Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery No Alibi

Style
Farmhouse IPA
ABV
6.1%

Given it’s called a farmhouse IPA, you could consider No Alibi to be a beer with its feet planted in two camps: one where hops shine and the other where Brettanomyces burns bright. But when you take into account the multitude of methods and diversity of ingredients that went into the beer, you realise this beer covers plenty of bases all at once and, better yet, brings them all together into one glass.

To make it, the blenders used Australian ale and wheat malt from Ballarat’s House of Malt, along with rolled spelt, rye, oats and barley, before hopping the beer in the whirlpool with Motueka and Galaxy. It was then open-fermented with kveik yeast – the Bergen strain to be exact – at 35 degrees to really encourage those esters to the fore, before taking shape inside neutral barrels with multiple different Brett strains for 13 months. The final beer is a blend of two different barrels that Sobremesa founders Casey and Hannah thought would work particularly well together, with the addition of further hops – Amarillo and Galaxy – the final touch.

Aromas of horse blanket courtesy of those Brett strains ensure there's an element of funk, one that's immediately joined by grapefruit and rich, ripe mango and papaya. That tropical combination continues through to taste but is soon joined by further ripeness in the shape of stonefruit and a more acidic lemon citrus character. Although the early hopping rate has provided plenty of bitterness, it remains pretty rounded and soft, while a sprightly carbonation ensures it disappear quickly.

Will Ziebell

Published March 3, 2022

Name
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery
Address

86 Parsons Street
Kensington
VIC 3031

Open Hours

No taproom yet

Pickled OnMarket
Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B

More from Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery

Sobremesa Sunday Lemonade & False Narrative (with Boomstick)
Mixed-Culture Grisette & Farmhouse IPA
3.6% & 6.0%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Keep Your Worries
Blended Saison with Pu-erh Tea
5.4%
Sobremesa x Bonehead Bourgogne Des Kensington
Flanders Red Ale
6.1%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Encontro
Saison Aged On Grapes
6.3%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery No Frills #2 & Dumpster Diving #2
Table Saison & Bière de Coupage
3.4% & 5.7%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery December 2022 Quartet
Various
3.6%, 5.8%, 5.3% & 5.6%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Soul Flower
Saison
5.4%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Anomaly & Ounces of Good
Farmhouse Pilsner & Dry Hopped Saison
5.1% & 5.8%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery High Tea
Dark Mild
3.6%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Without Concern
Barrel-fermented gose
4.8%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Coexistence & Vibes On Toast
Saison & Bière De Garde
6.0% & 6.7%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Divergent Thinking
Blended, Barrel-Aged Saison
5.4%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Buddy
Barrel-Fermented Grisette
3.7%
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Broken Time
Hoppy Ale
6.2%