3 Ravens Ale Noir
3 Ravens Brewing

 

A - Poured into a tulip glass a very dark brown with ruby red highlights. A Massive inch plus of fluffy beige head slowly & unevenly falls away.
S - Smokey, dark chocolate roastiness, berry hints. Some slight oak vanillin character.
T - The taste is quite interesting. Initially it's quite roasty with some berry presence & then towards the middle and end shows some smokey & oaky notes.
M - Lighter side of medium bodied, slightly acidic. Fairly high carbonation for a -bal aged beer.
D - Well worth trying, if you can find it. Hope they put some Black (stout) into some Pinot or other wine barrels!

Pours a murky red colour, brown-red really. Head is beige and pretty damned impressive, foamy and sudsy, sinking unevenly on top, leaving some thin but nice, sticky lace. Slight haze to it, pretty hot beer.

Nose is quite sour-roasty. A lot of coffee-grounds bitterness to it with some soapy notes, a lot of smoke and some almost raspberry character to it. There is definitely a fresh sweetness with a touch of tart. Kind of vinous notes and a touch of coconut as well. Pleasant, could use more fragrance though, have to sniff pretty hard to get that.

Taste is similar, a lot of smokiness to it, very sour and roasty - dark though. Has a berry character midway, giving slight tart acidity, while finish has good elements of oak and cedar wood, actually fresh and not a huge smokiness although it is there. Yeah, a very tart mid-palate, certainly not puckering. Hint of vinegar and some crisp apple. Nice finish too, I quite like that.

Very foamy texture in the mouth, very smooth as it goes down. Maybe a touch thin, but I like it.

Yeah, there's definitely a boldness to this flavour which doesn't quite charm me. It's good, not necessarily very drinkable.

Pinot Noir barrel aged smoked beer. You don't need to tell me twice.

A very nice deep, dark red-brown colour, with a full and foamy head of beige foam. Some lacing. Overall, it looks very alive and boisterous. Very decent.

Definite smoke characters on the nose, quite sweet and roasted as well. The smoke supersedes any oak or wine characters I'm getting from it, although it seems a little darker than the average rauch. Not bad.

Taste has a hint of the smoke, but a metallic twang as well. There may well be a slight red wine vinous acidity to it, but it's subtle. Finish is quite dry, leaving the raw smoke characters to hang in the air for a while, much like stubbing out a candle. Body is extremely light - I feel a heavier beer would have benefited more from the barrel aging, but it's pretty nice. Mouthfeel is light and crisp.

A very interesting brew from 3 Ravens, who always give me a good beer experience. I'm glad to see them doing something genuinely outside the box for Australian brewers.