Thumbprint Enigma
New Glarus Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle. No dating information found, but the label name is 'Enigma 23'.
Brown colored body. Light tan head sticks around as an island and expanded ring. Leaves behind small lacing webs.
Aroma of cherries, oak, and woody yeast.
Taste is a sweet tart combination. Flavors of cherry, oak, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, and a little smoke. Woody yeast arrives late and lingers into the aftertaste.
Smooth and silky mouth feel. Dry finish. Good carbonation.
A layered beer with cherry upfront and yeast at the end, and all supported by the oak barrel. Vinous to a degree.

poured from a 12oz bottle into a tall new glarus pilsner glass. pours like coca cola out of the bottle but gathers in the glass a murky, dark brown with three fingers of sandy brown foam. the nose and taste is a somewhat muddled mix of oak, delicate and yeasty funk, faint black cherry and event hints of red grapes. however i get a slightly flanders-esque vinegar aroma and flavor that i just don’t care for as it’s very distracting. medium-full mouthfeel. pretty slick and smooth. as it warms though, i just get more of the vinegar. a little bit of an unusual flop from this place.

 

 

Pours dark amber with a nice, dark head. Aroma is dark cherries and wild yeast (strange as that may sound). Taste is sour, but pleasantly so, with again dark cherries and a moderate to light body. Nicely different.

(12 oz bottle, no date/code, 'Enigma 23'; purchased single last week from their Beer Depot... poured into my Chouffe tulip)

Dark, reddish-brown liquid, limited-to-no-clarity; tall rouge-tan foam stand, tight and creamy; a few lacy bands... very floral-forward aromas with cherry-vanilla ice cream at the base, and a nutty yeast accent; bits of chocolate chunk and wood speckled in... woody, almost nutty brown ale flavor sits in a thin layer between a cherry-flecked flowery top note and the tart cherry-soaked, but relatively dry, clearly oak-hewned, malt-rich base brown-ed ale, colored with soft touches of milk chocolate and cocoa snaps... I must reiterate this is not a sweet beer, though it's got all the desserty flavors just begging for decadent dulce... not so much bitter as it is more tart, stamping a stingy stripe across the middle of the tongue... brief bit of bouncy roundness to its body before it drops mad dry at the palate floor, airy aft, but leaving a woody-tannic warmth pasting the palate roof... this tastes and drinks beautifully, though looks a little suspect and has that superb cherry accent to it that doesn't feel quite right, but ultimately arguably for sure (mostly) tastes like a Flemish brown; this is a work of art, wish I knew and bought more (2198)

Appearance: Dark Brown with a thin head.

Smell: Some wood first, then funky acidic, maybe a hint of cherry.

Taste: Tart beer, with some brown sugar and sour cherry in the background and finish.

Overall: Picked up a single at the brewery. I'm not usually a tart/sour beer guy but I'm willing to try and tick a style. It's an interesting beer but not one I'll revisit.