Wild Brew 2012
Choc Beer Co. / Pete's Place

Wild Brew 2012Wild Brew 2012
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Choc Beer Co. / Pete's Place
 
Oklahoma, United States
Style:
Saison
ABV:
7%
Score:
84
Avg:
3.65 | pDev: 14.25%
Reviews:
6
Ratings:
26
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 12, 2015
Added:
Jun 08, 2012
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  3
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by nmann08:
Photo of nmann08
Rated by nmann08 from Virginia

3.75/5  rDev +2.7%

Apr 14, 2013
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4 by nathanmiller from New York

Apr 12, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by dbarny76 from Oklahoma

Mar 24, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Sparky44 from Illinois

Feb 08, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by GratefulEdd from Alabama

Feb 02, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by jaydoc from Kansas

Nov 12, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by kjkinsey from Texas

Sep 22, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by Texasfan549 from Texas

Sep 21, 2013
 
Rated: 2.5 by sneezye from Oklahoma

Sep 02, 2013
 
Rated: 3.25 by ucsbmullet from Colorado

Aug 15, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by Maus10 from Arkansas

Jul 31, 2013
 
Rated: 2 by chocosushi from Oklahoma

May 25, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by imperialking from Illinois

Feb 13, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by DelMontiac from Oklahoma

Jan 12, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by beernads from Florida

Jan 05, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by Listers from Illinois

Dec 22, 2012
 
Rated: 3.75 by raffy313 from Texas

Oct 22, 2012
 
Rated: 3.75 by cfh64 from Texas

Oct 14, 2012
Photo of Fatehunter
Reviewed by Fatehunter from Oregon

4.18/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Hazy copper color with a thick three fingers of head.
Smells like day-old bread, plum, overripe banana and pine.
Bold malt profile. Stays fairly non-sweet. A little bread, rye, sharp lemon.
A foamy texture with moderate carbonation.
I loved it. Great looking, smelling and tasting. Decently complex without being overbearing.
Oct 07, 2012
Photo of Reaper16
Reviewed by Reaper16 from Alabama

3.58/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Wild Brew 2012 looks like a throwback to those darker, more amber farmhouse ales that Michael Jackson found in his early travels to Wallonia. This is because of the rye malt, which is much less pale than barley.

Rye has a particular aroma and flavor in beer. In this beer’s aroma, the rye grains give off a musty quality. It’s like smelling a loaf of rye bread inside of a dusty attic. There’s a note of mildewed paper that reminds me of the boxes of old magazines and video game strategy guides that are still in my mother’s garage. No, it really reminds me of tattered magazine pages and dusty books from destroyed houses, after the April 27th, 2011 tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa, when I was assisting with the clean-up. Black pepper is there too, not so much peppercorns as just some table pepper. All this musty character is muting the hints of lemon.

This is a thoughtful Saison. I say that because this beer manages to evoke the terroir of Oklahoma, or at least it evokes my mental depiction of Oklahoma. This is a hardscrabble beer. The flavor is so assertive with rye character. It tastes like dark bread and dried-out patches of mud. It tastes dusty. If this Saison is representative of the land, then it comes from soil that hardens and cracks. It comes from soil that heats up during the day and retains its heat through the night. It comes from soil that yields short growing seasons, that favors grains and starches with lots of protein. This beer tastes like survival.

There’s brightness up front with some lemon zest and pear juice. That brightness is quickly overshadowed by the deep grain flavors. The rye comes across as sharp and spicy, with antecedent flavors of cedar and, like, a wallet made from distressed leather. Rye flavor in beer is different from other instances of rye. It’s not really like those rye chips from a bag of Chex Mix or Gardetto’s (I’ve always hated those rye chips. They taste alright to me, but they are too crunchy. I always feel like I’m going to crack a tooth. Indeed, I’ve cracked teeth on less. So of course Gardetto’s sells entire bags of nothing but their rye chips). Nor is the flavor noticeably similar to rye whiskey from America or Canada. It’s closest to rye sandwich bread, but bread yeasts don’t bring out the inherent spicy flavor of rye like brewer’s yeasts do. This beer clearly highlights rye flavor; I feel about as close to eating dry, hot dirt that I’ve ever felt. The midpalate of the beer sees the Saison yeast’s peppery phenols start to squeeze their way through the assertive rye. The finish is certainly dry enough for the style, but the rye reigns.

As I drink this beer, I’m staring out the back windows of my new office/writing studio at my new house. My backyard is about ¼ grass, ¾ clusters of assorted weeds, and ¼ dirt. The dirt begins in the upper right corner of my backyard and spreads out like a baseball diamond. If I stare hard enough I can imagine a tumbleweed frolicking across. That’s what this beer tastes like, and it’s basically what I imagine Oklahoma’s farmland to look like. I can practically hear Jim Ross call a wrestling match right now. While this is the first rye saison I’ve ever come across, there’s something that just clicks for me. The knowledge of how much rye is grown in Oklahoma plays a large part in my satisfaction, but that’s also because it plays a large part in the intent of the brewers. This is a cohesive beer that evokes the land because the brewers cared to make it that way. This isn’t a great beer by any means, but it is the kind of beer I’d like to see more of. It just makes sense.
Sep 20, 2012
Wild Brew 2012 from Choc Beer Co. / Pete's Place
Beer rating: 84 out of 100 with 26 ratings