Loop - Plum & Wild Thyme
Yonder Brewing and Blending in Radstock, Somerset, England 🏴
Sour / Wild Beer Series|
Score
6.97
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Loop: Plums & Wild French Thyme. We bring you Loop, a tart farmhouse beer, fermented with Yonder’s medley of mixed cultures and utilising locally grown spelt flour from Sharpham Park, to build the body and give those bugs something to chew on.
This base beer is brewed and aged in oak barrels all year round and blended seasonally with whatever fruits and other wild ingredients are available at the time. The dregs of these blends are then reused to ferment the next instalment, ensuring that the cycle always continues.
The first full size batch of Loop was blended with locally foraged Victoria Plums and a few handfuls of Damsons. As the fruit macerated on the blended beer, the wild yeast from the skins aided secondary fermentation and brought about a peachy pink hue.
The second addition to play against the honey-like flavour of the stone fruit was wild thyme collected in the dusty hills of Provence, where Jasper was taking a much needed summer break. Far from savoury, this dried herb was very floral and citrus and worked perfectly in the blend.
This base beer is brewed and aged in oak barrels all year round and blended seasonally with whatever fruits and other wild ingredients are available at the time. The dregs of these blends are then reused to ferment the next instalment, ensuring that the cycle always continues.
The first full size batch of Loop was blended with locally foraged Victoria Plums and a few handfuls of Damsons. As the fruit macerated on the blended beer, the wild yeast from the skins aided secondary fermentation and brought about a peachy pink hue.
The second addition to play against the honey-like flavour of the stone fruit was wild thyme collected in the dusty hills of Provence, where Jasper was taking a much needed summer break. Far from savoury, this dried herb was very floral and citrus and worked perfectly in the blend.
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7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
15/1/2022. Bottle from Bacchanalia, Mill Road Cambridge shared with ITFCDan. Pours clear pale golden with a small frothy white head. Aroma of tart plums, citrus, yeast, grass, herb. Moderate sweetness, moderate tartness. Medium body, slightly oily, average carbonation. Nice bittersweet tart finish. Enjoyable.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Jan 2022
at 10:57
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle, 375 ml, shared with Max, Kova and Miro B. Hazy orange, small white head. Some light plums, herbs, yogurt, moderate tartness. Light bodied.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jul 2019
at 06:16
7/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Somerset is apparently a fertile ground for sour ales: next to the renowned Wild Beer Company, there is this one as well, presenting - among others - this thyme-flavoured fruit sour. Thanks to Loik for sharing! Snow white, quickly opening, bubbly and loose head over a cloudy, yellow-straw blonde beer with ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of indeed outspoken fresh thyme (much more clearly so than I was expecting and quite unique), lots of sour yellow plum, white grape peel, sourdough, lemon rind, pear, raw sorrel, rhubarb, parsnip. Sour onset, crisp green gooseberries and some cucumber rather than actual plum but unripe plum tartness sure is there, apple peel note too, medium carbonation, lemony edges drying a cereally, sourdoughy middle; long tart finish, very dry white wine, elegant with a strong retronasal thyme effect - the combination of which with the sour fruit results in a quite unique, but nowhere unpleasant flavour and aroma mixture. The thyme is put to the foreground here, but its aroma is 'bent' in such a way that it becomes quite intriguing and alluring. Special little sour, this one!
Tried
on 03 Jan 2019
at 19:56
7/10
Bottle at Christmas party at friends House. Cloudy yellow with white head. Sour, fruity.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Dec 2018
at 19:07
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle. Beer Stop, Dronfield. Hazed, orange gold. A few bubbles of white head. Nose has sour plum. Yoghurt. Herb. Doughy bread. Grain husk. Taste is sour and dry, with a light, yoghurt sweetness. Light body. Dry and sharp. Fine carbonation. Tart finish with some fruit.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Dec 2018
at 18:06
7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg at salthorse. Pours hazy orange, nose is plum, funk, thyme, hint of mint, taste is juicy, funky, salty citrus, a little herbal.
Tried
on 16 Nov 2018
at 22:12
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Keg @ IndyMan 2018. Pours misty gold, small white ring. Aroma is light, wheaty, herbal. Taste is light, thin on plummy notes, some distant floral herbal elements, light acidity. Seems a little deflated, lacking a defined sour edge. Ok.
Tried
on 07 Oct 2018
at 19:17
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Keg at indy man beer con. Session 1. A light hazed milky peach coloured pour with a a halo of white head. Earthy wheat, lemon, herbal. Flavour is composed of tart lemon rind, herbal., white grape, pithy citrus.. Palate is pithy dry, moderate carbonation. Ok.
Tried
on 04 Oct 2018
at 17:54
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Keg at IMBC 2018, session 1. Pours unclear gold with a small, frothy white head. Good stuff, quite dry and minimalist, some peach, lemon, sturdy acidity. Light to medium bodied with fine carbonation. Spare finish, tart and quenching. Sound.
Tried
on 04 Oct 2018
at 17:50
7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg at IMBC. It pours hazy golden with a small white head. The aroma is soft, sweet - sour, plum, minerals, fragrant, thyme, must and sherbet. The taste is crisp, dry, tart, minerals, good mouth - pucker, minerals, sour plum, ime, salty, thyme, cracker, light acidity and some sherbet. Dry finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. Well judged stuff. Fun. Promising start!
Tried
on 04 Oct 2018
at 17:48