It is the way. The Ale will always beat the Lager in a race. Today we poured the first pint of Whirly Bird’s new brew: Saison de Poire. The patrons at the Pear Tree Cafe haven’t complained about it so the funky blend of Belgian Saison yeast strains mixed with the Azacca must have worked. Or maybe they aren’t the complaining type. Either way, it’s flowing from the tap and making people smile.
9 SRM, 33 IBU, 5.5% ABV
Santé!
With the lager just sitting around lagering while the taps are running low, it was time for another brew. Since we haven’t make a saison in a while, we decided to get after it. What was going to be a light, peppercorn farmhouse turned into a darker saison due to some COVID required substitutions.
We used a pilsen / pale split base and some Mosaic for bittering, then we layered on some Azacca (mostly because it’s fun to say) to try and get just the right twist of something different.
Regardless of how it turns out, it will still be beer and it will still be ready before our lager.
A handful of firsts. First taste of the new beer. First taste of the first Virginia beer assuming you don’t mind that the first taste of the first beer occurred after the first taste of the second beer. Whaaaaaat?
Never you mind. Overall I’m happy with my foray into this new (for me) style. A bit of funk and a bit of sour. Maybe next go we’ll shoot for even more sour. The longer this ale sat in the keg the clearer it got.
6 SRM, 27 IBU, 4.9% ABV were the final numbers that made the label.
1.041 went into the carboy and 15 days later there was but 1.002 left. Everything went much quicker than I expected but I guess that’s what this type of yeast does (WLP565). First day of spring and Whirly Bird Brewing Co rings it in with our first batch of beer in a keg. Now the real waiting game begins… when to pour that first glass…
The match has been lit and the burner has once again come to life. Pilsner, Vienna, wheat, rye and aciduated malt are well on their way into making a Farmhouse Ale with the help of some hops and some yeast.
The goal is a sour-ish farmhouse (saison) and keg it but we’ll see how everything shakes out.