Wild Beer Co: Circadian IPA (England: IPA: 6.5% ABV)
Visual: Cloudy dark lemon juice color. Large off white bubbly head that looks fragile but lasts.
Nose: Oats. Peppery. Horse blankets. Crushed barley biscuits. Soft lime. Dried apricot.
Body: Thick and sticky. Sour cream and chives. Bitter. Oats and muesli. Dried sultanas. Gooseberry. Slight backing toffee. Prickly hops. Peach skin. Lime. Bitter red wine. Late on dried dark fruit.
Finish: Peppery. Bitter. Oats and muesli. Hoppy and earthy. Dried apricot. Tart grapes. Charring. Herbal. Dry white wine and bitter dry red wine. Dried raisins.
Conclusion: With all the odd methods used to make this beer it all comes together to make a beer that feels like an earthy, rustic saison with the bitter hops shoved way up.
Up front it is quite thick and bitter. It tastes like of like drinking mashed up peppered oats, but with that yeast funk giving a distinct feel and flavor. Here, early on, it is all about that feel. The oat mouthfeel and flavour, matched with the earthy rustic taste pushes away any subtle notes that try to make themselves known.
Time lets you acclimatise and lets the beer open up. It is still sticky and sour creamed touched, still bitter, but now with a smoother toffee malt note desperately trying to show itself from under the weight. Similarly a subtle peach and lime set of notes poke out at the edges. It gives just a hint of a release from the rustic main style.
The closest comparison I could make is to Stone Brewing’s Enjoy After IPA, though the comparison may not be completely fair as I have not aged this one at all yet (I do have a second bottle for ageing). That beer was drier ( though this is still fairly dry) and more harshly bitter (though this is still fair bitter) which makes me wonder if similar is to come here?
Id say, comparing the two, that this is better, so far at least. It has a more distinct progression, especially late on where you start getting a mix of dry white and red wine notes coming out and much more in the way of apricot notes. It is still definitely a beer in the interesting examination over casual enjoyment camp as the tail end is where the beer really starts to stand out. The aforementioned wine notes start playing amongst the heavier front. You start getting dried dark fruit and here, in my second pour, and the later end of the beer is when it is at its most interesting and complex, but you have to do a lot of work to get here.
While it is never a bad beer, to get this beer at its best you really need to dedicate some time for each layer of flavor to come out. Early on it is simple but ok, still different and heavy, but only ok. Give it time and it gives you a lot in return.
Definitely worth investigating if you are willing to take your time, never quite becomes closer to great than interesting – but it sure rewards you for taking an interest.
Background: Ok, going to be a lot of copying from the bottle for this one, there is a lot going on. Pitched as the culmination of everything they have learned over seven years (Seven years, already? Darn time flies) this is an IPA where the wort is cooled in Coolships ( open top flat cooling traditionally used for lambics), with added Kviek Farmhouse yeast (which I’ve seen around a bit but I think this is my first actual taste of), Brett and white wine yeast was added after fermentation, then aged in various oak barrels, blended, then dry hopped with mosaic. So, yeah a lot going on there. As a huge fan of Wild Beer when they started up I’ve been meaning to grab some more stuff from them for a while, and this made me finally take the plunge and order from their web site. Well, that a 10% discount for first order, the fact they had the awesome Yadokai going cheap as it was near its best before date (and I am sure it will only better with age), and a few other bits I wanted to pick up. Anyway wax topped, which oft gets on my nerves these days, but it is a big anniversary beer, and was fair easy to get off so I’m ok with it this time. Went With Run The Jewels 2 for music – only got into them recently and checking out their back catalogue, and it is intense!
