Orchard Sentinel

Bier de Garde inspired Graf

An experimental take on a Biere de Garde, Orchard Sentinel is a big, complex amalgamation of beer and cider. The Biere de Garde style, roughly translated to “beer for keeping”, is a lagered French farmhouse beer historically brewed in the spring and cellared for drinking throughout the summer. Not to be confused with saisons, this style is more akin to a bock with malty richness, caramel, and toffee notes. For the experimental part, we added a healthy amount of US-grown apple juice to push the ABV up to north of 10%. This beer/cider hybrid is known as a graf. We then conditioned this graf on brandy-soaked oak chips, which adds some booziness, tannin, and overall complexity. The resulting graf is malty (caramel, toffee), slightly fruity (predominantly apple, but also some dark fruit notes), boozy, oaky (tannins), and complex, with a moderately dry finish. These flavors and aromas will evolve over time if properly cellared.

Enjoy fresh or age cold.

Ingredients

Malt: Munich, Pilsen, Wheat, Special B

Hops: Hallertau Mittelfrueh

Yeast: German lager

Adjuncts: Apple juice