Triticalewine
Machine House Brewery

really special stuff, thanks to my homeboys for picking this up for me, ive not had nearly enough machine house beer, but come away impressed every time i do have one, and this is both unique and special, a big english barleywine done with triticale malt, which is earthy and spicy and to me well suited for this sort of thing, surprised we have not seen this before, at least i havent, not a ton of folks brewing with it i dont reckon. the overall quality of this is rad, its old worldy but also entirely distinctive, most in our little tasting group didnt love it, but i did, a cool showcase of both this grain and also some english hop varietals i never heard of before, leave it to these guys! a neat reddish chestnut to mahogany color, some head on it from the bottle conditioning, off white and whipped looking, lightly cloudy. the nose is strong and sweet and spicy all at once, light oxidation, bready english malts, toffee and raisin, an almost rye character, waxy raw honey, subtle green pepper, and some bitterness from the hops, neat and different, boozy for sure, deeply earthy. the flavor is similar, the triticale hits like black and white pepper, rye flour, and even buckwheat, its got its own personality and isnt like anything ive really had, so tough to describe, but its rustic and cool, and it fits in so well here with the caramel and maple notes, the more familiar english barleywine elements. this is quite sweet, alcoholic, and inanely earthy and interesting, and the hops are interesting too, hints of black tea and fuel, id love to get to know them in like a pale ale or something, but this is cool too and they fit in well. nice carbonation for how strong it is, mature and sort of old ale-esque to me, definitely a one of a kind offering, i liked it a whole lot, and it sure to cellar well. a treat to drink something english and exotic, two things that dont usually go together!

 

Poured from 500mL bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Bottled November 2022.

Appearance: thick brown body with a moderate haze and a thin finger of tan foam atop with a light amber cast. Not bad at all.

Smell: aroma of plums and dates; it’s sweet and earthy and even a little bit smoky, though I don’t think there’s any actual smoked malt in here. It’s rich and I like it, although it’s not super complex.

Taste: reads as “strong” more than “sweet” to me, although it is certainly sweet. Plenty of booziness, and with it some tobacco and shoe leather. It’s definitely interesting, and I want to like it more than I do.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a moderate carbonation and creaminess. I might have expected more body from a beer this size, although it does have a bit more carbonation than Machine House normally uses.

Overall: like I said, I want to like this beer more than I do. It definitely has some interesting qualities, but it doesn’t really fit the flavor profile I am normally interested in.

Pours a lightly hazy, medium to dark brownish orange with a thin khaki head that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of rye and faintly caramel malt, rye, dark dried fruit; somewhat vinous. Flavor is rye and caramel malt, tart rye, green apple and apple skin, fresh plum, mystery fruit, barrel woodiness. Mildly tart rye finish with lingering light fruit and mild grassy hops. Medium bodied with light creaminess. This is a uncategorizable ale. Labelled as an English barleywine, it is what I'd expect a ryewine to taste like, similar to the wheat flavor in wheatwine. Triticale is a rye/wheat hybrid, but this particular brew leans heavily to the rye. Lots of lighter fruit flavors, but it's hard to parse out any distinctly identifiable ones. I'm not a fan of tart ales in general, but have always had a soft spot for rye and it's light tartness in ales. And that is true for this one. It is unlike anything else I've had, but seems to be what I should expect from a strong ale using a rye family grain. The caramel flavor in the malt is fleeting, but adds some interest. Finish is clear rye. The last triticale strong ale I had (Tritception by Lumberbeard), had some of the character in common, but a more traditional caramel malt base flavor. Unexpected, interesting and quite enjoyable. Machine House is brewing some interesting beer.