Herevana – The Ladder – Three Boys – Prunus Stave
Three Boys Prunus Stave. I’m such a gatherer of beers that are unique, special, and are presented in a way that makes them look desirable. This is one of those, a much smaller bottle than the usual offerings, piquing my attention immediately. The 2nd of 3 beers on this Ladder.
IPA and Apricot fruit ale (Where can I buy Apricot Fruit Ale?) blended to make a strong ale, it sounds intriguing and delicious.
Three Boys Brewery make the Three Boys Prunus Stave in Christchurch, 🇳🇿 New Zealand and it’s in the style that could be IPA – Sour / Wild or Strong Ale with an ABV of 9.0%. This is 2.3 standard drink units of beer.
I rinsed the glass, still pondering over just how clever the Urbanaut Imperial Saison really is, the 1st of the 3 beers for this Ladder.
Everything about this beer screams special, the smaller bottle, the gold on black label, the brewers notes, beer that yells to be considered. Well it worked, and here I am.
I read and re-read the notes and yet I still have no idea what to expect from this beer, which is a good thing. What could possibly go wrong?
So, on opening, it’s a soured ale, like a Flanders red kind of aroma. It pours the colour of an IPA, ‘beer brown’ and did briefly carry a head, but you know these things are send to disappoint me. In the glass there is a lovely sourness, again I minded of the Flanders Red kind of level, and a fair whiff of alcohol in there too.
I can’t keep using the expression ‘wow’ but this is unexpected and confusingly good. There’s no sourness, or bitterness but theres a whole expanse of sweetness and softness and calmness. The nose says you’re getting a tongue dancer, your tongue says you’re getting a wafting carry through a delicate sweetness.
Most odd.
I’ll confess to be eating some Camembert cheese whist I drink, and all it’s doing is making it seem like this beer is more alive and adding more complexity and layers.
It’s not all easy going and quaffing though, this is quite a ‘heavy’ beer, in the sense that the flavour payload us quit intense and in a burst, it’s not wearing or grating you look forward to the next sup, but it’s heavy and you’re forced to settle in and slow down to enjoy it.
I’m particularly glad that I let this warm whilst I was enjoying the other beer too, I’m sure that’s made this about right, and I’ll be worried a long time about how this has that Brett sour aroma and yet not that sourness about it, and how it has toyed with my senses.
The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 10 on the arbitrary number scale. A complex and yet accessible beer that leaves as it arrived, with a deep confusion about what it really is, but with a profound sense that you’ve been part of something quite special, even if you can’t define it. I’m dazed, dazzled and without words.
For music, well the people at BeerJerkNZ recent suggested an Album. but I see it’s been updated to this. It is a melange of style and sounds that sometimes world and otherwise don’t but there’s a bit for everyone.
Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.
Philip himself.
This is our first release of a barrel aged beer and we are stoked that it won a Gold medal at the 2019 Brewers Guild awards. Ralph has been very protective of this beer as he loved it so much that he planned to drink a bottle a day until it was all gone and he would then be happy to shuffle off this planet!
Three Boys
Later he changed that plan to a bottle a week when he realised that the maths on a bottle a day was just a little too soon!
The beer is a blend of our IPA aged in a single-use ex Pinot Noir wine barrel. The resulting soured beer was blended with apricot fruit ale to balance rich notes of oak, berries and fruit with a little Brett-driven sour. It was time that made this beer so beautiful, so we suggest you take your time drinking it.
Try it in the evening after pouring into a big, red-wine glass.
Allow it to warm up and sip it slowly to enjoy the full flavour of this very special treat from Three Boys.
A life just as ordinary 