Friar Tuck Trappist Reserve
Bull & Bush Brewery

another excellent new one from bull and bush, a quad brewed with cherries. i havent had a ton of belgian stuff from these guys, honestly i cant remember many at all outside of the saison style, so this was an unexpected and exciting treat to find in here. its a got a deep crimson to chestnut auburn color, a smallish head for a belgian brew, and a fine aroma of autumn, untraditional beer smells like leaves and acorns and squash or something, its earthy and post harvest to me in vibe, but has some characteristic abbey malt sweetness thats apparent, plenty of the cherry, raisin and fig and candy sugar too, maple, its rich and nice, but the yeast isnt as prominent as i am used to in the style, and it still seems to have the stereotypical bull and bush english nature somehow. the flavor is nice, not too much cherry compared with the nose, and not as sweet as it smells either, still autumnal but now more belgian to me, subdued clove and tobacco and malt richness, with most of the cherry coming on really late. its smooth and not quite as bubbly as i like a belgian to be, but it has some slowness to it, a patient pace and energy that resonates with me, and nice complexity as it warms. id be happy to see these guys continue to tackle some of these belgian styles! they really can do it all.