One Drop Brewing add flavour ingredients to their beers with a generous hand. Making an IPA? Don’t be shy with the hops. Making a fruit beer? Pack it in tight. Making a Brett saison? Hmmm better use five strains of Brettanomyces. Let’s get some real flavour happening here.
Having said that, don’t take my flippant tone to mean there’s anything clumsy about their approach to the 5 Brett Saison. The first of One Drop’s Limited Cellar Series takes the brewery’s carefully crafted Saison and sees it bottle-conditioned with five variants of Brettanomyces; if you’re a real beer nerd, you can even check the label for a list of the five strains and what they each bring to the beer.
From the ground up, 5 Brett is a complex character. With one strong leg of pepper aromas and the other of leather, and wiry musculature of white wine showing through the skin, he stands tall. His dry body is arresting, but doesn’t overshadow the citrus torso, the broad shoulders of allspice, or the sharp chin of cloves. His face shows earthy features and a funky smile, with deep set eyes of sarsaparilla piercing you with their steely glare. You’d say he’s a fine specimen of humanity… until you remember 5 Brett Saison is, in fact, a beer.
The artwork on the label calls to mind a hand reaching down from the heavens; perhaps the flavours that continue to develop with cellaring of this beer will be the result of the divine touch.
Mick Wust
Published January 29, 2020 2020-01-29 00:00:00
