III
The Wild Beer Co.

 

And with their most daring beer to date, the Wild Beer Company embraces the history, transitions and customs of intense British barley beer while staying true to their identity by introducing their house souring agents for a complex taste that may have been on the straight and narrow classic style track, but then took a sharp left turn at Albuquerque.

Burnt orange and tawny bronze hues catch the eye while a creamy and arid froth casts those malty aspirations, citrus aromatics and piquant sour and boldly earthy weathered fruit scent across the nose. Simple syrups, brown sugar, caramel and honey apply a first malty layer on the tongue in anticipation of more layers of complexity to come.

The barleywine explodes on the middle palate as the sweetness unexpectedly dissolves on the palate. A plethora of fruit, spice, earth and booze swirl on the tastebuds. Honey and citrus simmer in a taste that bridges circus peanuts to Curacao liquor. Spicy with tannic woods, peppercorn and wet hay, the earhten balance of burlap and saddle leather balances the residual sweetness and leads into a sour finish of dry white wine, cider, gooseberry and lime peel.

Semisweet, semidry and medium balanced, the interplay of sweet, sour, spicy and astringency individually have pleasant flavor, but the lack of heirarchy allows the taste to become complicated and conflicting. Finishing with citrus pith, pepper and aged oak, its linger is deep, bitter and earthy.