Category Archives: Wild Ale

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Wild Ale

Garage Project Oh What a Lovely Day Let’s Go Out and Pick Some… Elder

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 6.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Foraged flowers, spontaneous ferment no.3

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The latest release in our Wild Workshop Wildflower series. The concept is simple. Freshly foraged wild flowers are plunged into a light golden base wort of pilsner, raw wheat and rye creating a spontaneous fermentation using only the wild yeast present on flowers. The beer is then allowed to age and develop in oak barrels. Fermented with wild foraged Elderflowers and conditioned in the barrel with Elderberry, the result of this brewery outing is a delightfully tart sparkling beer with a distinctly pink berry hue.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.16
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, bottled on 18th October 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, light funk, apricot, peach, oak, and a touch of lemon.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, funk, apricot, peach, oak, with touches of lemon and vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: A nice easy drinking Wild Ale. Elderflower and elderberry were added but it was largely stone fruit forward, so I assume this comes from elderberry. On the other hand, the floral aspect from elderflower was just not there, or simply overpowered when compared to other elderflower beers.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, La Sirène Brewing, Wild Ale

La Sirène Cuvée de Bois

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Brewery: La Sirène Brewing
Country: Australia
ABV: 6.2%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Avant Garde Collection. 2018 vintage. Oak-aged Wild Ale with chardonnay – solera method. Funk 4/5, sour 2/5 and oak 2/5

Brewer Description: (from bottle) La Sirène 2018 Cuvée de Bois is a special wine hybrid mixed fermentation farmhouse ale blended with select French oak barriques of La Sirène Saison. Using our vintage basket press, Australian chardonnay free run juice was brewed into a specially designed farmhouse beer, then blended with our barrel-aged Saison. The 2018 Cuvée de Bois is a delightful blend of balanced wild farmhouse complexity and grape forward acidity crowned by the elegance & depth of toasted French oak.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, batch no. 230230, and bottled in February 2019. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear golden straw colour with a big two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Light funk, sweet white wine, grapes, peach, apricot, with a hint of oak and citrus.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, white wine, grapes, stone fruit, peach, apricot and lemon peel on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice enjoyable grape and stone fruit flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, USA, Wild Ale

Black Project Supercruise Cab Franc

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Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: Unsure as not on bottle (7.5% on RateBeer, 8% on Untappd, n/a on BeerAdvocate)
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Sour Golden Ale refermented with grapes

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Supercruise starts with wine grapes from locally sourced, family-owned vineyards in Palisade, Co. Once the grapes have been destemmed and crushed, we allow the juice to rest for a few days – developing rich color and depth of flavor – before finally transferring the juice to neutral oak barrels along with our base Golden Sour. The beer then goes through a secondary fermentation while resting on the grapes, and after a few weeks is ready to bottle. Fruited at about half of what we do for Mach-Limit, the stonefruit character from the base beer is backed by bright fruit and soft tannins, yet the beer still shines through. This beer should age well with proper cellaring, however the grape character may diminish over time.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in April 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear pinkish orange colour with a less than one finger white head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, mixed berries, red grapes, apricots, oak, acidic.
Taste: Sour, tart, vinous, red grapes, oak, light berries, acidic, and a hint of vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice flavours with a good grape, berry and oak mix. Slightly too acidic feel though.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Cascade Brewing, USA, Wild Ale

Cascade Cranberry

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Brewery: Cascade Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 6.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Northwest sour ale. Ale aged in oak barrels with cranberries and spices. 2016 project

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Northwest sour ale is a blend of wheat ales aged for up to 14 months in oak barrels with cranberries, orange peel and cinnamon.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, 2016 project. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy copper orange colour with a big more than three finger off white head that had good retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, oak, vanilla, cranberries, orange, cinnamon, leather and spices.
Taste: Sour, tart, berries, orange, cinnamon, oak, herbal and spices.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice complexity, good funk, and one of the better Cascade beers I’ve tried.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Cascade Brewing, USA, Wild Ale

Cascade Kriek

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Brewery: Cascade Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 7.1%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Northwest sour ale. Ale aged in oak barrels with cherries. 2015 project

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Kriek is a blend of sour red ales aged in oak wine barrels for up to 17 months with cherries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.14
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, 2015 project. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy deep amber red colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated quickly but settled to a thin layer while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, cherries, oak, maybe some mixed berries.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherries, oak and a hint of spices.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice cherry flavours, slightly acidic, but not overly so.