Tart-Shaped Box
Birbeck's Brewing Company

Pours a brownish amber colour, haze makes the body opaque. Cream-coloured head, bit webbed out and not retaining. Looks flat and acidic.

Smells oaky at first, with loads of complexity to it. Grapefruit, chardonnay, lots of horsey and barnyardy notes, Brett, vinegar, and yeah, oak in a big way. Sour, wild, untamed. Mmmm....

Taste is tart at times upfront; notes of grapefruit and chardonnay oak, touch of horse and vinegar towards the late-mid. Very barnyardy with a big bitter finish that maybe comes on a bit strong. Still, nice.

Feels decent, but a noticeable sharpness from the booze maybe? Or possibly just pull from the wild yeasts.

The kind of beer I like, but just a little unbalanced. Not bad.

Tried on-tap at GABS 2014 in Melbourne.

Pours a solidly-hazed amber colour, very light in body and weight. Head is a yellowish off-white, but rather filmy and minimal. Not much in the way of lace. Carbonation is almost entirely absent, making the beer look still.

Nose is extremely vinegary on the front, with a big apple cider character dominant. This develops nicely though and ends up delivering some lemon pith, and oaky vinous notes like sharp young Sauvignon Blanc. On the back is a little funk and pepper. It's quite good by the end.

Orange peel character comes through on the front of the palate, rounding off into a sweeter deeper fruit sensation once the oak comes through. The back is incredibly sharp though, giving bitter-sour grapefruit and a harsh cut of malic acid. Feel is light but astringent. Pithy orange retrieves some semblance of decency to it. Long linger of that grapefruit sour-bitter melange. In the end, it's a journey, but not an unpleasant one.

Overall, it's hard to take much of. The power of the sourness is impressive though, and certainly gives the suggestion that with a bit more maturation this would settle down. Alas, this was a once off.