Terroir Study
American Solera

 

 

 

Pale bright gold with copious champagne carb trails, lasting foam & lace.
At 4% it's a Ding standard session ale, and more of a wild Grisette in style.

Aroma is minerally, flinty wet stone, lightly funky Brett.
Crisp and lightly acidic, light crabapple pucker and Bretty funk.
Body is light with a fairly brief finish, lingering funk in the aftertaste.
Pretty nice stuff, light and quenching with a good level of complexity.

Gorgeous straw gold body; partly cloudy with lots of sunshine. The head looks light as a feather and equally soft. Hay, must, green apple, lemon and grain on the nose; taste is right there with a light kiss of musty attic.

Effervescent and lively on the tongue; slight tartness that brings a zap of flavor on the palate like a small electric shock. Dry dry dry - like a farm that hasn’t seen rain in months (imagining OK again).

Delicious and righteous. The conjuring of terroir certainly brings to mind Hill Farmstead and Jester King, and this beer can certainly hang with both. The feel is a tad light but that’s just me finding something to nit.

Poured into a tulip, the appearance was a glossy pale yellow color with what settled to be a finger's worth of white foamy head that sustained for a good sturdy minute before gently dissipating. One ring of foamy white lace held nicely at the top of the glass.
The aroma had a nice dried sweet wood - somewhat earthy sweet (cedar-esque?, hmmmmmm....maybe), then a slight sweet bubblegum, light smooth sweet vinous/white grape, freshly cut grass, just a whiff of lemongrass and an excellent level of lemon pulp also starting to come out as it warmed.
The flavor was moderately sweet with a sly vinous/white grape eloquence pulling the woody sweetness in for a fabulous balance. Aftertaste was semi-dry with some lemon and white grape notes, pretty smooth and luring.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fine sessionability about it. Carbonation felt good, perhaps just a touch under with a nice "sour" edge making a good effort to pummel a light creamy sort of feature coming out ever so slightly. Some woody to lemon to vinous dryness in the finish.
Overall, super nice semi-creamy American Wild Ale with barely any "pucker factor" to make overly harsh. This was well done by all means and would love to have again.