B.S. Grand Cru
Bent Stick Brewing Co.

 

Very enjoyable. Creamy and malty taste and mouthfeel. Has a somewhat boozy taste which can sometimes be off putting but in this beer gives an enhanced complexity and depth.

Grand Cru is slightly hazy, dark brown with hints of leather.

On the nose I get malt coupled with leather and hints of leather. Aromas of pitted fruit like peach give the overall aroma a nice backbone.All of this leads into the earthy, peppercorn aroma of European hops.

On the mouth, B.S> Grand Cru is medium bodied and smooth with a pleasantly buttery motuhfeel. Flavor is lightly fruity coupled with leather, horse blanket, leather, and tobacco. Each element is mild in its own, each creating a balanced, overall whole.

Overall, very good example of the style. It's flavorful and complex and yet accessible.

 

Picked up at the brewery today, shared in two new Bent Stick glasses. Pours a hazy burnt amber with puffy white head. Aroma of yeasty spices - cloves, banana. Caramel malt, sweet, smooth taste with no discernible hop or bitterness, hiding the 8.5% ABV. Really good - would buy again.

Repeat Aug 2019 - a slightly aged bottle - remains a quality beer - a little more hop presence - a touch of nice bitterness at finish. Good.

650ml bottle, a brewery-only exclusive purchase. Gave me an excuse to head back on up to the splendour of the Fort Road area of Edmonton, at least! And holy shit - Swiss Donair! Mmmm...smack!

This beer pours a murky, dark apricot amber colour, with two hipster skinny fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and fizzy tan head, which leaves a few instances of hanging archipelago lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of banana Peeps at Easter time, bruised banana peel, and banana bread (get the picture?), with some mild clove, white pepper, and estery yeast spiciness, chewed-out Hubba Bubba, and very tame leafy, weedy, and perfumed floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, still complex ripe banana notes, fading pink bubblegum, muddled earthy spice (maybe some musty clove stands out), a plain Belgian-esque yeastiness, and more underwhelming (by design, of course) weedy, dusty, and gently soused-up floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite active in its palate-pinging frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, with a gentle airy creaminess slowly evolving as things warm up a bit out of the ol' basement fridge. It finishes off-dry, the malt, banana esters, and fading spice the order of the day.

Overall, this comes across mainly as the midpoint between the base witbier, and a higher-level BSDA. It is not entirely quite the latter, but essentially amps up the former, by maintaining (at the very minimum) the yeast, spice, and lighter fruitiness. Yes, not exactly perfectly slotted here, but an enjoyable and drinkable offering, especially given the totally obfuscated 17-proof wowee sauce quotient.