Bière de Nöel | 2022

Bière de Nöel | 2022 is brewed with barley grist—60% of which is malted to a low specification, while the rest is left unmalted. This beer undergoes a traditional turbid mash and a six-hour boil to enhance wort caramelization and mouthfeel. It uses aged hops at the start of the boil but receives a heavy dose of fresh whole leaf Czech Saaz hops as it enters the coolship for spontaneous inoculation. For Bière de Nöel | 2022, a blend was made pulling from primarily three-year and two-year components with an average age of 24 months, then dry hopped with fresh 2021 harvest Hallertau Mittelfruh hops from our Florian Seitz at Seitz Farms in Bavaria. Prior to bottling, we blended in young one-year beer from the same recipe to provide the entirety of the fermentable sugars. It pours a golden straw with a lasting white foam. Strong hop aromatics of pear, fig and apricot are accompanied by flavors of French cider, Alsatian wine a strong minerality and a complex acid profile.