Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Review - Driftwood Spring Rite

I apologise for the long delay since my last post, but all my attentions for the past couple of weeks have been focused on fighting the Slave Lake fire in Northern Alberta. I've finally got a few days off now and I'm back on the good ol' Island for a bit of r and r. One of the bonuses of getting down here is finally being able to try Driftwood's new concoction I've been hearing so much about, Spring Rite.

Spring Rite, is the second beer Driftwood has brewed using local malt, that is grown and malted right here on the Saanich Peninsula. It is a Belgian Abbey-style beer and uses candi sugar as one of its ingredients. If that isn't enough they've also added brettanomyces, a form of yeast sometimes used in Belgian and Belgian-styles ales that creates a tart character in beer. You`ve got to respect the spirit of adventure on this one.

Spring Rite pours a light, amber orange and has a peppery, floral hop bouquet that is complemented with a light Belgian yeast aroma. It has a nice peppery, spicy flavour that was reminiscent of Farmhand, Driftwood's regular saison. For it's abv of 7% it has a very light body and is quite drinkable, a quality imparted from the use of candi sugar and something very appropriate for an Abbey beer. The character imparted from the brett is still very subtle, imparting a very gentle tartness to the finish and it shouldn't scare you away from trying this beer if your taste buds are somewhat less adventurous. As I said, this beer is very drinkable.

If you haven't already tried it (and you probably have, I'm painfully behind the times on this one) give Spring Rite a go. These guys make great beer and are doing things no one else on the Island (and possibly the country) is willing to try. This beer was made using locally grown and malted grain, a fact that couldn`t have made it cheap to produce but still retails at around 7 dollars. Even better, try a couple bottles now and put a couple away to try a few months down the road to see how the brett has continued to increase its presence in the beer as time has gone on. Get out there and try Spring Rite, these guys need your support.
Rating: Very Good

1 comment: