MadTree’s Sequoia’s Gift To Get The Day Right

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome

It’s been one of those days—the kind where everything snowballs, and by the end, you just want to sink into the couch and wait for tomorrow. But instead of waiting, I did what any self-respecting beer geek would do: I headed downstairs to my beer cellar.

Scooting a few newer bottles aside, I saw sitting at eye level a bottle that I’ve always loved. When I got the chance to crack one open, I knew that it was exactly what I needed to turn the day around—MadTree’s Sequoia’s Gift.

Bring The Funk

To really appreciate what this beer is, you have to understand what makes it special. This Belgian-style golden ale used a funky, wild yeast for its primary fermentation, Brettanomyces. Unlike traditional brewer’s yeast, Brett eats just about everything you put in front of it and, in return, kicks out a whole bucket of flavors you won’t find in “clean” beers.

Brettanomyces also works a lot slower than traditional yeast does. Some strains can take years to fully work their magic (and keep going even beyond that). Brettanomyces adds a whole new level to a beer, which is why you’ll find my beer cellar mostly filled with beers that have been fermented with it.

Sequoia’s Gift

First released for MadTree’s ‘Funk Day’ in 2017, this beer isn’t one you’ll readily find. It’s part of what makes opening the bottle something a little more special than the Fretboard Lights that I was crushing earlier while working on my car (that’s part of my bad day… the car, not the light beer). When you’re sitting on a bottle or two of a brett-fermented beer like Sequoia’s gift, you have to rip the bandaid off at some point. You know that the beer is always changing and always evolving – but you just don’t know where that perfect point is going to be for you.
I decided that today was going to be the day that I was going to crack open this last bottle of it that I had hanging out – and I have to tell you… it seems pretty perfect.

The Experience

Sequoia’s Gift looks pretty normal in my tall, stemmed glass. It’s a deep golden color, with a thin head on top that almost has a rose-gold tint to it. It doesn’t take very long to realize that you’re in for a treat, though. Your nose doesn’t have to get very close; even from a foot away from the top, I can smell floral, citrusy aromas lifting out of it.
The anticipation is far too much for me… I had to dive in. My nose is greeted with a bright blast of citrus and a soft balance of a floral bouquet. Underneath it all is a light earthiness. I really can’t help but compare the aroma of this to springtime. Maybe it’s just my longing for spring creeping in… but this beer takes me straight to an afternoon at the park—my kids laughing on the playground while I lose myself in daydreams on a nearby bench.

From the softness of the aroma, you’re hit over the head – or maybe the palate – with a bold punch of tartness when you take your first sip. That citrus punch comes in hard and fast, leaving behind a saline-touched fruity finish. It takes me several sips before I can really start to pick this one apart. I was almost finished with my first of two glasses before I really started to feel like I had settled into it.

The beginning of the beer is dominated by bright, punchy citrus, while the middle of it is a full, round, juicy, fruit-filled journey. The end is loaded with light floral touches and a little tannic pucker of the wine barrel that held the beer during production. It’s a perfect example of how layers of flavor in a beer can provide a complete journey from start to finish.

I Need More

I need more of this. I need more beers like this and more “drink experiences” like this. When I want to crack open a beer, take my time with it and really dive into what is in my glass… Things like this remind me how excited I am about the actual liquid that I’m consuming.

I know that I can’t convince any brewery to make more beers like Sequoia’s Gift; they’re time-consuming, they run the risk of infecting your other beers with Brettanomyces, and to top it off – not a lot of folks buy them.
I get it.

I may not be able to convince breweries to make more beers like this, but I can at least hunt down every bottle I can find. What are your favorite Brett beers? Comment and let me know—I need to stock up!