Wiley Roots Brewing Company is excited to announce the release of our second beer-wine hybrid farmhouse sour: GEOMETRY.
BUY BOTTLE VOUCHERS – bit.ly/mcgeobpt
Geometry is a foeder-aged, mixed culture sour refermented on 800 pounds of Gewurztraminer wine grapes from Talbott’s Mountain Farm in Palisade, Colorado. The beer-wine hybrid program centers around our farmhouse golden sour base that is fermented and aged in a former wine foeder. The beer is then refermented with locally grown grapes.
In late 2016, we purchased two 11 hectoliter (approximately 290 gallon) foeders from Rocky Mountain Barrel Company made from Slovenian oak. These foeders were previously used at Nobile di Montepulciano, an Italian winery, to produce Sangiovese wine. A foeder (pronounced food-er), in its simplest form, is a large barrel with a volume greater than or equal to 600 liters. It is approximately 160 gallons or roughly three times the size of an average oak barrel. Each foeder was used for five years of wine production and then sold to a cooper to be reworked. We selected these foeders because they are perfect for aging mixed-culture sours, as Slovenian oak tends to have tighter pores than American or French oak which allows for a softer introduction of oxygen, vanillin, and oak tannin into beer.
Geometry is the first release from Foeder One which follows last year’s release of TRYGonometry from Foeder Two.
Foeder One was first filled in 2016 with the same base as Funk Yo Couch, which is managed as a solera in a stainless steel tote. Both TRYGonometry and Geometry are managed as a solera in oak foeders. The difference in aging vessel is important because the oak foeders allow the culture to develop differently over time, expressing different fruit character and levels of brettanomyces funk. We find that the foeder aged base is typically a lot more aromatically expressive and tends to have higher levels of farmhouse funk. Both of these characteristics lend to integrating more complex components from different wine grape varietals.
In November of 2017, we traveled to Palisade to meet with Anita, a sole proprietor and purveyor of various fruits, gourds, and all things Western Colorado. Anita sourced over 800 pounds of Gewurztraminer wine grapes for Geometry from her friends at Talbott’s Mountain Farm for us to use in this beer.
The next day, the grapes were hand processed using a grape sifter which is a 24” x 24” square frame with a plywood bottom that has holes in it. Grapes were massaged around the box until they fell through the holes in the plywood bottom, leaving the stems behind. Once the grapes were de-stemmed, the skins of the grapes were then ruptured using a power drill and a brand-new paint bucket stirrer. The next day, the base beer from the foeder was transferred onto the grapes, contributing additional fermentable sugars for the culture of wild yeast and bacteria to consume. This yielded additional alcohol and heavy wine grape character through fermentation.
This secondary fermentation of the wine grapes took nearly four months, after which the beer was transferred off of the wine grapes and into a packaging vessel. In March 2018, the beer was packaged and aged until the bright pear, honey, and lavender characteristics of a great Gewurztraminer wine were fully expressed and integrated with the base beer.
For the Geometry release we’ve decided to open things up with the online release model. This model seems to have worked efficiently for some of our more special offerings. It also allows us to keep in touch with those of you who truly enjoy these styles of beers. In addition, we’ve received a number of requests from out of town folks to allow proxies for our online releases. While our production volumes for these types of offerings generally preclude us from allowing proxies as doing so would impact our local customers’ ability to access these beers, the use of the foeders in producing this beer has generated a large enough volume of the beer that this has been addressed.
Bottles of Geometry will be available for $16 per 500mL bottle with a limit of six bottles per person. Approximately 70% of the volume produced will be available for online reservation through Brown Paper Tickets on Monday, October 29th at 10:00 AM. For those of you who experienced the slight snaffu with Brown Paper Tickets during the Bing Cherry Spontaneous release, don’t worry — we figured out where the mistake was made in the event programming and we’re all set for this release. The remaining 30% will be reserved for the taproom crowd, but we are allowing for double dipping across the allocations (if you want to reserve online and then purchase in the taproom on release day) you are welcome to do so.
In order to facilitate an efficient pickup process with proxies, we are also allowing for a longer pickup window. Bottles reserved online will need to be picked up by December 31, 2018. Online voucher purchasers must supply their proxy with (1) a photocopy or picture of the purchasers photo ID, and (2) the email sent to the purchaser confirming the quantity and name for the purchase. In addition, both parties (proxy and purchaser) must be over 21.
TL;DR bullet points:
What: Geometry Online Voucher Release
When: Online sales starts on October 29th, 2018 at 10AM MST
Where: Save this address → http://bit.ly/mcgeobpt
Cost: $16 per 500mL bottle (bottle voucher price includes sales tax)
Limits: Six bottles per person
Proxies: Proxies will be allowed for this release. Proxies must have (1) a photocopy or picture of the purchaser’s photo ID and (2) the email sent to the purchaser confirming the quantity and name for the purchase.
Proxies and purchasers must both be over 21.
Bottle Vouchers: You are buying bottle vouchers. Vouchers may be exchanged for bottles during the pick-up window. Vouchers are not gift cards and do not hold a cash value. Any voucher that is not redeemed within the pick-up window, will not be refunded.
Valid ID: Please make sure that your ID and your proxy’s ID are up to date. If expired IDs are presented at pickup, we will not be able to exchange bottles to purchasers or proxies. No paper temporary IDs.
Pick Up Window: November 2, 2018 – December 31, 2018.
Onsite sales will commence on November 2nd, 2018 at 12PM MST.
