Reviewed by Peter M.
Peter@HoustonBeerScene.com
Synodical by Secret Beach Brewing and Patience Brewing
Style: Wild NEIPA?!
The Stats:
ABV: 7.5%
IBUs: Unknown
Hops: Motueka, Ekuanot and El Dorado
Yeast: Patience Brewing wild yeast
Beer reviews are pretty rare from Houston Beer Scene these days, for a few reasons. A lot of the “new” stuff to hit the market over the past six months has basically been variations of beers that have previously been released. This includes NEIPA or Hazy IPAs and fruited sours that basically just switched up the hops or fruit. The exception to this is two or three breweries that are constantly releasing new stuff and it’s almost too hard to keep up with those. But, this last week, we came across a beer that needed a review. That beer would be Synodical by Secret Beach Brewing and Patience Brewing.
First, you may be asking yourself, “Who the heck is Secret Beach Brewing?” Or, “Who the heck is Patience Brewing?” Both are good questions that you need to know the answer to, especially if you like good beer.
Both Secret Beach and Patience are homebrew projects based in Houston and Spring (North Houston), Texas. Both are awesome and both deserve your attention on Facebook and Instagram. Secret Beach has been killing it with their Hazy IPAs/NEIPAs, while Patience is brewing some freaking delicious sours. So, when they decided to collaborate, a Sour IPA was an easy decision.
Many of our readers have had sour IPAs from the likes of Hudson Valley, Great Notion, J Wakefield, Alvarado Street, and others. But I would bet that very few have had a beer like this one.
Before I get to the beer, here is a little background on the name of the beer. Jamey from Secret Beach, shared with me that he often comes up with beer names and branding before coming up with a recipe. When he ran across a definition of Synodical that was along the lines of “conjunction of the same star,” he thought maybe it would be great for the Patience collab. He pitched the name to Jonathan, the brewer from Patience, and he loved it.
Synodical is a true “Wild NEIPA”, a style that technically does not exist in any of the beer style guides. This is not a kettle-soured IPA, but rather a true Wild/mixed culture fermentation beer, soured with house yeast from Patience Brewing over the course of several months. I love the fruit flavors that come through here, but between the black currant and plum added to this beer, the black currant really stands out. Jonathan selected the fruit and said he wanted two fruits that pair well together, but that he also wanted black currant to be more aggressive with the plum providing a background aromatic notes. I shared this with a few buddies and a few of us picked up some very slight oaky flavor even though this beer didn’t spend any time in barrels.
There is absolutely no doubt of the NEIPA base. The hops are primarily Motueka and Ekuanot, with a little pinch of El Dorado. The mouthfeel is not as fluffy/pillowy as you might want/expect from a NEIPA. The body seems more like what I would expect from a Wild Ale due to the higher carbonation and lighter body. I’m sure this is a function of the yeast.
The color of the beer is very self-explanatory. Beautiful. See below.
Those that know me personally know that when it comes to beer, I am kinda obsessed with Sours/Wild Ales and NEIPAs. I have had a lot of good beers this year, but this might just be my favorite. Actually, scratch “this might just be” and replace with “this is absolutely”… my favorite beer so far this year.
Overall Rating: 9.75/10. If the fruit was peach – my favorite for Wild Ales… 10/10.
You may be asking how you can get your hands on some of the Secret Beach or Patience beers. Well, it’s not easy, but it’s absolutely worth it. Give both a follow on Facebook and Instagram and be watching for information on future releases.
Cheers!