Tommie Sjef – Druif 75cl

Our classic. A wild ale refermented with red wine grapes.

Almost each year we bring out a new vintage. This year we took a different approach on making Druif. We started with a blend of older beers (approximately 2 years in the barrel) refermented with Kékfrankos grapes, and aged in our oldest foudre for quite some time. Before bottling we blended this base with spontaneously fermented wine from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes we made in 2018 and aged in smaller burgundy barrels.

Druif 2020 has elderflower, blackberry, and light strawberry notes, but also a touch of creamy oak, and a little earthiness. Taste-wise it has a really balanced wine-like acidity, proper fruitiness, and plenty of spice/earthiness with a little funk to it. Together with firm but rounded tannins, some minerality, it’s a very vibrant wild ale. Tommie’s favourite vintage so far.