A blend of barrel aged sour farmhouse style beers blended and bottled for the 2021 Good Beer Week event “Woods of the North” - our fifth installment. Mature beers were sourced from our mates at Dollar Bill in Ballarat and Future Mountain in Reservoir in 2020, were married with 3 Ravens beer for 3 months before bottle conditioning in magnum bottles. The components included a rye belgian saison aged with wild yeasts in an ex Pinot Noir barrel (Dollar Bill), a mixed fermentation golden sour from a puncheon (Future Mountain) and a mixed fermentation sour wheat beer from two distinctly different neutral oak barriques (3 Ravens) - with the final goal being a complex, nuanced and balanced farmhouse ale with a harmonious blend of funk, fruit, acid and texture. The saison contributed complex oxidative and yeast-driven notes reminiscent of orange wine, mushroom and tropical fruits (durian, papaya, pineapple), while the puncheon provided an assertive acidity, vinous notes and texture. While similar before going into barrel, the two wheat beers were quite different - one contributing a mild acidity and bright fruity notes (apple, orange, pineapple) whole the other was high in floral notes (perfume, citrus) with a considerable bitterness. Bottled 26/2/21 at an average age of 12 months.
