Weer & Wind 2016 BA
Brouwerij De Molen

 

330ml, red wax sealed bottle, now @12.4% ABV - their Weer & Wind barleywine, still aged in unspecified Bourbon barrels. Shared with a good friend.

This beer pours a murky, dark apricot amber colour, with one skinny finger of weakly foamy and bubbly tan head, which leaves a bit of low-performing ocean plume lace around the glass as things slowly progress.

It smells of rather sugary caramel/toffee malt, a certainly nose hair-twitching phenolic booziness, some muddled dark orchard fruitiness, besotted raisins, subtle Bourbon barrel notes (vanilla and rye grain, mostly), and a hint of musty, weedy, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is fairly sweet caramel malt, slightly biscuity toffee, treacle, understated Bourbon County booze essences (woody vanilla and 'them's fightin' words' rye), a still hard to parse black stone fruitiness, reduced brown sugar syrup, and a somewhat spicy, leafy, and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its basically just supportive frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, with a nice airy creaminess dodging and weaving amongst the testy alcohol esters. It finishes rather sweet, the big-ass malt, Bourbon, and sundry saccharine stuff really pushing the line.

Overall, this 'bad weather' brew is anything but - well, yeah, it might be best sipping by a roaring fireplace on a subzero winter's night, but I'm totally ok putting it back after happily walking outside today in just a t-shirt and jeans. Weather aside, this is indeed a sweet, boozy version of the style, suitable to dessert pairings up the veritable ying yang. Yeah.

Sampled at Borefts 2016, Bodegraven. Clear dark caramel pour with no head. Notes of sherry, raspberry jam, dried fruit. Full bodied with a very low carbonation and a sweet finish.