Sunday, July 18, 2010

Stonington Sour-Bottled

T-minus ~24hours until the little Taco arrives
...and I can't legitimately extend the aging on the stonington sour any more. Its (well past the) time to make room in the guest bathroom for the encroaching baby bathing accoutrement, and while the beer has only been on the bugs for ~4 months, the pellicle fell quite early in the game, and there has been no positive pressure on the airlock for quite some time. Not having a hydrometer (broken...2nd one), I'm strictly relying on my sense and gut that this thing is mostly finished. Its highly probable that I'm wrong.
But in the battle of beer vs. baby...the mighty baby wins the guest bath, but in truth it looks like this beer is going to make us all winners. Immediately after removing the airlock, this Brett C beer/wild ale had strong tropical fruit aromas with a touch of compost-y earth. I can't wait for it to develop further in the bottle and have those aromas further carried by what will likely be ample carbonation. The beer was blended with 750ml of 2007 Saltwater Farm Chardonnay (100% estate grown grapes, fermented in stainless, aged in French Oak). A small sip brought those aromas to life...the fruity aromas highlighted by a medium-acid brightness. A fullness in the body still remains somehow (wheat?), though it finishes with dry snap, so I'm quite certain (hoping) the FG is reaching terminal. Oak tannins aren't where I'd want them to be, but do provide more soft fullness. The microbial impressions lean toward a nice menage a trois of the Fantome Printemp, JP Oro de Calabaza and Brett C, with the aromas sitting squarely with Brett C.

Many friends of mine, especially Sue and Pat, have been saving their thickest of glass for these high pressure brewing endeavors. And its a good thing, you never know where the 'wild' ones will end up. Chances are, even with a modest dose of the priming sugar, the strains of Brett et al will continue to carbonate well past their enzymatically challenged Sacch brethren, and it is best to have hedged some bets toward the higher CO2 vol tolerant vessels. Its a motley crew of green, brown, and clear (gasp!) glass...375ml all the way up to a 1.5L magnum. Corked + caged a few, while most were outfitted with either the standard or larger diameter euro cap.

My attentions will certainly be turned almost solely toward the taco for short bit, which will keep me and my friends from running through this, my first earnest attempt at a wild fermented beer.

...I wonder if I can sock away a bottle of this until Taco is of age (or somewhere reasonably close to it).

6 comments:

  1. Things of beauty! Great pictures.

    And cheers to a new thing of beauty...best wishes to the entire family...

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  2. Hey man,
    Just an admirer of what you're doing here chiming in. I'm actually located in Brighton and homebrew in my yard there so its good to meet someone with similar aspirations to mine. You can check out my blog of exploits at bronzeagebrew.blogspot.com.

    Cheers,
    Alex

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for stopping by Alex...best of luck w/ the brewing aspirations, I'll stop by and take a look at your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks man. I don't really have to much up on the blog about my homebrews, just my brewery visits, so check back. And if you need any help with getting trillium going, I'd love to be a part of that. I'm just down the street so get at me!

    -Alex

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  5. This looks gorgeous... When and where can we find some of this??

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  6. well, I have a few bottles in my fridge now and several other cases in a cellar in an undisclosed location.

    otherwise, this (or some iteration of it) will be in the local boston better beer shops + restaurants in ~1.5-2 years.

    stay tuned
    www.trilliumbrewing.com

    ReplyDelete

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