Missouri’s Schlafly Beer, the largest independent craft brewery in the state, just announced the release of the new Walking Tree Wheat, a mango Hefeweizen specially brewed for this year’s Art Outside Festival. This limited release beer will be offered on tap at the Schlafly Tap Room and Bottleworks locations, on tap at the brewery’s Art Outside Festival over Memorial Day weekend, and in 750 ml bottles at select St. Louis-area retail stores, with bottles featuring a unique design from St. Louis artist, Dan Zettwoch.
Schlafly Walking Tree Wheat is unique among special release brews for one important reason: It comes complete with a comic book. Zettwoch designed the packaging and the label for the brew, but lent his talents even further with the development of a story tied to the beer. The story of the Walking Tree Wheat is told and illustrated in a comic book that comes with each 750 ml bottle. The large, wine- size bottled featuring a mango tree , was selected not just because the beer contains mango flavor, but also because the mango tree, according to folklore legend, has been known to walk back to its roots, a befitting characteristic of the Art Outside Festival, which showcases local art. Zettwoch actually came up with several versions of the story and presented each to the Schlafly team. They selected one about walking mango trees because they felt it was most closely in- tune with the beer itself and the accompanying festival.
“I started doing research about mangos and found this story about how mango trees walk”, said Zettwoch. “I thought that it was the perfect storyline to showcase an almost Indiana Jones-type graphic novel to accompany the beer.”
Walking Tree Wheat Ale is a twist on Schlafly’s celebrated Hefeweizen. This smooth, easy- drinking, unfiltered wheat is brewed using American malts and ale yeast with real mango purée and no artificial flavor. Head brewer Emily Parker states that quality was of utmost importance and she and her team were very careful to select only the best fruit.
“Since we use real fruit in all of our beers, we knew that we’d have to compare several varieties of mangos to find the flavor profile that we wanted. We tried different mango purées – one was super sweet with lots of coconut notes, another super tart, and the winner, a complex variety from India with flavors of mango, but other tropical fruits as well.”
The Walking Tree Wheat is Schlafly’s third beer in the Artists Series for the Art Outside Festival. Last year, Schalafly released King Kaya with artist Ryan Frank. This beer ended up becoming Schlafly Double Bean Blonde Ale, a chocolate/coffee golden ale spring seasonal.
Art Outside is a three day festival dedicated to alternative art. It is held at Schlafly Bottleworks location, 7260 Southwest Avenue, and it features art from over 60 St. Louis area artists. The festival is scheduled this year over Memorial Day weekend, from Friday, May 27 through Sunday, May 29.
For more information on Art Outside or Schlafly Beers, visit www.schlafly.com. To keep up via social media, look for Schlafly Beer on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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