Saga
Barbarian Brewing

Pours a fairly translucent ruby-violet with some audible fizz but no lasting head or lacing. I'm not typically a fan of gin, so I was dubious about the barrel-ageing element. Thankfully, the botanicals integrate nicely with the sage, which is pretty prominent and a distinctive surprise that plays well with the berries. The fruit provides some balance and complexity, not just blackberry but some cantaloupe, strawberry and mulberry. Not overly sour, with very light oak character. Moderately dry finish.

a very unique bottle from barbarian here, 2018 vintage, a gin barrel aged sour ale with sage and blackberries, quite well refined and distinctive, very enjoyable and original. i have not loved all of the barbarian sours for a couple of reasons. the first is that they seem to have just one or two bases from which too many beers are derived, making them a bit samey in terms of fermentation profile, regardless of what adjuncts they use. second, most of them have a vinegar sort of sharpness, almost overly sour, which really limits drinkability for me. this one has only a trace of that vinegar sourness, a white wine vinegar type pucker, with enough sweet blackberry character to balance it out and make it drinkable. the gin treatment here also makes the base beer, whatever it is, seem more original than a lot of theirs. its highly botanical with the sage, which smells and tastes fresh picked to me here, but not overdosed. juniper and pine, menthol and tea, uniquely herbal, even medicinal, lots of bright gin coming through this, almost a sloe element with the blackberry there, very cool synergies all over this thing. not a ton of oak, a softly pink color, decent carbonation, and a citric and lactic sourness that is moderate compared to some of their others. to me its vinous and fresh, but also mature and fully developed, i think aged quite well over a couple of years in the bottle. the berries and sage are a nice combination, and the gin loves both of them. cool beer, one of the most distinctive sours i have had from barbarian to date!