Red Sashes (2015)
Brasserie Dunham

Thanks to Duffy for this interesting beer he brought back from Montreal.

First of all, wtf is up with Canadian Breweries using screw caps, STOP!!!!!

Pours a big frothy fizzy 2 finger head that fades very slowly, almost a nitro like head, tons of lacing, very clear auburn chestnut brownish red color.

Nose smells... um, infected, def a ton of Brett in this, doubt it was intentional, a big Brett C tropical pineapple which smells great in general, but not for this beer, a hint of booze, some candy caramel toasty malts, but that's about it after all the Brett C.

Taste brings more candy malts, a little syrupy and fairly sweet still, with candy caramel, caramel candies, toffee, and a little spicy rye note, bit fruity rye perhaps, with fair spicy hop bitterness. The infection is still there but doesn't overpower everything else like the nose did. More funky Brett, tons of Brett C pineapple and tropical flavors, a little grassy yeasty funk as well, and a little booze warmth. Finish is quite bitter, a big spicy hop bitterness takes off, with a bit more tropical pineapple Brett, and syrupy caramel and caramelized spicy rye.

Mouth is med bod but syrupy and a bit thicker, tons of small bubble fluffy carb like nitro almost, a little warming booze.

Overall, the base beer seems like it would have been so-so to begin with, sweet syrupy, a bit boozy, quite a lot of spicy hops, not bad but could have used some mellowing and maybe some vanilla barrel to round it, but obviously a huge Brett C infection, although I love Brett C and the tropical pineapple it brings, it didn't fit well in this beer.

Thanks to Duffy for a bottle of this unfortunate mess.

A - Poured into my Duvel tulip a slightly murky garnet hue with not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE fingers of off white lightly tan head. As soon as the liquid hit the glass the head billows up and simply does not go away. Returning five minutes later and the head had grown higher than the glass itself. Lovely. A+. No...fail.

S - Aromas of loads, and loads, and loads of brett. There is some rye, little bit of caramel and some toasty malts, but all and all this is a hodgepodge of sadness.

T - Taste is similar to the nose. Huge, messy amount of brett, some light rye spiciness, sticky caramel, a rather odd lingering astringent bitterness on the finish. Someone mentioned barrel aged in their notes, this must have been a 5th fill barrel because I get nothing whatsoever in that regard.

M - Mouthfeel's carbonation is all messed up thanks to most of it having gone in to creating the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in my tulip. What's left manages to somehow be both sticky and syrupy yet somehow with prickly carbonation on the finish.

O - Overall this was one hot mess of a beer. Assuming this is not infected someone got waaay too carried away with the brett and sugars. If this was a rye beer, very poor attempt for 'something different'. If this was a barleywine, even more shame. Not fit for my drain.

Serving Type: bottle

 

 

Serving: Bottle
No date (approx. 1 year old)

This one pours a fairly clear ruby with an enormous (too big) fluffy beige head. Huge, swooping lacing. Takes forever to settle. Creamy head never disappears, but a pain in the ass to pour. The nose is of vinous port aromas, oak, cinnamon, oxidation, rum, black pepper, some sweet malt. The flavor is quite hot and oxidized and medicinal. Sherry-ish booziness, pepper, licorice, super herbal (too much I think), bitter boozy afterburn. Creamy/fluffy feel at first but increasingly shudder-inducing, boozy, and medicial as you go; incredibly active carbonation big boozy body and a lingering spicy, liquor-like finish.

Pretty intense beer. Not my thing at all. Spicy booze and spicy rye is one thing but when they are both hot and there is a medicinal hoppiness it becomes too much. Not the biggest barleywine guy, but I find most of them to at least be drinkable. This one, though... We'll see.

I couldn't do it. It was bad. Take my review with a grain of salt, but it was just a hot mess in my opinion. Hopefully I am crazy and it was actually good.

 

 

375 mL bottle. Pours remarkably thick. Deep amber. Smell is rye grain. Brett. Big. Taste is all over the place. I don't really taste any of the barrels. I taste lots of brown sugar. Sharp rye flavor. Cereal sweetness. Bitter hoppy flavor. Faint bit of acidity and brett. Heavy. Kinda nutty. Creamy and sweet. Wow. That's a crazy beer.

Poured from a 341ml bottle at the price of 7.29$ (!)

Thanks to early warnings from other reviews, i carefully opened and sure enough it gushed a little. Patience is the key and it did look nice in the glass. Very spicy rye bitterness in flavor with a hint of red wine in aroma? This one was boozy and not necessarily in the best of ways. Felt disjointed and not well balanced and it showed. Has potential but sadly definitely not worth the price tag.

Caution, this one is a geyser! (or at least mine was)
Barrel aged rye (barley wine style) with brett. Hard to know which way to go with this one. It's complex but not always in a good way. Somehow it manages to be one minute tasty, then the next minute strange and overwhelming.... highly sweet like a barley wine, lots of dried stone fruits, but then massively hopped and soured, and on top of a quite thick body which just makes for a strange combination. Slightly better as it warmed but overall was not super impressed. Just lacked a unified direction that would make for enjoyable drinking. Not my favorite from Dunham.