Thirsty Land Foraged Series: Navajo Tea Grisette
Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.

 

the idea of this alone has me sold. a foraged navajo tea grisette, i mean, come on! how awesome is that. so stoked to see some indigenous local beers down here, this place makes a bunch of them, and because of that was probably my favorite stop on my albuquerque brewery jaunt. the malt here is subtle in this dry grainy saison, spelt based says their menu, but its not as earthy or baked as spelt often tastes to me in low alcohol beer like this, there cant be too much of it, but i like what it adds. raw wheat and maybe some pils type, thats all. the tea is subtle too, floral and dried at the same time, not bitter like tea i am used to in beer, but delicate and sort if springy, making up for some of the lack of rustic nuance in the yeast complexion (i had a similar yeast critique of their house saison). i find it a little strange that this is soured too, it doesnt need to be to be interesting, and while the acidity is mild, i think it detracts from the tea, which is the element of this beer that i really want to get to know intimately, as i have no experience at all with foraged tea of this nature, and i regret it not being a little more prominent here. there is nice overall nuance to this beer though, one of the more complex they had actually, and it comes together really nicely. its a shame its as under carbonated as most of their others, but aside from that, there is a lot to love here!