Zebulon Artisan Ales

Is there definitely brett in it? I was wondering this myself, as I didn't really taste any like I did very clearly with batch 1. It says fermented with the "house saison blend" on the bottle, but I neglected to take note of whether the other one said anything different.

 

Batch#1 mentioned Brett in it, but I have not seen it referenced for any of the other bottles.

I went by yesterday and it sounds like we will see the porter released, and then the Apricot Sour should be coming up after that. I thoroughly enjoyed the Session Ipa and the Fire Roasted Citrus Saison.

 

The BA listing mentions brett but I saw nothing about it on the bottle. I sure didn't get much in the taste profile but again, it might just be young. Apricot sour you say? I think I can hear the hype train gathering steam.

 

The hype train hasn't gotten off of the Green Man train. Let them follow Green Man all they want. I'll take Zebulon any day of the week.

 

Just got in B3 and B4 yesterday here in Hickory. Thinking about grabbing the Grisette. I love hops and I love saisons but haven't found a beer that I really like that uses them together.

 

The smoked stout is like sticking your nose right into a campfire. They really nailed the level of smokiness. Just a hint of coffee and some nice chocolate notes that play well off the smoke. This is an impressive beer if you go for this sort of thing.

 

The smoke wasn't overbearing at all. Really enjoyed it.

 

The apricot and raspberry sour he is making are both fantastic. He already said that the prices on those when he does eventually release will be $18 a bottle, which is aweeeesome.

 

Me not being a fan of smoke, my take is pretty much in the middle of these two statements. There's definitely more smoke than coffee but it was well done. Not full-on campfire to me but definitely enough that I could only have about 6 oz then needed to move on to something else. If you like smoke at all, I recommend it.

 

I really don't got for that sort of thing... and still love this beer. Had it on tap and had a couple bottles at this point. The smoke is really well blended in, definitely the strongest flavor but not overbearing at all with all the other flavors in their blending together. Definitely an outstanding beer.

 

-Agreed. It may be the only smoked beer I've ever liked.

 

I got one of those coming as well. Have you tried the Wicked Weed/Jester King Parking Lot grisette?

I thought it was really good. Not much funk early( any surprise with WW ), but really well done and loved the hop profile.

 

-I liked the Zebulon grisette a lot more than parking lot. Made me want to ride mow a few acres while hooking a couple bombers of it.

 

I liked Parking Lot quite a bit, so pretty excited to try the Zebulon grisette if it's even better.

 

I thought they were fairly different beers, so probably will be up to taste. I wasn't a fan of Zebulon's Grisette (one of the few beers of theirs when I went that I thought was just meh), but Parking Lot was a pretty decent beer.

 

The Zebulon grisette is a totally different animal than Parking Lot, so don't expect many similarities. PL was tart and funky whereas Batch 03 was more of a light, refreshing, straightforward Belgian beer without the funk. Both tasty in their own ways.

 

So how's that Tokyo Gose? Sounds really good

 

I agree, very different beasts. I would compare Zebulon's grisette close to HF Clara, but with Zebulon's version being quite a bit sweeter with a more Belgian background. It will be interesting to see how Zebulon's ages over time.

 

Releasing today... Two of my favorites.

First up is Batch #6 East India Pale Ale (circa 1840) (for Krishnamurti), this is a historical recreation of what pale ale that was shipped to India tasted like almost 180 years ago. Brewed with 100% floor malted British Optic malt and hopped at 140 IBUs with traditional East Kent Goldings hops then aged with Brettanomyces wild yeast for 4 months then an additional month in the bottle. A big dry hop addition of Goldings gives a candied orange aroma and a fruity English ale yeast blend with the massive funk from the wild yeast that creates an intense nose that might be a bit too much for the uninitiated. (8.17% ABV) $14/ 750 ml bottle conditioned, cork and cage bottle.

Next up is Batch #7 East India Porter (for Lemmy), another historical recreation from the mid 1800s. Everyone knows that pale ale was sent to India (a.k.a. India Pale Ale) but hardly anyone knows that they sent WAY more porter over there and they treated it the same way as the pale ale, lots more hops and extra dry hops. Brewed with the classic English porter grain bill of Pale, Amber, Brown and Black malts and hopped to the teeth with East Kent Goldings hops to 90 IBUs then dry hopped with more EKGs and fermented with a classic fruity English ale yeast. Think of it as the original Black IPA from almost two centuries before we "invented" it. (6.1% ABV) $12/750 ml bottle conditioned, cork and caged bottle.

 

Should've bretted the porter, too, to be more accurately authentic.