Beerworks’ barrelaged Solera a labour of love
WANAKA Beerworks has a barrelaged beer called Solera. Solera (Spanish for ‘‘on the ground’’) is a process used mainly for ageing sherry, but is also used for brandy, rum and whiskey. Half of each year’s ‘‘vintage’’ is transferred from one barrel to the next, and half of the oldest mix is bottled annually.
If, for example, there are three barrels, after 20 years the oldest barrel will contain a mix of three to 20yearold ‘‘vintages’’, which averages nearly five years old.
Wanaka Beerworks made a barrel of brown ale in 2013. Half went into each of two more barrels in 2014. The barrel was then filled with a fresh brew. That topped up the other two barrels in 2015. Half from each of those barrels was bottled in 2016, then topped up with the latest brew. And so on every year . . .
That is a slightly different version of the traditional process, and 10% of pinot noir juice is added during bottling, which has a pronounced affect on the aroma and flavour — it is tart rather than bitter.
The brewery produces only 550 750ml bottles of this brew ($25 and available only at the brewery at Wanaka airport), releasing it late each year.
Scottish distillery Glenfiddich has a 15yearold whiskey produced by the solera process since 1998. Distilled rice is also made this way in Japan.
A sour beer, called hundraarig ol (‘‘hundred year beer’’), in Sweden is made by the same process. couple of years ago because, at 4.6%, it was not competing with the 5% brands.
CocaCola Amatil started importing and distributing the beer late last year. It is brewed in St Petersburg, Russia, home of Baltika beer (although it takes a magnifying glass to discover that on the fine print on the back label). Carlsberg owns the Baltika and Tuborg brands (as well as the likes of Kronenbourg).
This one, called Green, has a nice, but different, aroma and is a fruity lager and not very bitter. Tuborg also brews Gold (6.5%) and Classic (6.7%), which I have not seen here.