Tommie Sjef franc

REGION: Den Helder, NL
SIZE: 750ml / ABV: 7.7%

IYKYK. RARE AF.

franc is a wild ale with Cabernet Franc and a touch of Kékfrankos red wine grapes. After maceration with the grapes, we aged the beer further for another year and a half on a foeder that previously contained Amarone wine from Veneto, Italy. This rounded out the beer and gave it more complexity and depth. Before bottling we added a small amount of a comparatively younger beer with Kékfrankos grapes, to give the overall blend some freshness.

It starts with a delicate aroma of fresh strawberries, cherries and rose petals, followed by the wine notes of the barrel and some funk. In the first moments of tasting the beer you will get jammy red fruits like blackberries, cherries and raspberries, after which fresh plums and roasted bell pepper follow. The barrel gives the beer a rich spicy, almost chocolaty and smoky flavour.

Tommie Sjef is a beer blendery from Den Helder, the Netherlands. We make wild ales which are fermented and aged in wooden barrels. All our beers are fermented using our own wild yeast and bacteria culture. This gives the beer, after extensive ageing — 1,5 up to 4 years — in oak barrels, its typical slightly sour taste, and eccentric aromas. A bottle of Tommie Sjef often contains a blend of beers originating from a selection of barrels, differing in age. Every barrel develops differently, each showing its unique characteristics. It is the art of blending to add balance, depth and joy.