Earthbound Astronaut
The Ale Apothecary

Pours a bright mahogany, 1" rusty white head, excellent retention, very little lacing. Nose is acetic, fruit vinegar, light oak, sour cherry juice, musky hop - really bright and expansive. Taste follows - big sour cherry notes, very light barrel, sharp and very tart. Really surprised there was no fruit added to this (so it seems), as there's a huge amount of complex cherry, plum, and stone fruit character. Feel is crisp and relatively thin, despite the pretty high ABV. Another very solid offering from these folks.

 

 

you know you have a good life when new friends think of you in their travels and score you extremely heady beer even though they themselves dont even care for this sort of thing, makes a guy feel loved and appreciated, and this was a heck of a gift from friends i have only shared beers with a half dozen times or so, lucky me! unique one from these guys that i had never heard of before, a little maltier, fully wild, done with honey like so many of theirs, woody, incredibly complex for being relatively simple in terms of ingredients, i love beer like this. its deep brick red to mahogany in color, even chestnut in the low light, holds a creamy inch of khaki head pretty well too, lovely pour. the aroma is sharp but not as acidic as a lot of their beers have been, none of the flanders red or oud bruin vinegar character, less acetic, more lactic, some serious funk to it too, bretty and mature, woody and tannic, surprisingly not sweet for being this malt forward and this dark in color, its more toasted, dry kilned or something, earthy rather than sugary, baked and bready, notes of dark rye and bran muffin to me, hearth baked warmth to it, a little prickle of alcohol there, some high minerality, concentrated wort richness, and a hint of maple maybe. the flavor is really wood forward, even in front of grain and ferment, vanilla to it, a lot of earthiness too which sets up the malt well, caramel and molasses and multigrain bread, light almond and even hazelnut too, and not too much acidity trying to break it down until the finish where it gets a little more sharp. i get definite red wine fruitiness, some raisin and date notes too, that almost belgian dubbel sort of abbey malt decadence, its super good. more acid than brett on the swallow but definitely more tame than many of their others, the honey sweetens it only slightly, i love the malt and oak together, and overall i found this to be one of the most refined and sort of pretty beers ive had from these guys, very complex and a unique showcase of this malt. impressive quality and just delicious, and as a gift it made my heart smile. among my favorites from these guys!

Super dark amber body with a tight bubble beige cap and moderate lacing. Smells of big oak, as usual for AA, honey on the back end but not sure I would have noticed if I didn't know it was there, slight smoke, hefty green apple, grapefruit, and dried plum round out, very delicate after the oaky blast. Taste has huge green apple, elephant heart plum, oak, slight earth, and wait for it, guava, yes I can't believe it either with some lacto and honey as rounding agents. Feel is medium but somewhat syrupy, sourness is cumulative, subdued complexion overall