Odyssey 009
Siren Craft Brew

one of the weirdest and most delicious and strangest blends i have encountered, this is crazy beer out of a sexy little bottle picked up way too affordably at the brewery. its a blend of imperial stouts aged in sherry and bourbon barrels, and red wine barrel aged saison, pitched with brett and bacteria, and then with some coffee blended in. just insane, who does that?! the color is shiny and dark, certainly looks more like a big stout than a saison, but there is some effervescence and lightness to the body thats evident, and the high head is gorgeous. the nose is more sherry than bourbon to me, some obvious bacterial sharpness makes my mouth water, and there is a warm nuttiness to the coffee and the dark grain, a hint of hazelnut there even, and then some berries from the red wine. i get some brett but it seems newer and less developed than the acidity, and i get nuances of tobacco, black pepper, and freeze dried blueberries. the sherry and the coffee are neat together in the flavor, as are the red wine tannins and the bourbon, combinations of things here that never really get put together, kind of challenging but still really cohesive, and you almost have to just pause and let this thing come up to temperature a bit, it expands so much. sherry all the way through, black fig, some wheat from the saison in the blend, hefty oak, something umami and even sort of mushroom-like, wet and earthy, licorice and tobacco, light vanilla, permanent marker, hot alcohol, and the coffee at the very end, which doesnt seem all that darkly roasted. this is just amazing stuff, tons going on but it all somehow works. lively carbonation is unexpected but welcome, and it doesnt feel all that heavy to me even with the booze coming out. never had anything like this at all, and its another reminder that nobody is doing what siren does. so glad we scored this when we hit up the brewery, great to share with the boys. these guys are killing it positively!

 

L- Inky black, not a photon gets through even holding the glass up right in front of a halogen light. Pours with fine dark tan head.
S- Without reading the lable, this beer smells of fortified wine, perhaps port.
T- It has a prominent vinous flavour too, then deep and puddingy. But it has some sourness to it and remains 'bright on the palate' for an 11.7% beer.
F- The vinous sour note seems to help disguise the ABV%. Blind-tasted I might guess this as say 8.5%
O- Certainly different, interesting, but it boils down to a beer that reminds me more of a wine or sherry than beer. Certainly an unorthodox beer, whether it works for you will be a personal thing.

Per lable and website: Aged in sherry, bourbon and red wine casks, then presumably re-blended.
Ingreds include: barley, rye, oats, figs, milk lactose, muscovado, molasses and rice hulls!
Bottled on: 22/02/19. 375ml bottle bought directly from Siren.