Mountain Culture X Wildflower ‘Family Fuelled’ Saison

Rating:

“Mountain Culture x Wildflower Family Fuelled is a beer made with our mates at Mountain Culture Beer Co. We brewed this old school can-conditioned saison together in late Feb at their place with pale Schooner grains from Voyager Craft Malt. Mashing in real cool and slowly ramping the temp over a couple of hours, it was boiled with fresh & aged spicy, noble hops, knocked out warm and open fermented w/o temp control in a flat bottom tank with our favourite pure culture saison strain. Amongst both of our favourite styles to make and drink designed to be enjoyed as it was made… with friends who feel like family (well maybe on zoom at the moment). We’re pretty proud of that and wanted to celebrate it in this beer.”

Glassware: Tulip.

Appearance: Pale golden yellow with a soft haze. A thumb of fluffy white foam rests atop and works a fine lace down the glass.

Aroma: Wow this is about as traditional as you can get. The yeast esters dominate – banana runts, clove, pear and a touch of bubblegum. Nice and dry, floral, a little musty with plenty of barnyard funk/horse blanket, citrus rind, pepper, Angostura bitters and herbs. Kind of has traits of a top shelf Belgian Tripel. One of the better Saison aroma’s we’ve enjoyed lately.

Flavour: Dead set spot on for the style. There’s a rush of funky, yeasty and bretty flavours to the fore. Backed up by peppery spice, orange citrus and rind, stonefruit and Angostura bitters. Some floral honey, wheat grains/hay, herbals and a dry musty barnyard funk which leads to a spicy and yeasty finish with good duration.

Mouthfeel: Light on, crisp, mineraly. Mild-medium body. The 4.5% ABV is surprising considering the amount of flavour happening.

Overall: A really impressive Saison but we shouldn’t expect anything less from two breweries who are at the top of their game. Mountain Culture though…they can do no wrong!