Levain, Macération Trousseau nv

Why we love this bottle

Not wine. Not really beer as you know it either.

The Macération Trousseau is the project of Aymeric Tissot, son of Stéphane and Bénédicte, who studied oenology in Switzerland, staged at Cantillon in Brussels, and then chose the brewery over the winery. His logic was simple: he wanted to ferment the way winemakers do, but with grain as the base.

Brasserie Levain operates out of two cellars in the centre of Besançon, one of them vaulted, housing around 70 barrels. Every beer Levain makes is spontaneously fermented on wild yeasts, with no added cultures and no industrial ingredients. Aymeric describes himself as more vigneron than brewer. The beers ripen for six months in wood, compared to the two to three weeks a commercial brewery would consider normal.

This particular beer is spontaneously fermented, aged six months in barrel, then macerated on the marc of Trousseau from his parents' domaine in Arbois. Bottled in a 75cl crémant bottle at 7% alcohol.

In the glass: wild, complex, yeasty and gently tart, with soft tannins from the Trousseau, red stone fruit and a surprisingly long finish. People who believe wine and beer belong in separate categories will be politely corrected here.