Ommegang Ommegeddon

(sample from irishboy.batch #1june 2007)murky yellow with a small white head.aroma is dusty dried fruit,hay,and belgian yeast.the flavor is full of pepper spice,cinnamon,all spice,and hay.nice brew but wheres the brett?RE-RATE ON 3-16-09.ok now the brett has started to come out.giving the brew a nice funky twist.

Bottle Batch 1. This is a rating for two different bottles. The first one was opened and tasted in July 2007. A very young bottle as the funk was not ready yet. Very dry and earthy. A tad harsh and the flavor seemed to be all over the place. Bottle 2 was opened in January 2008. The funk has had time to grow. So very subtle, the brett is present giving a unique flavor to the original tasting. The dryness has almost completely disappeared and the hops have mellowed. All in all this is so freaking drinkable.

Pours a pale yellow color with a white head. Aroma is brett, banana, some fruit, and spices. Flavor is malt, wheat, honey, brett, and a spicy hoppy finish.

1st bottle release; Sampled January 2008
Pours with a fluffy, frothy, almost four-finger thick, light tan colored head that leaves some lacing and creates a textured, rocky head as it slowly subsides. The beer is a lightly hazy, straw-gold color that shows amble carbonation with it madly streaming bubbles. The aroma has a fruitiness to it that reminds me of pears, apples and perhaps a touch of lemon. Dusty grain notes, touches of hay a substantial soda-cracker like malt character add to the other most noticed aromatic components. Spicy fermentation notes yield aromas of pepper, ginger, a touch of clove and a grassy, sort of softly herbal note. The beginnings of signature Brettanomyces (butyric acid) aromas is here, though it is still quite soft and subtle; touches of moldy cotton balls, hints of plastic-like phenolics and just a hint of barnyard can be pulled from the aroma. To be honest, if I had this beer blind, I would probably not even guess that Brettanomyces was involved. I do like the interplay of sharp fruit and substantial, dry malt character here though.

A touch sweeter than I was expecting, though the beer is still fairly dry overall. The sweetness accentuates some soft honey flavors, pickled young ginger, definite pear, some grape flavors and a touch of apple as well as the appetizing pale malt notes. The finish has quite a edge to it, it is not subtle, but neither is it overwhelming. The edge is distinctly phenolic and spicy and is a definite signature of the Brettanomyces. Quite light bodied and refreshing in character; this aspect of the brew is spot on for a Farmhouse style ale. Spicy notes of ginger, white pepper, a touch of clove, and even a touch, really a hint, of turpene-spice notes like nutmeg.

The nose was a bit disappointing because of the lack of Brett character, but I really like the interplay between fruit, malt and spice. While the flavor has more of the signature Brett influence it is still on the soft side for something with such a flamboyant label. This is actually a very solid example of a Farmhouse ale that is not advertised as a Brettanomyces infused beer; dry, light, easy drinking but with a spicy and subtly funky edge to it. I really hope that this beer evolves a bit more in the bottle, as I have a second bottle of this (thank you SS) that I would love to get a bit more funk on. This is one of those beers that is quite easy to drink a 750ml bottle of. A second pour of this brew incorporates a bit of sediment which adds a real, nice dimension of bready yeast character to both the aroma and flavor. It also seems to accentuate an apple flavor a bit, almost like an apple jolly rancher, though not intensely so.

In the end, I really like this beer, despite the fact that I think it is a failure as a beer that is so prominently advertised as "with Brettanomyces." Hopefully that will come with time, but I strongly suggest that next time they age it in bulk with the Brett before bottling (like was done for the initial, draught release).

I’ve been riding out the Holidays drinking the usual suspects, and its been more than a few weeks since my last rating. I thought I’d kick off my 2008 ratings with a bottle of Ommegeddon I’ve been cellaring since late summer. Unique mix of a Belgian Saison meets a dry hopped English Ale. Foamy, golden medium bodied, with flavors of lemon, horse hair (could that be the Brett?), wood, and funk (aka sour). I liked Ommegeddon but for the price I thought it would be more over the top. Nuclear blast on the label may be misleading, this was more of a bunker buster blast of a Belgian Saison.

Cloudy and light golden in color this beer poured a tight 1" head that dissipated slowly. The nose was filled with scents of baking spices, ripe citrus fruits (mango, papaya, guava) and just a touch of bretty funk. In the mouth the beer was light to medium-bodied, dry and a bit tart but had a very nice mouthfeel with good richness. The flavors were similar to those of the nose with the fruit not appearing as ripe. The palate had a nice bitterness making it a great summer beer that would be perfect on a hot day.

Bomber opened to celebrate New Years. Big, super-long-lasting foamy white head on top of a cloudy orange beer. Smells of lemons, bananas, and dough. The taste is very crisp with a lot of citrus and yeast followed by a strong, but not overpowering, sourness. The high alcohol content gives it a bit of a spicy finish. Excellently drinkable, unique, and tasty.

Pours a cloudy light orange color with a medium, foamy off white head. Smells of some orange citrus, funk, acidity, and yeast. The flavor has definitely gotten some funk from the brett, but not as much as you might think. Has a pretty good little bite to it though. Alot of different spices, along with some acidiccitrus fruits blend together to formulate its flavor characters. Pretty decent drinking saison. Not sure what this will do with more time on it.