I don’t understand this beer.

Vintage 2020, bottled on 15/11/22 and good for 5 years out. Now branded as Blond Winter Ale matured on Port barrels.

Not a great head – to be expected at 10% – but also a weird colored pour that is reddish brown, not exactly the advertised “Blond Winter Ale”. I suppose that’s because of the aging on Port barrels that would appear to have taken a couple of years IF I am reading the label correctly There’s a thin film retained, and a little lace but not much.

Nose offers a jammy, fruit orange akin to marmalade. This gets carried into the tastes that are more bitter than the nose would suggest. There’s a stillness about the beer that makes it feel fairly flat.

The beer stays quite bitter. There is a fruit element that takes the edge off it a bit, but, orange peel, pithy bitterness is the lingering memory and little else. Maybe a little spice somewhere, and the port may impart a touch of warmth, but overall I get a muddled bitterness and nothing else.

I really don’t get this at all. I’m not sure what is being attempted, or what is being achieved. Very, very odd.