Amis - Quince
Freigeist Bierkultur

 

Cork already started poking outward as I undid the cage and popped out with violence once the cage was free. A gusher, but didn't lose too much of the bottle. Produced vigorous head during the pour - big billows of rocky foam that settled very, very slow, leaving some fat streaks of lacing. Color is an amber orange, semi-opaque, and little visible carbonation hitting the surface. Nose is nice - sour citrus and rounded sweetness of stone fruit and figs; a bit of sugary candy; kumquats, marmalade. A faint hint of salinity as well. It seems as if this bottle has suffered some oxidation, as I'm getting a lot of sherry flavors; leather, fat cheeses, must. That said, as this one warmed, a lot of these flavors dissipated, letting some softer fruit notes come through. The sourness is a muted, though there's a nice kumquat, sweet/sour pucker. There is a sea water/brackish note to it as well, which is pretty pleasant, particularly as it's still coming up to temperature. Reminiscent of funkier ciders in a lot of ways, particularly on the finish. Mouthfeel is rather dense despite some crisp carbonation. Altogether an interesting beer (#1000), and would be interesting in trying another bottle fresh.

a collaboration series with stillwater, which has seen at least two bottled offerings come through, this one done with quince fruit. its a bottle fermented, sparkling sour ale, and ive had it in the cellar awhile now. a pricey beer that seemed to call for a special occasion, and we finally had one come up! the cork exploded off this bottle and even left a mark on the ceiling of the house we were renting, truly dangerous, but the bottle didnt really gush, although it was hard to pour beer and not foam the entire time. slightly hazy light amber colored brew once we did get it to settle, with a really funky, wild yeast nose with some oxidation evident. it smells a tad tired for how lively it is, like we may have missed its prime by a year or so, but its still enormously complex. the fruit seems subtle and dried out of it, pear and apple and citric tang going on, a wet lumber density, maybe exclusively from the grain, white wine, and a lot of horsey brett. its farmy in the taste too, rustic on the malt side and super dry, so the yeasts really stand out, some saison esters, white pepper and clove, with musty basement and hayloft character on the wild side, a little pucker but not particularly bacterial to me, maybe slightly lactic as it warms. high carbonation makes it feel like champagne, and it kind of pushes a freshness and liveliness past the oxidation and faded grain qualities, its almost refreshing for how complex and old it is. more than anything, i am impressed with the bottle conditioning and the fermentation profile, really fun to drink beer like this, even if we may have aged it a bit too long. id love to try the others in the series, but i imagine they would have suffered the same fate by now as well. a cool project, maybe too pricey for most folks to take a chance on, sparkling bottle fermented wild beer from germany is a pretty niche thing, but im glad i picked this up and was able to share it with my brother!