As we get a little better and better at what we do here, one thing I've found is that some of our very old puncheons (which had mostly been used to age wine for 10+ years when I bought them 9 years ago) are now reaching an absolute zen-like state where the rate at which they age beers and the hopping rates we're using the our cultures are all in some sort of beautiful harmony. Some of this is sheer attrition... puncheons I didn't like as much have been broken down and sent to compost, those I like have persisted. This has allowed us to start blending more puncheon-only saison, and this is a "new" one that we brewed two years ago in spring 2024.

Before their demise we had moved to using all Skagit Valley Malt. To be brutally honest I didn't love their malt, but we were able to source organic grain grown and malted locally, and supporting that was really important to me. Their going out of business was a blessing in disguise, as it prompted us to switch to LINC malt, who while not quite as hyperlocal and less focused on organic certification, are more in line with both our desire for high quality malts and very importantly for transparency in sourcing. Every bag we get from them lists the farm it came from, and one of the more compelling sources of malt is the Palouse Heritage bere barley I discussed in the last release.



This beer was brewed essentially as an experiment in both a new hop (at the time) and a new malt (at the time). It blends a classic Floodland framework of organic raw spelt with malted spelt from LINC as well as their sustainably grown (basically organic but not certified) bere barley. It was hopped entirely with whole cone flowers, half a classic citrus-forward varietal from Yakima, and the other half a Hallertau-grown new school citrusy varietal that we also subsequently used in Cut Their Grain.



Unlike CTGAPFT this beer was long-aged in puncheon, 18 months in total before we felt it had reached its potential. The end result is quintessentially what I want in our saison, it is both soft and bright, showing details that can only be found in long/slow aged beers guarded very carefully from oxygen, but without the obscuring hand of heavy oak like you see with most beers aged this long... in thanks due to these very old and hyper-neutral puncheons of ours.



This is a bit of a smaller blend than most of our releases, which I apologize for. I didn't want to add anything else to it to bulk up the volume and lose what's so special about this one. For fans of The Innermost Chamber, To Contemplate Eternity, etc. This one probably deserved waxing but I didn't want to pass on how insanely expensive that is to you and I think it'll age beautifully without the wax.

Bottling date: 01/15/2026
ABV: 6.21 ABV
Conditioned with: Organic sugar.
Cellar: Drinking nicely at 4 months in the bottle, but should really peak this summer/fall. As with any longer aged puncheon saison I'd expect it to drink great through summer 2029.