Reddish-brown color with a small head. Aroma is sweet and sour with some heavy barrel influence - lots of oak, sugar, tartness, and dark fruit. Flavor is heavily influenced by the barrel with lots of funky/fruity/sour tastes. Dark fruit and sour/barrel funk dominate along with a hefty dose of alcohol. Very good, but I have to question why it needs to be so strong. A bit over-done. Lower ABV would have had just as much if not more in terms of flavor, so I downgraded it a point for getting me needlessly wasted.

Bottle courtesy CMillaward, thanks Chris! Pours a muddy brown with virtually no head. Huge sour apple vinegar aroma, some definite funkiness yet alluring. Taste is sour, yet malty sweet and smooth (how does that happen?) with really nice fruit character. Very mellow for a sour, definite seems to have benefited from oak aging to take the edges off. Very nice.

Very lightly carbonated, a vigorous pour towards the end of the pour scares up a quickly disappearing, frothy, at most half-finger thick, tan colored head. The beer is a dark, red-plum color that shows a red stained, amber color when held up to the light. The aroma has a light tartness to it as well as a Sauvignon Blanc like grape fruitiness along with a nice barrel influence that takes the form of soft vanillin notes, and some spicy oak character. Berry flavors reminiscent of a merlot are noticeable at times in the nose as well. There is a light funkiness here that provides a touch of mustiness, some cured moldy leather notes and a faint yet fruity cheese note. There is definitely a bit of alcohol noticeable here in the aroma too and it provides a touch of heat.

Lightly carbonated, with just a hint of a carbonic prickle. The beer is fairly light, certainly for a beer of this strength, and only has a medium heft to it. There is a light, grape-like sweetness to this beer that is not quite offset by a light tartness in the finish. A bit of alcohol, spicy & tannic oak, and spicy esters provide a touch of bitterness and piquancy to the finish that lingers into a very soft, throat coating burn. This picks up a lightly concentrated, jam-like fruit note that reminds me of a combination of sweet black cherries, blackberries and a rich currant note. This picks up a sweet nuttiness as it warms up, though it does not actually gain any sweetness (in fact it probably gets less so), it is just that it picks up a nut meat sweetness.

While not overly heavy, this is somehow a sipping beer. It really reminds me a lot of a fruity, berry focused, oak aged red wine of some sort (with a touch of tartness thrown in). An interesting beer that is for sure, the slight carbonation makes it seem that much more wine-like. This is definitely a good sipping beer, I certainly wouldn’t want to have to finish a bottle by myself.

750 mL bottle received via trade with mgumby10. Pours cloudy tawny with a small, fizzy, off-white head, mostly diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is average malt (bread, cookie), average hops (flowers, herbs), average yeast (earth) with notes of cherries, wood, and wine. Medium bodied, sticky texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

Thanks to JCB for sharing this at the Carolina Gathering. Poured a dark ruddy red with no head. The nose was very tart, oakey, spicy, had some cherry, vinegar. The flavor had some acetic vinegar, cherry, oak, spicy, warm, nice for the alcohol content. The mouthfeel is still and not too hot.