Greyscale
Rowley Farmhouse Ales

i had the merlot barrel aged version of this, which i believe was a second batch, coming in at 5% abv, which i think is separate from normal greyscale, but i am not positive, thus i am reviewing it here, someone correct me if needed. i wanted to love it, but it really didnt impress me much. there is a funny acidity to it, not a clean bacterial thing but almost a chemical aspect, lemony and light and all, and i can really taste and appreciate the wine barrel, but the yeast elements are weird in here to me, sure wild perhaps, but maybe in need of some fine tuning. it almost tastes like this was ambiently fermented in the mid summer desert heat, like north of 100 degrees, its almost phenolic to me, astringent, past vinous to overly sharp, and there is a clash to me with the hops in here, its not awful, but its a bit of a turn off to be sure. its more powerful in the mix than the bretty funk, which i definitely wanted more of. i like the mixed grains in the mash, and i like the lightness of the whole thing, even with the barrel giving it some fruity richness, its still extremely light and delicate. i think its awesome some of these beers are showing up in the denver market, but this is not one of their best. i had super high hopes for it. id love to try the non barrel aged version listed here too, i think without the wood it might have a less developed bacterial weirdness. overall decent but in need of some tweaking...