On tap at Farmhouse Fest 2022, pours a hazy blonde with a small white head. Aroma brings out gently subtle tea, with rustic saison yeast and a touch of oak. Flavour is full of oak, tons of tea, and a little rustic saison yeast. Oaky, herbal, and rustic. It's alright.

Bottle sample at Farmhouse Fest 2022, pours a deep dark reddish with a small white head. Aroma is loaded with jammy, tart boysenberries that dominate… mmm. Flavour is loaded with pithy, jammy boysenberries, gentle tartness, and a little bugs. The nose is much better than the flavour. A little underwhelming and lacking complexity. Decent.

Bottle sample at Farmhouse Fest 2022, pours a cloudy bright yellow with a small white head. Aroma brings out tart citrus fruit, bugs, and a little oak — don't really get the kiwis. Flavour is full of tart citrus fruit… I guess kiwi… along with oak and rustic notes. Not the most complex Fair Isle but it's nicely constructed. Good.

7-8-23 HCB Prev 3.7 8-1-22 HCB

American ‘bière de garde’ brewed with chanterelle (or girolle) mushrooms – a delicacy from the forests, but how such an ingredient can ever work in beer… Shared by Craftmember at Sambre’s saison fest 2022. Snow white, moussy, stable, shred-lacing head, clear orange blonde robe. Aroma of indeed fried forest mushrooms with brown sugar sprinkled on them (the way my father use to stir fry them), plum peel, green gooseberry, pizza or oregano (!), dried prosciutto, green peppercorns from a jar, some background sulfuric aspect probably related to the chanterelles. Crisp, fruity onset, green gooseberry and some unripe prune, medium carb, supple dry-bready and cereally core under drying, yoghurty lactic sourness, lingering acidic green fruitiness and then this retronasal mushroom effect, again adding something ‘meaty’, but in a far less outspoken way than orthonasally; the added peppercorns, however, do add a pleasantly lingering ‘warm’ spiciness. Ends elegantly tart, vinous, juicy and a tad tannic like any good sour ale, but the mushrooms are mostly here for the show, as they do add unusual aromas, but very little actual flavour. Fascinating one nonetheless – and only my third or fourth mushroom beer to date, I think.