This was a really fun collaboration. Todd and the crew at Fonta Flora are some of the most creative people we know of. Their commitment to their sense of place, agriculture, art, and imaginative beers is inspiring. We find Todd's passion for corn, specifically Bloddy Butcher corn, particularly endearing. Starting from a love of corn, we built a Biere de Garde we thought reflects the character of our two breweries. We mashed some corn from North Carolina with some malted corn, barley and triticale all from our buddies at Deer Creek Malthouse. It was hopped in the kettle with some of our attic aged hops and a generous dose of the enticing Strisselspalt. We fermented this beer with lager yeast, but in the saison style. We then primed and packaged it in bottles and kegs with our mixed culture for maximum tiny bubbles, and some funk and acidity.
It presently has notes of naturally fermented pear cider, wild Brettanomyces character, hints of oak that wasn't used, homemade tortillas, herbal lime zest, psychedelic liquorice, high tide salt spray, artemesia species, and maybe some comforting apple sauce.