Criminally underrated by hop fiends chasing the latest release, The Kernel have been putting classic beers like Table Beer and Pale Ale since 2009, but they also have a less-well known strong line in barrel-aged beers. Their sour Biere de Saison range is my absolute go-to for affordable big bottles, but their latest barrel-aged release is in a standard 330ml bottle so it's even more accessible.
Foeder Beer is a mixed culture Belgian-style pale aged in oak foudre (hence the name!). After brewing with Centennial and Hallertau hops, it's fermented with both their house culture and a Belgian pale ale strain in the foudre. Lots of bittering hops prevent souring bacteria from growing so it retains the lovely Belgian ester flavours but with added complexity from Brett. It's a bit farmy on the nose but then soft and round and delicious.
The Kernel says to drink this fresh, but we reckon it might be quite interesting to get an extra bottle or two to age and see what the Brett does...
