Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Somewhere

Brewed By: Prairie Artisan Ales in Tulsa (brewed in Krebs), Oklahoma  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Farmhouse Ale/Wild Ale, 7.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight's beer is a mouthfull. It's also a collaboration, and it appears to be gypsy brewed. At this point, beer has truly embraced local and craft. And 750ml, what a mouthful.

Prairie Artisan Ales are yet another brewery that began as a Kickstarter campaign. Founded in 2012 by brothers Chase and Colin Healey (nice beards), the duo have been busy making beer as Gypsy Brewers, but also have their own brew facility (complete with barrels!). You can check them out on Facebook here.

It appears that tonight's beer was Gypsy Brewed at "Pete's Place / Krebs Brewing Co.." Pete's is an Italian restaurant with a microbrewery in the back...it seems like the type of joint I'd eat spaghetti in. The final missing link is the other half of the collaboration, Saint Somewhere Brewing Company.Saint Somewhere Brewing Company is a small brewery based out of Tarpon Srpings, Florida. Founded in 2007 by Bob Sylvester, the brewery focuses on smaller batch Belgian-style Ales. Tonight's beer is described as a "Sour Farmhouse Ale," whatever that means (and sure to spark debate). It's probably a safe bet to dub tonight's beer a Wild/Sour Ale. 

Prairie Somewhere

The beer pours into a hazy/funky orange body, with crackling carbonation and a thin/sickly/infected white head that goes from a finger to a hazy cauldron effect in no time. The bottle's cage was wired on firmly (and a pain in the ass to take off), but the cork popped off a bit too easily. Bright light reveals a murky orange/yellow body, a sickly white head, and tiny, peppery carbonation rising upwards in tiny streams. It looks the part of a Wild Ale. 

The aroma on this was throwing me for a loop for a moment. I swear I was smelling some salmon on the nose (the pink fish). I have a weird quirk where mango tastes fishy to me...which is a tangent. Anyway, upon further inspection the nose isn't fishy, it is full of bright citrus and tropical fruits. There's also some nice funk evident, and the nose reminds me a lot of Jolly Pumpkin. I'm pulling off HUGE peaches on this nose. Peaches, man. You know those canned peaches or canned fruit cocktail? That's what I'm getting. I'm also getting some mango, peppery spice, peppery citrus, and some nice light funk. The funk imparts some lemon, hay, and fresh rain. It's actually a surprisingly bright and vibrant nose....

Like last night's beer, there is puckering tartness/sour up front, with lemon and lemonheads. But this beer quickly changes pace as the sour quickly fades, and moves into an earthy direction with peppery spice, tropical fruits, peach/mango, wet leather and Brett funk, and a peppery finish that hints at some biscuit/grain/citrus. There's some hints of cork/wood in the taste, but it's unclear to me if this beer was aged in oak (I assume it was?). Overall, this one focuses on big earthy flavors, lemon, tropical fruits, and Brett funk. As a Midwest bumpkin, I'm very much reminded of the offerings at Jolly Pumpkin.

This is a light/medium-light bodied beer. The 7.0% is hidden well, and the beer has great drinkability. There's mild sourness, and as I work my way through this I'm definitely picking up more wood/oak tannin. Palate depth is okay and complexity is okay. The beer is carbonated well, and finishes nicely with some drying pull. You get tart lemon up front; that turns into peppery spice, Brett funk, and tropical fruits; the back end is big leather/Brett, trailing pepper, trailing tropical fruits/lemon, and nice dryness. All-in-all this beer works very well, I think, and compares to something like the Oro de Calabaza. 

Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. The overall beer ends up working out, but some of the nuances feel like they could use a little refinement to really elevate this beer to the next level. Having said that, this is by no means a bad beer. It's a great example of an American Wild Ale...in this case, I would characterize this beer as a Belgian Strong Ale or Saison with that Brett twist. The woody/oak tannin characters that emerge as I progress through this beer are also a plus. This beer gives me some high hopes for future Prairie beers. I'm about to pair this beer with a late night quesadilla...you could pair it with pizza, humus, pickled things, cheeses, a burger, or a barbecue sandwich with slaw. Good stuff, and priced comparatively to Jolly Pumpkin.

Random Thought: I can't believe it's only Tuesday night. WHYYYY.