Farmhouse rock

Time was, the wild-fermented beers were untouchably grown-up. Sour, funky, achingly dry -- they were strictly for the adult palate. Since then they've become just another platform for novelty recipes. I guess the tradition of serving Berliner weisse with syrup is at the root of this, and why "pastry sour" is now gurning in at us through the Overton window. Here's some of what's going on at the moment.

Kinnegar starts us off, with Brewers At Play 13: Grapefruit Saison. It's a novelty style with something of a pedigree, produced on and off by lots of brewers over the years. I guess it's the refreshing citrus bite that they reckon will complement the spicy dryness. This example is a little strong at 5.1% and surprisingly dark as well -- properly amber, and hazy, of course. It smells pithy, with the grapefruit dominant over the white-pepper saison aroma. That ABV gives it a thickness which I don't think is in its favour, or at least isn't to my taste, and with a lighter touch the beer would be wonderfully refreshing. The flavour is subtle and balanced, with a bathsalts mix of meadow and minerals, plus an easily missed hint of grapefruit juice right at the very front. This is a warming and filling sort of saison, well suited to the colder part of the year in which they released it. It captures the style's essence well, even if it did leave me hankering after something crisper.

Well I wasn't going to get that from the beer that came next. "Triple fruited pastry sour" goes the description on Lough Gill's Vermin. It's an orangey-pink colour, brewed with raspberry, apricot and mango to a sizeable 6.1% ABV. It does at least smell tart and tangy rather than sweet. The flavour is a mix of both. There's definitely a heavy and jammy side to it -- the sort of jam you get as the fruit filling in a pastry rather than the kind that comes in a pot. Raspberry dominates, as raspberry does. But that raspberry also contributes to the sourness, and there's a definite lactic tang in the blend. It gets sweeter as it warms, and I suspect is best consumed at low temperatures. This is the sort of thing I'd likely enjoy in a taster serving at a beer festival, and would note how it draws on both of its aspects. A full 440ml was tough going, though. The fun becomes work much too quickly.

And then that was followed by another: Work in Progress, which sounded ominous. This is also triple fruited, though with five different types of berry, and is a much lighter 4.3% ABV. It's a bright and bloody beetroot red in the glass, with an aroma of raspberry cordial and chalky fruit candy. It's not a huge amount thinner than the previous one, with still something of a jam or creamy fruit yoghurt feel. It is a lot more complex, though. As well as the raspberry I can pick out the strawberry and blackberry, and possibly even a hint of tartness from the blueberry and redcurrants. Taken all together there's an added piquancy: peppermint, or maybe just plain pepper. Although it's definitely sweet -- pastry first, sour second -- there's a lovely tang on the lips in the finish, and that's the key to its drinkability. I guess if you're going to make beers like this, dialling back the gravity is the most merciful approach.

While there was nothing particularly unpleasant in this set, I would be happier if local breweries spent more time honing the basics of saison, Berliner weisse, gose and whatnot, than jacking them up with eye-catching novelty ingredients. Yes, I'm old. Deal with it.