Evolving Chaos
Barrier Brewing Company

During my Barrier Brewing horizontal earlier this year, I gushed about my love for them & their beers, especially in light of their doing so many collaboration beers, like this one. I was elated, during Friday's visit to The Foodery in PHL's NoLibs, to find several new CANs for The CANQuest (tm), including this one. I made the purchase, brought them home & as I was unpacking, this one became a mini-grenade in my hand, pooching up & out in front of the vent, scaring the p**s out of me! Worse, as I scuttled towards the reefer to store it, it made CANother expansion, causing me to nearly s**t myself as I thought that it was going to explode in my hand! Instead, it was forceful enough to burst the seam & I heard some offgassing from within. Sadly, all of this was too close to my having to go to work to be able to drink it right then & there, so I left it to get cold during my shift & now, it is getting highest priority. I am NOT terribly happy about any/all of this!

From the CAN: "Established 2009"; "A devilishly dry hopped Farmhouse Ale"; "Brewed in [CAN]junction with our cohorts at TRVE Brewing Co."; "Designed by Krittabug".

The placement of the pooch was about as bad as any that I had to deal with. It was directly in front of the vent, making the tab nearly inoperable. Once I got it to slightly Crack! open, I used the butt-end of a spoon to force the tongue the rest of the way into the vent. Grr. I then CANtinued with a heavy-handed, aggro C-Line Glug due to my intense frustration. This action resulted in the formation of two fingers of foamy, soapy, rocky, bone-white head with modest retention. Color was a deeply-hazy/lightly-cloudy Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4). Nose had a light, lemony, tart funkiness. Hmm. I was very curious as to where this would take me, so I CANtinued with a sip. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not terribly past it, either. The taste was lemony, but not overly tart, as I had expected it to be. Instead, it bordered on a sweetness that all kind of reminded me of Country Time Lemonade as a kid. The beer had a refreshing quality to it that made it rather nice on a humid Summer's morning, but I was still not totally sold. For example, did they use a Saison yeast, hence their use of the word "Farmhouse"? It did not really taste like a Saison. OTOH, for a Wild Ale, it was really mild in terms of its funk and tartness, not to be CANfused with a Funk & Wagnall's dictionary.

I am going to add some Notes, taken from sister (?) site, Untappd, which read: " We had the pleasure of working with the legendary crew over at trve brewing in Colorado on this classic farmhouse Saison combined with a NEIPA. Yeast characteristics of pepper, earth & hay that our hop combination plays off of beautifully! Throwing in flavors of fresh cut melon, tropical fruit candy & dank spruce needles. Double dry hopped with over 4lbs/bbl of Citra, Rakau & Hallertau Blanc! The finish on the beauty is incredibly clean! Drinkability through the roof."

Oaky, that explains quite a bit, actually. I definitely get earthy pepperiness, light melon and a persistent lemony citrusiness. The rest of it was lost on my apparently insensate self. Finish was dry and satiating, as I mentioned. Still, I CANnot forgive them for making me soil myself. YMMV.

Pours a hazy, light yellow color with a huge fluffy, dense head. Lemony funk in the nose, nose is rather mild and understated. Hits the palate with a slightly bitter, citrusy tang with a bit of barnyard funk underneath, bitterness lingers on the palate. Mouthfeel is just short of medium - overall a pretty tasty beer and nicely executed.

-I enjoyed this on tap and from a can. The pour is pale, golden and hazy. The aroma is floral with a hint on farmhouse funk. The “funk” is slight in the flavor too. Clean malt and farmhouse yeast flavors dominate. The dry-hopping provides grassy notes, some light lemon and a bit of bitterness. The finish is dry. This is a pleasant brew.