Bing Bang Ale
Thunder Canyon Brewery

 

From the growler this pours with a one-finger thick, nicely tanned head. The beer is a dark amber, sort of plum color that shows a mostly clear, rich amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of dry biscuit malt up front for a split second before a sweet caramelized grain note and lots of fruit dominates the nose. Notes of plum, caramelized prickly pear syrup (or something sort of like this), big dried fig notes, brown sugar bread notes, some touches of caramelized cotton candy and definite raisin are all pretty prominent. This reminds me of the smell of a fruit cake in many ways. Some toasted maltiness lingers towards the finish as it intermingles with the sweet fruity notes that dominate the nose.

The tastes is fairly sweet up front and the sweetness picks up in intensity as it rolls across the tongue, though it is certainly not any where near cloying. The beer tastes quite fruity with notes of raisins, sweet berries, fig jam, currant jam and definite fruit cake. The beer finishes with a touch of grain astringency and a faint bitterness; this last is quite low and the hop character in general in this beer is very subdued with perhaps a hint of herbal character along with the low bitterness. Fizzy carbonation provides a touch of peppery bite, which helps to balance the sweetness a bit, and the body is actually somewhat lighter than I was expecting as the fruit sugars have likely lightened this up a bit; still this is definitely a somewhat viscous sipping brew. There is a nice, supporting malt character here that provides flavors of toasted biscuits, sweet brown bread, brown sugar and spicy, rich crystal malt notes.

The fruitiness of this beer is quite distinct, I didn't realize before my first sip that there was actual fruit used in this recipe, but it definitely plays a big role in the flavor. I'll be really curious to see what happens to the bourbon barrel aged version of this beer; if it doesn't stay too long in the barrel it might end up quite tasty. I am finding myself quite enjoying this beer actually; for some reason I thought this was a Barleywine coming in to this beer, but it is more of a dark, strong, fruit beer and it perfectly fits the cold weather we are currently experiencing here in Tucson.