Beer La Sirène Cuvée de Bois 2018

Late in 2017, La Sirène released their first Cuvée de Bois. It was a beer with such an involved genesis our write up ended up a little like a mini-thesis. The beer has returned in autumn 2019: still a beer-wine hybrid featuring free run juice and whole bunches of chardonnay grapes from the Geelong region, still a mixed fermentation farmhouse ale and still a Solera style blend of various French oak-aged barriques of the brewery's OG Saison. Yet, while the debut was one best appreciated by palates attuned to the more complex and bracing realms of the sour beer world, the 2018 vintage feels like one destined to welcome more people into its silken embrace.

There's still plenty to uncover within: the soft and smooth oak character, the textural vinous acidity, the fruits – both grape and yeast-derived – on the nose. It's just this time around it all feels like it's been woven together into a smoother whole, creating an even more pleasurable experience.

James Smith