From the Beer Writer: If you’ve never been to Cellar 3, Green Flash Brewing Company’s Poway-based tasting room-equipped barrel-aging facility, then you are missing out. Even with barrel-aged and soured beers on the rise throughout the county and the world, one would be challenged to find as much of it in as much variety at as good of a price-point as what Cellar 3 is offering. Were it in North Park or even Oceanside, it would be flooded with customers, but being out in “the city in the country”, it’s not all that convenient (unless you’re making a Costco or Home Depot run). The current Beer of the Week, Cellar 3 Natura Morta Boysenberry is worth a special-trip all on its own. The latest riff on a series of fruited red wine barrel-aged saisons that debuted during the 2014 edition of Green Flash’s annual Treasure Chest Fest (proceeds of which benefit the Susan G. Komen San Diego) incorporates boysenberries, which boost the tartness of the base-beer. It’s so berry-like you’ll feel like you need to pick seeds out of your teeth after enjoying a positively bone-dry finish. The 5.5% alcohol-by-volume beer is available in bottles or on tap, along with more than a dozen other barrel-aged creations. Don’t venture very far just for beer and need an excuse? Stop by on your next hiking trip to Mt. Woodson or deep East County trek.
From the Brewer: “After over a year at Cellar 3, Natura Morta Boysenberry is our first release that has been completely fermented, aged and blended under the Cellar 3 roof. For all beers released prior to this, we had started the long process back in our Mira Mesa location. The environment at Cellar 3 is controlled to our specifications and thoroughly geared to barrel aging beers. This beer is really outstanding in part because of this elevated level of environmental control. The process we use to make this, and the other Natura Morta beers, has been developed over a four-year period. We ferment our Saison in oak foudres with our house strain of Brettanomyces. This strain comes from the first wine barrel we ever used—a red wine barrel from a San Diego winery—that has been isolated and introduced to our program over the past several years. This house yeast strain is now in everything we do. After doing a 100% Brett fermentation, the beer is transferred into barrels where boysenberry purée is added. The house Brett then ferments out the sugars from the fruit and is allowed to age for between 6 and 18 months. The sugars that are fermented are from not only malt, but also from fruit, resulting in completely different flavors than you would find in a regular beer. What I am trying to do with these Natura Morta beers is utilize the yeast, malt and fruit to make a ‘beer’ that has not only the flavor of beer and fruit but the essence of the fruit.”—Pat Korn, Barrelmaster, Green Flash Brewing Company