, and the yeast contributing to that some too. it also has farmhouse elements, as the yeast profile is rustic and a little funky, and it has that lightness, brightness, and wheaty complexion. its amazing stuff though, however we categorize it, my favorite of the recent round of beers i had from them. i love the grains, sort of lightly malted, well short of caramelized in that sense, and seemingly short boiled, almost just lightly baked, mellow but so flavorful and earthy. the hops are bitter and grassy but not overly flavorful, very european to me, and the yeast has some winey esters and sort of crosses between clean belgian and farmhouse saison. hints of pear and citrus and apple and coffee cake. the interaction of all the elements is special, refined, and unique to this particular place and beer. i love this kind of thing, really terroir forward beer, even more than i could imagine in any wine because there are more components here. this is as highly refined as beer can be. world class glass of ale. if you dont like (or at least respect) this, you arent a beer drinker. not in a mean way, but this is the essence of the craft...

edit: there is some definite variability to this from batch to batch, but thats part of what terroir is, and i like this latest one quite a lot too, a little more yeast driven, more rustic saison-esque to me, so dry and clean though, yet still malt driven in a special way, i love the barley profile, crazy that its pale and dry and still has this much flavor. wow!