Name: Foxbic Three
Brewer: Mills Brewing, Olivier’s Cider & Perry (United Kingdom)
Style: Specialty Cider/ Perry
ABV: 8.2%
Review Year: 2020
Mills Brewing teamed up with Olivier’s Cider & Perry to create Foxbic Three, a beer-cider hybrid made using the turbid mash method in the style of traditional Lambic producers. The wort was then fermented using Foxwhelp juice and cider lees in old oak barrels for 17 months.
Mills Brewing specializes in brewing and blending naturally fermented beers with minimum modern intervention. This microbrewery is managed by Gen and Jonny and is based in Gloucestershire, England. Meanwhile, Olivier’s Cider & Perry are cidermakers from Herefordshire. Their craft is based around the spontaneous ferment of selected varieties of cider apple and perry pear from Herefordshire and orchards in three surrounding counties.
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beverage is being evaluated as a Specialty Cider/ Perry (C2F) in the context of the 2015 Cider Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website. As of this writing, there are no explicit/ standalone style guidelines for a graf yet.
The BJCP guidelines aside, graf is a beer-cider hybrid beverage with a wide variety of interpretations by homebrewers. This hybrid style traces its origins from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. In some instances, graf is composed largely of apple juice (around 80%) with a small batch of lightly-hopped pale ale wort brewed and blended before fermentation by a clean ale yeast. The sweetness of the malt and the low bitterness of the hops are noted to add complexity to store-bought apple juices. This can mimic the use of bitter-sweet and bitter-sharp apples that are used traditionally to make high-quality dry ciders in Europe and some parts of America.
Base styles may range from pale ales to stouts, and from lagers to Belgians. Some graf makers use Belgian-style yeasts to impart spicy and estery components or lager yeasts to prevent apple aromas from disappearing especially during warmer fermentations. Graf makers can also add more spices and adjuncts to enhance the complexity of the beverage, while others take a step further by barrel-aging them.
TASTING NOTES
We are not that well-versed with ciders (and their hybrids) yet, so we will be using our limited beer vocabulary as an anchor. Foxbic Three pours pale gold with a slight degree of haziness. The aroma embodies some of that “brett” character we associate with Lambics. Fermented apples and Sauvignon blanc are also quite prominent on the nose, while a faint gamey character adds to the complexity.
The palate suggests an effervescent beverage with a light-medium body. The taste is prominently fermented apple juice with orange marmalade. The noted “brett” character in the aroma returns as it blends with the bright fruity-acidic tones of a Sauvignon blanc and soft lychee esters. The gamey aroma manifests as hints of savory Jamón serrano.
Foxbic Three leaves the palate slightly dry with a puckering sensation like eating grapes. Some delightful pears surface to finish.
THE VERDICT
We do not have firm benchmarks for this one yet, but Foxbic Three is quite a refreshing and sophisticated beer-cider hybrid as it is. The familiar lambic and the fermented apple juice features were well-noted but the gamey quality and the absence of barrel-induced characteristics (e.g., woody, oaky) were far more intriguing. Spend time with this beverage– savor each sip and let the intricacies of Foxbic Three unravel effortlessly right before your eyes.
Watch this space. More reviews on Mills Brewing coming soon.
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