Wavelength
Upright Brewing never seems to disappoint. After scrapping their core lineup last year, they’ve doubled down on what they do better than anyone, making delicate, wood-aged beers, and they’re turning them out faster than I can track them down.
Sideline Saison is the first in a new Frequencies Series of one off bottle releases. It’s a blend of beers aged in barrels inoculated with a wide variety of wild yeast and bacteria. It was brewed with an uncommon grain called triticale -- a hybrid of wheat and rye -- and both fresh and four year old Santiam hops. But I didn’t know all that going in.
Well, I knew the barrel aging part, but what really surprised me is the complete lack of fruit. Sideline tastes more of apricots than any beer I’ve tasted before. Don’t ask me how. It’s alchemy. There’s a hint of Brettanomyces must, I’m sure wild yeast played a role in the magic. But at the core is an earthy minerality, like fresh mountain spring water. It’s hard to pin down. It’s like comparing the water in Portland to that in Bend. It’s hard to describe the exact difference, but you can feel it in your bones that water here is better. Sidelines is an amazing beer, tangy and earthy and subtle in a way few breweries can pull off.
