Serving Barrel-aged Wild Beer
Photo by Stephen Chow
We take a lot of care to make sure our barrel-aged wild beers are completely fermented and stable before packaging so that additional fermentation doesn't happen in the bottle, beyond the carbonation that forms during conditioning. Check out our blog post about Bottle Conditioning here.
Here are some tips for storing and serving our barrel-aged wild beers.
Ideally, the bottle should be stored in a cool, dark place. A basement around 16°C works well. If you don't have a basement, a closet is fine as long as there aren't furnace ducts or hot water lines in there. The warmer the beer is stored, the shorter the recommended ageing time is, however, if it’s stored too cold (fridge temperature) the wild yeast will be stunted and won’t help the beer evolve.
Once you're ready to crack open a bottle, we recommend putting the beer in the fridge a day or two beforehand. This will allow the beer to become completely chilled, as well as make sure that any yeast is on the bottom of the bottle where it belongs, and the CO₂ doesn't all try to leave the beer and the bottle immediately.
Opening a warm beer could result in a mess - especially when it's a higher carbonation beer. Temperature directly affects the solubility of CO₂ in a liquid, so if the beer is warm, the CO₂ immediately comes out of solution.
This may go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. Please don't shake the bottle before opening it!
We suggest using a red wine glass, Belgian-style beer glass, or a wide-shaped glass with a slightly closed-lip, with beer poured ½ to ⅔ full with some remaining head space. This will help to concentrate the aromas in your glass and optimize your enjoyment of the beer. TLDR: if you can swirl the beer in the glass to release aromas into the glass headspace, you’re in good shape.
When opening the bottle, have your well-washed (and well rinsed) glasses ready and pour the beer gently in the center of the upright glass. You're trying to generate some foam when pouring the beer, as this will help release some of the beautiful and complex aromatics in the beer.
We suggest opening the bottle with glassware ready, and once you open the bottle be ready to pour into a glass. The tapering of the neck accelerates any rising foam after opening the bottle, so it’s handy to have a glass ready.
Each time you pour the beer and tip the bottle from horizontal to vertical, you'll rouse some of the yeast that lies on the bottom of the bottle. Rousing the yeast at the bottom of the bottle is completely fine, and won’t affect the drinking experience, other than the appearance of the beer. We recommend a gentle approach to pouring to minimize the suspension of the yeast by 1) not tipping the bottle back to vertical when pouring multiple glasses, and 2) tipping the bottle back to vertical slowly when finished pouring. If you have 3-4 people sharing the beer, consider pouring them all at once, and leaving a little bit in the bottom of the bottle. This prevents rousing the yeast on the bottom of the bottle between pours. The yeast is in a pretty dense layer on the bottom of the bottle, but this can prevent the last pour from being too cloudy.
We're constantly striving to improve our beers, and we hope these serving suggestions help you get the most out of your tasting experience!