10 (Dieci)
Birrificio Brùton

 

This is actually listed as an Italian barleywine on the bottle, so incorrectly identified on the BA listing (I will request the change). I had never seen this before stumbling across it at a liquor store in British Columbia. Not a sound when the cap is cracked. Zero carbonation, which could be a good thing (e.g. old Thomas Hardy's Ale) or not so good. The nose is really nice - raisins are pretty dominant. Cherries, oak, nuts, bread, and candy follow. The taste is really nice. Candy sweetness upfront - maybe a touch of maple in there. Raisins and nuts (almonds mostly) are strong. Some earthy and leather notes come through as well. Mild spice and tree sap are present on the aftertaste. The lack of carbonation really works for this beer - brings out the malts and fruit flavors nicely. Mouthfeel is quite viscous - really hangs around on the palate. Overall, I am a big fan of this beer, and I'm curious how it might age. This was bottled in 2017, but I bet it could go another 5 years. I might try to grab another bottle.

Chestnut with floaties and a thin ecru cap in spite of a hard pour. 3.75
Musty yeast, caramel chews, and brandy butter. 4
Chewy caramel, some marmalade, candied lemon peel, golden sherry, dried apricot, a touch of almond and rum cake. 4
Medium, creamy, soft. 4.25

3 years in the cellar but still a year off from expiration, which is a good sign. I hear this has some labeling issues; mine is a Canadian import (bought in Vancouver) that calls it an English Barleywine, and that’s how it lines up - big malts, some mellow EKG, and hints of aging. Signature Italian mouthfeel I so love shines through, there’s not a whisper of heat and it never cloys. After a night of dogs during this cellar clearout, I’m quite pleased with this one. 4

 

P: Brown, hazy, slight white head, limited lacing.
A: Pleasant caramel, malt, fruity, some sweetness.
T: Fruity, raisin, fig, dates, roasted malt, caramel, lite hops,
M: Clean, medium bodied, tad of sweetness with a hint of bitterness, quite complex and mildly carbonated. Not quite as carbonated as I would expect from an Abbey.
O: This is an outstanding Italian Abbey. Complexed yet delicious.

 

 

Appearance: The liquid is rather murky, with a cloudy ice tea color emerging once the carbonation settles; the head is modest and fritters away leaving a few spots of lacing

Smell: Fig and date, with undertones of caramel and toast

Taste: Caramel and toast flavors build the base, with the dark fruit elements of fig and date developing; a sprig of mint and a hint of apple round out the profile; the finish is malty and sweet

Mouthfeel: Full bodied and somewhat syrupy; low to moderate carbonation

Overall: My bottle labels the beer an abbey ale with a 7.5% ABV and I am thinking its a dubbel; a decent beer but falls short of what the Trappists produce

Best before 4/3/18.

Pours a hazy brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of toasted malt, candied dark fruit, port wine, and sherry aromas. Taste is much the same with toast, brown sugar, caramel, and dark fruit flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of earth bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with a nice mix of dark fruit, port wine, and sherry aromas.

Serving type: bottle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a hazy honey brown color with a tight khaki head that settled into a light ring.

The aroma is of minerals and metal. There is a plum fruitiness though a tad weak. A bit of a musty yeast.

The flavor is much more complex. There are notes of carob and light tobacco to give the quad an earthy feel. There is a slight metallic note. The beer has a prune fruitiness.

The feel is moderate with weak carbonation. Sweet on the palate but enough of a bitter offset. Doesn't drink heavy like some quads though it is a touch sticky.

A good Italian quad. It hit the proper flavors

 

330mL btl served at 7C

Pours a dirty earth brown. Fair 2 finger head that fades very quickly and leaves some hints of carbonation but maintains only the lightest ring. Viscosity is thick.

Smells bready and sweet with high hints of dark fruitiness.

Sweet/bitter balance. Rum and bread with thick burnt toffee and a acidic edges.

On the bottom of the heavy end of the viscosity scale. Some hidden carbonation combines with the high alcoholic nature that, while otherwise absent, give a mature finish on what is otherwise a slightly young barley wine.

Lacks depth, rounded edges and that complex sweetness spike I really wanted from this barley wine. Just lack the heft of a barley wine. But for a heavy dark, sure thing. I could drink a bunch of this.

 

330ml squat flared bottle, deemed an "Italian Barleywine" on the label, with little further helpful information to suss out (or perhaps pigeonhole) the style.

This beer pours rather hazy, very, very dark bronzed amber hue, with three fingers of tightly foamy, somewhat bubbly tan head, which leaves a few instances of rounded mountaintop lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of bready, biscuity malt, a touch of caramel/toffee sweetness, some mild black fruit notes, and dusty, musty earthy hops. The taste is sweet, rum-infused bready malt, with a strongly edgy biscuit character, softly acidic, earthy dark fleshy fruit, more dusty, ashy notes, and earthy, leafy hops.

The carbonation is quite laid back, in a subtle hum sort of manner, the body a hefty medium-full weight, and actually quite smooth, that biscuity character taking but a small chunk out of it all. It finishes off-dry, the malt still dominated by the dry crackery notes, the fruit slowly wisping away, the dusty ashes settling, and the lingering booze keeping well in the shadows.

Huh - another offering from this brewery that, while purporting to be a traditionally produced European (I'm including the UK in this generalization) standard, screams out 'modified English ESB', with a smidgeon more booze here, a bit more fruitiness there. It's all good, seeing as the producers of this beer don't really give a crap, nor should they, and I am quite happy to enjoy this, in all its sidewards slippage.

As expected with an Italian beer, this one is seriously malt-forward. Its taste is sweet and has a breads, candy-like flavor. Carmalized sugar, candied apricots and peaches, and a little wood and spice thrown in. Subtle smokiness in the background. The beer is mostly still...virtually no head. Hazy brown color. The body is full, and there is a notable hop bitterness in the finish. Just okay.

From 09/28/12 notes

a - Pours a dark reddish brown color with no head evident and no carbonation evident.

s - Smells of roasted malts, fruity malts, chocolate, coffee, apples, pears, toftee, and toasted malts.

t - Tastes of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, caramel malts, apples, pears,

m - Medium body and no real carbonation. Smooth and very easy to drink; a tiny bit of carbonation would have made this fantastic.

o - Overall I thought this was a really good beer. Nice fruit mixing with roasted and chocolate notes. Easy to drink and a little more carbonation would make this great. Would love to have it again sometime.

 

 

From BeerAdvocate magazine Issue #59 (December 2011):

LOOK: Nearly opaque black

SMELL: Dates, caramel, burnt raisin, earth, faint broth, yeast, vague spice, alcohol

TASTE: Thick, syrupy, grape, bread, rhubarb, coffee, toasty, toffee, nutty, green peppercorn, mild black tea, raisins, alcohol

Descriptions are all over the place for this beer. Bottle says Abbey Ale, while other sources call it a Quad or Barleywine. Regardless, this is one bold beer with a big malt backbone. Lots of flavor—however, the sweetness weighs heavy on the palate, making it a bit less drinkable.

 

 

Pours an opaque dark brown color with amber edges and a thin, fizzy beige head that immediately settles into a thin ring. Minimal spots of lace left behind.

Harsh, abrasive aroma with lots of solvent, industrial chemicals and medicine. Really awful smelling with some dark fruit and malts underneath. There's also a chocolate peppermint presence which is really strange. Pretty awful, hopefully it tastes better than it smells.

Medium bodied with soft carbonation and an odd balance of peppery spice, syrupy medicine, dark fruit, booze and sweet malt. Very medicinal with peppermint, pepper and an odd metallic presence. The mouthfeel is pretty offensive with an odd assortment of off-putting flavors. The malts are very faint and the only positive element is the faint fruit character. It was hard to drink more than a few ounces. Another disappointment from this brewery and at the high price point I can't see buying anything else from them.

 

 

 

Enjoyed at

A - Dark, dark brown, with a tan head. Not all that great retention, but ok lacing. Poured into a wine glass.

S- Mild coffee, caramel, toffee, alcohol, almost a little leather. A little bitterness. Definately not the sort of sweet and candied sugar you get in a Belgian one.

T - Roasted malt, a sort of toffee injection though definately not overpowering. You really get a lot of coffee as it warms up a bit. Sweeter than the nose implies. Really bitter at the end at first but calms down as the beer warms.

M - Consistant. Not too heavy. Lingers with a bitterness on the tongue. Pleasant.

O - Pretty good abbey stlye dubbel. Especially coming from Italy. PLeasantly surprised. Good weight to it, a little bitter. really improves as it warms up. It almost becomes a different beer as it nears room temp. Good beer. Gotta check out the rest of the line.

Appears a dark plum toned mahogany with a fluffy dark tan head that seems to stick around for a while before settling into a thick cap and collar. Sticky streaks of lacing are left around the glass. Moderate CO2 streams quickly rise to the top.
Smell is of prunes, plums, brown sugar, caramelized malt, rich graininess, raisins, and a touch of red wine.
Taste is of the aromas. Lots of sweet qualities that are kept in check by the quaffability of the beer and the touch of grassy bitters found in the background.
Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, chewy, and balanced. This is one of my favorite imported beers this year. The price tag ($20) will keep me from purchasing more than a single bottle once in a great while but this is one to keep in your cellar for a few years and unleash for the proper occasion.
Not sure about the classification on the site regarding the style...my bottle said that it's 7.5% abv and claims it to be an Abbey Ale. It reminded me a bit of Koeningshoeven Quad only much more palatable.

Birrificio Bruton Dieci, or "10" - "Italian Abbey Ale"
Bottle conditioned; "ALC 7.5% BY VOL."
750 ml bottle; "best before 30/08/12 L100830DI"

Appearance: The first pour from a long-standing bottle is fairly clear, although you have to hold it quite close to a light to see that through its dark mahogany body. Momentarily, its short head of tan foam fades, leaving behind a thin collar along the inside of the glass.

Aroma: Malt dominates the aroma with suggestions of chocolate and a delicate waft of cold black coffee, but there are also hops present, though not discernable as to their variety. They're a bit spicy (or is that alcohol?) floral, mildly grassy, and herbal.

Mouthfeel: In the mouth it's medium-full in body, and smooth once the gently tingling carbonation subsides a bit. It's not dextrinous although there's a good deal of malt there, and perhaps that's due to the alcohol cutting through it a bit.

Flavor: More caramel is expressed in the taste (both light and dark) than any chocolate or coffee as suggested the nose. A hint of dark skinned fruit lies beneath the malt, and some of the hops make their way through. The alcohol can be found, but it's not brash or bold in any way, and is, in fact, probably welcome as it gives it a bit of life and helps to dry it in the finish. As it warms the caramel maltiness becomes a bit more candy-ish. The bitterness is kept in check, and it's firm beneath the supple malt. It's not an overly full beer, and it's 'sweet-ish' but balanced, fading from the palate rather steadily and without change. It's very much focused, and similar from start to finish with the normal exceptions that it's a touch sweeter and more malty upfront, and that the hops become clearer in in the lingering finish.

Overall: An interesting beer. I think a bit of aging will greatly improve it as it softens and rounds.

This beer was the 5th and final beer of the meet the brewer dinner at the Spinnerstown Hotel last night. The beer was paired with Rum Rasin ice cream and Banana Bread Pudding. The mix of all this together was a delicious treat for sure. The beer was a nice looking brown color. It was on the more transparent side. The head was fizzy and tab but left a light lacing on the glass. The smell of the beer had a ton of malt aromas and some fruity notes. The taste was very nice, flavors of Rasin, Malt, caramel, bready and much more. The mouthfeel was was very mellow for a barley wine style and it was also pretty light too. Overall it was a great beer for the food pairing it had, it's also great on it's own. Looking forward to seeing more Brùton in the States some day.