Robin Shepard
A few years ago, O’so Brewing owner Marc Buttera saw a truck driving around the Plover area, selling peaches. That event turned out to be the inspiration behind Arbre Qui Donne, Buttera’s annual peach sour, which just hit Madison-area shelves.
What is it? Arbre qui Donne from O’so Brewing of Plover.
Style: Arbre Qui Donne is a blend of sour beers from the O’so barrel farm. When it’s time to make this annual beer, Buttera and his brewers scan their various wild-fermented beers and pick those with qualities that will go well with peaches. Which barrels ultimately get chosen depends on “the characteristic we like at the time,” he says. This year’s release has some Belgian strong in the background that’s woven with funky lambic sourness.
Background: O’so sells Arbre Qui Donne every fall; each time it’s a little different. The barrels that ultimately get selected may have had beer aging in them from eight months to two years.
The peaches must be dealt with months ahead of time. The brewery gets a special delivery of peaches in July, an heirloom variety from the family-owned Pearson Farm of Fort Valley, Georgia.
The brewery staff rallies for some hands-on work. “We get the peaches really ripe and have to squeeze them, pulling out the pits,” says Buttera. “It’s a chore to pull all of the pits out.”
The pulp and juice is then sent to a Wisconsin Rapids freezer business, where it’s stored until the beer is selected several weeks later, at which time it gets blended together. The peaches jump-start another round of fermentation and the beer and peaches remain together for about another two months. The beer may also require some time to condition in the bottle, which helps it clarify.
The name Arbre Qui Donne means “giving tree” in French. This year’s batch finishes at 6.5 percent ABV and sells in 750 mL bottles for $19.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Musty peaches, a hint of apricot, mildly funky.
- Appearance: Bright hazy golden color with a frothy white head. The bubbly head is initially thick, but it dissipates quickly.
- Texture: Medium-bodied, very bubbly. The initial effervesce lends a sharpness that accentuates the beer’s sour and tart qualities.
- Taste: Sour, fruity, tart and musty. The flavor of peaches is found throughout, and it becomes softer and sweeter as the beer warms.
- Finish/Aftertaste: Lingering musty and earthy wild notes of fermentation. The fruity peach flavor comes out more as it warms.
Glassware: The tulip glass is great to show off the color of the beer while the flared lip of the glass helps the peach aroma emerge under the nose.
Pairs well with: hard, dry cheese like Parmesan and slightly sweet nuts that bring out the fruity peach flavor. My discovery while trying this beer was the citrusy spicy nuttiness of GranQueso from Wisconsin’s Roth Cheese.
The Verdict: Arbre Qui Donne is a wild fruit beer that has a lot more going on other than just being sour. The peaches stand out, especially in how they complement the sourness by bringing more depth and complexity, rather than more tartness. The peaches have a citrus fruitiness and a touch of mustiness that melds with the earthiness of the wild fermentation process, taking a little edge off the tartness. This is even more true as the beer slowly warms. Over a glass I found myself liking this beer even more as the peach flavor and aroma became pronounced while it gradually warmed up (however, if you like sour, colder temperatures accentuates the tartness). This is a beer that may cellar well. My 2016 certainly did, as the sourness softened and more peach sweetness came through. With so many differences in the beers that are blended to make this beer from year to year, the flavor is hard to predict; but that also makes trying different vintages a fun surprise.
