Atwood Ales releases three unique beers for Spring.
Located just outside of the Canadian-United States border lies a quaint brewery on a farmhouse. We, of course, speak of Atwood Ales, producers of some the more unique beers in the area. Recognizing that we've not heard from the brewery for some time, we reached out and they responded with some new releases. With two out of the three beers having an animal name, we are happy to announce the release of Autumn Rabbit, Raccoon Bacchanal, and Vers l'Ouest. For the curious, we have listed them below, with thoughts from the brewery.
Autumn Rabbit - Farmhouse Ale w/ Carrots
What’s up, doc? This amber-hued, biere de garde style, farmhouse ale was not brewed with rabbits. Toasty malts and the light sweetness of candied carrots fade away to earthy, musty notes, a wisp of black pepper and ginger, and the mild, lingering astringency of black tea on the finish. Brewed with 100% estate-grown carrots and hops.Autumn Rabbit is 6.1% ABV
Raccoon Bacchanal - Saison w/ Sour Grapes
In years past, our small crop of grapes has been decimated in a single night by a group of mischievous raccoons who leave only their muddy footprints on our grape trellises. After a mixed-primary fermentation with saison yeast and brettanomyces, red grape must was added to secondary, bringing hints of rosé, with very mild acidity and light funk notes. This beer's acidity, aromas and flavors will continue to evolve over time due to the presence of wild yeast and bacteria from the grape skins. Dry hopping with Hallertau Blanc adds additional, subtleties of white grape, gooseberry and mild tropical fruit.
Raccoon Bacchanal is 5.2% ABV
Vers l'Ouest Saison
Vers l'Ouest, or “Westward,” is the very first beer fermented in our newest tank, an open fermenter formerly used to produce lagers at North Fork Brewery in Deming. Vers l'Ouest is a very dry, crisp and refreshing saison-style beer with light spice, stone fruit and very mild barnyard funk flavors and aromas. Fermented with a mixed culture of Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces yeasts, and then bottle conditioned for 5 months. Brewed with estate-grown Cascade hops; Citra and Crystal hops; Canadian oats; and Skagit Valley barley and wheat malts.
Vers l'Ouest is 4.9% ABV
Look for all three of these beers to be available in or around Bellingham as well as specialty shops up and down Interstate 5.
Established in 2016 in rural, northwest Washington State, our small, family farm grows ingredients for the on-site brewery where we produce unique ales inspired by French and Belgian farmhouse brewing traditions.
We start with local ingredients: water from our local aquifer; malt from less than 50 miles away in the Skagit Valley; and our estate-grown hops. Then, we add other ingredients sourced from our own farm; gathered and foraged from the peripheries of our property; or purchased from local organic farmers, producers and processors. Finally, we ferment at ambient temperatures, in open tanks, with expressive yeast strains, before packaging and bottle conditioning the vast majority of our beers. Our beers are meant to represent some aspect of time and place, with the ingredients, seasons, weather, microbes and our brewer all having both intentional and spontaneous influences on the flavors of our beers.
Our unique, bottle conditioned and draft farmhouse ales are available throughout western Washington and in limited quantities in British Columbia. Occasionally, you can also find our products distributed in far flung places, like Florida!
