Nels
Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery

 

 

Bought two from Beer Drop. An excellent choice for summer refreshment and fare. I wish I'd bought more.

Nels Looks decent among an ever-ranging BPA style; cloudy pale. But points are earned as the bubbles of its big fluffy head tickle my lips as I stick my snout in for a snort. It (my snout) is not disappointed as I sniff both grapes (from the barrels and the Nelson hops) and hard fruit (I presume from this Kveik yeast which I am not familiar with... but very much would like to get to know more of.) Tastes are juicy and refreshing; reminiscent of my all-time most frequently drunk saison, Apex Predator, only a drier finish than Apex. The reminiscence more comes from my expecting Nels to produce a high level of refreshment and a favorable pairing with a wide variety of foods (Apex is my dinner go-to.) Nels has yet to prove itself at my table broadly. But tonight, Wolves' Nels did just fine with leftover risotto asparagus and a summer salad.

As for Wolves' micro-review, a lot of talent seems to be packed into that farmhouse and its beer garden. Nels is one of my better representations of Willamette's wine terroir and, if I were to study my 360+ farmhouse ales, probably a Top 5 terroir. But, I will think more about that elevated claim when I pair the second can... probably again with leftover fare. Wolves' chances of being in my Top 5 depend on how much it makes my cooking taste better. Good luck !

8/6/21 Paired the second can with my world-famous ratatouille and all was a success. While Nels will not enter my go-to stable for the table (due to distribution ineffeciencies), I will keep count over at UnTappd.

really neat farmhouse ipa here, packed with nelson hops and glorious because of it, but that is but one of many flavor elements. its also done in white wine barrels and those bring a lot to the table here, super compatible with the hops for one, and the oak softens the whole thing. its also fermented with a kveik yeast i think, which runs a little more robust in this one than it did in their keep oregon green farmhouse ipa, more estery here, almost drinks like a belgian pale, or a hoppy french type saison, its ancient and modern at the same time, perhaps slightly disjointed overall, but its not kitchen sinky either, not in the least. its got a strong nose from the wine and the hops and the yeast all playing in the same high tone fruity space, but its also well enough grounded by the pale malts. the flavor kind of hits all at once, right up front, and relaxes from these, its a potent even sharp side of nelson, the yeast is bold in the mix too, but there is enough grain to keep it grounded. i like the wine element in here with the hops a lot, and think they could have gotten away with just a normal ale yeast for it, like its too flavorful really to be all that drinkable, but its unique as they get in the style and quite tasty overall, even if i still cant quite figure it out after most of a four pack. i love the experimentation here, seems like each beer has a mission and they just go for it. cool to see them doing some cans too! one of the weirder nelson beers ive had in some time...

edit: lost a can of this in the back of my fridge and its way better now, a good mistake i guess, more yeast forward now, even bretty, drier, and the hops havent faded at all, even dropped some greenness to be a more expression of nelson now, perhaps it was a little too fresh when i first had it, now its fire. maybe slightly tangy up front, but it makes the hops pop. really impressive to me, i have to raise a few scores!