Wilde van Wellen
Description
Witte van Wellen, the legendary witbier from downtown Wellen, blended with 1 and 2-year-old lambics. Chardonnay barrel-aged. Bottled August 2018.
"In 2015 I was picking elderflowers in a local nature preserve. During my trip I met Wim, an avid homebrewer who lives next to the nature preserve. After my harvest, he invited me to his place to drink a beer. His 'Witte van Wellen' blew me away. It’s a traditional Belgian witbier, very refreshing and with a subtle spiciness. After drinking beer together a few times, the idea grew to make a blend of the Witte van Wellen with lambic.
In 2017 Wim brewed four batches of 50 liters each, did the primary fermentation in his garage, and then we transferred it into a freshly emptied chardonnay barrel from winery Genoels-Elderen with 2-year-old lambic. Over the course of a year the beer slowly fermented until it was completely dry, and it developed a refreshing citric acidity. In 2018 it was bottled and the beer became very unstable in the bottle. Sometimes it tasted great, and sometimes all aromas and flavours seemed to have faded away. I followed Uli’s advice “put it away and forget about it, it needs time”. After almost 4 years in the bottle, the beer became a very smooth and sessionable beer that tickles the palate."