Deeds Brewing's mixed culture series returns with a new look but the same focus on delivery big bottle treats with finery and finesse. Words Of Affirmation is a bière de coupage, which essentially means it's a blend of more than one beer, in this case a mixed culture sour with what they describe as a "zippy saison".
It's a union in which the base beer delivers Brett aplenty on the nose: stonefruit rubs up against a hay-like spice and some barnyard aromatics. That peachy stonefruit carries through to taste too, albeit as a segue into the return of the nettle-tinged spice, which in turns heralding a dry, dry finish.
Pouring just as pale but a degree or three hazier than its companion piece is Shared Dreams. If there was stonefruit present in Words Of Affirmation, here the presence of macerated white peaches take such things up several notches. They smother much of the acidic and funky edges you can imagine were in the oak-aged base beer, while coming across clean and clear atop the fine carbonation.
Tangy and tart more than puckering, yet still with a palate-tweaking quench, Shared Dreams is a hot day picnic refresher for those who like to do their picnicking a bit fancy.
James Smith
Published November 17, 2023 2023-11-17 00:00:00
