Biäke
Kemker Kultuur

Pours a cloudy, golden amber coloration with a small, frothy, quickly fading head. Smells of doughy, slightly grainy malt and quite herbal and earthy aromas of dried leaves, tree bark and green tea, as well as some floral undertones. Taste is an excellent balance of doughy, slightly grainy malt and herbal and earthy notes of dried leaves, tree bark, green tea, lemongrass and fresh wildflowers, lighter, fruity esters of apple and gooseberry, as well as hints of mushroom funk, all underlaid, by a sharp, lemony sourness. Finishes with a medium/strong tartness and some earthy, herbal, floral and sharply acidic accents lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

This makes for another excellent, although rather unique Saison from Kemker, not featuring those typical fruity and spicy esters prominently, except for subtle fruity understones, and focusing on earthy, herbal and floral notes instead, with the flavor profile apparently being more heavily influenced by the birch leaves than I had assumed. Although it is difficult to pin them down exactly, there certainly is a certain, earthy character to this that I'm sure can be directly attributed to them. The tartness is a bit more sharp and acidic than I'm used to from Kemker, really lingering on the tongue in the aftertaste with a certain lemony acidity, which is actually a bit much for me here and seems to become more intense as this warms up, kinda overshadowing those really nice rustic notes.

my first kemker brew, super excited for this! a saison brewed with birch leaves, not sure i have seen those as a beer ingredient before, and my stoke levels were through the roof to crack this one, especially with my wife as a birthday bottle, man i have a good life! this is super pale, yellow and soft looking, only lightly cloudy, and with an expressive almost inch of fizzy white head, settles back to a thin layer of bubbles, but this is especially lively and quite pretty to look at, a little more sediment in the bottom inch or so of the bottle. the nose on this is more tart than expected, i thought more saison yeast and maybe funky brett, but its bacterial and only minimally estery, its unique though, a different culture than i am familiar with in any other beer, which is what i ultimately wanted from this. lemony, clean for being funky too, white pepper, coriander, herbal tea, fresh flowers, chamomile, a little central sweetness, maybe some raw wheat in the mash, not sure what the birch does, maybe a little botanical bitterness, but its impact is subtle to me in the aroma. it starts in the flavor like its going to be super acidic, but it never quite gets there, most of the tartness is up front too with the dry earthy grain. there is a neat herbal lightness to this, i think i taste a lot more of the birch leaves than i can smell, green tea, dandelion, lemongrass, something slightly green waxy but not quite vegetal, and even some bark and wood type character without immediately going to deciduous forest intensity, it stays really delicate. cut flowers, white wine, and some more bretty funk as it warms, definite woodiness too, light vanilla cream, spiciness at the end. fresh but also really mature, effervescent and beautifully conditioned, not too sour to be drinkable, neat water chemistry, unlike anything ive ever had before. inspired and brilliantly executed, i will definitely seek out more from these guys!

Drank at Bere Buona Birra, Milan. Offered by Filippo himself. Grateful for having tried this one.