It seems they’ve gone at little bit fruity at Rocks. For their second new release of 2017 the Alexandria brewery has decided make use of the abundance of summer’s gorgeous stone fruit by bastardising a witbier with nectarines.
The wit, or wheat, style of beer is something their brewhouse happens to be well suited to. Without getting into technical details of efficiency, extractions, conversions and all sorts of other things that get brewers particularly excited, the Rocks brewhouse has something called a mash filter which allows them to use more wheat, more easily than more conventional breweries. As a result, for the Nectarine Wit, they’ve been able to use 75 percent wheat which, for some general reference, is about half the amount again than is used in your traditional Belgian witbier and twice the amount, or more, than is found in many New World wheat beers. For good measure they decided to throw in a load of oats too. So, what should that actually mean for the disinterested drinker?
It’s basically going to mean a pale, hazy beer with a creamy texture and fluffy head. But consider that, on top of this, they’ve added coriander, ginger and all spice, plus the nectarines, and you've got quite the collection of characters going on. The result, they say, is “fruity, tart, spicy, light and an intricate thirst quencher”. They also make a point of noting it’s very much an ale with live yeast so, if you’re trying the beer now then again at some distant point in the future, be prepared for it to lose the fresh and fruity characters and take on more of a sour and funky feeling.
Published February 22, 2017 2017-02-22 00:00:00
