Cove Blend 03: Hot Hot Day
Half Acre Beer Company

Hot Hot Day is the third and final cove blend. This was the base beer (without the honey) of the Burial collab mixed culture lager that was aged in neutral oak. It then sat on 2#/gallon of whole cluster Roussanne grapes for 7 months.

Roussanne is a white wine grape, that is normally immediately sent to the press with no skin contact. But instead, we pulled a little trick from orange wine and left it on the skins for that whole period of time. Long term fermentation on the skins tends to add grip and tannins, with a more complex fruit character.

After the transferring off the fruit, the beer tasted a little intensely tannic and acidic, so it was blended with a mixed culture witbier that aged for 12 months in a fresher oak barrel (that still had some oak character to it).

This is a real summer slammer. The wit brought balance with a level of funk and oak character that reels in the intensity. Oak, tangerine, and grape skins dominate the flavor profile of the beer.