Freak Scene
Mystic Brewery

Drank 08.02.21 out of a Stella Artois glass. 2015 bottle. Picked this up at a large beer store in the Catskills a few days prior - total beer shop score! The guy at the store who was giving me the run down of some local beers had no idea that Mystic had closed about two years prior!

So...a fucking gruit! What a nice surprise from these guys! Looked pretty dumpy and was relatively flat out of the bottle maybe given the cork and cage format, as well as the age, but also likely intentional given the style and the excellence of the brewers (one of which used to sell me home brew supplies), but really enjoyable. The honey was apparent, as were some limited hints of spices and herbal tanginess. I was expecting some sort of saisony type of thing with a Brett wild yeast - but nothing like that at all with this beer - no hops, tangy or tart, it’s all about the sweetness, honey and a few herbs. Such a nice change to drink a beer that’s not bretted up and true to the style, whatever a gruit is or may be... Really nice beer, and how nice to score a Mystic! Cheers!

these guys are now one of my absolute favorites, unique high quality rustic ales, and this is very much something they would do. a gruit style, an herbs instead of hops ancient recipe, moderate in alcohol, very complex and different. its a little darker than others i have seen, more in the red family of colors, with a tall lasting dark khaiki head. the aroma is very floral, but unconventional too, maybe heather and hyssop or some meadow plant like this, vegetal too, a tad spicy, and featuring a really neat yeast that has both english and belgian elements to it, strange but inviting. the flavor is far less floral than the nose, and far less weird. even though it retains some of its herbal remedy nature, its pretty malt forward, dry earthy kilned type malts, some wheat, maybe even red wheat, and a lot of body, an awesome platform for the botanicals, but maybe a little big for this to be delicate. the yeast is awesome too, bready and fluffy and baked like a good english strain can be, but also sort of spicy and citrusy like certain belgian strains can be under the right conditions. even without hops, this is enormously complex and interesting, bigger but dry and lively, very distinct. maybe not my favorite overall from these guys, but it certainly makes me respect them even more. a cool style that it seems like nobody is making any more. this is good four season beer too, very versatile. yum.

 

 

 

Bottle from NERHBC, thanks for the opportunity!
Somewhat hazy deep amber color with a frothy off white head that persists forever. Not a whole lot of info about this beer, feels like a dark saison but had some odd fruity bitter tanic flavors to it. Kind of digging it and I usually hate a gruit.

Batch 124, no bottling date but maybe a few weeks old.

A: Pours a rusty, cloudy pour. Tall soda-like off-white head. Head fizzes out quickly leaving no lacing and almost no head retention.

S: Welp, definitely floral. Lots of hibiscus. Kind of a sweet honey aroma too. Nondescript graininess to boot.

T: Huh. Hard to even describe. Floral with that hibiscus again and I'd swear I even get some lavender. Some sort of herbal tea leaf character, I guess (not a big tea drinker). Sort of a bland grainy malt, almost a little toasty. It actually reminds me a lot of a Dubbel. A little honey-ish sweetness helps perk it up a little bit. Lingering sharp tea in the aftertaste, like a totally unsweetened tea. Almost minty sometimes, especially between sips.

M: Medium bodied, smooth and easy drinking.

O: Hmph. Didn't do a very good job of reviewing this one. Very unique and unusual beer. Kinda tastes like a saison mated with a dubbel with some unusual flavor additions. It's nicely balanced and honestly pretty drinkable. I just can't really describe the flavors. Lots of interesting spices and herbal qualities. I can barely even tell if I like it, but it's really not bad at all.

 

Pours a hazy amber - brown sort of color. Moderate head.
Smell is honey and tea with some sweet malt.
Flavor is honey sweet with hints if banana that make this end up resembling a dunkelweizen to a certain extent.
Very light and refreshing on the palate, very nice carb level.
Interesting beer that really does resemble a dunkelweizen, though without info I can't tell if that is intentional or not

 

 

 

 

Pours cloudy, bright-yellow, with minimal head and carbonation. Taste is heavily fermented apple cider with florals--I suspect that is the hibiscus. Really tasty gruit and right up there with Mystic's best in the style. Worth seeking out if you like the style.

This is well worth the stretch. An odd, spearimint tinge to the mild, round banana flavors, but that's not the whole story. Looks a bit like apple cider with a bit of aftertaste that reminds you of the sparkling version of same. But this really is a try it to get it. Hard to capture. Glad to have happened upon it. May Mystic screw up in this vein again soon.