Fable farms1/27/2024 ![]() ![]() An attribute that is shared with many Belgian-style beers. He appreciates the finer, longer-lasting bubbles of a naturally carbonated cider versus forced carbonation. Maple syrup, honey, and juice from current vintages have all been used. On a return visit, sitting outside on the quiet farm, chirping birds making the most noise aside from a gentle breeze passing through the apple trees, Jon discusses different sources of natural sugar sourced from the area to generate carbonation. “It tastes awesome, right? It’s natural.” “I intuitively felt like, ‘what’s wrong with it?’,” Jon says. But those yeast and bacteria strains can produce great flavours, and the pellice forms a protective barrier from the oxygen. It’s reflective of the presence of yeast and bacteria that may be undesirable, in addition to oxygen, usually unwanted in a fermentation vessel. Jon recalls reading discussions between other cider makers who believe the formation of a pellicle is not a good thing. A pellicle is a membrane that forms on the top of cider (and other beverages) fermented with brettanomyces, lactobacillus, or pediococcus. Fable Farm lets the formation of a pellicle perform this work. The argument for doing so is to avoid exposure to oxygen, which may enter a vessel over time due to evaporation. They don’t embrace the practice of regularly topping off their barrels. “Between use we just rinse it down and we’re not resetting the ecology within the barrel every time we use it,” Jon says. Once they establish their own ecosystem in the barrels, they let it be. He adds that Fable Farm takes it further by, as he says, “using a pre-industrial wine-making approach in their processing, fermentation, ageing, and blending to maximise character and smoothness from beginning to end.” He notes that for years brewers have been using barrels and other methods similar to what Fable Farm is employing, to create wine-like beer. While brewing beer was a nice idea, in an area surrounded by apple trees, cider making seemed inevitable for Fable Farm.ĭave, with his connections to the beer world, has helped secure barrels formerly used by breweries. With the hillside land they have, it would have been tough, and it would have taken much more time and energy in addition to all the other things they grow. “When we started out, we thought we were going to try and grow hops and barley and do the whole farmhouse-style beer thing,” he tells me. I feel like we are stewards in a sense,” he says.īefore opening the cidery, Jon homebrewed and in those early days considered opening a brewery at Fable Farm. ![]() I also love that it has existed here long before we were here. It has wonderful peach, apricot, and stone fruit notes. “We rarely control the temperature, instead we prefer to allow the culture to express itself through fluctuating seasonal ambient temperatures, thus adding layers of complexity.”ĭescribing the character of the yeast they use, Nate echoes sentiments shared by Fable Farm. “Lab yeasts can be finicky and need much more control to achieve good results,” Nate tells me. ![]()
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