Thorny Thistle
Warfield Distillery & Brewery

Draft at brewery. Dark, clear brown, musky, smoky. Mildly sweet aroma. Taste is peat, a bit dirty. Minor lingering bitterness, but this one also falls off a bit.

a nice flavorful amber colored malty brew done with heather, very classic, and very good. i rarely find myself ordering this sort of thing, but with mostly traditional styles in here and a seeming lack of any real attractive innovation, this seemed like one of the more ambitious choices. its not overly sweet which is nice, and overall i thought these guys did a good job with malty beers not being sugary. the heather is nice at the end, floral, tea-like, and even spicy for a moment with the hops. the malt is great in this, its earthy, long cooked and concentrated, with layers of molasses, wet soil, and dark bread, quite good complexity there. there isnt a lot going on here with the yeast, which would be the missing element if there was one, but overall this drinks really well even without that, and seems plenty resolved to me. the heather makes it seem as springy as it is fall, and gives a nice contrasting lightness to this fuller bodied beer, well proportioned too. a touch more carbonation would be an improvement. warfield is making some pretty nice beers, and this one might be my favorite i have had from them so far! really nice example of the style here.

edit: they serve this on nitro sometimes too, and while it might diminish the flavor some, i also think it makes it even more cohesive, and the creamy texture it adds is really cool with these flavors. a nice format for this one!