From Farm to Barrel to Glass: The Journey of a Wild Barrel Beer

At Wild Barrel, every bottle tells a story. I’d like to share the general process that our beers undertake, with our love of nature, and craftsmanship. Here’s how we transform our ingredients into the complex, conversation starting beers you love.

A view from the base of the sin tropic garden on the farm.

1. Sourcing Local, Organic Ingredients

Our journey begins on our regenerative farm, where we grow and source organic ingredients and collaborate with local producers. We have always used nothing but Australian grown and malted organic grain, organic hops we source as locally as possible and fruit and flowers from the farmland our brewery is situated on.

2. Brewing the Base Beer

We brew small batch, REALLY small batch! It usually takes us two days of brewing to fill a barrel, so attention to detail is paramount. We need to make sure our base beer is the best it can be before going through the long barrel aging time. Most of our beers go through a primary fermentation in Stainless steel tanks, this is a temperature controlling measure as we get fluctuating temperatures on the farm. Sacchromyces (brewer’s yeast) does a lot of its job in the first few days of fermentation, while it’s doing this heavy work there can be a fair amount of heat generated, so it’s important to control this in the early stages. After about 5 days the beer is ready to be transferred into barrels, and the wild yeast (if any) can start to get to work.

3. Selecting and Preparing the Barrels

Barrel selection is an art, one we are continuing to learn about and perfect. We use some clean oak barrels we source direct from cooperages in Europe, and ex wine barrels we sourced through wineries, each bringing its own character to the beer. before filling, some barrels are thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and prepped to ensure only the desired flavours make it into the beer. Others are left as they contain the culture we want. Each barrel has its own unique character, after some time you get to know these barrels, and can predicting what they will impart.

The previous life of each barrel, whether it held red wine, or something else adds subtle notes and depth.

4. The Waiting Game: Barrel Aging

Patience is key. Our beers age in barrels from several months right up to a few years, depending on the style and desired flavour profile. During this time, the beer interacts with the wood, absorbing tannins, vanillin, and traces of whatever the barrel previously held. The slow ingress of oxygen through the oak encourages the development of nuanced flavours funky, fruity, tart, or earthy, depending on the microbes at play.

5. Bottling and Bottle Conditioning

Once the beer has reached its peak, we carefully blend, bottle, and condition it. Each batch is small, often just a few hundred bottles, ensuring every release is unique and special.

6. Enjoying the Experience

The result is a beer that captures the essence of our farm and the wild beauty of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. We encourage you to slow down, savour each sip, and share the experience with friends. We took our time to make it, so take the time to enjoy it!

Cheers!

Shane.