Wild Beer Co: Good George: Burning Sky: Shnoodlepip (England: Sour Ale: 6.5% ABV)
Visual: Bronzed hazy gold. Moderate off white head.
Nose: Pumpkin. Rhubarb crumble and sugar dusting. Thick and fruity. White wine notes underneath. Lightly spicy. Carrots and mild cheese.
Body: Tart rhubarb. Pumpkin. Gooseberry. Slightly funky yeast. Mild cheese. Pink grapefruit. Peppers. Passion fruit. Cider apples tartness. Strawberry touches.
Finish: Gooseberry and rhubarb. Slightly dry. White wine. Peppercorn.
Conclusion: Wow, another stand out beer from the Wild Beer co. This one is really breaking the style mold and with it busting my expectations wide open
With the huge amount of unusual ingredients it would be overly optimistic of me to hope that every one would be clearly defined in the beer. A quick sip of the beer makes it very obvious that they are not, however the beer leaves you with no illusions that the elements have had an influence, even if it is hard to discern the exact roots of some of the flavours. The elements mix together to create a complex marvel.
Is smells like a mix of pumpkin and rhubarb dessert, very thick and heavy. Nothing I expected, even knowing the ingredients, and nothing like any beer – even a pumpkin beer – that I have tried before. Slightly peppery and with that mild cheese touch that I would guess is from the yeast, it calls to the saison style but is far from defined by it.
The body follows through, tart and still pushing that pumpkin and rhubarb element up front. Here however it is more like the raw fruit than a dessert backed version. The mix of yeast funkiness and slightly tart fruit add massively to what initially seems deceptively simple.
Finally the finish rounds it out with a simple dry and refreshing interpretation of the flavours. It sooths itself out, but after the amazing previous courses of tart fruit, cheese and pepper yeastiness and huge dessert aroma it does not try to push anything heavily. Instead it just underlines the experience you have had and encourages another sip.
Possibly even better than Ninkasi, and definitely bigger flavoured. This is an excellent beer of range, verve, drinkability and thirst quenching nature with the added bonus of being very original.
Get this beer. Now.
Background: Ok, this one is made with *deep breath*, pink peppercorn, wild yeast, red wine barrel ageing, passion fruit and hibiscus. Seriously as soon as I heard about this one I started hunting for it. Wild beer co have been off to a quite good start, not all their beers have been great, but they have usually been interesting and they are starting to live up to their name with recent beers.
