Radiolaria - Off Color/Jester King

    Radiolaria is an American Wild Ale which was brewed as a collaboration by Off Color Brewing in Chicago, Illinois and Jester King Brewery which is located in Austin, Texas. While the beer was brewed in Chicago, Jester King provided Off Color with a sample of wild yeast collected from Texas. Off Color combined this yeast with their own mix of wild yeast from Chicago and pitched it into wort based on their Apex Predator Saison for a truly unique, one-time-only brew.

    Radiolaria pours a hazy, straw color with a short, white head of foam which doesn't hang around long. The bubbles fade quickly and don't leave much lacing at all.

    The Wild Ale's aroma is surprisingly subtle. There a definite tartness to the scent, as well as scents of fruit and spices. A slight, hay-like scent gives the brew and interesting, earthy aroma alongside light, sweet malt scents. I really expected the ale's scent to knock me over with huge yeast aromas, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the beer's complex subtlety.

All the yeast are invited to this party!

    Radiolaria is light bodied with a light to medium level of carbonation. The body and carbonation levels complement each other quite nicely. There is a mild tartness to the ale, and a light, 4.5% ABV alcohol content.

    Similarly to the ale's aroma, Radiolaria's flavor is surprisingly mild. Funky, spicy, and fruity yeast notes dominate the flavor, though even these flavors are much weaker than I had expected. I'm especially surprised by how little sourness is present in the ale's flavor. Lightly sweet malt flavors are balanced with mild hop bitterness. The beer is very clean tasting overall, but also very mildly flavored.

    I find that I was somewhat disappointed in Radiolaria. Admittedly, this disappointment is likely due to my uninformed expectations of what this beer would taste like. I went into this tasting expecting a Sour Ale and instead found that Radiolaria is a mild, yet interesting Wild Ale. I think the concept of combining wild yeasts from multiple areas of the country is ingenious, but I wish the yeast flavors (all the flavors actually) would have been a bit more pronounced. Radiolaria is by no means a bad Wild Ale, it just didn't live up to my expectations. This was a one-time brew as far as I know, but if you find one somewhere feel free to leave your own comments!

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