Barcobestia
Birrificio Del Golfo

Birrificio Del Golfo “Barcobestia”
33 cl brown glass bottle, “Da consumarsi preferibilimente entro:10/2021 Lo 45/19”
€3,33 at the brewery on 29 November 2019

Notes via stream of consciousness: A rough pour will bring up an inch and a half or more of creamy khakis colored foam. The aroma is smoky but I can’t tell if it’s peat or not - the flavor will reveal he truth for sure. Beyond that there’s just a little bit of dark caramel. It’s a fairly bright aroma, and although it’s a little odd it is enticing. On to the flavor then... well I’m pretty sure that it is peat smoked malt at this point, but not because of the flavor - it’s warmed a bit and the aroma is displaying some of the phenols that I was expecting. There’s a little bit of it in the flavor but it’s nothing like some of the pleated beers that I’ve had. Instead it’s mainly caramelish, and gently sweet with the smokiness adding to it in a positive way rather than taking the forefront. Yeah, it definitely has a bit of a “Band-Aid” aroma to it. Back to the flavor, I’m getting mainly medium caramel but there’s also some golden caramel, and a bit of that reddish almost-dark caramel but it never quite gets there. Some apple-like fruitiness rounds it out. A moderate bitterness centers it, and although it’s somewhat sweet it still finishes dry with some of that smoky and phenolic peat lingering. In the mouth it’s medium bodied with a touch of a dextrinous feel, and quite smooth with a fine-bubbled, seemingly natural carbonation. There is some yeast in the bottom of the bottle but I don’t think it’s bottle conditioned, just unfiltered or lightly filtered. When held to the light it’s a hazy ruby-chestnut in color. This is the second beer I’ve had now from Birrificio Del Golfo and I have to say that I’m quite pleased. I think these guys have a future ahead of them in Italian brewing.
Review #6,823