Some of our usual characters were absent from this weeks #BeerChurch but as we do every week we soldiered on; someone has to drink these beers, right? This week’s Beer Church bottle share featured a few awesome Jester King brews as well as some solid, big and boozy barleywines; that’s not all though so keep reading for more of the highlights!
This reddish brown brew gives off intense jammy notes of mixed berry with subtle hints of oak. The flavor is jam packed with dark berries, immediately bringing to mind raspberries and blackberry. Oddly enough, apparently a boysenberry is a cross between an European raspberry, European blackberry, loganberry and an American dewberry. Whatever the hell the last two berries are… We had absolutely no idea! In totality this was a very nice and well balanced dark sour ale that was aged in oak foeders.
Sporting a deep orange and apricot color this farmhouse ale by Jester King gave off subtle aromas of white wine hiding the very prominent grape flavor that overwhelms your mouth (in a good way). Bright flavors of Syrah and Sangiovese grape with jammy notes followed by a light tartness of lemon and lime.
This nifty beer by Jester King features hay in the mash tun, hops that were aged in burlap sacks left in a barn attic and fermented in French Brandy Barrels. The color pours a reddish brown with an aroma unsurprisingly of grass and barn yard. As the beer warms funky flavors give way to notes of dried fruit. Waves of stone fruit, jam, and tart dark berry invade the sense of taste. Overall this was a pleasant and balanced beer even for those of us that prefer to leave the hay to horses.
This farmhouse ale was brewed using the spent blackberries from Jester King’s brew Nocturn Chysalis. If you’ve been following Beer Down Here you’ve already read our review of that awesome beer. The aroma of Grimm Harvest is unsurprisingly filled with jammy and tart blackberries. The color is a most wonderful ruby red with wisps of amber and orange depending on how you hold the glass. The taste was surprisingly lite and not tart at all in direct contrast to Nocturn Chysalis. Lite fruit notes of blackberry fade into the background as this easy drinker goes down. This was nice change up from the rather tart offerings earlier in the night.
Pitch black with pungent notes of roasted malt, coffee and piney hops abound. A bitter finish offering notes of prominent char, dark chocolate and roasted goodness. Overtones of pine and resin from the hops linger on the tongue. In our view there is a fine line between hoppy porters and black ipa’s and this one walks the line.
Brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hops this old ale was fermented using Orval yeast. It was soft brown in color with reddish hues throughout. The aroma was at first very grassy and hay like but as it warmed up, notes of biscuit and stone fruit started to emerge. The taste was loaded with toffee and caramel. Overall this was a nice example of an old ale and a great way to start winding down the night.
This double-barrel aged barleywine from the Netherlands is reddish/brown in color and brewed in the “American” style, full of simcoe and cascade hops, with pale and crystal malts. A nice sweet sherry aroma invades the nose. Flavor wise a lot of creamy bourbon and cognac with a nice malty sweet backbone. Oxidative notes of sherry abound with hints of fig and dark fruit. We are looking for another bottle of this beer in order cellar it for later. YUM!
What had originally started out as a scotch ale has now meandered it’s way into barleywine territory as of late. This delicious light brown color with reddish hues with an aroma full of whiskey from the barrel aging. For a whiskey barrel aged beer this was fairly smooth with tasting notes of molasses, light vanilla and whiskey. Overall a well balanced lightly carbonated delicious beer.
Check back next week for another edition of @BeerDownHere #BeerChurch!
Cheers!
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