Phenolic English strains?

[jezbrews]

Are there any English yeast strains that are highly phenolic, like how Belgian strains are? (as in, pleasant or desirable phenolics, not necessarily identical in aroma and flavour)? Or could I try experimenting by pushing some regular yeasts to the warm end of fermentation in the hope they might make something funky? I've recently developed a real passion for "farmhouse ales", which I might describe as being not entirely predictable or "clean" and want to develop, or be part of a development of, a new English farmhouse ale tradition... especially experimenting with wild Brett. I think this is my country bumpkin upbringing coming back...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Phenolics are pretty common in the real world of British brewery yeasts, as eg evidenced by the Brewlab collection, but they've largely been whitewashed out of the collections of the US yeast labs, Lost & Grounded did make saisons with WLP037 Yorkshire (which worked well, it gets very phenolic unless you really aerate it), and WLP038 Manchester (which didn't really work, it's far more subtle and I'm not sure that they released it in the end). But both of those are Vault strains that you seldom see.

 

[jezbrews]

Phenolics are pretty common in the real world of British brewery yeasts, as eg evidenced by the Brewlab collection, but they've largely been whitewashed out of the collections of the US yeast labs, Lost & Grounded did make saisons with WLP037 Yorkshire (which worked well, it gets very phenolic unless you really aerate it), and WLP038 Manchester (which didn't really work, it's far more subtle and I'm not sure that they released it in the end). But both of those are Vault strains that you seldom see.

Great, thank you! If I get a can of their Saison d'Avon, might it be present in this?

Funny you mention them, I live ten minutes walk from them and used to houseshare (still in good contact) with a guy who works there.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Great, thank you! If I get a can of their Saison d'Avon, might it be present in this?

Gah, sorry, I'm confusing my Bristolian breweries with "&" in the name, I meant Wiper & True. AFAIK the WLP037 saison was a one-off back in 2017, but I've not really followed them :

http://web.archive.org/web/20180603220709/https://wiperandtrue.com/whatsnewIn the summer of 2017, we collaborated with Brasserie du Mont Saleve on a Saison with gin and tonic inspired flavours. The beer was brewed with the British Ale yeast strain Yorkshire Square and an infusion of gin botanicals and cucumber. The result, Yorkshire Blanc, was light, refreshing and had an intriguing floral complexity. We got some oak barrels which had held London Dry Gin from a local distillery – previous to this one had held white wine and one Bourbon. We were interested to discover how the gin character retained within the barrels would express itself in the beer, our hope was that it would accentuate the floral notes that we had been so drawn to in the unaged version. The rich and varied history of the barrels translates into a multi-faceted flavour profile – the botanicals are there, in harmony with a distinct white wine character and a discernible oak finish. Although perhaps a counterintuitive way to describe a beer that has such complexity, Simples translates as herbs with botanical flavours.

But if you want "British" and are OK with handling slopes, the Brewlab strains are much truer to type than the ones that have come to the US labs via circuitous routes.

 

[jezbrews]

Gah, sorry, I'm confusing my Bristolian breweries with "&" in the name, I meant Wiper & True. AFAIK the WLP037 saison was a one-off back in 2017, but I've not really followed them :

http://web.archive.org/web/20180603220709/https://wiperandtrue.com/whatsnewIn the summer of 2017, we collaborated with Brasserie du Mont Saleve on a Saison with gin and tonic inspired flavours. The beer was brewed with the British Ale yeast strain Yorkshire Square and an infusion of gin botanicals and cucumber. The result, Yorkshire Blanc, was light, refreshing and had an intriguing floral complexity. We got some oak barrels which had held London Dry Gin from a local distillery – previous to this one had held white wine and one Bourbon. We were interested to discover how the gin character retained within the barrels would express itself in the beer, our hope was that it would accentuate the floral notes that we had been so drawn to in the unaged version. The rich and varied history of the barrels translates into a multi-faceted flavour profile – the botanicals are there, in harmony with a distinct white wine character and a discernible oak finish. Although perhaps a counterintuitive way to describe a beer that has such complexity, Simples translates as herbs with botanical flavours.

But if you want "British" and are OK with handling slopes, the Brewlab strains are much truer to type than the ones that have come to the US labs via circuitous routes.

Sorry I thought I had two replied already. I actually had to Google about yeast culture slopes as didn't know they existed and so had no idea what they were! I will look into these, thank you.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Sorry I thought I had two replied already. I actually had to Google about yeast culture slopes as didn't know they existed and so had no idea what they were! I will look into these, thank you.

They're how cultures are routinely exchanged between microbiologists, you just need something sterile to scrape a bit off the agar and into wort to build up starters in the usual way. It's not as user-friendly as just opening a pouch but it works.