Twilight Oblivion
Jester King Brewery

Muddy dark brown to coffee black with a bubbly tan head that dies to nothing but a fluid surface.

A bold, smoky roast that's savory and almost meaty pairs with tart red fruit and red grape notes. The malt is like smoked alder wood, less intense but still it's got that character.

The medium body has a crisp carbonation that helps it become a little cleaner, more fruit forward and red wine-like after a few sips, which then begins to dry out and become a little more tart. Still, the smokiness lingers, like a mild, homemade, cracked black pepper jerky.

 

a collaboration with red horn, and when we visited, they had each brewers version on tap, same beer, but the jester king one done with their funky yeast and the red horn one done with a more conventional yeast strain for the style, both were cool, and it was really neat to drink them side by side, but like i often thing, the sourness and the dark malts just arent great together, and i actually preferred the red horn edition. a baltic porter base, murky brown in the glass for the jester king one, an airy tan head, doesnt look overly well refined. they use red wine grapes in it, which i wasnt expecting at all, and with the funky yeast gives this one a tannic vinous character, really interesting twist, not overly fruity or anything, but the grapes certainly contribute a lot. the beer isnt overly sour, but the sourness thats here has a sort of fruity vinegar character to it, and it breaks down the body of the beer and sort of interrupts the smoothness. i thought the same thing with the even more metal. the malt has some chocolate and coffee notes to it, some light smoke, and the depth and nuance is really cool the grapes fill in well the spaces between the malt layers. the thing that makes a baltic porter a baltic porter to me though is the yeast, typically a lagered cold conditioned almost crisp profile, and brett and bacterial is the total opposite of that, so its hard to really get into this one as the states style, but as a wild dark brew its pretty good. probably the weakest offering we had on our recent visit to jester king though, and all in our group liked the clean version a little better...