Jörmungandr
Barbarian Brewing

2020 vintage bottle generously shared by a friend and teammate, now five or so years old, crazy, time flies! had never heard of this one before despite my deep familiarity with the brewery. insanely cool recipe here, a huge belgian quad at its core, done with star anise and maple syrup, aged in bourbon barrels, and then weirdly, with brett, which is uncommon in this style for sure and sort of a curious add, but also not a huge impactor of flavor, somewhat surprisingly for its age now, but maybe the high abv retards its normal influence trajectory, this has some astringency to it, but not really any funk to me, more complex than the standard belgian fare in america, which i appreciate, but nobody would describe its fermentation profile as bretty per se, thats not the focus here. anyway, rad to open this up and get into it for the holiday season, reddish brown color, some haze to it and pretty good carbonation even if the head is short lived, a little murky without looking messy, not as viscous as it seems like it would be at this strength. aroma of prune and raisin, that belgian abbey malt character, molasses, maple syrup still here for sure even without it being overly sweet, more oak and wood tannins than whiskey to me, anise is all but gone, maybe wrapped up with a generic belgian yeast spice type profile. but i get like clove and white pepper here too from that, certainly as much as anise, leathery and fruity overall, really alcoholic still, recognizable as a quad but also sort of barleywine-esque, some odd tang might be a product of the brett and its age. the flavor is similar, but there is some breaking down of richness happening, very vinous in the flavor, ruby port wine and prune juice, nice peppery spice complexion, still a lot of grain richness, raisin and wet tobacco, dry cocoa, and bran muffin, fig, tasty but with a sharper recall after the swallow, less rich than it smells for sure, thinning as it warms with super exposed alcohol, which appears to not have mellowed much with the years. good amount of oak here, light vanilla, toffee, less whiskey, really quite a fascinating mix of flavors and textures, could use a little more gas, but its not as heavy as it sounds, and its very wintery, nice maple at the end resisting the tang. dynamic, and original, even without a lot of anise or brett, although i could see more of both adding something nice to this. probably about peak now, or just past it, dont think more cellar time is really the move for this vintage, worry about it going more sour now. clever and odd, kind of the best of barbarian in spirit, even if this really isnt their best beer, if that makes sense. a treat to drink with the boys and something i was totally unaware of, would love to try it fresh if it gets brewed again! belgians at holiday time is what its all about!

Bomber from brewery. Mahogany pour, a tiny ring of fine bubbles encircle the glass. Malty aroma quickly slips into the sweet maple syrup, finishing with a noseful of booze. Sweet malty flavors, a healthy dose of maple, traces of Belgian yeast and a big boozy kick. Cant find much wrong with this