Name: Almanac Farm to Barrel Tropical Platypus
Style: Barrel Aged American Wild Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 6%
“This special tropical ale is brewed in celebration of City Beer Store’s 10th Anniversary. Inspired by their adorable Platypus mascot, this equatorial sour blonde ale is aged in used wine barrels and oak foeders with an array of tropical fruits. We selected barrels with fruit-forward characters, and amplified those notes with the addition of kiwi, mango, lime and passionfruit. We tied the whole blend together with the addition of aromatic Galaxy hops from Australia. The finished beer is a tropical explosion, worthy of our duck-billed inspiration. Pair with celebratory anniversaries, pupu platters and white sand beaches.”
I am trying to get back into doing these, so lets take a look at a beer for from Almanac Beer Company in San Francisco. Almanac Beer Company has been around since 2010 and they put a lot of care into their farm to bottle beers. I picked up a couple of their farm to barrel series including this guy which was brewed to celebrate 10 years of the Craft Beer Store also in San Francisco.
The beer pours a cloudy yellow with about an inch of white head. As the head quickly recedes, the beer begins to clear quite bit. The nose gives off big tropical notes including key lime, mango and kiwi. There are also undertones of of vanilla, oak, white wine and a little bit of funk. The beer tastes similar to the nose with more funk and citrusy sour notes. The lime is much more prevalent than on the nose with the sour notes lingering on the tongue; making the beer very full bodied. This is a great wild ale, it is heavy on the funky character by using both white wine barrels and tropical fruit and subtly tying in hop undertones. It is a shame this is only being brewed once because it is absolutely delicious. Grab one if you still find them if you want a little bit of funk and tropical flavor in your life. Cheers!
