Billy The Mountain
Upright Brewing Company

500ml bottle, aged maybe a year

Pours about a finger of tan head into my snifter. Retention is average. Lacing is void. Body is basically black, maybe some dark brown in there. Looks ok.

Nose has a little bit of funk - cherry, bubblegum, maybe leather. Some toffee and roast hiding subtly underneath. This is certainly a Brett-forward beer, but I love how they’ve done it - really tasteful, complex, no barnyard. Smells very nice.

Roast comes through big time on the flavor but quickly fades into the rest of the beer. A smooth, malty middle of the palate, hint of caramel. Whispers of cinnamon and wood. Finishes with some cherry, bubblegum, and a light but lingering leather. Tastes wonderful.

Carbonation is mild, soft. Touch of sweetness, drinks relatively balanced, but has a small alcohol bite and a moderate bitterness that leaves a drying finish. Body is medium, pretty modest all things considered. Overall a really nice mouthfeel, things get a little astringent as it warms, but only a little.

Drinkability is pretty good, it drinks really smooth, especially given the alcohol bite.

Overall super complex and very tasty.

Beautiful pour with a rich toffee character and a long lingering caramel chew on the finish.

I enjoyed this at Upright. If you're reading this, happen to be in Portland, and it is still 2025 you owe it to yourself to visit before they close!

 

 

IMHO, this improves with years in the bottle. Several years on and the harshness and edges of it melds together in a musty leaves and fall forest underbrush sort of way.

 

 

750ml, surprisingly unwaxed capped bottle (@8% ABV), shared once again by a good beery friend. So, there's a mountain named Billy? Or is 'billy' used in a verb context with which I am unfamiliar?

This beer pours a dark, murky, orange-tinted brown colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and well bubbly beige head, which leaves some approaching land-ho profile lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of sour red fruit (cherries and plums, mostly), gooey caramel malt, further nougaty toffee, gritty brown sugar, an edgy yeastiness, tanned leather, and a subtle burbling booziness. The taste is grainy and doughy caramel malt, biscuity toffee squares, bittersweet cocoa powder, gently acerbic and woody red wine, a further lemon/apple tart fruitiness, thin demerara syrup, musty leather, and a very tame earthy, weedy, and dead floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite laid-back in its bored-seeming frothiness, the body a so-so medium weight, and more or less smooth, just a wee bit of indistinct yeasty esters maybe not bringing their polite A-game, as such. It finishes off-dry, the rich underlying malt still contending with a sour fruity character that intends on pulling on that loose thread of the sweater.

Overall, this is certainly a flavourful and well-made brew, yet, even with the big-boy barrel effects, it lacks that oxidized, 'under the basement stairs in the house you grew up in' vibe, y'know? I'm sort of nitpicking, but sort of not - at any rate, check this one out if you want to see what an Old Ale blended with some Flanders Red Ale would be like.

2016 vintage poured into a wine glass. Dark coca-cola brown, with a thin, coarse head. Aroma is reminiscent of a flanders sour with hints of cherries and brown sugar. Taste is somewhat complex, sour and astringent with cherries and Coca-Cola. Mouth is thin and dry. Overall, an interesting beer, but not very easy drinking.

 

 

 

Dark mahogany body color; thick, rocky, beige head. Figs and dates make the bulk of the aroma; roasted grain notes; slight bourbon character; fruity; raspberries. Wild yeast, sour-like flavor; twinge of chocolate; some sulfur-like notes; fair hop bitterness. Medium body; vinous.

Great looks and aroma don't necessarily make for a great beer. There's nothing exceptionally wrong with the beer, yet it the flavor lacks the depth and balanced complexity to make this beer really stand out. The overall flavor comes across more like a sour wine with a relatively weak body. The saving grace, taste-wise, is there is some dark, roasted grain flavors. Not a must-have, but worth a shot (even if only for the sly Frank Zappa name reference)...

 

 

This is what an old ale would probably taste like it brewed to actual style and thrown in a barrel. Natural barrel bugs, sweet but dry, but a little thin on the feel.

 

 

Age has been kind to this beer; the Brett charter has brought dark fruits fwd while imparting leather and English saddle to nose

750 mL bottle poured into a snifter. 2010 bottle, batch 1.

Appearance - Cloudy murky pond water looking brown body. Big off-white head. Thick chunky collar.

Smell - Huge molasses aroma. A little acidic. Kinda bretty. Mostly molasses.

Taste - Bretty and lightly tart. Lots of molasses, but no real sweetness. Kinda nutty. Caramel and a brighter, just lightly tart finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium heavy body. High carbonation.

Overall - This is a lot better than I remember it. I just remember an acetic mess last time I had a bottle. This has a much more controlled brett flavor with an enormous amount of molasses.