Name: Ommegeddon

Brewer: Ommegang

Style:American Wild Ale / Belgian Saison

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: November 3rd, 2007

Original Tasting: December 12th, 2007

Released back in June, Ommegeddon is brewery Ommegang’s first foray into the world of beers conditioned with Brettanomyces yeast. As I mentioned back in my series on Brett yeast in beer, the flavors associated with Brett yeast can take months to fully come into bloom. In an ideal world, I would have reviewed this beer back this summer when the Brett character was still undeveloped, but better late then never!

Ommegeddon is a pale dirty yellow beer, slightly cloudy, and very carbonated. I get a variety of smells - Belgian yeast, a bit of hops, some earthy (almost musty) odors, and a malty smell that reminds me of European lagers (I’m thinking Heineken).

The taste of this beer is surprisingly mild. It’s light bodied and easy to drink. There’s a lot of different flavors in this brew, but nothing is really jumping out. There’s a pale malty base, a bit of yeasty funk, a hint of candy sweetness, a touch of hop bitterness, and some earthy straw-like flavors. It should be a complex and mysterious beer, but I find it a bit muddled to be honest. I get the impression that this is a beer just waiting for the Brett flavors to come bursting out.

Six Month Tasting: June 6th, 2008

It’s been about a year since this beer was released, and I think it’s really starting to come into focus.

This certainly isn’t a Brett “bomb” as all of us beer geeks like to say, but stronger Brett-like earthy flavors have really upped the complexity level over the past six months. Grassy barnyard kind of flavors are there, but are nicely balanced againist the malt and hop tastes. There’s a nice grassy character to the hops the melds very well with the Brett yeast. The crisp, dry malts have much the same flavor as before, but the subtle honey-like flavor really made an impression on me this time around. The carbonation wasn’t explosive, but it was much more prominent then before.

No doubt this a beer that’s improving! Let’s see if some more time will make it even better.

Cellar Outlook: The label on Ommegeddon mentions that the beer should be cellared for six months for the Brett character to develop, and can be aged for up to two years total. My best guess would be that there’s probably still some more Brett flavors to come out in this beer, but it’s hard to figure exactly how much further it will develop.

Six Month (One Year) Cellar Outlook -  It’s been getting better, I think it’ll continue to improve from here. Does a bomb await?

Next Tasting: November 2008

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com