From the Beer Writer: It’s hard to believe they’ve been in business nearly two years, but Toolbox Brewing Company (which will celebrate its second anniversary at its Vista tasting room on September 3) has been cranking away at its wild-and-woody pursuits for some time now. During that time there have been obstacles to overcome, due mostly to a far-too-high-profile split between ownership and their original brewer. But Toolbox has done more than repair any busted cogs. Current brewer Ehren Schmidt (who’s been there a full-year now) has hammered-and-nailed the brewhouse to fit his brewing methodologies, and visitors to the tasting room—where the most impressive of the brewery’s stock is presented—are benefiting big-time. Toolbox’s line of wild and otherwise soured beers is varied and impressive, but when asked which they are most proud of, the owners and brewers unanimously point to Saison Chene Rustique d’Abricot. Smelling of apricot flesh and tasting both floral and herbal in its Belgian-yeast influence with subdued stone fruit character, this 7.8% alcohol-by-volume farmhouse ale is a thing of beauty. It’s easy to see why the crew is so quick to hang their collective hats on this one. And bonus: unlike most prized bottled beers up for sale online (which happened a short while ago), there is still some of this beer in-stock at Toolbox’s tasting room. And starting later today, bottles of two new beers—a barrel-aged sour farmhouse ale called Nyssa, plus a version of that beer flavored with white peaches—will be available on Toolbox’s website.
From the Brewer: “The Rustique Series of saisons—which so far consists of Chene Rustique and this beer—are Toolbox’s tribute to times past. Chene denotes that this beer came from our American oak fouder. This variant has apricots added to accentuate the already complex characteristics of hay, citrus and oak with deep stone fruit flavor and aroma. Close your eyes and imagine you’re a saisonier working in the fields of rural Wallonia in Belgium, sipping a quaffable beverage such as this. This is our homage to those hard-working farm-hands, and a place and time when beers like these were necessities, not luxuries.”—Ehren Schmidt, Head Brewer, Toolbox Brewing Company
