The Garden of Earthly Delights - 2023
Burial Beer Co.

really epic stuff, been years since i had one of these, in fact i didnt even know it changed year to year, now i wish i could somehow go back and try all the ones i missed, this is amazing, a standout from a very beery evening where many sick bottles were popped. my wife picked this up at the brewery this summer when she was out there, she loves me. a green paper bag reveals an insanely cool painting on the label, lots to look at here and the more i look the more i see. the beer itself is a slightly dense pinkish to rusty orange color with a little haziness and a short inch of fizzy white head with decent retention on it. the beer is done with raspberries, rhubarb, chamomile, and vanilla, super exotic and strange, yet amazingly cohesive. a barrel aged golden sour as a base with some nice funk to compliment the acid, really nice on its own probably, white wine notes and green apple meet citric tang and some old woody depth, light in flavor as far as the grain goes, but enough wheaty type body to carry all the added flavors really well. raspberry and vanilla are striking on the nose, i am dubious of vanilla in beers like this, think its commonly overdone, but here it highlights the fruit without making this desserty or sweet, very natural, strong as it is, a cool addition for sure. the chamomile is all on the back end, herbal, floral, slightly bitter, grassy, tea-like, agreeable but mellow compared to raspberry and vanilla, and the rhubarb is there just before it, its familiar astringency is obvious but it does lose some of its identity to the acidity of the base beer and to the tang and red fruitiness of the raspberries, which are way out in front of it in both aroma and flavor. the vanilla adds cool regal richness all through it and the tartness of the berries is nice with the bacterial pucker. just enough wood on this to soften the edges, and i love the complexity of this. some nice funk late, lingering vanilla and chamomile, not too sour to drink, real unique and really good overall. need to track down all the versions of this!