7.4/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 8
Dark barleywine (if that is even a thing to begin with) boiled for an extremely long time and aged in Islay whisky barrels, resulting in an ultra-strong beer of no less than 18% ABV. No head (indeed bottled without any carbonation at all), misty dark chestnut brown robe with ruddy glow. Extremely peaty aroma, perhaps the most peaty aroma ever in any beer, ‘clinical’ iodine and whole bags of actual peat, strongly peated whisky, cured meat, roasted walnuts, soy sayce, bayleaf, dried fig, wet clay, wet leather, old ground hazelnuts. Sweetish onset with dried fig and medlar aspects, strong soy sauce-like umami and lots of Maillard effects, flat so not carbonated at all, very thick mouthfeel, big slabs of walnutty, brown-bread-crusty malts with only light toasted bitterness (otherwise this sure would have been a porter or stout rather than a barleywine) under heavy loads of peat in a very overpowering way, heated by evidently very whisky-like alcohol – but somehow still a bit less boozy (and therefore more easily drinkable) than the huge ABV would suggest. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted, this peat monster is Reservoir Dogs’ way of rolling their muscles, I suppose – not to be consumed by those looking for finesse and elegance, and certainly not by those who are not into peat. I like peat, though it has admittedly been a long learning process, and I can take a small glass of this – but be warned, this is peat and booze driven to its extreme within the boundaries of beer.
Tried
on 15 Jul 2023
at 22:49