Intermodal is our 100% spontaneously inoculated wild beer, created in a style inspired by traditional lambic producers. This particular Intermodal is our first three year blend, with spontaneously fermented beer from 2020, 2019 and 2018. In other words, it is the culmination of four years’ worth of spontaneous beer making. The project began in the final months of 2017, with a traditional turbid wort recipe, and an overnight slumber in our outdoor coolship. Exposed to the elements, and subject to the late fall temperatures, the wort was cooled gradually, and joined by the finest wild yeast and microorganisms capable of transforming it into beer.

The second part of Intermodal’s journey was a classic Bildungsroman, where young wort grew into fermenting beer, and fermenting beer grappled with a life confined to oak barrels. After three years, it became clear that emancipation from those confines was crucial — so we drained the barrels, blended the finished beer, and conditioned it in bottles to prepare for the final departure into the real world.

We blended this year’s Intermodal for our tastes, that is to say using a larger percentage of the younger barrels than aged ones, and the results are a delectable balance of acidity and bitterness, with notes of tannic white grape, wild fermented cider, and apple baking spices.

– Bellwoods