375 ml. bottle sampled @ Cantillon Quintessence 2014. Dark reddish brown with little tanned head. Smell is appalling to be honest, smells like fish sauce mixed with thick soy sauce brett, burned caramel, overripe dark fruits and berries. Tastes of thick burned caramel, lots of brett, burned soy sauce, spoiled dark fruit, touch roasted malt, brambleberry, caramel syrup, rum-coke, touch molasses. Medium roasted body. Honestly this is a mess full of flavours that I found unpleasant like fish sauce. There are some reading features like the brett etc. but overall this is a real mess for me.

Almost no head but white rim; virtually black beer with cola-like highlights. Surprising lambic-y nose, with a dark fruit (plums? blackberries?) streak, and a faint roasted impression. At the end, the unmistakable USA mop-bretts. Sweetish, even more surprising, cola-like (again, indeed, but less welcome), and not very much in order of other flavours. Liquorice, floormop Bretts. Medium bodied, slick. Sorry, Rob, disappointing. Maybe try to get the flavours in accordance with what the nose is suggesting.

Bottle sample @ Cantillon Quintessence 2014. Couleur brunâtre sur un léger trouble, col blanc cassé. Arôme offre un bouquet subtil de malts alternant ci et là une pointe cara-pâle sur un rétro grains léger. Malheureusement le brett est trop mis en avant et dénature le caractère de cette bière. Au niveau houblon, il en ressort un léger côté noble tirant sur le Styrian. Palais est ici aussi axé sur le brett pour une bière qui s’éloigne dès lors de mon idée initiale de ’vieille brune’. D’ailleurs ce profil brett rappelle ce fini WL yeast qui se généralise outre-Atlantique. Fini reste assez épais avec un mélange cara-grillé malts une petite pointe épicée du seigle et un soupçon de biscuité couplé à qcq notes fruitées rouges. Niveau houblons, c’est toujours dans le style noble qu’il faut chercher avec qcq essences herbacées et fleuries.

Bottle thanks to John. Pours a cloudy brown with beige head leaving spotty lacing. The aroma is brett, yeast, oak, and funk. Medium mouthfeel with light cherry skin, oak, strong brett, and nice lingering dry finish. Very nice.

Another beer on my luxury list as provided by Kerry, THANKS DUNLAP! I could never bring myself to buy this because of the price but RD throws one in! Darker fer sure, however as far as the wild or sour goes, not too sure but I guess it is very mildly tart if I focus on it. Has nice coating of lacing. The smell is old friendly fermented stuff, no real hint of hops in the perfume. Yes, for the palate and taste, mostly there is some of that Helios bitterness in there. Builds bluntly sharp. CO2 is decent, somewhat creamy laid back malty thing happening. Yes, as the session continues, I start to get more of that wild thing creepen up. Does hide the alky well in a civilized and refined manner. Yes, this beer rises thru-out the whole experience, never lets you down. Big thanks to Reggie for a chance in a lifetime!

Draught at Publick House, Summer 2013
Very large, frothy, light-tan head tops a medium-brown body, with low clarity. Head is well-retained, thanks to the wheat no doubt.
Actually quite a reserved nose, given the pretty aromatic ingredients. Not to say it has a weak aroma, just takes a little work. Lactic sourness combines with light chocolate and some lightly citric hoppiness to produce more of an English old ale/porter/three threads type of nose. Vinous, roasty and with some light bits of vanilla. Not as fruity as expected, though there are certainly some flashes of plums and prunes.
The mouthfeel tends from oily to almost creamy, as the brett acids peck away at the sides of the tongue and a biscuity-like maltiness, full of chocolate, light coffee and bitter cacao seems to create the main force of the beer. Brett acids are woven in to the malt/wheat flavors well, adding another layer of vinousness on the end. With warming, more sweet malts do emerge, taking the beer back towards more of the Porter/old ale category. Even some juicy, green tropical fruit notes are thrown in to the mix with a touch of hop acid as well. Reserved on the alcohol and overall very drinkable if a bit simplistic in its vinousness-meets-sweet chocolate appeal.

’375 c&c from Mill Valley Market. Pours darkly ruddy brown with a transient, slight head. Aroma is lightly brett with cooked malt and cooked fruit. Med + body with fizzy carb. Flavor is strangely cooked malt with some fruit. Mild brett. A little rye. Fairly complex.

Pours black into a tulip. Off-white head with excellent retention recedes to coat surface leaving sheet lacing. Aspirin and funk aromas. Dry with chocolate-covered dried fruit and marshmallow upfront turning dry in the abrupt sour funk and brett finish.