Microfestivus 2014 Brewery Quick Look: Perennial Ales

As this year’s Microfestivus craft beer festival is now less than two weeks away, I figured I’d take a look at some of the breweries planned to be represented at the festival. For the next several days, I hope to write up a few quick looks at some of these breweries, with more of an eye towards the ones that are new to the festival this year. Of course, as often with beer festivals, last minute changes are somewhat the rule of thumb, so keep in mind breweries (and beers) can be announced and then drop out, but for the moment, St. Louis’ Perennial Ales is on the list. Here’s a (super) quick look.

Perennial Artisan Ales, St. Louis MO

“Thin Mint!” came the exclamation from across the bar. Having seemingly little to do with any of the other subjects of conversation at the time, and well, since most everyone tends to enjoy the occasional surprise appearance of Thin Mints, it grabbed my attention. Of course, none of the tiny dark chocolate treats had suddenly appeared before the patrons at Blue 5’s “Christmas In July” celebration of dark beers Friday night. But a stout that tasted like one apparently had. A few minutes later, I was tasting the same beer, Perennial Ales’ “17” Imperial Stout, made with mint leaves and cocoa nibs. Yep. Thin Mints. And it was good.

Still relatively new to the Roanoke area, the St. Louis based brewery has had a few of its ales show up on tap in the Roanoke area, “17” being the latest. At the least, an “Imperial” Saison called Regalia and their Aria Belgian Ale have made appearances at spots around the Roanoke, and bottles of a few others have shown up on store shelves as well. On August 9^th, the brewery will be represented – for the first time if memory serves – at Roanoke’s Microfestivus.

The brewery creates a wide range of styles, and their Abraxas Imperial Stout might be the most coveted among folks who are more familiar with the brewery’s beers. Arguably more known for their Belgian style beers however, their “flagships” include the Aria, a Belgian style Saison brewed with chamomile leaves called Saison de Lis, and Hommel Bier, a dry hopped Belgian Pale. But the entire line up does include several styles, from more limited released IPAs to acclaimed Stouts like the Abraxas and another called “Sump”, to German styles, like their Black Walnut Dunkel. Often, their beers feature added local, organic, and seasonal ingredients to deepen their complexity, as with the mint leaves in 17, or with the local honey used in their Tripel “Woodside”. Perennial also produces several barrel aged beers, as their Brewmaster, Phil Wymore was once the cellar manager at Goose Island, and oversaw the Chicago brewery’s well known barrel aging program.

Microfestivus ’14 features at least a handful of breweries which are new to the festival this year, of which Perennial is just one. If you haven’t had a chance to taste any of their beers yet, stop by and see what the St. Louis brewery has to offer!