If you'd looked at the list of brewers featuring in the 2024 Carwyn Cellars Black Box, you'd have picked King River Brewing as most likely to deliver a curveball. To be fair, head brewer Nathan Munt's passion for Northern European styles – and the obscure among them – means he's likely to deliver the curveball at any beer event. And that's proven to be the case here with Adambier.
Chances are you won't have heard of the rare German style; as far as I can tell, the longstanding, globally-recognised BJCP guidelines don't even include anything on it. Thankfully, the US Brewers Association does, with their guidelines including: "The style originated in Dortmund and is a strong, dark, hoppy ale which may or may not be sour. It may also be extensively aged in wooden barrels. Traditional versions may have a low or medium-low degree of smokiness. Adambier may or may not use wheat in its formulation."
There's no souring or barrels involved here, although there is oak-smoked wheat in the mix, with Nathan telling us his aim was to land "halfway between a barley wine and a doppelbock". The specialty malts bring the chocolate, toasted bread crust and a hint of sweet smoke although, interestingly, there’s also what comes across to me as toffee banana. Nathan reckons it could be the result of pushing the Nottingham ale yeast to 9 percent ABV. Whatever the cause, and whether it's to style or not, I like it – it gives Adambier the feel of something Belgian or perhaps another rarely seen but always welcome German style, the weizenbock.
*James Smith
Published July 10, 2024 2024-07-10 00:00:00
