Beer – #994 – There Be Dragons – Chasing Harvest Ale
There Be Dragons Chasing Harvest Ale, the 2015 version. Genuine nano brewing of less than 500 bottles produced a year, mostly exported, as far as I can tell to Chicago, this is a beer that I just could not go past.
it can be a dangerous passage
A 6.5% ABV and 14 IBU beer in this 500ml bottle, I think this is about 2.55 standard drink units in NZ
For the There Be Dragons Brewing Company this is brewed at Wanaka Beerworks
and is Styled as a Sour Red/Brown and that happens in the Rarely explored and somewhat dangerous brewing place, labeled on the map only as There Be Dragons, New Zealand
Belgian inspired red ale fermented with a small portion of Central Otago Pinot Noir juice and aged wild for full year in Pinot Noir barrels
not to be confused with Chasing the dragon
This very small production Belgian-‐inspired red ale was conceived and brewed by Mike Kush, winemaker for Chasing Harvest, along with Dave De Vylder of Wanaka Beerworks amidst the snow capped Southern Alps of Wanaka, New Zealand. The beer was brewed in April 2012 at the peak of the famed Central Otago wine harvest with a ten percent portion of Central Otago pinot noir juice bled from the tanks of Chasing Harvest wines best blocks.
The beer was aged wild twelve months in French oak Pinot Noir barrels.
Although, it can be a dangerous passage ageing beer in barrels, the resulting beer shows tremendous character and complexity in the aromatics with great texture and body. Cheers!
So, What could possibly go wrong?
Aroma is the unmistakable sour ale style, cider like.
Cloudy brown pour that is carbonated but leaves no head. Red in the glass the when you hold it to the light, it looks lovely.
Fruity, but under carbonated, I wonder if I left this too long and it’s not done as well as it might, hard to tell with capped beer that’s unusual and hard to compare notes on, except it isn’t when you use and app like Untappd, and find that under carbonation is a thing with this version.
But it had lovely aroma and the taste is a quite intense burst of tannin laden fruitiness.
It is highly soured, quite soft and carries on like it’s a bigger beer than it is, the flavours are much bigger than you’d expect perhaps and that oak is very noticeable.
I thought it would have been better, and I’m going to just count it’s flatness as being indicative of the interpreted style.
I like that oakiness, the tannin, the lovely aroma that is like wine, and the fruitiness in this,
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 of its things from the thing. Somewhere between 8 and a 8 and a bit. This is nice beer that is pleasant to drink and delivers what it has on the label, oak pinot red wine notes. It has great colour and lovely aroma I’ve been anticipating and been excited about having this and although a little disappointed at the carbonation I’ve really enjoyed it.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? Hopsctoch Beer in Mt.Eden
- Am I enjoying it? Yes, I’ve been excited since I brought it and I am.
- Would I have another? I would have a different year.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? It is unusual and rare, I think this year might not be the best of them it is under carbonated, but it is a lovely easy drinking soft soured red ale that I really enjoyed.
Music for this: The Nightfly by Donald Fagen I hav it on Vinyl, you can listen on Spotify
The Nightfly is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen. Produced by Gary Katz, it was released October 1, 1982
SOUR RED/BROWN
The sour red/brown beers of Flanders can be considered as two different styles, or two ends of a single style continuum, depending on how you choose to view the issue. They are a clearly–defined sour ale subtype, one with strong historical traditions. Their character blends rich malt with tartness, and usually some fruity character as well. Oak aging is common in the traditional production of the style and therefore is often evident in the character. Many examples are also aged on fruit. At the red end of the style, the classic is Rodenbach at the brown end it is Liefmans, and there are several very good examples in between.
A life just as ordinary 