KUNKA くんか

A farmhouse saison with wonderful yeast aromatics complimented by a bouquet of wildflowers

[Character]
A broad floral bouquet of aromas adorn this farmhouse Saison featuring chrysanthemum, dandelion, and rose buds. The flowery aroma is complemented with a touch of Saison spice and fruity esters.

[Food Pairing]
Rocket and orange salad, roast pork tenderloin with berry sauce, lemon tart

[Naming]
"Kun kun" or "kunka kunka" in some regions, is an onomatopoeia for the act of sniffing and taking in an appealing aroma. With this beer being an already appealing base of natural yeast esters and hops, we supplemented it with three different types of dried flowers to turn it into a beer where the aroma is truly as big as the taste, and one you'll no doubt want to appreciate again and again - kun kun!

[Brewer's Voice]
We did a couple of beers using flowers last year, including an Elderflower beer and an Osmanthus beer, both which came out with lovely characters to complement the yeast profile of the beers. We wanted to lean a bit more into that concept, and design a beer around a mix of wildflowers as a feature, instead of an accent. Introducing our Wildflower Saison. We went with a Saison here because, staying true to style, Saisons are often known for being "farmhouse" ales, or beers brewed with whatever the farmhouse had available. This leads to a very diverse style of beer, leaning into non-conventional ingredients, and subsequently diverse range of flavours in beers. To support this bouquet of flowers, the base beer was built up from a blend of German Pilsner malt, with some wheat, Red Rye Crystal, and a little Honey malt, which gives the beer a touch of body and sweet caramel, as well as of course honey character to stand up to the natural character of the flowers. This also gives a nice golden amber hue to the beer. For a light bittering, we used Saaz hops for their spice and herbal character, and followed that up with some Talus and Audacia late boil hops, adding in notes of citrus, rose, huckleberry, and lingonberry. The stars of the show being added into the Whirlpool are a blend of rose, chrysanthemum, and dandelion, adding some more golden red hue to the beer, while layering in a fresh flower and soft herbal sweetness to the beer. I wanted this beer to be a journey of flavours where on the nose you get some sweet fruit and spice, reminiscent of a wild meadow, and back that up with a soft honey sweetness to complement the delicate aromas, much like adding honey into your herbal tea. This beer was fermented with a Farmhouse Ale strain, which adds its own peppery and floral yeast esters to bring it all together.

Style: Flower Saison
Series: KBC2.0
Category: Beer
JAN: 4589718742953