Once I acquired this bottle of American Bitter Purple from the Collective Brewing Challenge of Fort Value, Texas as a present just a few months again, I knew the one time I would be capable of get away with reviewing a beer with such brash, jingoistic imagery was across the American Independence Day vacation on July 4th. The pink, white, and blue label encompasses a glowing Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) – the nationwide chook of the US – pulling aside its pink shirt to reveal a closely muscled chest that is emblazoned with the phrase “MERICA”. I’ve little question that such over-the-top, in-your-face patriotism was achieved humorously with tongue firmly in cheek – however it is a Texas brewery, so that you by no means know. Possibly they had been critical in any case.
Nevertheless, the truth that the Collective Brewing Challenge selected to adorn a decidedly un-American beer type with such exaggerated nationalism leads me to imagine that is all a little bit of a gag. You must look behind the label to seek out this out, however for all of the overblown Yankee bravado on the entrance of the bottle, the positive print on the opposite aspect clearly states that it is a beer within the bitter Flanders pink type. Even in its homeland within the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium, Flanders pink ale is a little bit of a localized obscurity, greatest exemplified in bottlings by venerable breweries like Rodenbach and Brouwerij Verhaeghe (whose Duchesse de Bourgogne we reviewed in 2019). Tart, refreshing, and nearly wine-like, Flanders pink ale is usually a revelation to drinkers who’ve by no means had bitter beer earlier than – and I think that is very true down in Texas, the land of cool, crisp lagers like Lone Star Beer and Shiner Bock.
However again to that label. I did not get round to reviewing this final week in time for the Fourth of July. However regardless of – developing in only a few days on July 11th is Feetdag van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, or the Day of the Flemish Neighborhood of Belgium. This annual celebration of the Flemish folks and their language and tradition commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs, a pivotal Flemish victory within the Franco-Flemish Struggle, fought 720 years in the past in 1302. It is a bit late to uncork a bottle of this Belgian- impressed American Bitter Purple for the Fourth of July, however the Flemish celebration is simply across the nook.
Sadly, the Collective Brewing Challenge is closed for good in 2020 and this beer is discontinued. However you would possibly nonetheless be capable of discover older bottles on the market, and Flanders pink ale is a method that may mature for a number of years within the bottle because of the addition of so-called “wild” yeast strains like Brettanomyces (which we have encountered a number of instances earlier than right here at Birds and Booze). Collective Brewing Challenge aged their American Bitter Purple with this wild yeast in Belgian feeders, huge floor-to-ceiling oak barrels are historically utilized in brewing such beer. The mixed results of oak ageing and the Brettanomyces yeast give this beer an exquisite vinous complexity, with wealthy notes of balsamic vinegar, vanilla, and raspberry jam. The palate is gentle and brightly tart, with strains of cherry lozenge, oak, pomegranate molasses, and caramel. Some bitter inexperienced apple on the lengthy, dry end brings this refreshing bitter beer to a correct shut. It is a bitter beer complicated sufficient to heat you in the course of winter, but in addition gentle and quenching sufficient to be sipped on a heat summer time night. And for the extra adventurous drinker, it might make a wonderful accompaniment to a pie manufactured from the summer time’s ripest cherries or berries.
Good birding and pleased ingesting, it doesn’t matter what holidays you have fun this month!
Collective Brewing Challenge – American Bitter Purple
4 out of 5 feathers (Wonderful)
