Deschutes The Dissident

Country: USA

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery

Style: Sour Red/Brown

Format: 650ml Bottle

ABV: 11.4%

Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with a fruity aroma and flavour, the first wild yeast beer made by the award-winning Deschutes Brewery.

To give The Dissident its characteristic sour taste the brewery used a wild yeast strain called Brettanomyces (also known as Brett) during fermentation. Known throughout the wine world for creating earthy undertones found in many European wines, Brett is used in the beer fermentation process to create strong flavours typically associated with Belgian beers. Unlike English varieties that use traditional inoculated yeasts in the fermentation process, beers made with Brett take much longer to ferment and require additional barrel finishing time to balance the sour flavouring. In the Dissident's case, this meant aging a portion of it in pinot and cabernet barrels for over 3 months. Another key flavour component comes from the Central Washington cherries that were added twelve months ago.

Due to the wild yeast , The Dissident required special treatment and was held in isolation under lock and key apart from the rest of the brewery's beers to avoid any cross-contamination. A secondary bottling line was also brought in from an outside contractor to facilitate The Dissident's bottling and ensure the beer and wild yeast never touched the brewery's machinery. With a beer this wild and truly unique, Deschutes needed a special label to alert consumers to what lay inside. The resulting image immediately sets The Dissident apart from the other Deschutes Brewery beers, even the Reserve Series beers.

Rated 99 out of 100 on Ratebeer.com