Bastard Barrel
Standard Brewing

a surprising and amazing beer, a barrel aged holiday ale, layered with a ton of complexity, apparently a collaboration with north fork brewery. very little information was offered about this, but its straight up fruitcake, boozy, sweet, spiced, packed with all kinds of nuance, really one of a kind, and in a style space that can be super hit or miss for me, this is a total grand slam! this is lightly hazy, muted deep copper to mid red, with some tan froth on top but not a ton of bubbles or anything, unassuming. the nose is christmas spice cake for sure, anise and clove, warm gingerbread, black pepper, honey and molasses, brown sugar and toffee, rum and bourbon, even the little fruity jellies, but also dried cherry, cranberry, and raisin, just a bit of overt booziness, subtle sweetening oak, vanilla nuance, and crumb topping, a little cinnamon warmth too, mulled and cozy, wow, really impressive! even more of all of this in the flavor, tons of movement and flow, fruity then sweet then baked and still malty the whole way, not spiced up beyond the beer realm, and that fruitcake factor is real. honey and vanilla, whiskey and raisin, and just a killer spice profile, allspice and clove and anise and cinnamon, not sure what all they use, nutmeg too it seems, incredibly wintery and cozy without being super strong, its both a flavor and a feeling still, but like, id have several of these in a sitting, and its rich but not too sweet at the end, amazingly complex and well integrated, they have something really special here that doesnt seem to be getting any fanfare, and i know the ship has sailed on spiced ales any time of year, but this really is a remarkable offering, definitely my favorite winter beer so far this year, downright epic. id love to know a bit more about whats in it and how its made, but this is next level, warms up well too. elite!