I have been aging my beers on Sour Pie Cherries (Montmorency) which I've been able to pick from a local orchard in the Summer (Highland Orchards). This year I got 28 lbs in two picking sessions - these have been frozen to help extract the juice more easily. I will split these evenly between this beer and a Sour blond I'll blend up in mid-2019. This will get me a couple extra lbs of fruit over what I got last year. The sour cherries are fairly light in color and taste a bit different than sweet cherries. To get a bit more cherry flavor I have been adding some black cherry juice to the blend as well. Last year I used 1 quart. This year I'm going to try 2 quarts. I was happy with the level of cherry flavor last year (see tasting notes) but I think more would be nice.
I'll be blending up five gallons of Flanders Red beer for this batch using the 12 fermenters of beer that I've accumulated over the last 4 years. I will primarily use the more mild flavored beers for the blend as the cherries will bring a lot of sourness and complexity.
I have chosen the following beers (based on my 2018 sampling):
- Fermenter #1:
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Earthy and overripe fruit aroma
- Appearance: Dark orange and very clear
- Flavor: Medium sourness with a light fruity flavor. Also get a bit of mineral flavor in the finish. Maybe a bit of earthy brett character in there too.
- Mouthfeel: The acidity has a fairly strong prickliness that hits the back of the throat.
- Overall: Mild flavors with fair bit of complexity.
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #2:
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Rich earthy aroma with a bit of fruit
- Appearance: Brownish red with quite a bit of particulate in suspension
- Flavor: Medium sourness with a pretty strong earthy brett flavor comes through in the finish. Not much fruit in the flavor.
- Mouthfeel: This one is fairly smooth - only a slight bit of prickliness
- Overall: Has a bold brett character but not much else going on which would lend complexity.
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #6:
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Earthy funk and overripe fruit. Fairly pungent
- Appearance: Red and very clear
- Flavor: Lightly sour with fruit and earthy and leathery brett character. Fruit lingers into the finish nicely
- Mouthfeel: Pretty smooth drinking - only a slight prickle
- Overall: Pretty boldly flavored with a nice complexity
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #8:
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Earthy brett along with a vanilla oak aroma
- Appearance: Dark red with a bit of a haze
- Flavor: Slightly sour with a bit of earthy funk. Malt comes through on the finish nicely.
- Mouthfeel: Slightly prickly acidity. Silky feel that gives the impression of being medium bodied.
- Overall: Pretty boldly flavored with a nice complexity
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #9:
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Rich fruit aroma with a bit of earthy and leathery brett character. A bit of a mineral aroma
- Appearance: Dark orange with a slight haze
- Flavor: Very lightly sour. Has a bit of a band aid like brett character
- Mouthfeel: Slight prickling in the palate
- Overall: Pretty mild flavor and not very complex
- Volume:
- 1 gal
I'll age this beer for 3-6 months on the cherries. Like last time, I will backsweeten with dark invert syrup which I think helps the balance of the beer a bit - will bottle pasteurize using a hot water bath once proper carbonation levels have been reached.
I am making 4 blends this year (Plain, Raspberry, and a Spiced version). Will try different blends for all 4.
Blending Notes:
- 12/13/18:
- Transferred the 5 beers into a bucket fermenter
- Added frozen cherries
- Added cherry juice
- This brought the level of the beer up to lid height
- Setup the fermenter with a three piece airlock. I image some beer will be pushed up into the airlock during the secondary fermentation
- 2/16/19 - This beer has kicked up a very active fermentation after a month. Beer has been forced up the airlock and onto the lid
- 8/4/19 - Bottled today
- Made some Invert #2 for back sweetening. Mixed 2 lb of table sugar with 1/4 tsp of citric acid and 2 cups of water on medium low until the mixture reached about 260 F. Had a nice raisin-like flavor at this temperature and was a dark gold color. Added 2 cups of boiling water to the mix to get it a bit more fluid as, after cooling, it was very thick.
- Rehydrated a packet of Red Star Red wine yeast in a cup of 100 F water for 60 min. Some foam formed on the surface at this point which gave me confident
- Transferred the beer off the cherries into the fermenter and added the sugar and yeast during the process. Stirred well at the end of the transfer. Also stirred frequently during bottling
- Ended up with a bit over 6 gal of beer which got me 63 bottles.
- 8/13/19 - The beers have carbonated up to a nice level so I pasteurized in a 150 F water bath for about 30 min
- 4/19/20 - Tasting Notes - A really nicely flavored and pretty complex beer. I think the balance of the finish between the acidity and slight sweetness is quite nice - really easy to drink. Cherries are definitely the star of the show (as expected) but the base beer comes through enough to have a meaningful contribution.
- 6/26/20 - 2020 Vertical Tasting:
- Aroma: Fairly bright candy cherry aroma along with earthy and musty Brett. Some caramel comes through as well. Some vinegar mixed in too.
- Appearance: Poured with thick head which faded down to a think layer over the next minute. Reddish brown and quite murky as the over carbonated bottle churned up the dregs
- Flavor: Rich cherry flavor hits up front and lingers into the finish. Medium acidity kicks in after the first wave of cherry and compliments it nicely - this also lingers into the finish. Slight sweetness int eh swallow combats the acidity. Finish is rich with mineral, earthy Brett, and maybe some malt
- Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied and pretty dry. Very smooth drinking
- Overall: Rich and flavorful beer. Cherries are the center of attention here but a bunch of other stuff is going on as well. The acidity on this one is very nice - really makes you want another sip.
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