They've been experimenting in so many ways over the past decade at La Sirène that you can never be too sure what's going to be leaving the brewery next. Case in point: we'll be writing about their new IPA – a style brewery founder Costa Nikias said he'd never brew – in the same week two more beers from their Coolship Collection hit the site.
Presented in typically elegant La Sirène fashion, and clearly of a kind, both started out as wort allowed to cool overnight in the brewery's coolship with microflora from neighbouring Darebin Parklands setting fermentation in motion before a move to French oak. Time & Place spent two years in oak, a period in which it developed an incredible aroma: juicy, ripe pears and apples combined with an acidic edge and a distinct oakiness. That acidity is both vibrant and bracing on the palate before making way for a dustily funky finish.
Its older sibling is Age & Beauty, was laid down in the winter of 2017 and spent an additional 12 months in oak. It's less aggressive, more rounded, softer and creamier than Time & Place with a syrup sponge sweetness and a little nougat in the mix. If I was to pick a fruit descriptor I'd be more in marmalade territory than apples and pears, yet it still registers high when it comes to sour, sweet and funky acidity, ensuring the finish is drying and quenching.
James Smith
Published November 23, 2020 2020-11-23 00:00:00
