Thanks Lee, my third experience with the small batch series. This is an interesting stable of beers.

In some places this is categorized as a 10% English Barleywine. Well … whilst there is definitely a beer of that description SOMEWHERE in the bottle, it’s a confusing mix of styles that renders any such, simple description of this in that manner as almost totally meaningless.

WOW! A couple of pretty surprising things right off the bat here. Firstly there is massive carbonation. Huge frothey head. This sits atop a rusty brown body. The second shocker is the sweetness. This is extraordinarily sweet. Lots of residual sugar that fights a pretty comprehensive battle with the funk which is all around. The sugar wins, at least most of the time.

Carbonation settles down to give a lovely, smooth, but lively mouthfeel – NOTHING like the carbonation that one would normally associate with an English BW, but then again, this is NOTHING like a traditional English BW!

Plenty of funky horse-blanket in the nose, but this element gives way to the sugar in the tastes. It’s nowhere near as funky in the mouth as the nose would suggest.

As I get into the beer and as it warms, there starts to be a more sweet and sour element. It’s a very rich experience that is pretty unique. I can’t really put my finger on the main character of the beer, except to say that it’s like a VERY, VERY sweet farmhouse ale. It’s really rather odd. Wacko beer.