This batch continues the deep dive I’ve been taking into mixed fermentation brewing over the last 6 months. I have a bunch of sours in the pipeline now and I’d like to get some funky, non-sour, brett beers going. I brewed my first brett saison a few weeks ago. This will be my second attempt in the broad style of funky saison.

Watching the 10 year retrospective from The Mad Fermentationist’s yearly dark saison project was inspirational. I’m hoping to keep up my own similar series. I think I’ll probably take inspiration from Mike and friends the first couple years, and then strike out with my own experimental brews as I get more comfortable with this style of funky brewing.

One of the standout beers from that tasting was year four’s American Farmhouse Currant Dark Saison. I’m going to brew that recipe for the first shot at this style.

The second beer to go into my 15 gallon Dad’s Hat rye whiskey barrel will be an old ale brewed with black treacle.

Old ale is a wide ranging style. For this version we’re shooting for ~7% abv (before barrel aging), complexity from black treacle, and not too much residual sugar. I’m hoping this all plays nicely with the gentle contribution from a barrel that’s already held imperial stout for a while.

The inspiration for the recipe comes from a Beer and Brewing article on old ale.

This beer is the first brew to go into my 15 gallon Dad’s Hat rye whiskey barrel. That barrel is destined for sour solera duty, but first I want to brew a couple of big clean beers to make the most of the barrel’s fresh whiskey character.

This stout is based on a KBS clone recipe from Zymurgy that I first brewed way back in 2013. That was a great beer, and I’m excited to try making it again.