Flanders Red Blend #1

I have decided it is finally time to start drinking some of the Flanders Red beer that I've been accumulating over the last year and a half.  I have brewed up 18 5-6 gal batches of beer over that time.  I don't want to try to get too fancy with this first blend so I'm going to limit myself to 2 beers - one "old" one (~18 months) and one "young" one (~1 year old) a la Rodenbach Grand Cru.

I am going to blend up 2 ~5 gal batches of beer as part of this first blend.  One of these batches will be bottled immediately (will be going with normal capped bottles as all my beers are pretty dry and will carb up using priming sugar and wine yeast).  The other batch will be aged on 10 lb of pitted sour cherries that I picked up this week.

For the "old" beer I have two candidates:  1.1.1 (21 months old) or 1.2.1 (18 months old).  I'd like to age one of these for a full 3 years before using.  They were both pretty similar in flavor so either would be nice for the blend.  I decided to use 1.2.1 as it would hit the 3 year mark 3 months after 1.1.1 and I'd rather not wait that extra time. 

Here are some tasting notes for 1.2.1:

• Aroma:
• Brett funk comes through strongly on the aroma along with a bit of cherry.  I don't remember the Brett being anywhere near this strong in the last sample (back in January).  No hop aroma and no alcohol.
• Appearance:
• Has a really nice red color and very clear.
• Flavor:
• Fruity flavor comes through first followed by a pretty firm sourness (very similar level to Rodenbach Grand Cru).  Tartness lingers through the finish.  Earthy brett flavor comes in pretty strongly in the finish as well.  No vinegar flavor that I can detect.
• Mouthfeel:
• Light-medium bodied.  No astringency.  Acidity brings a slight prickliness.  There is a very slight sweetness to the beer although the impression of sweetness may be enhanced by the acidity.
• Overall:
• The beer has a nice level of complexity between the fruit, brett funk, and sourness.  I'm really happy with how much the last 6 months have allowed the brett to impact the flavor.  I think this will be a good blending ingredient given this aged beer flavor - would also be very good by itself if I wanted to go that way.  I was hoping that some acetic acid would develop in a beer this age.  It seems that the glass carboy and airlock did a really good job keeping oxygen exposure pretty low.

For the "young" beer I have quite a few options.  The 1.4.x (1.4.1 and 1.4.2) series struck me as being the best beers so far from my initial tastings.  Add to that that I noticed a small crack had formed towards the bottom of the glass carboy holding 1.4.1 and that pretty much sealed the deal for me that these would be the ones I should use first.  I will plan on blending half of 1.4.1 with half of 1.2.1 and then bottling that directly, blending half of 1.4.2 with the other half of 1.2.1 (and aging this on the cherries), and then transferring the remainder of 1.4.1 into the 1.4.2 carboy for further aging.

Here are some tasting notes for 1.4.1:

• Aroma:
• Fruit along with fairly pronounced earthy brett aroma.  May get a small bit of oak mixed in.
• Appearance:
• Dark red and perfectly clear.
• Flavor:
• Up front I get a lot of fruit flavor before a firm sourness kicks in.  The sourness lingers into the finish where it is balanced by a really nice bready/roasty malt character.  There is also a chocolate like favor in the finish which is very nice.  The flavors in this beer are very bold.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied.  Sour finish has a stickiness to it - lingers for a bit after drinking.  No alcohol presence I can detect.  Smooth and easy drinking.
• Overall:
• This is a really nice tasting beer.  It's firmly sour but the maltyness that has remained over the aging period does a lot to balance this.  The fruit flavor is very bold in this beer - I hope this remains strong in the blend.  Big brett aroma but not a whole lot in the flavor so far.  I think this is going to be very good in a blend.

Here are tasting notes for 1.4.2:

• Aroma:

• Very funky/musty aroma along with some fruit.  Alcohol comes through - smells pretty potent.
• Appearance:
• Very pretty dark red.  Perfectly clear at room temperature.
• Favor:
• Pretty firm sourness with some fruity notes.  Sourness lingers through the finish.  Quite a bit of bready malt flavor through the finish as well.  A bit of brett funk in the finish but it's pretty mild at this point.  Taste the alcohol a little bit as well.  It's very wine like in flavor.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium light bodied.  Slightly prickly from the acid.  Slight sweetness in the finish.  Slight alcohol warming.
• Overall:
• Very complex flavor and aroma like the other two.  This one is a bit stronger than the others at nearly 8% ABV.  It will be nice to blend this down a bit with the slightly weaker beer.  I think this will be a good one to mix in with the cherries given the firm sourness and nice malt backbone.

Blending Notes:

• Cherry blend:
• 7/28/16:
• Added 10 lb of pitted sour cherries to a plastic bucket fermenter.  Highland Orchards lost all theirs this year in an early spring cold snap but were nice enough to order some from Michigan for me.  They have a lot of juice and are slightly sweet.  I think they will be very nice in this beer

• Transferred about half of 1.4.2 onto the cherries.  This was probably about 3 gal.
• Transferred half of 1.2.1 into the fermenter.  This was likely about 2.5 gal

• Will let this ferment out for several months in the room temperature basement with an airlock
• 7/30/16 - The airlock is bubbling slowly this morning.  Third round of fermentation is getting underway
• 8/5/16 - Lots of little bubbles in the airlock still
• 1/15/17 - Bottled this beer today with 3.5 oz of priming sugar and a pack of dry yeast (Premier Cuvee).  Didn't rehydrate the yeast this time.  Got 6 gal of very pulpy beer.  Ended up with 51 12 oz bottles of beer.  The FG is 1.002.  The beer is very sour with a pleasant cherry flavor.  Smells a lot like Rodenbach Alexander.
• 3/31/17 - Tasting Notes - I think the beer and the large amount of cherries get along very well.  The beer is bold enough to make it's presence felt and play an effective supporting role to the star of the show.  The cherries come through in way that makes you well aware that you're drinking a cherry beer which is exactly what I'd hoped for.  It's a complex beer and I'm very pleased with it. 
• 6/27/20 - 2020 Vertical Tasting:
• Aroma:  Candy-like cherry aroma followed by earthy and leather Brett character
• Appearance:  Brownish red and pretty clear.  Pours with very little foam that is gone in a second
• Flavor:  Mild cherry flavor up front that transitions to a light acidity.  Earthy Brett comes in next and lingers into the finish along with the acidity.  it has a slight nutty character in the background - almond maybe.  Also some mineral flavor in the finish
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Fair amount of prickly acidity.  Easy drinking and refreshing
• Overall:  Flavor and aroma are fairly mild.  Nice complexity - a lot going on.  The cherry is more in the background than I remember
• Plain blend:
• 7/30/16
• Transferred the remainder of 1.2.1 (~2.5 gal) to the bottling bucket
• Transferred about half of 1.4.1 to the bottling bucket (~3 gal)

• Rehydraded a package of Red Star Premier Cuvee champagne yeast in a glass of warm water.  Let this sit for about half an hr prior to pitching
• Dissolved 4 oz of priming sugar in 2 cups of boiling water and added to the beer
• Stirred well to get good distribution of sugar and yeast
• Got 58 12 oz bottles out of the batch
• Will let these sit for a few weeks before trying the first one
• 11/30/16 - Tasting Notes - The beer ended up with a really pleasing level of complexity.  It's not as good as Rodenbach but I'm still really happy with how well it delivers the expected flavors.  The malty flavor is especially pleasant going along with the firm acidity.  Not sure how the beer managed to retain this as a number of the other batches didn't really have that.
• 6/27/20 - 2020 Vertical Tasting:
• Aroma:  Earthy and leathery Brettanomyces character.  A bit of overripe fruit.  Maybe a touch of vinegar.
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and clear.  Pours with a think wisp of foam that is gone immediately.
• Flavor:  A bit of fruity flavor up front which then transitions to sourness which then lingers to the finish.  It is a medium level of sourness.  Earthy and funky Brett flavor lingers in the finish as well
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and very dry.  Light prickling acidity.  Very easy drinking and refreshing
• Overall:  Bold flavor and aroma and fairly complex.  The earthy Brett character is probably the most dominant characteristic.  Pleasing level of acidity makes for nice drinking