Fellowship Ale 2024 N° 2: Barleywine Bridge
Brouwerij Alvinne in Moen, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Barley Wine - Barley Series|
Score
6.57
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In de schemerhallen onder de Berg werd een zeldzaam elixer gesmeed. Een blend, niet in haast gesmeed maar met het geduld van eeuwen.
Uit de diepe gewelven van de tijd komt Souterain, drie volle jaren gerijpt in vaten van oude Madeira - rijk aan de herinnering van verre kusten en zonovergoten bossen. En daarnaast een nobele metgezel: Cuvée Theo, twintig maanden getemperd in vaten die ooit de vuurgeest van Aquavit bevatten.
Nu zijn de twee verenigd - een unie van aarde en kruiden, van diepte en helderheid. Dit is geen gewoon bier, maar een tapbier voor wie op zoek is naar legende in zijn kopje.
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Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle shared at kermis tasting. Almost clear golden with big white head. Dry malts, aquavit, herbs, soft spices, boost, yoghurt, dry oak, white wine, juniper, dusty. Light sweet, bit more bitter and very light sour. Medium bodied, a bit dry finish. Not my thing.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
75cl Fles, sample bij Kerst/NY tasting Zaandam. Mistig diepgouden kleur, witte kraag. Oude koekjes, moutig, iets van druif, dessertwijn, voelt aan als een kruising tussen een tripel en een barley wine maar wel een over de top oudje, lichtzure finish. Medium body op z'n best, mist echt van alles wat om zich tussen het zure en zwarte geweld van de rest van de avond staande te houden.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
One of those mighty Fellowship beers from Alvinne - more often than not masterpieces of originality and sheer deliciousness - consisting of a madera barrel aged wheat wine blended with an aquavit barrel aged tripel, resulting in, I guess, an even more complex 'barley-wheat wine' of sorts. Medium thick, off-white, papery lacing, slowly breaking head over a hazy peach blonde robe with ochre tinge. Intense and alluring bouquet of apricots soaked in brandy, sweet madera very obvious, vanilla from oak wood, marmalade, old apple cake, some almond, vague strawberry, dried basil, honey liqueur, brioche dough, sweaty funky note. Very fruity, estery onset, hinting at peach, ripe yellow plum, cooked apple and pear, with a very light sourishness underneath a more pronounced, rounded sweetness; medium carb, full mouthfeel - though more 'fluffy' and tripel-like than vinous and barleywine-like, perhaps. Soft sweet bready and cake bottom-like malts, opulent and adorned with considerable 'woodiness' including that lovely vanillin effect from oak, but also with light 'wild' notes (slight Bretty sweatiness) and herbal accents (green herbs) probably coming from the aquavit. The madera adds a sweet wine-like aspect while soft breadiness and vivid fruitiness linger, gently but adequately bittered by herbal hops and warmed by the alcohol, which somehow remains very friendly and inviting. A note of marzipan lingers faraway in the background. Complex, rich sipper, somewhere in between a barley (or indeed wheat) wine and a tripel, but that is exactly what it physically is so that comes as no surprise; in any case Alvinne's two decades of experience with barrel ageing and blending is amply illustrated here. I need to seek them out more, I had truckloads of their beers in the past but I am still impressed whenever I encounter one - the fact alone that they keep producing original masterpieces (or excellent beers) as if it takes no effort, remains quite remarkable. As I may have stated more than once before: this is a world class brewery and should therefore be treated with according respect.
