Mad Fritz The Bear and the Bees 2017

Mad Fritz 
2017 The Bear and the Bees 
6.1% ABV 750ml 

Cellared Honey Ale 

Mad Fritz's Honey Ale is a collaboration with Rob Keller of Napa Valley Bee Company and who lives and breaths with the Buzz of the Bees.  He had foraged some honey from multiple wild hives from around the Napa Valley and offered us the opportunity to create a beer with it.  We chose a clean and light base barley sourced and malted in Madras, Oregon with very low color yet a with a distinct malt tonality from the variety Full Pint Barley.  They used their relatively soft water from St Helena and Hallertau Hops from Yakima, WA as well as their French Saison yeast to create a beer that was dry and crisp on the finish.  The honey was married with the beer at the end of boil with specific timing and technique to retain and boost the impact of its aromatics. After the primary fermentation and settling in stainless we racked to a new French Oak barrel (600 L puncheon M toast -Saury) and aged briefly for settling and light oak aromatics.  This first release B107 (160414107) is allocated for memberships Q2-16 although can be tasted at the brewery for a short time.  Its flavor profile is somewhere between a chardonnay, dry mead-Hydromel style and a Belgian Strong Ale its soft spiced with round honey tones and oak notes. A focused and clean palate (TFG 1.000) with very subtle hop bitterness.