Goatworks #1: Brett D'Or Du Claret
Iron Goat Brewing Co.

real neat project here, a blend of four, three, and one year old mixed culture beers, aged in wine barrels with cab franc and merlot crush, wildly interesting, but a little sloppy in terms of execution, at least in terms of how it presents. its thicker looking than expected, nicely carbonated from the bottle, awesome label art by the way, but its as brownish and murky as it is reddish from the fruit, some sediment at the bottom, a little messy to me. the nose is nice, some tannins from the grapes, a sharp acidity, some mature bretty funky too which i like, pretty complex in terms of the fermentation profile, and the wine elements are obvious, its very much mouthwatering, some lemon on it too. the flavor is more malty than expected, i can taste grain through all the fruit and wood. some blackberry and black cherry notes from the grapes, plum too, and a ton of old gnarly oak, i can tell some elements in here are very long aged. some vinegar character to the acidity that i didnt pick up in the smell, and a light sort of cheesy brett element too which i dont love. overall i think the process and the story are a little cooler than the beer itself ends up being, and i had way higher hopes for this expensive bottle which gets better as it warms, but i am glad to have been able to share it with friends and that iron goat is making this kind of beer. it was however not a standout from our epic grape beer session last night. neat showcase of the grapes, but this is lacking refinement.