Part of its Tempus Barrel project, Beavertown Brewery has launched two brand new beers: Beavertown As Above So Below and Mother of the Woods.
Inspired by the seasons, timed with the ancient pagan wheel, the new range of Tempus Barrel Project beers are brewed with locally sourced ingredients, from fruit, foraged herbs, malt, or hops, each transformed using a range of slower brewing techniques. These new beers join other Tempus Barrel Project brews such as ‘Light Becomes Her’ Apricot Foeder and ‘The Rule of Three’.
Inspired by the wild outdoors, Mother of the Woods is floral with prominent gin and tonic notes conveyed through the wild ale, made using locally foraged juniper and hibiscus flowers. A tribute to ancient winemaking, Beavertown As Above So Below is a unique combination of half golden ale and half sparkling wine. With a golden ale base, the beer is fermented with Chardonnay and Ortega grape juice from vineyards in Kent. This is then left to age on Pinot Meunier and Ortega grape skins for six months in an amphora, a large clay pot typically used for wine making, helping to regulate the liquid’s temperature and allowing it to breathe.
On the launch of the new beers, Logan Plant, Beavertown Founder and CEO, said: “Tempus has been a passion project for us for a while, we’re relaunching it alongside two new tantalising beers to reach a different audience of people who are conscious about the planet and how their drinks and food is sourced. We’re hoping when each beer is sipped that people take their time with drinking it, carefully pairing it with their food. For us, this experience is about digging a little bit deeper into what the drinking experience can be.”
On pour, Beavertown As Above So Below has a golden complexion with fine carbonation. On the nose, yeasty aromas are backed-up with fresh sourdough, plus honey, orange rind and pith, lemon zest, and apple which lends a slight cidery note. As for the taste, the beer has all the depth expected from a natural wine, with a particularly complex palate. Those cidery notes continue to manifest alongside further fruit savours of peach and a whisper of white grape, plus a zip of lime, further orange rind, and just a touch of gooseberry sourness at the back. Moreover, the beer has a feint tea note not too dissimilar from unflavoured kombucha, while bracing acidity replaces typical hop bitterness, lingering on the fresh finish alongside some flinty minerality.
A ground-breaking hybrid beer that’s genuinely exciting, As Above So Below won’t be for everybody, but it certainly beats overly hopped IPAs with double-digit ABV, or uninspired flavoured stouts.
Beavertown As Above So Below and Mother of the Woods are available from the brewery’s webshop.
