Given this beer is collaboration with brewery co-founder Georg Bobbert's mum, it's probably only fair we hand over to him for an introduction...
"I grew up watching my mum tend to our kitchen garden which was full of our favourite vegetables, fruits and herbs," he writes. "Throughout the year, my mum would gather any excess produce and find a way to preserve it. Pickling, fermenting, or infusing allowed our gifts from the garden to be enjoyed later in the year.
"One of my favourite preserved treats was an orange liqueur – my Mutti (mum) would make a delicious orange liqueur from the blossoms of the orange trees, a treasured treat enjoyed slowly through the winter. For the blossoms to render their sweet flavours and aromas, they have to be picked at the right time and immediately infused to stopped them from browning and turning bitter."
When it came to making Melange, mum was asked to reprise her orange blossom liqueur, which was then added to a couple of barrels of 18-month-aged saison, along with the rind which was preserved in organic raw sugar. Then, over the course of a week, they gradually added crushed wild fennel seeds foraged up the road from the brewery.
There's no mistaking the impact of the last of these on the nose, but its presenc seems to soften to taste, adding a subtle anise note to the citrus brought to the table by mum's liqueur, all of which is carried across the palate by a lovely gentle acidity.
James Smith
Published September 12, 2023 2023-09-12 00:00:00
