The shape of this bottle may be enough of a give away, but for those not familiar with our Alvinne beers, this is your SOUR BEER ALERT!
Phi is one of the base sours (Omega, Phi and Sigma) that are used to produce so many of the creations we receive from Alvinne. Most notably Phi is the base for the Cuvee Sofie series of beers.
It is a good introduction (gentle) introduction to the Alvinne sour range. There is a nice balance of the flavour elements here. I solid malt backbone gives a certain early sweetness. Indeed the body is maybe a little heavier in mouthfeel that you might expect for a normal sour, though 40% wheat in the malt bill does sharpen things up.
The acidity is there, quickly taking front sweet to that early malt sweetness. It doesn’t completely overpower though, and that crazy Morpheus yeast gives off a little funkiness as well as the sour notes.
Crisp, refreshing and moreish, enjoy your Alvinne sour. We will put a couple of other Alvinne beers up on the ‘Extra Beers’ page for next month; for those that are feeling more adventurous!
A blonde Sour/American Wild Ale - a great balance of bitter, sweet and sour
A dark sour beer of 10.0%. Part of the renowned Alvinne Morpheus Sour Collection
Voted World's Best Wood Aged Beer 2012 and 2013 and World Beer Awards
The 2015 variant of their flagship Magma, with the addition of Brettanomyces yeast at all three fermentation phases
An intriguing dark ale, brewed with spices (ginger, coriander & cardamom)
A Berliner Weisse with 20% rye and 30% wheat malt, aged in oak for 8 months before the addition of raspberries for a further 4 months
A refreshing Grisette style beer, a collaborative brew with Cervesa Guineu from Spain
A big Belgian Quad aged in red wine barrels, then transferred to Sauternes white wine barrels for a further year
Cuvee D'Erpigny is back in 2016 with the Pays D'Erpigny aged in French Sauternes barrels
Cuvee Freddy is Alvinne's take on a Belgian Our Bruin, the Framboos has 20kg fresh raspberries added per 100 litres of beer, than aged in red wine barrels for several months
An interesting beer from Alvinne, and one of Belgium's most bitter beers at 115 IBU
A Berliner Weisse brewed with 20% rye and 30% wheat
A second version of this beer, with a dominant display from the Morpheus yeast supported by Cascade and Chinook hops
A big Imperial Stout, dark fruit, chocolate and a hint of sourness
A Farmhouse Tripel is one of the new offerings from Alvinne, but it isn't exactly traditional
Alvinne's saison is light, crisp, quite funky with a hint of sour thanks to blending a little of the Omega blond sour beer
A little sweet, a little sour, lots of body and complexity
A blonde Sour/American Wild Ale - a great balance of bitter, sweet and sour
A cross between a barley wine and an ABT, with the added complexity of Alvinne's Morpheus yeast
A dark sour beer of 10.0%. Part of the renowned Alvinne Morpheus Sour Collection
A old style brown ale aged in an oak Foeder where it gains the lactic acidity
A rich and boozy quadrupel, featuring Alvinne's Morpheus house yeast