The Traveling Plum
The Bruery Terreux

 

A: Poured into a Duvel tulip to a light golden oranch which is topped by a dense and slightly rocky finger and a half of white head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of light sourness and oak with some tropical fruits, plums, and a hint of spice on the back end.
T: Taste is a pleasant sourness up front with a little oak, nice plum notes, and some slightly warming spices. On the swallow there's more plums and sourness with a little sharpness from some salt along with a little more spice, and a hint of lemony tartness. There's a little more oak on the finish as well.
M: This beer has a body which is on the lighter side of medium. It's just slightly syrupy but the carbonation is quite effervescent. The beer has a drying finish due to the acidity which is expected. It's still somewhat refreshing though with all the flavors going on.
O: Overall this is a really tasty beer. The flavors and complexity are really nice and everything plays really well together. I wouldn't mind seeing this beer make a comeback. It's definitely worth trying if you can still find it.

Had this on a trip to the Bruery's tasting room. Was pleasantly surprised, I really thought this was gonna suck. Golden/yellow with ample clarity, why did I think this was going to be a darker color? Nice head, white, sticks at about the 1/3" level. Aroma was interesting. Salty sour plum and some spice rack. Thankfully the anise and clove are almost undetectable, same with cinnamon, pepper, fennel, but they make up the culmination of all of those to produce, "spice rack".

The taste was even better, somewhere between a gose and a wild ale this firmly sits. Instead of dark fruit bitterness, it actually is a less ripened plum, and the salinity probably outweighs any of that dark fruit bitterness it might have. Still, the anise is mellow enough to not piss me off because I really dislike licorice. Just a hint of barnyard underneath it.

This beer succeeds as a very unique beer with almost nothing like it I imagine. But its not just unique for the sake of being unique (hello DFH), it actually is enjoyable.

Split with JLindros.

A - Poured into a Kate the Great tulip a nice crystal clear golden hue with a thin white head that fades to leave light wisps and a thin blanket.

S - Aromas of nice plums, fresh and salted, little salt, spices, flashes of vinegar. Still smells like the Asian treat!

T - Taste is similar to the nose with nice plums, great salt, little vinegar. Light pickling spices. Tastes just like the Asian snack! That licorice is nice.

M - Mouthfeel is nicely carbonated, little flemmy.

O - Overall this was a rather solid beer. While it was better beer fresh it still delivered what it should.

Serving Type: bottle

Split with rudzud
Huge foamy bubbly head fades at a med pace, a little lacing, slight hazy golden tan color

Nose tart funk notes and sour fruit, touch of licorice and candied sour apricot, creamy tart malt thing

Taste mild sweetness with big fruit, tart apricot tangerine notes, dried chewy candied plum but not a ton, fair sourness, juicy, with some rind, generic stone fruit and sour almost jammy thing with mild salt, little bitterness, a bit flemmy and sour

Mouth is med bod, a little tart sour flemmy acidity, nice fizzy carb

Overall not bad but not great, meh

 

750ml bottle into a snifter appears a clear yellow color with a white cap that is quick fading.

A nose of clove and spice with a bit of sulfur when swirled.

The taste is lactic lemony tart almost cidery with plenty of clove and spices.

This is light in body with moderate carbonatiom. A unique offering that I enjoyed more than I thought I would but not enough that id actually want to buy it again.

 

 

 

 

 

750mL bottle acquired through The Bruery's Society. Bottled 7/26/16. Served in a Bruery snifter.

Pours a pale, opaque yellow orange with two and a half fingers of quickly dissipating white fizz. Once that initial head dies off there is really nothing left to call retention.

Smells of light stone fruit, faint earthy spice and muted soured grain. A strange anise-like quality wafts through as it nears room temperature but it doesn't necessarily detract from the other aromas.

Tastes of sweet, tart dark fruit, salt, old wet wheat and some vague earthy spice.

Fairly light body with softly tingling carbonation. Finishes with notes of tart dark fruit, soured grains and some muted earthy spice.

It might not be as sexy as many other offerings from The Bruery's Terreux facility but there's nothing wrong with it either. The plums and salt work pretty well together here to make The Traveling Plum a success.

The beer is based on the Ling Hing Mui, ironically, I have eaten them. My Sous chef is a Thai/Japanese and has brought in weird shit from Asia for everyone to try in the kitchen. These snack plums are good, it makes your mouth water and pucker all at same time. When I read that The Bruery made a wild ale with these plums, I had to try this beer. Poured into a tulip glass at 45 degrees. A monster 3 finger head, foamy and billowy, with poor retention. The head is off white and left no lacing on the glass. The color of the beer is pale yellow with some golden hues. The clarity of the beer is slightly hazy with a good amount of carbonation. The carbonation is very active in the center of the glass.
The plum aroma comes through but not as pungent as I would have thought. Cracker, honey, barnyard, citrus, stone fruit, yeast, salty seas, and some floral rounds out the aromas. I really had a hard time picking up the five spice.
The plum flavor and pungent wild yeast flavor is upfront. Crackers, honey,cloves, anise, and cinnamon, barnyard, citrus, fruity, yeasty, salty, floral, and some earthy notes and are what I can detect.
Highly carbonation, lightly astringent, light body, and medium finish.
This wild ale is something different. The plum flavor does come through and the wild ale brings the funky factor to an 8. I really dig the funkiness of the beer.

 

L - Pours a cloudy hay colored body with a 1.5 finger paper white head.

S - Tart plum on the nose. Some muddled spices midway in. Prune (may'be) and salty brine at the at the end.

T - Layers of plums/prunes that are mildly tart upfront (on the Bruery spectrum this can be medium tart to some). Muddled spices and a salty solution midway. It finishes with tart plums/prunes that linger on.

F - Light bodied and medium to high carbonation. It has a crisp and dry body.

O - Despite all the oddly conceived adjuncts, this is a really interesting beer that comes together well.

 

 

 

This beer hits all the right notes. Basically, its a plum and spice gose. Really nice how the salt complements the 5 spice and plums. Would be nice for summer