Hedgerow delivers an oaky, earthy ale experience
As a valuable public service, we taste the latest in Lower Mainland beers and then give you a highly opinionated, pocket-sized review.
ON TAP
Strange Fellows Brewing Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale.
THEIR WORDS
“Hedgerow was brewed with Balaton Cherries and spent over a year in a 6000L French oak foudre. The result is a rich soft and sour beer with strong and concentrated cherry character. Flavours reminiscent of marzipan and cinnamon mingle with rich fruit and soft earth. Balaton cherry variety originates in Hungary and was only brought over to North America in the ’80s. They are a sour variety with much flavour.”
TASTE TEST
There’s an incredible bar in Brussels called À la Mort Subite, and because odds are you haven’t been, let’s set the scene. Think the kind of old-worldcharming European place where the yellowed walls and décor suggest 1878 chic and the 70-year-old waiters wear jackets and ties. No one will judge you if you order a white martini or a Kir, but the main reason for blocking off six or seven hours for a visit is the beer. There’s oak-redolent cherry and peach Mort Subite on tap, and raspberry Mort Subite for those who prefer a bottle.
The brilliant thing about Strange Fellows Brewing Company’s limitededition Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale is that it’s beautifully transportive. As promised, earthy is indeed a good reference point, which is to say if you want perfumed and subtle, you’re in the wrong place. The beer looks bloody beautiful—like Dorothy Gale’s ruby slippers filtered through Hipstamatic’s Akira lens and Kodama film.
Tastewise, you’ll have no problem picking up on the underlying oak notes, which have everything to do with a solid 12 months in the vat. But the star of the show is the Balaton cherries—sour, but in a way that’s deeply complex, rather than like sucking on a Warheads candy. Add a finish with an almost winelike undercurrent, and you’ve got a beer worth leaving the house for and high-tailing it to Strange Fellows on Clark Drive, which is high praise indeed in these COVID-19 times.
DEEP THOUGHTS
The unfortunate reality is that you’re probably not going anywhere in the next few weeks, except maybe the corner store. Half a bottle in, and Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale will have you planning out your next European vacation, and not just because of the pleasantly powerful 8-percent ABV. A Hungarian Balaton cherry orchard sounds wonderful, as does a trip to Bordeaux to get a look at how foudres are made. Or you can close your eyes and imagine, without too much trouble at all, that you’re hunkered down for the day in Belgium at À la Mort Subite. And things don’t get much better than that.