StewardofGondor (1934), Washington Heights - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA Jan 3, 2006 Bottle provided by and shared with tpkenned. Hazy and dirty copper in color with a sudsy tan head and lovely cascading lace. Aroma is, in a word, wonderful. Flemish sour thoughts abound. Brown sugar, cherries, chardonnay grapes, oak chips, brett and butterscotch. Delving into complexities, as I could sniff all night, we arrive at sweet, subtle bourbon dimensions underscoring the flavor. Some nutty, spicy toffee plays a celebrated symbiotic relationship with a sour funk component that pulls at the brett and grains of paradise heartstrings. Other attention to detail points out caramels alongside cherry cobbler – it’s that fresh, tart stuff, country style. Sweet, confident cushion and mildly souring on the palate. Gentle carbonation and beautifully balanced. Mulled pears transition a souring finish to a sweet orange toffee chew resonance. Very well done. Schroppfy (1741), Ohio, USA Jan 25, 2006 This has precisely the range of leathery, tannic, fruity and cheesy brett flavors that I crave. Very well made, with a slight flavor drop in the finish, this looks good (darker than expected), hold a wonderful head, is enhanced in the body (getting even gritty toward the end) and flavors (slightly more sour) by adding the yeast pour. A bit minerally like cherry stones. Delicious. Could be more sour, but this is restrained and even elegant. A great beer; thanks to EDA and willblack for bottles; folks, I need more. geno5 (21), Bayonne, New Jersey, USA Dec 27, 2005 Murky red-brown in color with a lacey head. Smell of sour cherries, then a bit of alchol. Nice mellow tangyness. emerica56 (498), Bristol, Rhode Island, USA Dec 18, 2007 Thanks to paul for sending me this i was able to enjoy someing from a brewery that is no longer around. This beer was very merky and cider like with no head nor was there any laceing to it. The aroma was an intence fruit and sour apple with that funk that you would normaly get in a gueze, kind of barn yard like. As you drink it there was an intence bitterness which was nice with lots of apple and cherry followed by that salty funky gueze like flavor which lasted for a while. The palate was nice and strong and the salty apple flavor lasted for a while after the beer went down your throat. This is a very nice beer to casually drink with dinner. notalush (2129), Rawn-kawn-kohma, New York, USA Dec 17, 2005 For a while, I viewed Heavywieght as an above-average brewery with some solid offerings. However, after trying many of their OTOP beers (especially the saisons), I now place them as one of the top five most innovative brewers in the country, possibly the world. This beer just solidifies that opinion - for a long time, I didn’t even know what "brett" was, let alone know how to identify the flavors it produced - now that I know, I must say that the brett characteristics are really quite prominent, yet not overstated in this beer - the sour cherry flavors aren’t quite mouth-puckering enough to equate this with a true "sour ale," but it does lend a lambic-like quality - oak and vinous notes weave in and out - musty and very earthy - sourness drops out in the finish, leaving a touch of chocolate and spices, along with a flavor/mouthfeel that I can only describe as "milky" - this is one of the most interesting beers I’ve had in a long time - very subtle - take some time with this one before you judge it.
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