About midway through 2019, Sailors Grave made a detour on one of their many journeys between East Gippsland and Melbourne to stop in at Healesville. There they brewed a beer with Watts River and, given the combined love for farmhouse style beers and brewing with Brett the breweries share, there was only really one way that collaboration was going to go. Horse To Water is a farmhouse ale that was brewed with pineapple sage before healthy doses of actual pineapple and Brettanomyces were added to the beer. It then spent nine months ageing away in Yarrra Valley pinot noir barrels.
For all the time and complexity of process involved, the resulting beer is one that's simultaneously nuanced yet incredibly straightforward. It’s light and dry on the palate, and the combination of Brett, fruit and plant make it hard to tell exactly what’s derived from tropical fruit and what’s brought out by the yeast. Wherever the constituent parts come from, the way those flavours meld together with a slight funk and a tart lift make for one refreshing drop, so much so you might even be able to tempt the horse to drink it.
Will Ziebell
Published April 22, 2020 2020-04-22 00:00:00
