*Collaboration with the legends at Commonfolk Coffee Company
What started as a chance encounter sipping quality long black in the depths of Mornington with our Greyhound - buddy has turned into the start of a great relationship with Sam and the crew and a collaboration that has followed.
We are really stoked to be working with Commonfolk, they are some of the most inspiring small business owners we have come across and really set the bar high for quality without compromise while also going above and beyond ethically.
The beans were produced by Zukuka Bora who are the Ugandan coffee company located on Mt Elgon that Commonfolk funded through The Cup That Counts [that's their 20c from every cup initiative]. They're among the first Ugandan producers to push specialty coffee and experimental processing including: traditional washed, honey, natural and anaerobic.
The Unicorn is a very special microlot produced by the Bududa Farming Group. They've been producing Zukuka Bora for three years now and their coffee has a distinct orange sherbet characteristic that makes it unique among their farming partners. It is predominantly the SL14 varietal [Ugandan's endemic Arabica variety] but also has SL28 [a Kenyan variety]. The coffee is processed using the natural processing method [totally unique for Uganda - normally they use the washed method. The coffee is allowed to naturally ferment inside the cherry on raised drying beds for a number of weeks until it reaches the desired moisture level. It is warehoused [in cherry] until milling. This process enhances the fruit and booze characteristics of the coffee and is what sets it apart from other Ugandan coffees. Commonfolk named it The Unicorn because it is essentially mythical and doesn't exist anywhere else in Uganda.
This beer used the same barrel as the majority percentage of 'Our Daily Brett' - Blend # 01. This beer went through primary fermentation in neutral french oak hogsheads (300L) with our favourite Belgian yeast/brett strains and was aged on lees for 4 months. This Barrel (2) exhibited delicate classic saison characters that we thought were perfect to showcase coffee beans without competing with each other.
50L of this base was then racked onto freshly roasted 'The Unicorn' - whole Ugandan coffee beans at the ratio of 20g/L for 72 hours.
Blended and packaged on September 23rd 2020 and bottle conditioned for 12 weeks to achieve ideal carbonation.
Aromas of pear, orange sherbet and moscato. This gives way to a palate full of marmalade, salted choc and cacao husk. Refreshingly carbonated with a dry and slightly saline - velvety mouthfeel.
Given these beans were dubbed 'The Unicorn' as they didn't exist prior, we can't say we've tried a beer quite like this either.
- casey, hannah & buddy
]]>We have always loved Chardonnay at Sobremesa and the textural component it received from being aged sur lie (french for ‘on the lees’).
This beer went through primary fermentation in neutral french oak hogsheads (300L) with our favourite Belgian yeast/brett strains and was aged on lees for 4 months. This was a blend of two barrels - 69% B2, 31% B3.
Barrel 2 exhibited delicate classic saison characters while barrel 3 brought forward the cherry pie and barnyard characters that bring a bit of the necessary grit in this blend.
Blended and packaged on September 19th 2020 and bottle conditioned for 8 weeks to achieve ideal carbonation. Aromas of pear, apricot skin and white flowers with a pleasant background of barnyard and mustiness. This gives way to a palate full of orange sherbet, freshly ground pepper and grapefruit pith. Very inviting, dry, pillowy mouth feel, with a firm bitterness.
Reminds us of kicking back with mates on a cheap deck chair listening to Mac DeMarco and enjoying a semi assembled charcuterie platter on your mum’s favourite chopping board.
Bottled by gravity | unfined | unfiltered | bottle conditioned | vegan friendly
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Sunday - 24/05/20
This was a special day for us as we embarked on our first brew as Sobremesa.
A pretty simple recipe that consisted of pilsner & wheat (from House of Malt) and Australian rolled spelt, rye & oats. Made with filtered Melbourne water, Magnum (GM), Tettnang (GM) & Saaz (CZ) hops.
Any local noble hop growers please get in touch, would love to have a chat.
We filled 3 hogsheads of saison & 1 with a table beer. We have always been a big of fan of low ABV beers so this barrel is an exciting experiment for us. At the very least we will be enjoying this after work or at lunch with quality food and good company.
After all Saison was designed to be consumed while working right?
We used a blend of our favourite saison strains. Barrels 1 + 2 are undergoing a primary co-fementation with brett brux. and 3 + 4 will see the introduction of different brett. strains in secondary fermentation.
Hope everyone is coping out there.
- casey, hannah & buddy
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