Our Civil Disobedience series provides a near-endless opportunity through which we try and weave together threads and strands in a hopeful attempt to achieve a graceful tapestry in which the sum is greater than its parts. Each blend is assembled from selections that we project out and envision will harmonize over time, and then we wait while the beer conditions in its bottles. In some cases, it can be three or four years; others can emerge with the surprising alacrity of just six or eight months; and some fail to achieve at all. 

Blend 31, like the best of its predecessors, has been one of those that took its own leisurely path and time.. In June of 2016, the oldest constituent of this blend began as a batch of Arthur that had been brewed and dry-hopped solely with Cascade and was conditioned in puncheons. Joining a portion of that beer was a share of Sankt Hans that began its wine barrel aging in February of 2017; single wine barrels of Dorothy, Nordic Saison, and Leaves of Grass (brewed with sorrel), all from summer of 2017; wine barrels of Anna from autumn of 2017; and finally, a nuanced contribution of depth from a strand of Biere de Norma from 2018. Each element was chosen to complement and optimistically strengthen the final whole.

This composition was blended and bottled in May of 2018. The hopeful maturation and current stature of this blend has required nearly three years in the bottle, and we fully expect that it will continue to present exceedingly well for four to five more years.  Like the blend numbered 30 before it, this, too, recalls subjective notions of Civil Disobedience 10 yet with a softer, more gentle approach.  While Blend 30 remains assertive, its Buckwheat component perhaps even still too forceful, Blend 31 seems to demonstrate the delicate marriage of Arthur and Sankt Hans with the orchestral accompaniment of a varied cast of gentle characters. 

Given its long conditioning time and lively effervescence, we recommend opening this at 40ºF/4ºC.