Let There Be Silence
Blackberry Farm Brewery

From the 2pt 9.4fl oz corked bottle in a snifter. This truly unique brew
pours a muddled copper tinged brown with a nice head of off white foam
that settles to a thick ring, thin dusty layer, and sports some nice light lacing.
Nose of spicy yeast, orange, acidity, candy sugars, subtle oak, apple, and
faint apricot. Flavors are very intense----yeasty funk, pear, fig, oak, red wine,
spicy rye hints, dank oak, apricot, dark fresh bread, and touches of leather and
definite tobacco. Nice mouth feel; medium body, lightly slick, smooth, light
carbonation, and a dry subtly tart finish.

Overall-----unique, no other word for it. Glad to have had it!

Merry Christmas!

2020 edition by the way, so no, it is not retired.

Not really sure how to approach rating this beer, as it seems to carry few traditional Belgian Quad characteristics and it's strongest traits are very non-Quad. I'd say the categorization is wrong, but BFB lists it as a Quad right there on the label. (I've actually had several BFB beers that are self-categorized as something that seemingly doesn't fit. They clearly know what they're doing, but the boundary-obliterating approach makes for some real surprises.) It definitely has a heavy sour/wild/funky personality to it. But bottom line is that I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Murky, cherry wood coloring with almost no head or lacing save a thin cap of off-white bubbles. Looks like dark, unpasteurized apple cider in the glass. Lots of chunky floaties in the bottom of the bottle that lead to a muddy last few ounces. Ignoring those final dregs, it's an attractive beer but (again) informs you right off the bat that this isn't going to be what you expect from a barrel-aged Quad.

Yeast, an array of fruits (from more traditional raisin and date to apple and pear), damp wood, sharp funk, a touch of red wine vinegar, and rye jump out on the nose. There are certainly malty characteristics, but the fruit and funk really command attention. If I was sniffing this blind I'd swear it was some kind of sour or wild ale.

I definitely get some spicey rye, fresh oak, and green tobacco notes on the tongue, so the barrel comes through to some extent. Unlike on the nose, apple, pear, and wine grape are the fruit notes that dominate, adding to the sour/cidery drinking experience. There are sharp wine or wood (or both) tannins at play, a continued run of farmhouse funk, a subdued sweetness, and a fair amount of bitterness. Each sip ends extremely dry with a sharp bite. Zero booze or heat on the tongue.

A little thin compared to the BA Quads I'm used to drinking, but probably medium/average for the actual category. Smooth and lightly carbonated, with a little prickle on the tongue. Probably served it a little too cold.

Really interesting beer and drinking experience. I was really taken aback by it (in a good way) the first time I tried it, a little more puzzled and critical the second time. Not sure it's a beer I would proactively pursue in the future, but if in the mood for something different and unique I would never pass it down.

This beer didn’t taste like a quad. It tasted more like a sour. Maybe I got a bad beer but I couldn’t drink it! It was the worse quad I have ever had!

 

Blackberry Farm supplies the darker, stronger Belgian style of beer while Pennington Distilling Company brings the bourbon barrels. The merging of the two promises to elevate the spice of the ale while adding a multitude of whisky and wood complexities after a nice long six month slumber in those barrels.

Rusty red and with a mahogany brown haze, the tawny but foggy hues release a trickle of creme that falls short to more resemble madeira and sherry. And those resemblances are just getting started as the whisky teases the nose with vinous spice, dark fruit, oxidized sweetness, weathered oak and a twinge of fresh funk. A sweet introduction takes the shape of toffee, brown sugar sorghum and almond for a malty and nutty first impression with the tastebuds.

Much of the sweetness becomes a long memory as the spices hit the middle palate with the strong hit of rum spice, whisky heat and a lightly tart red wine impression. Fold in the fruit esters and the cherry, date, fig and grape flavors pull the spicy sweetness once again into the realm of sherry wines. Moderate bitterness pulls from a peppery spice and links up with the flavors of oak, leather and booze for a heated and prickly late palate.

Medium full in body, the beer's maltiness suggest a fuller mouthfeel, but its whisky spice and abrassive wood tannins give the beer a discernible dryness and an unsettled powdery texture. A long and spicy aftertaste is laced with a funk-filled retro olfactory action of cellar conditions and musty attic woods.