After most of our brewery visits, we normally post our review on our social media channels, but at times there are extraordinary operations that necessitate a blog post.
Mieza Blendery is one such establishment. The blendery is located in Alexandria (between
Aslin Beer Alexandria and
Port City Brewing Company) and their goal is to "make a lot of diverse beer components, many of them may not taste good or balanced on their own, but when blended correctly result in an experience that couldn’t be achieved as a single one-off batch." Whereas consumers expect consistency in a Port City Porter, each offering at Mieza is unique.
The name
Mieza, is also unique. It refers to the "shrine of the Nymphs" -- the town in ancient Macedonia where Aristotle taught the Alexander the Great between 343 and 340 BCE. According to founder
Alex Lynch, "Mieza is a blank space I can project onto, possessing a modicum of myth and some underlying themes that my approach to blending strongly shares". Lynch has plenty of brewing experience, first as a brewer at
Lost Rhino Brewing Company, then to Sonoma's
Bear Republic, and back to Lost Rhino to manage their barrel program and quality control lab. And because of his relationship with Favio Garcia, the first batches of the Mieza brand were brewed at
Dynasty Brewing.
During my visit, I enjoyed a flight of four -- two because of their wine grape heritage. The Angels and Astronauts (8.3%) is a blond barrel-aged sour beer aged on Monticello AVA Petit Verdot; whereas the Venatio II (7.4%) is a blond blend with Viognier grapes and dry hopped with Huell Melon hops. I really liked the second, an explosion of sour and funky flavors that transitions to an apple cider finish. Don't be put off by the muffled nose. The Ceramic Gnomes (7.4%) is very intriguing blond blend where the sweet & sour cherries and star anise blend nicely and finishes with some vanilla and spices from aging in Rye barrels. Finally, the Cousin Throckmorton (5.8%) was a huge surprise. This mixed culture Saison is based on a Helles beer and strengthened by Saphir hops is softly sour but with plenty of funk and even melons.
