There’s a local cider maker to us that does an oak-aged cider. It’s somewhat grippy on release, but ages wonderfully. Plenty of commercial cr*p around, especially with the trend for other fruit flavourings (in invariably overly sweet ciders).
If anyone is ever near Brighton / Lewes (near the village called Firle), there’s a rural farm shop that’s grown over the years, but also operates within it the ‘English farm cider centre’, with a stunning range and free tasting.
Glad you mentioned it, as I do love Pegau, Beaucastel, and Talbot.
I recall a lovely Thanksgiving dinner in 2021 with 14 family members together.
I put the decanted 89 and 90 Beaucastel on the table.
While I enjoy the “barnyard” and have a high tolerance for Brett, my sister said it smells like the doctor’s office. The “band aid” was particularly pungent.
Interestingly while I thought the brett character in Pegau was a plus I found the brett in the bottles of Beaucastel CdP I tried from the 90s to be too much and a negative. Since hearing it has moved on from that, and with positive experiences with more recent Coudoulet CdR, I’ve added some later vintages of Beaucastel CdP to my cellar but haven’t tried any yet.
Look at post #9 in this thread. The author, Dan Kravitz, imported Pegau and sounds like he really knows the vintages well having posted a number of times previously on them in WB.
I ordered some Orval Trappist beer and it came tonight and i cannot smell any barnyard :-(. Major buzzkill. Was hoping to get a big whiff of horses ass.
I would try a clean cider next to something like Etienne Dupont Normandie Cider if your beer store carries it. I tried and tried to appreciate them but always bretty to me.
It’s not barnyard though but it’s something on that wheel that’s off putting.
I never bought any but I remember others saying this as well. Wasn’t it being closed out at like $20 per back then?
This is probably another physics question but how quickly does brett bloom if stored at higher temps?
Another vote for 2008 as a bretty Pegau vintage. I also agree that recent releases of Pegau (09,10, and 14-19) do not show it nearly as much.
Surprised no one has mentioned Cayuse in this thread. To me, almost all of the Christophe Baron syrahs (from horsepower to no girls) and grenache have overt brett. Beaujolais is a fine place to search as well.