Herevana #185 – Garage Project – Shinrin-Yoku (2021)

#185 – it’s a Garage Project – Garage Project Shinrin Yoku made in  Wellington, 🇳🇿 and it is a Sour / Wild Beer – Flavored ale of 6.6% ABV, this would be 2 standard drinks in NZ

Another of the beers that have been put aside to share, but that I’ve finally given in and put in the fridge to enjoy, on what it a really nice day, amongst the best of the summer so far.

I’ve been working in the garden and have the dull ache of having done to much, which at my age and generally fitness isn’t as much as your might think. Same again tomorrow, can’t leave it unfinished.

That lovely sour aroma that’s like a cider, earthy and rich. A nice golden colour beer, quite deep in colour.

That’s a a lot of things, it’s super squinty sour for a start. Then there’s this lush body that’s daringly sweet briefly before that sourness rushes over. It is an enlightening experience.

I might be doing thus wrong, or the beer might of course be too cold, but I am looking for hints of plum, almond, and Sencha (herby grassy). In the meantime I can’t stop sipping, I feel very compelled, the sourness seems quite addictive.

I’m sure that sweetness I mentioned is the plum, and either I’m getting used to that bitterness of the warming to a better temperature is the thing. bit of this bit of that I imagine.

There was a race of sorts, where I tried to slow down the drinking, and for the beer to warm up, I wish I’d waited as the warming wait is so worth it to bring a great beer unto an exceptional one.

The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 on the arbitrary number scale. As you would expect this is a top shelf expression of a beer, proper soured, and with layers and nuance that become bolder as it warms. Something a little special and something very enjoyable.

Music: I’ve been loaned some original vinyl and so I’ve been expanding my horizons and giving it a listen. Today The Blue Oyster Cult – on your feet or on your knees. It’s a live Album.

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.

Literally ‘forest bathing’ in Japanese, Shinrin-yoku is the calming and rejuvenative act of walking slowly through a forest, allowing the senses to ‘bathe’ in the natural stimuli around you. Inspired by Shinrin-yoku, this mixed ferment sour has been barrel aged on Japanese ume plums, blended with another aged sour fermented using only sakura (wild cherry blossom), and then infused with the finest Japanese sencha green tea. Close your eyes, take a stroll and let delicate notes of plum, almond, new grass and blossom wash over your senses. Your own forest bath in a bottle.

Brewers Notes

Sour / Wild Beer – Flavored

The “Flavored Wild Beer” and the “Flavored Sour Beer” are catch-all styles for any beer with a clear flavoring element and where the implementation of a microorganism other than traditional brewer’s yeasts ensures a drier, thinner, sour and/or funkier product. Such microorganisms includes Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces. The base beer style becomes less relevant because the various yeast and bacteria tend to dominate the profile. It also features an harmonious marriage of the additive and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The additive character should be evident but in balance with the beer. (For example: fruits, spices, herbs, vegetables, coffee, honey, chocolate, maple sirup, chilies, nuts, vanilla, liquor – BUT not including Smoked malt or barrel-aging element resulting from the brewing process). The “Traditional Wild / Sour Beers” are often the result of a Mixed-Fermentation Blend of beers aged in barrels and tend to have a complex funky taste acquired from the microbial flora. Wood or barrel aging is very common in this type of beers, but not required. The “Kettle Sour Beers” or “Quick Soured Beers” are generally soured using a Kettle Souring technique in a stainless steel mash tun and have a tartness taste similar of an unsweetened yogurt. This style also includes beers described as “Smoothie Sour” or “Milkshake Sour”, a kettle-sour beer which use unfermented whole fruit purée, and often lactose and fruit pectines, to achieve a beer with smoothie-like consistency.