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Wild Beer Co Rooting Around: tasting note

Tasted 2018 · done

Isolated

Rooting Around bottle, The Wild Beer Co: brown bottle with a black label showing a pink stag's head whose antlers grow blossom, text reading Barrel-Aged + Cherry Wood and Blossom + Wild Ale, Summer Rooting Around, The Wild Beer Co: barrel-aged wild ale with cherry wood and blossom (summer release, from the label).

Impression

My first taste of what I perceive as the wild funk, and the beer that started it all. Quite pale and sessionable, with the perfect balance of flavour, funk and very mild acidity. I loved it. Looking back, the beer probably wasn't that great, and wasn't that funky; my palate was perhaps less accustomed to those kinds of flavours and that complexity.

The beer

Researched 2026-11-08 from published sources (numbered below), not the author's own observations.

Item Finding
Brewing The Summer release of a 2017 seasonal series with foraged ingredients: cherry tree branches in the mash, buds and leaves in the boil; 3 IBU listed [1][2]
Organisms "the brewery's wild cultures" [1]; not named. In 2015 the brewery described wild yeasts and bacteria from local farms and orchards, and wild Brett in Modus Operandi [4]
Fermentation and ageing Aged in ex-Modus Operandi barrels, which had held an old ale matured in red wine and bourbon barrels [1][4]
Other adjuncts White and pink cherry blossom after fermentation; no cherry fruit [1]
Packaging 330 mL bottle, 6 % ABV [1][2]; bottle conditioning not public

What it means for the bugs:

  • Brett and acid-producing bacteria are the expected survivors, from the wild cultures and the barrels [Med].
  • The barrels had held a beer fermented with wild Brett, so they carried their own residents [Med].
  • Raw blossom added after fermentation may have brought wild yeasts and bacteria [Low].
  • Whether a bottling yeast was used is not public.

Sources: 1. Rooting Around Summer, Brew Cavern (retailer, brewery description), accessed 2026-11-08. 2. Rooting Around (Summer), Untappd (brewery description), accessed 2026-11-08. 3. Fundamentals #11: Wild Beer Co. Rooting Around Summer BA Wild Ale, Matthew Curtis, Hop Burns & Black, 2017-09-12. 4. Wild Beer Company: Blending, Aging, and Experimenting in England, BeerAdvocate magazine #107, 2015-12.

The bugs

Bottle-conditioned; the dregs grew and fermented a full batch that came out very close to the original. Later bottles changed for the worse with age, getting darker and more acetic. Under the microscope and on plates: a Brett, a hop-tolerant lacto that took over everything, and a Saccharomyces that was lost along the way. The full story is in the journey.

Decision

Isolated (2018 to 2022): WBC Rooting Around - Brett, which I call WBC Brut; banked. Also in the bottle: WBC Rooting Around - Lacto, Lactobacillus Painintheassus, not kept.