La Baie Sauvage

La Baie Sauvage by pFriem Family Brewers is a sour ale brewed with huckleberries and is being evaluated as a Wild Specialty Beer (category 28C in the 2015 BJCP Beer Style Guidelines). Wild Specialty Beers are sour or funky beers with fruit or spices and are typically aged in wood. The fruit should complement the base style without overwhelming it. La Baie Sauvage was brewed with wild foraged huckleberries, and it translates from French as “the savage bay” or perhaps “the wild bay”.

La Baie Sauvage pours deep red in color with excellent clarity and a quickly fading head. The aroma is intense jammy berries with a moderate lactic and leathery wild character. The flavor is moderately strong tart berry reminiscent of a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry (but much more tart). A moderate lactic sourness with notes of leather complement the fruit’s tartness. The beer finishes tart with a wild lactic and moderate red berry element.

La Baie Sauvage is an exceptional sour ale. The berry flavor is rich and complex. The wild character is simply lactic but well balanced with the natural tartness of the huckleberries. Combined, they are complex but not too overly wild or too overly sour. Seek this one out!