Westbrook Starts “The Bearded Farmer” Saison Series – Up First “Hughey”
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MyBeer Buzz
This new beer news from Westbrook Brewing:
As many of you know, I pine after a really fantastic Saison. For those of you that have not experienced the magic that is Saison, let me fill you in. Saison is a Belgian-style farmhouse ale, that typically lets the natural flavors of yeast shine through. Not much is needed to make this style extra delicious, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try to put a fun twist on it! The fall harvest season is the perfect time to start enjoying this style, which is why we are starting a new series of beers: The Bearded Farmer Saison Series.
The Bearded Farmer Saison Series was inspired by many things: my love for saisons, my husband’s amazing brewing skills, local farmers, AND No Shave November! Needless to say, this is going to be a pretty exciting series both taste and graphics wise!
We really wanted to put a spotlight on our local farmers, especially those who pick up our spent grain to use as feed. We are inspired every day by local goods and really wanted to showcase that in our graphics. Colin Robison really rocked out the labels with fun beards and mustaches, and we also named each saison after a local farmer. Keep a look out for the farmer closest to your area of town!
We also wanted to bring some attention to No Shave November. You don’t have to have balls to drink beer, but sometimes they help…for other things. For those of us who can’t grow a rockin’ beard, it’s fun to show our support for prostate cancer awareness by putting one on a bottle!
As always, support local and drink a good beer, maybe from our Bearded Farmer Series!
The first beer in the series is named "Hughey" after one of the farmers that picks up our spent grain. It’s brewed with a blend of rustic grains including oats, rye, and spelt, then fermented with a combination of Belgian and French yeast strains, including three types of Brettanomyces. Kegs went out this week, so look for it on tap around SC soon. It will also be packaged in 100% bottle conditioned 750ml bottles. We expect that this beer will develop quite nicely in the bottle, so make sure to pick up a few extra to cellar! These should be ready by the end of October.
Finally, in December we will release our 2nd Anniversary beer! This is a different beer each year, so no, this will not be the Mexican Cake. This year we’re brewing a very strong, dark, and roasty imperial black lager we’re calling a Baltic Imperial Stout.
More news…
It’s almost here – the triumphant return of the Citra Rye! This is the first single hop rye pale ale we brewed way back in May 2011, and we’ve been waiting impatiently to brew this one again for a long time. Kegs/bottles will go out the week of 10/29.
Available right now in kegs/bottles is the Dark Helmet Schwarzbier, our dark and roasty yet drinkable black lager. Also returning later this month will be a new batch of Vanilla Tree Dubbel, a Belgian-style abbey ale aged on vanilla beans and oak spirals.
We just bottled two brand-new beers from the barrel room! The first is a Belgian-style Tripel that was aged in Laird’s apple brandy barrels for several months. This beer has a light vanilla character from the wood and a big fruity aroma from the residual apple brandy that works really well with the the esters in the base beer.
The second new beer is our first barrel-aged sour beer: a 100% Brettanomyces barrel-fermented version of the Lichtenhainer we brewed last winter. Back in January, we filled 2 French oak red wine barrels with the unfermented wort and inoculated them with a small culture of Brettanomyces Lambicus, known for producing a distinct cherry-pie like sourness. The beer was allowed to slowly ferment in the barrels for about 9 months. The result is delicious – definitely a sharper (but still very clean) sourness than the regular version of the beer, and a subtle but distinct smokey aroma from the beechwood-smoked malt.
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