Gravity Well
Halcyon Barrel House

 

 

Beau's presented a cask version of this at the 2019 Festibiere de Quebec. Outstanding Oud Bruin.

 

 

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square - nice to see this style being made in my own country.

This beer appears a hazy, medium red-brick brown colour, with a thin berm of ecru 'head' around the glass, which leaves very little in the way of lace anywhere near the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of sour red fruit, bready and doughy caramel malt, some earthy yeastiness, a touch of musty funk, and very tame leafy, herbal, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee sweetness, some cherry and blackberry fruity notes, an ethereal yeastiness, and more well-understated earthy, leafy, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-tickling frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, with the fruit acridity perhaps taking things down a notch or so here. It finishes trending dry, the tartness starting to go all megalomaniac on the rest of the lingering esters.

Overall - this comes across as a solid rendition of the venerable old-school greats, but falls a tad short of claiming full residence, as such. Worth checking out, fer sho, but not often, as the elevated price tag (not to mention the invisible 18-proof booze factor), might obviate that notion.

 

 

Bottle: Poured a dark reddish color ale with a medium size dirty head with limited retention and no lacing. Aroma of vinous notes with lot of oak, some cherry notes with some acidic notes also perceptible. Taste is also a mix of vinous notes with some cherry notes, some acidic notes with tart cherry and oak notes also noticeable. Body is full for style with medium/low carbonation. Not bad but lacking some attenuation with a little bit too much acidity and not sure high ABV is really necessary for this type of beer.