CA'mon!

Continuing with the guest taps at Galway Bay Brewery bars, as mentioned last week, another I got my mitts on was Cuvée de Zrisa by one of my favourite Italian brewers, CA' del Brado.

It's cherry-infused, Brett-fermented and barrel-aged but don't dare call it a kriek. It is a kriek, though: absolutely on a par with what the better class of lambic breweries are doing in Belgium. The whopping 7.8% ABV gave me pause but it wears it well, and lightly. There's a little wine-like fullness to the body while staying crisp, and with none of the flabby heat I dislike in this sort of beer when they're brewed strong. A sharp lactic bite introduces the flavour, seguing seamlessly into a different sort of sourness from the very real-tasting cherries. Brett funk and oak spice are present, but mere afterthoughts, adding complexity without trying to dominate proceedings.

And I think that's deliberate: this is a stylish, honed beer; shaped precisely, like the best Italian tailoring and football.

A couple of weeks later that was succeeded by Piè Veloce Brux Cascade, one with no fruit but which includes the strain of Brettanomyces and the American hop it uses in its name. It's a bright and cheery gold in the glass; an innocence that belies its substantial 7.4% ABV.

I went in a little sceptical about bold new world hops against wild yeast -- lambic brewers shy away from hop flavour for a reason -- but the aroma of this is inarguably gorgeous. The spritzy citrus combines with Brux's own soft and luscious fruit, creating a kind of spicy bath-bomb effect, not subtle, but not overdone either. The flavour is altogether smoother and in no way a novelty. Luscious white wine is the first thing I get: Chablis, shading towards Gewürztraminer. A peppercorn spice next suggests to me that this is fundamentally a saison. For a strong beer it is depressingly refreshing: drinking it slowly requires restraint. There's a little dry grapefruit rind towards the finish, so the hops too are being restrained. That sits next to a more unashamed, but quite delicious, mucky-farmyard funk.

I'm sorry I used up my tailoring and football analogies above, because this is just as poised a beer. I'm sure I'm not the first to remark that "wild" is an inappropriate label for beers like this because the good ones are very controlled and crafted indeed.