Broder Rusche
Free Will Brewing Co.

2023 bottle. Poured at fridge temp. Pours a very dark brown with a thin layer of light brown head. The nose is insane. I immediately get a dark fruit - definitely comes across as apple brandy or port. Lovely. Toffee, molasses, plums, figs, and red wine.

The taste is insanely intense. Definitely a strong wine/sherry influence here. Toffee, booze, apricot. Brown sugar, molasses, raspberry, and almost a hint of rhubarb with sugar on it. Just an intense monster with tons of interesting notes. This evolves with time and every sip. What a treat!

More head (that never fully dissolves) than anticipated for a blend of barrel-aged monsters. Nose is kind of all over the place, though certainly not off-putting. Just pulls you in many directions at once (all of them boozy). Taste is unique. Again, a bit all over the map. It's not my favorite. It's not bad (and has some pleasant notes to be sure), but it's very alcohol-forward. Yeh. I think I'm done with beer in this format (12.7 oz. bottle) and price point (way too much).

2023 bottling

While I am firmly in the fuck wax camp, I have to say that the black wax with gold flecks contrasting with the gold and black label is a very attractive package.

This is a unique beast, I get strong chocolate liqueur along with raisins and brown sugar up front. There is a bit of a jammy, cherry/raspberry note as well that gets a good deal more potent at the finish. There are other subtleties here but I'm too lazy to name them. This great and I'm thoroughly enjoying this. If I was doing the blending though I'd go with a bit more stout and a bit less quad.

Cola brown with a half finger of dark tan head that quickly settles into a thick crown that lasts a good while and leaves sparse, spotty lacing.

Chocolate and red wine dominate the nose, with some toffee and vanilla behind.

Berry, fig newtons, floral potpourri, a hint of gentian root, ground pepper, rye bread and fairly strong alcohol heat in the taste.

Slick, oily feel with restrained carbonation.

The berry pop in this is impressive, and I guess shouldn’t have been unexpected with the Merlot Ella and Apple Brandy, Rum, Tawny Port and Cherry Brandy Ralphius. The heat is right where it should be, too. Still, there’s infinite potential from a Free Will cuvée, and I would have liked to see more of the darker malt character mixed in. Blend this in a 2-1 ratio with regular Ralphius, and you’d have pure gold. (2023 version.)