Congruent
White Rooster Farmhouse Brewery

This golden beer smells like refined sweetness, the honey notes especially prevalent. To the taste, the honey is a bit tougher to detect behind a peachy sourness, but it lingers on the back of the tongue long after the beer has been drunk.

Yowza! I recently signed up for Tavour & when I saw this listed, I jumped on it. I made some mead with my uncle many years ago, but it was my ex-Old Lady who really got me hip to Mead & its variants. We now have a meadery here in LNC, PA & as of F night, they offer axe throwing! 8=O I had been imbibing before arrival & drinking meads did not increase my desire to heave 1.25# & 2.5# axes around. It was exciting to watch, though. Equally exciting is when that box (or two) shows up on a monthly basis. It is merely a picture on a website until it is like Christmas day as I rummage through the shipment. My local, in-person trader, tone 77, is the lucky recipient of dupe CANs, but this bottle is mine! All mine!

From the bottle: "Oak Aged Braggot Ale Brewed With Honey".

Why am I drinking Braggot tonight? This is a relatively small 375 ml/12.75-fl. oz. bottle while I have a bomber in abeyance for tomorrow as we are looking at a very likely 2 hour delay, if not a CANX on Wednesday! I really want to taste & review some Braggot on this site.

I finished jaggin' around with nonsense from earlier as I took & resized pics, including this one & buckled down for the Pop! of the cap. This beauty had a solid base of lees sitting on the kick/punt, so there was no option than to go with a slow, gentle pour. Not to worry though, nothing gets wasted around me except me. That will be decanted for a final, later pour. I won't cop to the rubbish that I had been drinking earlier, but at least it was dry & palate cleansing. I was a little surprised & annoyed that I could not establish any clarity. An in-glass swirl raised nowt more than wisps. Color was a hazy Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4). Nose was really funky, reminiscent of a Lambic, but with a hay-like quality that made me wonder where the bees had been buzzing. Oaky, woody, drying hay, funk & a light mintiness. Hahaha. I live for this kind of thing. Mouthfeel was kind of thin & watery on the tongue & there was no carbonation to speak of. Hmm. OMFG! The taste was about as dry as I have exbeerienced! Phew! I could have guessed white oak-aging without any prompting. Man, this was full-on, lightly (if at all)-charred white oak, closer to a VERY dry white wine. Initially. Suddenly, it blossomed like a spring flower, enticing the funk to build to a crescendo & fade away, leaving behind dried/drying hay, wild summer mint & a slight honey flavor. The finish was utterly captivating as the mint & honey lingered, filling my sinuses with a tea-like aroma as the funk waxed & waned in the background. Phew! This was on the cutting edge of beer & I knew that going into it, but there were still a LOT of unexpected components. The honey really left a cool mintiness on the extreme finish, but the funk might be a put-off for some. It was unquestionably dry, but I actually prefer dry to sweet, even in a honey-driven beer. On the very back end, I tasted mint & honey endlessly as the funk faded. Phew.

Bottle from Tavour
Lightly hazy dark straw with a tightly bubbled off white head. More earthy funk than sweet honey with bits of light puckering lemony fruitiness. Decent beer I enjoyed it but it was more wild ale than Braggot

 

I am not a fan of sours. And this is only my third braggot. So, I am hardly qualified to be the first review or judge how characteristic a beer is of its style (particularly since little is known about this style from several centuries ago and braggots are very subject to the individual brewers interpretation.) But, I won't rest on my laurels as a recent Poo-pah and I accept the challenge.

Poured into a Two Brothers Glass because they stopped brewing a braggot about 4 years back (but it got 55 BA ratings.)
Looks not too good, with almost no foam after a minute. Smells are better, mostly a sour maltiness. That dominates the Tastes, but also a few herbs come through along with some sweetness (I presume from honey) to balance out the sour. Not too much substance in the mouth lacking bubbles and richness.

Overall, this is my first from White Rooster and I wish them well. Their site says the are dedicated to barreled brewing and that is a specialty many appreciate (although me less so.)