Mélange No. 4
The Bruery

 

 

 

Finally reviewing this from notes I took at the Beachwood BBQ Sourfest.

Appearance is flat out weird. It's like murky brown swampwater with basically no head at all, the little creamy froth in there was off-white. This is probably the worst looking beer I've had yet. Unappetizing.

Smells mostly like the Berliner Weisse, wheat, lemon, but then there is also somedark fruit berry aromas. There's caramel, cocoa, and tartness here too, doesn't smell so bad, really.

Ouch, the taste is a mish-mash of beers that simply doesn't work together at all. Again, mostly Berliner Weisse, with wheat, lemon, etc, but then you get these hints of imperial stout flavors intermixed. Weird tobacco flavors playing with citrus and all sorts of crazy stuff. It just doesn't meld.

Mouthfeel is good I guess, medium consistency, smooth and decently creamy.

Not so fun to drink. I had high hopes because of Melange No. 3 but this was just an odd mess. I pretty much didn't want to finish this one. It was funny seeing everyone at the tasting clearly disappointed with it yet trying to pick out redeeming qualities and being like "wow this is interesting!" I still don't mind that this type of thing was test piloted, afterall you're going to try a lot of things when you're a Patrick Rue and you're doing interesting stuff to push the envelope.

On cask at Beachwood BBQ,

A: Pours a very cloudy tan, like the old tan M'Ms, looks like yeast solution or coffee with 5 creams in it. I commented that it looked like a soil sample, definitely unique.

S: Spice and brown bread, with notes of acidity.

T: Immediately it starts off with gingerbread almost, cookies and completely takes you for a loop. The light sourness and heavy fermented fruit (lemon mostly, cherry and interesting strawberry) from the red and berliner weisse make the beer taste completely different mid-palate.

M: Quite light on the palate, real low carbonation, Black Tuesday tries to beef up the body though.

D: Probably my least favourite of the Melanges so far, but still nice to drink and interesting, I guess they all couldn't be good as the 3. I love that The Bruery is coming up with all these crazy mixes, looking forward to the 5.

On cask at Bruery Night at the Beachwood BBQ Sourfest. A bland of Flemish Red, Imperial Stout, and Berliner Weisse.

Pours as a milky dark brown solution, almost exactly like a cappucino. One inch light tan head with cascading carbonation from the pour. Decent retention, head breaks up into a sort of chunky topping, leaving some lace.

Aroma is tart with lots of clove, brown sugar, black grapes, and a slightly lemony funkiness. Unique. The flavor is lightly tart, with lots of clove and black currants. Bitter spiced clove finish. Interesting blend of tart cloves and citrus sweetness. It is nearly impossible to guess what components this beer is made up of just from the brew itself. If you asked me I might have said this was a sour version of Autumn Maple. An interesting blend that reminds me of Melange No. 2, the fabled yambic. This series is about experimentation.

Feel is is medium and rich for a sour beer. The percentage of imperial stout has to be pretty low on this I would think, but it comes through in the mouthfeel. Medium to low carbonation.

After Melange No. 3 (which is one of my top beers period) I had unachievable hopes and dreams for No. 4. These were not achieved, but this beer and this series are experimental. Whoever would have thought to mix a Flemish Red with an Imperial Stout and a Berliner Weisse? On the low end, a sour ultralight, on the other hand a huge large imperial stout. What hath god wrought? It doesn't really taste like any of these. This is a beer that can hardly be described and rather should be tasted. Such is the beauty of the Melange series: The Bruery continues to experiment. Sometimes the result is a quirky interesting beer like this, and sometimes they hit solid gold. Keep it up.