Wildflower Brewing & Blending is something of a first in the Sydney brewing scene. Opening in 2017, its primary focus is barrel maturing and blending beer.
Following in a long tradition of beer making that has roots in Britain and Belgium, among other places, blending sees base beers stored and matured in barrels and then combined to create custom flavour profiles that are unique from batch to batch.
Topher Boehm is the man behind Wildflower Brewing and Blending. After time spent at Batch Brewing, as well as stints at breweries in France, Belgium, London and his home state of Texas, Boehm set up Wildflower to exercise his passion for local produce, the tradition of farmhouse style beers and the effects of wild yeasts and native flora.
Science And Art
Brewing is often referred to as a combination of art and science. That’s certainly the case when it comes to blending, as Boehm combines his background in science with a creative flair and sensory analysis of beer to create a perfect blend.
The Wildflower beers, Gold and Amber, were launched to great acclaim. These will continue to be released as iterations of the same beer. Each blend, taken from multiple barrels, will be subtly different.
Not long after officially launching their beers into the wild, Wildflower announced a cellar door in Marrickville.
However, this cellar door isn’t the typical brewery taproom we’ve become accustomed to. There’ll be no food trucks serving burgers and smoked meats.
The focus is on a shared appreciation of the beer and the art of blending. The cellar door is also the only place you’ll find Wildflower’s Table beer.
Complexity Without Pretension
Underlying the intense fascination with provenance, native flora and fermentation is an understanding that beer is there to be shared and enjoyed. Despite producing some of the most complex and elegant beers in Sydney, Boehm and Wildflower execute what they do in a way that’s accessible to all and free of pretension.
Topher Boehm is also refreshingly open and transparent about his process and the running of the brewery. He maintains a blog on the Wildflower website which is illuminating for the uninitiated and thrilling for beer lovers.
Not only is Wildflower a welcome addition to Sydney’s independent beer scene, it provides something entirely new and something that feels like a turning point in the local beer landscape. Demand for Wildflower beers will only grow.
Core beers:
Special beers: