After a few dalliances with more hop-forward releases and even a couple of beers brewed with clean yeasts, Green Gully Brewing founder Luke Smith is back in his happiest place with this twin release. On the one hand, you have a fresh iteration of his tribute to US craft brewing pioneer Teri Fahrendorf; on the other, another interplay between dark malts and funky yeasts with artwork that acts as something of a throwback to his days fronting Melbourne thrash band S.I.C.
The former is Teri Grisette, a take on the lower ABV French-Belgian farmhouse style with flavours and aromas rather more potent than its mid-strength booze content. Take a sniff and a swig and you'll be checking the label for confirmation that there's been an addition of lime in some form, such is the manner in which that citrus fruit comes across – both in a fruit from the tree and lime cordial form – from the off, yet it's a character conjured from the Green Gully house culture in combination with an otherwise pretty simple recipe. The mouthfeel is also rather fuller than you might expect, while that house culture brings plenty in the way of tanginess too.
One of the most noticeable absentees from the beer world in its current state is Brett beer. It felt like there was a period when a week wouldn't pass without one landing at Crafty Towers, whether it was a relatively straightforward beer fermented with a strain of Brettanomyces or something rather fancier – probably in a wine-like bottle – in which all manner of yeasts and bacteria were at play. If you've been missing such esoteric delights, then help is at hand in the form of Brett There Be Rock.
The beer started out on the road to becoming a farmhouse black IPA, but the Brett clearly enjoyed feasting on the dark malts and citrusy Eclipse hops to the extent that, once it had enjoyed an extended period of maturation (almost all Green Gully beers are can-conditioned), the yeast characters had taken control. Thus the 6.66 percent ABV beer comes at you as a Brett'd dark ale in which there's sarsaparilla, allspice and dark berries aplenty swirling through the rich dark chocolate malts. It's a beer with layers and layers to explore with each sip, and which manages to remain pretty cleansing even at its size, thanks again, no doubt, to the funky yeast at its heart.
Perhaps more than anything, however, it's a reminder that, at a time when pretty much everyone has been reining in their excesses in order to survive, there are small (in Green Gully's case, really small) operations out there still able to throw caution to the wind. The spirit of S.I.C. lives on.
James Smith
NB If you're a Crafty Cabal beer club member, you can save 15 percent on all Green Gully beers if you order direct from Luke. Details here.
Published October 14, 2024 2024-10-14 00:00:00
