Wheat Wine
Olde Hickory Brewery

 

22oz bottle from Bruisin Ales (Asheville, NC). 15.99. Bottled 12/1/16. Served in an Olde Hickory snifter. Enjoyed 12/17/17.

Pours a deep chestnut amber with just under a finger of ecrue head. The bubbles crackle away, leaving a fine spotty surface haze and thin band around the edge.

Aromas are funky and rich. Sour apricot, wet oaky funk, earthy sugar and plenty of Brett.

Lots of flavors in play and it's bracingly sour from the first sip. Tart apricot, fully engaged Brett funk, syrupy sweet wheat, old wet wood galore, caramel and fruit skins. A strangely appealing amalgam.

Syrupy full feel with fairly light carbonation. The Brett and oak dominate the finish with some sweet carmel apricot.

Despite wheatwines being a style I seek out, I can say with total confidence that I’d never before tried a Brett fermented wheatwine with apricots aged four and a half years in French oak. Olde Hickory is well into some unexplored territory here. It's a departure from what I'm used to, moving this particular wheatwine into full on wild ale. And it somehow works pretty well.

 

Look: It pours cloudy dark brown with low head retention.

Smell: The aromas are sour with plums and alcohol notes. There are low levels of wheat as well. There is a vinous quality to it.

Taste: There are tart flavors with plums and wheat. The alcohol is quite noticeable as well as wood flavoring. There are some smoky notes and a slight vinous quality. There is also a bit of a soy flavor to it with salt.

Feel: It has a heavy body toward the moderate side with a tart finish.

Overall, it has a decent mixture of complex flavors but overall with an interesting smoky wood finish.

Appearance: Pours a muddy chestnut color and is capped by a head that fades to a film; spots of lacing line the glass

Smell: Wheat bread, caramel, apricot, funk and oak tones

Taste: Wheat bread spread with apricots and caramel at the outset; funky and increasingly tart, through the middle; the oak tones develop, after the swallow, just as the flavor profile turns to vinegar

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation; puckery

Overall: Brett in a wheat wine just doesn't work very well; without the Brett, this could have been a special beer

Reddish brown beer. Quickly dissipating head leaves no lacing. The aroma is funky with apricot, wheat, oak, tobacco, and flowers. Tastes like Wheaties and Brandy with dried apricots, tart cherries and tobacco with wet oak. Never had a wheat wine before. This is a really complex beer. Not a style I'm in love with yet but I can appreciate the craftsmanship of this beer.