A piquette-inspired farmhouse ale with Mourvèdre and Syrah grapes and steeped with foraged elderflower

Following the first collaboration with our friends at Bottleworks and Full Throttle Bottles, Orrorin, the second installment in this series is a special project giving new life to two fantastic grape varietals grown at French Creek Vineyard and later infused with locally foraged elderflower. This ongoing series focuses on the idea of producing “piquette” style ales and adding a rotating foraged ingredient; each aspect represents the unique terroir of our home state, and the wonderfully diverse ingredients that are indigenous to or carefully cultivated in Washington.

Ardi began with one of our oak-aged farmhouse stock ales. After completing projects with the Mourvèdre and Syrah, the grapes were then knocked out onto the beer for refermentation in totes. Finally, elderflower foraged in the Cascades was added before packaging.

Bright fruity notes of red plum and raspberry from the grapes greet the palate, built on a structure from the oak-aged base beer. The distinct herbal, honeyed sweetness from the elderflower rounds everything out, while still finishing dry and balanced.

This collaboration series explores the concept of evolution, each individual beer named after early human species. “Ardi,” a nickname for Ardipithecus ramidus, roamed the earth an estimated 4.4 million years ago. We believe this iteration in the series represents growth from Orrorin, with a more layered, nuanced fruit profile and a refined, elegant character from the elderflower