Hanami
oak-aged ale with Sakura Sencha tea and conditioned on Meadowfoam Honey
Born out of a Windward & Leeward experiment and later scaled up for a Knitting Circle release, today’s beer marries a blend of oak-aged beers with the beautifully delicate nature of Japanese Sencha green tea infused with cherry blossoms.
The concept originated from tasting through some incredible teas from Miro Tea here in Ballard. The fresh floral character and subtle fruitiness of their Sakura Sencha blend in particular captured our imagination, and we thought steeping it in a lighter bodied oak-aged farmhouse ale could yield something amazing. After loving the result of a single keg batch, we reprised the beer for a bottle club release, this time conditioning the batch with a particularly vanilla-forward variety of honey for added complexity.
Balanced notes of honeycomb, spring blossoms, marshmallow, and hints of tart stone fruit lead to a wonderfully rounded finish. We are extremely pleased with this beer, and thankful to our friends at Miro for providing such fantastic teas to work with. Hanami represents our ongoing passion of infusing the unique, nuanced flavors of fine tea in our saisons.