New Language
Fort George Brewery + Public House

 

good heavens this is extraordinary, among my favorites we had at fort george, which is really saying something, they hit so hard on so many styles, lagers, ipa types, now even wild and funky things too, big stouts of course, and this is predictably amazing, a huge barleywine seemingly long aged in blackberry brandy barrels (not sure ive had beer from this vessel before) and conditioned on cocoa nibs, insane, and the execution is as epic as the idea, this totally floored me and im glad we walked from the main restaurant to the barrel bar to grab a pour of it, well worth the fifty or so paces! looks darker than most, deep brown to black in the glass with high shine and perhaps faintly purple edges. i get notes of roast, port wine, vanilla, chestnut, winter spices, old oak, molasses, and hot and heavy alcohol in the nose, it almost burns my nostrils but through that there is a ton of depth, prune, red candy, almond, and dark chocolate. the flavor is surprisingly dry, like even with all the malt this is built on, and the blackberry element, its not sugary at all. i think the cocoa adds a neat low end bass note that balances some of that, adds an almost drying chalky texture to the finish, especially at temperature. the blackberry really comes out, obviously incredible and well integrated with the brandy itself, but the authenticity of the fruit part is amazing, and it folds into the base barleywine super well, loves the oak, and adds jammy wine-like characteristics too, a little tang to offset some sweetness, and really is present from start to finish in this, a more obvious than expected flavor element and i adore it. tons of body, brown sugar in the middle, light smoke and roast later, woody through and through, light licorice, black tea, and black cherry notes as it sits. hotly alcoholic but its not out of place in the style. incredible beer, the brandy, the berries, the nibs, they all make this so special. one of a kind barleywine, approaching beer of the year candidate for me. masterfully done.