Boy Meets Barrel Volume 2: English Barleywine
Outcast Brewing

 

 

650ml, bright green wax-tipped bottle, aged in Alberta rye barrels, and produced at Two Sergeants. If the writing on the label of the picture here looks blurry, that's because it actually is.

This beer pours a murky, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and well bubbly ecru head, which leaves some decent layered and webbed lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, spicy rye whisky (wood and vanilla, mostly), a touch of earthy yeastiness, and some understated leafy, herbal, and perfumed floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, weak biscuity toffee, prominent rye bread notes, underripe apples and pears, some 'under the basement stairs' mustiness, and more plain leafy, weedy and musky floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly laid-back in its simple frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, nothing really existing here that might be cause for concern. It finishes off-dry, the rye graininess predominating.

Overall - this comes across as a more or less dutiful version of the style, the hops kept to the shadows, and the barrel character quite up front, though not in a typical sweet Bourbon sense. Yes, that local rye hooch essence pervades this offering (sans the heat - the 19-proof wowee sauce contingent is artfully masked), and somehow makes it really easy to put back. Good, if a tad unexpected, stuff.