Morrigan rises

Black Donkey's limited edition beers are tricky to find in Dublin, but Blackrock Cellar sorted me out with this pair. Both are barrel-aged saisons, fermented with a mixture of yeasts, including the brewery's own Morrigan, harvested from a local cave.

We pick up the 2023 releases with number 3: Yes Marm. The name references its use of Seville oranges in a blended and mixed-culture fermented saison, given two years' barrel ageing. The result is 6.7% ABV and ochre in colour with a fine and lasting white head. It smells piquant and quite vinous, the point where Belgian-style wild beer meets cava and dry cider. I expected something thin and dry but it seems that Morrigan isn't very attenuative, and there's plenty of malt body left behind, opening the flavour on something close to a malt-loaf breadiness. The fruit arrives quickly afterwards, but it's the zingy tartness of white grape and gooseberry rather than oranges. I love it, but I'm a little disappointed that the headline novelty ingredient doesn't put in much of a showing. Maybe there's a little citrus shred complementing the tartness, but it's at the level where, equally, I could be imagining it. Regardless, this is a fine piece of work: weighty and satisfying, while also brimming with wild complexity. I have a particular fondness for these wine-like oak-aged saisons, and although this is more malt-forward than most, it still presses the correct buttons.

Fourth in the series is Hive Mind, based on Underworld Rua and with added local wildflower honey. It's 7% ABV and a dark rusty shade. Both aroma and flavour are very reminiscent of Flanders red ale, with that savoury mix of sour cherries, balsamic vinegar and oaken spices. There's a citric side to the sharpness; a squeeze of lemon juice, and then a chewy breadcrust malt aspect, showing again that not everything has been fermented out. The sourness subsides, and in the finish it tastes more like Orval than Rodenbach. However you slice it, it's very tasty indeed, with lots of different angles to appreciate it from. It's perhaps a little surprising that it's not smoother and rounder, given the 18 months of barrel ageing, but that will likely come after a few more years in the bottle.

After the last lot of Black Donkey beers I drank, I had set myself the task of finding more and catching up properly. This pair shows that to have been a wise move and one I intend to keep doing. Finding them is hard work, but very much worth it.