I like a nice fancy beer every now and then. When some people might sit down to a nice glass of wine I will sit down relax and have a slow sip of a some amazing fancy craft beer.
This is one of those beers. It's called St Walter - named for the brewers son and is a beer released, with slight variations each year. It's from a brewery from Sydney, Australia called Wildflower. This do traditional Belgian style, with a little bit of a twist, there is a lot of use of wild yeasts, fruit, and wine technqiues. This very rarely put a foot wrong.
As you can see from the label above this one is made with black muscat grapes, as well as spending some time in a barrel - so there is are some fairly big expectations.
This is classy from the get go, for the champagne style bottle (although only 375ml) to the label design, this is for sitting on a table at dinner not swilling in a pub.
It pours in a very energetic way, there is head all over the shop - in fact maybe a little too much, which you often get with wild yeasts. It fade away quickly - which also isn't the best sign.
In terms of taste it's quite strong - maybe more than I was expecting - it's only 5.6% alcohol. There is a Sourness there, but in a robust Belgian way not the fruity spritzy stuff you see a lot. It doesn't have a lot of carbonation and there is a fair amount of funk coming through, maybe a hint of hay.
If you like traditional Belgian beers, and you want something a little like a Flanders red ale, but a little lighter then this would be the beer to get.
As always this post is part of @detlev 's amazing #beersaturday competition. If you like beer, why not drink it, write about it and then post in the comments here and let the world know what you are drinking