Built To Last
High Water Brewing

 

 

This beer is not for the faint of heart. It smells boozy but doesn't go down like an almost-ten-percent brew. It pours like a hazy, light brownish porter but taste like a sour. It has a molasses-y and caramelized body, with a wave of sparkling sour - finished off by what tastes like a brown sugary sweet rum. If you are into trying odd and exotic beers, this definitely has its place on the totem pole. This will never be someones favorite beer, but it will garner a different review from everyone you drink this with. Give it a try, but realize it's more of a palate blaster than an actual go to brewski.

Had this at the Bistro's 2018 barrel aged festival. The commercial tug job didn't really sound like a beer I just had to try, but with a name that is shared with a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song I dig, I knew I had to try it. Glad I did too.

They took a bunch of beers and blended them to get a dark brown color. Lighter brown head 1/2" deep. The aroma was similar to that beer "Leather Bound books" in that it had a lot going for it, older paper, leather, cocoa, dark fruit, brown sugar, bourbon, wet wood. Complex.

Taste didn't go in on the dark fruit as heavy as I thought it would, still had that cocoa powder vibe in a small way, little bits of earth, barrel, plum, raisin going on here. There is a very small percentage of a soured beer here too, but we're talking about a 2 on the 10 pt scale at most. Has that old world porter vibe that New Glarus did very well. Hid the strong alcohol decently well. Basically this is like a belgian strong dark ale, a strong ale, a porter and a sour porter all blended together I would guess. Worth checking out if you can find a pour, just for dissecting its parts.

 

Served in a wine glass (I had limited options) from The bottle.

Appearance: Dark brown color with a tan tinted head rising lightly to roughly half a finger's length with sticky lacing to the glass.

Smell: sweet tart, almost fruity scent makes me think of a Belgian dark ale. Rasisns and light light yeast aroma. Not potent but still likeable.

Taste: Berry and yeast with dose of liquor fusion. Lacks the complexity I lust that I've had with American strong always, more European with the raisins and rum, sweet and sour and side of bread.

Mouth: Chewy feel with medium to heavy bubbles.

Overall: Descent brew, something almost different where I tried to have something different from the West coast. Always in a glass, Salud!

 

Appearance – Dark brown clear body with a two and a half finger head.

Aroma – Oak tannins, dark fruits, dark (not roasted) malt, woody, just a hint of booze. Almost a faint herbal character at the end.

Taste – Woody, tannins, bitter coffee, dark malts, boozy alcohol at the end. My wife noticed molasses but I didn't get any.

Mouthfeel – Coats the tongue somewhat but thin at the same time. Odd.

Overall – Not a bad beer. Quite strong, and the alcohol is not hidden at all. But it gets better as you get into it and it warms, and the woodiness is pretty good overall.