Friday January,
23rd, 2014 marked the release of the second round of
collaborations between Levi Funk, of the Funk Factory Geuzeria and Marc
Buttera, of O’so Brewing Company. This latest round release featured two beers:
Framrood, a raspberry lambic; and Door Kriek, a cherry lambic. The two beers, released exclusively at the
party, were “spontaneously fermented” by allowing the hot wort (unfermented
beer) to cool in a shallow open vessel referred to as a coolship. The wort cools in the coolship (more on this below)
and is then added to the fermenter, in this case French Oak barrels for
fermentation. If you would like a more
in-depth discussion of the use of coolships in brewing, please refer to last
week’s Framrood post, for now though, let’s give Door Kriek its due.
A kriek is a lambic with cherries. All lambic-style beers can vary in taste
based upon the microbes that fermented the wort, but a kriek is also heavily
influenced by the choice of cherries used.
For Door Kriek, Funk Factory and O’so used what I believe to be Wisconsin
Montmorency cherries from Door County, which are well known for their tart, or
as some would call it, sour flavor. Compared
to the sweeter Bing or Ranier Cherries which can be eaten on their own, tart
cherries are commonly used as an ingredient in something that can cut the
tartness like a pie, a jam or jelly, dipped in chocolate, or paired with
something savory (like cheese or meat) to give a recipe added depth.
Last year Marc Buttera and Levi
Funk released the first in what will hopefully be many collaborative lambic-style
beers, and now here we are with the second major launch event, and a bottle of
Framrood. On with the review.
They Say:
Door Kriek is a blend of lambic
style beer that was aged in used French oak wine barrels for 18-24 months. It was then re-fermented with two pounds per
gallon of tart cherries for three months.
We are proud to be using 100% tart cherries grown by a small family farm
operating in Door County, WI, an area long-famous for their superb cherry
crops. Expect this Kriek to be tart yet
balanced, complex yet delicate, and bursting with that pi-cherry flavor we
love!
We recommend drinking Door Kriek
in the first year, but it will age very well in the cellar.
I Say:
Door Kriek pours a brilliantly
clear, bright red with pink highlights when held up to the light, the color is
reminiscent of watermelon juice. The
thin, small bubbled, white head holds very low retention before fading to a
very thin collar and leaving behind minimal lacing. A soft, pale maltiness leads in the aroma,
with a hint of fruity tartness. Light tart
pie cherries and a slight funkiness linger
into the finish. The tart pie cherries
become more prominent as Door Kriek warms to room temperature.
Door Kriek is mildly funky, with
a strong note of tart pie cherries on the front end. Notes of tart lactic acid mingle with slight
barnyard/horse blanket funkiness and the tart pie cherries that linger
throughout. There is more tart pie
cherry in the finish and long lingering aftertaste. As in the aroma, the cherry notes become more
prominent as the beer warms to room temperature. At the end of the bottle, I poured a little
of the yeast dregs in with my last few ounces of Door Kriek. The addition of the yeast added a strong pie
crust character which turned the tart pie cherry into a cherry pie, an amazingly
awesome cherry pie! Door Kriek is light
bodied with a moderately high level of carbonation, which is dead on for a good
kriek.
Door Kriek is an excellent kriek
with a moderate level of funkiness and a strong tart pie cherry flavor. As with Framrood, Door Kriek will continue to
develop in the bottle becoming funkier and picking up additional depth as it
slowly oxidizes; the wild yeasts will make the beer even funkier. In a recent twitter exchange with Crooked
Stave, they mentioned that they prefer their American Sours after at least one
year of aging in the bottle. I guess
that means I will have to hold onto my last bottle of Door Kriek for at least a
year before I open it. It will be hard
to hold off that long because this is an excellent kriek that, like Framrood,
signifies great things to come from all future Funk Factory / O’so Brewing
collaborations. With a beer like this, I
can’t wait to taste the Funk Factory Geuzeria’s upcoming releases! once Levi starts
rolling out releases.
That’s all for today, check back
soon for another review!
Happy Drinking, remember to
always Drink Wisconsinbly!