Great beer but the one I am wondering about is Belle Royale. Does anyone know why did it not get brewed this year?
I just heard back from a source at Driftwood - they will indeed be making Raised by Wolves again. No timeline as to when; and not on a massive scale (the usage of southern hemisphere hops as opposed to local is something they want to keep to a minimum in general terms) - but it will be brewed again! I wouldn't expect a rebrew any time soon. Bird of Prey and Belle Royale have been re-released in bottles once each, and I imagine we'll see them again too, but I believe they've started blending differently aged sours this year (both Obscuritas and De Auras are blended AFAIK) and I think the general response has been very positive. I would imagine they'd continue down this route and would keep experimenting before returning to old favourites, especially with the explosion of local sours proliferating through BC right now which I think has everyone looking for new things to brew. But yeah, I'd be happy to see Belle Royale (or some kind of kriek-esque sour) from them again, for sure
Had I known you were looking, I would have sent you one no problem. It's long gone now but I'll keep you in mind next time it drops.
For what's it worth, a Juxtapose, at least in my opinion, does it better and is available year round now.
If it is brewed again it will be at least 70hl worth. It was brewed with entirely (or nearly) Equinox hops. They're American. So, not what sure why you meantioned AU/NZ hops. Obscuritas and De Auras weren't blended. None of their beers have been blended. The current plan is to do at least one sour beer a year. Belle Royale is currently a yearly offering (last I heard).
"...the hops were from the southern hemisphere" is a direct quote from an email from Ian, where I asked him about this beer. Seems pretty clear, but maybe you know something he doesn't. Huh! Fairly sure one of their drivers told me that Obscuritas was blended while dropping a keg off a while back, but altogether possible I'm not remembering correctly. This hobby doesn't do much for my memory...
I know what my brewer friend tells me. But Driftwood's brewers don't actually know much about the process other than the motions it takes to make their beer.
